Hammer Brothers are a type of koopa that specialize in throwing hammers and have appeared in many Super Mario games as recurring enemies since Super Mario Bros..

Information

	Hammer Brother in New Super Mario Bros..
Hammer Brother
Type	Koopa
Debut	Super Mario Bros.

The Hammer Bros. are lean and tough-looking Koopas wearing black shells and helmets. As their name suggests, their primary weapon is the hammer. They are deadly long-distance attackers, hurling hammers non-stop at their enemies. However, they are also vulnerable to attack in close range. Hammer Bros. also rarely attack solo and are usually backed up by a nearby "bro". It is certain if any of them are actually biologically related, or if it is just a title. They seem to have inspired similar-looking Koopas with "Bro" in their names, such as the Boomerang Bros. and the Fire Bros..

The Hammer Bros. are often seen as the elite fighters in Bowser's forces.

Appearances

They originally appeared in Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. In Super Mario Bros. 3, Hammer Bros. are found wandering in the overworld map in each world. Whenever Mario or Luigi comes to one, he will engage one or two Hammer Bros. (or a different type of Bro, depending on the world) in a short quazi-boss battle. After the Hammer Bros. are defeated, the winner would get a new item. It was possible to skip the fights entirely by putting all the Bros. to sleep with a Music Box. The Hammer Bros. Suit appeared as an item in the same game.

Although the traditional Hammer Bros. did not appear in Super Mario World, there was a strange version called the Amazing Flying Hammer Brother. He still dopped hammers, but now he did while riding winged blocks. The Amazing Flying Hammer Bros. reappeared in Super Princess Peach.

Hammer Bros. appeared as mini-bosses in Yoshi's Safari. They have gone on to appear in various adventure titles such as Super Princess Peach, New Super Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (their first 3-D adventure appearance), Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D World, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Odyssey. In Odyssey, it was possible to use Cappy to possess a Hammer Bro, making them temporarily playable. They also appeared as opponents guarding the entrance to Mushroom Park in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, where they had to be defeated through dance.

They have also made various appearances in the RPG titles. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars a pair of Hammer Bros. showed up as the game's first real boss. They were known for talking to their hammers as if they were alive, and battled Mario on Mushroom Way. After they were defeated, they left behind a Hammer and a Flower Jar. Later in the game a green Hammer Brother, named Dr. Topper, engaged Mario in mind-bending puzzles at Bowser's Keep.

The Hammer Bros. also appear as somewhat powerful enemies in the Paper Mario games and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Two mind-controlled Hammer Bros. also appear as early bosses in the past storyline of Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. While under the control of the Shroobs, the Hammer Bros. only talk in 1337 speak and act as a boss for the Baby Mario Brothers, guarding the Vim Factory. After the Hammer Bros. are defeated and freed from the mind control, they reward the Baby Mario Bros. with a hammer and teach them how to use it.

Sports

Tennis: They appear as enemies in Mario Tennis Aces.
'Baseball: The Hammer Bros. appear as playable teammate characters in Mario Superstar Baseball (where they are unlocked by beating Adventure Mode with Bowser) and Super Mario Sluggers. They are shown to use their hammers for batting. Mario Superstar Baseball is notable as their first playable appearance.
Soccer" The Hammer Bro is also available as a sidekick character in Super Mario Strikers and Mario Strikers Charged.
Other Sports: They appear as sidekick characters in Mario Sports Superstars (for soccer and baseball).

They also make background/non-playable appearances in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart Wii (in which they were planned to be playable at some point in development), Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Golf: World Tour.

In the Mario Party games, the Hammer Bros. make small appearances in most minigames. They also appear as capsule items in Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 7, with the effect of taking away coins from other players. The Hammer Bro has also been available as a playable character in Mario Party 8 (unlocked by beating the Hammer Bro at the Star Battle Arcade) and Super Mario Party. In Mario Party DS, a Hammer Bro appeared as a boss in Toadette's Music Room. A Hammer Bro and Fire Bro also co-hosted Battle minigames in Mario Party 9 and Mario Party 10, which involved them taking away several Mini Stars from each player prior to the minigame and then redistributing them afterwards based on the results of the minigame.

Other Appearances

Video Games

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Hammer Bros. have appeared as an Assist Trophy from Super Smash Bros. Brawl onwards. They have also appeared as enemies in "The Subspace Emissary" of Brawl and the Smash Run mode of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Their appearances have been accompanied by normal trophies in Brawl and the 3DS Smash Bros., and Brawl also had a sticker of a Hammer Bro using art from New Super Mario Bros..
In The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, the player could obtain a Hammer Bros. costume that was referred to as Hammerwear. Wearing this outfit would make the Magic Hammer item more powerful.

Trivia

The many varieties of Hammer Bros. was briefly parodied in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, where Hamma Jamma mentioned his aspirations to become a "Business Bro" rather than a traditional Hammer Bro.
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door a Hammer Bro named Hamma claims his grandfather was one of the original Hammer Bros. in Level 8-1 of Super Mario Bros. (although he probably means 7-1 or is a liar, as there are no Hammer Bros. in level 8-1).

Hammer Bros.

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