Kamek

Kamek in action from Yoshi's Island.
Kamek
Species	Magikoopa
Affiliation	Bowser
Voiced by	Atsushi Masaki (2005-Present)
Debut	Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Kamek is a powerful Magikoopa character from the Super Mario series. who is most well-known for having taken care of Bowser during his childhood. He is a recurring antagonist in Yoshi and Mario games, although many of his roles are indirect ones.

Background

Prequel Games

Kamek was Bowser's caretaker during the latter's youth. Kamek was quite protective of Baby Bowser and was determined to raise him to lead the Koopa Kingdom to glory. One night, Kamek had a vision which told him that two babies born that night would bring disaster to the Koopa family. So he decided to kidnap the twin babies before they were born, while the stork was still delivering them. Laying in wait above Yoshi's Island, Kamek snatched the stork and baby before returning to the castle. Kamek then found that he only had one baby, Luigi, and had dropped the other, Mario.

Kamek went through great lengths to find Baby Mario in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, especially after he found out that a tribe of Yoshis had found the baby and were searching for Luigi. Kamek did not attack directly and acted through underlings instead. He sent out his Toadies to capture Baby Mario, and he also appeared at every fortress and castle, where he used his magic to grow normal enemies into giant-sized bosses to fight Yoshi. At one point, Kamek instead used his magic to shrink Yoshi down so that Prince Froggy could eat him. As the Yoshis drew closer, Kamek started making attempts to attack them himself In the fifth world's extra level, "Kamek's Revenge", as well as in Bowser's Castle. After Baby Bowser was beaten by Yoshi, Kamek used his magic to turn Baby Bowser into a giant as his last-ditch effort to save the Koopa family. But Baby Bowser was defeated and restored to his old size, and Kamek proceeded to flee towards the moon on broomstick with Baby Bowser.

He soon went back into action, as shown in Yoshi's New Island, where he tried kidnapping the Mario Bros. again when the stork redelivered them, as they had gone to the wrong parents. Kamek once again only stole Baby Luigi, and once more the Yoshis clashed with the Koopas while protecting Baby Mario. Kamek appeared as a recurring boss in the game's fortresses and once more enlarged the different castle's bosses, although this time it was with a special magical hammer. Kamek also once more made Baby Bowser into a giant, and once more Baby Bowser was defeated; and this time, they were soon after usurped by their future selves.

In Yoshi's Island DS, the "past" Kamek played a minor role, first appearing to yell at his future self while the latter abducted Baby Bowser, and he later appeared escorting Baby Bowser home in the game's ending, but accidentally dropped the young prince into the raft of Baby Wario.

Kamek reappeared in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time during the past timeline. He was on hand to aid Baby Bowser in a variety of functions, such as evading the Shroobs and stealing Yoshi Cookies for the prince. He ran into the future Mario, Luigi, and their baby counterparts, whom he recognized immediately. At first, Kamek tried arranging obstacles to impede the progress of the foursome. He created four copies of himself to battle, but he was defeated anyways. He reappeared at the end of the game, escorting Baby Bowser back to his castle.

Modern Age: Super NES to DS

Kamek was still serving Bowser in his adulthood. In Tetris Attack, Bowser had Kamek cause evil spells that would flood the world and turn Yoshi's friends against him. Kamek was the third boss of the Cave of Wickedness and the last boss in Normal Mode. After scolding Yoshi for breaking his spell on Yoshi's friends, Kamek and his Toadies battled Yoshi, but they were defeated.

Kamek appeared in Super Princess Peach as boss of the seventh world, Giddy Sky, where he held Luigi captive. It is once more uncertain if this is the actual Kamek or a translation error (as the game's Glossary refers to him as a "a Kamek"; see Trivia below). He wears different glasses and a purple robe, but his robe turns blue after he takes enough damage. In battle with Princess Peach, he turns himself into a giant and attacks with both standard circle-triangle-square Magikoopa attacks as well as summoning normal Magikoopas on broomsticks to rush Peach while teleporting around. To hurt him, Peach had to use Joy cyclones to float up to Kamek's face and stun him, at which point his face could be hit to damage him. After taking enough damage, he began to cry and move faster. After being defeated, he vanished and Luigi was freed.

