Species as playble "character" ?

In Mario history, playing as species chas been a routine since Koopa Troopa being in the first Mario Kart and make a return in Double Dash. For Tennis, Koopa Troopa also appears at first. For Party, Boo comes in Mario Party 5.

Mario isn't the only series doing this. Final Fantasy also makes professions (ninja, magicians) and species(moogle, cactuar) as playble, either in Sports Mix or its own spin-offs


Is it a problem?
It seems not so serious in the first view. Howeverm, when the staff determine how many playable characters are in one game, if species take up places before other certain characters, would it be that fans think the major characters they want are replaced? That may be why Sport Mix cause problem, for both 3-on-3 original casts and FF main series characters.
Another problem is we can't play tennis and kart with Koopa Troopa since we don't know if they are the same person. Therefore, species can never have performance in formal stories or interactions with Mario and other major characters.

But there are some examples that species have representive character for a whole species. Toad in red hat and green Yoshi are just examples, who have individual performance different from other companions. Honey Queen and King Boo are also an individual since they're the "ruler"s for example.
The others are those in Paper Mario series, many character represent their own tribe to have further performance in those stories, and they can be distinguished from other generic Mario enemies in NSMB games. Actually, these character fit in spinoffs more than those species they're based on.

Still, we can't conclude it since these species are one kind of important symbol for Mario games, and some fans even love them more than those main heros/heroines, so Nintendo did it. Tome, actually species can fit in group ball games such as Baseball and Football, if we just want to make "nobodies" as our teamamtes instead of an All-star team, or it's just convenient for us to confirm on a large game field.

I prefer to see individual characters like Toad himself (rather than Toads). However, I am not totally against the species being playable, but I just want to see that specific characters like Toad and Yoshi are playable too.

I voted yes, because I guess it kind of depends on the game itself, but I think you can pretty much choose any enemy or species from the Mario universe if you'd like.

Color changes for Yoshis/Toads/Koopas/Shy Guys etc. Would be awesome!

It can vary, depending on the game.

Don't forget that New Super Mario Bros had "a blue toad" and "a yellow toad" as playables.

I honestly don't mind it, though I would far prefer specific representatives--King Boo is a good example of that. I'd rather see King Boo as a character than a regular, generic Boo. For characters that barely have representatives like that, I wouldn't be averse to them creating new characters of that species. I mean, heck, they invented Waluigi wholesale--why not a Koopa with a name, and maybe a funny hat or something so we can tell him apart from the other generic Koopas? I'm assuming there's not some massive fanbase for playing a generic Koopa, though--maybe that's some peoples' cup of tea, and they'd prefer the generic option. I dunno.

Otherwise, I'd be behind changing the colors on generics--different shell colors for Koopa, or different Shyguy robes, or whatever.

QuizmoManiac said:

Color changes Would be awesome!

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that's actually a feature if the representive looks just same as other companions
but still as the topic said, at least you have to differ by colors on the gamefield although the same race :P

Tokoyoto said:

I honestly don't mind it, though I would far prefer specific representatives
For characters that barely have representatives like that, I wouldn't be averse to them creating new characters of that species.
maybe that's some peoples' cup of tea, and they'd prefer the generic option. I dunno.

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refer to Paper Mario, mostly some species already have their representive
including Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Bob-omb, Paratroopa, Boo, Li'l Sparky, Cheep-Cheep, Lakitu, Bloop and Little Mouser
the rest notable species as Dry Bones, Hammer Bros have no representive yet
for sure, we can't deliberately create representives reversely for need
or these characters may be "valueless" than original Mario members
but past characters who are already existed can also be recyclable in this topic, too

out of spin-offs
maybe representives can be used in formal plot if tribes need a true "representive" to make declarations to Princess Peach :P

For the color changes? Not until every other character gets a color change. I'm sick seeing Yoshi as the only character with color changes

I definitely think yes for Gearmos, which are the absolutely freakin amazingly awesome robots from SMG and SMG2. Those guys are so beast.

schmutz said:

I definitely think yes for Gearmos, which are the absolutely freakin amazingly awesome robots from SMG and SMG2. Those guys are so beast.

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ha definitely.

which makes me still wonder about the one who was trying to take on a chomp!

BabyLuigiOnFire said:

For the color changes? Not until every other character gets a color change. I'm sick seeing Yoshi as the only character with color changes

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Actually, now you've got me thinking about alternate costumes for everybody--like, full blown outfits. I don't know what I'd do with myself if I could play Mario Kart as Mr. L.

I would perfer the individual characters *cough*Fawful*cough*, but I also like to see some some characters from a species like Hammer Bro. Since they are a species, a color change on the characters would be very good because then more people could play the same character, just with a different color, like in the SSB series.

There are definitely some species I would like to see as a whole in games like Goombas and Koopas, but Yoshi and Toad should be kept as separate species. Basically, I think species should only represented by one person if only one person comes to mind when you think about the species.

And about the extra outfits, that would be an awesome idea, but it should be limited to one per character. And what if a person had no alternate costume?

