Considering its lowly status in the overarching Mario universe, it may surprise you to discover how much of an avid following there is for the modest Koopa Troopa. Perhaps more than any other nameless henchman in gaming, this charming turtle has delighted fans for decades — especially so when it manages to nab a coveted spot on the playable roster.

The history of playable Koopa Troopa is actually an interesting one, with so many peaks and valleys you can never be sure how safe its position is when a new entry hits the market. With that being said, it seemed high time to chronicle those highs and lows with a detailed look back on all of the times you could play as a Koopa Troopa in Mario games.

For clarity’s sake, while reeling off the various appearances, we will be limiting the list only to Koopa Troopa and its direct offshoots. That is to say, while we do include Koopa Paratroopa (the same creature but with wings) or Dry Bones (the same creature but it’s dead yo), we shan’t stray into other Koopa family members, such as Magikoopa or the Hammer Bros..

Also, we may occasionally refer to Koopa Troopa by the shorthand Koopa. This is in line not only with conventions set throughout the franchise, but for the simple fact that typing the whole name this many times is awkward as hell.

Prologue: Humble Beginnings

Before beginning this list in earnest, it’s important to establish the origins of what we now know as the Koopa Troopa. If you just want that playable list now now now, feel free to skip ahead to the next chapter. You uncultured swine, you.

The earliest version of a terrapin enemy in the Super Mario franchise would be found in the 1983 arcade title, Mario Bros.. While this isn’t a Koopa Troopa in the strictest sense of the word, it could at least be considered an ancestor that shares many of the same traits. It was capable of leaving its shell, sported the same undergarments, and according to trophy descriptions in the Smash Bros. series, would later evolve into the Koopa Troopa.

The Shellcreeper’s biggest difference, in line with the game’s mechanics, is that it could not be jumped on, and would have to be knocked over from below and then kicked aside to be defeated.

It wasn’t until 1985 when the Koopa Troopa would officially debut, courtesy of Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. With Goombas now entrenched as the most basic henchman variety, Koopa Troopas were a little different in that you could kick their shells around after stomping on their heads in order to dish out damage (or if you were like me, accidentally get killed when it bounces off a pipe you hadn’t seen coming).

While they were quadrupedal in this initial interpretation, they were otherwise largely unchanged from how they operate to this day. Super Mario Bros. also contained the winged Koopa Paratroopa, while the animated skeletal remains known as Dry Bones would be introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3.

With that, we now effectively had the framework for which most other Koopa Troopa forms would based upon. It wasn’t until Nintendo’s second home console, however, that this hapless foot soldier would be anointed in an unlikely way.

Chapter one: Playing with Power (Super power)

In 1992, the Mario franchise would expand into a lucrative new spinoff series that reshaped the industry in its own right. The history of Super Mario Kart is quite fascinating, having originally started development with generic racers as a way of showcasing the Super Nintendo Entertainment Console’s Mode 7 graphics.

Once the choice was made to insert Mario and company, eight playable characters were allocated. Many of them are obvious choices, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, the nefarious Bowser, and the white-hot new kid on the block, Yoshi. From there, the line up of noteworthy cast members grows a bit thin, so a little creative thinking was required. Princess Daisy from the Game Boy entry Super Mario Land was little more than a one-off afterthought at the time, and the sequel’s antagonist Wario was a few months off debuting.

As such, the three remaining slots went to one of the Toad retainers, Donkey Kong Jr. — who was on his last legs as a featured character even back then — and last but not least, our diminutive dynamo, the Koopa Troopa. How much it warranted this playable position is fairly debatable, and perhaps came down to needing a weight class parallel for the lightest racer, Toad. Koopa Troopas are historically taller than Mario when he’s not in his Super form, but that’s neither here nor there.

For many, this was the springboard that launched a generational obsession with Koopa Troopa, even if the reason he was selected was because the older sibling called dibs on Yoshi, so we had to settle for the most Yoshi-like alternative.

