What's this guy's name and origin?

[cheatmaster30]

Okay, long time reader and first time poster here, but I recall some members finding out this enemy from Super Mario Land 2 was actually a cameo of some kind related to another Nintendo series (or was it a type of hardware?)

Basically, I just want to know where this guy originates from:

www.mariowiki.com/images/4/49/Ballbear.PNG

It'd be really useful for an article on the origins of Mario characters, a topic which this site has proved fairly useful with (the whole Super Mario Land areas and such being based on the real world and the origin of the professor character in Wario Land 4 I learnt from reading these forums as a guest).

But thanks for your time. I'm fairly sure this was discussed in another topic, but I can't remember the name and haven't had luck searching for terms like 'Super Mario Land 2'.

[Shrikeswind]

To clarify, that would be Tamanoripû. Both for you, CheatMaster, and for the person who figures it out, because I was probably not around for that.

[Johans Nidorino]

Thread found.

[cheatmaster30]

Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for. I knew that guy was from a non Mario series or what not, and I guess the Game Boy Camera wasn't at the top of my ideas list.

[The Qu]

It's not that he's from a non-Mario source. He was just a cameo in Gameboy Camera.

[Fryguy64]

Yep, Super Mario Land was released 6 years earlier than the Game Boy Camera, so Tamanoripu originated in SML2 and later appeared as a cameo.

Most of the enemies in SML2 were unique to that game, which is a shame, as many of them were awesome enough to deserve another shot in the limelight. Only Wario survived.

[cheatmaster30]

Well, not all of them were unique to the game. One of the fly type enemies found in the Macro Zone reappeared in the first Wario Land game, I think the bee enemy was from a Kid Icarus game on the original Game Boy, etc. Interestingly, although Mario Wiki doesn't seem to note this yet, the game was from what I can tell, the first time you see Grinders, saws and Roto Discs outside their original game appearances (in all three cases, in the Mario Zone. The first and second were in the first level, Roto Discs in the level with the three pigs).

But the Mario Land games were all rather interesting because of how many obscure sources they were based off of, and how many rare Mario enemies made reappearances.

[Fryguy64]

Of all the enemies, I would have thought they'd have kept hold of "Antotto" - the ant enemies. They were basically that game's Chargin' Chucks, what with all the different ways they attacked.

I also love that little vampire that only appears once in the Pumpkin Zone... Japanese name Kurocula. (Kuro means "dark" and "cula" is taken from Dracula... so should this be "Darkula"?)

[Manspeed]

Hey Fry, remember when we tried to come up with English names for all the enemies in SML1? We should do the same thing for SML2.

[Fryguy64]

Haha, that SML enemies thread took far too long to research, etc. for nothing but personal curiosity. Sounds like a great idea, but we'd need an inside-man at Nintendo circa 1992 to make it worth our while