Mario Adventure/Enemies

All the enemies are based on Super Mario Bros. 3 enemies, but many look differently, act differently, or both. Some subtle and not-so-subtle changes adds to the challenge of the game.

Warkitu
Based on Lakitus from SMB3, Warkitus fly in the sky (or sometimes under the ground) and throw bombs at our hapless hero. These bombs explode really quickly too. Try to run really fast, or look at the bombs ahead of time. Oh, by the way, if you’re running and run into a bob-omb, you’ll hold it. You might (will) want to let go of the run button to kick it away from you!

Bob-Omb
Just like the ones from SMB3, except they explode faster. It is advised is keep away; there’s usually not enough time to do anything helpful with them.

Boo
You remember Boos from SMB3, right? They float towards you when you look away, but stop and look sad when you look at them (but still do damage if you touch them). In Mario Adventure, Boos are also invisible when you look at them. Very annoying to run into one of these guys, so in fortresses you’ll want to look back every so often just so boos reveal themselves. I’ll try to document where they are, but some fortresses have tons of these things.

Boom-Boom
In SMB3, each one is the mini-boss that you fight at the end of fortresses. An easy exercise for veteran players; just hop on it three times before it can do anything. Still, for Novice players, they were tough enough.

Mario Adventure puts one at the end most levels, so you should be at the skill level to beat these things consistently. When you see one, just be relentless! Jump on him before he moves. Then, after he gets hit, he shows off his spikes. Just jump at him at that point and he’ll be vulnerable when you land the jump. Do that a third time, and you’re done. If you do let one fly, wait for him to swoop, avoid him, and jump on him when he’s near the ground.

See Boom-Boom Troubles for more info on complex situations.

Boomerang Brothers
They throw boomerangs that move toward you, a good deal above the ground and then come back to the Brother much closer to the ground. Don’t touch the boomerangs, and try to jump on the boomerang brother, but not when he’s about to throw a boomerang, or when a boomerang is coming back at him.

Don’t be afraid to stand near a Boomerang Brother; the boomerangs will be thrown over you. In most cases, you can run (duck) past the first boomerang, then jump on him before he throws a second.

Bullet-Bill Blasters and Bullet Bills
The blasters shoot Bullet Bills at you unless you’re very close the them. The Bullet Bills themselves can be hopped on, but any hit from the side or underneath and you take damage.

Cannon Balls
They move in a straight line. And… you can hop on them… and… aside from that only Wand sparks hurt them. The small ones come out of blasters (some of which are pipe-shaped), and sometimes from the edge of the screen. The big type always comes from the edge of the screen and moves across quickly.

Chain Chomp
Chain Chomps constantly lunge at you. Touching them hurts, but the chain they’re leashed by is harmless. Glass blocks, koopa shells, and shyguy heads are all useful for attacking Chain Chomps. Otherwise, try to keep under them, or jump over them. Either way, really.

Fake Glass Block
Some Glass blocks are a little more red-hued. These are small goombas in disguise. Jump on them, but watch out because their hops are pretty high.

Fire Boo
Fire Boos are another can o’ worms. Remember those things that looked like big black evil bowling balls that had a tail of fire and shot the fire at you? They’ve been replaced by fire boos, which are similar, but you can’t jump on them, and they’re invisible when not shooting. But you can still see the tail of fire, so you’ll know where they are until they’ve used up their fire (they’ll explode a little while after that). Learn their patterns if you haven’t in SMB3. Fire balls and wand sparks both kill fire boos.

Fire Brothers
There were only two guarding a warp whistle in SMB3 (And one at the start of a level in World 8 of SMB3), but there’s plenty of them in this game. Their fireballs bounce and are stopped by walls. They shoot fireballs in twos, so you can run up to them after the second shot. It’s best to defeat them as you pass by. If you just avoid them, they’ll keep shooting at you until they’re off-screen.

Fryguys
Fryguys are those big hopping flames. Running under them is usually a good way of avoiding them. They can be killed with Raccoon tails, wands, and invincibility stars.

Gold Shy Guys
Gold Shy Guys generally work like Buzzy Beetles from SMB3. Jump on them and they turn into like round heads that act just like shells. Upside-down Gold Shy Guys are just like Upside-down Buzzy Beetles; they drop from the ceiling and slide towards you quickly when you’re close.

Goomba (or Flying Goomba)
The weakest enemies of the game. They move in one direction, only changing directions when they hit a wall. A single jump will defeat them.

Some have wings; once they start making tiny hops, they’ll take a big hop soon after. Other goombas with wings fly in the air and drop tiny goombas at you. The tiny ones make it hard for you to jump; shake them off by rapidly turning left and right. When you hit a goomba with wings, the wings fall off and it turns into a regular Goomba.

Hammer Brothers
Watch out for the hammers they shoot in an arc. The classic “hammer brother dance” works here, where you go just next to him, under his hammers, and run under them when they jump. You can also try to do a running jump over them, or even hop onto them, though that’s hard to do without hitting a hammer. Some of them behave a little oddly in this game, and jump down through the ground, and off the screen.

Koopa
These popular enemies are unchanged from SMB3. Koopas walk forward like goombas, but the red ones will turn around instead of dropping. Hitting flying ones takes away their wings. When you hit a walking koopa, it turns into a shell. Hold the run button to hold the shell and let go to kick it. Don’t get hit by a shell that rebounds off a block or wall. You can use koopa shells to knock over other enemies and to hit bricks and ? blocks.

Piranha Plant
These things are in SMB3. In that game, they hid away whenever you were close or on the pipe. In this game, if you stand by the left of the pipe, the Piranha Plant stops coming out, but if you stand on the center or right of it, it will come out (and damage you). The fire-spitting type shoots straight fireballs at you, and has been given the same change as the regular Piranha Plant.

Spiked Brothers
They throw hammers like hammer bros, but are much bigger and cause the ground to shake, making Mario unable to move. Jump so you’re in the air as the giant bro lands on the ground. I usually like to jump over him (you can’t jump on him), but the hammers are hard to avoid. The other way is to run under him as he jumps, but make sure to jump after getting under him, before he shakes you up!

Spike
Those green things that shot spike balls at you in a couple of SMB3 levels are back as black Shy Guys that are covered in spikes. They can’t be jumped on, but you can duck under their spike balls.

Spiny
They move around like Goombas, but you can’t jump on Spinies. Watch out for upside-down Spinies; they act just like upside-down Gold Shy Guys, except you can’t jump on them.

Spinning Circles
There’s always two of these that move around each other in a circular path. Watch their patterns carefully, some levels have big clusters of these things and it pay to see how they move.

Stretch
Also known a Boo Bar, Stretching Boo, Boo Blocks and a myriad of other names by SMB3 players, but the enemy's game is the same here-- these are long eerie white rectangular blocks usually found in fortresses that have Boo heads pop out and chase you as you walk upon the white block! The blocks themselves really don't harm you and can be used as a platform, but watch out so you're not hit by the Boo's head. You can blast the Boo's head with a wand and charge at it with a Starman. Otherwise, use fancy footwork to dodge the Boo within the block and tread carefully.

Walking Flames
These little flames walk toward you when you’re not looking. Jumping over them is usually the best course of action.