Boo

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Boo.jpg
A white Boo and several pink Boos from Mario Party 6.
Boo
Type Ghost
Debut Super Mario Bros. 3

The Boos are a race of mischievous ghosts that have appeared as recurring enemies and characters throughout the Super Mario series .

Information[edit]

They do not seem to be the ghosts of the deceased, but rather a ghost-like species. They are well-known for their shyness; whenever someone looks them in the eye, the Boos will often freeze and cover their eyes, usually turning transparent as they do so. Thus, Boos only pursue their enemies when they are not looking at them. In some appearances, Boos not as shy; they attack openly and only turn transparent when they need to hide from an enemy or avoid an attack. Depending on the games, Boos either can only be harmed while they're solid or cannot be harmed at all. Boos have also been shown to be vulnerable to particular items such as Pure Water and the Poltergust 3000.

Although many Boos of the Boos appearing in the games are malicious, there have been some instances of good Boos, although even they have a mischievous streak and a love of scaring others. Examples of good Boos include the Lady Bow, who became one of Mario's partners in Paper Mario, and one of the legendary heroes who defeated the Shadow Queen in the backstory of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, a Boo Heroine. In contrast, there is also a recurring villain known as King Boo, who seems to rule some faction of the Boos.

The ghost-like Boos are naturally found in old mansions and houses, and special Ghost Houses. There is also a village of non-hostile Boos located at Gusty Gulch.

Subspecies[edit]

  • Boo Buddy Block - In Super Mario World, a Boo that turns into a block whenever someone looks at it. The pink Boos in Super Mario Sunshine can also be turned into blocks by spraying them with water.
  • Boo Man Bluff - In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Boo Man Bluff is a blindfolded orange Boo that relies on hearing instead of sight to detect enemies.
  • Dark Boo - From Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario, the Dark Boo is a stronger version of the Boo that is purple with red eyes. In Super Paper Mario it spends most of its time in the 3-D plane and then shifts into the 2-D plane near the player in order catch him or her by surprise with an attack. It is found in the Creepy Steeple and Pit of 100 Trials in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and it is also found in "Chapter 7-2: The Sealed Doors Three" and the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials in Super Paper Mario.
  • Dark Dark Boo - In Super Paper Mario, a stronger pitch-black version of the Boo found only in the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials.
  • Li'l Boo- In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, a more powerful version of the Boo found by the Gate to Smithy's Factory.
  • Mad Boo - In Super Princess Peach, Mad Boos act as the reverse of Boos, as they only act shy whenever someone isn't looking at them. Otherwise they aggressively chase their opponent.

One popular variation is the Big Boo, a giant Boo that often shows up as a miniboss or boss. Boos also have been shown to have great power when combined together. In Luigi's Mansion, thirty Boos combined together to form Boolossus, the Jumbo Ghost. And in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, an Atomic Boo (the same thing as a Big Boo) was formed by a fusion of 200 Boos. The name "Big Boo" was also used to address the normal Boos in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

Appearances[edit]

Luigi's Mansion[edit]

In Luigi's Mansion, there were fifty Boos under the command of King Boo that help him in his scheme, and all of them are released from a chest opened by Luigi within the mansion. From that point forward, Boos could be found hidden in various rooms, and they would attempt to escape from Luigi or in some cases attack him. Luigi could capture each Boo with the Poltergust by using the machine to drain all of their HP. Boos could escape to other rooms, and it was also possible to run into multiple escaped Boos at the same time in other rooms. There were thirty-five Boos appearing in individual rooms, who each had unique names that were puns involving "Boo". The other fifteen Boos were the ones that merged together to comprise Boolossus and did not have individual names. Only 40 of the individual Boos had to be captured to beat the game, and capturing all 50 would reward Luigi with a Gold Diamond.

Boos reappeared in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon as the minions of King Boo, but their behavior and abilities were altered. These Boos were shown to have the ability to make different objects invisible, and a Boo was usually revealed by restoring hidden objects with the Poltergust 5000's new Dark-Light function. After being revealed, a Boo would float around while invisible, and Luigi would have to use the Dark-Light function to make them visible. At this point, the Poltergust could be used to tug on the Boo's tongue and send it flying, draining much of its HP in the process. After a Boo's HP was completely depleted, it could be captured. There was only one Boo found in each non-boss mission, and they had pun names as in Luigi's Mansion. A Big Boo composed of 10 Boos also served as the second-to-last boss of the game, faced in Mission E-4. Boos were stored in E. Gadd's Boo Canister, and collecting all Boos in an area would unlock an extra mission for that area. There were a total of 32 Boos in the game, counting the 10 Boos that composed the Big Boo. Aside from the Big Boo, only three of the Boos' captures were necessary to progress through the game.

