Tatanga

Tatanga aboard his Pagosu in Super Mario Land.
Tatanga
Species	Unidentified Alien Species
Debut	Super Mario Land

Tatanga is a mysterious alien villain who first appeared as the main villain of Super Mario Land and later made a small appearance as a boss in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.

Background

Super Mario Land

A huge dark cloud appeared over the skies of the peaceful land of Sarasaland one day. The cloud cracked open and the space alien, Tatanga emerged with the intent of conquest. Nothing is known about Tatanga aside from the fact that he was an alien from outer space. In Super Mario Land, he conquered the four Kingdoms of Sarasaland: The Birabuto, Muda, Easton, and Chai Kingdoms. Tatanga took control of these lands by hypnotizing the populace,which made them fall under his control. He also kidnapped the princess of Sarasaland, Daisy and wanted to make her his queen. Mario recaptured each of the four kingdoms of Sarasaland and rescued Daisy from Tatanga.

Super Mario Land 2

Mario's second encounter with Tatanga was in the Space Zone in Super Mario Land 2. Tatanga had a much smaller vehicle, which shot energy beams of some kind. Tatanga also used his machine to swoop down and ram into Mario. After defeating Tatanga, Mario gained the Space Zone Coin.

Battle Strategy

Tatanga does not fight hand-to-hand. He has two lines of defense, which Mario makes short work of with the Sky Pop. Tatanga's first line of defense is a cloud barrier known as Brokinton, which conceals a Chicken dispenser. Once Brokinton is destroyed Tatanga uses his war robot/ship, called the Pagosu, to send a barrage of missiles at incoming targets. This two-tiered line of defense, however, was no match for Mario.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tatanga appears as a Primary Spirit and is represented by his art from Super Mario Land. In a Spirit battle, his Spirit possess Morton Koopa Jr.. He is also mentioned in the Palutena's Guidance conversation about Daisy.

Other Media

• Tatanga also appeared as the main villain of Valiant's Game Boy Comics, where he and his troops would continually enter Earth through a Game Boy and try and take it over, only to be sent back to the Mushroom World by Mario.
• Tatanga has made the occasional Super Mario-Kun appearance. In one of the Super Mario World-based chapters, he was shown in a flashback and seemed to have lent his forces from Super Mario Land to Bowser. He was later featured in a Super Mario Land 2-based chapter, where he succeeded in defeating Mario and stealing all of the gold coins he had collected so far, but he was promptly jumped by Bowser, who returned the golden coins to Mario while disguised as Santa Claus to preserve his pride.

Trivia

• While some Americans doubt the authenticity of the claim that Tatanga is the actual boss of the Space Zone in Super Mario Land 2, it is confirmed on NCL's website for the game (as well as the Super Mario-Kun manga) that the two characters are one in the same.
• Tatanga is mentioned in the descriptions of Daisy's trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as well as her bio in Mario Superstar Baseball.
• The Super Mario Land game manual refers to him as "Tatanga the Mysterious Spaceman".
• What could possibly be another member of Tatanga's species, Katsini, appears as a boss in the Super Nintendo version of Wario's Woods.