They first appeared in the NES video game Super Mario Bros. as the first enemy players encounter, part of Bowser's Army.

They used the Goomba's ability to be jumped on and defeated to teach players how to deal with enemies and to not fear the Super Mushroom.

Goombas resemble shiitake,[2] with bushy eyebrows and a pair of tusk-like teeth sprouting from their lower jaw (similar to a bulldog).

[5] The name Goomba is derived from "Goombah"[citation needed] (from Neapolitan cumpà) which refers to an Italian American man.

[3] Super Mario World replaces the normal Goomba with a more round variation, later named Galoombas[g].

In Bowser's Inside Story, a unique Goomba known as Private Goomp is introduced who reappears in Dream Team.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, the titular minions are led by Captain Goomba, the first Goomba that Mario and Luigi fight, who clashes with Private Goomp while on his quest to save Bowser from Fawful.

When the show spun off into The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, they continued their job as soldiers in the Koopa army in some episodes.

[8] In the Super Mario Bros. live-action film, Goombas were originally inhabitants of Dinohattan who opposed the tyrannical President Koopa's rule, and were devolved as punishment for this disloyalty.

In the film, upon being de-evolved, these people became Goombas, who were large, reptilian monsters (as opposed to the usual mushroom appearance seen in the games) with hulking bodies and disproportionately small, circular heads, who wore trenchcoats.

Goombas appear as enemies in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and its remake in the underground side-scrolling passages throughout the game, and also in the seventh dungeon, Eagle's Tower.

Goombas reappear as part of Bowser's minions in the 2023 film The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

[17] In a criticism of video game storytelling, Gamasutra editor Daniel Cook referenced Goombas being mushrooms, but also that it was a less important fact than them being squat, to-scale with the world, and able to be squashed.

[18] In an article discussing happiness in video games, Gamasutra editor Lorenzo Wang listed the sound the Goomba makes when it's squished as one of his pleasures.

"[25] Nintendo Power listed them as one of their favorite punching bags, stating that while it's hard not to feel bad for them, it is still satisfying.

[26] The live-action Super Mario Bros. film version of the Goomba has received negative reception.

[27] An Entertainment Weekly article called the design creepy, stating that its "foam-latex skin had to be baked for five hours at 200 degrees to achieve that lovely reptilian effect".