How To Defeat Whacka In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Despite largely remaining faithful to the original, the remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has a couple of pieces of new content. One of them is a superboss, the mole-like creature Whacka, and he’s a stiff challenge, so here’s how to unlock and defeat him. 

How To Unlock Whacka

If you want to fight Whacka, you’ll first have to take care of a couple of other tasks. First, you’ll have to beat the game and see the credits roll. You’ll also have to complete the Pit of 100 Trials and the superboss at the bottom of it, Bonetail. Finally, you’ll have to make Whacka disappear, which can be done by hitting him eight times at his spawn point in Keelhaul Key, which is to the west from where you began Chapter 5. 

Once you’ve fulfilled these three requirements, you should receive an email titled “RDM Extra Issue.” That email will talk about a rare creature that appeared at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials, so you’ll have to make your way to the bottom once more. The Pit has not changed since the last time you traversed it, but now there is a Mover at the very beginning that will let you skip 50 Floors if you pay him 300 coins. Once you’ve reached the bottom, Whacka will be waiting. He won’t automatically attack you, though, so you can approach and talk to him. When you decide to whack him, much to the objection of Goombella, he’ll get angry and attack you, initiating the fight. 

How To Defeat Whacka

At first glance, Whacka doesn’t seem like that difficult of a foe. He has 108 HP, an attack power of 10, and a defense of 1. His defense isn’t high and while his base attack hurts, it’s not that much higher than Bonetail’s, plus his HP is nearly half of Bonetail’s. However, this battle can quickly spiral out of control if you don’t understand the core mechanic.

Every time you hit Whacka, he will drop a Whacka Bump. He’ll then throw that Bump at Mario for 10 damage or eat it and heal a staggering 25 HP. That means that if you hit Whacka multiple times with moves like Power Bounce, each hit equates to another Bump, which means multiple attacks or heals per turn. 

To make matters worse, sometimes Whacka will drop a Red Whacka Bump, which deals an unbelievable 25 damage or heals him for 75 HP if he eats it! Sometimes he’ll cause stage hazards to fall on him, which could lead to six Whacka Bumps appearing, with some of them being red. So, the plan is to hit him with moves that can deal a ton of damage in as few hits as possible.

Given that your resources may be drained at this point in the Pit of 100 Trials, you’ll want to bring as many Life Shrooms and healing items as possible. Ironically enough, if you have any Whacka Bumps, those can make excellent healing items in a pinch, but you’ll want Life Shrooms more than anything else. When I fought him, I only had two left and just barely squeaked by with a win.

As far as badges go, having multiple Power Smashes equipped can knock down a good chunk of Whacka’s health in one hit. You’ll also want Quick Swap so you can swap between the two partners you’ll need for this fight, Goombella and Vivian. Goombella’s Rally Wink will allow Mario to act twice in a turn and Vivian’s Veil can help you dodge a Red Whacka Bump, so swapping between the two of them quickly is essential. Don’t let Vivian attack, though, because if Whacka gets burn, he’s spawn another Whacka Bump each time he gets hurt by the burn. Having the Lucky Day badge will also help to increase the chance of evading an attack. Also equip Defend Plus and Power Plus to increase your base stats. 

The general strategy to follow is to use Power Lift to boost your stats, then Goombella’s Rally Wink to allow Mario to use Power Smash constantly, performing stylish moves to charge your SP gauge to use Power Lift again once your buff expires. When a Red Bump appears or there are a lot of normal Whacka Bumps due to stage hazards, swap to Vivian and use Veil to dodge the attack. If Whacka heals, while it may be frustrating, as long as you keep to this approach, you shouldn’t have too tough of a time beating this difficult, but rather simple, superboss in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. When you beat him, you’ll receive a Golden Whacka Bump which does absolutely nothing, but it’ll serve as a badge of honor for your struggle.

And that’s how you unlock and defeat Whacka in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door!