Editing Dark Lakitu

{{species infobox

|image=[[File:PMTTYD Dark Lakitu.png|150px]]<br>Sprite from ''Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door''

|first_appearance=''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' ([[List of games by date#2004|2004]])

|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]])

|variant_of=[[Lakitu]]

}}

'''Dark Lakitus''' are stronger variants of normal [[Lakitu]]s that appear in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' and its [[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)|Nintendo Switch remake]]. They are not found in the main quest, but instead are found in the [[Pit of 100 Trials (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)|Pit of 100 Trials]] between floors 61-69. Unlike normal Lakitus, Dark Lakitus throw [[Sky-Blue Spiny|Sky-Blue Spinies]] instead of the normal [[Spiny|Spinies]]. Compared to Lakitus, they are also darker in skin tone and have red shells. Dark Lakitus mark the second time a Lakitu has being depicted with a red shell; the first is ''[[Super Mario World]]'' and the third is the playable Lakitu in the ''[[Mario Kart (series)|Mario Kart]]'' series. It is implied in one of [[Goombella]]'s tattles that it rides a rain cloud, although the cloud itself never demonstrates the ability.

In the English localization of the original game, it is mistakenly stated that Dark Lakitu's Sky-Blue Spinies hatch from "pipes" in [[Goombella]]'s [[Tattle]] for both enemies. However, the supposed "pipes" which spawn Sky-Blue Spinies bear no resemblance to the conventional [[Warp Pipe|pipes]] of the [[Super Mario (franchise)|''Super Mario'' franchise]] and instead appear as regular blue Spiny Eggs. Their name is the result of a mistranslation: Spiny Eggs are referred to as「パイポ」(''Paipo'') in Japanese, which (like Lakitu's Japanese name) comes from [[Wikipedia:Jugemu|a well-known Japanese folktale]]<ref>{{cite|url=legendsoflocalization.com/super-mario-bros/names/#the-eggs-too|title=Super Mario Bros. Translation Comparison: Names|publisher=Legends of Localization|accessdate=April 22, 2015}}</ref> but can also be interpreted (incorrectly, in this case) as an approximation of the English "pipe" into Japanese [[Wikipedia:Katakana|katakana]]. While「パイポ」(''Paipo'') was correctly rendered as "Spiny Egg" elsewhere in the English script of ''Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door'' — namely, with regard to the standard species of Spiny fought in the game — the translation team seems to have overlooked the established convention with this variant, resulting in the "pipe" name.<ref>{{cite|author=Clyde Mandelin|date=June 8, 2017|url=legendsoflocalization.com/that-one-time-lakitu-started-throwing-pipes/|title=That One Time Lakitu Started Throwing Pipes|publisher=Legends of Localization|accessdate=November 5, 2017}}</ref> This was fixed in the [[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)|Nintendo Switch remake]], which correctly refers to them as Spiny Eggs.

 

 

|JapR={{nw|Kumori Jugemu}}

|FreM=Pun on "Lakitu" and ''fumée'' ("smoke")