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"Rats, I missed! Ohh, I hate it when I miss!"
—Thwomp

Thwomps (ドッスン Dossun?), also called Thwomp Traps, are a recurring enemy in the Mario franchise. They first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3.

Profile[]

Physical description[]

SMB3 Thwomp

Super Mario Bros. 3 artwork depicting a Thwomp's initial design

Thwomps are large stone face creatures usually having a cube-shaped body. While this part remains consistent, Thwomps have gone through a series of design differences throughout the years, a lot of which concerns the outer edge of their body, but Thwomps are usually either gray in color or, to a lesser extent, blue or turquoise. In various appearances, a Thwomp's eyes consist of glowing white dots in a dark space. Thwomps can sometimes vary in size, with the largest Thwomps appearing in Wario's Woods.

The outer edge of a Thwomp is often covered in blunt spikes. Super Mario Kart is the first game in which Thwomps lack spikes, and they are instead plain blocks of rectangular-shaped stones.

For their Super Mario 64 design, Thwomps have a blue body with smooth edges (although not as smooth as in the Super Mario Kart design), and they lack spikes of any sort. Their Super Mario 64 design went on to be reused in Mario Kart 64 (albeit with a different face), early Mario Party series games, and Mario Pinball Land. Not including remakes or ports, Mario Party Advance is the last game that depicts Thwomps with their Super Mario 64 design.

Games such as Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Party 7 use an updated version of their common rectangular-shaped stone appearance from games such as Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. Thwomps were given a chiseled-edge design in Super Mario Galaxy, also used in some other 3D Super Mario games like Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Thwomps were given another different design that covers their outer edge in spikes, and Thwomps with chiseled edges and metal spikes sometimes appear in the same game, such as with Super Mario Maker 2.

Behavior[]

In the 2D Super Mario series installments, Thwomps are usually on the ceiling, biding their time until Mario or another playable character runs underneath a Thwomp, upon which it falls down to try and crush the character. In Super Mario 64, Thwomps instead have a behavior of crashing down then moving up repeatedly, and this is the first time they make a grunting sound upon landing. In some appearances, Thwomps move either horizontally or diagonally.

In the Mario Kart series, Thwomps generally have a different behavior where they repeatedly slam onto the ground then travel back up to repeat the process again shortly afterward. This is unlike the Super Mario platforming titles, in which Thwomps only slam down when a character approaches. Upon crashing down, Thwomp either crushes a racer or just acts as a brief roadblock.

Despite being made of stone, which is not molten, Thwomps are shown to be invulnerable to lava.

Timeline[]

Main article: Thwomp/Appearances
Game Role Year Console Notes
Super Mario Bros. 3 Enemy 1988 Nintendo Entertainment System Debut appearance
Super Mario World Enemy 1990 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Mario Kart Obstacle 1992 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Wario's Woods Enemy 1994 Nintendo Entertainment System
Wario's Woods Enemy 1994 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Obstacle 1996 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Mario 64 Enemy 1996 Nintendo 64
Mario Kart 64 Enemy 1996 Nintendo 64
Mario Party Species 1998 Nintendo 64 Appears as an obstacle on the board Yoshi's Tropical Island and in two minigames, Running of the Bulb and Skateboard Scamper
Mario Party 2 Species 1999 Nintendo 64
Mario Party 3 Species 2000 Nintendo 64
Mario Kart: Super Circuit Obstacle 2001 Game Boy Advance
Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 Enemy 2001 Game Boy Advance Same as in the original Super Mario World
Mario Party 4 Species 2002 Nintendo GameCube
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour Obstacle 2003 Nintendo GameCube
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Obstacle 2003 Nintendo GameCube
Mario Party 5 Species 2003 Nintendo GameCube
Mario Pinball Land Enemy 2004 Game Boy Advance
Mario Party 6 Species 2004 Nintendo GameCube
Super Mario 64 DS Enemy 2004 Nintendo DS Same role as in Super Mario 64, but with a different design.
Mario Party Advance Species 2005 Game Boy Advance Aside from a representative character, Thwomps appear in a few minigames, including Outta My Way, Chain Saw, and Chicken!
Mario Kart DS Obstacle 2005 Nintendo DS
New Super Mario Bros. Enemy 2006 Nintendo DS
Mario Party 8 Species 2007 Wii
Super Mario Galaxy Enemy 2007 Wii
Mario Kart Wii Obstacle 2008 Wii
New Super Mario Bros. Wii Enemy 2009 Wii
Mario Party 9 Species 2012 Wii

Attention MarioWiki users!: This section is short or lacks sufficient information. Whether you are commenting or editing, we would appreciate it if you help MarioWiki by expanding it.

Behind the scenes[]

Etymology[]

'Thwomp' is most likely the onomatopoeia for something large and strong hitting the ground with great force.

Gallery[]

Hat mario To view Thwomp's
image gallery, click here.


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