Saturday, February 24, 2007

Super Mario 3D Games

Goombas in Super Mario 64 can be defeated by a kick as well as the traditional stomp.The Goombas' physical appearance in Super Mario 64 is based on their Super Mario Bros. 3 design, albeit in a 3D-rendered form. Their behavior changes slightly in that instead of wandering back and forth they first perform a small hop when they spot Mario, as if to indicate surprise, and then give chase to him. Similar to most Mario games, the Goombas in Super Mario 64 can be killed by stomping. However, in this game Mario has additional physical attacks besides ordinary jumping, and Goombas can also be killed with these new abilities. The giant Goombas will yield blue coins if Mario performs the ground-pound attack on them.

In Super Mario Sunshine, there are no Goombas, but a creature similar to an orange Goomba called "Strollin' Stu"/"Puffy Widget", that wears spotted briefs, is one of the most common enemies. According to The Perfect Guide of Super Mario Sunshine, these are the Isle Delfino versions of Goombas. Its Japanese name is "Hamkuri".

Super Mario 64 DS, a remake of Super Mario 64 on Nintendo DS, has some modifications. One of them is the addition of an original boss called Goomboss. The Goomba complains to Yoshi that his junior siblings have been stomped on in previous Mario games. Goomboss looks virtually identical to King Goomba from Paper Mario and is the same person. He is one of Bowser's recurring elite, like King Boo or the boss Wiggler. Goomboss returned as a Mission mode boss in Mario Kart DS.

In the E3 demo of Super Mario Galaxy, as well as several promotional images, it shows that goombas will, in fact, be featured in this next 3D Mario installment. They also are very similar to the Super Mario 64 goombas.

Super Mario 2D Games

The Goombas in the original Super Mario Bros. establish basic qualities of Goombas for subsequent Mario games. For example, the original Goombas are very common walking enemies and disappear once Mario stomps on them. This ever-present and vulnerable nature of Goombas appears in later games such as Super Mario Bros. 3. Furthermore, the original Goombas use the strategy of attacking in groups of two or three, which repeats extensively among Goombas in later games. This forces Mario to cautiously stomp on a single Goomba to avoid being attacked by a nearby Goomba, especially in an enclosed space, although with the proper velocity and timing, it is usually possible to bounce off of one onto the next, killing them all without touching the ground, gaining more points in the process. In addition, the original Goombas introduce the fundamental collision detection for a generic Goomba. When a Goomba collides with an obstacle or another Mario enemy, the Goomba will always walk away in the opposite direction. While certain Mario enemy sprites such as the Cheep-Cheep would pass through other Mario enemy sprites, the Goomba will react to other Mario enemies. This collision reaction is evident in later Mario games as well.

In Super Mario Bros., Goombas appear as blue in underground levels and grey in castles. However, this is actually due to the limited color palette of the game, which is why grey Goombas' appearances have been rare to nonexistent. Their color appearance is likely due to an evolutionary trait. They blend into the surroundings to make them less visible to both predators and prey. The colored Goombas however, make a reappearance in Paper Mario as Gloombas in Toad Town Sewers, and like regular Goombas, come in Gloomba form, Spiked Gloomba form and Paragloomba form, and each have seven HP. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door continues the use of the enemy, and places them in the Pit of 100 Trials. The Paper Mario series' use of blue Goombas is probably intended to be a nostalgic reference to the original.

In the North American release of Super Mario Bros. 2, there are no Goombas in the entire game. This comes from the fact that the game was a Nintendo adaptation of a pre-existing Japanese game entitled Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, whose storyline has no relation to the Mario game series. Although Nintendo of America replaced a few characters in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic when creating Super Mario Bros. 2, none of the enemies were replaced with Goombas. In contrast, the game released as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan (and known as The Lost Levels in America) has Goombas, since it uses the same game engine as the original Super Mario Bros.