With the floodgates open at last, Koopa Troopa would receive a look-in for subsequent games with extended playable casts, although they were less prolific at the time than they are nowadays. Like all but one member of the Super Mario Kart roster (ironically, the Koopa overlord Bowser), Koopa Troopa landed a spot in Mario’s Tennis on the Virtual Boy, marking one of the only times it would be portrayed as having poor foot speed.

In Mario’s Game Gallery (later re-released as Mario’s FUNdamentals), players were given the options of playing as Yoshi or Koopa in the board game checkers. Should Koopa Troopa players reach the other side of the board, they would be suitably kinged as Bowser. Additionally, whenever they successfully jumped a Yoshi piece, they would stomp the little green guy into oblivion, which was fairly upsetting to witness as a child.

To round out this era, Koopa Troopa would make a few playable appearances solely in multiplayer modes. Tetris Attack, the curiously titled reskin of Panel de Pon, allowed players to input a password to select the boss character Hookbill the Koopa as their mascot in Vs. mode. Hookbill himself first debuted in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island as a chemically enhanced Koopa Troopa that grew to a towering size, and though you don’t get to control characters directly in Tetris Attack, it technically counts for the purposes of this list.

While he wouldn’t reprise this playable role in Vs. mode on the Game Boy port, the Puzzle mode did feature stages with him present as the character. Again, based on technicality, this would qualify. If you don’t like it, fine, don’t play the 30 year old Game Boy puzzle game.

For western markets, these would mark the last playable appearances on the SNES. Japanese gamers, however, were able to unlock Koopa Troopa in the 2-player mode of Wrecking Crew ’98 after beating him in the solo campaign. Considering the Nintendo 64 had been out for nearly two years by this point, the fact this game existed in the first place was perhaps a little surprising.

Playable roles: Super Mario Kart (SNES, 1992), Mario’s Game Gallery (MS-DOS, 1995), Mario’s Tennis (Virtual Boy, 1995), Tetris Attack (as Hookbill the Koopa, SNES/Game Boy, 1996), Wrecking Crew ’98 (Super Famicom, 1998)

Chapter two: The dark ages

Considering how well things had started for Koopa Troopa as one of the playable elite, the jump to the 3D plain would mark a demonstrable step backwards.

Most notably, the sequel to the series that had put him on the map in the first place, Mario Kart 64, axed Koopa Troopa and Donkey Kong Jr. in favour of Wario and Donkey Kong. There was a period of time where Kamek the Magikoopa was slated in place of DK, however the final product shipped with Bowser as the lone representative of the Koopa Troop.

As bitter a pill as it was to swallow, it’s hard to argue the merits of the big fellas they eventually settled on. Wario had kicked off his own line of handheld titles, and Rare had breathed new life into Donkey Kong that made him one of the heavy hitters in the SNES’ final years.

Sadly, it would set a trend moving forward, with Koopa Troopa no longer a de facto member of the extended family. Mario Party and Mario Golf would retain much of MK64’s roster — the latter also throwing in a smattering of dull OC’s who have largely been AWOL ever since — and Super Smash Bros. relegated Koopa Troopa to little more than a background sprite in the 8-bit themed Mushroom Kingdom stage. To add insult to injury, Koopa shells would occasionally pop up as projectile weapons in games, reducing the once glorious Koopa Troopa to little more than an accessory to murder.

It wasn’t until the turn of the millennium where Koopa Troopa would receive a merciful reprieve, and as unkind as the N64 was to the little dude, it certainly went out with a bang. First, Koopa proved the beneficiary of the increased number of playable characters in Mario Tennis. This could be considered something of a double-edged sword, as it set the standard for others to muscle in on its turf like Daisy or the newly added Waluigi, but at the very least, Paratroopa landed its very first playable role, 15 years after it had first been introduced.

Better still, the irresistibly charming Paper Mario introduced various partners based on familiar enemies, and to represent Koopas, we were gifted with the blue-shelled good guy, Kooper, and the Paratroopa mailman, Parakarry. This game was a treasure trove for Koopa kontent, in fact, with a myriad of Troopa characters such as the explorer Kolorado, or the bumbling quartet, the Koopa Bros..

