- "Who would have thought you'd catch up to the Great Cackletta in even a hundred years?"
- —Cackletta, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Cackletta (ゲラゲモーナ Geragemōna) is the main antagonist throughout most of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and the posthumous overarching antagonist of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. Her name is a pun on "Cackle." She is one of the most insane characters in the Mario & Luigi series. She is also the arch-nemesis of Queen Bean and Prince Peasley, who aim to stop her before she can act her nefarious plans.
Physical Appearance[]
Cackletta has three forms that she takes on throughout the game. In her first form, Cackletta is a green-skinned humanoid wearing a pink-ish robe and purple cape. She has pink "horns" and a blue gem. Unlike most beanishes, Cackletta has large pink eyes with black pupils. Her mouth is also fanged and can open wider than that of a normal person.
During her second phase, Cackletta grows larger and her head grows to an unnatural size; her head and hands become larger, to the point in which the arms always hold up her cape. Cackletta also has a more sadistic expression, with her mouth growing larger and showing rows of large teeth, and her eyes become red and white swirls.
Her second form, Bowletta, is similar to Bowser himself, but she retains her first form's facial features and lacks the collar Bowser wears on his neck. Her shell's front face also has two circles rather than ridges.
History[]
While her past is unknown, it is known that Cackletta lost her mind and became the bean witch she is feared to be today. She hired a henchman named Fawful to help her as she went on with her dastardly plots. At the very start of the game, Cackletta disguises as Lady Lima (whilst she and/or Fawful trap the real one) to steal Peach's voice and then flies to the Beanbean Kingdom.
After her escape to the Beanbean Kingdom, Mario, Luigi, and Bowser chase her and attempt to stop her plans, at which point, Fawful, her underling, shoots them out of the sky with his Vacuum Helmet.
When the Mario Bros. reach the ruined Castle Town, they immediately go to the castle, where they meet Lady Lima. She tells them to fix the castle's plumbing. When they do, the Beanstar's protective barrier vanishes and "Lady Lima" reveals herself to be Cackletta. When the Mario Bros. reach the room, she forces Queen Bean to attack them and leaves before the fight.
Her next appearance is in Woohoo Hooniversity, where she apparently turned all the scientists who failed to escape into monsters. After Peach's voice fails to awaken the Beanstar (because, as it turns out, the voice that Cackletta had stolen at the start of the game was actually that of Birdo's), the Mario Bros. come in and defeat her. Fawful sucks her spirit up with his Vacuum Helmet headgear and prepares to blast Mario and Luigi. Prince Peasley then knocks Fawful and Cackletta's spirit to Stardust Fields.
There, a battered and beaten Fawful finds Bowser's unconscious body, and allows Cackletta to possess him. She then becomes Bowletta, a rather frightening hybrid of Bowser and Cackletta herself. She then takes control of both Beanbean and Koopa Troops in a final battle against the Mario Brothers. The Mario Brothers then fight the Koopalings and Fawful throughout Bowser's Castle. Then they go for Bowletta, herself. After an initial battle with Bowletta, the Mario Brothers are taken inside of Bowletta as she cheats and nearly kills them. Cackletta's spirit then is confronted by Mario and Luigi for a final fight. After the spirit's defeat, Cackletta is defeated once and for all, although Fawful survives to enact his own plans.
Battle[]
Clash at the University[]
During her first battle, Cackletta is fought at the Beanbean Kingdom's University, the Woohoo Hooniversity. She can copy herself and summon lightning. The former is automatic but does not deal damage, but the fakes, whose health and defense are just 1, will break up into poisonous bats upon their destruction. The latter can be dodged with jumps, as can the bats, which inflict the poison affliction (The thunderbolts do not.). As she takes damage, Cackletta can use a black hole move that involves sliding holes that must be avoided. Getting caught inflicts some damage and can cause an increase in weight, which makes timing stricter. During this fight, Cackletta has 300 hit points and 74 defense. Both she and the fakes have 58 POW and a speed of 90, giving 300 Experience and 100 Coins along with a 1-Up Super upon defeat.
The Final Battle[]
During the second battle, Cackletta is fought at Bowser Castle, this time in her Bowser-esque Bowletta form. She attacks by breathing fire which can be avoided (though she sometimes creates Flarets instead). She can also attempt a powerful burst that goes off after 5 seconds (Mario and Luigi get blocks over their heads and must destroy them, then jump the attack.). As she takes damage, she can cause stellar meteor to rain down, triggering the second phase's beginning. The meteors can be blocked with the hammer, and their target matches them in primary colour (red for Mario, green for Luigi). After she takes 500 points of damage, the penultimate phase begins. Cackletta has 500 hit points across both these phases, 105 to 140 POW, 180 Defense, and 150 Speed.
