Whacka

Whacka
Sprite of a Whacka from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
First appearance	Paper Mario (2000)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)

“Whack-OOOWWWWWWW!!! Don't hit me!”

—Whacka, Paper Mario

Whackas are rare, blue mole-like creatures that first appeared in the Paper Mario series. Their name and appearance are derived from the popular arcade game "Whac-A-Mole." Attacking them in any way makes a Whacka Bump appear. However, if they are attacked eight times, they run away, releasing a few coins.

They are some of the few original Paper Mario series characters to reappear in at least one other Super Mario game, along with Tweesters, Koopatrols, Goomboss, Frost Piranhas, and the Star Spirits.

History

Paper Mario series

Paper Mario

A Whacka from Mt. Rugged talking to Mario

In Paper Mario, only one Whacka lives on the west side of Mt. Rugged. Due to the Whacka's only appearance in the game, Russ T. attributes its species' rarity to the hunting of their bumps. At one point, the Whacka on Mt. Rugged sends Parakarry a letter stating he one day dreams of flying. Whacka is one of the few friendly characters that get hurt when hit in Paper Mario.

Whacka has an unused entry in the enemy list of Paper Mario, in addition to an unused tattle: "This is a Whacka. That Bump on his head looks like a donut hole. / You probably shouldn't have hit him so much. He looks a little peeved." This implies that at one point, Whacka was intended to be a fightable enemy, only occurring after he is hit too many times. In the Japanese version, the unused tattle compares the bump on Whacka's head to takoyaki (octopus dumplings) rather than a donut hole.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

One Whacka appears in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door near the shore of Keelhaul Key, behaving like its incarnation in Paper Mario. According to Wonky, there is only one Whacka left in the world.

In the Nintendo Switch remake, Whacka appears as a hidden superboss. He replaces Bonetail as the Pit of 100 Trials final boss on repeat trips after specific criteria are met. In order for him to appear, the player needs to have completed the entire Pit of 100 Trials by defeating Bonetail at floor 100 and hit Whacka in Keelhaul Key eight times, enough to make him stop spawning there (he will exclaim "Whack-a-woooooooooooo..." when he disappears for the last time). After waiting around 30 minutes of in-game time, the player must then go back to Rogueport to receive an email called "RDM Extra Issue," which says a mystical creature has been seen deep in the pit. Whacka will appear at floor 100 after this email, claiming to have retreated there for relaxation in silence. The player is free to leave the pit through a Warp Pipe in the back without doing anything else. However, attacking Whacka will cause him to think that Mario wants to play with him, triggering his boss fight.

The battle against Whacka in the remake

Whacka's only offensive move involves flinging any Whacka Bumps he has in his possession at Mario and his partner, dealing 10 HP of damage for each one. Every time Whacka is hit (even with no damage being dealt), a Whacka Bump will spawn, allowing him to fire off barrages that will become irregularly timed if multiple Whacka Bumps are used. On tattling, Goombella advises Mario to use as few attacks as possible to avoid giving Whacka ammunition. Whacka can sometimes rattle the scene, causing projectiles to fall from above, hitting himself and gaining another Whacka Bump. Whacka sometimes also eats one of the Bumps to heal 25 HP, similarly to the actual item. Occasionally, a Bump is red, which provides 2.5 times the damage and 3 times the healing. After Mario and his party defeat Whacka for the first time, Whacka retreats back into the ground (not coming back out until the player revisits the Pit of 100 Trials), leaving a Gold Whacka Bump, which counts as a key item. Subsequent victories against Whacka yield the regular Whacka Bump, which makes them infinitely obtainable, in contrast with the limited amount in the original.

Whacka is one of the few bosses in the game to have a unique name for his battle theme, being called, "Attack-a of the Whacka!" Most other bosses' themes are simply called, "Battle - (boss name)". He is also one of the three bosses in the game that can be fought repeatedly, the other two being Rawk Hawk and Prince Mush. His HP of 108 may be a reference to the fact that one must go through the Pit of 100 Trials and hit him eight times in Keelhaul Key to fight him. The number 108 also pertains to the number of Earthly temptations one must overcome to achieve Nirvana (perfect peace) in Buddhism, which is linked to Whacka escaping to the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials for peace, only to be disturbed by the player's temptation to either see what dwells at the bottom after receiving the "RDM Extra Issue," or obtain more Whacka bumps.

Super Paper Mario

A Whacka also appears in Super Paper Mario near Downtown of Crag, behaving identically to its earlier incarnations. When the Whacka disappears, a Cragnon named Norite appears where it once popped out, who claims that the Whacka was her friend. The Whacka also appears as a Catch Card that can be obtained by collecting 300 shop points and plushies of Whacka can been seen inside Fort Francis. There is also a Sammer Guy by the name of Wrath of Whacka in the game, who says he hopes to avenge the smitten Whackas of the dimensions.

Although the description of the Whacka Catch Card in the NTSC English version of Super Paper Mario states that Whacka "sprouts pastries" when whacked, any reference to pastries is absent from the Japanese and PAL English versions of the game, where the Whacka Bumps are simply referred to as "bumps".

Mario Party 6

A Whacka in Mario Party 6

Whackas make a cameo in Mario Party 6 on the Snowflake Lake board, where they can be seen popping up out of the snow.

Profiles

Paper Mario

• Tattle: He's a Whacka. When you hit Whackas, they get Bumps that fall off. I heard that they're yummy. You know, I'm not normally into hitting Whackas, but once I heard of their tasty Bumps... I got the urge to whack' em!

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

• Tattle (Keelhaul Key): That's a rare Whacka. I don't think you see many of his kind anymore, nope. If you whack a Whacka, they drop a Whacka Bump. Those are supposed to be delicious. They fetch a high price in gourmet auctions, too. Yup, super-precious delicacies. Still, whacking a defenseless creature to get one... You'd never do that, right, Mario?
• Tattle (Pit of 100 Trials, Nintendo Switch): That's a rare Whacka. I don't think you see many of his kind anymore, nope. If you whack a Whacka, they drop a Whacka Bump. You can either eat those or sell them for a high price. You did hear me when I said these critters are rare, right? Just checking. Because that means you should NOT whack them. You do understand that...right, Mario?

Super Paper Mario

• Tattle: That’s Whacka... It’s very rare to see one... It’s delicate and easily harmed... Don’t hit it or stomp on it...

Catch Card
	Card Type: Rare Card Description: This odd guy sprouts pastries when whacked on the head. Sadly, his kind is on the verge of extinction. Please headwhack in moderation.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	コブロン[?] Koburon	From「瘤」(kobu, "bump") with name ending "-ron"
Chinese (simplified)	哇咔鼹鼠 (Paper Mario)[?] Wākā Yǎnshǔ	From the English name, and “鼹鼠” (Yǎnshǔ, "mole")
	克布隆 (The Thousand-Year Door remake)[?] Kèbùlóng	Transliteration of the Japanese name
Chinese (traditional)	克布隆[?] Kèbùlóng	Transliteration of the Japanese name
French	Whacka[?]	-
German	Whacka[?]	-
Italian	Whacka[?]	-
Korean	혹혹이[?] Hokhogi	From "혹" (hok, "bump") and "~이" (-i, a Korean noun-deriving suffix)
Spanish	Guaka[?]	Whacka