Back in the good old days, my favorite part of playing a new (or new-to-me) Mario game was seeing all the enemies. They had such clever designs, and they all really looked like they were part of the same cohesive world.
But then Mario went 3D and enemy design really took a hit because everything had to be done with strict hardware limitations in mind. You started seeing stuff like Chuckya, random mishmashes of flat textures and simple polygons that don't look nice or tell you anything about the enemy's behavior.
Luckily, 3D graphics are much better now, and enemy design is back in a big way. We're starting to see enemies that honor that classic Mario art direction, but in three dimensions and glorious HD. Here are a few of my favorites.
Stumper. It's an angry little tree stump that shuffles around on its toe-like roots, trying to bump into you. Its sides are thorny, but its top is flat and can be used like a platform. Looks like something out of
Mario World. Perfect in both form and function.
Mud Trooper. It's a zombie! Mario pretty much always had ghosts and spoopy skurletons, but zombies were a long-overdue addition. They rise out of the ground and shamble after you Frankenstein style, like sluggish and more manageable Monty Moles. Very, very good boys indeed.
Goombrat, possibly my favorite modern Mario enemy. I can't believe it took Nintendo this long to come up with "the red Koopa version of Goombas." Especially useful to
Mario Maker players, since we finally have an enemy that doesn't walk off ledges but also doesn't give Mario a weapon when he stomps them. 11/10, would kill and die for.
Discuss your favorite Mario enemies!