Whacka

Whacka
A Whacka from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
First appearance	Paper Mario (2000)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)

“Whack-OOOWWWWWWW!!! Don't hit me!”

—Whacka, Paper Mario

Whackas are rare, blue mole-like creatures that first appeared in the Paper Mario series. Their name and appearance are derived from the popular arcade game "Whac-A-Mole." Attacking them in any way makes a Whacka Bump appear. However, if they are attacked eight times, they run away, releasing a few coins.

They are some of the few original Paper Mario series characters to reappear in at least one other Super Mario game, along with Tweesters, Koopatrols, Goomboss, and the Star Spirits.

History

Paper Mario series

Paper Mario

A Whacka from Mt. Rugged talking to Mario

In Paper Mario, only one Whacka lives on the west side of Mt. Rugged. Due to the Whacka's only appearance in the game, Russ T. attributes its species' rarity to the hunting of their bumps. At one point, the Whacka on Mt. Rugged sends Parakarry a letter stating he one day dreams of flying. Whacka is one of the few friendly characters that get hurt when hit in Paper Mario.

Whacka has an unused entry in the enemy list of Paper Mario, in addition to an unused tattle: "This is a Whacka. That Bump on his head looks like a donut hole. / You probably shouldn't have hit him so much. He looks a little peeved." This implies that at one point, Whacka was intended to be a fightable enemy, only occurring after he is hit too many times. In the Japanese version, the unused tattle compares the bump on Whacka's head to takoyaki (octopus dumplings) rather than a donut hole.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

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One Whacka appears in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door near the shore of Keelhaul Key, behaving like its incarnation in Paper Mario. According to Wonky, there is only one Whacka left in the world.

In the Nintendo Switch remake, Whacka appears as a hidden superboss. He replaces Bonetail as the Pit of 100 Trials final boss on repeat trips after specific criteria are met. In order for it to appear, the player has to defeat Bonetail first, then hit Whacka in Keelhaul Key enough times to make it disappear. Once the e-mail called "RDM Extra Issue" saying a mystical creature has been seen deep in the pit has appeared, enter the pit and reach the bottom again. Hitting Whacka down there will make it think that the player wants to play with it and engages into battle immediately.

The battle against Whacka in the remake

Whacka flings his bumps to attack, so Goombella advises Mario to use as few attacks as possible to avoid giving him ammunition. After Whacka is attacked by an opponent, a Whacka Bump appears, which appears in a hoard depending on how many times Whacka is hit, meaning one Bump per hit. Whacka throws the Bumps at opponents, dealing 10 HP damage for each until the Bumps are gone. Whacka can sometimes rattle the scene, causing projectiles to fall from above, hitting itself to fuel its hoard of Bumps. Whacka sometimes also eats one of the Bumps to heal 25 HP, similarly to the actual item. Occasionally, a Bump is red, which provides 2.5 times the damage and 3 times the healing. After Mario and his party defeat Whacka for the first time, they receive a Gold Whacka Bump, which counts as a key item. Subsequent victories against Whacka would yield a regular Whacka Bump.

Super Paper Mario

A Whacka also appears in Super Paper Mario near Downtown of Crag, behaving identically to its earlier incarnations. When the Whacka disappears, a Cragnon named Norite appears where it once popped out, who claims that the Whacka was her friend. The Whacka also appears as a Catch Card that can be obtained by collecting 300 shop points and plushies of Whacka can been seen inside Fort Francis. There is also a Sammer Guy by the name of Wrath of Whacka in the game, who says he hopes to avenge the smitten Whackas of the dimensions.

Although the description of the Whacka Catch Card in the NTSC English version of Super Paper Mario states that Whacka "sprouts pastries" when whacked, any reference to pastries is absent from the Japanese and PAL English versions of the game, where the Whacka Bumps are simply referred to as "bumps".

Mario Party 6

A Whacka in Mario Party 6

Whackas make a cameo in Mario Party 6 on the Snowflake Lake board, where they can be seen popping up out of the snow.

Profiles

Paper Mario

• Tattle: He's a Whacka. When you hit Whackas, they get Bumps that fall off. I heard that they're yummy. You know, I'm not normally into hitting Whackas, but once I heard of their tasty Bumps... I got the urge to whack' em!

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

• Tattle: That's a rare Whacka. I don't think you see many of his kind anymore, nope. If you whack a Whacka, they drop a Whacka Bump. Those are supposed to be delicious. They fetch a high price in gourmet auctions, too. Yup, super-precious delicacies. Still, whacking a defenseless creature to get one... You'd never do that, right, Mario?

Super Paper Mario

• Tattle: That’s Whacka... It’s very rare to see one... It’s delicate and easily harmed... Don’t hit it or stomp on it...

Catch Card
	Card Type: Rare Card Description: This odd guy sprouts pastries when whacked on the head. Sadly, his kind is on the verge of extinction. Please headwhack in moderation.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	コブロン[?] Koburon	From「瘤」(kobu, "bump") with name ending "-ron"
Chinese (simplified)	哇咔鼹鼠 (Paper Mario) Wākā Yǎnshǔ 克布隆 (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)) Kèbùlóng[?]	From the English name, and “鼹鼠” (Yǎnshǔ, "mole") Transliteration of the Japanese name
Chinese (traditional)	克布隆[?] Kèbùlóng	Transliteration of the Japanese name
French	Whacka[?]	-
German	Whacka[?]	-
Italian	Whacka[?]	-
Korean	혹혹이[?] Hokhok-i	From "혹" (hok, "bump") and "~이" (-i, a Korean noun-deriving suffix)
Spanish	Guaka[?]	Whacka