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Character fact sheetName: Iggy Koopa First Appearance: Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) Home: Castle of Koopa Voiced by: Mike Vaughn (recent games), Andrew Sabiston (DiC cartoons as "Hop Koopa") Associates: Koopalings, Bowser, Koopa Kids |
General profile
Prince Iggy Koopa, known as Hop Koopa in the DiC cartoons, is one of the Koopalings — the seven-member elite force of Bowser’s army. Iggy is the tallest of the Koopalings and instantly recognisable by his lanky frame, his round purple-rimmed glasses, and his rainbow-coloured mohawk that stands straight up from his head. His shell colour and head-ring shift between green and pink across appearances, and his personality is consistently portrayed as that of a manic inventor and mad scientist — restless, hyperactive, prone to wild laughter, and rarely standing still.
Although Bowser refers to all seven Koopalings as "Bowser’s children" in early Western publications and the cartoons, Nintendo retroactively clarified in 2012 that they are not Bowser’s biological children but rather his most loyal underlings. In the cartoons Iggy is paired closely with Lemmy due to their similar mannerisms, and the two were sometimes referred to as the "Big Mouth Tag Team" alongside Morton.
Quotes
Enemies
Iggy’s principal enemies are the Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi, who have defeated him in every game he has appeared in since 1988. He also clashes with Princess Peach (who he and the other Koopalings have repeatedly helped kidnap), Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Toad, the Toad Brigade, and the various inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom and surrounding lands. In the cartoons he engages in particular rivalries with King Koopa’s enemies, including the Doomship’s regular targets and any heroes who happen to wander into Hop’s lab.
Friends
Iggy’s closest associates are his fellow Koopalings — Larry, Morton, Wendy, Roy, Lemmy and Ludwig — with whom he shares a castle and airship roster throughout the SMB3 era and into the modern New Super Mario Bros. games. He has a particularly tight friendship with Lemmy due to their shared inventor/trickster personalities, and frequently teams with Ludwig on Doomship duty in the cartoons. He answers to Bowser/King Koopa above all others and shows total loyalty to him in every appearance.
Appearances
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
Iggy debuted as the boss of World 4: Giant Land in Super Mario Bros. 3, having stolen the magic wand of the Giant Land king and used it to transform him into an animal. Iggy is defeated by jumping on him three times in his airship-castle, identical to the standard Koopaling boss pattern. The instruction booklet for the western release of SMB3 named all seven Koopalings as "Bowser’s Kooky Kids" — Iggy’s listed nickname was "Hop." Iggy reappears unchanged in the world maps of Super Mario All-Stars (SNES, 1993) and the Super Mario Advance 4 remake (GBA, 2003).
Super Mario World (1990)
Iggy returned in Super Mario World as the boss of Vanilla Dome — specifically, the first castle Iggy’s Castle. His fight was redesigned for the SNES: instead of a flat castle room, Iggy stands on a tilting platform suspended over a lava pool, and Mario must time his stomps without being knocked off the edge. This fight became the template for many later Koopaling boss reskins. The SMW manual lists Iggy and the others as Bowser’s "seven big bad kids."
Yoshi’s Safari (1993)
In the SNES Super Scope game Yoshi’s Safari, Iggy appears as one of the boss enemies on the Princely Plain stage in Jewelry Land, riding a giant mechanical Koopa Mech and firing energy blasts at Mario and Yoshi. The fight ends when the player shoots Iggy out of the mech, after which he flees the stage.
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (cartoon, 1989–1990)
In the DiC animated series Iggy was rebranded Hop Koopa, paired with his lookalike Hip Koopa (Lemmy) and voiced by Andrew Sabiston. Hop and Hip Koopa serve as King Koopa’s chief mischief-makers — typically operating from a Doomship workshop, inventing gadgets and traps, and engaging in vaudeville-style banter throughout each adventure. Hop is the slightly more level-headed of the pair, but is still characterised by manic laughter and a love of explosions. He also appeared in the follow-up Super Mario World cartoon for an additional 13-episode run.
