Morton Koopa Jr.

**Morton Koopa Jr.** (known as **Big Mouth Koopa** in the cartoons) is one of the Koopalings, a clan of seven siblings that act as leaders of the Koopa Troop under Bowser (originally considered his children). Morton stands out because of his primarily darker skin colouration and his white head until New Super Mario Bros. Wii, in which his pale grey shell was also a point of interest due to the Koopalings now having unique shell colors. Morton is named after famed talk show host and singer-songwriter Morton Downey, Jr. This is the reason for the "Jr." at the end of his name, which was a point of confusion when he was first introduced as one of Bowser's children. No in-universe explanation of his name was provided at the time, though the editors of the magazine Nintendo Power once claimed that when they asked Bowser why Morton Koopa was called "Jr.", he denied having any sons, then pelted them with Bob-ombs until they left. However, he and the other Koopalings had turned against Bowser in 2015, thus leaving his army and starting afresh in Brackney.

## Appearance

### Early Gaming age

Morton made his first appearance was in Super Mario Bros. 3 where he, along with his siblings aided their father in an attempt to take over the Mushroom World. At some point, Morton discovered that Mario was capable of accessing transformations, which meant Mario might prove to be a challenge, and likewise reported the discovery to Bowser. Morton usurped the king of Desert Land and took over. He used the same attack pattern as Larry, but in the end he was defeated by Mario.

Morton also uses his wand to shoot magical projectiles. Larry, fought previously before Morton, barely used his wand, as what he mainly did was jump. Morton jumps also, and is a slight bit harder to defeat than Larry.

Morton also appears in Airship's Revenge, an optional bonus World-e level for the GBA remake Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. Besides Morton, only two other Koopalings are given e-Reader levels: Lemmy and Ludwig. In his level, Morton attacks Mario with a new airship and fights the same way as he did in his original boss battle, complete with wand. After being stomped three times, Morton is defeated once more.

Morton appeared again in Super Mario World helping his family in an attempt to take over Dinosaur Land. His castle is located in the second area, the Donut Plains. Morton attacks Mario or Luigi by climbing the walls and ceiling of his room and dropping down. Mario or Luigi needs to stomp on his head thrice or shoot a dozen fireballs at him to win.

Although Morton's official artwork depicts his shell as gray, as with the other Koopalings, his sprites are differently coloured: his battle sprites use the green palette intended for the green Koopa Troopas and other lesser enemies, while his cast roll sprite uses the teal palette applied to the Buzzy Beetles' in-game sprites; although a grey palette closer to his artwork exists in the game's graphics, for unknown reasons, it is applied to Roy Koopa's cast roll sprite instead.

### New Super Mario Brothers Appearances

Morton appears as a boss once again, this time in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

In the game's intro, Morton, the other Koopalings, and Bowser Jr. use a giant cake to sneak into Princess Peach's birthday party. They use the cake to capture her and then fly away on their airship with Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad, and Blue Toad following them from close behind.

Morton is fought in World 6 in his tower on a platform with the ends of each side slightly raised up, set in a sea of lava. When Morton sees Mario, he stamps his foot and growls, then begins to fight.

Morton's main method of attack is shooting pink energy blasts that can be targeted in any direction. He can also do a Ground Pound move similar to that of Roy or a Sledge Bro, that will stun anybody who is on the ground. His pounds last for less time than Roy or a Sledge Bro. Also, Morton's casting speed is extremely slow compared to Roy, but his magic is the fastest in the game, along with Iggy. Whenever Morton is damaged, he will jump into his shell and spin to attack. This attack is faster than the other Koopalings. Fortunately, it can be easily avoided if the player jumps on the raised ground. However, spiked pillars will come down from above and land on the two raised platforms, damaging anyone that they hit. Once Morton has been stomped on three times, he will retreat to his castle.

In his castle fight, it appears it is going to be very alike to the attacks Larry used. Then, Kamek flies in and sprinkles magic. At first, nothing looks different, except the ground has slightly lowered. Then, Morton will then use his immense weight to ground pound and cause the platforms on either side of him to rise up and hit the ceiling. He will jump around and repeat this tactic throughout the battle. Getting squished will defeat Mario and company in one hit. It is strongly noted that Morton never uses his magic in the castle fight, and he doesn't start spinning around as long as the pillars are up. Also, unlike his tower battle, Morton's Ground Pounds won't stun grounded players during the castle battle.