Kuribo's Shoe from Super Mario Bros. 3 can be used by both Mario and Goombas.In Super Mario Bros. 3, the Micro-Goomba and Para-Goomba (see above) were introduced. There are also giant Goombas (called Grand Goombas) in World 4 (Giant Land), but they're no stronger than normal Goombas; just bigger and meaner looking. In addition, in level 5-3, Goombas have the ability to use a power-up that mimics a jump attack similar to Mario's jump attack. These Goombas ride in giant individual green boots with a winding key. When a Goomba equips the boot, the Goomba can jump towards their enemy. Normally, the Goombas die if they are jumped upon from above; however, if they are attacked creatively by destroying the blocks underneath them, they will leave behind their boot, which Mario can then jump into, making him almost invincible. This power-up is known as "Kuribo's Shoe" in the original Super Mario Bros. 3 (Kuribō being the Japanese name for the Goombas) but was renamed "Goomba's Shoe" in subsequent Western Super Mario Bros. 3 remakes. This is the only original level from the Mario games containing this powerup, although some of the Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 add-on stages feature it. Once the level is cleared, the powerup is gone.

In Super Mario Land, they are referred to as "Chibibo" in the manual. They are essentially the same creature in this game, and they behave exactly as Goombas do in Super Mario Bros.


In Super Mario World, jumping on a Goomba does not defeat it, but renders it immobile, allowing Mario to pick it up.In Super Mario World for SNES, they are slightly less common, and when Mario stomps on them, they are knocked upside down and rendered immobile for a short period of time. When this happens, Mario can pick the Goombas up and carry them, until they resuscitate themselves. Like Koopa Troopas, Goombas hurt Mario upon contact once they revive. Also, some Goombas can come to Mario in different ways, such as dropping in with a parachute (in Super Mario World, the parachuting Goombas assume the Paragoomba name, and the Goombas with wings are called simply Winged Goombas) or floating inside a bubble. In comparison to earlier versions, the Goombas of Super Mario World differ in appearance by having a roughly spherical head rather than a mushroom cap and lacking a stem, instead having the feet attach directly to the bottom of the head.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Characteristics


Typically, Goombas are brown and look like mushrooms (or chestnuts) with feet. They have bushy eyebrows formed into a scowl, and occasionally upward-pointing fangs. Goombas are blue or gray in the dark underground areas of the Mario video games and darker brown in night-time areas, and this is probably intended to show the lack of light while saving palette colors. "Little Goomba" is the name sometimes used for an ordinary Goomba in the games. The other distinct types of Goombas have their own names as well. When they are jumped on, they each seem to flatten into a pancake.

Goombas can attack Mario by touching him from the side or (more rarely) falling upon him from above. However, they can be defeated by jumping or stomping on them. Goombas are typically the weakest enemies in Mario games; their only attack is walking slowly towards the player, and they can usually be dispached in one hit. In the various Mario RPG titles, they are weak enemies encountered near the beginning of the game, but have stronger incarnations that appear later on in the games.

Little is said in Mario games about Goombas themselves, except that, according to the manual of the original Super Mario Bros. (p. 12), they are mushroom creatures and traitors to the Mushroom Kingdom. According to their MVP bio in Mario Superstar Baseball, the Goomba trophy from Super Smash Bros. Melee, and the introduction and enemy glossary for Super Princess Peach, Goombas once lived in peace in the Mushroom Kingdom, but they betrayed their homeland to side with Bowser. Mario games such as Paper Mario elucidate that not all Goombas are bad,suggesting the possibility that originally they were just Mushroom Kingdom folk turned rebel. They are, according to Super Mario RPG, the lowest level of King Bowser's army.

Para-Goombas, like this one from Yoshi's Safari, have wings.Variants of the Goomba include the Microgoomba (マメクリボー; Mamekuribou meaning "Bean-Goomba") and the Paragoomba (パタクリボー; Patakuribou meaning "Wingbeat-Goomba"). The Microgoomba is a miniature, parasitic Goomba that either attaches onto Mario to reduce his jumping ability or hides under a brick and jumps whenever Mario approaches it (the latter is known as a Pile Driver Micro-Goomba.)To destroy the Micro-goombas, Mario just simply has to dunk himself in water or vigorously repeat quick jumps and the Micro-goomba will drop off. The Microgoomba first appears in Super Mario Bros. 3 along with the Paragoomba. According to the Super Mario Bros. 3 game manual (p. 35), Microgoombas are the children of the Paragoombas. In comparison with a regular Goomba, the Paragoomba has two wings which give it the ability to fly across the game screen. In Super Mario Bros. 3, it appears in two shades of brown: the lighter colored Paragoomba can fly and occasionally release Microgoombas, while the darker colored Paragoombas do not release Microgoombas, and merely hop along the ground like green Paratroopas. Paragoombas roughly correlate with the seagoing Blooper enemies, who sometimes lead a string of nuisance Baby Bloopers.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

