Horned Ant Trooper
| Horned Ant Trooper | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Artwork from Super Mario 3D World | |||
| First appearance | Super Mario 3D World (2013) | ||
| Latest appearance | Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV (2025) | ||
| Variant of | Ant Trooper | ||
| |||
Horned Ant Troopers are indigo ant enemies with striped bodies, yellow eyes, and an orange spiked helmet that first appear in Super Mario 3D World. They behave and look the same as normal Ant Troopers except they wear a spiked orange helmet on their head which prevents them from being jumped on from above, although their sides are safe to jump on.
History[edit]
Super Mario series[edit]
Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury[edit]
In Super Mario 3D World and its Nintendo Switch port Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Horned Ant Troopers attack by marching (sometimes out of holes or gray pipes) and will keep walking on to walls. Despite the spiked helmet, they can be jumped on if they are walking along a vertical surface. They are vulnerable to Ground Pounds (on their sides), projectiles, and Cat Mario, Tanooki Mario and Rosalina's attacks. They first appear in World 4-1, Ant Trooper Hill.
Super Mario Maker 2[edit]
Horned Ant Troopers appear in Super Mario Maker 2, where they are placeable enemies exclusively in the Super Mario 3D World style. They can be made larger by giving them a Super Mushroom in the editor, causing them to act like Big Ant Troopers. They can also be given wings and parachutes.
Mario & Luigi series[edit]
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam[edit]
Horned Ant Troopers make their first appearance in the Mario & Luigi series in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. They are enemies that are encountered during the second visit to the Twinsy Tropics Dungeon and during the Final Smash mission in Neo Bowser Castle alongside normal Ant Troopers. In the field, Horned Ant Troopers prowl their territory aimlessly, occasionally pausing. Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario can attack them with their hammers to knock their helmets off, making them normal Ant Troopers. Both Ant Troopers and Horned Ant Troopers are fought in large groups. A Horned Ant Trooper's main attack is to jump up and dive head-first into one of the Bros., which can be counterattacked with the hammer. If the number of Ant Troopers and Horned Ant Troopers in battle combined is a multiple of three, they attack the Bros. by dashing towards them in groups of three. The Ant Troopers without helmets can be safely jumped on, but the Bros. will be damaged if they jump on a Horned Ant Trooper. Sometimes, if their numbers dwindle, Ant Troopers can choose to skip a turn on purpose or flee.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey[edit]
Horned Ant Troopers appear in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey as enemies and recruitable allies. They are Melee troops, and their Special Skill is Hit 'Em Up.
Super Mario Party Jamboree[edit]
Horned Ant Troopers reappear in Super Mario Party Jamboree in the minigame Trample-line alongside regular Ant Troopers. They eliminate any players that jump on their spiked helmets. They can also sometimes be seen in the minigame Which Door Has More? as part of the Koopathlon mode.
Profiles and statistics[edit]
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam[edit]
| Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam enemy | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horned Ant Trooper | ||||||||||
|
HP | 88 | POW | 132 (119) | Defense | 210 (181) | Speed | 91 | ||
| Role | Common | Type | Spiny | Weakness | None | Location(s) | Twinsy Tropics Dungeon, Final Smash | |||
| Level | 22 | Experience | 46 (41) | Coins | 20 | Item drop | Ultra Nut - 3% 1-Up DX - 2% | |||
| Notice: Stats in parentheses are from the game's Easy Mode. | ||||||||||
| Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam enemy | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horned Ant Trooper (no helmet) | ||||||||||
|
HP | 88 | POW | 132 (114) | Defense | 135 (130) | Speed | 91 | ||
| Role | Common | Type | Normal | Weakness | None | Location(s) | Twinsy Tropics Dungeon, Final Smash | |||
| Level | 22 | Experience | 46 (41) | Coins | 20 | Item drop | Ultra Nut - 3% 1-Up DX - 2% | |||
| Notice: Stats in parentheses are from the game's Easy Mode. | ||||||||||
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey[edit]
- Bowser Jr.'s Journey profile: Silent soldiers who keep their cool while cornering enemies. They like to catch foes off guard with powerful attacks.
