Kamek

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“Didn't I send you and your friends off to the middle of nowhere? What a stubborn bunch you are! I guess I'll just show you your place again!”

—Kamek, Mario Party DS

Kamek, nickname Fang, is an old, yet powerful Magikoopa and apparent adviser to Bowser, or at least high-ranking member in the Koopa Troop. He first appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. He is also Baby Bowser's caretaker, and continues to look after Bowser, even in the present day. Kamek's name comes from the name for the Magikoopa species in Japanese: Kamekku (カメック), which is derived from kame, the Japanese word for "turtle".

History

Yoshi series

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Kamek makes his debut appearance in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island as the main antagonist of the game. Using his crystal ball, Kamek foresees that Mario and Luigi, who were born that night, would cause great havoc for the Koopa Troop and the adult Bowser in the future. Deciding to capture Baby Mario and Baby Luigi before they could become a threat to the Koopa Troop, Kamek attacks the stork delivering the babies. Kamek succeeds in capturing only Baby Luigi during his attack on the stork though, and Baby Mario is sent plummeting to Yoshi's Island below during the scuffle.

Learning he had only captured Baby Luigi, Kamek has his minions, the Toadies, go out in search of Baby Mario. Meanwhile, Mario has been found by the Yoshis, who help him track down and try and rescue his abducted brother. Before a boss is fought by a Yoshi and Baby Mario, Kamek will appear to taunt the Yoshi before using his magic to turn the boss enemy into a giant (except on one occasion).

When Yoshi and Baby Mario reach the entrance to Baby Bowser's Castle, Kamek tries to stop them from entering it by flying into them on his broom while Yoshi tries to fly across a large gap as the Yoshi Helicopter. Later on in the castle, when Yoshi enters Kamek's own chambers, Kamek will attack him directly, teleporting around his room, trying to blast Yoshi with his magic scepter, which can turn the blocks scattered throughout his room into enemies and stars, as well as injuring Yoshi.

Once Yoshi passes through his room, Kamek will appear before Yoshi in Baby Bowser's room, and demand he hand over Baby Mario; awakened by Kamek's shouting at Yoshi, the irritated Baby Bowser will knock him aside and crush him before engaging in battle with Yoshi. Once Baby Bowser is defeated by Yoshi, Kamek will appear and, using his powers, turn Baby Bowser into a colossus, destroying his castle in the process. After Baby Bowser's monstrous form is beaten by Yoshi and Baby Bowser is regressed back to normal, Kamek will appear and, grabbing Baby Bowser, will threaten Yoshi before flying off into the night, leaving Yoshi to rescue Baby Luigi and the stork.

Kamek also appears as the main threat of the Extra Level "Kamek's Revenge", which has him trying to smash into Yoshi and Baby Mario while flying around on his broom.

Tetris Attack

In Tetris Attack, Kamek, along with the now adult Bowser, puts a curse on Yoshi's Island, brainwashing the bulk of its inhabitants to serve them. Kamek appears as the penultimate boss, after encountering Hookbill the Koopa and Naval Piranha on Mt. Wickedness, along with his Toadies and right before Bowser. Kamek once again attacks the stork and steals away Baby Luigi in Yoshi Touch & Go. What happens next depends on the mode played. In some scenarios, the stork will get Baby Luigi back, and in others, Yoshi must "battle" Kamek's Toadies to get Baby Luigi back. In all modes, Kamek will appear to kidnap Baby Mario if Yoshi is to befall one of his traps. Challenge Mode actually places Yoshi in a race against time as a meter (which can be expanded second-by-second with the destruction of an enemy or collection of any sort of Coin) counts off the moments before an invincible Kamek appears to attack Yoshi and steal Baby Mario.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, a brainwashed Magikoopa appears as a boss. This Magikoopa is intended to be Kamek due to him being old friends with Bowser and, if players read his mind with Mallow's Psychopath ability, the Magikoopa will state "That's... my child?", referring to Bowser, whom he raised. However, when the game was translated to English, the translators forgot about giving the name "Kamek" to the individual Magikoopa character and, as a result, Kamek was called "Magikoopa" in the English release. This has caused confusion among fans and led many to believe it was another character altogether.

Yoshi's Island DS

Kamek from Yoshi's Island DS.

