Cractus
| Cractus | |
|---|---|
 Cractus in WarioWare: Move It! | |
| Species | Carnivorous plant |
| First appearance | Wario Land 4 (2001) |
| Latest appearance | WarioWare: Move It! (2023) |
Cractus is a large, drooling Venus flytrap with leaf-like appendages, in spite of its name being a portmanteau of "crocodile" and "cactus." It first appears in Wario Land 4.
History
Wario Land 4
Cractus is the guardian of the Emerald Passage and the second boss in Wario Land 4. Upon starting the battle, Cractus is sleeping, and the battle can only start when Wario rams the vase holding Cractus, waking it up. The time given to defeat the boss varies on the game mode: Normal mode has the time at 4:00, Hard has the time at 3:00, and S-Hard has the time at 2:00. Initially, Cractus will position itself extremely low, where Wario can damage it with a simple jump followed by a ground pound. Cractus can be damaged from ground pounding its head. Touching its gaping mouth or spiky arms will damage Wario. As it takes damage, Cractus will increase the height of its patrols, the range of its attacks, and the speed of its attacks. If Wario is climbing the vines before Cractus begins its patrol, it will glide across the top of the room while dropping drool in set intervals. Each time Cractus is damaged, it becomes enraged while drooling for a brief moment of time. If Wario touches this drool, he will turn into Zombie Wario, which relieves it. Hotaru will appear from the east whenever Wario is turned into a zombie to help him resume the fight. If the drool is avoided, Cractus will follow Wario and attack with homing jabs, and will only be relieved when it successfully damages him or if Wario manages to go behind it. It is possible to damage Cractus in this state, but it requires precise timing. After enough hits, Cractus is defeated and Wario is rewarded with the creature's Crown.
Sprites also exist in the game to show Cractus without the crown around its body. This may only be seen through hacking.
Super Mario-kun
Cractus makes an appearance as a boss in the Wario Land 4 arc of volume 28 of Super Mario-kun. Wario sees the boss's crown, but he then notices Cractus sleeping next to it. Wario attempts to grab the crown, but the boss awakens and snaps it from Wario and then attacks him. After it drools on Wario, Wario becomes Zombie Wario. Cractus continues attacking Wario. Wario throws Arewo Shitain-hakase and causes light to shine on Wario, reverting him to normal. When Wario attacks Cractus by ground-pounding, Arewo Shitain-hakase throws fruit at him, transforming Wario into Fat Wario. Fat Wario then falls into Cractus's gaping mouth, crushing and defeating it.
WarioWare: Move It!
It has been requested that this section be rewritten. Reason: The information regarding Ko Takeuchi's "mind map" is derived from a machine translation of the interview cited below and may not be entirely accurate. Someone proficient in Japanese should check what is actually stated in the interview and correct any mistakes here.
Cractus appears in WarioWare: Move It!, making it the first character originating from the Wario Land series to cross over to the WarioWare series, not counting microgames based on the former series.[1] Its appearance here is noticeably different; its ruff of leaves protrudes from behind its head instead of below, while its arm-like appendages and ability to fly are both absent, bringing its anatomy closer to an ordinary plant. It is the main antagonist of Kat & Ana's story, in which it eats Leo along with a parchment he had stolen from the pair. Cractus here is accompanied by several smaller carnivorous plants. After Kat & Ana defeat one, Cractus is enraged and attacks the pair alongside its allies. The two ninjas manage to defeat them all, causing Cractus to regurgitate Leo and the parchment.
Ko Takeuchi, character designer for WarioWare: Move It! and the original designer of Cractus, states that he included the character in the game according to his own "mind map" philosophy, whereby he first conceives a character's backstory and then uses it to decide where in a game to introduce said character.[2]
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | フラワナ (Wario Land 4)[?] Furawana |
Pun on "flower" and「 |
|
| フラワニ (WarioWare: Move It!)[?] Furawani |
Pun on "flower" and「 |
||
| Chinese (simplified) | 刺拳花 (Wario Land 4)[?] Cìquán Huā |
Spiky-Fist Flower | |
| 鳄贰花 (WarioWare: Move It!)[?] È Èr Huā |
From「鳄」(è, "crocodile"),「贰」(èr, capitalized form of the "number two", pronunciation similar to「鳄」) and「花」(huā, "flower") | ||
| Chinese (traditional) | 鰐貳花[?] È Èr Huā |
From「鰐」(è, "crocodile"),「貳」(èr, capitalized form of the "number two", pronunciation similar to「鰐」) and「花」(huā, "flower") | |
| Dutch | Cractus[?] | - | |
| French | Cractus (Wario Land 4)[3] | - | |
| Croctus (WarioWare: Move It!)[?] | From croquer ("to crunch") and cactus | ||
| German | Cractus (Wario Land 4)[4] | - | |
| Blumodil (WarioWare: Move It!)[?] | From Blume ("flower") and Krokodil ("crocodile") | ||
| Italian | Cactus[5] (Wario Land 4) | - | |
| Coccactus (WarioWare: Move It!)[?] | Portmanteau of coccodrillo ("crocodile") and cactus | ||
| Korean | 플라커[?] Peullakeo |
Derived from "플라워" (peullawo, "flower") and "크로커다일" (keulokeodail, "crocodile") | |
| Spanish | Cractus[?] | - |
Media
 Cractus - Music heard in a normal boss battle in Wario Land 4 | File info 0:30 |
Gallery
Sprite from Wario Land 4
Cractus level icon
Hotaru entering the battle
Pre-release screenshot of the Cractus boss battle
Appearance of Cractus without the crown around his body, which may only be seen through game hacking.
A flashback that shows Wario running from Cractus in a forest
Cractus among the cast of non-playable characters in WarioWare: Move It!
References
- ^ WarioWare: Move It! - Full Game Walkthrough (HD)
- ^ December 22, 2023. シリーズ20周年を迎えた『超おどる メイド イン ワリオ』開発者インタビュー. Nintendo DREAM WEB. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
- ^ Nintendo (2001). Wario Land 4 instruction booklet. Nintendo of Europe (French). Page 49.
- ^ Nintendo (2001). Wario Land 4 instruction booklet. Nintendo of Europe (German). Page 29.
- ^ Nintendo (2001). Wario Land 4 instruction booklet. Nintendo of Europe (Italian). Page 109.
