Antasma

"SCREEEK! I vanted to steal Peach's power...But I changed my mind! You are much stronger...and evil! SCREEEONK! Vork vith me! SCREEEP!"

- Antasma

Antasma is an evil bat king and one of the two main antagonists in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, along with Bowser. His name likely derives from "fantasma," the word for "ghost" in various Romance languages, and the prefix "anti-."

Background
As told by a Master Pi'illo in west Somnom Woods, at one point, many years ago, Antasma was a normal bat living on Pi'illo Island. However, he once fed on the nightmares of a Pi'illo, and continued to feed on nightmares afterward, slowly turning him into his current self.

Setting his eyes on the Dark Stone, Antasma stole it for himself. The Pi'illos, along with the Zeekeeper, fought Antasma to stop his wishes from coming true and managed to imprison him into the Dream World; however, just before his seal was complete, Antasma shattered the Dark Stone, causing the chunks to rain down all over the island. The shards of the Dark Stone turned all the Pi'illo they touched into stone, causing the demise of the Pi'illo civilization and triggering most subsequent events in the game.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Antasma (referred to as ???? during the first battle) first appears on the blimp ride to Pi'illo Island during a nightmare dreamt by Luigi. He initially appears as his pillow form, and after swatting almost everyone off the blimp, transforms into his humanoid form and attacks Mario. His only attack is to split into multiple bats and charge at Mario, who must jump over the ones that align with him. After a brief battle, Antasma is defeated, but pierces through the bottom of the blimp as he floats away, causing it to plummet towards the island, at which point Luigi's dream ends.

Antasma is not seen again until Prince Dreambert's pillow is found and Luigi sleeps on it, opening a portal to the Dream World. From there, Antasma calls out to Princess Peach, and proceeds to immobilize and suck her in when she approaches the portal. Mario gives chase into Dreamy Pi'illo Castle, but Antasma distracts him with a dream counterpart of him he creates on the spot, and opens up a hole to Dream's Deep after Mario defeats his counterpart, which he promptly departs to and seals up behind him. Despite this, Mario manages to save Prince Dreambert whose Nightmare Chunk is found later on in the Dream World, who explains to Mario what had transpired the last time Antasma had tried to conquer the world, and Mario suspects that Antasma was Peach's kidnapper.

With the help of Eldream and his pet, Mario manages to reach Dream's Deep, and it doesn't take long for Mario, Dreamy Luigi, and Prince Dreambert to reach Antasma; before he can react, however, Bowser appears and gives him a solid punch that knocks him away briefly. Antasma retaliates by leeching Bowser's face and screeching loudly, flooring everyone except Bowser, Dreambert, and himself, and then speaks for the first time in the game. He reveals that he had kidnapped Peach to exploit her power and escape the Dream World so he could conquer the Real World, but that the appearance of Bowser - who, unlike Peach, is both strong and evil - caused him to change his plans, and he suggests that they work together. Bowser initially disagrees to this and insults Antasma, but Antasma ultimately convinces Bowser to form an alliance on the basis of giving him greater powers. Antasma then powers up Bowser, and together they manage to defeat Mario and Luigi before leaving the Dream World.

After defeating the Mario Bros., Antasma and Bowser head for Dozing Sands to acquire the Dream Stone. The Bros. attempt to stop them, but arrive too late, and the villains get the stone and take it to Mount Pajamaja. The brothers sign up for a tour to the mountain's summit and in the end find Antasma - now accompanied not only by Bowser, but also by Kamek and the Elite Trio - at its peak. To channel the Dream Stone's power, Private Goomp turns on a set of speakers that begin to play the Dreambeats, which promptly puts everyone on the island to sleep except for Antasma, Starlow, Prince Dreambert (all three seemingly immune to the noise), Bowser (due to covering his ears) and Mario (who has to actively resist the lullaby). Luigi, who did not manage to resist the noise, falls asleep and with Mario's assistance rolls to a nearby Dreampoint, which Mario enters in order to escape the noise.

After the Dreambeats subside, the Bros. exit the Dream World to immediately encounter Antasma and Bowser by the Dreampoint, who gloat over their now usable Dream Stone. Upon the realization Peach was in danger, the Bros. hurry to Pi'illo Castle in order to protect Peach, who would surely be Bowser's first target. Back at Mount Pajamaja's summit, Antasma and his new allies begin discussing what to wish on the Dream Stone to conquer the world with. Antasma suggests that they wish for an impenetrable castle; when this is quickly approved of by everyone else, Antasma wishes for this, which leads to the instantaneous creation of Neo Bowser Castle. Antasma then takes the castle for a 'test-drive', blowing up several islands near Pi'illo Island with a large laser cannon situated on the bottom of the castle, sending the inhabitants of Pi'illo Island into a panic.

