| Hooktail | |
|---|---|
 Artwork from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) | |
| Species | Dragon |
| First appearance | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004) |
| Latest appearance | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024) |
- “Snack time, little appetizers! But which one of you morsels should I taste first?”
- —Hooktail, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Hooktail is a dragon featured in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and its remake. She resides in Hooktail Castle and serves as the boss of Chapter 1.
History
Background
Much of Hooktail's background is unknown, though according to stories told by Grifty, she, along with her two siblings were once pets of the Shadow Queen who traveled around the world terrorizing people before the Shadow Queen was imprisoned behind The Thousand-Year Door. Grifty's stories also mention that Hooktail Castle was created to contain one of the Crystal Stars, implying Hooktail may have been placed there in order to guard it.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
As explained by the residents of Petalburg, Hooktail has terrorized villages in Petal Meadows for a long time, devouring many of their residents. Those who tried to stop her were ultimately devoured as well, including Koopley, who was tricked into smelling her feet. Luckily, adventurers such as Kolorado's father discovered her weakness of cricket chirps (or frog croaks in the remake), noting that she becomes nauseated upon hearing them.
When Mario visits the Thousand-Year Door and holds the Magical Map aloft, the map reveals that the Diamond Star is located in Hooktail Castle. After progressing through it, it is revealed that Hooktail is the guardian of the Diamond Star, and Mario battles her to retrieve it. Wearing the Attack FX R (Attack FX G in the remake) badge in the battle will progressively weaken her Attack (to a minimum of 1) in addition to lowering her Defense to 0, making the battle much easier.
After depleting her HP, she tries to bargain with Mario. She at first offers 1,000 coins (10,000 coins in the remake), then a "lovely, rare, extra-special badge", and finally a chance to sniff her feet. All three are false offers, and she will attack Mario for 5 damage if the player accepts any of them. After this, she eats six of the Toads in the audience, healing her by 10 HP and causing the rest of the audience to run away. Jumping on Hooktail or using Goombella's Headbonk will make her spit out the Toads she has eaten, two per hit. Upon defeat, she coughs up the missing Koopley after fainting. He then rewards Mario with the Diamond Star, which was trapped inside her gut.
Hooktail is later referenced near the end of the game when encountering her brother Gloomtail, with one of the party members briefly mistaking him for her and questioning how she survived the encounter. This promptly outrages him and causes him to start a fight with Mario to avenge his sister. However, it is possible that Hooktail did survive, as if the player returns to her lair after her defeat, her body is nowhere to be seen, and Goombella questions where she went in her field tattle.
She is additionally mentioned in Koopie Koo's email, the 66th Trivia Quiz-Off, and, in the remake, one of the Creepy Steeple Boo's quizzes.
Gender
In all localizations of the original game and remake, barring European Spanish, Hooktail is female. However, in the English localization of the GameCube version, she is referred to with masculine or gender-neutral pronouns prior to the confrontation with Gloomtail. This portrayed her true gender as being a plot twist, despite the original Japanese making it clear early on that she is female by having her use the feminine personal pronoun "warawa". The English script of the remake is changed to refer to her with feminine pronouns from the start. In addition, masculine terms used for her are removed or replaced with feminine or gender-neutral alternatives, such as "guy" being replaced with "gal".
Super Mario-kun
Hooktail appears in Super Mario-kun in volume 32 of the series, the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door issue. In it, she attacks Mario, Goombella, and Koops. As this manga is based on the original Japanese game, she is weakened by a frog's croak rather than a cricket's chirp.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Hooktail appears as a Sticker in the game Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The sticker is usable in The Subspace Emissary by every character and increases resistance to fire-based attacks by 36 points.
Unused appearances
Minecraft
In the files for the Super Mario Mash-up in Minecraft: Wii U Edition, there is an unused image of Hooktail as the Ender Dragon. In the final version, the Ender Dragon is Gobblegut instead.
