Knucklotec

"Where...ring...go? YOU take ring?!"

- Knucklotec

Knucklotec is the second boss of the Sand Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey. He is based off of the real-world heads, and has several similarities to Eyerok from Super Mario 64, due to both being ancient stone guardians found underground in deserts, having giant floating hands, and speaking in broken grammar.

He can be first found in the desert, with the top part of his head sticking out from the ground.

He is encountered when Mario enters the sand flow directly beneath the Inverted Pyramid. When he appears, he is distraught over the loss of the kingdom's Binding Band, and presumes Mario to have stolen it. Along with Bowser's icy water attack, he is the cause of the ice in the Sand Kingdom, and when he is defeated all the ice melts away.

In battle, Knucklotec slams his fists into the ground; if his fists hit a sheet of ice on the ground, he briefly writhes in pain. Mario must then capture one of the fists and use it to knock out Knucklotec while avoiding the ice crystals he fires from his other fist. After hit the first time, he will slide his fists across the battlefield once; the fists travel parallel to each other. He will then slam his arms, causing faceted ice crystals to burrow partially into the ground from above. Mario must then repeat the process once more. During the third phase, his fist-slide attack is slightly faster, and he has an additional attack where his arms lock onto Mario before clapping together multiple times. After defeated, Knucklotec will explode, releasing the Sand Kingdom's second Multi Moon.

In the rematch battle in Peach's Castle, Knucklotec's attacks creates hordes of Chinchos; at the start of the battle and after he does his fist-sliding attack, fist-smashing attack or his fist-clapping attack. Hordes of Chinchos also appear when the ice crystals fall after a hit is scored on the boss.