Goomba

 

1983 was a tumultuous year for video gaming. A particularly bad adaptation of a film had ruined Atari and had come dangerously close to wrecking the entire video game industry as a whole. Luckily, Nintendo came in swinging, introducing their brand-new console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, bringing with it a brand-new game starring the familiar plumber of the Donkey Kong games, this time placing him in a fantasy world where his mission was to rescue a princess from an evil turtle. Players switched on their systems, plugged this brand new game in, and within seconds, they were greeted by what looked like a walking brown mushroom with legs.

This was a Goomba, the most basic and weak of Bowser’s forces. In story, they were former subjects of Princess Peach who had betrayed her and handed her over to Bowser. Although they would mostly remain the basic weak enemy across the Mario series, they would pick up talents and abilities here and there, stacking on top of each other to reach high places, sprouting wings to fly, wearing spiked hats to protect themselves, and hopping around in giant shoes. A few would even become allies to Mario, such as Goombario and Goombella of the Paper Mario series, both of whom will be represented here.

As a player, their stats will probably be lacking. They’ll be a bit on the slow side, with not a lot of power behind their attacks. Where they lack though, they will make up for in the creativity and range of their moves, crossing the gamut of random abilities seen throughout the games. Most specifically, when they stack up on each other, their stats will raise. They will become heavier, and their attacks will hit harder the more of them there are.

Likelihood rating: Piranha Plant clause