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.

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.

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.

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