Dry Bones

A Dry Bones as depicted in Mario Party 7.
Dry Bones
Type	Koopa (Undead)
Debut	Super Mario Bros. 3

Dry Bones is the skeletal form of the Koopa that appears as a recurring enemy in various Mario games, commonly found in dungeon levels.

Information

Dry Bones are the living skeletons of Koopas that seemingly represent what a Koopa becomes after death. They seem to be mindless and are known for being nearly invincible. They primarily attack by tossing bones at their enemies. Many attacks will cause them to crumble, but they will often reform themselves shortly afterwards. They can only be permanently destroyed through certain methods, which vary from game to game, although invincibility Starmen are always effective.

Dry Bones sometimes show signs of intelligence and speech capabilities. Notably, a Dry Bones appears as one of the Three Musty Fears in Super Mario RPG. Bowser has also been shown to have become a skeletal version of himself, known as "Dry Bowser", in New Super Mario Bros. before being revived.

Appearances

Dry Bones have appeared in various Mario adventure games, where they are typically found in castles and other dungeon-like areas. The methods of permanently defeating them have varied from game to game. The Dry Bones' weakness has included the Hammer Suit in Super Mario Bros. 3, the cape in Super Mario World (as well as Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3), a Mega Mushroom as well as the Koopa Shell in New Super Mario Bros., being frozen by an Ice Flower or Penguin Suit in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a Bullet Bill in Super Mario Galaxy. In Galaxy, they appeared in the Dune Desert Galaxy and could also be destroyed by being lured into quicksand. In Super Mario Galaxy 2, they appeared in more areas and could only be destroyed by kicking them into lava. They also appeared in the Shriek Mansion area of Super Princess Peach, where they could only be destroyed through use of the Rage Vibe.

They have also appeared in Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. U and Super Mario Run. Super Mario 3D World replaced them with a new winged variation known as Parabones. Parabones would later reappear in Super Mario Odyssey (again in place of the normal Dry Bones), where Mario could capture them with Cappy, making them temporarily playable. In Super Mario Maker, Dry Bones was among the enemies that could be placed in stages. Other variations such as Big Dry Bones and Parabones also appeared. When placed in an underwater course, a Dry Bones would become Fish Bones.

Even though they are immune to fireballs in most of the mainstream games, the Dry Bones's primary weakness is fire in most of the RPG games. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, they appear in the Sunken Ship and can only be permanently defeated in battle with special attacks (which include Mario's fire attacks) or usage of pure water. Even after the battle has ended, the Dry Bones will only temporarily crumble on the map. In the Paper Mario games, there were several different versions of the enemy, with Dry Bones being the third strongest. They were also capable of "building" additional Dry Bones during a battle. They were found in Bowser's Castle in Paper Mario, the Palace of Shadows in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and the Underwhere as well as the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials in Super Paper Mario. Dry Bones also appeared in Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash, where they also had the ability fold themselves into a single bone and throw themselves as Mario. In the latter game, they could be destroyed by dropping walls onto them.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, a version of Dry Bones that walked on all fours appeared. They attacked by tossing their spinning heads at Mario and Luigi. They were found in the Hoohoo Mountain area, and a version that was stronger as well as poisonous appeared in the Teehee Valley. A more traditional version of the Dry Bones appeared in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, where they were found within the Yoob's Belly (seemingly implying that they are the remains of Koopas ingested by the Yoob). Dry Bones only made cameo appearances among Bowser's forces in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Dry Bones could be summoned by Kamek during the final boss battle with him, and their remains could be kicked at Kamek during the battle. In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, paper versions of the Dry Bones appeared as common enemies, and normal Dry Bones were also spit out by Dry Bowser during his boss fight. The game also featured Papercraft Dry Bones as enemies during the boss fight with Papercraft King Boo.

Dry Bones have also appeared as both enemies and recruitable allies in the new modes that were added onto the remakes of Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story. Unlike in the main game of Superstar Saga, Dry Bones were depicted with their traditional bipedal appearance. They are ranged troopers that attack with bone throws and are shown to be strong against Koopa Troopas.

Variations

• Big Dry Bones - Also known as Super or Mega Dry Bones. This is a giant version of Dry Bones that originally appeared in New Super Mario Bros.. They sometimes push giant blocks and can only fall apart from a ground pound when Mario is above miniature size. They have appeared in all New Super Mario Bros. games, Super Mario Maker and several Mario Party games, including appearing as a boss (as Mega Dry Bones) in Mario Party: Star Rush.
• Elite Dry Bones - A stronger variation of the quadrupedal Dry Bones from Superstar Saga found only in Teehee Valley. They were only called Dry Bones in the original game and did not gain a distinguishable name until the 3DS remake.
• Parabones - A variation that was introduced in Super Mario 3D World. They are winged versions of Dry Bones, essentially making them a skeletal version of Paratroopas. Like normal Dry Bones, they crumble apart while hit, and unlike Paratroopas, they regain their wings when they reassemble, except in Super Mario Maker. They also also appeared in areas of Bowser's Kingdom and the caverns of the Moon Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey, where they could be captured by Mario, making them temporarily playable. In the Bowser Jr's Journey mode of Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser's Journey, they appeared as enemies and recruitable allies, and they also appeared as referees in Mario Tennis Aces.
• Sad Dry Bones - An emotional variant appearing in Super Princess Peach. They are always weeper and attack at a faster rater than the normal Dry Bones, but otherwise retain the same weaknesses.
• Vomer - The stronger version of the Dry Bones appearing in the Barrel Volcano area of Super Mario RPG. They are indestructible save for special attacks and pure water.

