Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Top 10 Annoying Super Mario Mooks

Image by Liquid Genius


Every series has mooks that you despise having to deal with. Castlevania has those bothersome Medusa Heads, Mega Man has Mets and Sonic has those freaking Slicers. Throughout Mario's lengthy history of saving that lady in pink, he's amassed quite a large selection of flunkies. Here are ten Super Mario Mooks I don't like putting up with.

10. Pokey



Debuting in Super Mario Bros. 2, Pokey moves at the pace of a snail and has multiple body parts. In his first game he was quite annoying because you had to hit his head to get rid of him altogether. Hitting any other body part would just make him shorter. He wasn't so bad In Super Mario World. If you had Yoshi you could quickly eat his body parts until he was all gone. Pokey would eventually make his way to the 3D Mario games where he'd gain some new attack patterns such as use of thorns in their bodies as well as trying to crush Mario. I always feel safer dealing with these guys in any Mario game that allows Yoshi or lets you kill them with a power-up. Unfortunately, I'm not always so lucky.

09. Wiggler



These chaps look happy enough, but one stomp on them sends them into a burning red rage where they move much faster than they did before. They be easy to deal with alone but in a confined area in a groups, they can be a problem. Once they get angry, it's impossible to make them go yellow again and they can't be killed with a head stomp. You need Yoshi, a Starman, or a Koopa Shell to get these creatures out of your hair.

08. Blooper



Water levels mean lots of pipes, Cheep-Cheeps and Bloopers, my most hated aquatic foe of the Super Mario series. You pretty much need a Fire Flower if you're going underwater in a 2D Mario, otherwise, there isn't much you can do to fend these things off. If you weren't careful, these guys could even chase you to the surface in the Super Mario Galaxy games. In Super Mario Sunshine, they not only learned to survive on land, they could shoot goop at you as well.

07. Piranha Plant



Always hiding out in pipes, these were some of the most annoying enemies in the original Super Mario Bros. There presence was about as frequent as Goombas and since they were always hanging out in pipes, you had to time your jumps. In Super Mario Bros. 3, they learned to shoot fireballs, making them an even greater threat. The main reason people hate Pipe Land so much? These freaks right here. In 2D Mario adventures they only could make no physical contact with them but in 3D games, they can be punched, kicked or stomped out if he doesn't have a power-up handy. I must admit that I took great satisfaction in sneaking up on the sleeping Piranha Plants in Super Mario 64 and clocking them good. One of the Special World levels in New Super Mario Bros. Wii takes place on ice-made blocks and it's overloaded with Piranha Plants that shoot fire. It's every bit as bad as you can imagine it to be.

06. Magikoopa



I straight up hate this guy. In Super Mario World, he was bad enough when he'd materialize out of thin air, turn blocks into enemies with their magic rods. Magikoopa returned in the 3D games starting with Super Mario Galaxy. In Super Mario 3D Land, precision jumps were made much more difficult with these guys flinging magic in your general direction, especially on those auto scrolling airship levels.

05. Chargin' Chuck



Sometimes he throws baseballs, footballs, and sometimes he uses a hockey stock to slam rocks at you. Just what sport is he supposed to be playing? Does he even know? I digress. Despite only appearing in one game  (Super Mario World) the Chucks managed to be quite an annoyance. I'm guessing because of that football helmet and all that padding that it takes quite a number of stomps to take Chuck out of the game, fewer if you're on Yoshi. Sometimes they can split into threes and charge right at you. The footballs he throws are pretty easy to dodge but those baseballs can be annoying if you don't have a Cape Feather. And don't even get me started on their appearance in the Special World level Tubular. *Shudders*

04. Snifit



Snifit thankfully doesn't travel in packs, but that's probably because he's enough to deal with all by himself. Attacking from a distance, Snifit shoots ammo at you from his mask. The only Super Mario game he's been in is Super Mario Bros. 2 and after all these years, he still gives me a hard time.

03. Boss Bass



Cheep-Cheeps aren't too tough to deal with. After all, they are pretty small and mostly stay underwater. Even when they jump out of the water to attack, it isn't really anything to panic over. But when they are enormous in size and try to swallow you whole, then you've got serious problems. Boss Bass first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 and instilled within me a deep sense of fear when he swallowed my Fire Flower Mario in one gulp. Boss Bass doesn't screw around. He doesn't care what suit or special power up you have. If he has a chance to make a meal out of you, you'd best believe he'll capitalize on it. The second you see this guy, killing him should be your top priority, lest you want to know what his insides look like.

02. Hammer Bros.



They can be throwing hammers. They can throw fireballs. It doesn't matter if they happen to be tossing boomerangs. The Hammer Bros. and their extended family are one of the biggest headaches in the history of the Super Mario franchise, having been a thorn in gamer's side since the original Super Mario Bros. Annoying solo, they often travel in pairs and their hammers have quite the reach. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was already a difficult game, but some sadistic person on the development team thought it would be a good idea to let these guys move towards you while they threw hammers. In Super Mario Bros. 3, you could give them a taste of poetic justice by using the Hammer Suit to dispose of them.

01. Lakitu



Of all the mooks on this list, this is the only one I want to choke. Lakitu has been nuisance for twenty seven years, hanging overhead in his floating cloud, chucking Spinys at you. Basically, Lakitu is a pest that makes more pests. He made the upper portion of Sky Land in Super Mario Bros. 3 so aggravating by appearing in nearly every level. I always kill Lakitu on the count of that I hate him so much. His death cries in Super Mario Galaxy 2 greatly please me.

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