Depends on the game. If it's something that is supposed to represent alot of things besides Mario (Super Smash Bros.) Then HELL NO. But if it's something that demands a large roster and/or needs sidekicks (Mario Strikers/Mario Baseball( in order to fill in a team that isn't a 3 on 3 game (If Mario Sports Mix had the actual 5 on 5 that Hockey has then it would probably require a bigger roster that may need species but otherwise with Volleyball, Dodgeball, Hockey, and Basketball all only having 3 per team you don't need many characters). Though to be honest having generic enemies in too many games where other characters could of been playable can be maddening. I can't be the only one that's disappointed that being a fan of the 64 Mario Parties that a generic Blooper is playable in MP8 yet DK ever since MP5 has been downgraded to the opposite of Bowser

Hockeytown said:

(If Mario Sports Mix had the actual 5 on 5 that Hockey has then it would probably require a bigger roster that may need species but otherwise with Volleyball, Dodgeball, Hockey, and Basketball all only having 3 per team you don't need many characters).

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You don't need that many players, but some may want them. Variety is the spice of life.

Hockeytown said:

Though to be honest having generic enemies in too many games where other characters could of been playable can be maddening. I can't be the only one that's disappointed that being a fan of the 64 Mario Parties that a generic Blooper is playable in MP8 yet DK ever since MP5 has been downgraded to the opposite of Bowser

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I do agree there. DK needs to be in the new Mario Parties. I still don't know why they took him out after MP4. I always played as him and I'm sure many others did too.

Story-wise, Blooper and Hammer Brother were justified generics. Imagine Bowser using Donkey Kong as a minion...

pingu1651 said:

Hockeytown said:

Though to be honest having generic enemies in too many games where other characters could of been playable can be maddening. I can't be the only one that's disappointed that being a fan of the 64 Mario Parties that a generic Blooper is playable in MP8 yet DK ever since MP5 has been downgraded to the opposite of Bowser

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I do agree there. DK needs to be in the new Mario Parties. I still don't know why they took him out after MP4. I always played as him and I'm sure many others did too.

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DK has a terrible role in the new MPs. He and Diddy should be playable and replace Blooper. But not Hammer Bro - he's cool.

Donkey always got burnt by Bowser in MP4. I liked that.

The stupidest time where they made a species a playable character was in Mario Kart DS. Seriously? Dry Bones over Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, Toadette, Koopa Troopa, etc?

Tokoyoto said:

BabyLuigiOnFire said:

For the color changes? Not until every other character gets a color change. I'm sick seeing Yoshi as the only character with color changes

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Actually, now you've got me thinking about alternate costumes for everybody--like, full blown outfits. I don't know what I'd do with myself if I could play Mario Kart as Mr. L.

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Return of the green thunder? They should make Tanooki Baby Mario and Luigi.

BabyLuigiOnFire said:

Donkey always got burnt by Bowser in MP4. I liked that.

The stupidest time where they made a species a playable character was in Mario Kart DS. Seriously? Dry Bones over Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, Toadette, Koopa Troopa, etc?

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Hate to burst your bubble, but Koopa Troopa is also a generic character, like Dry Bones.

BabyLuigiOnFire said:

Donkey always got burnt by Bowser in MP4. I liked that.

The stupidest time where they made a species a playable character was in Mario Kart DS. Seriously? Dry Bones over Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, Toadette, Koopa Troopa, etc?

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well, although I proposed that individual main characters are prior to generic characters or species, but not to mean to despise them.
still maybe the possibility that if Nintendo want to preserve species palayable in handheld games...

MnSG said:

BabyLuigiOnFire said:

Donkey always got burnt by Bowser in MP4. I liked that.

The stupidest time where they made a species a playable character was in Mario Kart DS. Seriously? Dry Bones over Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, Toadette, Koopa Troopa, etc?

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Hate to burst your bubble, but Koopa Troopa is also a generic character, like Dry Bones.

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I understand Koopa Troopa, but I don't understand Dry Bones. I STILL don't understand. That is one of the most stupid decisions Nintendo made.

And then people complain about "lack of imagination" for the babies...

MnSG said:

BabyLuigiOnFire said:

Donkey always got burnt by Bowser in MP4. I liked that.

The stupidest time where they made a species a playable character was in Mario Kart DS. Seriously? Dry Bones over Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, Toadette, Koopa Troopa, etc?

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Hate to burst your bubble, but Koopa Troopa is also a generic character, like Dry Bones.

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Yep, the bones of a koopa trooper

BabyLuigiOnFire said:

I understand Koopa Troopa, but I don't understand Dry Bones. I STILL don't understand. That is one of the most stupid decisions Nintendo made.

And then people complain about "lack of imagination" for the babies...

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It actually makes sense that Koopa Troopa and Dry Bones can be around at the same time. They're not the exact same character. Bowser and Dry Bowser, on the other hand, unless someone made a reincarnation of Dry Bowser, seeing them in the same game is rather weird.

I prefer individual characters and species playable in a game.