Hotaru

Hotaru (ホタル) is an enemy found in the Game Boy Advance game Wario Land 4. It only appears in the boss battle against Cractus in the Emerald Passage. Its name means "firefly" in Japanese.

Each time Wario damages Cractus, it will stand immobile on the stage for a few seconds. While it does so, it drools a clear, toxic liquid which will transform Wario into Zombie Wario, which is a completely useless transformation in this situation and it would just waste valuable time. As soon as he transforms, Hotaru will be seen, slowly moving across the screen. Since light can reverse the effects of Zombie Wario, the player would need to try and touch Hotaru by jumping. But as slow moving and jump-deficient Zombie Wario can be, this may waste a fair amount of time. As soon as the status effect is reversed, Hotaru will disappear. It will return again whenever Wario transforms again.

In the beta version of Wario Land 4, Hotaru was always visible, however the firefly did not emit an aura of light when Wario was not transformed into a zombie.