Iggy Koopa in official artwork for Super Mario Bros. 3.
Iggy Koopa is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario franchise. He is the fourth oldest of the Koopalings, the children of Bowser. Iggy is depicted as a mechanical genius, who is also demented and is generally portrayed as having a rainbow mohawk and glasses with swirls on them.
Character history[]
Super Mario Bros. 3[]
Iggy with a Magic Scepter in Super Mario Bros. 3.
Iggy's first appearance was in Super Mario Bros. 3, in which he aids his siblings and father in their plot to conquer all of the Mushroom World. Using his army and weaponry, Iggy took control of Big Island, the rightful king of which, he turned into a dinosaur (or a Donkey Kong Jr. look-alike in remakes) using his own stolen Magic Scepter.
Iggy can be found and battled by Mario in the cabin of his personal Airship, which is heavily guarded by various traps. In battle, Iggy would try to either jump on to Mario or shoot magical blasts of energy at him using his stolen Magic Scepter. After being jumped on three times by Mario, Iggy would be beaten and would relinquish the Magic Scepter of Giant Land's ruler.
Super Mario World[]
Iggy battling Fire Mario in Super Mario World.
Sometime after the events of Super Mario Bros. 3, Iggy returned with his family in Super Mario World, aiding them in their conquest of Dinosaur Land. When Dinosaur Land was successfully subjugated by Bowser's forces, Iggy was given reign over Yoshi's Island, in a castle where he guarded a Yoshi trapped within an egg.
Located deep within his castle, Iggy fought Mario by charging at him on a platform floating haphazardly in lava; Iggy was immune to all of Mario's attacks, and could only be knocked back by them. Iggy was defeated by Mario by being knocked backwards and into the lava surrounding the platform the battle is taking place on.
Mario is Missing![]
Though absent from the NES version of Mario is Missing!, Iggy is in the SNES and PC versions of the game, the latter of which he spoke entirely in rhyme. In this game, Iggy travels to Antarctica with his father and some of his siblings, trying to aid them in stealing artifacts, which Bowser intended to sell in order to raise funds to buy hairdryers from Hafta Havit Mail-Order; with these hairdryers, Bowser planned to melt Antarctica, flooding the Earth.
Iggy is encountered by Luigi in Bowser's Antarctic fortress; while looking for Mario and stopping Bowser's plot, Iggy is fought by Luigi, who can easily defeat him by stomping on his head repeatedly (or, in the PC version, hit by a fireball).
Yoshi's Safari[]
In Yoshi's Safari, Iggy helped his family invade the kingdom of Jewelry Land; stealing the jewels that that maintained the stability in Jewelry Land, Bowser entrusted one of these jewels to Iggy, who was given domain over Grand Bridge. To aid his family in the conquest of Jewelry Land, Iggy created seven heavily armed mechs, one for himself and the other six for his brothers and sister.
Utilizing a large mech whose appearance was based upon a Blooper, Iggy had six cannons on his mech, one located in the end of six of his mech's ten tentacles. Iggy would need to be blasted repeatedly with Mario's Super Scope to be injured; Iggy's Blooper mech, upon sustaining enough damage, would explode, and Iggy would be left floating on a piece of debris floating on the ocean, waving a white flag.
Hotel Mario[]
In Hotel Mario, Iggy, unlike his siblings, did not gain a hotel when the Mushroom Kingdom was taken over by Bowser; instead, Iggy was located inside Bowser's Seizure Palace Hotel, in "Bowser's BBQ Room".
In his battle against Mario in Hotel Mario, Iggy wore an oversized Bowser mask and, along with jumping between floors, could spit fireballs and summon a small amount of lightning that could strike Mario. Iggy's Bowser mask would need to be jumped on repeatedly by Mario to defeat Iggy; eventually, Iggy's mask would fall off and he would be defeated, summoning the real Bowser to battle.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga[]
Iggy as he appears in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
Iggy's most recent appearance has been in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, where he, along with his siblings (excluding the recently introduced Bowser Jr.) were employed by Cackletta to protect Bowser's Castle, which was converted into a flying fortress used to attack Beanbean Castle Town, from Mario and Luigi.
Iggy is the first of the Koopalings encountered by Mario and Luigi, and before battling the two, Iggy will spin rapidly, making Mario and Luigi dizzy before fleeing further into his room. Mario and Luigi would need to dizzily stumble through the traps in Iggy's room to reach the bespectacled Koopa and fight him.
Physical Description[]
Iggy is known to have a rainbow mohawk with the colors red, yellow, ad blue in a pattern. His mohawk resembles his brother Lemmy's hair except his looks more straight, less messy, and pointed upward. He is shown to have thick glasses with swirls on them, though some art depicts him with blue eyes. But the difference of his eyes might just because of his emotions. Strangely, it is unknown how he wears glasses because he (or other species of koopas) have never been depicted with ears. He also seems to be one of the smaller Koopalings. He also has four visible fangs in the upper corners of both sides of his snout.
Other Appearances[]
In Super Mario Sunshine, Iggy makes a small cameo appearance, being shown on a small screen battling Mario in Super Mario World, near the start of the game, where Mario is scanned by FLUDD.
In Super Scope 9, Iggy is seen riding across a missile after Mario in a plane. If he is shot down the player will earn points.
Appearances in Other Media[]
Hop Koopa
Anime[]
In the Super Mario Amada series, Iggy and his siblings appear in the series' first story, Momotarō, where they aid Bowser in kidnapping Princess Peach. Iggy also appears in the series' third story, once again aiding Bowser, reimagined as the Wicked Queen, in his plot.
Cartoons[]
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, Iggy was renamed Hop Koopa and he, along with his twin, Hip Koopa, were portrayed as the youngest of the Koopalings. Unlike some of the other cartoon Koopalings, Hop closely resembled his game artwork. Hop and Hip were constantly seen together, and the duo were constantly pulling pranks on unsuspecting citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. Like many stereotypical twins, Hop and Hip would often share their sentences by either speaking in unison or finishing each other's lines. Additionally, Hop was not portrayed as an inventor like in the games; that role went to Kooky.
Publications[]
Iggy appeared in both the Nintendo Comics System and Nintendo Adventure Books, the latter of which first displayed his habit of inventing things, such as the Monster Mixer or the GLOM. Iggy also appears in Super Mario Adventures as do his brothers and sister, who act as Bowser's henchmen in his plot to kidnap and marry Princess Toadstool.
Personality[]
Iggy is portrayed as being a mechanical genius, having invented various machines used by the Koopa Troop, most notably the mechs used by his siblings in Yoshi's Safari. He known by many as the second smartest, only being beaten by Ludwig. It is also rumored he is constantly being bullied by his older brother Roy Koopa. Many assume his hobby is inventing things for the Koopa Troop. Also, according to in-game dialogue in Super Mario World, Iggy is also demented, essentially making him a mad genius. In Mario is Missing!, Iggy spoke completely in rhyme. In the comics he seemed to think his father was somewhat stupid and acted like he was smarter.
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, Hop was quite childish in personality, and often pulled pranks instead of causing true crimes, though some episodes had him doing so.
In the Super Mario Amada series, Nintendo Comics System, and Super Mario Adventures, Iggy's personality was largely identical to that of his brothers, with him having no real defining characteristics.