Games - Birdo

	Games - Birdo

Birdo (Japanese: キャサリン; Catherine) is a fictional, anthropomorphic dinosaur-like creature featured in Nintendo's Mario series of video games. While Nintendo has never made the exact nature of Birdo clear, it appears to be both a particular character and a species of enemy, just as Yoshi from Super Mario World can refer either to a class of video game dinosaurs or a particular one. Birdo first appeared in the Japanese game Doki Doki Panic as a minor boss appearing at the end of many of the levels. Doki Doki Panic was later remade into Super Mario Bros. 2 for release in North America.

Appearance

Birdo is most frequently depicted as pink, though red, green, blue, orange, and gray Birdos are also seen in Super Mario Bros. 2 and other games (though gray Birdos, due to having the same form of attacking as greens, are changed to green in remakes). In Super Mario Bros. 2 Birdo would spit out eggs and/or fireballs from her tubular snout. After defeating Birdo by hitting it with the eggs or other nearby objects, Birdo would drop a crystal ball that would allow the player to open up the gate to the next level. Although it would appear that the crystal ball drops out of Birdo's stomach, promotional art for Super Mario Bros 2 and Doki Doki Panic show that Birdo is actually clutching the object in its hands. This would later change in the Super Mario Bros. 2 remake on Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance, in which Birdo spits the crystal out of its mouth after being defeated. On one occasion, Birdo actually drops a key which you must use to open a locked door to finish the particular level.

In some levels, Birdo can also be helpful: In World 4-3 of Super Mario Bros. 2, for example, Mario can jump onto an egg and ride it over an extra-wide chasm, much as he can on an Albatoss in other levels.

In later games like Mario Tennis and others, Birdo's personal icon is her bow, much as Mario's is the red "M" logo from his hat. Though Nintendo's official drawings of Birdo have always depicted her as wearing a bow, the bow did not show on her head in games until Super Mario All-Stars, a Super NES title that included a remake of Super Mario Bros. 2. In Super Mario Advance, Birdo's bow can actually be picked up off her head and thrown away, though if it hits Birdo, it will simply reappear on her head. Super Mario Advance also features a new boss character in the form of Robirdo, a giant, robotic Birdo.

Gender and name confusion

Although later Nintendo mythology classifies Birdo as female, the first edition game manual describes Birdo as follows: "He thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth. He'd rather be called 'Birdetta.'" Birdo certainly acts effeminately in any given Mario game appearance, always being flirtatious and blowing kisses. Based on this description, it is arguable that Birdo is the first transgendered video game character. However, it must be noted Nintendo ceased referring to Birdo as a male since Super Mario All-Stars, retconning the idea that Birdo has gender confusion issues. Furthermore, this ambiguity does not exist in Japan, since Birdo is known there as "Catherine" and purportedly enjoys being called "Cathy".

It may be that Birdo is asexual but identifies with the female gender of a culture; whether this counts as "transgendered" would depend on one's views on Birdo's reproduction and whether asexual would count as male, female, or a "third gender" when considering transgender issues. Notably, Birdo's eggs have never hatched into any new Birdos in any of her in-game appearances. Similar issues exist with Yoshi. The gender-confusion that Yoshi and Birdo share seems especially strange when considering that Nintendo seems keen on pairing the two — as tennis partners or Mario Kart racing buddies, for example. It is more likely that Nintendo simply retconned her transgenderism out of existence. As seen in Mario Power Tennis, Mario Superstar Baseball, and Super Mario Strikers, there are Birdos in the crowd, but also a playable character (excluding Power Tennis).

Confusion has also arisen over Birdo because the Super Mario Bros. 2 end credits erroneously switched the images for Birdo and Ostro, an ostrich that playable characters can ride. Since then, many have confused the two to the point of calling the actual species "Ostro," and believing that the 'main pink one' was individually named "Birdo." Super Mario Advance, a game which contains a remake of Super Mario Bros. 2, does not repeat this mistake.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Birdo ]

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