Morty Mole

Not to be confused with Monty Mole.

Morty Mole
Rendered model of a Morty Mole in Super Mario 3D Land
General information
Variant of	Monty Mole
Appearances
First appearance	Super Mario 3D Land (2011)
Latest appearance	Super Mario-kun Volume 47 (2013)
Similar entities
Relatives Big Monty Mole Mega Mole
Comparable Rex

Morty Moles are an enlarged species of Monty Mole that debuted in Super Mario 3D Land. Morty Moles are likely a relative to Mega Mole, due to the both of them being enlarged Monty Moles. However, unlike Mega Moles, Morty Moles have a mahogany fur color, tan belly, do not wear sunglasses, and are defeated with two stomps (similar to Rex).

History

Super Mario 3D Land

Tanooki Mario gliding over three Morty Moles in World 5-4

In Super Mario 3D Land, Morty Moles can be found inhabiting narrow tunnels in levels such as World 5-4 and World 7-4 along with Monty Moles in the former. After Mario or Luigi stomps on a Morty Mole, the Morty Mole will become shorter and gain a worried expression, with the Morty Mole also moving much faster than initially while in this state. Morty Moles can revert back to their regular size if they either manage to hit Mario or Luigi while they are short, or after a short period of time. After a second stomp, the Morty Mole will be defeated. Fireballs also have the same effect to Morty Moles as stomping them. A Morty Mole can also be defeated instantly from either a Ground Pound, or a tail swipe from either Bros. Tanooki form. When defeated, Morty Moles will sometimes drop Super Mushrooms, but most Morty Moles usually drop coins upon being defeated like most enemies in the game.

Super Mario-kun

The Morty Mole from volume 46 of Super Mario-kun

Morty Moles have made a few appearances in Super Mario-kun, mainly in the Super Mario 3D Land arc. Unlike in their source material, Morty Moles are depicted to be much more aggressive and muscular than in their source material. Additionally, Morty Moles now have constant open eyes rather than only opening their eyes when being stomped on (similarly to the Monty Mole design introduced in volume 18).

In volume 45, what appears to be the face of a Morty Mole can be seen on Choropū the Picasso's Road Roller.

In volume 46, a Morty Mole is the main antagonist of the fourth chapter. The Morty Mole starts destroying the Mogura Matsuri due to it being located in his home, before then attacking Mario. Pūko tells Mario to defeat the Morty Mole, but the Morty Mole easily beats up Mario instead. Mario then attempts to put on the ancient Monty Mole knight armor given by Pūko and also attempting to hide in a barrel, but the Morty Mole still continues to easily attack Mario. After Luigi wins two Statue Leaves from a raffle held by a Monty Mole with glasses, Pūko explains that the Statue Leaves can be used to defeat the Morty Mole. After the Mario Bros. use their statue forms, the Morty Mole attempts to attack Mario and Luigi once again, but Mario and Luigi quickly counterattack the Morty Mole in their statue forms and quickly defeat them. After the Morty Mole's defeat, Pūko thanks Mario and Luigi for saving the Mogura Matsuri. In-return, Pūko gives a cooked Fuzzy for their efforts.

In volume 47, a Morty Mole can be seen laughing at Yoshi amongst other enemies in the Screwtop Tower, despite Morty Moles not appearing in New Super Mario Bros. U (as the volume is primarily themed after that game). The Morty Mole in this volume strongly resembles the one from the previous volume, suggesting that it could possibly be the same one from said volume.

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of a Morty Mole from the Super Mario 3D Land Shogakukan guidebook

• 

  Morty Moles in the world map icon for World 5-4 from Super Mario 3D Land

• 

  A Morty Mole and a Monty Mole seen in Super Mario 3D Land

• 

  The face of a Morty Mole seen on Choropū the Picasso's Road Roller from volume 45 of Super Mario-kun

• 

  A teaser for volume 46 in volume 45 of Super Mario-kun

Additional names

Internal names

Game	File name	Name	Meaning
Super Mario 3D Land	Indy	Indy	Mega Mole

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ゴロプー Goropū	Play on「ゴロゴロ」(gorogoro, onomatopoeia for rumbling or rolling noise) and「チョロプー」(Choropū, Monty Mole)
German	Morty Maulwurf	Morty Mole
Italian	Tantatalpone	Mega Monty Mole
Spanish	Megatopo	Mega Mole

Trivia

• In the files for Super Mario 3D Land, Morty Mole is labeled as "Indy", which is the Japanese name for Mega Mole. This makes it likely that Morty Moles were based on Mega Moles during development, and also the both of them possibly being relatives to each other.
• Morty Moles are similar to Rexes from Super Mario World, as both enemies require two normal stomps to defeat and get faster after being stomped on once. However, due to them being separate species, Morty Moles are likely either coincidentally similar to Rex, or vaguely inspired by them.
• An image in the files for the official Nintendo of America website shows a picture of Rocky Wrench's New Super Mario Bros. Wii artwork that is called "Morty Wrench". This could have likely been a typo, however, it could have also hinted at an unused or unseen enlarged variant of Rocky Wrench which would have likely had connections to Morty Moles.