King Boo

“Seriously, though, who would actually believe that mansions get given away in contests?! Talk about stupid! What do they feed you Mario brothers anyway... gullible soup?”

—King Boo, Luigi's Mansion

King Boo (Japanese: キングテレサ King Teresa) is the leader of the Boos and the main antagonist of the game Luigi's Mansion and its sequel, and is widely considered the arch-enemy of Luigi. He is also an ally of Bowser, who has aided him in his various schemes. He is more than capable of devising and enacting villainous plans by himself, including his capture and imprisonment of Mario. Although not the biggest Boo in the Mushroom World, King Boo has abilities that far surpass that of the average ghost and he wields a number of impressive magical abilities, including the ability to materialize objects. King Boo's magical power is directly proportional to the number of Boos in his vicinity.

History

Luigi's Mansion

The Luigi's Mansion artwork of King Boo escaping from his Bowser suit.

Before the events of Luigi's Mansion, Professor E. Gadd captured Boolossus. Using a device called a Ghost Portrificationizer, E. Gadd trapped Boolossus in a portrait and hung it in his Gallery inside his lab in Boo Woods. This angered King Boo, so he devised a plan to rescue Boolossus.

King Boo and his forces attacked the laboratory. The Boos reversed the settings of the Portificationizer and released Boolossus. King Boo then ordered that all the ghosts that E. Gadd had captured should be released as well. After releasing all the portrait ghosts, King Boo created a huge mansion and placed it next to the professor's lab. King Boo, his Boo minions, and the recently freed portrait ghosts decided to inhabit the mansion. With a huge mansion and an army of ghosts, King Boo decided to exact revenge upon Mario and Luigi by capturing them.

Hoping to recapture Luigi, King Boo sends him a letter. The message states that Luigi has won a mansion in a contest and provides the location of the prize. Luigi asks his brother Mario to investigate the mansion and says that he will arrive shortly thereafter. Mario and Toad travel to the mansion, but right after Mario enters, he is instantly overwhelmed by King Boo's forces and captured. King Boo then imprisons him in a portrait, similar to how Boolossus was imprisoned. Mario is placed in the Secret Altar in the basement of the mansion. With Mario captured, King Boo is ready to capture Luigi.

While waiting for Luigi, King Boo and his Boo minions wait behind a secret door in the floor of the Storage Room. When Luigi enters the room and reveals the secret door, the Boos spring out from the floor. However, the Boos (including King Boo) stop their surprise attack when they notice the Poltergust 3000 on Luigi's back. Luigi had been given the Poltergust 3000 by E. Gadd so he could recapture the Portrait Ghosts and save his brother. The Poltergust 3000 is one of the few things King Boo fears, and he and the other Boos scatter and hide in the mansion. King Boo travels to the Secret Altar in the mansion's basement.

The special key that Vincent Van Gore holds unlocks the path to the Secret Altar. However, he is locked in the Artist's Studio on the third floor of the mansion. After capturing him and retrieving the key, Luigi discovers that he still cannot enter the Secret Altar. If Luigi attempts to enter the Secret Altar without catching a certain number of Boos, King Boo blows Luigi to the Foyer, the entrance of the mansion. Since King Boo's power is related to the number of Boos in the mansion, Luigi can weaken him by capturing the Boos hidden in various rooms. After Luigi captures at least forty of the mansion's fifty Boos, King Boo loses his ability to blow Luigi from the Secret Altar. Once King Boo is weakened, Luigi enters King Boo's Secret Altar.

Upon entering the Altar, Luigi notices King Boo staring at Mario in the painting. King Boo turns around to face Luigi and states his desire to add a Luigi painting to the collection. After this, King Boo flies into the Mario painting hanging on the wall. The picture of Mario transforms into Bowser, then the new Bowser painting inhales Luigi into the canvas, transporting Luigi into an arena that resembles the mansion's roof. Luigi then confronts Bowser. In reality, this is a illusion of Bowser that King Boo controls from the inside and uses as a shield.

King Boo uses this Bowser illusion to attack Luigi, shooting flames at him, and even attempting to inhale him into its mouth. The illusion also has the ability to create three large spiked bombs and toss them at Luigi. Luigi can use his Poltergust 3000 to grab one of the spiked explosives and release it into the illusion Bowser's mouth. This attack blasts the head off of the illusion Bowser, causing King Boo to exit the illusion shield and expose himself to the Poltergust 3000. Luigi begins to deplete the ghost's five hundred hit points. Meanwhile, the illusion's head hovers around the arena, shooting icy blasts at Luigi. Eventually, King Boo flies back into the dormant Bowser body and the head reattaches itself, resuming the fight. Luigi repeats this process, slowly weakening King Boo, but after King Boo's life falls below two hundred HP, the head of the illusion reattaches backwards whenever he returns to the Bowser body, causing the illusion Bowser to run around aimlessly. Eventually, the illusion turns its head forwards and resumes the fight. Eventually, Luigi manages to completely drain King Boo's HP and capture him inside the Poltergust 3000.

