Bat (animal)
| Bat | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| First appearance | Virtual Boy Wario Land (1995) | ||
| Latest appearance | Mario Kart World (2025) | ||
| |||
Bats are flying mammals that commonly appear as ambient creatures in dark or haunted-themed areas, though sometimes they can be directly interacted with. They sometimes appear in the same game as more stylized bats, such as Swoops, Fangs, and Flipflaps.
History
Virtual Boy Wario Land
Interactive bats make their first appearance in the extended Super Mario franchise in Virtual Boy Wario Land, where they appear in the two between-stage minigames and very closely resemble Demon Bats from the game's predecessor, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. In the Heart Game, they fly across the screen and must be dodged while collecting Hearts, while in the Coin Game, they carry Party Balls. The doors to the minigames each have a bat over them which wakes and starts flapping when approached; the one over the coin game has a unique happy expression. Additionally, if Wario gets a Game Over, a bat steals all the treasures Wario has collected so far.
Mario Kart 64
Bats,[1] also referred to as Mad Bats,[2] appear in Mario Kart 64 as obstacles on Banshee Boardwalk. They are encountered in the abandoned house area in particular, where clouds of them fly out from a coffin and a fireplace. Unlike with other obstacles in the game, hitting bats simply causes the racer to slow down rather than spin out, while the bats disappear in a star-like effect. They are not present in time trials of the course, likely due to the fact that time trials in the game are invalidated by hitting walls or obstacles, with the bat cloud being so thick as to be fairly difficult to avoid the bats.
In the Mario Kart DS iteration of the course, the bats are replaced by Swoops. Unlike the generic bats, the Swoops are present in the Time Trial mode, likely due to this game not having the issue of hitting obstacles negating record-keeping.
Gallery
Donkey Kong 64 (purple)
Donkey Kong 64 (brown)
Donkey Kong 64 (purple)
Donkey Kong 64 (blue)
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | コウモリ[3] Kōmori |
Bat | |
| Chinese | 蝙蝠[4] Biānfú |
Bat |
References
- ^ 1997. Mario Kart 64 instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo of America (American English). Page 33.
- ^ July 1997. Nintendo Magazine System (AU) Issue #52. Page 41.
- ^ 1996. マリオカート
64 (Mario Kāto Rokujūyon) instruction booklet (PDF). Nintendo (Japanese). Page 33. - ^ 2003. 瑪利歐賽車64 (Mǎlì'ōu Sàichē 64) instruction booklet. iQue (Simplified Chinese). Page 32.
