Koopa Bros.

The Koopa Bros.
Koopa Bros.
Species	Koopa Troopa
Affiliation	Koopa Troop
Debut	Paper Mario

The Koopa Bros. (individually known as Ninjakoopas) are a team of four masked Koopas who collectively act as a boss in Paper Mario. They are the boss of Chapter 1.

Background

The Koopa Bros. were a group of Koopas who originally hailed from Koopa Village. It was implied that when they were younger, they trained with Kent C. Koopa and were never able to beat him. As members of Bowser's forces, they were known for showing off in flashy and over-the-top fashions, and they prided themselves on being cool. At some point, they inhabited their own fortress near Koopa Village, where they had a work force that was comprised of Bob-ombs. It was implied that the Bob-ombs originally had reasonable working conditions until Bowser came to power with his Star Rod.

Bowser entrusted the Koopa Bros. with the Star Spirit known as Eldstar to safeguard from Mario. Around this point, they started being harsher and more demanding of the Bob-ombs, until one named Bombette protested by blowing up next to them. They retaliated by locking Bombette and most of the local Bob-ombs in the fortress's dungeon. They later visited Bowser at his castle in order to show off for him and to assure him that they could handle Mario. They treated him to a display of their "secret weapon" in the process. However, Bowser proceeded to point out that no one was watching the Star Spirit while they were there, so they rushed back to their fortress.

In Chapter 1 of Paper Mario, the Koopa Bros. began making efforts to keep Mario from getting to their fortress. First, they disguised themselves as Toads and blocked one exit out of Toad Town. Their disguises were eventually undone by Merlon, and they retreated. Along the path to their fortress and within the fortress itself, the Koopa Bros. set up various setbacks and traps in hopes of stopping Mario. Mario was able to work through each obstacle, and eventually he confronted the Koopa Bros. in the upper area of their fortress. There, they donned hid within their hidden weapon, which turned out to be a poorly-made mechanical imitation of Bowser (referred to in-game as simply "Bowser???"). It was eventually destroyed by Mario, at which point the Koopa Bros. finally fought with their own skills. They were defeated and sent flying down into the confines of their own dungeon. Thus, they lost the Star Spirit and control of their castle. Sometime afterwards, they sent a letter to Mario threatening to get back at him for their defeat.

They made another appearance in the final chapter of the game. They showed up by the last guard door of Bowser's Castle and challenged Mario to a rematch. They had apparently improved significantly since their first battle, and they redubbed themselves "the Super Ultra Mighty Koopa Bros. the Great". But before any battle could actually ensue, Jr. Troopa suddenly ran onto the scene and accidentally knocked all of them out in one hit. The Koopa Bros. were also seen during the ending parade, where they posed on their own float (which resembled their Bowser replica) and ended up being charred by exploding Bob-ombs.

Abilities

The Koopa Bros. are described as essentially being stronger versions of Koopa Troopas. Like the normal Koopa Troopas, their primary attack was to throw heir own shells at enemies, and they could also be temporarily rendered helpless by being flipped onto their backs. Their advantage came from their numbers. One special group attack that they had was to pile up as a tower and then perform a special spinning attack. However, it was possible to imbalance and knock over the tower, which would also flip over the Koopa Bros.

Outside of battle, they also displayed the ability to disguise themselves as others.

Other Appearances

In Other Media

• A likely inspiration for the Koopa Bros. were the Mutant Ninja Sentai Nokonokoman, a group appearing in the first volume of Super Mario-Kun, published in 1991. They were a play on the four different Koopa shell colors used in Super Mario World. Like the later Koopa Bros., they use a variety of disguises, such as transforming to resemble Princess Peach, a disguise which is flawed since they are shown to still have shells on their backs.
• The actual Koopa Bros. appear in a chapter of Super Mario-Kun based on Paper Mario's storyline at the end of Volume 26, although it is disordered so that Mario does not meet them until after the sixth chapter. They first attempt to disguise themselves as Peach, Luigi, Toad and Yoshi, and the same gag is reused with the Peach copy still having a shell. They are defeated, but they then send Mario and his partners down a trap pit.

Trivia

• The Koopa Bros. are a parody of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• In Japan, they are called the Noko Bros., due to Koopa Troops being known as Nokonoko in Japan. Each of them is also known as 'Noko [Color]'.
• A painting of Princess Peach is seen inside of their fake Bowser, implying that they have a crush on her.
• The Koopa Bros. are not very distinctive from each other despite their different colors and Red being the leader. In Goombario's tattles, he claims that Black is the most fashionable of the group and that Yellow reminds him of curry for some reason.
• The music that plays during the fight with Koopa Bros. is a remixed version of the Hammer Brother theme from Super Mario Bros. 3.
• Having Bombette use Bomb on the Koopa Bros. when they form the tower will make them immediately fall over.