Paper Mario variations

• Dark Bones - The strongest version of the Dry Bones appearing in Thousand-Year Door. It can build other Dry Bones in battle. They appear only twice in the Palace of Shadow as well as being an alternate color for the Dry Bones in Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers.
• Dark Dull Bones - In Super Paper Mario, this is the strongest form of the Dry Bones found only in the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials. Like the other enemies found in the pit, they appear as a featureless black shadow. They are weak against Bowser's flame breath.
• Dull Bones - The weakest form of the Dry Bones appearing in the Paper Mario games (although they are actually stronger than Dry Bones in Super Paper Mario). They lack the ability to rebuild themselves, but still can assemble additional Dry Bones for battle. They appear at Hooktail Castle, the Glitz Pit and a room of the Palace of Shadow in Thousand-Year Door, and in the Underwhere in Super Paper Mario.
• Red Bones - A version of the Dry Bones in Thousand-Year Door that is stronger than Dull Bones but weaker than the Dry Bones and has a reddish color. They will often create Dull Bones in battle. They appear in Hooktail Castle and a room of the Palace of Shadow. A color variation in Mario Superstar Baseball also resembles a cross between the Red and Dark Bones.

Sports

Dry Bones has made increasing appearances in sports games over the years.

• Kart Racing: Dry Bones appears as a playable racer in Mario Kart DS (unlocked by winning the 50cc Nitro Grand Prix), Mario Kart Wii (unlocked by winning the 100cc Leaf Cup), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Tour (unlocked at random through the game's gacha or in-game shop). In Tour, a gold version of Dry Bones was also made available during certain tours, starting with the Trick Tour in April 2020. Dry Bones also appear as in-stage hazards in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• Tennis: In Mario Tennis Aces, Dry Bones acts as an instructor in training mode and is also an opponent faced in the first mission of Adventure Mode, where he guards the entrance to the Bask Ruins. Dry Bones was later made available as a playable character as part of the game's free DLC. It could be unlocked by taking part in an online tournament during the month of May 2019 or through an update in the following month.
• Baseball: Dry Bones appear as sidekick characters in Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers.
• Soccer: Dry Bones appears as a sidekick character in Mario Strikers Charged.
• Other Sports: In Mario Sports Mix, Dry Bones could burst out of boxes at the Ghoulish Galleon court and would stun any players who made physical contact with them. Players could also use them as shields.
• The Olympics: Dry Bones have made non-playable appearances as referees in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and as rival characters in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (where they appear with Dry Bowser) and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In the 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Dry Bones was playable in the BMX event.

Mario Party

Within the Mario Party games, Dry Bones initially made playable appearances in Mario Party 7 (where it has to be unlocked by spending 1000 Cruise Mileage Points) and in Mario Party 8. In Mario Party DS, Dry Bones is unplayable but serves as the boss of DK's Stone Statue. Dry Bones also appeared in Mario Party 9 as a mini-boss and as part of several minigames. In Mario Party: Island Tour, they also made minigame appearances, in addition to one handing out Mini Ztars at the Star-Crossed Skyway board. A Mega Dry Bones appeared as a boss in Mario Party 9. In Mario Party 10, it only made a cameo appearance on the Bowser amiibo Party Board.

Dry Bones returned as a playable character in Super Mario Party. In this game, it could appear and be unlocked at random after playing any of the game's modes.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Dry Bones appeared as enemies in Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel in Hotel Mario, where they were referred to as Skeleton Koopas.
• In the Wii U version of LEGO City Undercover, it was possible to build a Dry Bones out of LEGO bricks in one area. This cameo was left out of the Nintendo Switch port.
• They appeared as enemies and a potential ally character in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, where they had the Fire attribute and a Dark sub-attribute. They were mostly found in tower and castle courses, as well as some underground, volcanic and ghost house courses. There was also a mash-up of Dry Bones & Cheep Cheep. Dry Bones could be obtained by transforming a Red Koopa Paratroopa with six Boo Mushrooms, while the mash-up version could be recruited by using the same amount of Boo Mushrooms on a Red Koopa Troopa & Cheep Cheep.
• In SkyLanders: Supercharged, when Bowser activated his Molten Monster form, he could turn one of his Koopa Troopas into a Dry Bones. Dry Bones were shown to have higher attack power and health than the normal Koopas. Additionally, there are two Dry Bones-themed mods available for Bowser's Clown Cruiser, known as the Dry Bone Basher and Steeled Bone.
• The Super Mario Mash-Up Pack available for Nintendo releases of Minecraft would replace the game's Skeletons with Dry Bones and Wither Skeletons with Dark Bones. Dry Bones was also available as a playable skin.

Other Media

• Dry Bones have made minor appearances in several episodes of the cartoon series The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. In one episode of the former series, a Dry Bones was named Bonesy.
• In a Mario comic published as part of the Nintendo Comics System, a Dry Bones appeared as the pilot of Bowser's personal helicopter.

Trivia

• Their name originates from a biblical verse in which a pile of "dry bones" were said to come to life with an odd sound.
• Its Japanese name is Karon, which seems to be a play on the Japanese word karakara, which can represent a clattering sound and means "dried-up".
• Trophies of Dry Bones have appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, along with a sticker (using artwork from Mario Party 7) in Brawl. Unused data found in Brawl also implies that at some point in development, they were intended to appear as enemies in "The Subspace Emissary".