During Yoshi's Island DS, Kamek traveled back in time with an adult Bowser in search of the Star Children, seven babies whose hearts possess unimaginable power. Kamek is shown with his Toadies kidnapping babies across the planet, trying to obtain the Star Children. Like in Yoshi's Island, Kamek appears before every boss battle to give an enemy monster an advantage in battle, usually making them gigantic. After Bowser is beaten in combat by Yoshi, Kamek uses his magic on Bowser to make him enormous. Despite this, Bowser is still beaten by a team of Yoshis and Kamek and his master are forced to retreat.

The Kamek of the past makes a brief cameo in Yoshi's Island DS; when Baby Bowser is kidnapped by Kamek of the present, he can be seen yelling for Baby Bowser to be returned. This Kamek's palette seems based off of that of the original Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, while the Kamek from the future looks just like he did in Yoshi Touch & Go.

Club Nintendo

Kamek, as he appears in Club Nintendo's comic adaptation of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Kamek is featured as recurring villain in the Mario comics in the German edition of Club Nintendo, first appearing in the story "Mario in Mariozilla", in which he tries to shrink Mario. His plan fails, and Mario grows to an enormous size, resulting in a fight between the two of them. The power of Kamek's broom unintentionally shrinks them both, and only Dr. Light is able to transform them back. At the end of the story, Kamek and Mario give each other a hug. Kamek also appears in Club Nintendo's adaptations of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Story (despite not appearing in the game the latter comic is based upon).

Mario Kart Series

Kamek makes a small cameo appearance in both Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. In the former, Kamek can be seen floating back and forth near the finish line at Bowser Castle 3. In the latter, a sign advertising "KAMEK'S MAGIC SHOW" with an animated image of Kamek above it can be seen in Baby Park. This Kamek sign can also be seen in the Mario Kart DS version of Baby Park.

It has been theorized by many that the Magikoopa that appears as a playable character in early screenshots of Mario Kart 64 is Kamek, although this has yet to be officially proven.

Although the Magikoopa himself doesn't appear in the game, in Mario Kart Wii there is a bike modeled after Kamek called the Magikruiser. More specifically, it is designed like Kamek riding on his broom and is a bike for small characters. Since this includes the baby characters, it may be a reference to his frequent kidnapping of the babies in the Yoshi series, which he does on his broom.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

At the beginning of Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, a desperate Baby Bowser, after his botched attempt to kidnap Baby Peach before the Shroob attack on Princess Peach's Castle, calls Kamek to pick him up in the Koopa Cruiser.

Rather than pick up the prince directly, Kamek instead sends members of the Koopa Troop to help him find Baby Bowser, while Kamek himself remained at Baby Bowser's Castle. After Baby Bowser crash lands the Koopa Cruiser into the castle, Kamek desperately begins to search for his charge. Before he finds Baby Bowser, Kamek notices the Mario Brothers and recognizes the babies as those he had once tried to kidnap. Assuming they meant the worst, Kamek magically summons Boos and Goombas to attack the brothers. The quartet quickly defeat the enemies, and in his haste to find Baby Bowser, Kamek is forced to leave, letting the brothers go undefeated.

Once Kamek finds the Koopa's crown prince, the pair set out to reclaim the Cobalt Star Shard that the brothers had taken from the castle. Kamek and Bowser were able to find the brothers at the Vim Factory, where they took both their Shard and the one Mario and Luigi had taken from Swiggler. The pair proceeds to escape to Yoshi's Island. However, Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi quickly discover their hiding place. On the island, Kamek is reduced to running errands for Baby Bowser, including stealing Yoshi Cookies for him. When the brothers attempt to reach the island, the Magikoopa uses his magic powers to create fires deter them throughout their quest to defeat the resting Baby Bowser at the island's cliffs. In a last ditch attempt to stop the Mario Bros., Kamek fights them directly.

In battle, Kamek has 450 HP and uses a mixture of the Magikoopa attacks from Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. First, he will throw spike balls at either brother which has to be countered with a Hammer but occasionally throw a Mushroom, inadvertently healing the heroes. After that he will make multiple copies of himself, which are indistinguishable from the original except for the fact that any deflected attacks only return to the real Kamek. Multi-hit items will hit Kamek and all his copies. After Kamek takes enough hits, he will fall off of his broom. He will throw fire using his scepter and if it only hits one Bro. or less, Kamek himself will catch on fire (though this does not damage him) and charge towards the brother that the fire was intended for. Then, after two turns, he will get back on his broom. After his defeat at the hands of Mario and Luigi, Kamek declines to show his face again in the game, but he does appear in the epilogue after the defeat of the Shroobs, traveling back to Baby Bowser's Castle with Prince Bowser.

