Bullet Bill

From Mariopedia

Bullet Bills are large, black missle-like enemies, commonly depicted as either having small arms or fanged grins adorning their faces, rarely having both. Bullet Bills are fired by cannons known as Bill Blasters, although some games have them fired by other sources such as Snifits and generic cannons, while some games simply have them coming out of nowhere.

Bullet Bills commonly appear as obstacles in games, attacking by either flying forward after being shot or actively seeking out a target, either smashing into a them and continuing on their way or exploding on contact, as most recent games potray them as doing. Spin-off games, such as instalments of the Mario Party series and Mario Kart DS feature Bullet Bills as item which can be used plow into and injure opponent characters. Perhaps due to the name and nature of the enemy, Bullet Bills only appear in two episodes of DIC Entertainment's Super Mario cartoons, but are featured with much more prominence in literature such as comics and books. The live-action Super Mario Bros. movie feature miniaturized Bullet Bills, though not named as such, as the power source of the "Thwomp Stomper" boots; a neon sign advertising a bar named "Bullet Bills" can also be seen throughout the film.

Banzai Bills are much larger Bullet Bills found in Super Mario World, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and New Super Mario Bros.. They only fly straight, are much slower and make huge explosions. They are also the only bullet bills with mouths.