Antasma: Difference between revisions

Antasma (referred to as ???? in-game) 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 battle form and attacks Mario, thus replacing Bowser from previous games as the tutorial boss. His only attack is to transform into a swarm of bats, which fly at Mario, but do not deal any damage - likely due to how difficult the attack is to avoid for an introductory boss. Unsurprisingly, the bat king goes down quickly, but upon defeat Antasma rams into the blimp, piercing its hull and causing the blimp to plummet towards Pi'illo island; this causes Luigi to wake up and panic, knocking himself out in the process.

With the help of [[Eldream]] and his pet, [[Dreambunny]], Mario manages to reach Dream's Deep, the deepest area of the dreamworld. It doesn't take long for Mario, [[Dreamy Luigi]], and a shocked Prince Dreambert to reach Antasma, who promptly transforms into his characteristic bat form; before Antasma can react further, however, Bowser appears and gives him a solid punch as revenge for upsurping his role of kidnapping Peach. Antasma retaliates by leeching Bowser's face and screeching loudly, KOing everyone except Bowser, Dreambert, and himself, and then speaks for the first time in the game. He reveals that he had kidnapped Peach in hopes of using her power to escape the dream world and conquer the real one, 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 the bat king, but Antasma ultimately convinces Bowser to form an alliance on the basis of giving him greater powers. Antasma then possesses Bowser, and the two villains manage to defeat the Mario brothers before leaving the dream world.

Later, after Eldream and Dreambunny escort the Bros. and the princess out of the Dream World, Prince Dreambert and [[Starlow]] reveal that Antasma has escaped the dream world, formed an alliance with Bowser, and explains the same story he told earlier to Peach, with Eldream adding that the evil duo were probably going to go after the Dreamstone next. Mario and Luigi hurry off to [[Dozing Sands]] to recover the gem before Antasma can steal it, but arrive too late - Antasma and Bowser were already at the Dream Stone pedestal, and gloat over having already grabbed the Dream Stone. After the Dream Stone's Soul informs Luigi that it had been taken to Mount [[Pajamaja]], the brothers sign up for a tour to the mountain's summit and ultimately find Antasma - now accompanied not only by Bowser, but also by [[Kamek]] and the [[Elite Trio]] - at the top. 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 rolls to a nearby dream point, which Mario enters in order to escape the noise.

After the dreamstone is finally charged and the bros. have exited the dream world, Antasma and Bowser once again confront the heroes near the dream point and gloat over their now usable dream stone. While the bros. scurry off the protect Peach, who would surely be Bowser's first target, Antasma and his new allies begin discussing what to wish on the dream stone in order to conquer the world. Antasma suggests that they wish for a castle; when this wish recieves the unanimous approval of all present, Antasma makes his first wish on the dream stone, bringing [[Neo Bowser Castle]] into being. Antasma then takes the castle for a 'test-drive', blasting several nearby islands to oblivion with a large laser cannon situated on the bottom of the castle: this event sends everyone on the island into a panic.

Although he is mentioned repeatedly after the creation of Neo Bowser Castle, Antasma only appears again once the bros. are actually inside the shadowy fortress. He first appears shortly after Kamek scrambles the castle's doors, ripping open a portal to the dreamworld so as to allow Kamek to escape the brothers. Later, Antasma manages to convince Bowser to fall asleep on him so as 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, and the bros. wind up entering Bowser's dream in an attempt to wake him up and weaken Antasma, a task that ultimately pits them against Giant Bowser.

After [[Giant Bowser]] is defeated, Antasma and Bowser flee to the next floor, where Bowser reveals that, far from being the loyal ally Antasma thought him to be, Bowser had been using Antasma all along. Declaring the castle and the dreamstone to be his, Bowser warps to the top floor using the omni-potent artifact, leaving a frustrated Antasma to swear revenge and challenge Dreambert to a duel. After a battle in the real world proves indecisive, Antasma rips open another portal to the dream world and flees inside it while warning Dreambert that he has grown stronger: Dreambert follows and is soundly defeated. In honor of his ally's wish for him to save the world and the dreamstone, Mario leaps into Antasma's dreamworld and confronts the bat king himself; with the assistance of Dreamy Luigi and Dreambert, Mario ultimately vanquishes Antasma. When Mario leaves Antasma's dreamworld, Antasma follows a few seconds later, inflates like a balloon, and explodes, ending his schemes for good.