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.

In Yoshi's Crafted World, Kamek played a similar role as in other games. He and Baby Bowser came to steal the Sundream Stone from the Yoshis so that it could grant Baby Bowser's wish. The gems of the Sundream Stone ended up being scattered across various areas, so Kamek set off with Baby Bowser in search of the gems. Kamek tried to thwart the Yoshis' progress by using his magic to impede their path and to create bosses for them to fight. The Yoshis still managed to beat them to each of the gems. Kamek was able to find the last gem, and he hid by it with Baby Bowser. Once the Yoshis arrived, Kamek stole the Sundream Stone upon its recompletion and let Baby Bowser make his wish, which was for a giant robot of himself. After the robot was destroyed, Kamek used his own wish on the Sundream Stone to make Baby Bowser stronger. He ended up becoming even bigger than Kamek had wanted, becoming Mega Baby Bowser. Baby Bowser was ultimately defeated and restored to normal size, at which point Kamek flew him home on his broomstick. Kamek could later be battled on his own in a stage called Kamek Kerfuffle, the boss level of the Hidden Hills area. Kamek used his magic to reenact harder versions of several previous bosses, only to be defeated again.

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 was once more uncertain if this was the actual Kamek or an unnamed Maikoopa subject to a translation error (as the game's Glossary refers to him as a "a Kamek", with Kamek and Magikoopas both having "Kamekku" as their Japanese name). He wore different glasses and a purple robe, although the robe turned blue after he took enough damage. In battle with Princess Peach, he turned himself into a giant and attacked with both standard circle-triangle-square Magikoopa blasts 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.

The Wii Era

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. In the first two Paper Mario games, his place had been taken by Kammy Koopa. In Sticker Star, Kamek acted as a recurring boss. He remained on his broomstick during battle, which limited the ways to attack him, and he also used a variety of magical effects in battle. Kamek first battled Mario at Water's Edge Way, where he was accompanied by by a pair of Goombas and guarded a Comet Piece. After he was defeated, he threw the Comet Piece away to deter Mario. He next appeared at the tongue of the Yoshi Sphinx, after making the Drybake Stadium disappear. In the ensuing battle, he turned Mario's stickers into Flip-flops, but he was still defeated and retreated. He proceeded to cause problems for Mario in other areas, such as splitting Wiggler's body into segments and scattering them across the forest in the third world, while in the fourth world, he released Boos from a Book of Sealing and later turned them all into a Big Boo. Kamek battled Mario one more time at Bowser's Castle, where he turned the stickers into Flip-flops again and produced clones of himself. He was defeated again, at which point he acknowledged Mario's strength and boasted that Bowser was still much more powerful. He proceeded to dissolve into ash, but he still appeared in the ending parade.

The Wii U Era

Kamek appeared again in New Super Mario Bros. U (as well as the alternate versions New Super Luigi U and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe), 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 a Boss Sumo Bro. Kamek appeared as the boss of the Slide Lift Tower within the Meringue Clouds, the second-to-last world of the main story. There, he could teleport around and use his magic to make blocks appear, from which he could release different enemies. He also fired magic blasts that could turn parts of the floor into doughnut blocks. Kamek could still be defeated through ordinary means. He made one more appearance during the game's final battle at Princess Peach's Castle, where Bowser Jr. dragged him over, danging from his Junior Clown Car, and had him use his magic to make Bowser a giant again.

