Lemmy Koopa

Lemmy's redesigned appearance in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Lemmy Koopa
Species	Koopa
Hair color	Rainbow
Eye color	Black
Relatives	Koopalings (siblings)
Voiced by	Lani Minella (2009-2015, 2018) Carlee McManus (2014-Present)
Debut	Super Mario Bros. 3

Lemmy Koopa is the sixth member of the Koopalings who appear as recurring boss characters working for Bowser throughout the Super Mario series. He is an athletic and eccentric Koopa who sports a rainbow mohawk and most commonly rides a large ball around.

Background

Original Appearances

Lemmy in Super Mario World.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, Lemmy used an airship to invade the Mushroom World and conquered the Iced Land, which was the game's sixth world. He stole the king's magic wand and used it to transform the king into a creature (a seal in the original version and a Monty Mole in the advanced remakes). In battle, he was unique in that he battled with a giant circus ball that he balanced himself upon and occasionally tossed at Mario or Luigi. He was ultimately defeated and forced to surrender the wand. He made an additional appearance in Armored Airship, one of the special bonus levels that were made available through the e-Reader for the the GBA remake and was a Japan exclusive in the original release. The level was a harder alternate version of Lemmy's air ship level and ended with the same boss fight against Lemmy.

Lemmy was later part of the invasion of Dinosaur Land in Super Mario World and held one of Yoshi's friends captive. He was the third boss who could be faced and inhabited a castle in the Vanilla Dome. In this appearance, he would pop out of one of a series of Warp Pipes in a room at random along at the same time as a decoy, while a fireball bounced around the room. Mario or Luigi had to stomp on the real Lemmy three times to knock him through the pipe and into the lava below in order to defeat him. Afterwards, when Bowser stole the twelve magic crystals of Jewelry Land during Yoshi's Safari, Lemmy was put in charge of the Red Crystal at the Grassland and acted as the game's first boss. Lemmy fought Mario and Yoshi while riding a mech suit with a center that resembled the Koopa Clown Car. After the machine was destroyed, Lemmy tried hiding behind a shield, but he was still defeated.

Modern Appearances

After a long absence, the Koopalings returned when Bowletta called them into action to eliminate the Mario Brothers in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. Lemmy was the third Koopaling to battle the brothers, and he unveiled a new trick, as he created identical doppelgangers of himself. The clones were just Goombas in disguise in the original version, but in the 3DS remake, they were copies created solely from magic.

In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Lemmy was redesigned with an orange shell and a ponytail. The collective Koopalings kidnapped Peach on her birthday and escaped in an airship. Along the way, Bowser Jr. dropped the Koopalings off at fortresses to slow down Mario and his friends, with Lemmy being left at the World 3 fortress. When Mario arrived, Lemmy showed off his acrobatics on his circus ball before attacking with a new magic wand that created duplicates of the ball. Lemmy was defeated, but he escaped to the World 3 castle for a rematch. There, he received help from Kamek, who enchanted his ball to make it gigantic. Lemmy lost again and headed home on foot along with the other Koopalings, where they found a fallen Bowser. They tried to help him up, only to have Bowser's Castle fall on top of them.

Lemmy also appeared in New Super Mario Bros. 2, where the Koopalings worked together to kidnap Princess Peach for Bowser. In that game, Lemmy was an optional boss who was faced in the second of two hidden worlds, known as World Flower (which can be accessed from World Three or World Mushroom). In that battle, he once again created duplicates of his ball to bounce around, but this battle was staged on a conveyor belt instead. He was defeated once more, opening the route to World 5. The Koopalings turned up again at Bowser's castle in World 6, where they attempted to petrify Mario with a light emitted by the Koopa Clown Car and also used their magic to make Bowser gigantic after his first defeat. After the giant Bowser was defeated, the Koopalings attempted to tow him away with the Clown Car, only to accidentally crash it. The Koopalings later made an appearance in World Star's castle, where they once more attempted to petrify Mario and made Dry Bowser grow.

