Steamer

Steamer
Steamer in Super Mario Party Jamboree
Species	Train
First appearance	Mario Party 2 (1999)
Latest appearance	Super Mario Party Jamboree (2024)

“Hit the block and choose a direction, would ya? A Goomba will be a-sendin' ya backwards.”

—Steamer, Mario Party 2

Steamer is a steam locomotive found only in some of the games of the Mario Party series. He speaks with a Southern American English accent, particularly that of a precious metals prospector, and is usually seen lugging a small wooden train car behind him on which characters can stand as it moves about. He also has a lamp on the top of his "face," a red "nose" where a unit number would appear on a normal steam-powered train, and a thick gray mustache with matching eyebrows (while not having visible eyes), giving him the appearance of an elderly man. He is the main attraction in Western Land in Mario Party 2, where he makes his debut. The characters can ride Steamer by hitting a block. If the character hits the block and gets a Toad, Steamer goes forward, but if a Goomba appears, Steamer goes backward. Riding Steamer allows characters to move farther than they normally could with hitting the Dice Block. Characters who are on the track and get hit by Steamer are sent back to the start of the map. Since Mario Party 2, Steamer has been associated with ramming into characters and sending them flying. When on the move, Steamer makes a sound resembling that of a high-pitched train whistle and steam shoots from his sides.

Steamer makes a cameo appearance in Mario Party 3 in the Duel minigame End of the Line. In this minigame, the players get knocked onto his trailing car and must guide him through three pairs of tunnels to safely make it to the station, where one tunnel leads them off a cliff and the other keeps them on the track.

Steamer makes another, minor cameo on the Mario Party 4 board Toad's Midway Madness, where he moves around the train tracks in the background.

In Mario Party 5's Super Duel Mode, the player can assemble a machine that heavily resembles Steamer by combining the Choo-Choo Body, Choo-Choo Tires, and Choo-Choo engine. These parts together provide high speed and very poor control, stats that are consistent with Steamer's behavior in the other Mario Party games.

In Mario Party DS, a toy Steamer makes an appearance in the 1-vs-3 minigame Track Star. One player stands on the toy train, and the rest stand on the rails and try to escape it.

Steamer returns along with Western Land in Super Mario Party Jamboree, where he functions mostly the same as his Mario Party 2 iteration. His appearance is mainly inspired by his design in Mario Party 5, but with more details that properly depict the traits of a real-life steam locomotive: he now has a tender filled with coal, and the wooden car attached to him is fitted with opposite facing red cushion seats with two wooden doors and sidesteps for entry. The only changes to his mechanics are the way his movement is initiated; players can now choose how many stations he can travel based on how many coins they pay (three coins moves them to the next station, while six coins will take them to the one after the next), rather than paying a flat fee of five coins to move only one station. The block players hit no longer features Toad or Goomba; instead, it has a green forward arrow to move forward and a red reverse arrow to move backward. When Steamer talks to a player, he uses new voice clips, which play when he is moving instead of only generic steam train noises. Additionally, Steamer Tickets appear as board-exclusive items sold at a ticket station by a green Shy Guy, which allow the player to call Steamer to a station to ride him.

Gallery

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  Steamer featured in Mario Party 2

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  A Koopa Troopa rides Steamer in the opening preview of Western Land.

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  Mario hitches a ride on Steamer on the lower segment of Western Land.

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  Steamer in the preview for Western Land

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  Steamer in End of the Line

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  Steamer's cameo in Mario Party 4

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  The "Choo Choo" body in Mario Party 5's Super Duel Mode

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  The toy Steamer in Track Star

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  Steamer on the Steamer Ticket

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  Steamer on the board icon in Jamboree

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	シュッポー[?] Shuppō	From「シュポシュポ」(shupo-shupo, an onomatopoeia for the sound of a departing steam-engine train)
French	Loco	From "locomotive"
German	Dampfbert	Portmanteau of Dampf ("Steam") and the given name Albert
Italian	Ciuf Ciuf	Choo Choo
Portuguese	M-fumaça	From Maria-fumaça (lit. "Smoke Mary"), Brazilian colloquialism for steam locomotives
Spanish	Vapor[?]	Steam