Antasma

Antasma was the overarching antagonist of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. He seeked power from the Dark Stone and vows to rule the world, alongside Bowser. He was the arch-enemy of Prince Dreambert.
== Profile ==
=== Physical description ===
Called "King of Bats", Antasma makes for his namesake with a mask that mimics bat ears, long pointy fangs and a cape that mimics a bat's wings. Mostly cloaked, Antasma has sharp claws in his hands and a skeletal body.
In his first appearance, his head has many thorns in both sides, his neck is adorned with a bat-shaped bowtie with a spiral knot and a long red tie. Underneath, instead of legs, Antasma floats with a wispy ghostly tail.
When not in these forms, Antasma is a menacing purple cloud of darkness with only his eyes visible or a small bat that looks pretty much like his disembodied head with bat wings.
== In ==
=== Mario & Luigi: Dream Team ===
Long ago, Antasma was an ordinary bat that sought power of the Dark Stone after one of his grim meals (a nightmare) mutated him into a more powerful form. Antasma managed to get the Dark Stone but knowing that he was going to use it for the evil intentions, the Pi'illo's banished him into the dream world to prevent his ascension. Just before he was banished, Antasma destroyed the Dark Stone and pieces of it landed on the Pi'illo folk and turned them into stone. Antasma then waited for years where he has the chance to return to the real world.
During the beginning, Antasma fights Mario in a tutorial battle. Mario manages to win but the blimp crashes onto Pi'illo Island. However, this turns out to be all a dream by Luigi. During the battle, Antasma is referred to as "????" due to his true identity being secret.
Antasma first officially appears where he has taken Princess Peach into the dream world in his cloud form. Mario has no choice but to follow him and Antasma is eventually cornered by Mario and Dreamy Luigi. Antasma then creates a clone of Mario and assists the clone in battle. However, Mario was able to defeat this doppelganger but Antasma ends up escaping into the Dream's Deep. Antasma is eventually cornered by Mario, Dreamy Luigi, and Prince Dreambert but suddenly, Bowser appears. Antasma, delighted to see such power, convinces Bowser to aid him in the fight with Mario, Dreamy Luigi, and Prince Dreambert. Bowser eventually agrees and they all get into a fight. Mario's team seems to have the upper hand, but Antasma manages to power up Bowser even more and the Koopa King knocks out everyone with his fire breath. Antasma then promises that Bowser will get power after getting the Dream Stone and Bowser gracefully accepts. Antasma then escapes from the dream world with Bowser where they head to Dozing Sands to get the Dream Stone.
At Dozing Sands, Mario, Luigi, Prince Dreambert, and Starlow are all too late as Antasma and Bowser have acquired the Dream Stone. Antasma gloats on his success to Prince Dreambert, saying they will now awaken the Dream Stone at another location. This location is later revealed to be Mount Pajamaja, where Antasma and Bowser have positioned themselves at the summit. Mario and the rest managed to catch up but Antasma then takes out a boom box and starts playing strange music that makes Mario and Luigi sleepy. Prince Dreambert quickly identifies them as Dreambeats, and Antasma gloats saying how the Dreambeats will put everyone in the area to sleep. Prince Dreambert and Starlow aren't affected, but Mario and Luigi are falling asleep and Dreambert admits that he cannot defeat Bowser without Mario and Luigi (Bowser has his ears covered at the time so he isn't affected by the Dreambeats). Everyone else escapes and Antasma decides to use some of the Dream Stone's power. Antasma then decides they need a new castle and uses the Dream Stome to help create it. Bowser dubs it "Neo Bowser Castle" and he and Antasma plan their next move and surrounds the castle with a barrier.
This move was revealed to be the capturing of Princess Peach. Bowser sets Mario and the rest up while he and Antasma have her in their clutches. Although Antasma and Bowser aren't seen for a while, they know of Mario and the rest's plan to awaken The Zeekeeper by assembling the pieces of the Ultibed and even has thieves steal one of them. Once the barrier has been shattered by The Zeekeeper, Antasma and Bowser set up their next plan to impede Mario and the rest's process. This plan involved using Kamek to mess up the paths and Antasma opens a portal to the dream world which Kamek escapes to. The plan was used three times until Kamek was finally defeated. Antasma then hatches up another plan by turning himself into a pillow and using Bowser's energy to help power the castle. This plan was eventually foiled as well and Antasma and Bowser have no choice but to fight Mario and the rest. However, Bowser betrays Antasma, saying that only he could rule the world and takes off with Peach and the Dream Stone. Antasma is upset and gets into a brief brawl with Prince Dreambert before entering into the dream world. Dreambert follows Antasma into his artifcial dream and comes out, defeated, soon after. Mario follows behind and instantly fights Antasma the help of Dreamy Luigi and Dreambert. After a long battle, Antasma is eventually defeated. When Mario exits the Dream Portal, Antasma follows immediately after but screams in pain before inflating and popping like a balloon. And with that, the archenemy of Prince Dreambert was gone for good.