After the battle, Luigi receives King Boo's crown, worth 5000G, and adds it to his treasure collection. Upon returning to the mansion, Luigi quickly travels to Professor E. Gadd's lab. In the lab, Luigi connects the Poltergust to the professor's Portrificationizer, dumping its contents into the machine. Oddly, not only does the spirit of King Boo appears in the Portrificationizer, but also the Bowser illusion. With King Boo captured, Professor E. Gadd hangs his new portrait in an empty room in his gallery.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

King Boo reappears in the 3DS game, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon once again as the main antagonist and final boss. Appearance-wise, he is much similar to his appearance from Luigi's Mansion, but retains the full set of teeth he had in his appearances in the Mario spin-off titles and he is also much larger.

It is revealed later in the game that Professor E. Gadd had sold the portrait of King Boo from Luigi's Mansion at a garage sale (a car boot sale in PAL versions), which is how the King escaped. King Boo shatters the Dark Moon into six pieces with a bolt of energy from his crown, which contained a power-enhancing gem. This turns the once-friendly ghosts of Evershade Valley hostile and mischievous as well as sprawling the Dark Moon's pieces to each Mansion of the valley, which Luigi has to recover.

Towards the end of the game, it is revealed that he has captured Mario once more. After Luigi gets the last Dark Moon piece and returns to the Bunker, he captures Luigi and pulls him back into the Paranormal Dimension. He reveals to Luigi he escaped from the painting and broke the Dark Moon, causing the ghosts to become under his control. He intends to use the ghosts as an army to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom. He also plans to put Luigi and E. Gadd into paintings as well for revenge. He then engages into battle with Luigi but he fails and is sucked into the Poltergust once again.

Boo Leadership

Although he commands a large band of Boos, not all Boos call King Boo their leader. Some Boos work directly for Bowser, which are most likely the Boo enemies that have appeared in earlier games before King Boo's debut. A small band of Boos are allied with Lady Bow; these ghosts live peacefully with the other denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom (although they still like to scare other species, especially Toads, from time to time). Aside from those other two competing leaders, King Boo controls practically every other Boo in existence.

Quotes

• "White gloves! A cute little moustache! Soft shoes! How did you get out of my...? ... Huh? Wait just a second... Your clothes are... green... Hey, you must be Luigi! Whoa, you had me a bit confused for a moment there!" - Luigi's Mansion
• "I swear it... I shall fear no mere house-cleaning device!!" - Luigi's Mansion
• "Now who do we have here? Why, if it isn't my old pal Luigi! Or is it Baby Luigi? I can't tell the difference. Hey, remember that time when you trapped me in a painting for all eternity? Good times. But guess what? I GOT OUT! And now I'm painting the town RED!" - Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
• "Yes, it was I who broke the Dark Moon! This power-enhancing jeweled crown of mine made it easy. And now that all the ghosts of Evershade Valley are under my control, it's time to take my rightful place as the superme ruler of your world! You, that annoying scientist, and all your friends will look great hanging on the wall of my throne room!" - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

Game Appearances

Title	Description	Release Date	System/Format
Luigi's Mansion	Main Antagonist, Final Boss	2001	Nintendo GameCube
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour	Name appears on score board	2003	Nintendo GameCube
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!	Unlockable Playable Character	2003	Nintendo GameCube
Mario Golf: Advance Tour	Name appears on score board	2004	Game Boy Advance
Super Mario 64 DS	Boss NPC	2004	Nintendo DS
Mario Superstar Baseball	Playable Character	2005	Nintendo GameCube
Super Princess Peach	Boss NPC	2005	Nintendo DS
Mario Kart DS	Boss NPC	2005	Nintendo DS
Mario Party 8	NPC	2007	Wii
Mario Kart Arcade GP 2	NPC	2007	Arcade
Mario Kart Wii	Unlockable Playable Character	2008	Wii
Mario Super Sluggers	Playable Character	2008	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games	Rival	2009	Wii
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Rival	2011	Wii, Nintendo 3DS
Mario Party 9	Boss NPC	2012	Wii
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon	Main Antagonist, Final Boss	2013	Nintendo 3DS

Gallery

• KingBooSelectMSB.PNG

  Mario Superstar Baseball

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  Mario Party 8

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  Mario Kart Wii

• SNESGhostValley22-MKWii.png

  Mario Kart Wii

• SPP-King Boo Sprite.PNG

  Super Princess Peach

• PunkyBoosterPark.png

  Mario Kart Arcade GP 2

Names in Other Languages

Note: The Japanese, Dutch and Korean names use the English word for king, instead of a word in their own language.

Trivia

• When King Boo says, "I don't plan to give up my favorite decoration. I like Mario where he is.", he references a quote from Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, when Jabba the Hutt said, "I don't plan to give up my favorite decoration. I like Captain Solo where he is."
• King Boom Boo from Sonic Adventure 2 is similar to King Boo, in name, title and army of ghosts.