#eeligon

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Hooligon (again) Debut: Super Paper Mario

That's right! After Mod Chikako and Mod F Boy gave their respective namesakes New Posts, it was only a matter of time that I'd give Hooligon the same treatment. It only took... over a year and a half! Yippee! Good things come to those who wait, and are made by those who procrastinate. Those are words of wisdom that will last you a lifetime!

As you can see in the image above, Hooligon is. Well. It just is! I can't tell you what this is supposed to be! This is easily one of the most abstract enemy designs in the entire Mario franchise, and I love it for precisely that reason. Even by the standards of Super Paper Mario, a game FULL of some of the series' strangest enemies, Hooligon is still weird! I don't know if I can confidently claim Hooligon as the Weirdest Mario Enemy, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the top 10.

I can tell you one thing that Hooligon is, and that's a rascal! I mean, the name should be the obvious sign -- Hooligon is a hooligan! Its catch card description states that it loves to wreak havoc in the depths of space, and that they blend into their habitat, waiting to attack... If you go to space, watch out! You might get Hooligon Jumpscared!

This is especially true if you end up in the Whoa Zone, which I assume is their natural habitat. They also appear on Planet Blobule, in Castle Bleck, and in the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials, but I figure the abstract enemy made of green squares is probably from the abstract place also made of green squares. If they're blending into their habitat, then this seems to be the habitat they'd be blending into!

In particular, there's just one room in the Whoa Zone full of Hooligons, with them covering every single surface. There's no escape! Not even in the third dimension, as Hooligons are one of the very few enemies in this game to be three-dimensional! If you're ever feeling down, remember: you have as many dimensions as a weird polygonal snake-type thing in Super Paper Mario (2007)! That always manages to cheer me up.

Hooligons are relatives of the red Eeligon, as an RPG like Super Paper Mario needs to give as many enemies color variations as possible to pad out its bestiary. I'm not complaining! It gives me more to talk about!

For instance, I think "Eeligon" is a funny name. Not as funny as Hooligon, but I appreciate that the localizers decided that this thing is an eel. I guess it's long, and it swims around in space, but that's about where the similarities end. Then again, if starfish and jellyfish can be fish, then sure, why can't Eeligon be an eel? I can't think of anything else it would be.

As discussed in the original post, unlike most color variations, Hooligon and Eeligon are differentiated by their behavior, rather than their health or strength. They have the exact same stats, but Eeligons are swimmers, while Hooligons are hoppers! That being said, for both of them, you need to aim for the head to deal any damage. If you hit their tails, you'll just remove one of their many square segments.

In their Catch Card description, Eeligons are described as having big egos. I don't have anything else to say on that point, I just figured you should know that.

Interestingly enough, despite the fact that Hooligon can be encountered first, appears more frequently, and has the better name, Hooligon is treated as an Eeligon variant, and not the other way around. Hooligon appears after Eeligon in the list of Catch Cards, the variant in the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials is named Dark Eeligon despite having Hooligon behavior, and in Japanese, Eeligon is Furēgon, while Hooligon is Furēgon Plus!

There's not much more to say about these guys. They only appeared in one game, and that's probably the only appearance they're ever gonna get. That being said, I appreciate them a lot. I mean, why wouldn't I? There's a reason I'm Mod Hooligon! Either way, I hope I was able to share some of that appreciation with you. :) Have a nice day

[linkandorf]

random mario wiki article button is my best friend

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Eeligon and Hooligon

Debut: Super Paper Mario

Between the Longator family, and the Eeligon family, space is full of a lot of weird polygonal enemies, huh? I don’t mind too much, since I really like these guys, and “Hooligon” is easily the best name they could give some polygonal eel-snake-thing. These segmented enemies can only be hit from the head, everything else just shortens their body, but there’s something that makes Eeligon and Hooligon particularly interesting! You see, Super Paper Mario has a lot of enemies that are just stronger recolors of other enemies, for example, the red Rawbus is a whole lot stronger than the purple Jawbus, and both don’t compare to the grey Gawbus, right? Well, this isn’t quite the case with Eeligon and Hooligon. These two enemies have the exact same stats, with the only difference being their behavior! Eeligons float around through space, while Hooligons hop around on the ground. You can remember it with this simple mnemonic, that the “H” in Hooligon is for “Hop,” while the “E” in Eeligon is for… well, just remember that first one. You’ll know the one that isn’t hopping is an Eeligon. Simple, right?

Wrong.

Name: Dark Eeligon

Debut: Super Paper Mario

These guys are definitely posers. They call themselves “Dark Eeligons,” but how do they attack you? That’s right, they’re hoppers. My thought was that maybe Eeligon is the default, and it makes sense considering Hooligon’s Japanese name is just “Eeligon Plus,” but even more strangely, Hooligon is encountered before Eeligon! I’ll always love the Eeligon/Hooligon family, regardless of their baffling naming pattern, but still, we need answers Nintendo! We need answers!

