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This is one of
those things that you don't usually know till you stumble into something
random. It's been
thought that the Koopalings were designed based around the members of
SMB3's graphical staff. However,
where the names originated from was never explained, until now. I may have stumbled on the "Holy Grail"
of Koopaling facts. On December 9, 2000, I was
watching a show on VH1 that profiled outlandish and
peculiar musicians and bands. I was on my computer working on random
stuff, not really paying attention to what was going on on TV.
However, I stopped what I was doing when I heard the name of the raunchy
female lead singer of an 80's punk band called the Plasmatics: Wendy O. Williams.
Of course, I was instantly reminded of another Wendy, Wendy O. Koopa.
Then I started to see a connection. Earlier on, they interviewed a
punk singer named Iggy Pop. This got me thinking. After
researching for musicians and similar professions up to
the year 1988-1990 on the Internet, I have came to the
conclusion that the Koopalings could be named
after media celebrities!
Keep in mind that this might or might
not be the true origin of how the Koopalings got their names. However,
the chance that might be sheer coincidence is low. Nintendo has done this
name play before. In SMB3, Boo Diddley might be a pun on
Bo Diddley, a 1950's musician. In either case, here are
my findings:
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Ludwig von Koopa |
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Ludwig von Beethoven (1770 - 1827) |
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Considered to be the one of, if not the, most
talented composer of all time, Beethoven has composed hundreds of
chamber, piano and orchestral music, including the famous
Fur Elise and the
Moonlight Sonata. |
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Lemmy Koopa |
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Lemmy Kilmeister (b.1945) |
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Born Ian
Kilmister, Lemmy is the main vocal and bass player for
the 70's metal band, Motorhead. |
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Roy Koopa |
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Roy Orbison (1936-1988) |
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He was a
very popular 1960's pop singer, who was idolized by Elvis Presley. He was known for wearing
thick-rimmed tinted glasses. |
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Iggy
Koopa |
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Iggy Pop (b.1947) |
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Born James Newell
Osterberg and called
the "Grandfather of Punk," he picked up the nickname Iggy when he was
a drummer with the Iguanas in 1964 |
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Wendy O.
Koopa |
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Wendy Orlean Williams (1949-1998) |
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Lead singer of the
1980's punk band, the Plasmatics, she was
known for blowing up equipment and chain-sawing guitars. |
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Morton Koopa Jr. |
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Morton Downey Jr. (1934-2001) |
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A
former chain-smoker whose provocative late 80's talk-show, "The
Morton Downey Jr. Show," is sometimes credited for defining the
sleazy talk-show format of the 90's. |
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Larry
Koopa |
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Larry King (b.1933) |
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The famous talk show host of CNN's "Larry King Live",
Larry has been broadcasting for over 40 years, interviewing everyone
from celebrities to world leaders.
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And here's something that I just came across. There is a possibility
that the Koopalings' names are really American creations, and that the
original Japanese SMB3 never named them until after the US version of
SMB3 came out. I was led to this conclusion when I got the Japanese
Famicom version of SMB3 recently, which has a similar layout as the US
manual. The JP manual doesn't list
the names of the Koopalings at all, unlike the US version which did.. They were never named in the game,
neither, either in the Japanese or American version.
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Japanese Version (1988) |
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American Version (1990) |
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Here is a comparison between the two pages. The Japanese version
from 1988, and the US version in 1990. No where in the Japanese
manual are the Koopalings named. |
I still don't know
if this is true, though, or just another case of coincidence, but this
could also explain why the cartoon version of the Koopalings were named
differently than the game. DiC most likely never used the official
Koopalings' names because they never had names to begin with at the time
the show was under production until after the cartoon and the game were released
here. I couldn't find an instance of when the Koopalings were referred
to by name before the game's release in Nintendo Power magazine.
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