It is worth noting that while Koopa still wasn’t able to crack the roster by Mario Party 3, it did appear as Mario’s default partner in the fascinating Duel Mode. If you’d like to consider this a playable role, you can by all means. We won’t be, though, because after all, there are brighter days on the horizon.

Playable roles: Mario Tennis (as Paratroopa, N64, 2000), Paper Mario (as Kooper & Parakarry, N64, 2000)

Chapter Three: Return of the Mackoopa

By the time the legendary sixth console generation rolled around, Koopa fans had pretty much accepted their fate. Spinoff rosters were likely capped somewhere around eight characters, and with so few spots to spare, our plucky turtle friend would almost certainly be relegated to the shadows.

You can imagine the tangible sense of victory, then, that came with the reveal of Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube. Boasting two racers per kart, the number of playable characters shot up to unprecedented levels. And sure enough, this meant that Koopa Troopa was back behind the wheel.

He even brought his pal Paratroopa along for the ride, marking the first time that both variants would be playable in the same game (excluding as partners in Paper Mario, obviously). We had been burned before, so cautious Koopa enthusiasts were sceptical whether this would be anything more than a on-off, necessitated by Double Dash’s pair-up mechanic.

Thankfully, the fear would prove to be misplaced, because the Koopa wins were coming in hard and fast on the purple lunchbox. We scored Koopa Troopa in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (complete with Michael Jackson Thriller dance), the lovable Koops as a partner character in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and both Koopa and Paratroopa in Mario Power Tennis. By now, the tiny terrapin was well entrenched as a speedy competitor lacking in strength, just as he had been portrayed in Super Mario Kart.

We were eating good, and to sweeten the deal, we were also eating skeleton. In the same way that the N64 served up a curve ball with Paratroopa’s ascension, this generation saw the rise of Dry Bones as an occasional Koopa Troopa stand-in. Most significantly, this meant that a Koopa variant would infiltrate the Mario Party lineup at long last, with Dry Bones featured as an unlockable playable character in Mario Party 7.

Yes, we had waited for Koopa to score an invite for so long he had literally dropped dead, but dammit, we finally made it. All three of the amigos even got to hit the diamond in Mario Superstar Baseball, showing how far we’d come — from zero Koopas on the N64 to a trio on the GameCube. It’s enough to bring a tear to your eye.

The final hurrah for Koopa Troopa would be his role as a sidekick character in Super Mario Strikers (aka Mario Smash Football in some regions). After the bevy of riches we had grown accustomed to, this wasn’t quite as glorious, considering that the sidekicks in this game were vastly inferior to the captains of the main lineup. Still, it was a nice send-off to what turned out to be Koopa Troopa’s greatest console outing yet.

Playable roles: Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (NGC, 2003), Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (also as Paratroopa, NGC, 2003), Paper Mario: The Thousand Year (as Koops, NGC, 2004), Mario Power Tennis (also as Paratroopa, NGC, 2004), Mario Superstar Baseball (also as Paratroopa & Dry Bones, NGC, 2005), Mario Party 7 (as Dry Bones, NGC, 2005), Super Mario Strikers (NGC, 2005)

Chapter four: Wii can play, too!

It’s worth noting that Koopa had been entirely blanked as a roster member on the Game Boy Advance. Once again, it would get revenge from beyond the grave with a position for Dry Bones in Mario Kart DS.

In hindsight, it’s a strange decision, but this was a strange game in general, with a playable cameo also being reserved for R.O.B.. Meanwhile on the home console front, the Nintendo Wii provided much of the same on the spinoff front, which suited Koopa Troopa just fine.

Mario Strikers Charged/Mario Strikers Charged Football served as the playable debut for Koopa Troopa on the platform, and he brought a whole new bag of tricks alongside a kickass theme tune. Dry Bones got in on the action, too, boasting a juke that allowed him to literally teleport through goalkeepers.

Koopa and Dry Bones made their return as racers in Mario Kart Wii (though you’d be excused for not realising this, considering everyone online only ever used Funky Kong), and the trio emerged once more in Mario Super Sluggers. With more than 40 characters to choose from, their inclusion was perhaps academic by this point.

