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A tweet from Nintendo writer Chad Concelmo earlier today revealed that the Japanese video game giant will be adding a new bad guy character to its forthcoming Wii U title, Super Mario 3D World, and it is ridiculously cute.

We’ve been squishing walking mushroom Goomba characters for decades now, but this furry little guy is bound to make some gamers pause for thought before hitting the jump button and ending its pudgy little life. Say hello to the Cat Goomba!

With the hundreds of tanuki tail-sporting enemies inhabiting the levels the superb 3DS hybrid platformer Super Mario 3D Land, it was perhaps inevitable that Nintendo should continue its recent trend of doling out power-ups to bad guys in the new Wii U title. After all, why should it be only Mario and pals who have the nous to pick up the odd mushroom or tanuki leaf when it drops out of a question block?

Put too much thought into it and the idea of a furry, feline mushroom with teeth is really quite disturbing, but there’s no denying that the Cat Goomba is the cutest thing to inhabit a Mario game since Bowser Jr. and his hand-drawn “scary-face” bandit mask.

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Given that regular Goombas are known as Kuribo here in Japan, we’re not entirely sure what name Nintendo will go with for the new character, but tacking the first syllable of neko (meaning “cat”) onto the name to make Nekuribo works for us.

Super Mario 3D World is due for release on Wii U in November this year.

Source: Chad Concelmo via Game Informer