Iggy Koopa, (イギー) or simply just Iggy, (known as Hop Koopa in the cartoons) is one of the Koopalings, a clan of seven siblings that act as leaders of the Koopa Troop under Bowser (originally considered his children). Iggy is depicted as a crazed, mechanical genius and childish in personality when together with Lemmy Koopa. His two main outstanding physical characteristics are his glasses and light green hair (originally pink, light blue, and yellow). In later appearances, he is shown to be the thinnest of the Koopalings. Iggy is named after Iggy Pop, a famous American punk rock singer and leader of the proto-punk band The Stooges.
General information[]
Physically Appearance[]
As most of the other Koopalings, Iggy has a yellow and tan skin complexion, as well as a green head, a four-ribbed plated belly and padded feet. Iggy also shows similar teeth to Morton's. Iggy has a lanky appearance and he seems to be about twice as tall as Mario. He also has light green hair with dark green fades at the points that resembles leaves of a pineapple. He wears large, black-framed glasses over his eyes with light blue rings that disappear when he closes his eyes, thus suggesting that they are his irises.[11] Artwork made for Super Mario World also depicts his eyes as eccentric swirls to indicate that the glasses he wears have very thick lenses, which is a common gag in Japanese media that Iggy shares with Professor E. Gadd, Professor Frankly, Fawful, and Francis. Furthermore, in the same game, he is shown to have eyelids[12] that return in Paper Mario: Color Splash. His shell has a lime-green hue matching the color of his hair and features purple rings around the spikes, which are beige-colored. As well as his distinctive glasses, he wears the same metal, spiked cuffs as the other Koopalings.
In Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, Iggy's in-game sprites depict him with white hair (orange-yellow in Super Mario Bros. 3's All-Stars remake) and a blue shell, most likely to differentiate his sprites from those of Larry (who is also depicted with white hair, but still has a green shell) while simultaneously respecting the technical limitations of the NES and SNES; however, in his official artwork for both games, Iggy is still shown wearing his green shell. Furthermore, in his Super Mario World boss battle, he uses Larry's hairstyle despite his own style existing in the game's graphics (and coincidentally, being used on Larry's in-game battle sprites); both Koopalings, however, use their correct styles in the cast roll.
Iggy's appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series is unaltered compared to the other Mario characters, including Bowser. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, however, Iggy receives a slightly darker and subdued color scheme, while his hair, spikes, shell, and glasses receive simple detailing. These traits are mostly shared with Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings.
Personality[]
Although previously known for his intelligence as well as how much he studied and knew, with the Nintendo Adventure Books confirming this trait by portraying him as an inventor considered by Bowser the brainy one, Iggy is now more often known and portrayed as well in Japanese material for his own frivolous personality, reported in the English localization of certain games, as well as official English guides, as if he was insane by using terms like demented and crazed. This trait is manifested both through his enthusiasm sometimes ending up in hyperactivity as well as by his typical happy facial expressions, shown since his artwork in Super Mario Bros. 3, accompanied by very frequent laughters. Regardless of his frivolous nature, however, he has shown some degree of common sense, as he was notably the first Koopaling to speculate that the reason minions randomly attacked them in Bowser Jr.'s Journey was because they had been brainwashed by Fawful, and ultimately turned out to be correct about that. He also is indicated to have a short temper, as one of his specials in Bowser Jr.'s Journey has him getting angry and slamming his Koopa Clown Car on an enemy while wreathed in flames, and then making clear he was still angry.
The enthusiasm and hyperactivity manifest themselves in the subsequent higher agility shown both in Super Mario Bros. 3 as well as in the one-armed handstand he's able to perform in his picture shown in Super Mario Wisdom Games Picture Book 6: Mario Versus Bowser. In New Super Mario Bros. U, he also frequently runs around and even runs and stands upside-down, although it's in Mario Kart 8 that the hyperactivity is evident, as a few of his stunts have him jumping out of his kart and running in place, or being too excited that he flails about on his bike as if he's about to fall off. His hyperactivity is further alluded to in Bowser Jr.'s Journey, where he stated he was feeling like a long journey into distant lands in protest when Bowser Jr. demanded that he leave.