=== Battle ===
==== Attacks ====
Antasma is fought three times. His first battle takes place on route to Pi'illo Island. The second time Mario faces him is when he faces Bowser for the first time. Antasma is fought for the last time in his artificial dream.
In his last battle, Antamsa mainly uses the Antasmunchie orbs that surround him to power himself up before using these other attacks. Antasma can eat up to 3 Antasmunchies each turn, and only does so at the start of his turn.
*Bat Swarm: Antasma turns himself into many bats that will swarm in Mario's direction (may cause tripping). Mario can use his Hammer in the first Bowser battle, since the bats will attack their target once every 1 or 2 seconds, but Bowser will replenish his health if Mario gets hit. When Antasma is being fought on his own, Mario can jump on the bats if said bats are at ground level. Destroying the bats will damage Antasma himself. This is Antasma's only attack in his first battle.
*Clone Energy Blast: Antamsa uses his dark magic to clone himself. Then, one of the duplicates will charge up an energy blast and send it at Mario. Mario has to use his hammer to knock the ball at the real deal, shattering his duplicates on a success.
*Nightmare: After Antasma gets a certain hit in on Mario, Mario will lose his consciousness and Antasma will charge at Mario firing energy blasts at him. Mario can jump the blasts but has to find his way out, and there are dark portals everywhere. Only one is the real escape route from his nightmare. If Mario falls down a wrong portal, he will have to endure a dimension full of chainsaws (though you can change the gravity by tilting the 3DS to avoid damage since the chainsaws do not change their position and there are gaps between them), so he must not lose his way. If Mario goes down the right one, there will be plenty of Coins and Mushrooms to greet him. Outside the nightmare, Mario will wake up and becomes shocked. This costs an extra turn in the Battle Ring. Antasma will have his size augmented during this attack.
*Dreamy Luigi Steal: Antasma will snatch Dreamy Luigi and hide him in one of the Antasmunchie orbs. He will then shuffle the orbs around and if Mario doesn't free Dreamy Luigi, Antasma will eat Dreamy Luigi and power up even more. However, Antasma will spit Dreamy Luigi out and the latter will fuse back into Mario. The initial attack deals no damage but cannot be avoided.
*Rest/Antasmunchie Attack: Antasma will hang upside down and encase himself in a barrier and his Antasmunchies will then start to attack. In their attack form, the Antasmunchies cannot be stomped and can charge from all sides. Mario must use his hammer to repel them. Antasma will sometimes turn the screen upside down, forcing Mario to face the opposite way to destroy the Antasmunchies. Also, every turn Antasma is resting, he will recover 200 HP.
*Dark Orb Blast: Antasma's strongest attack. Antasma will then start to hover a bunch of orbs around in the air made from his Antasmunchies and will try to hit Mario with them. Mario must get into the center of this and jump over the attack or Antasma will unleash a shockwave that does over 100 damage. If Mario dodges this attack, Antasma will get damaged instead. Antasma always does this attack 3 times in a row before stopping (four if he ate 3 Antasmunchies).
==== Strategy ====
The Nightmare Attack can be avoided all together if Mario dodges every one of Antasma's attacks. Using Luiginary Wall and Luiginary Typhoon works wonders in this fight as it can damage Antasma and the Antasmunchine orbs. It should also be noted that Prince Dreambert will always heal Mario by 30 HP at the end of each turn.
====Statistics====
During his first battle, Antasma is considered a Level 1 monster who has 20 hit points, an attack power and defense of 15 each, and a speed of 17. He is fought on the Zeeppelin. He drops no experience or loot when defeated.
During his second battle, Antasma has six hit points with an attack power of 59, a defense of 43, and a speed of 1, with his level being 9. He is fought alongside Bowser in Dream's Deep. Antasma himself drops no loot when defeated, but the Bros. gain 300 Experience Points, 150 coins, and an Iron Ball Hammer from Bowser.
During his third battle, which takes place in Dreamy Neo Bowser Castle, Antasma has 2435 hit points, his attack power is 416, his defense is 284, and his speed is 168. He is considered to be a level 35 monster during this fight, and his defeat nets the player 7500 Experience Points, 900 coins, and a Dark Hammer that hurts anyone who uses it to attack.
