Goomba

Goombas are small, brown enemies that resemble Mushrooms in the Mario series. They were introduced in Super Mario Bros. for the NES where they were the easiest enemies to defeat, as a simple jump on the head would do them in. After their initial appearance, Goombas started to appear in nearly every Mario platformer excluding Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Sunshine for the NES and GameCube, respectively. Over the years, new variations have popped up that boost their defense and offense such as the spiked Goombas and the Para Goombas.

Prior to the events of Super Mario Bros., Goombas were apparently friends to the Mushroom Kingdom until the evil king Bowser earged them to join his army. While some stayed loyal, most went to the new superpower, though have become a relatively useless ally. However, in some games such as Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube, Goombas became Mario's partners (Goombario and Goombella).

Goombas have also appeared as obstacles in the Mario Kart series as well. Such as in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart DS, and Mario Kart Wii where they appeared in the Mario Circuit stage. The only actual playable appearance of a Goomba in a sports game was in Mario Superstar Baseball and its sequel Mario Super Sluggers where this species and a Paragoomba both were playable.

They have appeared in almost every Mario platformer, other than Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Bros. 2, which was meant to have more original and new enemies on the account that Mario traveled to new areas. They do appear however in Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, where they appear in three forms. Standard goombas can be squished under Mario's foot and a coin is obtained or using the spin attack results in the Goombas spinning upside-down. While upside-down, running into them will result in Mario kicking them into space and an explosion of star bits. A Grand Goomba appears in the first level and dark tiny Goombas appear throughout and can be killed with one spin or jump.

Types of Goombas

 * Goomba: Evil residents of the Mushroom kingdom. One stomp will squash them.
 * Paragoomba: Knock off their wings to turn them into normal goombas. Red kinds can only jump and brown kinds eject Mugger Micro Goombas. Some kinds don’t have wings and float down on parachutes.
 * Mugger Micro Goomba: These are tiny goombas are either ejected by high flying Paragoombas or wait to throw bricks at Mario.
 * Grand Goomba: These are massive sized goombas. Their size makes them a bigger target for a single jump.
 * Kuribo's Goomba: Knock out the goomba and you can take a ride in its shoe!
 * Giant Goomba: A larger form of a Goomba seen on Tiny Huge Island in Super Mario 64.
 * Grand Goomba: Very similar to the Giant Goomba, though appears in Super Mario Galaxy.

Cameo Appearances

 * The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Goombas, along with other Mario enemies in the sidescrolling levels.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee - Goombas appear as an enemy on the Mushroom Kingdom levels, and also have a trophy.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Goombas appear as a common enemy in Brawl's Subspace Emissary.