Bonetail

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Enemy
Bonetail
Max HP	200
Attack	8
Defense	2
Location(s)	Pit of 100 Trials
Log	The oldest brother of Hooktail. He's just bones now. He's incredibly tough... Maybe even the toughest?
Items	None
Moves	Dangerous Breath (8; sleep (white), confusion (green), shrunk (purple), frozen (blue)), Recover (20 HP, max twice), Stomp (8), Chomp (8)
Tattle That's Bonetail. He's the oldest brother of Hooktail. ...So old he's just bones, in fact. Wow. Now THAT'S old. He has various breaths that might confuse us or put us to sleep. When his HP gets low, he'll recover... or reanimate, as the case may be. He's probably stronger than the last boss, seriously! Let's do this right!
Bestiary 100           101           102

Bonetail is a large Dragon in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, who, as his name suggests, is but a mere skeleton, residing at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials. In the German version of the game, Bonetail is depicted as a female, and in the Italian version, Bonetail's name is derived from "Cassandra", a girl's name. In the Japanese version, all three dragons (as well as the dragons in Super Paper Mario) have baba in their name, which means "old woman".

He is the older brother of Gloomtail and Hooktail. Unlike his still-living siblings, he is an undead dragon, having died of old age after not eating anything for centuries at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials. He was once a pet of the Shadow Queen, and was put in the pit to guard and punish anyone of her choice. His actions outside of the Pit of 100 Trials, if any, are unknown.

After Mario and his teammates reach the bottom floor of the Pit of 100 Trials, Bonetail will roar, making it questionable if he can talk, as he has not ever demonstrated that ability. Bonetail's many breaths cause a variety of status ailments in addition to dealing damage. His blue breath can freeze Mario, green breath can confuse him, purple can shrink him and white can put him to sleep. All of his breaths can be avoided with Shell Shield. He can also restore his HP if it's low. Eventually, Mario defeated him and Bonetail coughed up a chest containing the Return Postage Badge.

Bonetail is much stronger than his younger siblings, Hooktail and Gloomtail, and even stronger than the Shadow Queen. He is not necessarily harder than the Shadow Queen though, because the Shadow Queen has two hands, which can allow her to attack more than once per turn. Also, Bonetail has the same default attack and defense stats as Gloomtail. However, the strain of completing the previous 99 levels of the Pit of 100 Trials contributes to the difficulties faced when fighting Bonetail, as items, FP, and HP are more likely to be depleted by the time he is reached than when the player confronts the Shadow Queen. If the player is skilled enough, it is very possible to defeat Bonetail before fighting his youngest sibling, Hooktail. Despite being the strongest boss, Bonetail only offers one Star Point after defeat, just like the Shadow Queen.

Gallery

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  Mario meeting Bonetail.

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  Bonetail after being defeated.

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  Bonetail's beta head design.

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ゾンババ Zonbaba	Portmanteau of zonbi (ゾンビ, zombie) and baba (婆, old woman).
Spanish	Zombaba	From the Japanese name Zonbaba (spelled as "Zombaba" because the first component of the Japanese name is a katakana transcription of "zombie").
French	Occicroc	Portmanteau of occire (slay) and croc (fang)
German	Lohviata	Portmanteau of lohe (blaze) and "viata", which is probably an imaginary word
Italian	Ossandra	Pormanteau of osso (bone) and Cassandra (a Italian name).