In Luigi's Mansion 3, one Boo would appear on each floor of the hotel whenever Luigi returned to it after clearing it for the first time. They would find something to hide in, and if Luigi uncovered the correct hiding spot, then that would trigger a battle with a Boo. If he found the wrong hiding spot, then the Boo would move to a hiding spot in a different room on the floor. The goo stored in Luigi's Poltergust acted as a radar that vibrated more the closer Luigi was to a Boo, and Boo Finders could be bought which more precisely pinpointed a Boo's location. When fighting a Boo, it was the same as in Dark Moon: they had to be exposed with the Dark-Light, and then their tongues had to be tugged to attack them. The Boos once again had pun names, and there were sixteen Boos to be found throughout the game (one for each floor).

Sports Appearances[edit]

Boos have also made some appearances in the sports-oriented spin-off games.

Mario Party[edit]

In the early Mario Party games, a Boo would steal coins or a star from another player for money. The Boo usually has its own space and could alternately be summoned by the Boo Bell or Boo's Crystal Ball, but players could ward off their attempts threats with Boo Repellent. A Boo in a wizard costume was also one of the four hosts of Mario Party 4, with a board called Boo's Haunted Bash that was home to Boos and Red Boos. Boo also appeared as a playable character in Mario Party 5, Mario Party 6, Mario Party 7, Mario Party 8, Mario Party: Island Tour and Super Mario Party. In 6 and 7, Red Boos appeared and took the original Boo's place in stealing coins or stars for money.

In Mario Party Advance, several non-playable Boo characters appeared at the Boo Cemetery. In Mario Party 9, Boos appeared at the Boo's Horror Castle Board and chased players after passing portraits of them, with a chance of stealing half a captain's Mini Stars if it successfully catches someone. In Mario Party 10, Boos would haunt players who passed their spot on the Haunted Trail and steal five Mini Stars from them per turn until passed onto another player or repelled by a streetlight. Boos were also featured in a puzzle game mode called Boo's Block Party in Mario Party: Star Rush, and in the Minigame Match mode of Mario Party: The Top 100, they reprised their classic role in being summoned through the Boo Bell. Additionally, Boos have also appeared in various minigames throughout the entire Mario Party series.

Other Appearances[edit]

Video Games[edit]

  • Boos also appear in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. They will advance on Link in dark dungeon rooms to attack him, but they flee when the room is lit up. They can be damaged with sword attacks while the room is lit up, or with fire attacks. In the Switch remake, a Boo figurine can also be won at the Trendy Game and put on display at Papahl's house.
  • In Game & Watch Gallery 2 and 4, Boos are included in Modern versions of some Game & Watch games.
  • In the Super Smash Bros. series, Boos made a cameo appearance in the Luigi's Mansion stage first seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which consisted of them flying out of destroyed parts of the mansion and disappearing. They have also been represented by a trophy in each game from Melee to the 3DS/Wii U game, a sticker (from Mario Tennis) in Brawl, a Smash Tour item (which turns a player invisible at the start of a battle) in the Wii U game and a Novice-rank Primary Spirit in Ultimate. The Boo's Spirit can be enhanced into a Spirit of King Boo at Level 99. When fought in a Spirit battle, the Boo's Spirit would possess a white Kirby in a battle where it continually turns invisible and has a strengthened shield.
  • In Tetris DS, there was a Boo item available in multiplayer mode that could be used to block an opponent's sight of the incoming block.
  • Boos appear as opponents in Yakuman DS.
  • In Nintendo releases of Minecraft, Boos can replace Ghasts as part of the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack.
  • In Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, a Yoshi design based on a Boo's appearance could be unlocked by scanning an amiibo of a boo.
  • In Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, they appear as obstacles that approach player characters and warp with them to different areas.

Other Media[edit]

  • They make occasional appearances in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (often referred to by their original name of Boo Diddly) and Super Mario World, where they were redesigned. They were sometimes depicted in a more menacing light.
  • Boos were featured in a chapter of the Super Mario Adventures where Mario and Luigi were trapped in a haunted house with a group of Boos led by a Big Boo. However, at the end of the chapter Mario "defeats" them by dressing as a psychiatrist version of Dr. Mario and diagnosing the roots of their troubles, causing the Boos to become thankful towards the Mario brothers and let them leave in peace.

Trivia[edit]

  • Boo's Japanese name is Teresa. It is a play on the Japanese word "teruteru," which means "to be shy".
  • Boos were originally referred to as Boo Diddly in the American version of Super Mario Bros. 3 as a reference to singer Bo Didley.
  • In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there is an item called the Boo's Sheet can make Mario transparent like the Boos.
  • The Boo Valley in Mario Golf is named after them.
  • One of Mario's power-ups in Super Mario Galaxy turns him into a Boo.

See Also[edit]

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