Mario’s Lemmy Koopa Was Actually Named After Motorhead’s Lemmy

Motorhead's Lemmy passed away Monday, and he created and inspired many things throughout his career, including the name of Lemmy Koopa from the Mario video game franchise.

According to Kotaku, Dayvv Brooks named the aforementioned Koopa (as well as the other members of the Koopa family) for Super Mario Bros. 3. In an interview with
Patrick Klepek, Brooks said, “Music has always been a big part of my life. I’ve been a DJ for years and have been a music collector for even longer. When I first saw the group of seven Koopalings, music was on my mind. ...That brings us to Lemmy. In addition to being a great name, it’s perfect for a video game character. This Koopaling struck me as being the kind of character who would do his own thing, no matter what anyone else thought. I think it was those crazy eyes. Lemmy Koopa was in the crew.”

Even though Nintendo had to approve Brooks' names for the characters in the English edition of Super Mario Bros. 3, the names were allowed to stay, making Lemmy the inspiration for one of the most notorious Koopas ever.

You can check out footage of Mario's battle with Lemmy Koopa in the video below.