Dry Bones continued to snub its vivified counterparts as the lone participant in Mario Party 8, only to be pipped to the post when it lost its position to the standard Koopa Troopa in Mario Party 9. Although you couldn’t play as Dry Bones in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, it’s worth highlighting that it boasts about its prowess in curling. That’s just amusing to me for some reason.

While Paratroopa definitely took a backseat for this generation, it did get bragging rights as being the only member who got the nod for Mario Hoops 3-on-3. By many accounts, it’s one of the best ballers in the game, which makes sense. I mean, it can literally fly, dude.

Absent of a few reliable staples such as Mario Golf or the partners in Paper Mario, Koopa Troopa’s time on the Wii still remained lucrative, overall. This was good, because Nintendo’s fortunes were about to take a turn for the worst…

Playable roles: Mario Kart DS (as Dry Bones, NDS, 2005), Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (as Paratroopa, NDS, 2006), Mario Party 8 (as Dry Bones, Wii, 2007), Mario Strikers Charged (also as Dry Bones, Wii, 2007), Mario Kart Wii (also as Dry Bones, Wii, 2008), Mario Super Sluggers (also as Paratroopa & Dry Bones, Wii, 2008), Mario Party 9 (Wii, 2012)

Chapter five: A modest library

After enjoying a golden era with the one-two punch of the Wii and DS, Nintendo faceplanted in a brutal fashion with the Wii U.

We all know how and why the console failed, and one of its biggest drawbacks was a lack of must-have titles. Compared to the Wii’s library of over 1,600 games, the Wii U only put out half that amount — a great many of which wouldn’t even reach international shores.

Fewer games meant fewer opportunities for Koopa Troopa to flourish, with the portable 3DS having to really carry the load in its stead. Things started in promising fashion at least, as Koopa Troopa continued its kart-racing streak with Mario Kart 7 on the handheld. Dry Bones was sadly benched here, though it did get to enjoy its own form of vehicular mayhem as a playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games‘ BMX event. Curiously, this was only true for the 3DS version, with it nowhere to be seen in its Wii U counterpart.

In much the same fashion as Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Paratroopa was the surprising inclusion for Mario Golf: World Tour, and you could fill out your Mario Sports Superstars team rosters with Koopa Troopas and Paratroopas if you were so inclined. To close out the 3DS era, Koopa Troopa was anointed captaincy in the spinoff adventures, Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser and Bowser Jr.’s Journey. Paratroopa and Dry Bones were on-hand as party members, too, alongside bespoke characters such as Corporal Paraplonk and the Koopa Paratroopa Trio.

And… that’s kind of it, really? There are a few technicalities that we’ll mention for the sake of consistency, such as all three being recruitable allies you can add to your squad in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition. To the strictest letter of the law, they’re more assistants to your own puzzle solving endeavours, but if we included Tetris Attack, it stands to reason this should count, too.

If you prefer your Koopas blocky, Koopa Troopa and Dry Bones are available as player skins in Minecraft: Wii U Edition and Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition. Amusingly, although neither were offered as costumes in Super Mario Maker, Shellcreeper made an unlikely return, marking the closest the Koopa ancestor has ever come to being playable.

While the number of games this generation is impressive, that entirely comes down to the herculean efforts of the 3DS. It even netted us a sweet Koopa Troopa amiibo, in conjunction with the release of Bowser’s Minions. The Wii U, on the other hand, failed not only to fill Nintendo’s coffers, but underwhelmed in its delivery of that sweet terrapin goodness.