In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Kamek aided Bowser with his schemes on Pi'Ilo Island. At one point, Bowser somehow managed to kidnap Princess Peach and replaced her with a disguised Kamek, without even Toadsworth catching onto their scheme. While posing as the princess, Kamek and Toadsworth sought sanctuary from Bowser at the Driftwood Shore, where they spent some time posing as block people who acted as Madame Broque's masseurs until Mario and Luigi arrived. As Peach, he requested that they find her somewhere safe to hide within the dream world. However, Kamek used this as a way to send more monsters into the dream world. He eventually undid his disguise and summoned a trio of Bowser's elite guards (Private Goomp, Sergeant Guy and Colonel Paraplonk) to deal with the brothers. After they were defeated, Kamek demoted them before returning to the Neo Bowser Castle. There, Kamek used his magic to distort the destinations of most doorways, which made the castle maze-like. To progress forward, Mario and Luigi had to fight him three times in different parts of the dream world. He utilized clones in his first fight, an army of Dry Bones in the second fight and three clones with unique powers in the third fight. Despite being weakened by those battles, Kamek was intent on helping Bowser and sought him out within the dream world. He managed to find Giant Bowser and, after helping him in battle with other Magikoopas, he used his magic to strengthen the Giant Bowser even further. Kamek was then promptly kicked away by the gigantic Bowser. He was later seen in the ending with Bowser and the formerly elite trio as they made their way home and ended up falling to the ocean.

In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, it was shown that the Paper Mario versions of various characters lived in a parallel world within a storybook, and most of them were accidentally released from the storybook by Luigi. This included Paper Kamek and Paper Bowser. As the two versions of Bowser formed an alliance together, the two versions of Kamek joined together to serve them. The two of them made recurring appearances throughout the adventures of Mario's group, producing various obstacles to impede their progress and summoning Papercraft constructs to battle them, including a Papercraft Kamek in their own image. Their actions also included Kamek produced a magic barrier that was only undone after hitting him with bombs in a minigame, and Paper Kamek brainwashing a Wiggler into attacking them. They later were the ones who suggested that both versions of Bowser Jr. spend some time at the villa at Mount Brrr, only to ultimately help them retreat from there after the Mario Brothers defeated the juniors' own Papercraft. They later appeared at Bowser's Castle, where they were ready to have Morton and Lemmy attack Mario's group with a Papercraft King Boo. They mocked Mario's lack of a Papercraft for that battle, until Toadette arrived with a Papercraft Yoshi that was able to defeat it. Afterwards, the Kameks proceeded to kidnap Toadette in an attempt to keep her from creating any more Papercraft for Mario's group.

Both versions of Kamek proceeded to help make Neo Bowser Castle airbone, and they also heard out their respective masters' plans to backstab the other Bowser and trap him in the storybook. When Mario's group came to Neo Bowser Castle, the two Kameks reconstructed previous Papercrafts for them to battle and then assembled the Koopalings to battle them. After they were all defeated, both versions of Kamek battled Mario's group together, only to be defeated. While they were left beaten, the Kameks acknowledged that they had fun working together and made a "not-terrible" team. Kamek referred to Paper Kamek as an ugly brother to him, which devolved into an argument that was ended by Mario's group hopping on them, at which point they burst into stars. Paper Kamek was presumably returned to the storybook afterwards with the other Paper Mario characters.

Kamek also made a recurring appearance in Paper Mario: Color Splash, where he could be battled uncommonly at several random points in the game and used spells to mess with Mario's card collection. He was also found at the Mondo Woods and Sacred Forest, locations that he made gigantic and tiny, respectively, through the use of his magic. At the Sacred Forest, he was battled as a boss guarded the Green Mini Paint Star. He used his magic to shrink Mario during the battle while also cursing his cards and keeping him from using Battle Spin and fleeing. Mario still defeated Kamek, which caused his color to begin draining. Kamek realized that he did not have much time left and attempted to make Mario huge instead as his revenge, but in his weakened state, his magic was only able to bring Mario up to his normal height. With his last words, Kamek gave Mario a fourth Card Slot, claiming that he deserved it more than him.

The Switch Era

In Super Mario Maker 2, Kamek is believed to be the identity of A Certain Mage, one of the coursemakers from Story Mode. His courses are filled with traps and enemies, and the course descriptions include his signature "Kee hee hee!" laugh. In Dr. Mario World, a doctor version of Kamek was made available as a potential playable character through the game's Staffing feature starting in December 2019.

