Bonetail
| The Thousand-Year Door enemy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Bonetail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location(s) | Pit of 100 Trials (Level 100) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Max HP | 200 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attack | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moves | Dangerous Breath (8, Piercing; sleep (white), confusion (green), shrunk (purple), frozen (blue)), Recover (20 HP, max twice), Stomp (8), Chomp (8) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Items | Return Postage | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coins | N/A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Log | The oldest brother of Hooktail. He's just bones now. He's incredibly tough... Maybe even the toughest? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tattle Log #: 101 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- “AROOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
- —Bonetail, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Bonetail is an optional boss first seen in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It resides at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials. It is the older sibling of Gloomtail and Hooktail. Unlike its still-living siblings, it is an undead dragon, having died of unknown reasons. It was once a pet of the Shadow Queen, but it is never stated why or how Bonetail came to reside at the bottom of the Pit. According to Grifty, Bonetail, along with its two siblings, went around the world terrorizing people some time before the Shadow Queen was imprisoned behind The Thousand-Year Door. Bonetail is depicted as male in the original English localization, but female in every other version, including the English version of the Nintendo Switch remake.
After Mario and his teammates reach the bottom floor of the Pit of 100 Trials, Bonetail roars, making it questionable if it can talk as she never demonstrates that ability. Bonetail's many breaths cause a variety of status ailments in addition to dealing damage, depending on the color. The cyan breath can freeze the opponents, green breath can cause confusion, purple can turn its opponents tiny, and white can inflict sleep. All of the mentioned colored breaths can be avoided with Shell Shield or simply superguarding. After Mario defeats Bonetail, a big treasure chest containing the Return Postage badge will appear.
Bonetail is much stronger than her younger siblings, Hooktail and Gloomtail, and even more than the Shadow Queen. She is the strongest boss in the game, but only offers one star point after defeat; Bonetail can restore 20 HP when having lower HP, and has the most HP out of any enemy. Additionally, Bonetail has the same default attack and defense stats as Gloomtail, with other buffs added throughout the fight. However, Bonetail does not have all of Gloomtail's attacks, like his earthquake attack or Megabreath.
At the beginning of the fight, Mario's partner makes a comment regarding Bonetail:
- Goombella: "Wow! What a freak!"
- Koops: "Yikes! What a grump!"
- Flurrie: "Mercy! Such anger!"
- Yoshi: "Whoa! What a psycho!"
- Vivian: "Wow! What a grouch!"
- Admiral Bobbery: "Rather a crabby sort, eh?"
- Ms. Mowz: "My! What a crab!"
Battle
Stats
- Max HP: 200
- Attack: 8
- Defense: 2
Moves
- Stomp: The user steps a little closer before delivering a stomp to damage the closest opponent in range.
- Bite: The user swiftly lunges its jaws at the closest opponent to inflict damage.
- Recover: Restores 20 HP on the user.
- Cyan breath: Damages all opponents and freezes them.
- Green breath: Damages all opponents and confuses them.
- Pink breath: Damages all opponents and shrinks them.
- White breath: Damages all opponents and puts them to sleep.
Strategy
Bonetail has 50 HP higher than the main storyline's final boss, the Shadow Queen, considering it to be a superboss. It is recommended to be at level 30 or higher, meaning that you'll be at the Superstar Rank, and the audience capacity will be at 200. During your attacks and other moves, pressing the button at the right timing will trigger the Stylish command, helping refuel the Star Power meter, especially with the crowd at maximum capacity. It is also recommended to complete Chapter 7 and have the Supernova move listed in the Special Moves roster. If Mario and his partner are equipped with the Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P badges, they won't receive any status conditions from Bonetail's breath attacks. Bonetail's moves can be really hard to Superguard, so timing is important by all accounts. In addition with having the Strange Sack you retrieved earlier, you may want to have a stockpile of supplies, which feature Jelly Ultras, Zess Deluxes, and Life Shrooms. Be sure to also get your party members to the Ultra Rank and have them use whatever techniques are the strongest, although this will consume some FP. Using Supernova is also a decisive technique, but keep doing the Stylish command during the moves to refuel the Star Power meter to do another Supernova.
Gallery
Mario encounters Bonetail
The battle with Bonetail
Bonetail defeated
Bonetail's unused early head design
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
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| Japanese | ゾンババ[?] Zonbaba |
Portmanteau of「ゾンビ」(zonbi, "zombie") and「ゴンババ」(Gonbaba, "Hooktail") or「ブンババ」(Bunbaba, "Gloomtail") | |
| French | Occicroc[?] | Portmanteau of occire ("slay") and croc ("fang") | |
| German | Lohviata[?] | Portmanteau of Lohe ("blaze") and possibly the English word "bloviate"; also likely a pun on "Loviatar" | |
| Italian | Ossandra[?] | Pormanteau of osso ("bone") and the female name "Cassandra" | |
| Spanish | Zombaba[?] | From the Japanese name "Zonbaba", but with an "m" before the "b" because, in Spanish orthography, "n" should not come before "b" |
Trivia
- If the player returns to the 100th floor after beating Bonetail, quiet and eerie music plays in the room.
- Along with Sir Grodus and the Shadow Queen's first phase, Bonetail cannot be defeated in a single turn using Mario only with his non-FP attacks strengthened by Power Rush badges.