The frequent laughter on the other hand is a more consistently displayed trait. In the original Super Mario Bros. 3 manual, he has a crazed laughter (downplayed in the English localization), being present as well in the in-game English dialogue of Super Mario World. Before his rematch in his world's castle in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, he is heard laughing at the animal noises outside his window and laughing exhilaratingly during the battle itself. In Mario Kart 8, he can be heard giggling and laughing through various parts of the race. His laughter is featured both in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam and in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, where in the latter, he laughs even when the Koopa Cruiser is about to explode. Similarly, in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U, whenever he encounters Mario, he shouts as if he's rather excited to see him, unlike the other Koopalings. Paper Mario: Color Splash has him frequently laughing when fighting against Mario. The laughter can sometimes be a way to mock people, even when they are supposed to feel fear. This aspect of the laughter is first seen in the manual of Super Mario Bros. 3, where he cackles and deduces that Mario must be getting nervous about his upcoming fight against him, and is seen again in Paper Mario: Color Splash, where the laughters are often accompanied by mockery, sometimes directed at the fear Mario is supposedly having of him. Indeed, he is also said to provoke opponents with a joking attitude,[15] such as when he smacks his rear end in front of his adversary in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Paper Mario: Color Splash. The latter game even referenced this trait with one of his nicknames prior to entering the arena to personally challenge Mario for the yellow Big Paint Star: "The Spectacled Spanker." In New Super Mario Bros. U, the taunt is limited to a laughter after the initial shout. Furthermore, in Mario Kart 8 he also has a taunting laughter when he manages to hit someone with one of his items. However, despite his joking and more eccentric nature, he does have his reservations, as he mentioned once that even he wouldn't find it funny if he walked over a cliff shortly after being forced to leave Bowser Jr.'s command.
He has his own Chain Chomp pet, seen first in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and then reappeared in New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. Volume 42 of Super Mario-Kun shows that he is rather neglectful and abusive towards his pet, as he left it wandering in his castle until it was lost, starving, and stuck in a grate for one month before its encounter with Mario and his friends, and even calls it "stupid" for getting itself lost. In the same volume, he considers himself to be smart and, through his calculations (which consists of various doodles with mathematical symbols), believed he figured out how to defeat his foes. Though he claims he could easily beat Mario, he felt the reader would get bored and decided to have his Chain Chomp do away with the group instead.
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, Hop is quite childish in personality, and he often pulls pranks instead of causing true crimes, though some episodes has him doing so.
In the Nintendo Comics System and Super Mario Adventures, Iggy's personality is largely identical to that of the other Koopalings, with him having no real defining characteristics. He mostly hangs around with Lemmy, who looks a lot like Iggy. Iggy and Lemmy pull pranks together and cause trouble, acting childish. He also seems to think Bowser is somewhat stupid and acts as if he is smarter. This gets a brief reference in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, where Iggy openly refuses to acknowledge Bowser was smart or wise and in the English version even implies that Bowser was even crazier than Iggy was for thinking that (which resulted in Bowser punching him across the room before reiterating his orders to the Koopalings to look after Bowser Jr. while he goes to Peach's Castle.).
In Mario is Missing!, Iggy speaks completely in rhyme and cannot stand still.
Mario Kart 8 shows that he has a glass manufacturing company, Iggy's Glass, which according to its slogan, produces glass for windshields. The Japanese Mario Kart 8 Direct also calls him a trickster. In the English localization of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U this term is used as well to refer to him in place of the frivolous person term used in the original Japanese text.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam shows Iggy in a calmer fashion, not nearly as frivolous as he was, but now also quite childish in personality when together with Lemmy Koopa. However, in the opening for Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser, an alternate story mode for the remake for Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, his more demented nature is implied by his continuing to laugh, even when learning that the Koopa Cruiser was about to blow in contrast to Roy and Wendy's shocked reactions to the news.
In Paper Mario: Color Splash, Iggy is shown to be pretty arrogant and prone to mocking Mario as well as intimidating him, as evidenced by his mockingly claiming that Mario should look at a mirror to see "the look on his face" when he and his fellow chariot riders arrived, as well as by his referring to himself as "[Mario's] frustratingly overpowered opponent" and derisively referring to Mario as both "pretty boy" and "paper pusher" and taunting him by slapping his behind. His attempts at intimidating Mario even go as far as him asking his minions to tear Mario to pieces, offering 50 coins to whoever brings him Mario's hat. Finally, he's shown to be something of a graceful loser, as he willingly allows Mario to get the Yellow Big Paint Star upon being beaten, although not without feeling humiliated at losing on his own "home turf".
While having amnesia and under the identity of "Charlie" in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, Iggy proceeded to use slang terms often enough that subtitles were required.
Powers and abilities[]
Iggy is the fastest of the Koopalings, which is highlighted in Super Mario Bros. 3 where he not only manages to fire his magic wand's spells at a faster rate than his siblings, but even fires two sets of spells at a time. Iggy rides a Chain Chomp in his boss battle in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. 2, utilizing a custom track. He can spin as a top in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and even move fast enough to make his opponents dizzy. In the alternate story mode Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser in the game's remake, he's also able to swiftly appear on top of a barrel containing Goombas in a manner that resembles teleportation. Like all the Koopalings in that game, he can also spit fireballs; he can also throw fireballs in Super Mario World, which he holds in his hands before throwing them. As shown in New Super Mario Bros Wii, his magic blasts are the most chaotic out of all the Koopalings. In Hotel Mario he can cause small amounts of lightning to rain down on Mario. In addition, his unused sprites in Super Princess Peach show that the Koopaling was to use his hair as a spear. In New Super Mario Bros. U, Iggy has the ability to stand and walk upside down on ceilings and fire at least two varieties of spells: one being his normal chaotic green spell, and the other being red orbs that upon making contact with lava will summon Magmaarghs.
