Goomba facts for kids

Goombas are an enemy in the Mario series. They are short brown mushroom shaped enemies that are easily killed by jumping on their head. They appear in almost every Mario game.

Concept and creation

Goombas first appeared in the video game Super Mario Bros., and was the last enemy put into the game. People stated that the Koopa Troopa was too hard an enemy, so the designers decided to introduce the Goomba as a basic enemy. When they decided to do this, however, they had very little space left in the game. They used a single picture twice to make people think the Goombas are walking, rotating it back and forth, causing it to look lopsided as it walks and giving the motion the appearance of a trot. The Goomba's resemblance to the Super Mushroom forced designers to change what the Super Mushroom does and what it looks like. They used the Goomba's ability to be jumped on and defeated to teach players how to deal with enemies and to not fear the Super Mushroom. The Goombas are designed after a kind of mushroom called shiitake. Early pictures for the Super Mario Bros. film showed that the design of the Goombas were originally intended to be for Koopa Troopas, another kind of Mario enemy. A separate company from the primary makeup departments designed the Goombas in the film.

Images for kids

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  A shiitake, on which the Goomba is based. The pileus and stipe of the shiitake share similar colors to the Goomba's

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  A Goomba as seen in Super Mario Bros. Its late addition to the game resulted in its simple animation

See also

In Spanish: Goomba para niños