Cackletta
- “Hah! Hmph! Well, won't this be fun! Oh yes! If that's how it is, I'm ready for you! I'm going to knock you back to the Mushroom Kingdom!”
- —Cackletta, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Cackletta is an evil witch from the Beanbean Kingdom and is the main villain of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance.
History
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Throughout the whole game, Cackletta is often with Fawful, her assistant. Early in the game, Cackletta steals Princess Peach's voice and uses it to steal the Beanstar. Beanbean lore states that only one with a beautiful voice can activate the Beanstar's mysterious powers to grant any wishes; Cackletta hopes to use this power to conquer Beanbean Kingdom and soon after, the Mushroom Kingdom. The Mario Bros. go to the Beanbean Kingdom to stop her, and they meet her for the first time on the Koopa Cruiser when she and Fawful come to attack. She later comes to Beanbean Castle Town and attacks it, and also feeds Queen Bean a Belly Blech Worm, which turns her into a monster. She then encounters the Mario Bros. again in Beanbean Castle (in the disguise of Lady Lima, whom she had imprisoned in the sewers) and tricks them into fixing the castle's plumbing, which turns off the Beanstar's security system and allows Cackletta to steal the Beanstar. Mario rushes up to the throne room to stop her, but it is too late; Cackletta and Fawful get away and leave Queen Bean, under the influence of the Belly Blech Worm, to take care of the Mario Bros. Later, Cackletta goes to Woohoo Hooniversity to carry out her plans with the Beanstar. After Queen Bean is restored to normal and the Castle Town is repaired, the Mario Bros. (as well as Prince Peasley travel to Woohoo Hooniversity.
Cackletta's plans backfire, however, when she attempts to use Peach's voice by putting the voice in robots codenamed "Peachbots". She finds that Toadsworth and others of the Mushroom Kingdom avoided the Plot and switched Peach with Birdo, whom they dressed up like Peach. As a result, the Beanstar becomes furious by Birdo's voice and does not help Cackletta at all. Instead, the Mario Bros. come and gave her a surprise attack at the wrong time (for her), and the pair finally battle Cackletta.
Cackletta's main attack during the battle is creating lightning bolts to strike the brothers. The arm she lifts for this attack shows whether she'll attack Mario and then Luigi, Luigi and then Mario, or both at once. She can also create two fake versions of herself, so when one of the fake ones is attacked, it divides into a swarm of Cackletta-like bats and attack the brothers. When the real Cackletta is attacked, the fake ones disappear. She also has a special attack where she makes holes in the ground that move toward Mario and Luigi, so they can fall in and drop from the top of the screen and hit the ground. She can only use this attack once at the very beginning of the battle, and also near the end of the battle.
They fight until Cackletta is so badly injured, she can not move. Fawful comes and absorbbs Cackletta's body in his "headgear". Cackletta then commands Fawful to do one more attack, however, he is stopped by Prince Peasley hitting them with his sword and out of Woohoo Hooniversity.
King Bowser of the Koopa Kingdom is lying unconscious in Stardust Fields, Mushroom Kingdom side, when Fawful puts Cackeletta's ghost into Bowser's body and thus, the birth of "Bowletta". Now that Bowletta can control Beanbean minions and Koopa minions, she is more powerful than ever and plots to steal the Beanstar again and get the real Peach's voice. She succeeds in kidnapping Princess Peach in Little Fungitown while Mario is sick and Luigi is away. She then offers a deal with the Mario Bros. through a video recording: find the Beanstar pieces and fix them, then give her the Beanstar and she will return Peach. The brothers' friends at the castle realize that Bowletta is probably tricking them and not planning to return Peach. Prince Peasley has a plan to give her a fake Beanstar and meet them at the top of Joke's End. After many long battles, the bros. finally make it up to the top of Joke's End. Luigi gives Fawful the fake Beanstar, but Fawful sees right through the disguise and knocks down the bros. suitcase.
Mario follows after Luigi and they have an idea. Mario and Luigi come to Bowletta, but Bowletta refuses to honor the deal and release Peach. A few minutes later another Princess Peach comes out along with Mario, holding her mouth. Mario cracks up and Bowletta understands that the Peach she's holding is a fake. She drops the Peach she's holding and grabs the other. They then go to the Koopa Cruiser and ask her why she's holding her mouth, but she doesn't respond. Then Bowletta scares her to reveal a big mustache of Luigi's and it turns out to be Luigi the whole time and he makes a getaway.
