Earthwake

"SYNCHRO OPTIMIZED... BOOT TRANS-MODE 1... EARTHWAKE SYNCHED! ERADICATOR ONLINE!"

- Earthwake

Earthwake is the third Giant Boss fought in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. A humanoid robot figure formed out of Dreamy Wakeport's various buildings, including a small tower with glowing windows for eyes for a head, it serves to guard the Nightmare Chunk holding Bedsmith captive. Earthwake's name comes from the word earthquake, and possibly the word "awake", fitting the sleep and dream-related naming scheme of the game. This is further suggested by its declaration of "EARTH-AWAKE" late into the battle. It also bears characteristics of a poltergeist in that the buildings are not really a part of it, but merely possessed to be used as a makeshift body; as soon as a building comprising its body is destroyed, a new one moves into its place, with the only part that takes damage being the head.

History
While exploring Dreamy Wakeport to revive Bedsmith, Mario and Luigi come across the Nightmare Chunk trapping him inside a tower-like building. Shortly after, Pi'illoper shows up and warns them of a "terrible guardian" who attacks anyone who tries to remove the Nightmare Chunk, and has destroyed many who have attempted to do so. Despite this, Mario and Luigi hit the ! Blocks they were just warned would awaken the guardian, causing the small tower next to them to reveal itself as Earthwake's head. Detecting intruders, Earthwake assembles its body from the surrounding buildings and begins pursuing the Mario Bros. In response, Starlow enables Dreamy Luigi to attain his giant form, which engages Earthwake in battle. Following its defeat, Bedsmith is freed, and Earthwake does not appear for the remainder of the main adventure.

Battle
The battle against Earthwake is based around a similar mechanic to the Tower of Yikk battle from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, in that both combatants must try to knock each other into the water surrounding Dreamy Wakeport. In Luigi's case, this is best done by countering Earthwake's attacks and using the Hammer Uppercut on his own turns. Performing the Jump and Drill Stomp attacks while Earthwake lacks head armor damages Luigi due to the electrified object on Earthwake's head, whereas attacking with the Hammer Chop deals minimal damage.

In the event Earthwake is knocked into the ocean, Luigi must use his hammer to repeatedly strike the boss as it tries to rise out of the water. The player must rapidly slide the stylus downwards on the Touch Screen to acccomplish this. As Luigi lands more hits on Earthwake, the ratings received from each hit eventually escalate in value, upgrading from OK! ratings to Good! ratings to Great! ratings, respectively. If Luigi hits Earthwake enough, it sinks back into the water before rising up again in a daze. Luigi must then strike Earthwake into the background with a Hammer Chop to deal even more damage and receive an Excellent! rating. No matter how well Luigi does during this sequence, Earthwake eventually returns to the center of the city and reforms its body to continue the battle.

In the event Luigi is knocked back into the ocean, Earthwake put its hands above Luigi, and repetitively smashes down on him with a metal plate until he escapes or is defeated. Jumping while Earthwake's hands are above Luigi will result in him bumping his head on them and the plate, causing him to land back into the water. Luigi must jump when Earthwake's hands are not above him in order to escape the attack and resume the battle.

Attacks
One of Earthwake's attacks separates its body into its component buildings, which begin to orbit its head. Luigi must swat the pieces away with his hammer. The player must slide to the left on the Touch Screen as the buildings come into range to achieve this. If Luigi fails to knock away all of the pieces in time, the remaining buildings fly into him, damaging him and knocking him back. If Luigi successfully knocks away all of the buildings, the enraged Earthwake's head begins orbiting in the same path as its buildings, albeit slightly faster. Failing to hit the head after a few rotations results in it ramming Luigi much like its buildings; on the other hand, success damages Earthwake slightly and forces it back.

Earthwake can also attack by creating a ball made out of Dreamy Wakeport's buildings, then rolling it toward Luigi. Luigi must jump on top of the ball when it nears him and use it to roll into Earthwake to counterattack. The player tilts the Nintendo 3DS to control the ball's backward and forward movement. In some cases, Earthwake may attempt to swing its arms forwards in an attempt to knock Luigi off the ball and damage him, though this has a very low success rate, as Luigi almost always rams him hard enough to knock him into the ocean.

Earthwake may also set up a formation of yellow, red, and green blocks that it uses to attack Luigi and/or heal itself on the following turn. Luigi must Hammer Chop, Hammer Uppercut, Jump, or Drill Stomp to prevent the most hindering blocks from being used. The Jump and Hammer Uppercut both eradicate a vertical line of five blocks, the Hammer Chop does the same for a horizontal line of five blocks, and the Drill Stomp eradicates all of the blocks on screen. On the turn succeeding this move, Earthwake collects any remaining blocks and uses them. The yellow blocks heal Earthwake, while the green and red blocks are thrown at Luigi, with the green blocks aiming low and the red blocks aiming high. To jump over the green blocks, the player must slide upward on the Touch Screen. To duck under the red blocks, the player must slide downward on the Touch Screen. Getting hit by a red block results in Mario getting knocked off, thus rendering the Drill Stomp and Rhythm Mushroom moves temporarily unavailable.

After each time it is knocked into the ocean, Earthwake generates heavy gray armor that reduces the knockback it suffers from Luigi's attacks. If the armor is only on its head, the Jump and Drill Stomp attacks can destroy it in a single turn. If the armor covers its head and body, only the Drill Stomp attacks remove it in a single turn. If Mario is not ready to perform Bros. Attacks, Luigi can also execute a combination of the Hammer Chop and Jump attacks to remove the armor in two turns if one is used after the other. If Earthwake attacks while it still has armor on, the armor is temporarily taken off before being placed back on following the attack.

Earthwake also possesses the ability to transform into a giant hammer and swing itself at Luigi in either an overhead high arc or a horizontal waist-level arc up to seven times. Luigi must counter the overhead swings with Hammer Uppercuts and counter or evade its horizontal swings with either Hammer Chops or by simply ducking. The player must slide upward on the Touch Screen to Hammer Uppercut, to the left to Hammer Chop, and downward to duck. The final swing is always an overhead one with a much longer pause before Earthwake swings itself at Luigi. Failing to block this attack inflicts heavy damage on Luigi and sends him skidding backwards a great distance, while success sends Earthwake flying back substantially. A sound plays a split second before Luigi is going to be hit, likely due to the attack requiring precise timing to counter.

Hard Mode
In Hard Mode, Earthwake's attack patterns differ slightly. It now attacks Luigi in its hammer formation more often and sooner and swings in this form up to ten times per attack. Additionally, Earthwake uses larger block formations with eleven blocks in them instead of nine, often forcing Luigi to leave more blocks.

Quotes

 * ".WARNING. UNAUTHORIZED. EXIT NOW. !OR ELSE!"
 * ".INTRUDERS. EXPEL.EXPEL."
 * ".BAD MOUSTACHES. !ENGAGE WRATH!"
 * "EARTH-A-WAKE!"
 * "BAD-DAMAGE! DAMAGE-BAD! BAD-STACHES! MUST DEFEAT!"

Trivia

 * Earthwake is the only Giant Boss in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team that is not fought on Prince Dreambert's pillow, thus making it the only giant battle where Dreambert is in his full body.

Names in other languages
Titanosveglio