Playable roles: Mario Kart 7 (3DS, 2011), Mario Golf: World Tour (as Paratroopa, 3DS, 2014), Mario Kart 8 (Wii U, 2014), Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition (also as Paratroopa & Dry Bones, 3DS, 2015), Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (as Dry Bones, 2016, 3DS), Minecraft: Wii U Edition (also as Dry Bones, Wii U, 2015), Mario Sports Superstars (also as Paratroopa, 3DS, 2017), Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition (also as Dry Bones, New 3DS, 2017), Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser (also as Paratroopa, Dry Bones, Captain Koopa Troopa, & Corporal Paraplonk 3DS, 2017), Bowser Jr.’s Journey (also as Paratroopa, Dry Bones, Captain Koopa Troopa, Corporal Paraplonk, & Koopa Paratroopa Trio, 3DS, 2018)

Chapter Six: Switch it up like Nintendo

We’re fast approaching the modern era, with the recently retired Nintendo Switch stepping up to the plate. By now, the formula of spinoff rosters had been well entrenched for quite some time, so you could reasonably expect a playable Koopa Troopa whenever Mario elected to dabble in his hobbies.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was noteworthy not only for being a port of the Wii U entry on a more successful platform, but also for planting Dry Bones back in the lineup. While Mario Tennis Aces initially launched sans Koopa, all three variants would be added later on through updates. Similarly, Koopa Troopa received a delayed playable role in version 3.0.0 of Mario Golf: Super Rush.

After going back and forth on who should get to attend the swankiest soirees of the Mushroom Kingdom, Super Mario Party finally brought both Koopa Troopa and Dry Bones into the fold. When Super Mario Party Jamboree released seven years later, only Troopa was present, leading me to believe that Dry Bones had done something to piss Mario off in the intervening years. Needless to say, Paratroopa remained a no-show.

Considering the Switch’s hybrid nature, there’s sadly no dedicated handheld platform to help bolster the numbers. There are a few mobile titles worth mentioning, however, starting with Dr. Mario World. Here, Koopa Troopa had somehow received a doctorate and was a licensed physician, appropriately known as Dr. Koopa Troopa. This sounds impressive, until you consider that the other doctors include Dr. Donkey Kong (a gorilla), Dr. Baby Mario (an infant), and Dr. Dolphin (a dolphin).

Last but certainly not least, Koopa was featured amongst the gargantuan lineup of Mario Kart Tour. To date, we’ve seen colour variants for all three of our guys, including the Roving Racer quintet from Super Mario Odyssey. Yes, considering the gacha nature of the game, we also got Yoshi cosplaying as a kangaroo. But I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Playable roles: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (also as Dry Bones, Switch, 2017), Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (later Minecraft: Bedrock Edition) (also as Dry Bones, Switch, 2017/2018), Mario Tennis Aces (also as Paratroopa & Dry Bones, Switch, 2018), Super Mario Party (also as Dry Bones, Switch, 2018), Dr. Mario World (mobile, 2019), Mario Kart Tour (also as Paratroopa & Dry Bones, mobile, 2019), Mario Golf: Super Rush (Switch, 2021), Super Mario Party Jamboree (Switch, 2024)

Chapter Seven: The second Switch

Which brings us to where we are today. The Switch 2 is approaching its first anniversary, and though its start has arguably been more sluggish than its predecessor, it does have a few killer apps to its name, including Donkey Kong Bananza and Resident Evil Requiem.

How our beloved Koopa Troopa will fare in this brave new frontier remains to be seen, though for the first time in Nintendo history, it was gifted a playable role in a launch title, courtesy of Mario Kart World. Here, it gets to enjoy off-road antics, a bevy of cute costumes, and its old frenemy Dry Bones, for good measure.

In 2026, Paratroopa was able to get off the schneid for its Switch 2 career, returning to the courts in Mario Tennis Fever. Not to be outdone, Troopa and Dry Bones came along for the ride. Again, while the ubiquity of these rosters made the trio a safe bet, we’re grateful all the same.

And so ends our lengthy trip down memory lane, at least for the time being. While the origins of playable Koopa Troopa got off to a rocky start, it has since been smooth sailing for the last two decades. Odds are, if Mario is up to something fun, he will see fit to bring along his turtle nemesis. While they have been battling one other for generations, it goes to show that not even attempted murder can get in the way of a good time.

Playable roles: Mario Kart World (also as Dry Bones, Switch 2, 2025), Mario Tennis Fever (also as Paratroopa & Dry Bones, Switch 2, 2026)