In the mean time, Bowletta plans a plot to destroy the Beanbean Kingdom and then, after the bros. are destroyed, the Mushroom Kingdom. She goes in Bowser's Keep and successfully destroys Beanbean Castle Town. The bros. go to Hoohoo Village and tell Blablanadon that Bowser's Keep is overhead and now he should take them up. Fawful then informs Bowletta that the Mario Bros. are coming so Bowletta orders the original seven Koopalings and Fawful to guard her castle. The Bros. fight them all and eventually fight Bowletta until finally she gets an idea. She pretends to be defeated and then, when they let their guards down, she summons a Time Bob-omb to explode at them. It works and then, afterwards, she eats them. Inside Bowser's stomach, Mario and Luigi, barely conscious, find Cackletta's Soul inside of the body and fight. Cackletta is defeated once and for all, and the spirit leaves Bowser's body and disappears, returning him to normal.
Cackletta's Soul
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- “Are you still conscious? Ugh. You're a persistent pair! I shall dispose of you quickly, and then eat you for lunch!”
- —Cackletta, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Cackletta's Soul is the final boss and soul of Cackletta in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. When Mario and Luigi defeat Bowletta, they end up meeting her ghost who is found inside her body.
After Mario and Luigi defeat Bowletta, she inhales them and they must battle her soul. The brothers restart with 1 HP, so they quickly have to heal. In battle, Cackletta's Soul will use energy attacks against the Mario Bros., and they must destroy both of her arms and her head to expose her heart. When her heart has been exposed, the Mario Bros. must attack it to finally destroy her and beat the game. One of her attacks is to create an energy ball that will attempt to crush the Mario Brothers. The player has to hammer it and will have to constantly hammer it until it explodes. Another attack is to stretch her arms out at the Marios, attempting to flick them. This can be countered by hammering her hands quickly. Her hands also attack. Her right one summons two fireballs to rotate around the Mario Bros. and dodge it by jumping at the right time. Her left hand summons a ball of electricity that must be hit with a hammer. Hitting it will make it slide to the next brother and must hit it over and over until it breaks.
When Cackletta is low on HP, she will have three new attacks. She will move her eyes up or down, indicating where she is going to fire a beam. If her eyes move up, she is going to fire upwards. If they move down, she will fire downwards. Mario and Luigi must jump or stand in the right position before Cackletta freezes time in order to dodge the beams. She also summons a ghost of Fawful that will shoot fireballs at the brothers then go close to one of them. Mario or Luigi must quickly hit it with a hammer or else it will continue to shoot more fireballs. Yet another attack is to create balls of energy. The pink ones attack Mario, green ones attack Luigi. The balls also teleport to different parts of the screen. Also, if the brothers try to attack the head while the hands are still active, the hands will notice and attack afterwards. After the battle, the spirit leaves Bowser's body and disappears into thin air, so that Cackletta is finally defeated.
Trivia
- Cackletta's name is a pun on the word "cackle", which is an evil laugh.
- Cackletta's theme in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga can be slightly heard in Fawful's Castle Theme in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.
- Cackletta's soul is similar to Bouldergeist, as they both look similar in appearance and the battle is also similar; the player must destroy both of their body parts to reveal a "heart" and destroy that.
- This final boss is similar to the Shadow Queen from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: Both are the evil spirit of a witch, both are possessing a major character, and both have two hands that attack separately and can regenerate once destroyed. Both also speak similar lines before their death scenes. Although Cackletta's hands must be destroyed in order to defeat her, and only regenerate when her heart is vulnerable, while the Shadow Queen's hands can regenerate at any time and do not need to be attacked (though destroying them prevents her from healing, and is thus highly recommended), as she is always vulnerable after the cutscene.
- In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, when the Fright Mask item is used, it slightly resembles Cackletta's scary form when in battle with her.
- Cackletta is the only Mario & Luigi series main antagonist not to be referenced in any other Mario & Luigi series game. As Elder Princess Shroob is seen in the background of the shroob boss fight in Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story and Fawful is the main antagonist of Bowser's inside story.
