- “You've got a lot of nerve!”
- —Birdo, Super Mario Advance
Birdo is a strange, dinosaur-like species resembling the Yoshi species. The species first appeared in Doki Doki Panic (Super Mario Bros. 2).
Biography
Birdo in Subcon
The first appearance of Birdo was in Super Mario Bros. 2, where she was a mini-boss character of each level. Birdo, depending on her form, spat eggs and/or fireballs at the player. Her standard pink form fired eggs, a red color swap shot both eggs and fireballs, and a green one sent only fire after the characters. (In the event of a green Birdo, the player had to find a Mushroom Block to toss at her.) Rarely, a Birdo would appear as a common enemy, instead of a boss. Usually, those Birdos are invincible. (After the player defeats one of these Birdos, it comes right back.) The credits of Super Mario Bros. 2 label Birdo as Ostro (and vice versa), a different enemy that has nothing to do with Birdo.
In the Super Mario Advance remake of Super Mario Bros. 2, there was a robotic Birdo boss named Robirdo, who took over a second Mouser's position as the boss of World 3. Super Mario Advance is also notable for being one of the last games to give Birdo understandable voice acting (further games would simply allow her to emit honking noises); in this game she spoke clear sentences such as "This is as far as you go!" and "Hello there".
Birdo Teams up With Toad
Birdo was actually one of the heroes in Wario's Woods. The woodland monsters were attacking the Mushroom Kingdom, and she (along with Wanda and Toad) had to stop Wario. Although she is not playable, she aids Toad by giving bombs to Wanda, who then passes them Toad. She will also shout instructions and encouragement to Toad from the corner. Also, the instruction manual for this game calls her "Catherine", which is the original Japanese name.
She is chased away when Wario takes her place.
Valentina's Worker
Birdo appeared as a boss in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Birdo was first seen as an egg named Shelly who was found in Nimbus Castle (while the stronghold under the control of Valentina) and was strangely being watered by Shy Away, who was perhaps intending to use her as a weapon of sorts. When Shy Away saw Mario, though, he quickly abandoned his post and fled, leaving Shelly exposed. Mario could then speak to Shelly, who would request that Mario played with her; if Mario suggested, though, battle between his party and Shelly would begin. Although Shelly would never attack or perform any malicious moves toward Mario and friends, the group (through attacking) could gradually split her open to reveal Birdo. She would cheerfully introduce herself and start attacking. After suffering more attacks from Mario and company, Birdo would also raise her attacking methods, beginning to shoot out the explosive Eggberts rather than normal eggs. (Defending on a turn in which Birdo shot out Eggberts, though, would actually fling the explosion-friendly eggs back into Birdo's nest, where they could then be attacked so they would explode and deal massive damage to Birdo herself, making Birdo battle more creative and thematic than many other Super Mario RPG battles; however, this trick was left unnoticed and untouched by most fans due to lack of use of the Defend option.) Despite the pain and anger, she showed ambiguous signs of going through, though, this Birdo eventually gave up mid-battle (though she actually suffered normal defeat and Mario's party earned battle spoils such as Experience Points as normally) due to the fact that she found Mario and his friends too cute to destroy.
The Stolen Voice of Birdo
In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Birdo helped the heroes during the first part of the game. When Cackletta and Fawful visited the Mushroom Kingdom, Birdo disguised herself as Princess Peach. Cackletta therefore stole Birdo's voice, not Peach's, and when Cackletta unknowingly gave Birdo's voice to the Beanstar via Peach-bots, it went insane. The first time this Birdo actually appeared though, was when Peach and Toadsworth reveal that it was she who got her voice stolen; as they said this, Birdo appeared and started wildly chasing one of Lady Lima's assistants for unknown reasons. Later in the game, Birdo replaced Bowser as Popple's "Rookie" out of her mad love for the Beanish crook. She was a powerful opponent, as one of her attacks involves sucking in Mario or Luigi; if she is successful in this, she will not only hurt the unfortunate Mario Brother she sucked up, but will also revive her own HP. The only way to dodge this attack is to hit her with a hammer. She can also throw flaming eggs in a wild, sporadic and put Popple in protective but deadly egg shields. After Popple and Birdo failed in their attempt to destroy the Mario Brothers, Popple blamed it all on Birdo and even went as far as to fire her, and Birdo (who was noticeably less obedient than Popple's other Rookie, Bowser) responded by furiously knocking him away and ending their relationship (which was unrequited by Popple anyway). Birdo then gave a short speech about her new dedication to fight towards superstardom, expressed anger at Mario and Luigi, and ran away. She did not reappear for the rest of the Mario & Luigi series so far.
Other Appearances
Birdo's first sports game was Mario Tennis, which was the first game to ever give her understandable voice acting. (Super Mario Advance was the only other game to do so.) She did not appear in the more recent sequel, Mario Power Tennis.
In Mario Superstar Baseball, Birdo is a balance character that specializes in batting. She was on Yoshi's team as a Sub-Captain. She could also be chosen as a captain in Exhibition Mode.
Birdo is in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! as Yoshi's default partner. Like Yoshi's, her special item is an Egg, but hers has Pink Spots instead of green ones.
Birdo is unlockable in Mario Party 7, when purchased at the Duty Free Shop with 1,000 mileage points. She is one of the two new characters along with Dry Bones. She also appears as playable from the start of Mario Party 8. Birdo is an unlockable character in Mario Hoops 3-on-3.
