Knucklotec

Knucklotec
First appearance	Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
Portrayed by	Go Shinomiya

“Where...ring...go? YOU take ring?!”

—Knucklotec, Super Mario Odyssey

Mario fighting Knucklotec

Knucklotec is the guardian deity and second boss of the Sand Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey. He is based on the real-world Olmec colossal heads, and he has several similarities to Eyerok from Super Mario 64, due to both being ancient stone guardians found underground in desert areas, having giant floating hands, and speaking in broken grammar.

When Mario first arrives in the Sand Kingdom, Knucklotec can be found partially buried in the desert, with the top part of his head sticking out and a Multi Moon plainly visible inside him. Mario can walk on top of him in this state and Ground Pound him, where he will twitch and sometimes make a growling sound.

He is encountered when Mario reaches the Deepest Underground, just after completing the Underground Temple directly beneath the Inverted Pyramid. Before the encounter, Mario can see the lower half of Knucklotec stuck in the ceiling, matching the depiction above ground. When Mario gets close enough, his hands fly in like rockets, and the head comes out of the ceiling to reach Mario's level. Knucklotec is distraught over the disappearance of the kingdom's Binding Band, and starts attacking Mario after erroneously assuming the latter to have stolen it, not realizing Bowser did beforehand.

He is the cause of the ice and low temperatures in the Sand Kingdom. When he is defeated, the majority of the ice melts away and the heat returns to normal. The place Knucklotec was stuck in on the desert surface instead has a smaller hole. It leads straight down into the arena where he was fought, which is now inhabited with a lone Coin Coffer and a horde of Chinchos.

Battle

Knucklotec's battle starts with him slamming both his hands into the ground as part of the cutscene, causing icicles to fall and embed themselves in the ground. The only portions left visible are the very top portion. This battle does not have a barrier or wall surrounding it. Knucklotec primarily stays in the center of the arena. He sends out one hand to hover over Mario. Once a hand is over Mario it will flip and punches the ground at that position. He repeats with the other hand, and loops indefinitely. They leave indentations in the sand. If one of his fists hits an icicle, the icicle will break and that hand will be stunned. A cutscene plays calling attention to this the first time it happens. Stunned hands do not hurt Mario, and are unable to be used to attack. Some icicles contain Hearts. If there are four or three icicles left, Knucklotec will slam the ground again to cause more to fall. He needs both hands to perform this, and will not attack until he has access to both. The icicles have drop shadows, and shatter existing icicles as they land. (The icicles shatter on contact with Kunclotec to no effect.)

Mario can capture a stunned hand, identified as Knucklotec's Fist in the Capture List, and use it to punch Knucklotec in the face. The controls are identical to those of Bullet Bills. In this phase, he backs away from Mario, potentially floating out of the arena, and uses the remaining hand to throw ice shards in Mario's direction. (If both hands are stunned, one will stop being stunned after Mario captures the other hand.) The hand can shift left or right between throws. These shards push back Mario, which is important because Knucklotec's Fist has a timer for use. It is not directly visible, but much like a Bullet Bill the Fist starts to flash red when time running, and when the timer expires Mario is forced out of the hand. If Mario does hit, he is also forced out. Flying too far away from Knucklotec forces Mario out as well. In all cases, Mario's position is reset with a large leap.

After being hit once, Knucklotec will slide his fists across the battlefield one time; the fists start parallel to each other but get closer to each other as they move. Then he returns to the center position and brings down more icicles. Mario must then repeat the process once more. During the third phase, his fist-slide attack is slightly faster, and after that he has a new attack where his hands lock onto Mario as they float to his left and right, then clap together. He can use this attack multiple times in succession, but returns to his primary pattern afterward. After being defeated, Knucklotec will explode, releasing the Sand Kingdom's second Multi Moon.

In the rematch against him in the Mushroom Kingdom, many of Knucklotec's attacks create hordes of Chinchos, which also appear when the icicles fall after a hit is scored on the boss. A cutscene does not highlight a stunned hand.

Gallery

• 

  Knucklotec in the ceiling

• 

  Knucklotec confronting Mario

• 

  Knucklotec about to get hit

• 

  Knucklotec reeling from an attack

• 

  The painting from Mushroom Kingdom to Knucklotec's rematch

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	アッチーニャ神[?] Atchīnya Shin	Tostarena God
Chinese	阿炽尼亚神[?] Āchìníyǎ shén	Tostarena God
Chinese (traditional)	阿熾尼亞神[?] Āchìníyǎ shén	Tostarena God
Dutch	Knucklotec[?]	-
French	Grand Caputl[?]	Grand ("big") + caput ("head" in Latin) with -tl (a Nahuatl suffix used for making nouns)
German	Faustezuma[?]	From Faust ("fist") and "Montezuma"
Italian	Sganassotec[?]	From sganasscione (a hard slap in the face) and English name
Korean	아뜨레나신[?] Atteurena Shin	Tostarena God
Russian	Кулакатль[?] Kulakatl	From кулак (kulak, "fist") and "Quetzalcoatl"
Spanish	Katunda[?]	From tunda (a colloquialism for "beating")

Trivia

• When fighting Knucklotec subsequent times in the Mushroom Kingdom, the Multi Moon will appear to be uncollected when it is first revealed before showing to be a collected Multi Moon. This does not happen with any other boss in the game.
• Knucklotec's face seems to be carved into the walls of the Tostarena Ruins, the Inverted Pyramid, and many other stone structures in Tostarena.