Albatoss
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Albatoss (トンドル Tondoru?) originally appears in the game Doki Doki Panic along with the NES game Super Mario Bros. 2. The name comes from a pun on the bird albatross and the act of tossing. When Nintendo adopted Doki Doki Panic for Super Mario Bros. 2, Albatoss was one of the characters that underwent a stylistic change. In Doki Doki Panic, Albatoss' flight animation consists of only two frames, which made the animation appear flickery whenever an Albatoss would fly across the game screen. However, in Super Mario Bros. 2, Nintendo added an additional five frames into Albatoss's flight animation, which enhanced Albatoss' flight animation into a more fluid motion of the wings. Also, the additional frames add details about Albatoss' wings, mainly a more contour look of the bird's vaned feathers and outline curves of the down feathers.
The bomb-throwing bird is a character with its roots in Japanese mythology.
[edit] Mario series
In the World of Dreams of Super Mario Bros. 2, Albatoss travels in a straight horizontal direction from one side of the game screen to the other. Oftentimes, Albatoss appears on the screen in flocks rather than a solitary character. This usually increases the difficulty of the level because it requires the player to time his jumps accurately. Otherwise, the player would collide with Albatoss or inadvertently fall off of it. According to the Super Mario Bros. 2 manual (p. 25), Albatosses were residents of the World of Dreams. However, with the advent of Wart, they became carriers of Bob-ombs. They were ordered around by Wart and appeared as giant red birds that flew overhead dropping Bob-ombs on Mario, Luigi, Toad, or Princess Toadstool. They could also be helpful, however. If a character hitched a ride on the back of Albatoss, he would be able to ride it for the remainder of the stage. This was helpful to either bypass hazards on the ground or to reach a warp vase. A major downside from riding Albatoss is that Albatoss, as with other flying enemies in Super Mario Bros. 2, can pass through objects, such as towers, clouds, and even other enemies, but the player cannot. The player must find a way to maneuver to avoid being knocked off Albatoss by the object. Level 6-2 is comprised of giant pits that must be crossed by riding flocks of Albatosses. The only other enemies in this level are a single Panser, a few Beezos, and a green Birdo. Albatoss is one of the few non-boss characters that allows the player ride on the character, but does not grant the player the ability to pick up the character. In a remake of Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Advance, their voices are supplied by Charles Martinet who gives them a voice like the comedian Sam Kinison.
In Super Mario All-Stars, the Albatoss sprite underwent a stylistic change in color. In the original Super Mario Bros. 2, the Albatoss sprite consisted of only three basic colors — white for the eyes, red for the vaned feathers, and black for the rest. However, in Super Mario All-Stars, additional colors were added to help delineate some of Albatoss's physical features. Namely, the beak was colored yellow, the down feathers were colored orange, and the feet were colored sky blue. Also, in Super Mario All-Stars and games involving subsequent remakes of Super Mario Bros. 3, the king of Sky Land is transformed into an Albatoss. However, in the original version of Super Mario Bros. 3, the king of Sky Land was transformed into a vulture.
[edit] Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
Albatosses also made appearances in several episodes of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. In the beginning montage of every show, a flock of Albatosses can be see flying above a desert-like background while Lou Albano and Danny Wells (as their respective characters) are seen singing in the foreground. In the show, their voices are supplied by John Stocker.
In the cartoon shows, Bowser commands a squadron of Albatoss to initiate air attacks against the Mario brothers. Several episodes feature Albatoss as a main antagonist in the episode's plot. One particular episode is the series premiere, called "The Bird! The Bird!" In the episode, three Albatosses gets orders from Bowser to launch an attack on Mario's party. The episode displays the Albatosses dropping a huge amount of Bob-ombs causing major destruction. One of the show's cliffhangers features the Albatoss attack, where an avanlanche is triggered when the tossed Bob-ombs detonate.
Another such episode is called "Two Plumbers and a Baby". In the episode, Bowser's Albatoss squadron spend the whole episode trying to capture important officials who had been turned into babies. It was also the first time that the Albatoss is shown as using net bombs as part of their artillery.
Other times, rather than having the episode focus on the Albatoss flock, a single Albatoss is featured. In the episode "Mario and Joliet" (a take-off on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet), the episode presents a single Albatoss causing most of the problems facing the brothers. For example, when the Mario Bros. enter the middle of a war, an Albatoss surprises the brothers and corners them with a Bob-omb ready to explode. Later on, when the war was called off by both sides, an Albatoss kidnaps Princess Peach's friend, Joliet, which restarts the whole war between the two feuding families.
In some episodes, the Albatoss appear more as comic relief such as "Bad Rap" and "Jungle Fever", where the birds attack with exploding CDs and itching powder (respectively) rather than the standard Bob-omb. Albatoss only talked in "Jungle Fever" where they say "Albatoss squadron: Bob-ombs away!"
As with many of the elements from Super Mario Bros. 2, Albatosses were strangely absent when the show spun off into The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.
[edit] References
- Contains a comparison of Albatoss from Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2
- Super Mario Bros. 2 Instruction Booklet, Nintendo, 1988.