It is possible that Birdo may be one of the many Birdos that appeared in Super Mario Strikers and the sequel Mario Strikers Charged.
Birdo has been confirmed as a playable character for the upcoming game Itadaki Street DS.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Birdo is also appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee in her two-dimensional, Super Mario All-Stars sprite; she is on the Super Mario Bros. 2-based stage. Sometimes, she will come out from the side of the stage and shoot eggs, hurting any player who comes in contact with them. She can easily be destroyed by a strong attack, like Pikachu's Skull Bash when charged up enough. Strangely, whenever she is hurt, she will turn blue for a split second. Birdo also appears in her 2-D form as a trophy.
Appearances In Other Media
Cartoons
Birdos made several appearances in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Strangely, the Birdos in the show were able to fly in some episodes, using bat-like wings, even though the video game series states that they are a species of flightless birds. The Birdos in the show worked for King Koopa (though some were shown to be neutral) just like all of the enemies that once worked for Wart. Birdos on the show attacked by shooting white eggs, just like in the game.
Publications
Birdos were featured as reccuring foes of Mario and Luigi in Nintendo Comics System, where they were minions of King Bowser Koopa. Oddly, in Nintendo Comics System, Birdos could talk fluently and they were also implied to live in bird cages, as Bowser makes reference to lining his Birdo cages with comic books in the issue "The Adventures of Dirk Drain-Head".
Notable Birdos
Other Information
Gender Controversy
According to the instruction manual of Super Mario Bros. 2, one of the Birdos seen in that game is actually a boy who thinks he is a girl and likes to be called Birdetta. This is actually a decent localization, and contrary to popular belief, not incorrect. Birdo is known as Catherine in Japan, and also in Western manuals of Wario's Woods. In Japan, Catherine is male as well, and likes to believe that he is a girl. Like Birdo, he likes to be called Cathy. The misconception that the character is female in Japan is due to the fact that Catherine is a feminine name, but in the past, hardly anyone ever translated his Japanese profiles, which all say that he is male since his debut in Doki Doki Panic. Due to his nature, both "he" and "she" are acceptable when referring to Birdo, but the character is still physically male.
Birdo's gender has been a source of dispute for many fans. Nintendo of America has chosen to censor Birdo in later appearances to avoid potential controversy amongst the American public by removing any statement saying that he is really male. In Mario Strikers Charged for the Nintendo Wii, however, he is once again referred to as male in English, so that policy may be slowly fading away. Also, in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Popple pauses before settling on calling Birdo a "dame", which is contributed by his own confusion on the matter. In later games, Birdo has been portrayed as Yoshi's girlfriend. There is said to be both a species and a character named Birdo. In the games, the individual character seems to be the only pink one, and the only one which now wears a diamond ring. It seems more than likely that Birdo is female, but others that are reffered to as male, are different Birdo's.
Powers and Abilities
As well as eggs, Birdo can also shoot fireballs from it's snout, though this ability is only displayed in Super Mario Bros. 2 and it's subsequent remakes. As well as spitting things from it's snout, Birdo has also shown the ability to utilize it's snout in a manner similar to a vacuum, using it to suck things closer to it's self or even swallow them; Birdo displays this ability in both Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (which notably has her leeching away the health of those she sucks up) and Mario Superstar Baseball. Birdo has also shown, on occasion, to envelop people, including itself, in large eggs, in order to increase defense.
Trivia
- In Super Paper Mario, there is a Sammer Guy named Squatting Birdo, an obvious reference to Birdo and her species. Also, like a few other Sammer Guys, Squatting Birdo recognizes his namesake as an almost deity-like creature, and his ramblings when first encountered suggest that Birdos are flightless birds rather than dinosaurs. (Interestingly, however, Birdos did indeed fly in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! as stated above.)
- On two courses from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, there are signs posted that read "Ribbon". They feature a picture of Birdo posing. The signs can be found in Mushroom City and Yoshi Circuit.
- The artwork of Birdos in Super Mario Strikers was the way they looked on Princess Peach's team.
- Birdo's emblem in various games is a Birdo Egg.
Info from Spin-Off Titles
Mario Hoops 3-on-3 Information
- Type: All-Around
- Special Shot: Egg Shot
- Letter to Tap: File:Triangle.png
Mario Superstar Baseball Information
- Teams: Birdo Beauties, Birdo Models, Birdo Bows
- Type: Balanced
- Starting Team Captain: Yoshi
- Status: Secondary Captain
- Stats:
- Batting: 6/10
- Pitching: 4/10
- Fielding: 4/10
- Running: 4/10
- Player Profile:
- Strong Point: Batting
- Special Talents: Suction, Body Check
- Trajectory:
- Field: Center
- Height: Normal
- Special Ball: Weird Ball
- Default Batting Position: Right
- Default Throwing Arm: Right
- Sweet Spot: The Purple spot on the bat
- Compatible Relationships: Yoshi, Shy Guy, Petey Piranha
- Bio: "A dinosaur that spits eggs from her huge mouth. Birdo is very particular when it comes to fashion, though her reliance on the color pink is a bit limiting. Her bow and ring are her pride and joy. Birdo's mouth has massive suction that can even catch a ball by sucking it in."
Trophy Information from Super Smash Bros. Melee
First seen in Super Mario Bros. 2, Birdo is known for shooting eggs and fireballs from her mouth. Mario and his friends would have to jump onto the eggs in midair, pick them up and throw them back at her. Long missing from the Nintendo scene, Birdo recently reappeared in Mario Tennis and Super Mario Advance.