About goomba



Goomba a piercing, exciting form of music usually associated with the rock genre.

Whether they are playing high energy, entertaining shows at venues across Southern California or spending time in the studio recording, one thing is for sure with the boys of Goomba: friendship comes before band mates. Not just kids who answered an ad in the paper, these four nerdy college kids met during their years at John F. Kennedy High School, located in small town La Palma, CA, and found out they share similar interests. Whether it is movies, comics, video games, cartoons, or TV shows, it always came back to music. David (guitars), Ronaldo (vocals), and Mike (bass), all share similar musical inspirations, and while Evan (drums) is heavily influenced by punk, his musical tastes extend to embrace the same influences as the other band members. In the early days of Goomba, their sound would be equated to that of the typical high-school garage band: noisy, dirty, and loud. As the band evolved and the group grew closer, their sound evolved as well into music truly unique unto its own. Their brotherhood mentality lends itself to the writing process, creating an environment of friendship and closeness among the group that the listener cant help but notice in every one of their songs, setting them apart from most put-together bands. And unlike those other bands whose music sounds like their influences, Goombas musical influences have no bearing on their songs they write. Weezer, Ozma, Bad Brains, Rancid, Bad Religion, and The Beatles are just a few of the artists whom Goomba look to for inspiration, but their songs sound nothing like these artists, thus creating a sound all their own: nickiegoomba .

While their songs may not be the most complex, or musical, or epic, you cannot deny the quality of the music they make. In fact, because they do not try to be complex and because they do not try to sound like another band, their music stands out from the norm and shines above your typical, high school/twenty something rock. Simple is their shtick, simple but enjoyable. Goomba is a living example of pure, basic, quality rock music made to entertain the listener, and they accomplish this feat as best of friends.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Goombas in other media

In the 1989 television cartoon The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Goombas are loyal soldiers in King Koopa's army. The general appearance of the Goomba resembles the sprites found in the Mario video games. In many of the episodes, the Goombas appear as zombies, pirates, or other thematical variations in accordance with the plot. (One episode, ironically, had both of the Mario Bros. fleeing like cowards from a single Goomba.) When the show spun off into The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, they continued their job as soldiers in the Koopa army in a few episodes. However, the Super Mario World cartoon only featured them twice. Sometime the Goombas would talk.

In 1990, a few Mario characters became part of a series of McDonald's Happy Meal's toys, as part of a way to promote the release of Super Mario Bros. 3. The Mario toy set featured Mario (in his Raccoon form), Luigi, Paratroopa, and Little Goomba. The Goomba toy is spring loaded and has a hinge between its head and feet. There is a small suction cup at the front of the Goomba's head and sticks to the top of its feet when pressed down. Once pressed down, the toy backflips a few moments later by way of a compressed spring inside the casing of Goomba's head.

In the film Super Mario Bros., (1993), the term Goomba refers to someone who de-evolves after being hit by King Koopa's de-evolution ray. As with most of the characters in the film, the Goombas are drastically different in appearance in comparison to their video game counterparts, represented as large (about seven feet tall) reptiles with extremely disproportionate bodies (tiny heads, and large bodies). They also, inexplicably, wear trench coats. There are two types of Goomba, one resembling a Koopa Troopa and the other resembling a Mushroom Goomba by the shape of their heads. The "goomba" Goomba has a rounded head, whereas the "koopa" goomba has a more reptilian shape (in addition to the obvious reptilian features upon their) head. They are played by human actors in costume and do not resemble the small Goombas seen in the video games at all.