Lakitu, known in Japan as Jugem (ジュゲム), is a bespectacled Koopa enemy hailing from the Mario franchise that rides clouds through the skies, best known for tossing Spiny Eggs that "hatch" into quadruped Koopas called Spinies (トゲゾー).
Character description
Lakitus are relatively common enemies in the Mario franchise that first appeared in the original Super Mario Bros., where they fly in their clouds and throw Spiny Eggs that hatch into adult Spinies after landing. Other times, a Lakitu may use a fishing rod instead of throwing Spiny Eggs, or it may appear in a pipe instead of a cloud. Lakitus normally fly high in the sky in their clouds, and their most notable trait is that the cloud they ride on can often be temporarily ridden by Mario or Luigi after being defeated. Although they appear as enemies in most Mario games, they often take on less evil tasks in other games, such as refereeing races, umpiring tennis and baseball games, and even filming Mario's adventures.
Spinies are the quadruped Koopas that hatch from the Spiny Eggs thrown by Lakitus, though they may also appear separately from them. They walk across the ground with their spiked shells facing upward, damaging anyone that jumps onto them, though they can still be defeated using power-ups. Although they do not normally retreat into their shells like Koopa Troopas, their shells may still slide across the ground in the same way when upside-down.
In A Super Mario World
A Spiny, as it appears in A Super Mario World.
A Spiny appears in the McLeodGaming cartoon A Super Mario World, where it briefly appears in the first episode as one of the monsters that Mario fights with the Master Sword, though Lakitu is absent. It falls down from above as if it were thrown from a Lakitu and briefly walks across the ground before Mario stabs it with the Master Sword, killing it quickly.
In Super Smash Flash 2
Lakitu appears as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Flash 2 and much like he does as an enemy in its origin games, Lakitu soars over opponents and drops Spiny Eggs on them that eventually turn into Spines that start walking around, damaging opponents on contact. There are some ample differences between the Lakitu and its Spinies from the ones that appear in the Super Smash Bros. games, the most notable being their design; Lakitu & Spinies in SSF2 take their modern appearance of the characters as opposed to their classic 8-bit appearance. Also, Lakitu is impervious to any damage, meaning it cannot be defeated to prevent it from tossing more Spiny Eggs. Spinies also have some differences, the most notable being that they are treated as projectiles and therefore can be reflected and, oddly, absorbed.
Gallery
Screenshots
Early designs
Design
Trivia
- As seen in the gallery above, Lakitu originally had a different function in SSF2, taking a similar role to his appearance in the Mario Kart series instead. Carrying a fishing rod, Lakitu would follow the summoning player around and would fish the player up if they fall off the stage.
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