Ambiguous 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 speculated that Kamek was the unnamed Magikoopa who appeared in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, where he was a boss faced in Bowser's Keep and then played a helpful role after being defeated. He was believed to specifically be Kamek due to a quote from Mallow's Psychopath move in which he said, "That's... my child." That was believed to be in reference to his role in taking care of Bowser as a baby, although the phrase could also apply to any of the creatures that Magikoopa summoned during the battle. However, the Japanese version of that line instead had him recognizing someone as "the baby from that time", which seemed to refer to Mario and the events of Yoshi's Island. Complicating the matter further, that 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 offered to help him become brave like Mario. So Kamek used his magic to hypnotize 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 general presence in that game 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. He was distinguished from other Magikoopas by having several speaking several lines before he blasted Mario away. A trading card released with the game did refer to him as Kamek.

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. In the Adventure Mode of Mario Tennis Aces, he appeared as an opponent who attacked Mario on a ship, initiating a special challenge where the player had to rally four hundred balls with him without missing three of them. He was later made available as a playable character as part of the game's free DLC. Kamek could be unlocked by taking part in an online tournament during the month of April 2019 or through an update in the following month.

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", and he held the title of Game Mage. If the player beat Kamek at the card game Pair 'Em Up, he would give reward the character by giving them the game and and told them that they also deserved the title of game king. He would then recall that he gave Bowser that title long ago, but Bowser then 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..

In Super Mario Party, Kamek was brought in by Bowser to help host the competitions due to Bowser's own participation. Kamek specifically hosted the Bad Luck Space, which was the equivalent of the Bowser Space from previous games. When the space was landed on, Kamek would make the character play a roulette to choose which detrimental effect should come into play. If Bowser or Bowser Jr. landed on the space, Kamek would be apologetic but still subject them to the effects of the Bad Luck Space. He also had his own board called Kamek's Tantalizing Tower, which featured a golden statue of himself, and he also acted as a host within the Challenge Road mode.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, 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 game, but the trophy appears to actually be for the Magikoopa creature, seemingly due to another translation slip-up. There were also two stickers of Kamek in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, using artwork of him from Yoshi's Island and Yoshi Touch & Go.
  • In Ultimate, he also appeared as a Primary Spirit, represented by his New Super Mario Bros. model. His Spirit had the effect of boosting magical attack power when equipped, and in the World of Light his Spirit could also enlarge platforms for the player to cross in some areas. When fought against in Spirit battles, his Spirit would possess a blue Inkling armed with a Star Wand and accompanied by a team of other Inklings, echoing Kamek's tendency to use duplicates of himself in battle.
• In Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, Kamek is one of the main antagonists whose magic caused the Mushroom Kingdom to be filled with Orbs. He only appears in cutscenes in this appearance.
• Kamek was available as a playable skin for Nintendo releases of Minecraft as part of the Super Mario Smash-Up Pack.

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

• The name "Kamek" is a shortening of his Japanese name Kamekku, which is a combination of "kame" (the Japanese word for "turtle") and the Japanese pronunciation of the word "magic". The name used for the Magikoopa from Super Mario RPG, Kamezaado, is similar, except that instead of "magic", it is combined with the Japanese pronunciation of "wizard".
• In Japan, the name Kamekku is also used as the Japanese name for Magikoopas in general. This causes confusion regarding the character's appearances, 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. It has resulted in instances where Magikoopas who may be intended to be Kamek are not called Kamek in the English localization, and vice-versa. One particularly confusing example was in Mario Party 9, where the playable Magikoopa was called Magikoopa in the North American localization and Kamek in the PAL localization.
• 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. Additionally, Kamek uniquely referred to himself with feminine pronouns and a feminine style of speaking in the Japanese version of Dream Team.

See Also

• Kammy Koopa
• Kamella