#toopa striker

[suppermariobroth]

In Super Paper Mario, the rare Toopa Striker enemy (spelled "Toopa" instead of "Troopa" as a pun on usually appearing in groups of two) normally attacks by kicking a soccer-themed shell back and forth. However, it has an obscure interaction only experienced under specific circumstances.

If the player decides to make Mario stand on a platform where the shell would not reach him, and enough time passes, the Toopa Striker will suddenly switch up its strategy and kick the shell directly at Mario, which it normally has no indication of being capable of doing. This is likely to surprise players unprepared for that attack, as shown in the footage.

As most players would try to defeat the enemy long before this strategy is activated, this is likely to not be seen by the vast majority of players during a normal playthrough.

Main Blog | Twitter | Patreon | Source: youtube.com user "Fatguy703"

[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?