Trivia

• Bonetail's role as an optional opponent that is actually stronger than the Final Boss is a recurring feature of Mario RPGs, as well as RPGs in general. The other bonus battles are against Culex in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, The Master (in his final form) in the original Paper Mario, Shadoo in Super Paper Mario, and Bowser X in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.
• Unlike his younger siblings who are capable of speech, Bonetail is only capable of making growls and dog-sounds (Ex.: "Aroooooooooo!").
• Bonetail possesses the only attack in the game that cannot be blocked with a Superguard; the bite attack.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Main Characters	Mario • Peach • Goombella • Koops • Flurrie • Yoshi • Vivian • Admiral Bobbery • Ms. Mowz
Chapters	Prologue • Chapter 1 • Chapter 2 • Chapter 3 • Chapter 4 • Chapter 5 • Chapter 6 • Chapter 7 • Chapter 8
Crystal Stars	Diamond Star • Emerald Star • Gold Star • Ruby Star • Sapphire Star • Garnet Star • Crystal Star
Bosses	Armored Harriers • Atomic Boo • Blooper • Bonetail • Bowser • Cortez • Dark Bones • Doopliss • Gloomtail • Gold Fuzzy • Grodus X • Gus • Hooktail • Kammy Koopa • Lord Crump • Macho Grubba • Magnus von Grapple • Magnus von Grapple 2.0 • Rawk Hawk • Red Bones • Shadow Queen • Shadow Sirens • Sir Grodus • Smorg
Minor Characters	Arfur • Bandy Andy • Black Chest Demon • Blooey • Bomberto • Bootler • Bub • Bub-ulber • Businessman • Charlieton • Chef Shimi • Chet Rippo • Cleftor • Creepy Steeple Boo • Darkly • Dazzle • Don Pianta • Dupree • Eddy the Mask • Eve • Excess Express Conductor • Excess Express Engineer • Flavio • Francesca • Frankie • Fred • Garf • General White • Ghost T. • Glitz Pit Security • Gloomer • Gob • Goldbob • Goomez • Goomfrey • Goom Goom • Goomther • Goose • Grifty • Grubba • Hamma Jamma • Hayzee • Heff T. • Herb T. • Ishnail • Jabble • Jerry • Johnson • Jolene • Kolorado's father • Koopie Koo • Koopley • Koopook • Kroop • King K • Lady Bow • Lahla • Laki • Larson • Lucky • Luigi • Lumpy • Master Crash • Mayor Dour • McGoomba • Merlee • Merlon • Merluvlee • Mousimilian • Mr. Hoggle • Niff T. • Nob • Pa-Patch • Parakarry • Parrot • Peeka • Pennington • Petuni • Pierre • Pine T. • Pine T. Jr. • Plenn T. • Podley • Porter • Prince Mush • Professor Frankly • Pungent • Pungry • Punio • Puniper • Puni Elder • Rob • Rocko • Screamy • Shellshock • Sir Swoop • Spiky Joe • Stewart • Swob • Sylvia • Swindell • TEC-XX • The Koopinator • The Traveling Sisters Three • Thriff T. • Toadette • Toadia • Toadsworth • Toad waitress • Toce T. • Tony • Toodles • Torque • Vinny • Wonky • Zess T. • Zip Toad
Enemies	Amazy Dayzee • Arantula • Bombshell Bill Blaster • Badge Bandit • Bald Cleft • Beldam • Bill Blaster • Big Bandit • Bob-omb • Bob-ulk • Bombshell Bill • Boo • Boomerang Bro. • Bristle • Bulky Bob-omb • Bullet Bill • Buzzy Beetle • Chain Chomp • Cleft • Crazy Dayzee • Dark Boo • Dark Bristle • Dark Craw • Dark Koopa • Dark Koopatrol • Dark Lakitu • Dark Paratroopa • Dark Puff • Dark Wizzerd • Dry Bones • Dull Bones • Elite Wizzerd • Elite X-Naut • Ember • Fire Bro. • Flower Fuzzy • Frost Piranha • Fuzzy • Gloomba • Goomba • Green Fuzzy • Green Magikoopa • Hammer Bro. • Hyper Bald Cleft • Hyper Cleft • Hyper Goomba • Hyper Paragoomba • Hyper Spiky Goomba • Ice Puff • Iron Cleft • KP Koopa • KP Paratroopa • Koopa Troopa • Koopatrol • Lakitu • Lava Bubble • Magikoopa • Marilyn • Mini-X-Yux • Mini-Yux • Mini-Z-Yux • Moon Cleft • Pale Piranha • Parabuzzy • Paragloomba • Paragoomba • Paratroopa • Phantom Ember • Pider • Piranha Plant • Poison Pokey • Poison Puff • Pokey • Putrid Piranha • Red Spike Buzzy • Red Chomp • Red Magikoopa • Ruff Puff • Shady Koopa • Shady Paratroopa • Sky-Blue Spiny • Spania • Spike Top • Spiky Gloomba • Spiky Goomba • Spiky Parabuzzy • Spinia • Spiny • Spunia • Swampire • Swooper • Swoopula • Vivian • White Magikoopa • Wizzerd • X-Naut • X-Naut PhD • X-Yux • Yux • Z-Yux
Locations	Rogueport • Rogueport Sewers • Petal Meadows • Petalburg • Shhwonk Fortress • Hooktail Castle • Boggly Woods • Great Tree • Glitzville • Glitz Pit • Twilight Town • Twilight Trail • Creepy Steeple • Keelhaul Key • Pirate's Grotto • Excess Express • Riverside Station • Poshley Heights • Fahr Outpost • The Moon • X-Naut Fortress • Palace of Shadow • Pit of 100 Trials