Editing Cleft

|latest_appearance=''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)|Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' ([[Nintendo Switch]]) ([[List of games by date#2024|2024]])

'''Clefts''' are animate rock enemies resembling spiked skulls that appear in the ''[[Paper Mario (series)|Paper Mario]]'' series. Their name comes from the word "cleft", which can alternately refer to a crack in a rock or an indentation of the chin, both of which are characteristics of the Clefts. Clefts have a large amount of variant types, all of which are very strong and sturdy and are capable of disguising themselves as ordinary rocks, though they are also easily flipped over with an explosion or the [[Quake Hammer]], rendering them helpless. They pursue and attack [[Mario]] by charging into him, are immune to fire, and, aside from a few variants, have spiked heads preventing him from [[jump]]ing on them without sustaining injury.

In ''[[Paper Mario]]'', Clefts are found at [[Mt. Rugged]]. They are initially disguised as grey rocks on the overworld, but upon detecting Mario, they reveal themselves and charge at him. If the Cleft manages to successfully charge into Mario, they will get the [[First Strike]].

 

In battle, Clefts have a notably high defense, which will require the use of strong-enough attacks, special attacks that ignore defense, or flipping them over in order to defeat them, especially when the player first encounters them. Notably, [[Goombario]]'s [[tattle]] suggests running away if the player finds them too difficult to defeat.

 

[[Hyper Cleft]]s, which bear green palettes, are found at [[Gusty Gulch]], and are additionally capable of [[Charge (move)|charging]] their attacks to boost their power.

In ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' along with its [[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)|Switch remake]], Clefts are found at the [[Boggly Woods]], and in fitting with its aesthetic, are monochrome. [[Earth Tremor]] does not flip them, but if executed well enough, it can defeat them in one stroke. Additionally, if three questions of the [[65th Trivia Quiz-Off]] are answered incorrectly, the player will have to battle against four Clefts at the gate to the [[Shhwonk Fortress]]. The original active coloration of Cleft makes a cameo on a poster in [[Glitzville]], though due to the placement of buildings it is very difficult to see in-game.

Hyper Clefts also reprise their role, and several new variants of Clefts are introduced. These are the spikeless [[Bald Cleft]] and [[Hyper Bald Cleft]], which are safe to jump on but still have high defense; the large and nigh-invulnerable [[Iron Cleft]], which can only be defeated with [[Yoshi Kid|Yoshi]]'s [[Gulp]]; and the [[moon]]-dwelling [[Moon Cleft]], which uses a brighter version of the original coloration for Cleft in ''Paper Mario'' and is said to simply be an ordinary Cleft on the moon, despite also being stronger.

Clefts appear in ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' in Chapter 5-1, near [[Downtown of Crag]], and in room 71 of the [[Flipside Pit of 100 Trials]], in their colors from the first ''Paper Mario''. However, the Western localizations mistakenly refer to them as '''Moon Clefts''', despite them not being found on the moon or in any cosmic locations. Their attack pattern remains the same: they charge at Mario and his allies as soon as they get close enough. They still have the same weakness, as [[Boomer (Super Paper Mario)|Boomer]] can flip them over. They will occasionally drop a [[Cake Mix]] when they are defeated. A shadowy version, called [[Dark Cleft]], appears in the [[Flopside Pit of 100 Trials]].

{{:Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door bestiary|transcludesection=Cleft|align=horizontal}}

====Nintendo Switch====

{{:Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) bestiary|transcludesection=Cleft|align=horizontal}}

|Jpn=シンエモン

|JpnR=Shin'emon

|JpnM=Male name in Japan

|Dut=Cleft

|FreA=Focett

|FreAM= From ''fossette'' ("dimple")

|FreE2N=''Super Paper Mario''

|Ger=Kirk

|GerM=Male name

|Ger2N=''Super Paper Mario''

|Ita=Teschiolito

|ItaM=From ''teschio'' ("skull") and the Ancient Greek word ''lithos'' ("stone")

|Ita2N=''Super Paper Mario''

|KorM=Spike [[Bald Cleft#Names in other languages|Stone Jaw]]

|Spa=Cleft

|Spa2=Cleft Lunar

|Spa2N=''Super Paper Mario''