Stomping... Koopas

About

Stomping… Koopas is a quote from Chris Pratt said in a Nintendo Direct ahead of the first trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. In the viral video, Pratt was attempting to explain how much the Super Mario franchise meant to him as a child, leading him to say he used to spend hours of his life "stomping koopas" with a lengthy pause between the words. The moment has since been widely parodied and remixed on social media.

Origin

On October 6th, 2022, the day the first trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiered, Chris Pratt appeared on a Nintendo Direct via video call to explain his excitement for being involved in the project. He stated he used to spend hours of his life in an arcade "stomping… koopas," saying "koopas" with a negative tone (upload of the moment by Pikaxhu2 shown below).

Spread

Social media users were already wary of Pratt taking on the role of Mario, as they feared his voice would not fit the character, and the trailer did little to assuage their fears. As a result, the line was scrutinized for being canonically inaccurate, as in the original arcade version of Super Mario, players don't technically "stomp" koopas.

On October 7th, 2022, Twitter user @CartridgeGames^[1] pointed out the inconsistency, gaining over 250 retweets and 3,300 likes in eight months (shown below, left). On October 8th, user @fivepoisonskid^[2] made a Columboposting joke about the contradiction, gaining 16 retweets and 180 likes in eight months (shown below, right).

The moment quickly inspired parodies emphasizing the stilted nature of Pratt's delivery. On October 9th, 2022, YouTuber Soggy Fries posted an edit of the moment in which Pratt paused for longer between the words, gaining over 138,000 views in eight months (shown below, left). On October 15th, YouTuber Memeotherapy parodied the moment by adding numerous time-freeze mechanics from video games to the footage, gaining over 147,000 views in a similar time frame (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References