I thought since the Koopa Troop, or Bowser’s army have so many appearances in animation that I’d split the articles into various ones. This article focuses on one of my favourite parts of the Koopa Troop, their equipment, which includes bases of operations and Various Vehicles.
Firstly, as shown in the pictures above which is probably the most important part of King Bowser Koopa’s army equipment, comes Bowser’s Castle, or Castle Koopa itself. The Castle in the games is always changing similarly to the various parts of the Mushroom Kingdom, like Peach’s Castle. This can be explained away easily by the fact Mario’s always destroying it. King Koopa’s Castle never truly appeared in the Super Mario Bros Super Show, mainly due to the show always doing parodies of various pop culture. As such he did have quite a few castles, but none were at all like his one from the games. For example he had a Castle in the horror themed ‘Count Koopula’ but it was more like Draculas Castle than the one from the games. He also had various places such as an Ice Palace and a Tower of Victoria (a takeoff of the Tower of London) when he was acting like Proffessor Moriarty archenemy of Sherlock Holmes. Koopa having so many castles mirrors the first game where he had a castle in every world, whereas most games after that he has more Towers than actual Castles.
In the Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3, Koopa had a specific Castle in Dark Land, like in the games, called Castle Koopa. This is his most famous Castle, and based on the one that is in most of the games. This Castle coincidently, was the first version of the castle to have Bowser’s face makes up an important part of the design (being the entranceway) and is an idea that was similarly in Paper Mario amongst others.
Super Mario World followed the games as well and gave Koopa a new Castle in Dinosaur World. It’s known as his Neon Castle and more infamously as ‘King Koopa’s Coney Island Disco Palace’ which I guess kinda goes with that Disco ball like light from the game. The Castle had a lot of facilities, including actual sports grounds, which is humorous considering the amount of Mario sports games to feature Bowser’s Castle.
Finally there are the two anime versions of the Castle. The Movie has a pretty ordinary evil castle look with no real distinctions, although this does fit in with the games version at the time. The OVA’s version, which is based on the story of Snow White, actually has probably one of the most visually awe inspiring due to the giant Bowser shaped Mountain it sits on. Compared to the others, on the outside it’s the best, but the inside like most of the others disappoints, as we only see literally two rooms (one of which is a Goomba pit).
This leaves us with the best interior animated version of the Castle
Firstly, as shown in the pictures above which is probably the most important part of King Bowser Koopa’s army equipment, comes Bowser’s Castle, or Castle Koopa itself. The Castle in the games is always changing similarly to the various parts of the Mushroom Kingdom, like Peach’s Castle. This can be explained away easily by the fact Mario’s always destroying it. King Koopa’s Castle never truly appeared in the Super Mario Bros Super Show, mainly due to the show always doing parodies of various pop culture. As such he did have quite a few castles, but none were at all like his one from the games. For example he had a Castle in the horror themed ‘Count Koopula’ but it was more like Draculas Castle than the one from the games. He also had various places such as an Ice Palace and a Tower of Victoria (a takeoff of the Tower of London) when he was acting like Proffessor Moriarty archenemy of Sherlock Holmes. Koopa having so many castles mirrors the first game where he had a castle in every world, whereas most games after that he has more Towers than actual Castles.
In the Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3, Koopa had a specific Castle in Dark Land, like in the games, called Castle Koopa. This is his most famous Castle, and based on the one that is in most of the games. This Castle coincidently, was the first version of the castle to have Bowser’s face makes up an important part of the design (being the entranceway) and is an idea that was similarly in Paper Mario amongst others.
Super Mario World followed the games as well and gave Koopa a new Castle in Dinosaur World. It’s known as his Neon Castle and more infamously as ‘King Koopa’s Coney Island Disco Palace’ which I guess kinda goes with that Disco ball like light from the game. The Castle had a lot of facilities, including actual sports grounds, which is humorous considering the amount of Mario sports games to feature Bowser’s Castle.
Finally there are the two anime versions of the Castle. The Movie has a pretty ordinary evil castle look with no real distinctions, although this does fit in with the games version at the time. The OVA’s version, which is based on the story of Snow White, actually has probably one of the most visually awe inspiring due to the giant Bowser shaped Mountain it sits on. Compared to the others, on the outside it’s the best, but the inside like most of the others disappoints, as we only see literally two rooms (one of which is a Goomba pit).
This leaves us with the best interior animated version of the Castle
I previously mentioned how AOSMB3 version of the Castle was based on the main one from all the games, but it honestly is the best version in animation. Firstly it’s actually situated in Koopa’s own country, Dark Land meaning it was difficult to even get to, but also it was probably one of the most like the games RPG’s depictions. We get Koopa’s throne room where most of his plans are talked over with his kids, as well as rooms such as the Jail cells, bedrooms, a lab for Kooky and an underground fire pit. Also a cool feature was that it was constantly being patrolled by various enemies from the games, with Ptooies, Thwomps and Sledge Bros walking around trying to kill anyone they don’t recognise. It really helped make it seem like an actual level from a video game as opposed to some random Castle like most of the others seem.
I’ve included above a picture of one of the only notable things about the Castle from SMW, which were the various traps from the games. These included objects such as the ball on chains, as well as those pencil shaped crushing implements and the chained fences which you could climb up in the games. Overall it was definitely the second best version of the Castle, but not as good as his original in his own country.
Next up, another thing that first appeared in SMB3, the Doomship, or Airships. Now I know that looking above, the cartoon version and the official game art look completely different, but actually the Doomship is almost an exact replica of the in-game version. If you see a diagram of a full version of one of the ships, you’ll see that it doesn’t resemble the concept art at all, it looks like a bunch of stringed together platforms with cannons and flame throwers everywhere, so actually that physically impossible shape is exactly how it looked in the original games. The Airships have made a few reappearances in the games, but they all resemble the artwork above pretty much now. The only real difference between the games and cartoon version, is that Koopa only seems to have one airship in the cartoon, whereas each of his kids have one in the game. The cartoon follows the game’s events, so technically they could of all been destroyed leaving his only ship. There are also floating ships in both the OVA and Anime Movie, but they are more flying boats and are used by Mario both times, so whilst they might be a precursor to the Doomship, I’m not including them.
Next up in war machines we have the small airships from a single level in the games. Coincidently, I believe these things reappeared in Mario Galaxy, as on Bowser Jr’s Airship Armada there’s a tiny ship which flies you straight to the boss whilst you dodge all the bigger ships cannons. Anyway, they made a very short appearance in the cartoon, with their appearance setting up the actual plot of the episode, as they drop different coloured paint on the Mushroom People, making them eventually become racist bigots or whatever due to the Koopalings, anyway, their design is pretty much the same to some of the ships in the armada (the ships in the game shot above are different ones from the same level.)
Next up is another minor appearance. The Tanks patrol Dark Land exactly like in the games, with a Rocky Wrench inside to throw spanners at the Mario’s as well as cannonballs. Overall they are essentially the game Tanks in animated form so that’s a point to the cartoon.
Finally, and the only Super Mario World thing on this list (well other than Bowser’s Castle) is the Ghost House. This is actually an actual Ghost House from the games, as it is based on the one in ‘The Enchanted Forest’ which is the cartoons name for the Forest of Illusion. This fairs pretty well actually, as it’s a house with Boos in it, also another thing to note, is that Yoshi’s too scared to go in there until the end of the episode, which kind of works with him not going into Ghost Houses in the games. The only real difference I can think of with it is that a Koopa Wizard (or magikoopa) is in charge there, other than that though it’s a pretty good adaptation of it.
