Character Sheet: Culex

 CULEX

Are you guys excited? I'm excited. You should be too. You know why? Cause today we get to cover all the freakin' amazing characters from Super Mario RPG and the Paper Mario (pre-TOK) series, and even the not so amazing ones too. Here's the full list:

1. Cheep Cheep

2. Bob-Omb

3. Spike

4. Tiny Mouser

5. Mouser

6. Paper Mario

7. Mr. L

8. Geno

9. Mallow

10. Flurrie

11. Tippi & Pixls

12. Kersti

13. Huey

14. Merlon

15. Star Spirits

16. Smithy

17. Kammy Koopa

18. Sir Grodus

19. Count Bleck

20. Dimentio

21. Yaridovich

22. Axem Rangers

23. Lord Crump

24. The Shadow Sirens

25. O'Chunks

26. Mimi

27. Croco

28. Booster

29. Jonathan Jones

30. Valentina

31. Jr. Troopa

32. Doopliss

33. Rawk Hawk

34. Francis

35. Culex

And now, at long last, we come to the very end of our Paper Mario newcomers. It's been a long but fun road, filled with some of the very best characters the Mario series ever created, and that sadly, because of . . . well, certain decisions, we may never really see in a game again. And that hurts, but we still have their games, so, I suppose it's not all bad. I think it's only right to finish the game with one of the most notoriously hard bosses in all of gaming: Culex. Culex appears in Super Mario RPG as a secret optional boss you can face by going through a specific door in Monstro Town. He claims to be a powerful warrior from another world, who came to this one in search of a worthy challenge. Many let's players like to take him on as a challenge and devote a full episode to that alone. And I, for one, am so glad he made his case.

Culex's main gimmick in battle is that he fights surrounded by four elemental crystals, the Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water Crystals, each able to perform a different kind of elemental attack (so he's kind of like the Avatar that way). The Earth Crystal's main earth moves are Sand Storm and Boulder, though it confusingly uses other elemental moves. We'll focus on those for now. The Fire Crystal can use Corona, Flame Wall, and Flame, while also having a couple of draining moves. The Water Crystal actually uses primarily ice-based moves like Crystal, Ice Rock, Blizzard, and Solidify. The Wind Crystal uses primarily electricity-based attacks like Lightning Orb, Bolt, Electroshock, Static E!, and Light Beam. Culex himself can also use attacks like Shredder, Flame Stone, Dark Star, and Meteor Blast. He also has visible wings and dark crystal-like energy visible around him.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Elemental Crystal

This move switches between the four crystals floating around Culex, cycling through Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind. He will start with Fire naturally, but each element changes up the way he plays and what he is weak or strong against and can change certain moves.

Side B: Boulder/Flame Stone/Ice Rock/Lightning Orb

Basically, this is a primary offensive attack based on each element. Basically whichever crystal is up front, he will thrust forward and a projectile of the element in question, striking the opponent for maximum forms of damage.

Up B: Sand Storm/Flame Wall/Blizzard/Static E!

Likewise, a similar move across the board, but will have different effects. Basically, he will launch up on his dark wings, launching a storm of the element up front around him as he does so. Earth will whip up a harrowing sand storm, Fire will be a wall of flames, Water will whip up a blizzard, and Wind will cause an area of static, stunning any nearby.

Down B: Blast/Mega Drain/Solidify/Light Beam

This one's more of a status altering move and will have widely different effects based on the crystal. Earth's will just be a straight-up offensive move, lighting up an area of explosion. Fire will sap health from an opponent and give it to Culex. Water will freeze an opponent solid for a few seconds. Finally, wind will put an opponent to sleep.

Final Smash: Dark Star

I felt this one was fitting of him. The animation's a bit silly looking, so I wonder if it might not be visually updated a bit to reflect the character, but as the strongest magical attack in the game, it's only fitting it be the Final Smash of the strongest boss in the game. (Also, not to be confused with a certain villain from a certain RPG series who may or may not have a chance of getting in in the next round of this blog series).

Entrance: Appearing from a shadowy dimensional rift seems appropriate.

Taunts: He has a few great one-liners. I like "Will you accept my challenge?", "En garde!", and his matter-antimatter spiel.

Thanks for reading! Now, let us put this all together into a roster, shall we?