Gallery[edit]
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Naming[edit]
Internal names[edit]
| Game | File | Name | Meaning
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Mario 3D World | content/ObjectData/CrawlerNeedle.szs | CrawlerNeedle | Needle Crawler |
Names in other languages[edit]
The contemporaneous name for each language is listed first. Subsequent names are listed in chronological order for each language, from oldest to newest, and have the media with which they are associated in the "Notes" column. Names exclusive to localizations of the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia are not prioritized due to concerns about circular reporting, and are only listed first for their respective languages if they are the only ones available.
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ツノアリへい[1][2] Tsuno Arihei |
Horned Ant Trooper | |
| Chinese (simplified) | 尖角蚂蚁兵[2] Jiānjiǎo Mǎyǐbīng (Mandarin) Jīmgok Máh'ngáihbīng (Cantonese) |
Sharp-horned Ant Trooper | |
| Chinese (traditional) | 尖角螞蟻兵[2] Jiānjiǎo Mǎyǐbīng (Mandarin) Jīmgok Máh'ngáihbīng (Cantonese) |
Sharp-horned Ant Trooper | |
| Dutch | Horned Ant Trooper[2] | - | |
| French (NOA) | Fourmili à pointe[2] | Spiky Ant Trooper | |
| French (NOE) | Fourmili à pointe[2] | Spiky Ant Trooper | |
| Fourmili à corne[3] | Horned Ant Trooper | Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia | |
| German | Stachel-Krabbel[4][2] | Horned Crawler; named in relation to Trupp-Krabbel ("Ant Trooper") | |
| Italian | Formispino[5][6][2][7] | Portmanteau between Formico ("Ant Trooper") and the faux masculine form of spina ("spike") | |
| Korean | 뿔개미병[2] Ppul Gaemibyeong |
Horned Ant Trooper | |
| Portuguese (NOE) | Formilitar Espinho[8] | Thorned Ant Trooper | |
| Russian | Рогатый муравей-пехотинец[2] Rogatyy muravey-pekhotinets |
Horned ant trooper | |
| Рогатый мурпех[8] Rogatyy murpekh |
Рогатый (rogatyy, "horned") with a portmanteau between муравей (muravey, "ant") and морпех (morpekh, "marine") | Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam | |
| Spanish (NOA) | Hormigoide picudo[2] | Spiky Ant Trooper | |
| Spanish (NOE) | Hormigoide Picudo[9][2] | Spiky Ant Trooper |
References[edit]
- ^ Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, and Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), editors (2015). "Super Mario 3D World" in『スーパーマリオブラザーズ百科: 任天堂公式ガイドブック』. Tokyo: Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 978-4-09-106569-8. Page 226.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l In-game name from Super Mario Maker 2 (stored internally under
ReferenceMsg/PartsIconName/Arihei_01). - ^ Ardaillon, Joanna, and Victoria Juillard-Huberty, editors (2018). "Super Mario 3D World" in Super Mario Encyclopedia. Translated by Fabien Nabhan. Toulon: Soleil Productions (French). ISBN 978-2-3020-7004-2. Page 226.
- ^ Scholz, Sabine, and Benjamin Spinrath, editors (2017). "Super Mario 3D World" in Super Mario Encyclopedia - Die ersten 30 Jahre : 1985-2015. Translated by Yamada Hirofumi. Hamburg: Tokyopop (German). ISBN 978-3-8420-3653-6. Page 226.
- ^ In-game name of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.
- ^ In-game name from Bowser Jr.'s Journey.
- ^ «Salti continuamente! Però, chi atterra su un Formispino ha perso!» – Trample-line description (17 Oct. 2025). Super Mario Party Jamboree. Nintendo (Italian).
- ^ a b In-game name displayed during battle from Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (European release) (stored internally as
o_tariheiwithin theb_sys.msbtstring in the archiveMsg\EU_[language]\BMsg.dat). - ^ Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, and Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), editors (2017). "Super Mario 3D World" in Enciclopedia Super Mario Bros. 30ª Aniversario. Translated by Gemma Tarrés. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta, S.A. (European Spanish). ISBN 978-84-9146-223-1. Page 226.
