![marioparty5.jpg](https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2024/06/18/3a0a94cd/marioparty5.jpg)
I've noticed recently that, for the Mario series, it's rare it is to have a playable enemy beyond Super Mario World. I think if we compare to the playable enemies we got in Super Mario games after Super Mario World, the number easily gets dwarfed by the amount of enemies in the first four Super Mario games (Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 the USA one, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. Not even Super Mario Land or its sequel benefit from extra appearances, thus they were excluded.
I'll illustrate this with the enemies playable in spinoff series (they include Mario Party, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Baseball). With who got playable so far, they came from the following games:
- Super Mario Bros.: Blooper, Hammer Bro, Koopa Troopa, Goomba, Koopa Paratroopa, Lakitu, Piranha Plant (in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)
- Super Mario Bros. 2: Shy Guy, Ninji
- Super Mario Bros. 3: Boo, Dry Bones, Spike, Chain Chomp, Boom Boom, Fire Piranha Plant, Fire Bro, Boomerang Bro
- Super Mario World: Kamek/Magikoopa, Monty Mole, Wiggler, Chargin' Chuck
- Other games:
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: Fly Guy
- Super Mario 64: King Bob-omb
- Super Mario Sunshine: Petey Piranha
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Stone Spike, Ice Bro
- Super Mario 3D Land: Pom Pom
Perhaps it speaks of how entrenched the older games are where their more recognisable enemies came from them. Super Mario Bros. the first game requires no introduction, since every single enemy from that game is iconic in some form, with Super Mario Bros. 3 and World having their share of recognisable enemies. Super Mario Bros. 2 is a bit of an oddball given that it doesn't have as many recurring enemies, but the unusual nature of that game gave rise to some recognisable faces, the biggest being Shy Guy.
Is this a major problem? Well, to be fair, I doubt that most people would bother to notice that the enemies tend to come from older games. So you can say that it's not much of a problem. What I do think is that, from this observation, I get the feeling that the more modern enemies are probably not designed as playable candidates. This could turn out differently in the future, of course, but it felt to me that from the later games, it's the friendlier species got highlighted better compared to the enemies, like Piantas, Nokis, and the Lumas. (Speaking of the friendlies, the lack of playable demand is a topic for another day...)
So perhaps to end my post here, the question is: would you be interested to see more enemies from later games (SMW2:YI and beyond) get more playable appearances?
Thank you for reading.