After being defeated, Morton is later seen along with the other Koopalings getting Bowser back up, only to have Bowser's castle fall on top of all of them.

On a side note, unlike in the past titles, players fight Morton after Roy in this game. Also, in Super Mario Bros. 3, he is the boss of a desert world, while another desert world (though still the second world) is given to Roy in this game, and Morton gets a mountain level instead. In addition, neither Roy or Morton get the cloud level, but it is rather given to Ludwig.

Morton reappears in New Super Mario Bros. 2. This Koopaling is fought similarly to Roy in the predecessor. He is fought in the castle of World 4 and will stomp his foot and growl at Mario, like he did in the previous game. In his battle, he will create Spiked Balls using his wand during the battle and use Ground Pounds to stun all players that are on the floor. Just like the other battles with the Koopalings the player has to jump on him to defeat him. Unlike the other Koopalings, because of the nature of his "boss fight" with Mario, he doesn't spend a limited amount of time in his shell upon being stomped, as he requires a pipe upon being stomped on to return to his position. After three stomps, Morton is defeated, leaving the key to World 5.

Morton survived the encounter, and rejoined his comrades at Bowser's castle, where they attempted to petrify Mario with their Koopa Clown Car's petrification device. He also aided Bowser alongside the rest of the Koopalings by causing him to grow larger, but it resulted in him and the others being knocked into a lava pit by Bowser due to his increased size. He and the other Koopalings survived, however, and attempted to help Bowser by airlifting him with the Koopa Clown Car, but this resulted in it crashing due to it being unable to handle the combined weight of both them and Bowser. Morton ended up on his back, also attempting to get himself back up but couldn't due to his large size.

Morton returns in New Super Mario Bros. U as a boss. He is the boss of Layer Cake Desert, much like how he was the boss of Desert Land in Super Mario Bros. 3. Like in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, he is the boss of the second world. Morton is battled in Morton's Compactor Castle. Like Wendy, Lemmy, and Roy, Morton's boss battle involve him using a weapon instead of a magic wand. This time, it is a large hammer that's apparently filled with magic. He will once again stomp his foot at Mario when he sees him before battle. While he still shakes the ground by stomping on it, he'll use his hammer to knock giant Pokey segments in the player's way. He can knock Pokey segments straight at the player or knock them in high arcs. In addition, like most of the Koopalings (except for Roy's and Ludwig's), Morton also fought the Mario Bros. in the cabin of his ship. Three stomps will have him fall offscreen.

Despite this, Morton survived, and was later picked up along with the rest of the Koopalings by Bowser Jr., although they ended up escaping by hanging onto Bowser's tail after the latter inadvertently destroyed Bowser Jr.'s (already damaged) ship.

Morton has his own personalized airship, with his face on the bow, and his black-colored shell at the deck of the ship. The stern of his ship has a gray color design, similar to his former shell color from past appearances. Like most of the airships, his airship is equipped with a propeller at the back as well as another just beneath the crow's nest. Morton's airship is equipped with four cannons, two on each side, like Roy's ship except that the cannons are placed vertically from each other. There are also grey lids on top of the cannons used for opening and closing the cannons. His airship has the biggest build of all the Koopaling ships. The ship is also made out of a darker wood than the other Airships, a reference to his darker skin tone. The cabin of his ship contains gold-tinted windows, gold Moai statues at the top of the room and a sand pit elevated on a platform.

When Morton's airship appears at the roof of the castle, his voice sounds different from his usual voice. A similar oddity occurs with Roy's and Ludwig's airships.

Morton Koopa Jr. appears in New Super Luigi U. He is battled in the same way as New Super Mario Bros. U, and is found in Morton's Lava Block Castle.

### Anime and Cartoons

Morton, along with the other Koopalings appeared in two of the Japan-only Super Mario anime videos. In Momotarō, they try to defend their king's castle, only to be defeated by Mario and his friends in their quest to rescue Princess Toadstool. In Snow White, Morton and the other Koopalings play a similar role, once again, being defeated by Mario as he attacks Bowser's Castle.