Although he is mentioned repeatedly after the creation of Neo Bowser Castle, Antasma only reappears again once the Bros. invade the castle. He first appears shortly after Kamek scrambles the castle's doors, ripping open a portal to the Dream World to allow Kamek to escape from Mario and Luigi. After Kamek is defeated the first time, Antasma convinces Bowser to fall asleep on him to use his powerful dreams to power the castle. When the Bros. finally reach the duo, Bowser's dreams are providing such great power that Bowser himself is invulnerable to real world attacks, and the Bros. are forced to enter Bowser's dream to wake him up and weaken Antasma.

After Bowser is defeated in the Dream World, Bowser is awoken and Antasma carries him to the next floor. Upon the Bros. arrival, Antasma prepares to fight them alongside Bowser, but at this point, Bowser throws Antasma to the ground and betrays him, revealing that he had been using Antasma all along. Declaring the castle and the Dream Stone to be solely his, Bowser warps to the top floor using the Dream Stone he claimed, leaving Antasma to swear revenge for his former partner's betrayal and then challenge Dreambert to a duel. After a duel in the real world proves indecisive, Antasma rips open another portal to the Dream World and flees inside while warning Dreambert that he has grown stronger. Dreambert follows and is quickly defeated. In Dreambert's stead, Mario enters Antasma's Dream World and confronts him; with the assistance of Dreamy Luigi and Dreambert, Mario eventually defeats Antasma. When Mario leaves Antasma's Dream World, Antasma follows a few seconds later, inflates like a balloon, then bursts, ending his evil schemes for good.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Antasma makes a cameo on one of Bowser's Battle Cards.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Antasma appears as a Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Physical description
Antasma seems to bear similarities in appearance to all of the previous antagonists in the Mario and Luigi series (Cackletta, Elder Princess Shroob, the Dark Star and Dark Fawful).

Antasma appears, for the most part, as a bat with a giant grin. At the beginning of the game, though, he appears as a purple cloud, and then a bat. Later in the game, he is shown in his true form, which consist of his cape, bow tie and two claws. In battle, Antasma takes his bat form or a more ghostly looking version of his true form. This form is taller and skinnier and reveals his arms.

In Pillow form, Antasma appears as a purple Pillow with his cape spikes and eyes.

Personality and speech
Antasma's speech is based off old Dracula movies with most words having "v"s in them (which was meant to indicate a Slavic-Hungarian accent) and screaming tics which come from his bat side. In the Japanese version, his speech is written completely in. He makes careful decisions, since after his imprisonment, such as choosing whose power he needs to help realize his dreams, but can be jumped-on easily when in a false sense of security, such as Bowser attacking him in Dream's Deep and betraying him later on. He has a temper and a strong hate for the Pi'illo's, especially Prince Dreambert. Others show fear towards him besides the Zeekeeper, who sees him as just a pest.

Abilities
Antasma has many abilities inside and outside of battle.

Bat Form
In his bat form, Antasma is able to screech ultrasonic waves that will stun a foe or power up an ally. He is also able to carry great weights such as Bowser and fly long distances. This ability is very similar to Cackletta's bat transform ability.

Antasma confronts Mario in this form while attacking Mario with Bowser in Dream's Deep. At the start of the battle, Antasma merges with Bowser in the same way Dreamy Luigi merges with Mario. After performing one of his fire-spewing attacks, Bowser will cough up a cloud of Antasma clones that will surround Bowser. All of the bats will fly to the right side of the screen and then start flying towards the left side, usually attempting to ram Mario; Mario must counter these bats with a hammer. The remaining bats will return to Bowser, and any damage Mario took from the attack will be healed to Bowser.

True Form
In his true form, Antasma is able to hover and teleport from locations. He is also able to grow vines which he spreads through Neo Bowser Castle to supply power to it from Bowser's dreams. By the end of the game, a wish to the Dream Stone gave Antasma the ability to open portals to the Dream World at will, allowing him to access his stronger battle form.

Battle Form
Antasma appears in his battle form for the final time after Mario enters his Dream Portal, directly transforming from his true form into his battle form. This form of Antasma is far more powerful than his prior forms.

During this third battle against Antasma, Prince Dreambert will heal Mario by 30HP at the start of Mario's attack turn(s). Antasma's turns usually start with him creating a ring of Antasmunchies around him. At the beginning of most turns, after creating the Antasmunchies, Antasma will then proceed to eat at least two Antasmuchies before attacking: each Antasmunchie gives him an increase in attack power. Antasma can also trap Dreamy Luigi in an Antasmunchie and mix them around to prevent the defeat of the Antasmunchie holding him captive. This cannot be prevented, and without Dreamy Luigi, Mario suffers from reduced stats and cannot perform Luiginary attacks. If Antasma eats the Antasmunchie containing Dreamy Luigi, his power increases tremendously, and spits Dreamy Luigi out right after his attack turn.