Kamek sports an apron while on Yoshi's Island. He uses it to store important items such as his scepter and broom and is never shown performing such tasks as cooking or cleaning. Kamek's role as a parental figure was a primary source of comic relief whenever the Magikoopa appeared.

Mario Party Series

In Mario Party 5, a Kamek Orb can be obtained; when used, this orb will summon Kamek who will proceed to shuffle around all the orbs of players. In Mario Party 6, the Kamek Orb will summon Kamek who will change other player's Character Spaces into Character Spaces for the player who summoned him. In Mario Party 7, Kamek's Orb can be used to make a Kamek Space. If a player lands on this space, three of their orbs are taken by Kamek and given to whoever owns the Kamek Space. In Mario Party 8, Kamek appears on Bowser's Warped Orbit. If a player lands on his space, he'll switch that character's candy with someone else's. He also makes appearances on other boards, usually summoned by a green space.

Mario Party Advance

Kamek also appears as the famous Game Mage in Mario Party Advance; Monty Mole, Hoot the Owl, and Amp all mention him when their quests are cleared. If players can find Kamek's location, he will challenge them to a mini-game, the winner of that mini-game becoming the Game Master. If players defeat Kamek he will explain that he has left Bowser's forces due to Bowser simply taking the title of Game King instead of earning it. The end credits for Mario Party Advance say that Kamek had "forgiven Bowser and rejoined his side."

Mario Party DS

In Mario Party DS, Kamek is the one who acts out the first stage of Bowser's plan, by delivering the invitations to dinner at Bowser's Castle to Mario and his friends. Later on in the story mode, Kamek is fought as a boss, in his library, Kamek's Library, in the minigame "Book Bash". Firstly, the player must fly down the library hallway on a flying book with a pen gun, avoiding book cases and books that have been enchanted by Kamek, the chracter can shoot the books with the pen gun so that they never reach them. Once they reach the end, Kamek himself will be waiting. His main attacks consist of shooting magical blasts and summoning books. To defeat him, the player must repeatedly shoot his face with the ink from the pen gun, in a similar way to a shooting game, until he is completely blinded. At this point, he will fire magic in all directions, attempting to hit the player, but will instead cause a book to fall down onto his own head. He can, however, wipe off some of the ink from his face if the player doesn't blind him fast enough. Eventually, the evil sorcerer will be beaten and he is not seen for the rest of the story. There are also several collectible items that belong to Kamek, including his fountain pen.

Mario Superstar Baseball

While Kamek does not appear in Mario Superstar Baseball, he is mentioned in the Magikoopa trophy, being described as "the best Magikoopa".

Super Princess Peach

File:Giantkamek.PNG

Giant Kamek.

In Super Princess Peach, Kamek reappears as Giant Kamek, working for Bowser once again. After the Mario Bros. and several Toads are kidnapped by the Army Hammer Bro., Kamek is trusted with safeguarding the captured Luigi. During his battle against Princess Peach and Perry in Giddy Sky, Kamek will turn gigantic in size and attack by shooting spells and summoning Magikoopas. After being defeated by Princess Peach and Perry, Kamek relinquishes Luigi.

In Super Princess Peach Kamek's appearance changes again; he now wore cyan robes along with a purple hat and cape. He also showed some level of control over the Gloom Vibe and had a weakness to wind-based attacks.

The glossary of Super Princess Peach refers to Kamek as "A Kamek made huge by magic." Because "Kamek" is the Japanese name of both the Kamek character and the species known as "Magikoopa" in Western localizations, Giant Kamek may actually be a generic Magikoopa and not the genuine Kamek due to translation errors (which would explain the seemingly improper article "a" being applied to him). However, because Giant Kamek is clad in robes that are not the same as the Magikoopas he summons, it is still likely that he is the true Kamek due to this form of distinction. The fact that Giant Kamek was guarding Luigi, a hostage of major importance, also supports the theory that he was indeed intended to be accepted as the Kamek character, as naturally Bowser's best wizard would be suitable for the job of guarding Luigi.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl Kamek gets a very minor appearance as two stickers. One sticker shows him casting a spell. This sticker, if used in the Subspace Emissary by a specific character will raise the power of the character's magic attacks by thirteen. The second sticker is Kamek riding his broom, which raises the selected characters indirect special power by 5.