Then in Yoshi's Island DS, Kamek and Bowser somehow traveled back in time to the time when Bowser was Baby Bowser. They were searching for the seven fallen stars which apparently had attached themselves to recently-born infants. So Kamek sent his Toadies out to capture as many infants as possible, including Baby Bowser. However, once again they were defied by the same tribe of Yoshis and Baby Mario. Kamek tried enlarging the adult Bowser to giant size so he could stop the Yoshis, but Bowser was still defeated.

New Super Mario Bros. and Beyond

Kamek also appeared throughout New Super Mario Bros. Wii, where he reprised his original goal from Yoshi's Island. Staying with the airship as it traveled to Bowser's Castle, he showed up in the last castle of each worlds to aid Bowser's children enhance the boss fight's difficulty. Instead of his usual growth magic, he would spread magic that would affect the environment or the Koopalings; weapons. He would also kick Mario off whenever he defeated Bowser Jr. on the airship.

In the eighth world, Kamek acted as the boss of the world's sole castle (save for Bowser Castle) and battled Mario through traditional Magikoopa methods of teleporting and shooting blasts of magic that would transform pieces of the environment into any of a variety of enemies. The room itself was also enhanced with sliding blocks. However, three jumps on the head (or various fireballs) eventually spelled his defeat. Kamek still reappeared at Bowser's Castle, disguised as Princess Peach. After Bowser was defeated by being dropped into lava, Kamek dropped the disguise and used his growth magic on Bowser. He then lingered for a moment in confusion due to a lack of reaction from Bowser, until Bowser sprang up suddenly and accidentally knocked Kamek out of the air.

He later made his first Paper Mario appearance in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, where he once more acted as Bowser's right-hand Koopa (similar to the role that Kammy had played in the previous Paper Mario games).

Kamek appeared again in New Super Mario Bros. U (as well as New Super Luigi U), where he created a purple tornado-like cloud that enshrouded Princess Peach's Castle. Throughout this game, he made appearances to use his magic to empower or enlarge Boom Boom in a variety of his boss fights, and he also enlarged the Boss Sumo Bro. Kamek appeared as the boss of the Slide Lift Tower within the Meringue Clouds. He appeared again at the end of game in the final castle, when Bowser Jr. woke him up to get him to make Bowser a giant again.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Paper Mario: Color Splash.

Other Possible Appearances

A Magikoopa appeared as a boss in Yoshi's Safari. Though his appearance was generally like most Magikoopas, he did display the ability to change his size into a giant, similar to his boss fight in Super Princess Peach.

It has sometimes been believed that Kamek was the unnamed Magikoopa appearing in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, especially due to a quote from Mallow's Psychopath move in which Kamek said, "That's... my child," believed to be in reference to Bowser. That phrase could also apply to any of the creatures that the Magikoopa summoned during his battle with Mario, although the Japanese version of the line had him instead recognizing "the baby from that time", seemingly referring to Mario in reference to Yoshi's Island. Complicating the matter further, this Magikoopa had a different name in the Japanese version, where he was called Kamezaado.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, there was a white-robed Magikoopa hypnotist working in Little Fungitown, where the locals called him "Psycho Kamek". When Luigi came to Kamek in a state of extreme fright, Kamek (who did not show signs of recognizing Luigi) offered to help him become brave like Mario. So Kamek used his magic to hypnotise Luigi into thinking he was Mario, and later Kamek even tried hypnotizing himself into being a better hypnotist. It is uncertain whether this appearance is truly Kamek due to his having a different Japanese name, his not recognizing Mario or Luigi and his absence from Bowser's forces. Additionally, the 3DS remake would later replace him with Dr. Toadley, implying that his presence was not canon.

Another potential Kamek appearance was in the opening of Super Mario Galaxy where an unnamed Magikoopa confronted Mario at the beginning and used magic to teleport him away from Princess Peach's Castle, being distinguished from other Magikoopas by speaking several lines before blasting Mario away.

Sports

Kamek's first playable appearance in the sports-related spin-off games as in Mario Golf: World Tour, where he was unlocked by collecting 45 Star Coins in Challenge Mode. He also appeared as an opponent in a special challenge in Adventure Mode, where the player had to rally four hundred balls with him without missing three of them.

