Hammer Brother

"HEY! Are YOU lookin' at me? My hammer and I don't like you!"

Article by: Paul Watkins (watkinzez)
Pictured from: New Super Mario Bros.
Created by: Nintendo
First appearance: 1985

Bio

The guy above is lonely — he hasn't got his bro around to keep him company. It's rare to see a Hammer Brother by himself, because when they team up to take on Mario, they can prove to be a decent obstacle. Using their somehow infinite barrage of hammers to throw at the plumber, the Brothers prove to be a pain and are notorious for being one of the harder enemies to defeat in the original Super Mario Bros.

Their appearance has been fairly constant over the course of the series, donning the helmet in Super Mario Bros. 3. Several variations have also been present — the Boomerang Brother (with added range) and super-sized Sledge Brother (complete with an earth-shaking attack) have graced Mario's presence in 1988. The Mario RPGs offer the Brothers most often as minibosses or otherwise tougher enemies, the most memorable of which would be their internet linguistics in Partners in Time.

The Brothers' power is not limited to themselves; the Hammer Suit allows Mario to gain the projectile attack his enemies had an advantage with. Their shell's also an effective defense mechanism, blocking attacks when in use.

Selected game appearances

NES

• Super Mario Bros. (1985)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)

Super NES

• Super Mario World (1990)
• Super Mario All-Stars (1993)
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996)

Nintendo 64

• Paper Mario (2000)

GameCube

• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)

Nintendo DS

• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005)
• New Super Mario Bros. (2006)

Wii

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)

References

• Wikipedia - "Recurring enemies in the Mario franchise - Hammer Brothers"
• Mario Monsters - "Hammer Brothers"
• TMK | Reference | Mariopedia | Hammer Bro.