Torpedo tube
| Torpedo tube | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 A torpedo tube model from New Super Mario Bros. U | |||
| First appearance | Super Mario World (1990) | ||
| Latest appearance | Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2025) | ||
| Variant of | Bill Blaster | ||
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Torpedo tubes[1][2] are black artillery that first appear in Super Mario World. Gloved hands from a torpedo tube release Torpedo Teds at Mario.
HistoryEdit
Super Mario seriesEdit
Super Mario WorldEdit
Torpedo tubes appear in Super Mario World, with all nineteen of them only appearing in one level, Soda Lake, where they deploy Torpedo Teds that are invincible to all available forms of attack (except for getting Yoshi to spit an enemy at them in the Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 version). Unlike Bill Blasters, they will drop Torpedo Teds whether or not the player is in the launcher's way. The gloves that dispense the Torpedo Teds have four fingers.
Super Mario GalaxyEdit
Torpedo tubes also appear in Super Mario Galaxy and its Nintendo Switch port, where they sport a different design, being identical to the single-sided Bill Blasters. They are most often found in the water, and now can be destroyed by leading a Torpedo Ted right back at them.
New Super Mario Bros. U / New Super Mario Bros. U DeluxeEdit
Torpedo tubes, as well as the Torpedo Teds, return in New Super Mario Bros. U. Once again serving as indestructible objects, they behave and look almost exactly as they do in Super Mario World, with the gloves now having five fingers and lacking the three dots. Fourteen black torpedo tubes appear in Larry's Torpedo Castle, while three red Torpedo Bases, which deploy the new, homing Targeting Teds, debut in the second, underwater section of the level The Mighty Cannonship.
Black torpedo tubes do not return for New Super Luigi U, but Torpedo Teds still appear, and three red Torpedo Bases appear in the second, water-filled room of Larry's Trigger-Happy Castle. In the boss battles of the The Mighty Cannonship and its equivalent from New Super Luigi U, All Aboard!, Bowser Jr. deploys Targeting Teds with a claw from the bottom of his Junior Clown Car, much like a red Torpedo Base, while also summoning a total of six Torpedo Teds (with no visible onscreen torpedo tube or alternate source) after being hit once, and eight more Torpedo Teds after after being struck a second time.
Super Mario Kodansha mangaEdit
A Torpedo tube briefly appears in the first chapter of Super Mario Bros. 4: Super Mario World 5 of the Super Mario Kodansha manga, where Mario attempts to defeat it by yanking on the arm. He successfully pulls it out, revealing the arm's owner to be a Mickey Mouse-like character with whiskers, two additional human ears, and suspenders.
Super Mario-kunEdit
In Super Mario-kun, the arms of the Torpedo tubes are depicted with an aggressive personality. In Chapter 12 of Volume 2, a hand tries to strangle Mario after he passes its Torpedo Teds, but he is burned by Fire Mario's aura.
In Chapter 5 of Volume 5, two giant hands guard the Front Door entrance. They later explain to be the Torpedo base's hands and torment Mario and his friends with hand-related attacks like roshamboo and Kanchō. In the end, with Yoshi inflated like a ball, Mario and Luigi manage to break their fingers.
Super Princess PeachEdit
Torpedo tubes return alongside the Torpedo Teds in Super Princess Peach, where they are invincible.
Mario Party 10Edit
Torpedo tubes reappear in Mario Party 10 in the minigame Blooper Blastoff, where they launch Torpedo Teds.
GalleryEdit
NamingEdit
Internal namesEdit
| Game | File | Name | Meaning
|
|---|---|---|---|
| New Super Mario Bros. U | content/Common/actor/torpedo.szs/torpedo.bfres/Models/torpedobase content/Common/actor/torpedo.szs/torpedo.bfres/Textures/torpedo_base.0 |
torpedobase | Torpedo (Ted) Base |
Names in other languagesEdit
| Language | Name | Meaning | Note(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | トーピード発射台 Tōpīdo Hasshadai |
Torpedo Launcher | [3][4] | |
| German | Torpedo-Kanone | Torpedo Cannon | [?] | |
| Italian | Scatola Teschio | Skull Box | Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia (first edition) | [5]:61 |
| Cannone Ted | Ted Cannon | [5]:216 |
ReferencesEdit
- ^ "The warp pipe is encased in a steel-and-glass cage. Fortunately, there is a Bullet Bill torpedo tube nearby." – Black, Fletcher (November 9, 2007). Super Mario Galaxy PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-7615-5643-5. Page 157.
- ^ "A massive weight hangs from the tower’s bottom. This holds the tower in place. Mario must somehow remove the weight. There is a torpedo tube in the side of the sea bowl. Swim over to it to catch the eyes of a Bullet Bill as it blasts into the water. Then, swim toward the weight with the Bullet Bill in tow. Quickly paddle to the weight’s other side so the Bullet Bill crashes into it. The explosion drops the weight, allowing several floating devices to rise. Now Mario can climb to the tower’s top." – Black, Fletcher (November 9, 2007). Super Mario Galaxy PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-7615-5643-5. Page 158.
- ^ October 19, 2015. Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook, Super Mario World section. Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 978-4-09-106569-8. Page 61.
- ^ October 19, 2015. Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook, New Super Mario Bros. U section. Shogakukan (Japanese). ISBN 978-4-09-106569-8. Page 216.
- ^ a b Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), and Marco Figini, editors (2018). Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Translated by Marco Amerighi. Milan: Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 889367436X.
- ^ a b Sakai, Kazuya (ambit), kikai, Akinori Sao, Junko Fukuda, Kunio Takayama, Ko Nakahara (Shogakukan), and Marco Figini, editors (2025). Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia (2nd ed.). Translated by Alessandro Apreda. Milan: Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 979-1259575760.