In New Super Mario Bros. U, the Koopalings each had their own personalized airships that featured an image of the corresponding Koopa's head as the airship's figurehead. They assisted Bowser's airship in conquering Princess Peach's Castle and then scattered to the game's different worlds. Lemmy was the boss of the first world, Acorn Plains. To reach his airship and battle him, Mario and/or his friends would have to fire themselves out of a cannon found at the end of his castle level (Lemmy's Swingback Castle in the original version or Lemmy's Lights-Out Castle in New Super Luigi U). He still rode his circus ball in battle, but this time he attacked by throwing bombs of increasing size. After being defeated, his airship retreated. At the end of the game, the Koopalings attempted to escape with Bowser Jr. and a giant Bowser in Bowser's hastily-repaired airship, only for it to crash due to Bowser's giant size. Their escape ultimately ended up consisting of dangling Junior's Junior Clown Copter in a chain as it retreated, with Lemmy clinging to Bowser's tail.

The Koopalings were also added to Super Mario Maker 2 in April 2020 and were available as enemies for stages made in any style, except for the Super Mario 3D World style. In Dr. Mario World, a doctor version of Lemmy was made available as a playable character who could be unlocked through the game's Staffing feature starting in July 2020.

Sports Appearances

The Koopalings made their first appearance in the Mario sports games when they were included in Mario Kart 8 as unlockable racers and then in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as default racers. In Mario Kart Tour, Lemmy was potentially available in the beta version of the game and was made available for the final version of the game in October 2019. He had to be unlocked at random through the game's gacha feature or could occasionally show up for sale at the shop (which uses coins earned in-game).

A Mii costume of Lemmy has also been available in each game of the Mario & Sonic series starting with Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In '"LazerBlazer Type A: Intercept", one of the games featured in Super Scope 6, Lemmy could sometimes be seen riding a missile in the background in pursuit of Mario, who is riding a plane. He could be shot down to recover a missed shot or earn bonus points.
• Lemmy and the other Koopalings are featured as bosses in the licensed game Hotel Mario. In Hotel Mario, he is the boss of Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel, where he attacks Mario with paper planes while flying to different floors of the hotel using a jetpack, and can only be defeated by closing all the doors of the hotel.
• He is the only Koopaling absent from all versions of Mario is Missing!, but the PC version mentions him in an attempt to explain his absence by saying that he is out playing in the snow of Antarctica instead of helping Bowser with his scheme.
• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Lemmy (along with the rest of the Koopalings) has appeared in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a playable alternate costume of Bowser Jr.. Thus, he has the same exact moves as Bowser Jr. and only attacks from the Junior Clown Car. He has also been represented by a trophy in the 3DS/Wii U game and a Fighter Spirit (which has to be bought from the Vault's shop) in Ultimate.
• In Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, he appears as a boss faced in World 2's castle and airship, and he can be recruited after defeating him in the airship.
• In Nintendo releases of Minecraft, playable skins of Lemmy and the other Koopalings are available as part of the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack.

Other Media

• Lemmy and the other Koopalings appear in the "Momotaro" and "Snow White" shorts of Amada's Super Mario OVA, where Lemmy and the other Koopalings act as minions of Bowser whom Mario defeats in a group in order to reach him.
• Lemmy and the other Koopalings are featured in the animated series The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World as Bowser's primary minions. In this incarnation Lemmy was named Hip, and his twin brother was Hop. Together they were known as youngest of the Koopa Kids in this incarnation as well as being notorious pranksters.
• Lemmy appeared in the Super Mario comics of the Nintendo Comics system as well as the Nintendo Adventure books, where he was shown as one of the least intelligent and competent Koopalings, despite being the only one who could understand the pictures that Larry used to communicate.
• Lemmy also appeared with his siblings in the Super Mario Adventures comic, where they aided Bowser in another of his schemes and usually appeared as a group rather than being battled individually.

Canceled Appearances

• Unused sprites of Lemmy and the other Koopalings were found in Super Princess Peach, indicating that they were intended to appear in the game as bosses but were removed at some point in the game's development.

Trivia

• Lemmy is named after Lemmy Kilmeister of the band Motorhead.
  • In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, he plays air guitar as an idle animation during battle, most likely as a reference to his namesake.
• The Koopalings were originally known as Bowser's children, and Bowser Jr. was assumed to be their sibling, but Shigeru Miyamoto clarified in an interview once that the Koopalings are not actually related to Bowser, and that Bowser Jr. is Bowser's only child.
• In Mario Kart 8, his image is also featured in an advertisement for a service called Lemmy's Tire Service.
• The Koopalings' personalized airships from New Super Mario Bros. U can be seen in the background of the Savage Sea court in Mario Tennis Aces.