King Boo

King Boo in the final battle of Luigi's Mansion
King Boo
Species	Boo
Eye color	Red or Black
Voiced by	Toru Asakawa
Debut	Luigi's Mansion

King Boo is a recurring enemy from the Super Mario series who is the leader of the Boo forces and a minion of Bowser. He has been depicted in several different ways throughout his appearances, and he has appeared as both the main antagonist of the Luigi's Mansion subseries and as a boss character in several different Super Mario games.

Background

Super Mario 64 DS

King Boo appeared as a boss in Super Mario 64 DS, but he was not identified by name in this appearance. He appeared to be a Big Boo wearing a crown, and he could be identified by his laugh (which was the same as his laugh from Luigi's Mansion). King Boo's area was hidden within Big Boo's Haunt, and King Boo had to be defeated by Mario in order to free Luigi. In battle, King Boo was invisible to Mario, but his reflection was still visible in the room's mirror. By observing this, Mario could follow King Boo's movements and attack him. Strangely enough, Luigi appeared as Mario's reflection in the mirror. Mario had to pound King Boo three times to defeat him.

If the game is considered a retcon of Super Mario 64 and takes place before Luigi's Mansion, than this boss battle could be seen as the root of King Boo's grudge with the Mario brothers.

Luigi's Mansion

King Boo was the main villain of Luigi's Mansion. In this game, he was depicted with red eyes and wearing a ruby crown. King Boo freed the ghosts from Professor E. Gadd's Gallery and then combined his powers with those of his Boo followers to create a fake mansion which looked like it had been around for quite a long time. King Boo then sent a letter to Luigi telling him that he had won the mansion in a contest. King Boo succeeded in capturing Mario when he came to check out the mansion, but he did not expect Luigi to join forces with E. Gadd against him. Armed with the Poltergust 3000, Luigi sucked up the mansion's ghosts until only King Boo remained.

In the final battle, King Boo attacked Luigi on the mansion's rooftop within what appeared to be a giant version of Bowser. Luigi was able to face his fears and forced King Boo out of the Bowser's body long enough to suck him into the Poltergust. This caused the mansion to disappear, and King Boo himself was turned into a portrait in E. Gadd's gallery.

Later Appearances

King Boo's goofier look from Super Mario Sunshine

In Super Mario Sunshine, King Boo had a goofier appearance, with a sagging tongue, drool running down his mouth and different-colored eyes. He was the boss of Sirena Beach's Hotel Delfino. That time, Mario defeated him through a simpler method, by pegging him with spicy fruits. It was implied that this version of King Boo was made out of goop by Bowser Jr., which would explain his differences from other depictions of King Boo.

King Boo also appeared as boss of the Shriek Mansion in Super Princess Peach, where he was formed by a merger of three Boos and guarded a captured Toad. He attacked by sending out blue flames, and to defeat him Princess Peach had to light all of the lanterns in the room several times. Every time all of the lights were ignited, King Boo would be damaged and would begin crying more often as he lost more health, until he was defeated. The aversion to sunlight in this game was notably contradicted by King Boo's other appearances.

In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, King Boo battled the Mario Bros. and Paper Mario at the Gloomy Woods. First, he captured both Mario and Paper Mario. Luigi was able to find Mario, at which point King Boo transformed into Paper Mario to trick them. They eventually saw through his disguise, at which point they fought each other. During the battle, King Boo attempted to get Mario and Luigi to stop attacking him by having a Paper Boo hold Paper Mario hostage, but Paper Mario could be freed by defeating the minion. King Boo was ultimately defeated. A Papercraft version of King Boo also appeared earlier in the game, and it was used by Lemmy and Morton at Bowser's Castle.

Sports

King Boo has made multiple playable appearances in the sports-based spin-off games of the Super Mario series, in addition to several appearances as a boss character. In most of these appearances, he resembles his design from Super Mario 64 DS.

• Kart Racing - He has appeared as a playable racer in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (unlocked by completing the Star Cup on Mirror Mode and paired with Petey Piranha), Mario Kart Wii] (unlocked by completing Star Cup in 50cc), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Arcade GP DX (during a limited event only). He also appeared as a boss character in the Mission 4 Boss Stage of Mario Kart DS, wherein Princess Peach had to collect 50 coins over a pit of lava while he tried to steal them back. In Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, a large picture of him appeared within the Horror House of the Yoshi Park 2 course, which sucked up racers and warped them back by the starting line.
  • He is depicted as a heavyweight racer in all appearances except for Arcade GP 2, in which he is instead a featherweight racer.
• Golf - In Mario Golf: World Tour, King Boo makes a cameo appearance floating with other Boos near a hole at the Bowser's Castle course.
• Tennis - In Mario Tennis Aces, he was featured in the Boo Hunt Co-op Challenge available within the game's 2.0.0 updated version. He appeared when Frenzy Time was active and had to be defeated with tennis balls.
• Baseball - He was playable in Mario Superstar Baseball and Super Mario Sluggers.
  • In the Challenge Mode of Mario Super Sluggers, he appeared in Wario City after Bowser Jr. was defeated there, having watched the battle while invisible out of curiosity to see who was stronger. He considered both sides to be "benchwarmers" and would only join the player's team if the Mini Boo had been found by the team.
• The Olympics - King Boo has appeared as a rival/boss in several of the Mario & Sonic at the Olympics games. In both versions of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, he could be raced against in different types of Alpine Skiing events. In Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, he was faced in the Dream Sprint event within the London Party mode in the Wii version, while in the 3DS version, Sonic and Tails could face him and a Boo in a Badminton Doubles event. In Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, he was raced against in Short Track Speed Skating 1000 in the Legends Showdown mode.

Mario Party

King Boo also appeared in Mario Party 8, as the host of the King Boo's Haunted Hideaway board. Like other hosts, King Boo would give stars in exchange for coin payments at his space on the board, but King Boo differed himself from other hosts by hiding himself out of plan sight and blowing all of the players back to the starting point after giving out a star.

He continued to make appearances as a boss character in the following Mario Party games. He was faced at Boo's Horror Castle in Mario Party 9, the minigame King Boo's Tricky Trials in Mario Party 10 and the minigame King Boo's Light Smite in Mario Party: Star Rush.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, King Boo appears as an enemy in several Ghost House courses.
• An image of King Boo could be found on the ground at the Spooky Trails in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

Other Media

• In the Super Mario-Kun manga, King Boo appeared in a short chapter based on Luigi's Mansion. It was similar to his role in the game, including inhabiting a copy of Bowser, but he was sucked up much more quickly.

Trivia

• He is called Boss Teresa in the Japanese version (Teresa being the Japanese name for Boo).
• In Luigi's Mansion, he has 500 HP.
• In New Super Luigi U, a sign in the shape of King Boo could be seen at the Secret Exit of the Vanishing Ghost House.
• A trophy of King Boo appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.