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Siphonogon

Debut: Super Paper Mario 2

Did you know Super Paper Mario 2 was a thing? I didn’t! Not until now at least! I guess it was always kind of weird that there were two classic Paper Mario games, two modern Paper Mario games, but only one “Super” era game. It’s a bit of a collector’s item, actually -- it was very poorly advertised, and released with little fanfare to mediocre reviews. Unfortunately, its story wasn’t on the grand scale that Super Paper Mario’s story was on, and combined with the oft-criticized gameplay of the original, it left so little of an impact that it got forgotten, and led to the series evolving into what it did today. Unfortunate!

But for all that went wrong, a lot went RIGHT as well, mainly a whole BUFFET of new Weird Mario Enemies to talk about! Including THIS wonderful buddy, named “Siphonogon,” which you long-time readers may recognize as a new variant of my all-time favorite Mario enemy, the Hooligon!

Siphonogons are underwater enemies which swim towards Mario. As a unique twist on the Eeligon/Hooligon’s gameplay mechanic, Siphonogons have EACH segment as a head, and when split in the middle, Siphonogon will just split into that many more separate enemies! Much like the Hooligon, Siphonogon segments will also speed up the fewer there are in a row, meaning that splitting a Siphonogon over and over in the middle will only lead to you being swarmed by SEVERAL fast, tiny enemies.

So how do you take it down best? Aim for the head, just as you would on a regular Hooligon! That way it doesn’t split up into several smaller ones, and can be taken out with relative ease! It’s a fun shake-up to the classic Hooligon design, different enough to stand on its own, but still familiar enough that anyone who’s fought a Hooligon should be able to figure it out!

But if ALL THAT wasn’t fun enough, then there’s its inspiration! I’ve always longed for weirder cnidarian representation, and with Siphonogon, that’s just what I got! It’s abstracted a LOT, but this enemy pretty clearly represents a siphonophore, a colonial organism where each individual zooid is technically its own animal, but since they each have specialized functions, they can hardly work on their own. The connection MAY have been loose, but I can not think of ANY other reason this enemy would be named “Siphonogon,” unless it’s that it siphons your health super fast when split up? Pffft, nah.

This may very well be my dream enemy. I almost wish I knew it existed sooner, so I could become “Mod Siphonogon” instead. But alas, I have picked my fate, forever. Talking about fictional enemies on a blog like this forever...

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Jellien

Debut: Super Paper Mario

If there’s one group on animals I personally love more than any others, it has to be the cnidarians. That’s the group with jellies, anemones, and siphonophores, if you didn’t know! And wouldja look at that! Super Paper Mario gives us a space jelly! Truly, this game keeps on delivering.

I like Jellien, because it’s really the only space enemy in Super Paper Mario that looks all that much like a familiar lifeform. Maybe Eeligon, but it looks more “weird square thing” than eel, only looking similar through the fact that it’s long. You could easily mistake it for a centipede or snake, if you don’t know what any of those animals look like. There’s not much mistaking Jellien for anything other than a jellyfish, however, and that’s great. It gives me the impression that being a bag full of nerves is just the ideal life form.

And let’s be frank, jellyfish are the ideal life form. Have you ever seen them in real life? They are absolutely stunning to behold. They look so beautifully otherworldly, almost like the life you’d see in space! However, they live on the same planet we do, which may be even cooler. That being said, it would be cool to discover dozens of space jellies. Imagine if we found moon jellies on the actual moon! I have no idea how anything could live on the moon, but let me dream! Maybe they could live on another planet’s moon, like Europa!

On a final note, they share a name with the antagonist of one of my favorite SpongeBob episodes. Nothing to do with this enemy, but I figured I should point it out anyhow.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Koopa Striker, Toopa Striker, and Soopa Striker

Debut: Super Paper Mario

One of the few Super Paper Mario debuts that is not some sort of geometric thing! Not to say that being a geometric thing is a bad thing, just pointing out that these guys are an exception. Probably because they’re a Koopa variant. Strangely, for the least geometric enemy debut in the game, they first appear in the Bitlands, an entire world inspired by ol’ blocky 8-bit graphics. But enough introduction! Let’s talk about the Koopa Strikers!

So soccer-playing Koopas is a pretty novel idea, and I love that their shells look like soccer balls. Koopa Strikers and Toopa Strikers are an Eeligon/Hooligon-type case, where their only difference is behavior, Koopa Strikers attack solo, Toopa Strikers attack in duos, right? Soopa Striker is just stronger. But now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to the juicy meat of this enemy: they play soccer with their shells. I know Koopas aren’t exactly turtles. If you knock ‘em out of their shells, they’ll be wearing their beach shorts and look mildly disgruntled, but on a regular turtle that’s part of their skeleton. And this only gets worse when you note that Koopa Strikers keep pulling out more shells to kick towards you. Where are they getting those?

What I’m getting at is that a Koopa Striker is like a human baseball player taking out their spine to bat the ball, only to throw it off to the side, and pull out another spine. Then again, if you’re constantly regenerating your bones quickly, you may as well find a use for it, no?