More about Boo...
Games: Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Luigi's Mansion, and a ton more
 
Who needs Casper the Friendly Ghost when you've got Boo?  Well, he's not friendly, but it's about as cute as you could hope an enemy spirit to be, and actually in some games this ghost comes across more as mischievous than evil.  Known as Boo Diddly when it first appeared in Mario 3, Boo Buddy in Mario World, and just Boo in mostly everything else, mostly it's known for its iconic attack pattern that it uses in all the platformers: floating towards Mario when the plumber is looking away, but stopping in its tracks and hiding its face when Mario looks in its direction.  I've always presumed this is because the living are not supposed to be able to see ghosts, though Boos have no problem with being looked at in the RPGs.

It might seem surprising that a ghost, even one as cute as this, would be such a reoccuring enemy in a family friendly game series.  Boo got a bit of a late start by not appearing until Mario 3, but since then it has appeared in just about everything, including the sidescrollers, RPGs, 3D adventures, and various spinoffs.  It also appears in Yoshi's games and some of Wario's; it even made a cameo as one of the puzzles in Mario Picross.  With all of these appearances, I've calculated that Boo has actually appeared more often than any other Mario enemy.  In Mario 3, Boo appeared frequently but wasn't an overly significant part of the game as it randomly appeared in fortresses.  But in Mario World, Boo regularly appeared in more appopriately themed ghost houses, and many games since then have also had some kind of haunted level type suitable for Boos.  Boo was the major enemy of Luigi's Mansion in which, aided by their leader King Boo, they captured Mario until Luigi was able to rescue him.  In addition to King Boo, other notable Boo varieties include Big Boo, Bigger Boo, and Boolossus.  A Boo named Bow was one of Mario's partners in Paper Mario, one of his best partners in my opinion.  Bow, alone among her partner peers, even made a cameo in PM2 for no particular reason.

Though Boo has easily earned a spot next to Goomba and Koopa Troopa as some of the series' most important enemy types, for some reason it has been largely overlooked in the Sports Hall.  Making just its second appearance in Season Nine, Boo seemed ready to make a run for it but was outdone by Waluigi for the second time and was eliminated.

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