In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World cartoons produced by Nintendo and DIC Entertainment, he was renamed Big Mouth Koopa (although he was once called "Big Mouth Koopa Jr." on the bonus disc of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 DVD set released by Shout! Factory, making him closer to his original namesake), ostensibly because he was more talk than action. In fact, he talks so much that someone frequently has to step in to stop his speeches (usually King Koopa or Bully Koopa).

Aptly, in the Super Mario World cartoon, he occasionally served as an announcer in only three episodes: "Send in the Clown", "Rock TV", and "The Yoshi Shuffle".

There are a few physical differences between Morton and Big Mouth: Morton's shell is gray and in the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon, Big Mouth's is purple. Big Mouth has much larger eyes and purple eyelids; the star-shaped birthmark on Morton's face is darker around the cheek, while it's just one solid color on Big Mouth. Lastly, Big Mouth is shorter and thinner than Morton.

Sometimes, Big Mouth's name is spelled as Bigmouth.[citation needed] He was voiced by Gordon Mastern.

The name "Big Mouth" might be reference to "Loudmouths", the nickname for the fans of The Morton Downey Jr. Show.

### Magazines and Books

In Leaping Lizards, Morton sneaks into Mushroom Palace, vandalizing the throne room and transforming the Mushroom King into a rabbit with his magic wand. If Luigi decides to run ahead of his friends after hearing what Morton is up to, he can find the Koopaling in the midst of smearing peanut butter on the walls, and gets into a fight with him, acquiring his wand before the Koopaling escapes if the reader makes the right choices. Due to not knowing how to use Morton's wand, and thus left unable to change the king back, Luigi proceeds to track the Koopaling to his houseboat in Water Land and breaks in, prompting Morton to call Iggy and the Doom Ship for backup, only to be abandoned by his sibling when the bespectacled Koopaling spots Luigi. Forced to try and swim for it, Morton is eventually cornered and tipped onto his shell, leaving him helpless, on a small island by Luigi, who learns from Morton that the only way the king can be changed back to normal is with a special silver whistle, which Iggy is later revealed to possess.

Three weeks later, Morton and five of his siblings show up as competitors in the International Mushroom Games, where the first prize is Iggy's whistle, which he won by cheating in last years competition. What events Morton participates in besides the Beetlebowl (an all-team contest) are unspecified.

In Koopa Capers, Morton and his brothers have their wands stolen by Wendy, who disappears with them shortly afterward, intent on overthrowing their father with her own army, and a super wand she plans to create by fusing her own wand with her brothers'. If Luigi, who had been coerced by Bowser into searching for Wendy, tracks the female Koopaling down to her hideout, Bowser and the male Koopalings, who had been following him, will barge in after the plumber, but decide to stave off punishing Wendy for her mutiny if she helps search for the hiding Luigi. If Luigi had acquired Boom Boom's socks earlier in his adventure, he can toss them into Wendy's simmering wand combination potion, which will release fumes that knock the entire Koopa family and their minions out for at least a week. During a point where Wendy O. Koopa was about to attack Luigi, a small picture that was supposed to show an angry Wendy O. Koopa mistakenly had a picture of Morton Koopa Jr. instead, even thought he was not in that particular scene.

At an unknown point in Brain Drain, Morton's mind ends up in Toad's body due to Iggy's Synapse Switcher. When Luigi's mind is transferred to Princess Toadstool's body, Morton (who is unaware of the change) tries to trick Luigi into following him to a secluded houseboat by promising him "triple decker lasagna and chocolate chip raviolis". If Luigi tells Morton who he really is, Morton immediately tries to attack him, but Luigi escapes by using the princess's floating ability to cross the nearby Dinosaur Lake. If Luigi instead decides to pretend to be the princess and take Morton up on his offer of snacks, he will be taken to the houseboat, and be ambushed by a group of Koopa Troopas, leading to a Game Over.

### Minor appearances

Though Morton doesn't appear in Mario is Missing!, his picture is used in the SNES version's manual. In addition, unused quotes attributed to Morton can be found in the original DOS version, suggesting that he was originally planned to be encountered in-game as well.

