Which "enemy" is the least enemy-like?

winstein

winstein

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winstein
The Mario series has a lot of interesting species, but because they are used as obstacles that hurt Mario when he comes into contact with them, they are labelled under an umbrella as "enemies". This is pretty funny because some of them don't look all that harmful. In fact, some might even look pretty friendly! I guess this is the thing that comes with the art style, where the species have a very cartoonish appearance, with exaggerated facial features or body proportions, or even inspired by animals who don't look harmful. Some like Chain Chomp or Thwomp have intimidating appearances that are more befitting of the term "enemy", or those with a penchant of carrying weaponry (Hammer Bro.) or being weaponry itself (Bob-omb) would make for an easy case as an enemy. but there are also a few that might not seem as such to the observer. I will start:

170px-Birdo_MP9.png

Birdo had a brief stint as an enemy and an occasional boss, but by and large, Birdo has been more friendly than being an enemy. In fact, it's easier to come up with a more convincing argument that Birdo is more of an ally, as her appearances outside a select few games are more on the supportive side. For example, in Wario's Woods, Birdo is the period of peace where the game is not actively pushing a game over to the player (unlike Wario). Most notably, Birdo is never an official member of Bowser's army, unlike what happened to some of the other Super Mario Bros. 2 enemies like Shy Guy and Bob-omb. I think Birdo's more feminine appearance and unusual cuteness that made for a case for her being more friendly.

225px-SuperMarioParty_KoopaTroopa.png

Perhaps my personal pick would be Koopa Troopa. Specifically, the variation used starting from Super Mario World where they stand upright and wear shoes. This species falls under the label of being clearly inspired by animals and have a friendly look. In fact, this is one of the few "enemy" species that have friendly appearances in the main Super Mario games, such as Super Mario 64 with Koopa the Quick, or Super Mario Odyssey's other Koopa Troopas who issue challenges to Mario.

So in your opinion, which Mario "enemy" are not that enemy-like?

Thank you for reading.
 
I feel like half the enemies in the franchise don't look very enemy like.

Hell often times the ones that do only look that way because of angry eyebrows.
 
My pick is Wiggler.

Half of the time, they're just minding their own business until the main protagonist whether it's Mario, Luigi, or Bowser decides to fuck with them because they happen to inconvenience them in some way like accidentally blocking something by sleeping on it. Mario Party's boss minigames involving Wiggler has you just stomping on Wiggler while she was just wandering around (the rest of the bosses look like they just want to beat you up). Another thing is, it doesn't even look like they're part of Bowser's army, they really do appear to mind their own business in their natural habitat that these characters stumble on.
 
Shy Guys are only enemies in Super Mario Bros 2 and Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. They're some of the many enemies that don't look like enemies.
 
F_Boy_SML2.png

as far as im aware f boys mean no harm and if you touch them theyre made of fire and it hurts and theyre probably like "oh crap sorry"
i dont know well enough though
 
Greninja said:
Shy Guys are only enemies in Super Mario Bros 2 and Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. They're some of the many enemies that don't look like enemies.
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I can see your point, but I think their masks can be quite unsettling. I mean, the masks seem to have hollow eyes and a mouth that look like it's screaming. In other words, their ambiguity means that it's not that obvious that they look friendly.

Isabelle said:
The Cheep Cheeps, the Bloopers.

I mean they're naturally living underseas, like actual animals.
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Cheep Cheeps I can see your point, but what would you make of Bloopers slowly pursuing the player (even in air, I must add)? I would say that its behaviour is similar to predators catching its prey, and I'd argue that it is pretty enemy-like.

Thank you for reading.
 
I wouldn't say that makes it an enemy. In fact being a predator, it means it needs to eat prey to survive. Can you blame it then?
 
Isabelle said:
I wouldn't say that makes it an enemy. In fact being a predator, it means it needs to eat prey to survive. Can you blame it then?
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The point isn't that Blooper is an enemy, just as you can't point to sharks or squids as an enemy when they have to eat to survive. The point is: its behaviour is enemy-like, similar to how a predator and prey are not necessarily enemies in isolation, but because of their conflict in interest in survival (one needs to eat to survive, the other needs to escape from the eater to survive), they are considered enemies. In this case, the Blooper is slowly pursuing the player and being able to hurt them up close since there is a higher chance in touching it, therefore there is a conflict in interest: the Blooper's interest is to get near to the player where they are most likely to be exposed to them, while the player must avoid them (or defeat them) to survive.

Thank you for reading.