Lemmy Koopa as he appears in Super Mario Bros. 3.
Lemmy Koopa is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario franchise. He is the second oldest of the Koopalings, the children of Bowser. However, despite his age, he is rather small. He is recognized by his rainbow mohawk and lazy eye. He was supposedly named after Lemmy Kilmister, the lead singer and bass guitarist of the English heavy metal band Motörhead.
Character history[]
Super Mario Bros. 3[]
Lemmy in Super Mario Bros. 3 with a Magic Scepter.
Lemmy's first appearance in a game was in Super Mario Bros. 3, where he and his siblings aided Bowser in his attack and conquest of the various lands of the Mushroom World. While his brothers and sister took over other lands, Lemmy attacked and conquered Iced Land, stealing the Magic Scepter of the land's king and subsequently turned him into a seal (or Monty Mole, depending on the version of the game).
Like the other Koopalings, Lemmy was found and battled by Mario in the cabin of his Airship; in battle, Lemmy would hop around the room on a rubber ball and try to blast Mario with his stolen Magic Scepter. Being jumped on the head three times defeated Lemmy, allowing Mario to reclaim the Magic Scepter of Iced Land's ruler.
Super Mario World[]
After the events of Super Mario Bros. 3, Lemmy next appeared in Super Mario World, aiding his family in their attack on Dinosaur Land. Lemmy inhabited the Vanilla Dome in a castle, where he guarded a kidnapped Yoshi trapped in an egg.
In his battle against Mario, Lemmy wouldn't attack the plumber directly, instead he would simply pop out of a Warp Pipe in his chamber, along with two Lemmy look-a-like dolls. Mario would need to jump on Lemmy's head three times to knock him out of the end of his Warp Pipe and into the lava below, avoiding the fake Lemmys as well as a bouncing Podoboo.
Yoshi's Safari[]
In Yoshi's Safari, Lemmy once again aided his family in attacking another land. This time, Bowser took over Jewelry Land, and gave Lemmy a magic gem to guard, and custody over Grass Land.
In his battle against Mario and Yoshi, Lemmy would ride in a large mech resembling a humanoid Koopa Clown Car equipped with five cannons. After sustaining heavy damage from Mario's Super Scope, Lemmy would lose the use of his center cannon and begin to hop around the battlefield; eventually, after being damaged some more, Lemmy's mech would explode, flinging the Koopaling over the horizon.
Hotel Mario[]
In Hotel Mario, Lemmy and his siblings aided Bowser in his plot to steal away Princess Peach and to hide her in several hotels which the Koopa family had taken over in the Mushroom Kingdom. After his brother Larry is defeated by Mario and Luigi and his hotel explodes, Princess Peach is flung into the clouds and into Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel, where Lemmy takes possession of her.
The battle was located in "Lemmy's Sky Hideout", and the Koopaling attacked Mario by throwing paper planes at him while flying to different hotel floors using a helicopter pack. To defeat Lemmy, Mario would need to close all the doors in the area. Once Princess Peach is rescued, Lemmy would attempt to chase after her, Mario and Luigi, only to be blown away with his hotel by a large fan activated by Mario.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga[]
After several years of absence, Lemmy made a return appearance in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. After hijacking Bowser's Castle and using it to attack Beanbean Castle Town, Bowletta employed Lemmy and his siblings (except Bowser Jr., who was conspicuously absent) to guard the various halls of the castle.
When first encountered by Mario and Luigi, Lemmy would try to confuse them by disguising Goombas as himself; in order to engage in battle with Lemmy, Mario or Luigi would need to hit him, not a copy, with their hammer.
Other Appearances[]
Though Lemmy doesn't appear in Mario is Missing!, it is mentioned in the PC version of the game that he did indeed travel to Earth with Bowser and his siblings; instead of aiding Bowser in his plot to melt Antarctica, Lemmy decided to play in the snow and ice.
In LazerBlazer - Type A: Intercept mode of the game Super Scope 6, Lemmy, along with Mario, makes a small cameo in the game. Lemmy can be seen occasionally riding a missile in the game, and if players blast him out of the air, they will either recover a miss or gain points.
