Koopalings

The Koopalings are a colorful and varied cast of characters that add a nice layer of personality to the Super Mario series. The seven characters are all wacky in their own way and, oddly enough, they technically aren't Bowser's children. Nonetheless, they have nothing but mischief on their minds and they offer up some pretty unique boss fights throughout the various games they appear in.

Amusingly enough, it turns out that one man is responsible for the names that these characters were given. Kotaku recently asked Dayvv Brooks – a former product analyst at Nintendo – where the characters got their names and he explained their origins from his time working on Super Mario Bros. 3. Back in those days there was no such thing as an official localisation team, and Brooks was tasked by Nintendo to take poorly translated text and make it sound better. As a big fan of music, he chose to name the koopalings after various popular musicians. Here's what he had to say:

Music has always been a big part of my life. I've been a DJ for years and have been a music collector for even longer. When I first saw the group of seven Koopalings, music was on my mind.

The hairstyle on one of them reminded me of Ludwig von Beethoven for some reason and Ludwig von Koopa was born. Next was the one with the glasses—that has to be Roy Koopa in homage to Roy Orbison, who almost always wore glasses. Then Wendy O. Koopa (Wendy O. Williams) [and] Iggy Koopa (Iggy Pop). One looked like a loudmouth, so he was Morton Koopa Jr. from [the] loud-mouthed talk show host Morton Downey Jr. And then there was Larry. There's no real-world equivalent—he's not Larry Mullen Jr. from U2 or Larry King—he just looked like a Larry.

That brings us to Lemmy. In addition to being a great name, it's perfect for a video game character. This Koopaling struck me as being the kind of character who would do his own thing, no matter what anyone else thought. I think it was those crazy eyes. Lemmy Koopa was in the crew.

What do you think? Which Koopaling is your favorite? Do you think the names fit? Drop us a comment in the section below.

[source kotaku.com]