Profiles and statistics
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
| Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door enemy | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hooktail | ||||||||
|
Max HP | 20 (+10 upon revival) | Attack | 5 | Defense | 1 | ||
| Location(s) | Hooktail Castle | Role | Boss | Level | 65 | |||
| Sleep? | 20% | Dizzy? | 50% | Confuse? | 50% | |||
| Tiny? | 0% | Stop? | 0% | Soft? | 0% | |||
| Burn? | 100% | Freeze? | 0% | Fright? | 0% | |||
| Gale Force? | 0% | KO? | 0% | Moves | Fire Breath (4, Piercing), Stomp (5), Chomp (5) | |||
| Exp. points | 0 | Coins | N/A | Items | None | |||
| Tattle Log #: 99 |
Log | This giant dragon attacks by munching, stomping and breathing stinky, fiery breath. She hates things that make chirping noises, especially creatures that start with "cr-" and end with "-icket". | ||||||
| Tattle | That's Hooktail! Max HP is 20, Attack is 5, and Defense is 1. It'll stomp and munch on you, and it has a more dragonish attack: stinky, fiery breath! It's tricky, especially when it's losing, and it'll try to fool you into being merciful. Oh, yeah, and one more thing. It hates things that start with "cr" and end with "icket". Supposedly, there's something related to that somewhere in this castle. Did we find it? | |||||||
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
| Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door enemy | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hooktail | ||||||||
|
Max HP | 20 (+10 upon revival) | Attack | 5 | Defense | 1 | ||
| Location(s) | Hooktail Castle | Role | Boss | Level | 65 | |||
| Sleep? | 20% | Dizzy? | 50% | Confuse? | 50% | |||
| Tiny? | 0% | Stop? | 0% | Soft? | 0% | |||
| Burn? | 100% | Freeze? | 0% | Fright? | 0% | |||
| Gale Force? | 0% | KO? | 0% | Moves | Fire Breath (4, Piercing), Stomp (5), Chomp (5) | |||
| Exp. points | 0 | Coins | 100 | Items | None | |||
| Tattle Log #: 102 |
Log | This giant dragon attacks by munching, stomping and breathing stinky, fiery breath. She hates things that make ribbit noises, especially creatures that start with "f" and end with "rog." | ||||||
| Tattle | That's Hooktail! Max HP is 20, Attack is 5, and Defense is 1. She'll stomp and munch on you, and she has a more dragonish attack—stinky, fiery breath! She's tricky, especially when she's losing, and she'll try to fool you into being merciful. Oh, yeah, and one more thing. She hates things that start with "f" and end with "rog". Supposedly, there's something related to that somewhere in this castle. Did we find it? | |||||||
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
| Sticker Hooktail | ||
| ||
| Artwork from: | ||
| Effects in The Subspace Emissary: [Flame] - Resistance +36 | ||
| Usable by: Anyone | ||
Gallery
Hooktail's original artwork
Mario and Koops encounter Hooktail
Hooktail threatens to devour the heroes.
The start of the battle against Hooktail
Mario prepares to swing his hammer at Hooktail
Hooktail hearing the cricket sound
Hooktail breathing her "stinky, fiery breath" at Goombella and Mario
Hooktail's first bargain
Hooktail's second bargain
Hooktail's third bargain
Hooktail gobbles the Toads in the audience and restores 10 HP.
Hooktail faints.
Hooktail defeated.
Hooktail spitting Koopley's shell out
Hooktail as seen in the Nintendo Switch version
Concept artwork with various design iterations of Hooktail; the colored one notably lacks the "pop-up book" effect and has a floral pattern on her back.
Promotional character introduction
Hooktail on the Nintendo Magazine for summer 2024, showing a relationship chart featuring many characters from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
See also
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ゴンババ[?] Gonbaba |
From「ウンババ」(Unbaba, "Blargg"), and possibly「ドラゴン」(doragon, "dragon"); the play on「ウンババ」was also used on every dragon boss in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario. | |
| Chinese (simplified) | 轰巴巴[?] Hōngbābā |
Transliteration of Japanese name | |
| Chinese (traditional) | 轟巴巴[?] Hōngbābā |
Transliteration of Japanese name | |
| Dutch | Vermila[?] | Pun on vermiljoen ("vermilion") and the feminine name "Mila" | |
| French | Carbocroc[?] | Pun on carboniser ("burn", "char") and croc ("fang") | |
| German | Lohgard[?] | Portmanteau of Lohe ("blaze") and the feminine name suffix "-gard" (e.g. "Hildegard" or "Irmgard") | |
| Italian | Crimilde[?] | Portmanteau of "crimson" and the feminine name suffix "-hilde" | |
| Korean | 곤자잔[?] Gonjajan |
From Japanese name and "짜자잔" (Jjajajan, "Blargg") | |
| Spanish | Gombaba[?] | Same as Japanese name |
Trivia
- In non-English versions of the GameCube original (as well as all versions of the remake), Hooktail's weakness is frogs and not crickets. However, in the American Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door demo included in the Demo Disc Version 18 for the GameCube, Hooktail is weak to frogs.