In Yoshi's Safari, Morton helped his family invade Jewelry Land and steal the jewels that maintain the stability in the kingdom. Bowser entrusted one of these jewels to Morton, who then watched over the area known as Spirit Mountain. He attacked in a giant, blue, mechanical frog, but Mario and Yoshi defeated him with the aid of the Super Scope.

In Hotel Mario, Morton was given the treetop Wood Door Hysteria Hotel to run when the Mushroom Kingdom was once again taken over by Bowser. Here, he held Princess Toadstool captive for a short while, but soon became the first Koopaling battled. At Morton's Tree House o' Pain, he had little defining characteristics. He will wander around open any doors; however, if he finds Mario or Luigi inside an elevator, he will step inside for a moment, then step out and spit the ill-fated plumber's cap on the floor. Fortunately, the Mario Bros. were able to move on.

The Koopalings reappeared in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga where they guard Bowser's Castle. Morton is the second Koopaling to be fought. Defeating Morton raises a platform, allowing the Mario Bros. to continue on towards Lemmy.

To get to Morton, Mario and Luigi will have to jump over shockwaves he sends towards the two. High Jumps and Spin Jumps will not work. In battle, Morton has two attacks, sending shock-waves and sending four fireballs at the target (like all the other Koopalings).

Morton also made a boss appearance in Paper Mario Color Splash.

### Playable appearances

Morton Koopa Jr., alongside the rest of the Koopalings, appears as a playable character for the first time in Mario Kart 8, where he is an unlockable character. His nickname in a Japanese Nintendo Direct for Mario Kart 8 is ｢無敵のタフガイ」, or "Unrivaled Tough Guy'" (localized as the "Mass of Muscle" or "Invincible Tough Guy"). His emblem is a white silhouette of his head on a black background in a similar way to Bowser's emblem.

Morton is the heaviest Koopaling in the game, with his greatest strengths being his speed and weight tied with Wario, Bowser, Dry Bowser, and the Large Mii. His other stats can potentially drop to the lowest possible levels, however.

Morton is the Normal Staff Ghost for Bone-Dry Dunes. There are also signs for "Morton Construction" that can be seen in Wii Grumble Volcano as well as in Ice Ice Outpost. In that track, many containers and machines also bear the "Morton" or "Morton Construction" logo.

Morton's main colors for his Standard parts and Pipe Frame are white and grey, and his secondary color is green. The color scheme selection of his other parts is based on his signature black, making it nearly identical to that of Black Miis. An expection to this is his GLA, which is white.

Morton, along with the rest of his siblings, make their Super Smash Bros. debut as unlockable playable characters accessible via "palette swaps" of Bowser Jr.. He is treated as a separate character, having his own voice, and the announcer calls him by name, but his attacks are identical to Bowser Jr.. Morton can appear in place of Bowser Jr. in All-Star mode, like the other Koopalings. The rim and propeller of his Koopa Clown Car are colored black, his signature color, and has a different face. He is voiced once again by Lani Minella, however, his voice clips in-game are being reused from his appearance in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The rings circling the spikes on his shell are a darker shade of grey compared to his previous appearances. The title given to Morton in the Boxing Ring is "The Enforcer" (NA) or "He'll Make You See Stars" (PAL) in the Wii U version.

### Other notable appearances

Morton appears in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition as a Fire attribute character. He's the World 3-Castle and World 3-Airship Boss. Morton will join the player when ★World 3-Airship is completed. His Skill is Morton's Flame, which changes Water Orbs into Fire Orbs and Heart Orbs into Wood Orbs.

### Miscellaneous

Morton was originally going to appear in Super Princess Peach, although he was taken out of the final game with the rest of the Koopalings. In the unused sprites, his and Roy's shells are noticeably green instead of their usual black and pink colouration, respectively.

In Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the player can unlock a Mii costume based off of Morton's design. Once the player dons it, he or she will inherit Morton's traits and stats. This is true for the rest of the Koopalings.

## General Information

### Physical appearance

Unlike the other Koopalings, Morton has a dark brown skin tone, except for his face, which is white. He also has a unique star mark (although Larry now has similar marking) on the left side of his face which is centered on his left eye and covers part of his snout and cheek. Morton has four, fang-like teeth in the upper corners of both sides of his large mouth; they are the same as Iggy's. He also has a four-ribbed, light, padded stomach and tan, padded feet. His shell is black, lined with a white encasing (formerly yellow), and the multiple, short, spikes are circled with light grey rings.