He had also appeared as a rival in the 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games for the BMX event, and in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games as a rival in the Bullet Bill Sledge Race.

Mario Party

In Mario Party 5, Mario Party 6 and 7, Kamek was an event character summoned with a matching orb who had a different effect in each game. In 5, he would shuffle the players' capsules around, in 6, he would claim another characters' character spaces for the orb's user, and in 7, his orb could be planted on another space as a trap that would steal three orbs for the user from whatever character landed on it. It is also possible that the nameless Magikoopa appearances on two different boards of Mario Party 8 were actually supposed to be Kamek. In that game, Kamek used his magic to shuffle around trains and players' candy.

In Mario Party Advance, Kamek appeared in the hidden Pyramid area, described as an "ancient game hall", as the Game Mage. If the player beat Kamek at the card game Pair 'Em Up, Kamek gave them the game and as told them that they also deserved the title of game king. He then recalled that he gave Bowser that title long ago, but Bowser lost control and "ran wild" in their halls, which led to their falling-out. He urged the winner to continue gaming without becoming arrogant. The credits later showed that Kamek eventually forgave Bowser and rejoined him.

Kamek played another major role in Bowser's scheme in Mario Party DS. He delivered the dinner invitations for Bowser's castle to Mario and his friends in order to lure them into the trap. Later on, he appeared as the boss of Kamek's Library, the second-to-last board of the game, where he was battled in the minigame "Book Bash". In Mario Party 9, a Magikoopa appeared as a playable character who could be unlocked by completing Solo Mode. This character was referred to as just Magikoopa in the North American release, but the PAL version called him Kamek. While unclear, this would mark Kamek's first (and so far only) playable Mario Party appearance.

In Mario Party: Island Tour, he hosted his own board called Kamek's Carpet Ride. There were also two items related to him at the Perilous Palace Path stage: the Crazy Kamek and the Chaos Kamek. The former would switch the user's space with another's at random, while the latter switched everyone's spaces. A giant version of Kamek riding a broomstick also appeared as the boss of Airship Central in Mario Party 10. He fired Bullet Bills, Banzai Bills and Big Amps at the player, but he could be defeated with missiles that could be retrieved from bubbles. He also appeared in several parts of Mario Party: Star Rush. He acted as a boss in Toad Scramble mode, he was a collectable item in Coinathon mode (which could trap opponents in chains during minigames), and he also appeared at the beginning of a minigame where he used his powers to enlarge Bowser Jr..

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Kamek makes an appearance on the Mushroom Kingdom U stage, where he uses his magic to alter the stage. There is also a Kamek trophy in the 3DS version, but the trophy appears to actually be for the Magikoopa race, seemingly due to another translation slip-up. Previously, there were two stickers of Kamek available within Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Other Media

• Kamek has appeared as a recurring villain in the comics featured in the German edition of Club Nintendo, often appearing to pester Mario and Yoshi with his Toadies.

Trivia

• His Japanese name is Kamekku, which is the same as the Japanese name for Magikoopa. This causes more confusion with the character, similar to what has happened with characters like Toad, Yoshi or Birdo, who all look identical to generic members of their respective races and also are named after their races.
• Unused text in Super Paper Mario lists Kamek's Apprentice as an enemy, though no sprite has been found for the enemy. However, it is likely that in this context "Kamek" is simply a mistranslation of the Japanese name for Magikoopa.
• In the Baby Park racetrack of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! a house called "Kamek's Magic Show", complete with a picture of Kamek, is seen in the background; the Baby Park track is filled with references to Yoshi's Island.
• In Tetris Attack, Kamek replaces Sanatos from the original Panel de Pon.
• In Mario Party Advance, a group of Toadies form a rap band called the Kamek Krew as an homage to their old leader.
• Kamek is mentioned in the description for the Magikoopas in Mario Superstar Baseball, which refers to his attempted kidnapping of Baby Mario and Luigi while describing him as "the best of the Magikoopas".
• Kamek has disguised himself as Princess Peach twice in the series: in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. In the latter game, he claims to have taken a liking to it and to prefer it to his usual robes.

See Also

• Kammy Koopa
• Kamella