It's the Friday after E3 now, another expo completed. Finished. In the books. But there's one more detail about the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. 2

The Koopalings are back.Bowser's brood of seven mischievous children were out of the Mario franchise spotlight for years before making a big return in New Super Mario Bros. Wii – in fact, it was almost exactly three years ago, at E3 2009, when we first noticed them . Mario, Luigi and the two Toad Bros. managed to hop and bop them into submission just like in the NES days, but good old Papa Koopa must have still been pleased with their performance in that particular princess-napping caper, since he's now once again letting them serve as bosses for the Mario Bros. to face on the 3DS.Here's the confirming screenshot, buried among Nintendo's many press materials and not discussed as a highlight of the game during any of the company's media events – a missed opportunity for sure. Roy Koopa could go toe-to-toe with Non-Specific Action Figure any day of the week.It'll be interesting to see what, if any, significant role the Koopa Kids play in this new game's plot. Will they also be trying to amass mounds and mounds of cash? Or will they simply be interested in stopping Mario and Luigi's gold rush in progress? And since New Super Mario Bros. 2 seems to be finding ways to infuse eruptions of coins into every crevice of the game design, how will coin-collecting end up playing a role in the game's boss battles?We'll be looking forward to finding out the answers to those questions as the game's August 19th release date draws nearer. But, for now, it's just good to know the Koopalings aren't going to be disappearing for another a decade.

Lucas M. Thomas thinks the coolest Koopaling is Lemmy. Seeing a boss rolling around on a circus clown's bouncing ball impressed the heck out of him back in 1990. You can follow Lucas on Twitter