Blue Koopa Troopas and Paratroopas in Mario Tennis Aces...and a brief history

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Let's talk about blue shells. I should know...

For only the third time in Mario Tennis Aces history (August 2019, February 2020, and now August 2020), you can get alternate colours on Koopa Troopa (Blue Koopa Troopa and Red Koopa Troopa) and Koopa Paratroopa (Blue Koopa Paratroopa and Green Koopa Paratroopa). This isn't article-worthy information by itself, but, you know, I have a renewed general interest in Mario Tennis Aces.

If you play and win, say, three matches, you'll get those 1000 Participation Points.
If you lose some, you'll still get them pretty quickly. Just not that quick.

The whole blue shell discussion is pretty interesting, especially given what's on my back right now. And just to get it out of the way, I was born with a green shell, and I still IDENTIFY as having a green shell, since the whole blue shell bit is all about trying to put a wedge between myself and the green-shelled royal pedigree of the Royal Koopa Family, as demonstrated by the green colour of King Bowser Koopa's shell. Let's talk about other instances we've seen Blue Koopa Troopa and Blue Koopa Paratroopa!

Blue Koopa Troopa

Blue Koopa Troopa is READY for this.
(And yet, their racket remains green. Well, it's expensive getting a matching racket.)

Koopa Troopas first started rocking blue shells in Super Mario World. These blue-shelled Koopa Troopas were more capable than red-shelled Koopa Troopas. (Fits a Splatfest result, too.) Not that it matters in terms of how Koopas themselves feel, but if Yoshi has a blue shell in his dirty mouth, the dinosaur gets wings and can fly. This has nothing to do with my own magic-powered flight abilities.

The most famous blue-shelled Koopa Troopa is Kooper, of Paper Mario's Koopa Village. (As opposed to the lame Koops, who has a green shell. Koops is not a loser because he has a green shell, but for the reasons outlined here.) Even though Kooper is opposed to Koopa Kingdom, he's still the most capable blue-shelled Koopa out there. ...Besides me, obviously.

While Mario Superstar Baseball only allows one to choose between a Green Koopa Troopa and a Red Koopa Troopa (Mario Sports Superstars allows one to pick between red, green, yellow, and blue), the game has a Blue Dry Bones. I suppose Blue Dry Bones was once a Blue Koopa Troopa?

Mario sometimes stole a blue shell to become Shell Mario, but it's an awful and disturbing topic, outside of this article's scope.

Super Mario Odyssey features the Blue Roving Racer Koopa Troopa, though he's not in Mario Kart Tour, unlike the Gold and Red Roving Racers. Blue isn't a top performer, unfortunately. Speaking of Mario Kart, there is the devastating and infamous Blue Spiny Shell, which often have wings attached, or can just mysteriously float. Perhaps this is also another reference to blue = flight. Though they aren't quite Koopa Troopas... But wings brings us to the next section:

Blue Koopa Paratroopa

Blue Koopa Paratroopa is celebrating the diversity and inclusion.

Yeah, so these just... barely exist. The most notable blue Koopa Paratroopas are the Koopa Paratroopa Trio from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. They have fashion sensibilities, since they wear sunglasses. They're also not directly affiliated with Koopa Kingdom, so I don't care much about them. Blue Koopa Paratroopas weren't in Super Mario World, despite Blue Koopa Troopas being present. They were in the baseball mode of Mario Sports Superstars, but not in the baseball games that matter (Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers). Yoshi's Safari also had red (sort of pink if you ask me), blue, yellow, and green Paratroopas.

That's really it for blue Koopa Paratroopa. And this article.


This article wasn't quite what Ludwig had in his head when he thought it'd be a good idea to write it, but maybe someone out there will find the information useful. The blue colouring makes no difference in Mario Tennis Aces. You might think that blue being a more rare shell colour means that Ludwig should feel special or proud of his blue shell, but he doesn't see the world that way. Don't judge a Koopa by their colour.


Larry Koopa also has a blue-coloured shell, but his too used to be green.