Possible Appearances

Various unnamed, yet high-ranking Magikoopas have appeared in the Mario series, and there is often speculation that they and Kamek are the same character. Strong parallels are often drawn between Kamek and these other Magikoopas, based on their relationships with Bowser and/or their standings in the Koopa Troop. In the case of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the speculation stems from the fact that the character has "Kamek" in his name, and not from the so-called Psycho Kamek's protrayal, which bears little resemblance to Kamek himself.

Super Mario Adventures

An unnamed Magikoopa character extremely similar to Kamek appears in Nintendo Power's Super Mario Adventures comic, which was created at least four years before his debut in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. This Magikoopa acted like a second-in-command to Bowser and was in charge of his wedding to Princess Toadstool, doing such duties as creating a giant wedding cake for the occasion and overseeing Bowser's troops and the Yoshies he had enslaved.

Yoshi's Safari

In Yoshi's Safari, a Magikoopa appears as a boss in the latter part of the game. If this is indeed the Kamek character, then this would make this game the first appearance of Kamek.

Paper Mario series

Kamek may have been the unnamed Magikoopa seen delivering news to Kammy Koopa in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and/or the one standing by Bowser in the opening scene of Super Paper Mario. However, since neither Magikoopas are referred to by name or have any dialogue, this remains unconfirmed. Also, unused text for the game reveals an enemy called "Kamek's Apprentice". No sprites or images have been found for the enemy, however.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

A Magikoopa with the name Psycho Kamek made appearance in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. He was a bit nicer than Kamek, and has a job in Little Fungitown to hypnotize the residents of the village, if they want to. Luigi also was hypnotized by the Magikoopa, to get as much courage as Mario, because Luigi needs to find Crabbie Grass for his bro, that has Bean Fever, but Luigi was too nervous and scared to do it alone. Despite the name, they are not the same character, as Magikoopas are known as Kameks in Japan.

Super Mario Galaxy

Similarly, what could have possibly been Kamek made a appearance in Super Mario Galaxy. In the game, Mario flies up into space on Princess Peach's Castle and tries to get inside. However, an unnamed Magikoopa (who is possibly Kamek) comes and blasts Mario away.

Physical Appearance

In his most recent appearances, Kamek is depicted as being identical to the generic Magikoopa. This means that in most of his appearances, he wears a pair of round spectacles and a set of blue robes, complete with a blue wizard's hat. Both the brim of his hat and the edges of his sleeves are white. He is always seen with his scepter, a golden stick with a red jewel at the end. In the past, there have been a few alterations from his generic Magikoops appearance. The first of these was introduced in his debut appearance. His blue hat has a white brim, while regular Magkioopas' hat brims were blue. White trim is also on the end of his robes' sleeves. In Super Princess Peach, he had a complete change of wardrobe at first; instead having cyan robes covered by a purple cloak and changing his round glasses for a more triangular shaped pair. In addition his scepter was longer and had a green jewel as opposed to red. After recieving enough damage in the battle with Peach, his colors return to his classic set.

Kamek's skin, like all Magikoopas and most other Koopa species, is yellow. Despite being very old, he shows no physical signs of his age, looking very similar in the present as he did in the past. However he appeared somewhat smaller in his past appearance in Partners in Time.

Powers and Abilities

Kamek, sending out a magical blast from his scepter.

Kamek displays powers commonly associated with Magikoopas, including short range teleportation, creating beings from inanimate objects, pyrokinesis, firing magical blasts from his scepter and the ability to create multiple copies of himself. These are assumed to be much more powerful than those of a regular Magikoopa, because of his top rank. Kamek is also capable of flying on a broomstick, being the first ever Magikoopa to display such an ability.

Aside from the aforementioned powers inherent to all Magikoopas, Kamek has portrayed as having powers unique to himself, the most prominent of which is his ability to shrink and grow other creatures (including himself) to extreme proportions. Kamek is also capable of psychic powers, such as divination, brainwashing, foreseeing events in the future and manipulating objects with his mind. These he does without using his scepter, although he does utilize a crystal ball for precognition and divination.

