/vr/ - Retro Games

This weird Voorhees-inspired enemy in Super Mario Land 2 (called "J-son" in Japanese and German and "masked ghoul" in Nintendo Power) is not only a Halloween-themed graphic swap of the game's Goomba, but actually DOES seem to be a Goomba. In an older Japanese encyclopedia, it's hinted to be a Goomba, and in the Italian (and Spanish?) version of the newer Encyclopedia, it's renamed "Horror Goomba". The game's Kodansha manga adaptation outright confirms them to be Goombas in disguise that even turn into "Boo Goombas" when they are killed(!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0H_OJX81b8&t=1031s
(Also, check out that manga sometime, it's pretty wacky and depicts things such as that collector enemy being an alter ego of the Witch boss, a rare Japanese interpretation of the Mushroom King, implies that Mario Land was a kingdom inherited from Mario and Luigi's parents, and even has an extremely early form of "Waluigi" and what the Peach version may have been like among others.)