He has small, circular-shaped gray eyes, like Ludwig's. He has a round head and a large body, making him both taller and broader than most of his siblings. Morton appears to be relatively hairless, except for three, thin, long, black hairs at the top of his head. He also has three-haired black eyebrows that extend off his face like Wendy's. Morton wears the same metal, spiked, cuffs as the other Koopalings.

### Personality and traits

Like all the other Koopalings, Morton's personality and traits have been shrouded in mystery, even more so than compared to the other Koopalings. Morton seems to prefer brawn over brains, similarly to Roy. The Super Mario Bros. 3 manual implies that he is astute enough to realize whether there are any possible setbacks regarding defeating Mario and can likewise report the information to Bowser, but the English translation toned down his thoughtful wording and made him seem angry. This is also true according to the Nintendo Player's Guide for Super Mario Advance 4, in which Morton is said to be a grouch with a cantankerous personality. Morton may have an interest in construction, as in Mario Kart 8, there are advertisements for "Morton's Construction" with Morton's face on it. Curiously, in Ice Ice Outpost many containers and machines present the Morton or Morton Construction logo on them, suggesting that his company is collaborating with the Toads of the Toad Polar Expedition 2014-2015. Along with construction, one of his stunts include him flexing his muscles, which may indicate that he likes anything that takes on strength. The fourth installment in the Super Smash Bros. series states that he is proudly more brawn than brains.

In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, all the Koopalings were given names to match the personalities they were given and such was the case with Morton, whose name was changed to Big Mouth Koopa. Big Mouth was extremely talkative, to the point of never seeming to know when to stop talking, which continuously forced Roy to interrupt him. According to the bio on the DVD set for The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, he was also extremely arrogant in regards to his intelligence, as well as exceptionally ignorant regarding the actual facts of the world, and he never accepts responsibility for being wrong, preferring to blame others instead. In addition, he was also known to make cutting remarks, which were severe enough to even make his father cry if directed at him. Very few actual Mario games ever gave Morton lines, although unused lines for Mario is Missing!, which would have been used for a planned boss battle against Morton, implied that he was largely sarcastic and wise-cracking.

### Powers and abilities

Morton usually uses his weight to try and crush Mario or paralyze him by shaking the ground, as in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Super Mario World, which even involved him running up the walls and dropping down from the ceiling. His debut appearance in Super Mario Bros. 3 did not involve his earthquake-causing power, however, and he relied on the standard abilities shared with his siblings to fight, such as jumping and shooting magic blasts, although he generally doesn't use his magical abilities as much as his siblings. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, he tended to use his magic wand once his enemies were already immobile, and the game also showed that he couldn't actually jump very high, unlike earlier depictions. He also has the ability to shoot spiked balls from his wand, as shown in New Super Mario Bros. 2. In New Super Mario Bros. U, he has a magic hammer that he uses to knock giant Pokey segments at the player. Like the other Koopalings, Morton can breathe fire, and in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he used some sort of sonic screech against the Mario Bros., which is like Bowser Jr.'s Sonic Roar! Super Ability from Mario Strikers Charged. His bio on the Japanese New Super Mario Bros. Wii website also implies that Morton's strength is dependent on his weapon.

Despite his strengths, his size also resulted in him being unable to get up once he is forced onto his back, as evidenced by the ending for New Super Mario Bros. 2, where he ended up on his back as a result of the Koopa Clown Car crashing.

Sprites relating to his planned appearance in Super Princess Peach implied that he would have inflated himself like a balloon at some point during the battle, as well as spit objects out and charge at her.

## Extended Story

In 2015, Morton and the other Koopalings leave Bowser's army due to him 'treating them like dirt', according to Roy, thus moving to Brackney and starting a new life there. He meets Leafy, Soap, Greg and the Pit Stop Crew, thus becoming his new adoptive family.

## Trivia

* Morton is considered to be TheTheoryReader Est. 1993’s 2nd favourite character of all time, behind Roy.
* In a piece of literature on deviantArt, Morton was given the cyan Member Colour In TheoryReader’s Group. He is also named Sub Leader of the Group alongside Lemmy.