King Boo is the king off the entire Boo race and a recurring antagonist in the Super Mario franchise, most notably in Luigi's Mansion and its sequel. As the leader of all Boos, he takes great delight in frightening people, encouraging his minions to go about terrifying the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom for fun. He despises the Mario brothers for giving Boos so much trouble in the past and has developed an especially intense hatred for Luigi who has personally thwarted him twice before.
History[]
Luigi's Mansion[]
King Boo made his first major appearance in the game Luigi's Mansion. Angry with the Mario Brothers for causing the Boos so much trouble in the past, he designs a plot to get rid of them both. He sends Luigi a letter telling him he has won a mansion in a contest that he never even entered. Luigi calls Mario and tells him the good news, asking him to go there and meet him so they can celebrate. However, when Luigi arrives, Mario is nowhere to be seen, and the mansion is infested with ghosts.
Towards the end of the game, Luigi finally finds Mario, who is trapped inside a painting, with King Boo gloating over him. Luigi also finds out that King Boo was the one who created the mansion and released all the ghosts within it. Luigi confronts King Boo, but the sinister spook conjures a magical construct in the shape of the Mario Brothers' old nemesis, Bowser. From inside the Bowser costume, King Boo attacks Luigi, but the cowardly hero is able to knock the head off of the costume, causing his ghostly enemy to emerge. Luigi then traps King Boo inside the Poltergust 3000, and later turns him into a portrait with the Portrificationizer.
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon[]
King Boo reappears in the sequel to Luigi's Mansion on the Nintendo 3DS, seeking revenge against Luigi for his imprisonment. At some point, Professor E. Gadd sold the King Boo painting at a yard sale. King Boo initiates the events of the game by destroying the Dark Moon, a purple crescent-shaped artifact that keeps the ghosts of Evershade Valley in a docile state. Shattering the Dark Moon into pieces, King Boo incites the ghosts to turn on Gadd which leads to his summoning of Luigi for help.
Eventually, King Boo reveals himself to Luigi after intercepting Gadd's teleportation and entraps Luigi in an alternate dimension. There, King Boo demands the Dark Moon pieces from Luigi so that he may conquer the Mushroom Kingdom with a spectral army in exchange for releasing Mario, once again trapped in a painting. Luigi naturally refuses and the battle ensues, with Luigi emerging triumphant. King Boo is then trapped within the Poltergust 5000, but what becomes of him afterwards is left inconclusive.
Personality[]
King Boo is shown to be mischievous, cruel and spiteful. He delights in terrifying others and causing them pain and misery, although at the same time, he has been shown to be a fair ruler to his fellow Boos and other ghosts, expressing fondness for many of them and going out of his way to protect some of them when they are threatened by Luigi and the Poltergust device.
However, following his first defeat at Luigi's hands, any redeeming qualities that King Boo may have had have been rendered null. He is extremely angry towards Luigi and Professor E. Gadd, obsessed with taking revenge upon them for his past humiliation. He has also become unconcerned with the welfare of his minions, considering defeated Boos as mere casualties and conducting twisted experiments on many ghosts in order to enslave them.
Powers and abilities[]
King Boo possesses all of the abilities of standard Boos, as well as some abilities unique to him.
- Intangibility - Like any ghost, King Boo can pass through solid matter.
- Invisibility - At will, King Boo can render himself invisible to the naked eye.
- Materialization - King Boo has been shown to create objects out of thin air, such as when he created his Bowser construct to fight Luigi.
- Empathic Manipulation - As well as being able to command all Boos, King Boo can also manipulate the emotions of his victims, keeping them in a constant state of fear.
- Ghost Flames - King Boo can spit blue fireballs from his mouth.
External Links[]
- King Boo in the Villains Wiki.
- King Boo in the Mario Wiki.