Hotel Mario (1994)
In the much-derided CD-i game Hotel Mario, Iggy owns and operates "Iggy’s Hotel," one of seven Koopaling-themed hotels Mario and Luigi must clear of his minions by closing every door on every floor. Iggy appears in animated cutscenes between worlds, taunting the brothers with characteristically rambling dialogue.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009)
After a fifteen-year absence from main-series platformers, the Koopalings returned en masse in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Iggy serves as the boss of World 5 (the jungle world). His fight introduces a new mechanic — Iggy rides a chained Chain Chomp around a battlefield of moving platforms, requiring Mario to stomp him three times while avoiding the dog-creature’s bite. His updated 3D model debuted here and has been used in every appearance since.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 / New Super Mario Bros. U (2012)
Iggy appears in both 2012 entries: as the boss of World 5 in NSMB 2, and as the boss of Rock-Candy Mines in NSMBU. His NSMBU fight is notable for taking place across multiple rotating platforms over a bottomless pit, with Iggy occasionally riding a flame-spitting Chain Chomp. The NSMBU official artwork (above) became the most-reproduced modern image of Iggy.
Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016) & Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015)
Iggy appears as a major mid-game boss in Paper Mario: Color Splash, encountered at Fortune Island where he wields a Paint Star, and is fought again later as part of the Koopalings’ assault on Port Prisma. In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam for the 3DS, both his RPG-style and paper-style versions appear as bosses, fighting cooperatively alongside Roy in a tag-team battle. His PMCS sprite is notable for the concentric blue rings around his pupils.
Mario Kart 8 / Deluxe (2014/2017) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)
Iggy and the rest of the Koopalings became fully playable for the first time in Mario Kart 8, marking their first non-boss role in a mainline Mario game. He returned in the Deluxe port and remains playable. He also appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as part of Bowser Jr.’s alternate costumes, with his own voice clips and Final Smash variant.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (2025)
Iggy appears in the Super Mario Bros. Wonder — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bowser’s Castle expansion, returning as part of a multi-Koopaling boss rush during the new content. This is his first 2D platformer appearance since 2012.
Trivia & Official Sources
- Iggy is named after pop/rock singer Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg Jr.) — Nintendo’s 1988 Western "Bowser’s Kooky Kids" line-up named most Koopalings after famous musicians: Larry / Lars Ulrich, Morton / Morton Downey Jr., Wendy / Wendy O. Williams, Iggy / Iggy Pop, Roy / Roy Orbison, Lemmy / Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead, and Ludwig / Ludwig van Beethoven.
- The German Club Nintendo magazine of August 1991 ran a profile of "Hop und Hip" describing them as "the meanest brain-trust the Koopa King has ever bred," noting Iggy as "the wild scientist who builds the contraptions Hip then breaks."
- The official Encyclopedia Super Mario Bros. (Pix’n Love, 2018) confirms Iggy as a unique character separate from Lemmy and lists his height as "the tallest of the seven Koopalings."
- In the DiC cartoons, voice actor Andrew Sabiston also performed Hip Koopa (Lemmy) in some episodes — the two cartoon characters were originally written as twin brothers.
- From New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009) onward, Iggy has been voiced by Mike Vaughn, who provides all of his battle yelps, laughs, and victory cackles in modern games.
- Iggy’s signature crossed eyes from SMB3 were removed for his 1990 Super Mario World redesign but reinstated for his 2009 NSMB Wii return.
- In Paper Mario: Color Splash, Iggy’s eyes are rendered with concentric blue rings around the pupils — a unique design among the Koopalings.
- Iggy is the only Koopaling who has appeared in a Dr. Mario spin-off (Dr. Mario World, 2019), where he is unlockable as "Dr. Iggy."
- Although Iggy and Lemmy are visibly different characters, several 1989–1991 issues of Nintendo Power confused the two when illustrating SMB3 walkthroughs, leading to the long-standing fan myth that they were originally the same character split late in development.
- In Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (2020), Iggy is one of the rotating boss avatars players race against in the GP cup, alongside his fellow Koopalings.
- Iggy’s cartoon counterpart Hop Koopa was inspired by classic vaudeville comedy duos, with writer Phil Harnage noting in a 2014 retrospective that "Hop and Hip were our Three Stooges, distilled down to two."
- Iggy’s appearance in the Super Mario-kun manga (Volume 47) by Yukio Sawada features him in a three-way comic boss battle alongside Roy and Ludwig.