Cackletta

Cackletta (Japanese name: Kikimona) is an evil witch from BeanBean Kindgom and the main villain of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Aided by her sycophantic assistant Fawful, Cackletta attempted to steal Princess Peach's voice and use it to steal the Beanstar â€” a mystical object of the Beanbean Kingdom that can grant wishes. Beanbean lore states that only one with a beautiful voice can activate the Beanstar's mysterious powers to grant any wish â€” and Cackletta hopes to use this power to conquer Beanbean Kingdom and soon after, the Mushroom Kingdom. Cackletta's plans backfire, however, when she actually attempts to use Peach's voice. She finds that Toadsworth and the Mushroom retainers anticipated the ambush and switched Peach with Birdo, whom they dolled up like Peach. As a result, the Beanstar was infuriated by Birdo's squawking voice and did not grant Cackletta her wish. She made Princess Peach behave like Birdo usually did, and Birdo behave like Peach usually did.

Mario and Luigi soon caught up to Cackletta at Woohoo Hooniversity and fought her. Her body was battered up so badly, she could no longer move around on her own. Fawful absorbed Cackletta's spirit into a vacuum cleaner-like devise and tried to attack the mario bros. but was stopped by Prince Peasley who then attacked them and shot them out of the Hooniversity. King Bowser was suffering from amnesia for some time and wandering idly around Beanbean Kindgom. Just when he remembered who he was, Fawful met him and sent Cackletta's spirit into his body. Cackletta promptly renamed herself "Bowletta", a combination of Bowser's name and hers.

Armed with the new alias, Bowletta continued her plan to obtain the Beanstar and Peach's voice. The Mario Bros. eventually caught up with Bowletta, and after fighting through the notoriously spoiled Koopalings (Bowser's malicous children), and Fawful, they fought and beat Bowletta, who then ate them. Inside Bowser's stomach, Mario and Luigi encountered Cackletta's spirit inside of the body, and defeated her. After defeating the specter, it left Bowser's body, returning him to normal.

Cackletta is the first female character in a Mario game to be the main villain. Though Captain Syrup and the Golden Diva technically appeared before her, they appeared in games in the Wario Land series. Cackletta was followed by the Shadow Queen, the last boss in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Princess Shroob from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.