Morton Koopa Jr.

Morton in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Morton Koopa Jr.
Species	Koopa
Hair color	None
Eye color	Black
Relatives	Koopalings (siblings)
Voiced by	Lani Minella (2009)
Debut	Super Mario Bros. 3

Morton Koopa Jr. is the second-youngest member of the Koopalings, who appear as recurring boss characters under Bowser's command throughout the Super Mario series.

Background

In Super Mario Bros. 3, he is given his own airship and attacks Desert Hill, stealing its magic rod and stealing its king into an animal. However, Mario was able to defeat him and retrieve the wand. He then appeared in Super Mario World, once more as the second boss, of the Donut Plains castle. His battle strategy involved walking up the walls and onto the ceiling, then dropping down when he was directly above one of the Mario brothers in an attempt to crush them. After being stomped several times, he was defeated.

Morton in Super Mario World.

Morton also appeared in Yoshi's Safari, where he helped in the invasion of Jewelry Land as well as the stealing of the seven magic crystals. He acted as the boss of Spirit Mountain and protected the Purple Crystal, riding a giant Yoshi-like robot that was destroyed in battle with Mario and Yoshi.

With the rest of the Koopa Kids, he made a surprise return appearance in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga where the possessed Bowletta dispatched them throughout the castle to defeat the Mario brothers. Morton was the second to battle them, first sending out shockwaves as they crossed a bridge as an obstacle, but the brothers were able to evade it and battle him. In battle, Morton used both shockwaves and fireballs, but he was defeated yet again by the brothers.

Morton returned in New Super Mario Bros. Wii as the largest of the Koopalings and with a black shell instead of gray. He kidnapped Peach along with the other Koopalings and flew away in an airship, though Bowser Jr. dropped him and the others off at fortresses along the way to slow down Mario and/or his friends. Morton was left at the World 6 fortress; he encountered Mario on a platform surrounded by spiked pillars and stomped his foot with a grunt before attacking with a new wand and paralyzing stomps. After falling the first time, Morton escaped to the World 6 castle for a rematch. Forgoing his wand, he instead took advantage of help from Kamek, who used a spell to make pieces of the floor smash into the ceiling after a stomp. Beaten again, Morton and the other Koopalings returned home on foot to find Bowser also defeated. They helped him up, but Bowser's Castle then fell on top of them.

In New Super Mario Bros. 2, Mortion appears as the boss in the World 4 castle. He uses his wand to create spiked balls and once more attacks with paralyzing stomps. Mario has to jump on him as usual, after which point he withdraws into a shell, and then Mario has to stomp on a pipe to return him to normal. After three hits, he was defeated. He then made his way to Bowser's castle, where he and the other Koopalings tried to help Bowser with the final stages of his plan. They helped Bowser to become gigantic, only to be knocked into a lava pit. They later tried to airlift Bowser with the Koopa Clown Car in the ending, only for it to crash from their combined weight, and for Morton to end up trapped on his back.

Morton also appears in New Super Mario Bros. U (as well as New Super Luigi U) as the boss of the second world, Layer Cake Desert, with his base being Morton's Compactor Castle. Instead of a wand, he uses an enchanted hammer to fight by using it to try to knock segments of a Pokey at Mario. He also had his usual powerful stomps at his disposal. However, he was defeated again, and once again the Koopalings were shown making an accident-ridden attempt at escape with Bowser and Bowser Jr. at the end.

Morton and the other Koopalings later made their spin-off debut as playable racers in Mario Kart 8.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Morton appears as a boss in the licensed games Mario is Missing! and Hotel Mario. In Hotel Mario, he is the first boss running the treetop WoodDoor-Hysteria Hotel.
• In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, Morton Jr. appears as a playable character due to being available as an alternate costume for Bowser Jr.. Because of this, Morton is restricted to the same moveset, which involves fighting from the Junior Koopa Clown Car. His appearance in these games is accompanied by a trophy, which refers to Morton as the biggest of the Koopalings.

In Other Media

• He appears in the Momotaro and Snow White shorts of Amada's Super Mario OVA, where he and the other Koopalings were quickly defeated by Mario on his way to defeat Bowser.
• Morton appears in the Adventures of the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon series and its sequel series Super Mario World, where he was known as Big Mouth Koopa, due to being known for his talkativeness.

Canceled Appearances

• Unused sprites of Morton and the other Koopalings were found in Super Princess Peach, implying that they were intended to appear but were removed at some point in production.

Trivia

• He seems to be named after the talk show host Morton Downey Jr., hence the "Jr." in his name. Some have used the Jr. to speculate that Morton is Bowser's real name or his father's, although it is notably absent from his Japanese name.
• Curiously, Mario Kart 8, in which Morton debuts as a racer, features various signs for a "Morton Construction" company. It is uncertain if Morton is connected to the company in any way.
• He has 500 HP in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
• The Koopalings were initially believed to be the children of Bowser, and Bowser Jr. was assumed to be their youngest sibling. However, Shigeru Miyamoto later clarified in a 2012 interview that the Koopalings are not actually related to Bowser, and that Bowser Jr. is Bowser's only actual child.