The Antasmunchies also assist Antasma in two of his other attacks. If Antasma takes a sufficient amount of damage, he may hang off the top of the screen, raising a shield around him and hibernating to recover health (200 HP per Antasma's attack turn after the turn the move is activated). While Antasma is hibernating, his Antasmunchies will transform into insect-like monsters and will try to ram Mario each turn, lowering his power if they succeed; this attack must be countered with a hammer. After all the Antasmunchies are defeated, Antasma wakes up and resumes the battle. Jumps are not useful for them due to the spikes on the top so Mario will take damage if he does jump on them when they are in this form. If Dreamy Luigi is freed when Antasma uses this attack, he will flip the screen up-side-down and it makes it harder to counter with the hammer.

Antasma's last Antasmunchie-related attack is to turn them into a ring of explosives. Antasma will create a ring of Antasmunchies, and then proceed to chase Mario. Every so often Antasma will throw the bombs straight in front of him, often re-directing them with his hand. Mario must get in the middle of the ring of Antasmuchies and jump when Antasma makes them explode to avoid damage. Antasma will take damage from the shockwave the Antasmunchies create, and so will Mario if he was not in the middle of the Antasmunchies, but if Mario directly touches an Antasmunchie, they will explode, sending Mario flying after dealing damage; a nightmare area may occur. Notably, the recoil damage Antasma can take from this attack is related to Antasma's attack power, not Mario's: thus, Antasma will take more damage on hard mode than he would in normal mode due to his higher attack power.

Antasma can also turn into a group of bats, whom will all fly towards Mario like in the first battle against him; however, it can cause the Trip aliment.

Antasma's last attack involves him creating clones of himself, with the real Antasma displaying a large electrical orb in his hand. The Antasmas will then quickly be shuffled into a line and pull their hand out: the real Antasma will fire the orb as soon as he pulls his hand out. The orb can lower Mario's defense and can cause the nightmare area event, but can be deflected back at Antasma with a hammer.

If Mario takes damage from any of Antasma's attacks, he may get a dark cloud around him, sending him to the "nightmare area." In this area, Mario will find himself being chased by a slightly larger Antasma that shoots purple fireballs that must be jumped over. Getting hit by the fireballs will send Mario tumbling uncontrollably forward a decent distance. Portals are found throughout the nightmare; to escape the nightmare, Mario has to find the Rainbow Portal, which contains coins and a Super Mushroom; if Mario falls in a red portal, it takes him into an area with floating sawblades that must be avoided by tilting the 3DS, after which the chase will resume, with a spider web covering the portal he had fallen into. It should be noted that jumping over a portal will reveal what kind of portal it is, thus making it easier to avoid the red portals and find the rainbow portal.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

 * Website Bio: This evil bat king was once trapped in the Dream World by the Pi'illo Folk but he used the last of his power to turn the Pi'illo folk into petrified pillows. Now he's back and ready to take revenge on those who sealed him away.

Quotes
Main article: List of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team quotes


 * "I can give you power beyond your vildest dreams!"
 * "SCREEEEMBERT! You! Meddling vith me again..."
 * "I vish... TO CONQUER THE VORLD!"
 * "SCREENK! Always, these pests vex us..."
 * "SCREEYEE! I can open dream portals venever I vish now... For that is vut I vished from the Dream Stone... In the dream vorld, I vill be at full strength...I haff changed, Dreambert. You haff been varned..."

Trivia

 * Antasma bears much resemblance to Cackletta with his attacks, such as attacking with a swarm of bats, or duplicating oneself. He also joins his power with Bowser in the Bros.' fight against him much like Cackletta does for a longer period of time; however, Bowser's mind is not taken over and instead, Antasma is just simply boosting his power, in the same manner that Dreamy Luigi boosts Mario's power (with similar animations). Additionally, they both have spiked capes.
 * Antasma has many similarities with . Antasma speaks with a Slavic accent and can transform into a bat, similar to Dracula. Antasma's Russian name, "Mrakula", is even a pun on "Dracula".
 * Antasma gives the largest amount of EXP in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, at 7500 EXP (before multipliers). This exceeds the Gold Beanie, the second largest EXP provider, by 3500 EXP, and the previous non-giant boss (Pi'illodium) by 3900 EXP.
 * Antasma's text box sound effects are errounesly replaced with the one used by characters such as Britta in two occasions. The first after Mario escapes Dreamy Mount Pajamaja, and the second when he creates a Dream Portal for Kamek.
 * In the Nintendo Switch version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the same sound effects used by Antasma from the battle in Dream's Deep are used by the Shadow of Ganon when he sends Firebats to attack Link.