Antasma has no No Hitter number during his fights.
=== Antasma X ===
Antasma X is the upgraded version to Antasma, who appears as the second-to-last X boss in the Battle Ring. In his Battle Ring form, Antasma has blue cloak and skin rather than purple, and his eyes are light blue rather than yellow. His stats have also been advanced, given higher HP, POW, DEF, etc.
=== Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam ===
Antasma makes a cameo appearance on one of Bowser's Battle Cards, with his artwork featuring him in his bat form with Bowser.
== In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ==
Antasma makes a cameo as a spirit, where he is represented with Robin from Fire Emblem and fought on the Magicant stage. Antasma is represented with his artwork, and his wielder gains a Death's Scythe, a powerful item whose blade can instantly kill anyone whose damage would go over 70% as a result of a charged Smash Attack.
== Trivia ==
*Etymology: "Antasma" can actually be the word for "Ghost" in some Latin based languages, such as Spanish or Portuguese, which is "Fantasma" but cutting off the letter "F".
**The "F" being cut off may also be a pun on the prefix "anti-" (against).
*Antasma is very similar to Cackletta from another Mario & Luigi game Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
**They both wear long capes.
**They both are based of vampires.
**They both can transform into multiple bats as one of their attacks.
**They both take over Bowser's body at some point in the game.
**They both are similar in height (though Antasma does appear taller in his true form).
*It should be well noticed that a glitch tends to happen right after the second fight with Antasma. It usually involves the present not opening and Mario is still doing his battle pose with Prince Dreambert still smiling. This glitch is usually fixed by not using any Luiginary Attacks during the battle.
*This is the only battle in the dream world where Mario fights alone without Dreamy Luigi fused into him (only after Antasma has snatched him away).
*Antasma is the first main antagonist in the Mario & Luigi games to be betrayed by Bowser followed by Paper Bowser.
**Though it is assumed that Antasma would have betrayed Bowser sooner or later, not being the type of villain who would completely share power, and was only shocked because Bowser beat him to the punch.
***This was likely to be assumed that Antasma would betray Bowser first since he resembles a cross between the other villains who overshadowed Bowser in previous Mario & Luigi games.
**Most importantly, it can be inferred that Bowser will betray any villain that works with him as a partner rather than for him as a minion. However, Bowser has gotten along with partners before, such as King Boo, who seems to be on good terms with him. It is possible that Bowser knew that Antasma could never be trusted and saw him as a severe threat to the world he wants to conquer.
*Antasma is one of six characters in the Mario & Luigi series that has eaten one of the main characters in this game. In this game, Antasma is able to eat Dreamy Luigi during his second solo battle.
**In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Bowletta is the one that eats Mario and Luigi (during her second phase).
**In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Yoob is the one that eats Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi. Also, Petey Piranha also eats Princess Peach at one point in the game.
**In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, an out-of-control Bowser inhales almost everyone that was present in Princess Peach's Castle at the time. Also, a Sculet eats Starlow at one point in the game.
**In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Petey Piraha is able to eat either Mario, Luigi, or Paper Mario if he manages to grab one of them.
*Antasma speaks in a similar broken English with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga's Hermie III as they say the letter v instead of w, and replaces the ve sound with 2 f's.
==Names in other languages==
*Spanish: Conde Antasma Pesadillo (Count Antasma Pesadillo. Conde is a third declension noun that means "count", and Pesadillo is a genderswap of La Pesadilla ("nightmare"). Genitive: Cóndius Antasmes Pesadillis)
*Portuguese: O Conde Antasma (Count Antasma. Genitive: Lois Cóndios Antasmes)
*Italian: Inkúbak (From L'íncubo (nightmare). Genitive: Inkubákus)
*French: Comte Antasma Phobieux (Count Antasma Phobieux. Phobieux comes from La Phobie (fear).)
==Gallery==
==Music theme==
Antasma's Theme - Mario & Luigi Dream Team Music|Antasma's main theme.
The Final Antasma Battle - Mario & Luigi Dream Team Music|Played during the final fight with Antasma.
==External links==
*Antasma on Super Mario Wiki.
es:Antasma/Conde Pesadillo
de:Antasma
fi:Antasma
fr:Antasma
it:Inkubak
ja:アックーム
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Characters in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Category:Bosses in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Category:Royalty
Category:Villains
Category:Koopa Troop
Category:Male characters
Category:Bosses
Category:Demons
Category:Spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate