5 Super Mario villains who deserve to return in future games

Ask a random stranger who the bad guys are in the Super Mario games and chances are you’ll hear villains’ names like Goombas, Koopa Troopas and big bads like Wario, Bowser and Donkey Kong listed with relative ease.

But beyond that, who else is there? And although we understand that Bowser is Mario’s arch-nemesis and their rivalry is one that sells cartridges, the point remains: how many Mario villains besides Bowser and his immediate bloodline can you think of off the top of your head that have been nearly as recurring or prominent?

Not many. Which is why we put together this list of Super Mario villains who deserve to return in future games to try their hand at stymying Mario and crew and making fans love to hate them in the same way they love to hate Bowser.

Shroobs

What would happen if the Mushroom Kingdom was invaded by aliens?

That very question is answered in Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, only it’s not little green men or bug-eyed grey aliens who come for Mario and crew but – what else? — creepy, red-eyed, sharp-clawed, fanged extraterrestrial mushroom humanoids called Shroobs from “a dark, dank planet” floating all alone in some unknown part of space.

As far as villains go in the Mario series, the Shroobs are some of the most formidable and evil of all time – and it’s not just because under the command of their leader Princess Shroob, the Shroob forces successfully invade the Mushroom Kingdom and enslave innocent civilians – but because of the atrocities they commit after the invasion, like keeping Toads captive solely so they can siphon their life energy as sustenance and creating perverse, Shroobified versions of familiar Mario friends and foes like Swiggler, Spiny Shroopa, Shroob Rex and Yoob (mutated versions of Wiggler, Spiny Koopa, Rex and Yoshi).

What makes the stakes even higher is that the dark, lonely planet from which the Shroob hail is completely desolate and drained thanks to their highly power-consumptive methodology and they threaten to turn not only the Mushroom Kingdom, but the entire planet into the same desolate wasteland before moving onto the next if Mario and Luigi (and Bowser) can’t defeat them.

If the Shroob made a return, it’d be interesting to see who would lead them in place of Princess Shroob (is there a Prince Shroob or King Shroob?) and which new Shroobified variations of classic characters from Mario lore they might concoct next.

Tatanga

Although alien invaders might seem like out-of-place bad guys for a Mario game, the Shroobs aren’t the only interesting villains from another planet that have made a mark in Mario lore.

Before the Shroobs, there was Tatanga. Tatanga, a purple, goblin-looking alien from an unknown planet, first appears in 1989’s Super Mario Land (the first handheld Mario game ever, released on the Game Boy), where he kidnaps Princess Daisy, the ruler of Sarasaland and takes over her kingdom.

One of Tatanga’s defining features is his “war robot” Pagosu, a spaceship he pilots that can fire missiles which split into smaller missiles. To combat Tatanga and Pagosu, Mario, being the resourceful plumber that he is, must pilot his signature airplane, Sky Pop.

Although Tatanga makes a brief cameo appearance in Super Mario Land 2 and as a power-up in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it’d be interesting to see Tatanga return to a future Mario game to explore more of his “war robot” technology; ironically, Tatanga piloting Pagosu gives off Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog vibes, so let’s see some epic Tatanga boss battles with him piloting transforming mecha, controlling a multitude of robots and devising all sorts of militaristic alien technology.

Captain Syrup

Of all the Mario villains who deserve to come back in a future game, Captain Syrup might be the most deserving of all as she has the honor of being the first-ever female main antagonist in the extended Super Mario franchise.

While Captain Syrup isn’t technically a direct antagonist of Mario, she is a more-than-capable rival to Mario’s evil doppelganger Wario in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, which is about as undeniable as it gets when it comes to Mario lore street credit.

Or maybe that should be sea credit, since Captain Syrup is the infamous captain of a gang of pirates called the Black Sugar Gang (formerly known as the Brown Sugar Pirates).

Syrup and her band of picaroons reside on the skull-shaped Kitchen Island, where she keeps her plundered possessions – including a giant golden statue of Princess Toadstool that they’re keeping ransom from the Mushroom Kingdom. Syrup’s arsenal includes her pirate ships, the SS Tea Cup and the Sweet Stuff (she replaces the Tea Cup with the Sweet Stuff in Wario Land: Shake It!) and a fireball-throwing genie she summons from a magic lamp.

So what makes Captain Syrup a Mario villain we want to see in the series again besides the fact she’s a bad-ass pirate captain who’s capable of beguiling a character as unsavory and unscrupulous as Wario?

Because a female character antithetical to Princess Peach would be a perfect gap to fill right now in Mario lore. We already have Wario, the antithesis to Mario and Waluigi, the antithesis to Luigi – so why not reintroduce Captain Syrup as the equivalent of Wapeach?

Yeah, we know that Waluigi creator Fumihide Aoki already revealed that he made an early sketch design for Wapeach but it was ultimately rejected. But honestly, the design was honestly a bit uninspired, at least as far as the context of an evil Princess Peach analogue goes.

And makes for the perfect opportunity for Captain Syrup to slide into that role. Or at the very least, the role of an evil doppelganger for one of the established female protagonists in Mario lore.

Wapauline, perhaps?

Captain Syrup looks a lot like Pauline, there’s no denying that. She’s immaculately designed, with her dark hair, shark-tooth pendant, baggy buccaneer breeches, and Blooper earrings.

But her looks are the only similarities she bears with Pauline and Peach; instead of being compassionate, kind and primarily a damsel in distress (a role which Pauline and Peach were relegated to up until the last fifteen years or so), Syrup is selfish, brazen, Machiavellian, vain and a pirate captain who pilfers high value items for her personal enjoyment.

To make a long story shorter, Captain Syrup needs to make a comeback in a Mario game. If not a mainline game, at the very least, bring her back for something like Mario Party or Mario Kart to start off. If we can race as Bowser’s undead skeletal remains in Mario Kart, there’s room enough for Captain Syrup.

From there Captain Syrup’s allure and fanbase will become so undeniable that Nintendo will have no choice but to make her a main antagonist (or maybe even the deuteragonist?) in a brand-new Wario Land game and from there she can develop a rivalry with Princess Peach and become a fan-favorite Mario villain mainstay, as she so rightfully deserves.

Mouser

In my retrospective on all the enemies from Super Mario Bros. 2, in my Mouser entry I state, “Mouser is just a cool villain, plain and simple.”

And my opinion on the matter hasn’t changed at all.

An anthropomorphic mouse who wears sunglasses and magenta-pink gloves and matching magenta-pink shoes and tosses lit-fuse bombs at his enemies is one that deserves to return to the franchise one way or another, plain and simple.

Wart

While we’re on the topic of underrated, underutilized villains from Super Mario Bros. 2, why not the game’s big bad, Wart?

Wart hasn’t been seen since 1998’s Super Mario Bros. 2 (and if you want to get technical, a quick, Easter Egg cameo in Link’s Awakening), so his return has been a long time coming.

You could argue that since Super Mario Bros. 2 was technically a dream it wouldn’t make sense for Wart to return.

But then, how do you explain Mario villains like Shy Guys, Snifits, Ninji, and Pokey, all of whom first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 2 and since then have appeared prominently in subsequent Mario games?

Although Wart, being an oversized, reptilian bad guy is really similar in theme to Bowser, why not lean into that?

That is, Wart, sick of the comparisons and sick of being called the “generic, dream-version of Bowser I ordered from Wish.com” puts together an army of Subcon’s most formidable Dream Machine-manufactured monsters (new and old) to invade the Mushroom Kingdom and prove his worth.

Or, keeping with the dream theme, have Wart plan to put all of the Mushroom Kingdom’s inhabitants to sleep so he can haunt them eternally in their nightmares like an amphibious Freddy Kreuger, leaving it up to Mario, Luigi and the gang to once more enter the dream world and thwart Wart once and for all.

What did you think of our list of Mario villains who deserve to return in future games? Did we leave any Mario villains who deserve to return in future games off the list that you think should have been included? Let us know in the comments.