Kamek also displays some expertise at mechanics, supposedly building the apparent time travel device he and Bowser utilize in Yoshi's Island DS; Kamek's ingenuity at mechanics remains in the Club Nintendo comics, with one story even having him create a vacuum cleaner-like device which can absorb color and emotions. Kamek is also a master at various types of games, pertaining such skills at them that he has been given the coveted title of Game Mage.

Personality

Kamek is the stereotypical right hand man; he does what his master wishes, without question. This means that if Bowser gives an order, no matter how ridiculous or difficult, Kamek will follow it. He is also very evil, formulating diabolical schemes with little thought as to how they will effect innocent people, such as kidnapping the Baby Mario brothers and attempting to destroy his enemies without a second's hesitation and instead a feeling of joy (apparent in his speeches to the Yoshis before setting one of his monsters on them). Kamek does, however, have some sense of nobility and free thinking, as seen when he abandons Bowser for unjustly taking the Game King name in Mario Party Advance.

A more sympathetic side of Kamek is seen as he raises his prince in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. As aforementioned, his menial errandss and grudging acceptance towards them makes the Kamek of this game more snarky and comical than evil, though he is still a threat.

From Mario Party DS, it would seem that Kamek is also quite an academic character, as the board that he owns is a library. This is reinforced by the fact that Kamek can build complicated machines; an ability obviously requires much skill and knowledge in the areas of science, math and technology.

Role in the Koopa Troop

Kamek's role in the Koopa Troop is yet to be made completely clear. What is certain is that he is Bowser's caretaker and possibly was once the caretaker of the previous Koopa king. Although Kamek is of the highest rank in the Koopa Troop, his actual title and role is not really known. He does seem to have a certain level of military command; especially back when Bowser was young, when he took almost complete control of the army of the Koopas. This was shown again in Yoshi's Island DS, although this is the present day incarnation of the wizard, confirming that he still maintains a position as one of Bowser's generals. He spends a lot more time actually in the field than Bowser, and may also serve as one of Bowser's individual agents.

There is also a possibility that he is the head of the Magikoopas who serve under Bowser, in the same manner that Goomboss rules the Goombas as a "puppet king". This is evidenced by the Magikoopa bio from Mario Superstar Baseball, which calls him "the best of the Magikoopas", and in Super Princess Peach, where he commands the only legion of them in the entire game.

If Kamek is about the same rank as Kammy Koopa, a fellow main Magikoopa, it is likely that he will be ranked slightly below Bowser and take orders only from the Royal Family themselves.

Relationship with Other Characters

Bowser

Main article: Bowser

Kamek interacts far more with Bowser than with any other character. He seems to serve the role of a father figure to Bowser, since it was largely Kamek who raised him since infancy, and is very loyal and protective to the King. Much of his time is spent ensuring the welfare and comfort of Bowser, as shown by his errands on Yoshi's Island and his frantic searching after the Koopa Cruiser crash in Mario and Luigi Partners in Time. Bowser, although he doesn't have any problems with attacking Kamek when annoyed, seems to show much more respect to his elderly guardian than to any other of his henchmen, and does not insult him at all; completely contrasting his relationship with Kammy.

Mario Brothers

Main article: Mario

Main article: Luigi

Mario and Luigi are mostly on negative terms with Kamek, after having endured two attempted kidnappings and having a fair number of battles against the wizard. However, Kamek himself does not really show any interest or hatred towards the brothers, mostly just dismissing them as inferior to Bowser, unless ordered to directly oppose them.

Princess Peach

Main article: Princess Peach

Princess Peach and Kamek share roughly the same relationship as the Mario Brothers and Kamek do. She too was kidnapped by him during her infancy, but only once and unsuccessfully as well. The two did do battle in her first independent game, Super Princess Peach, where Kamek was the guardian of her good friend Luigi. Kamek may have been killed by Peach in this battle. However, besides this contact, Kamek has actually interacted directly with the Princess as an individual very little.

The Yoshis

Main article: Yoshi

Another group of Kamek's enemies are Yoshi and the rest of the Yoshi clan. Throughout the Yoshi series, Kamek has made numerous attempts to defeat them and prevent them from reuniting the Mario Brothers. Naturally this caused friction between the two. The main cause of this is that their ideals conflict; Kamek wants to ensure the success of the Koopa Troop by preventing the Mario Bros. from becoming heroes, and the Yoshis want to make sure that they are born simply because they are kind and want the best for them.

References

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