



YOSHI'S ISLAND:



The Mario series has so many kinds of balls with feet that it would almost unbalance the list to try and put them all in - two especially notable examples being Bob-Ombs and the lovely Wanderin' Gooms from Wario Land. So I will just focus on one personal favourite.



The "mildes" from Yoshi's Island are notable mainly for being, as their name suggests, the single least threatening enemies in the game. Even the shy guys can sometimes get you with their haphazard wandering movements - the metal, spikey walking guys resist being eaten or stepped on - various other enemies have some sort of resistance, or speciality, or form of surprise attack. The mildes' only purpose is to amble slowly forwards, and then to die. You can pop them underfoot, you can eat them for more ammo, you can shoot them with an egg if you really want to be over the top. They are comically overdestructable. And yet they have a cheery, aimless smile at all times, and seem content to just wander forwardsin this fashion. The combination of this contentness with their fragile superfluity makes them a mysterious and memorable presence.



A milde actually becomes a boss character at one point in the game - it just keeps wandering as before, except now it's very large. Its gimmick is to split into two smaller mildes when slammed on, suggesting balls with feet reproduce by a form of cell division.