Cleft

Clefts are rock monsters that appear in the Paper Mario series. Their name comes from the word "cleft", which can alternately refer to a crack in a rock or an indentation of the chin, both of which are characteristics of the Clefts. In the first Paper Mario game, Clefts are brown with red shoes, but in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, they are gray with black shoes, while the original coloration is seen in Moon Clefts instead, albeit much brighter.

Clefts inhabit Mt. Rugged in Paper Mario, and Boggly Woods in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, though their many sub-species can be found in a variety of other areas as well. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, if three questions of the Super Fun Quirk Quiz are answered incorrectly, the player will have to face four Clefts. Although regular Clefts don't appear in Super Paper Mario, Moon Clefts do, as well as Bald Clefts.

All species of Clefts have high defense and high attack, and will attack by ramming Mario. If Mario flips them over with an explosion or a Quake Hammer, their defenseless undersides are exposed to attack. Earth Tremor does not flip them, but if executed well enough, it can defeat them automatically.

Names in other languages
Kirk Teschiolito