Koopa Kid
The Koopa Kid (also known as Mini Bowser in PAL regions and Baby Bowser in their first three appearances) is a recurring enemy character from the Mario Party series up to Mario Party 7 and is also a playable character in several of the games. Each Koopa Kid resembles a young version of Bowser, hence some of their appearances referring to them as Baby Bowser. They act as Bowser's minions throughout their appearances. They were eventually phased out of the Mario Party series in favor of including Bowser Jr. and have not made any appearances since then.
Background[edit]
In the original Mario Party, there were seven Koopa Kids who appeared at the final board of the game, Eternal Star. Bowser had stolen Stars from the players and distributed them to the seven Koopa Kids, who were scattered across the map. Once a character finds a Koopa Kid, they would compete against a Koopa Kid in a minigame to determine who would take a Star from the other character. After being defeated, a Koopa Kid would disappear from the board, and if all seven were defeated before the board was completed, Bowser would just summon a new set of seven in their place.
In Mario Party 2, a Koopa Kid appeared as a regular part of the board. Whenever the player bought a Star from Toad, a Koopa Kid would appear at the previous Star's space, which was represented by a black star. The Koopa Kid would take 5 coins from anyone who passed by, although he would sometimes give 5 coins on accident or intentionally to someone wearing a Bowser Suit. The Bowser Bomb item (or the Bowser's Appearing Act event of Bowser's roulette) would also turn the Koopa Kid into Bowser for a turn, who would then go on a rampage and steal all coins from any player he encountered. Several Koopa Kids also replaced Toad as the hosts of Bowser Land, and the board was also inhabited by Koopa Kids with special roles. In the game's Mini-Game Coaster, Koopa Kid appeared attempting to force the player to redo all of the events and ultimately split into three Koopa Kids who had to be defeated in a version of the Shell Shocked minigame.
In Mario Party 3, a Koopa Kid appeared running an Item Shop, which specialized in selling items that messed with others, such as the Reverse Mushroom and Boo Bell. A Koopa Kid also appeared as a potential partner in Duel Mode, whose special ability involved turning into Bowser and doing extra damage to opponents. Koopa Kids also appeared in Mario Party 4, where they sometimes appeared at Bowser Spaces in place of or prior to Bowser's appearance, and Bowser had two Koopa Kid minions who helped him in battle in the minigame "The Final Battle!". A Koopa Kid also hosted Bowser's Gnarly Party, and a Koopa Kid could also be unlocked as a playable character for Beach Volley Folley.
The Koopa Kid made his first playable appearance in Mario Party 5, although he was not playable in Story Mode or Card Party, where he made non-playable appearances. In Story Mode, the player character had to face off with a Koopa Kid who split into three different color-coded Koopa Kids: a red one, a blue one and a green one. The player had to take all of their coins to defeat them. The Koopa Kid was later playable in all modes of Mario Party 6, and the three differently-colored Koopa Kids reappeared as opponents in Solo Mode's minigames. A normally-colored Koopa Kid also appeared in Mario Party Advance as Bowser's main henchman. When landing on a Minigame Space, Koopa Kid would sometimes appear instead of Tumble and would take a Mushroom away from the player if they lost an ensuing minigame. He also appeared at random points on the board to challenge the player to a game of "Roshambeau" (aka rock-paper-scissors) or to warp the player to a random part of the board. Koopa Kids also appeared as enemies in some minigames, including the color variations from Mario Party 5.
The last appearance of the Koopa Kids was in Mario Party 7. In that game, there was a Koopa Kid Space, where a Koopa Kid would appear to perform mischievous acts such as swapping characters' locations/coins around or using a Cursed Mushroom on the character(s). The three differently-colored Koopa Kids also reappeared as opponents in multiplayer Bowser minigames, and they also operated the cannons at Bowser's Enchanted Inferno!. A Koopa Kid also appeared in the minigame "Bowser's Lovely Lift!".
Trivia[edit]
- In the Japanese version, they are known as Mini-Koopas instead.
- The games are inconsistent about whether or not the Koopa Kids are related to Bowser, with some instances of them referring to Bowser as their father and others where they call him "Mr. Bowser". Shigeru Miyamoto would later clarify that Bowser Jr. is Bowser's only canonical offspring.
- In Mario Party: The Top 100, one of the minigames included is "The Final Battle!", but with Bowser Jr. replacing the two Koopa Kids.