Mario and Luigi are now at 1 hit point and must heal fast on their turn to ensure survival. Cackletta sics her spirit, Cackletta's Soul, against the Bros. and attacks by sending energy spheres that must be hammered, flicking the Bros. (blockable with the hammer), performing a hand crush that can be hammered, summoning fire that must be jumped, and creating an electrical ball that must be hammered away. Mario and Luigi must disable her ghostly arms and then knock out the head. This exposes her core, which has 1200 hit points. After she goes below half HP, she enters the final phase. She gains an attack that involves stopping time and then firing a laser. Mario and Luigi have to position their bodies by jumping or idling to avoid getting zapped. If she flicks the right eye upwards, Cackletta will fire the beam that goes towards Mario above him, otherwise, Mario must jump to save his skin. If she flicks the left eye upwards, Cackletta will fire a beam over Luigi's head; otherwise, Luigi must dodge the beam by jumping to position his body out of harm's way. Once she is defeated, Cackletta is gone for good. Cackletta has around 125 POW, 150 Defense, and 120 Speed.
Statistics[]
| Cackletta | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
LVL | 17 | HP | 300 | POW | 30-58 (30-50) | DEF | 74 (64) | SPEED | 90 | ||||
| EXP | 300 (320) | COINS | 100 | Fire | Normal | Thunder | Normal | Jump | Normal | |||||
| Hammer? | Normal | Hand? | Normal | Stun? | 0% | Burn? | 0% | Stat Down? | 0% | |||||
| Item drop | Location(s) | |||||||||||||
| •1-Up Super – 100% •None – 0% |
Woohoo Hooniversity | |||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Cackletta | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
LVL | 17 | HP | 300 | POW | 30-58 (30-50) | DEF | 74 (64) | SPEED | 50 | ||||
| EXP | 300 (320) | COINS | 100 | Fire | Normal | Thunder | Normal | Jump | Normal | |||||
| Hammer? | Normal | Hand? | Normal | Stun? | 0% | Burn? | 0% | Stat Down? | 0% | |||||
| Item drop | Location(s) | |||||||||||||
| •None – 0% •None – 0% |
Woohoo Hooniversity | |||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Personality[]
While little is known about her past and why she became evil, Cackletta is seen as an evil, smart, yet insane witch who wishes to rule over everything. She is normally seen with her toady Fawful, who is the only one she likes as it is presumed. She cares for no one else except for Fawful, probably because of him being so smart, helpful and cooperative. However despite that, she isn't a protective villain as she is not willing to protect or do things for him. She easily gets angered and confused when something goes wrong as she plans things out (in her mind) perfectly. Because of this, she is easily surprised until the end of the game, when she starts to expect the unexpected. She is also seen to be very patient and even-tempered when it comes to Fawful helping her with her plots, but when it is someone else she wants them gone or dead right away, normally getting angered this way.
Trivia[]
- During the first fight with Cackletta, there is an easy way to tell which is the real Cackletta when she uses her Clone attack. The real Cackletta always uses both arms for the lightning attack. The ones that just use the left or right arms are the fakes. Also in the remake when Cackletta and her clones spring up from being split, the one that's cackling is the real Cackletta.
- In the 3DS remake, Cackletta is now programmed to swap positions with her clones, in order to confuse the player who the real one is, and even laughs before she shuffles with them.
- If the player's eyes are really keen, as Cackletta's shadow is splitting, the shadow that pulses differently to the other two is the real Cackletta. Sometimes this may be really obvious, while other times it is much more subtle.
- Cackletta has similar fate to Elder Princess Shroob: They both take over Bowser and get destroyed at the end of the game (though Bowser keeps his sanity while Elder Princess Shroob is controlling him).
- Cackletta is the only main antagonist that is fought right at the middle of the game rather than the end.
- However, technically, she is fought a total of three times throughout the game: At Woohoo Hooniversity, as Bowletta at the end, and finally as a soul at the very end of the game. This makes her the most fought main antagonist out of all Mario RPG games.
- Though, Bowser from Paper Mario also holds the record for the most fought times being three as well: At the beginning of the game (which cannot be won at any means), inside Princess Peach's Castle, and finally on a platform in the sky.
- This record is also held by Dimentio from Super Paper Mario.
- Cackletta is the first female antagonist in a Mario RPG game. The second is the Shadow Queen from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and the third is Princess Shroob fromMario & Luigi: Partners in Time.
- Before the second and final battle with Fawful when he says Cackletta's name, it is erroneously spelt as "Cakletta" lacking the second c. This error is fixed in the remake.
- She is the only boss in the game that is fought multiple times and has a very different attack pattern each time. The first fight involves her using lightning powers and duplication, but in the second fight, she uses Bowser's powers, as she has been possessing his body after her near-death.
- She has the most amount of phases in-battle, with a total of 4 the second time she is fought, with her first two starting outside her body (start -> dark) and the last two occurring after she swallows them and pits them against her "spirit". (soul -> soul enraged).
- Cackletta is the first boss in the series to use duplication as a defense; this is when she attacks the Mario Bros. in the Woohoo Hooniversity.
- Cackletta's battle theme is remixed for the fight against Dark Fawful in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey.
- She, Antasma and Elder Princess Shroob are the only two Mario & Luigi villains to be Near Pure Evil.
- Originally, Cackletta was supposed to be younger sister of Queen Bean who, for unknown reasons, deeply got envious of her.
Gallery[]
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