Jr. Troopa

A sprite of Jr. Troopa as seen in Paper Mario.
Jr. Troopa
Species	Koopa
Debut	Paper Mario

Jr. Troopa is a recurring boss character from Paper Mario.

Background

Jr. Troopa was a young Koopa who wore pieces of his egg shell as headwear and clothing. He was the local bully of Goomba Village and claimed an area of the Goomba's Forest as his personal playground. He was easily agitated by others, and he would become known for his persistence in pursuing grudges. He was known to pick fights with others, even if they seemed stronger than him, and his other hobbies included working out and ordering things by mail, which would play a significant role in his appearances throughout the game.

Mario first encountered him in the prologue of Paper Mario, when he and Goompa had entered his turf in search of Goompa's Hammer. After being defeated in battle, Jr. Troopa became set on gaining revenge on Mario and pursued him to various areas throughout the game for five more matches. With each battle, he had gained some new ability. For their second fight, at Pleasant Path, he hid within his egg shell pieces to increase his defense. He then pursued them to Forever Forest, where he grew wings in order to execute aerial attacks.

Afterwards, he swam across the ocean to Lavalava Island, only to arrive just as Mario had left. This caused him to swim back the way he came in order to confront Mario. In that battle, Jr. Troopa could fly and gained a spike on his head, but he was weakened from all of the swimming he did, which cut his HP in half. This caused him to be defeated more easily, and he only realized after the fact that he could have just used his wings to fly over the ocean without exhausting so much energy. His next appearance was at Shiver Snowfield. That time, he did not use his wings or spike. Instead, he had taken a course on magic, and so he used a magic wand to attack Mario with blasts of magic.

He has a distinct fear of bugs and a hatred of both water and snow, and is seen to be a crazy man by most people. He and Mario faced off a final time in Bowser's Castle after Jr. Troopa took down the Koopa Bros. with one hit each, though Jr. Troopa lost again and still promised to get Mario the next time.

Trivia

• Jr. Troopa's hobby is ordering stuff by mail.
• While Jr. Troopa himself doesn't appear in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, he can be seen in the background of the letter that Zip Toad sends to Mario.