In other media[]
Anime[]
Lemmy, as well as his siblings were featured in the Super Mario Amada series, a set of three Japanese OVAs. In the Mario retelling of the story "Momotaro", Lemmy and his siblings appear as minions of Bowser, aiding him in abducting Princess Toadstool. In "Shirayukihime (Snow White)" Lemmy also appears as a minion of Bowser once again; like his brothers and sister, Lemmy ends-up being beaten by Mario.
Cartoons[]
Hip Koopa
On The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, Lemmy was renamed Hip Koopa and would often hang-out and pull pranks with his brother Hop Koopa, whom he was twins with. In the continuity of the cartoons, Hip and Hop were the youngest Koopalings, and were portrayed as six-year-olds, while the rest of the Koopalings were in their teens. Like many stereotypical twins, Hop and Hip would often share their sentences by either speaking in unison or finishing each other's lines. In the cartoons, Hip had thinner hair than Lemmy, a large overbite, one spike on his shell, and didn't appear to have a lazy eye.
Publications[]
Lemmy also appeared in the Nintendo Comics System and Nintendo Adventure Books; out of all the Koopalings, Lemmy appeared the most times in Nintendo Comics System. He was depicted with low intelligence, using too many bombs to blow up a pipe when trying to help Bowser blow up the Mushroom Kingdom's main water pipes in "The Buddy System". Ironically, Lemmy was the only one who could understand Larry's picture-only dialogue. He is also a big fan of Dirk Drain-Head.
Lemmy also had a prominent role in the White Knuckle Scorin' comic. Bowser, being illiterate, gets Lemmy to read a spell for him, which Lemmy eagerly agrees to do because he wants to show off the reading skills that he learned from Princess Toadstool, but he ends up reading the wrong spell. Later, Lemmy helps the good guys by telling them to attack Bowser by throwing Mecha-Koopas at his head.
Lemmy was also featured in the Super Mario Adventures comic. Here, he aided Bowser in his plot to marry Princess Toadstool.
Personality[]
It's mentioned in the various manuals and guide books of games that Lemmy, despite being the second oldest of the Koopalings, is exceedingly immature, preferring to clown around instead of committing crimes and conquest; this is proven in Mario is Missing!, where he simply plays in the cold and snow instead of helping Bowser in his plan to flood the Earth. It has also been stated Lemmy would rather join the circus than try to destroy Mario; he is already clownish in how he loves balancing on top of his rubber ball (it is even rumored that he learned to do this trick before walking). He seems to have a passion for the cold and ice as he was the ruler of Iced Land and decided to play in the snow when he traveled to Earth. It has been stated that he relies on gadgets (which could have been built by his more intelligent siblings, Ludwig and Iggy). His helicopter pack from Hotel Mario may be an example of this dependence.
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, Hip is more mischievous than truly evil on most occasions, and preferred to simply play pranks instead of cause havoc; though several episodes, such as "Life's Ruff", showed him capable of causing real chaos.
In Nintendo Comics System, Lemmy was somewhat childish and unintelligent, and seemed more keen on simply helping his father and trying to gain his appreciation then actually causing evil, which made him more like a cross-eyed idiot. Like Mario and several of Bowser's minions, Lemmy also had an obsession with the plumbing-based hero Dirk Drain-Head and could somehow understand Larry's picture-only dialogue, while no one else could at all. In Nintendo Adventure Books, a continuation of Nintendo Comics System, Lemmy was portrayed as somewhat crazed in demeanor and much more menacing on some occasions.
In the Super Mario Amada series and Super Mario Adventures, Lemmy's personality was, more or less, identical to his brothers' own, with no real differentiating quirks or attributes.
Physical appearance[]
Lemmy is actually the smallest of the original seven Koopalings, which has led many to mistakenly believe he is the youngest as well. He has a rainbow mohawk with the colors pink, blue, red, yellow, and green, in that order. He has a lazy eye and a disproportionately large head; and his unorthodox appearance is rounded off by the fact that he seems to balance atop a rubber ball most of the time.
Abilities[]
Like his siblings, Lemmy is highly skilled in sorcery and can breathe fire. He also has access to high tech gadgets and weapons, like the other Koopalings.