Reclusa

Reclusa
First appearance	Mario & Luigi: Brothership (2024)

“You may call me Reclusa! The one and lonely ruler of Concordia! Well done, Zokket! Or was it Cozette? You certainly got your brain washed to an entertaining degree! And now that I'm free, let's just dispose of yooouuu! Let's start building, shall we?! My world of perfect solitude! Connecting the islands? Connecting the PEOPLE? No, no, no! I shun communication—detest togetherness! We'll create a world without friends, where only the lonely will play! Let's get this party finished!”

—Reclusa, Mario & Luigi: Brothership

Reclusa is the overarching antagonist and final boss of Mario & Luigi: Brothership. He is an ancient entity who was responsible for brainwashing Cozette to become Zokket, and has manipulated the Extension Corps to resurrect him via separating the islands of Concordia and rendering its Bonds impossible, enforcing solitude for his own pleasures. His name originates from "recluse", a synonym for the term "shut-in", or a person who functions alone and avoids socializing.

Reclusa is the first Mario & Luigi antagonist to not be associated with or serve as a form of Bowser.

History[edit]

Little is known about Reclusa's background, though Shun mentions that he is older than any of the cast, and Reclusa claims he had already destroyed the bonds of various worlds, and by extension the worlds themselves prior to arriving at Concordia. By the time of the game's events, he has retreated into an egg to recharge himself and eventually rise again. Under his influence, Zokket and the Extension Corps keep him dormant in their fortress, intent on fueling the egg with enough Glohm to reawaken him.

Reclusa is first shown in his egg form when Mario, Luigi, and Snoutlet encounter Zokket in his fortress, lamenting that he does not have enough Glohm to repower Reclusa. After his defeat, Zokket gives the last of his energy to the egg, freeing Cozette but also reawakening Reclusa. Immediately, he surrounds Fortress Zokket with invasive flora, converting it into his own lair, creating yet another barrier requiring the Mario Bros. to obtain energy from 7 significant Bonds within Concordia to penetrate through. Later on he captures multiple Concordians in flowers which trap them in their own fantasies and would christen his lair as the Soli-Tree while they are pondering over the last Bond. He later gloats to Snoutlet and the Mario Bros. about his means of ending Concordia, and also implied that he intended to do his work with the Mushroom Kingdom next while telling them not to bother attacking the Soli-Tree as it's got an impregnable barrier.

At the Soli-Tree's Middle Floor, he ambushes the Bros with flowers, sending them into a simulation of the Mushroom Kingdom with Princess Peach bonding with Bowser in a seemingly peaceful time, but they manage to escape much to Reclusa's chagrin. Deploying a horde of minions to defeat the heroes at the Top Floor, the Mario Bros. are narrowly rescued by Bowser, who is intent on defeating Zokket unaware that Reclusa is the real threat and Zokket was already beaten.

Reclusa eventually engages in a battle with Mario and Luigi after a further chase, ending with him feigning defeat long enough to activate the Soli-Tree and become Weeping Reclusa. Easily defeating Bowser and his troops, Weeping Reclusa summons a dark fog that causes Mario and Luigi to fall unconscious, them being saved by Connie watering them with the energy of their Bonds and allowing them to enter the Soli-Tree.

Within the Weeping Core and eventually by himself, Reclusa engages in a long and grueling final battle with Mario and Luigi, eventually defeated by their hands. To the bitter end he does not regret his misdeeds, feigning remorse before destroying the battlefield floor in a final desperate act to defeat Mario and Luigi. However, this last effort is unsuccessful, resulting in Mario and Luigi defeating Reclusa, smashing his screen.

Reclusa is last seen complaining about his failure to enforce eternal solitude upon Concordia, failing to understand the meaning of the world's Bonds. Connie confronts him, telling the entity that while one can do certain things alone, there are also many things that can be done with the power of teamwork. Further incensed, Reclusa continues to lament his failures, and is ultimately told by Connie to disappear as he has no place in Concordia. Reclusa ceases to be soon after, the Soli-Tree crumbling without him.

Personality[edit]

At his core, Reclusa despises the very concept of bonds to such an extent that he was willing to trap people in artificial dream worlds just to prevent them from interacting with anyone else. He also shows a sadistic personality, as evidenced by him not only fully acknowledging to Snoutlet that anyone caught in the dream worlds is likely to starve to death, but even indicating that is precisely the point behind trapping them. Reclusa was also shown to have an extremely childish demeanor by being dramatic in his words and posturing, sometimes breaking out into a sing-song dialogue, comparing everything to toys that he breaks for fun, and also being prone to tantrums if he does not get his way. His childish nature is further reinforced in the Japanese version where he often addresses himself with the pronoun boku-chin, which is generally reserved for young boys.

Battle[edit]

Reclusa is fought in four phases. During the first phase of the fight, he continuously flees the Bros. as they ride a plug hot on his heels. Mario and Luigi have to avoid Doom Bloom shots, which they can neutralise by blasting those shots with the opposite element. (Mario uses fire while Luigi attacks with ice.) Eventually, the Bros. will catch up to Reclusa, who will charge up with either fire or ice; Luigi must attack the monster with his ice energy in the former scenario, and Mario must attack with his fireballs in the latter scenario. If the Bros. succeed, they can charge up a Bro Bomb to blast Reclusa and stun him for one turn. Otherwise, Mario and Luigi are forced to deal with Doom Blooms and Glohm-infected enemies.

During the second phase of the fight, Mario and Luigi have to deal with four Doom Blooms, one of which captures Snoutlet. Weeping Reclusa has three attacks. In the first one, he will swing his arms low, followed by some flames creeping in from the same side as the swung arm. If a Bro. jumps onto the swinging arm, he will be carried high and then tossed at the other Bro. and must be caught to avoid damage. Weeping Reclusa's second attack involves a spiked green ball falling at the Bros., who must repel it with a hammer strike; doing so will cause the ball to fly at Weeping Reclusa, stunning him for a few turns. The last one involves Weeping Reclusa firing ice projectiles at the Bros., then he launches a giant fireball which must be countered by both Bros.; doing so will cause it to fly at Weeping Reclusa, also stunning him for a few turns. If he and Mario have freed Snoutlet, Luigi can use his Luigi Logic skill during this time to have Snoutlet create another plug-like craft to fly into Weeping Reclusa's mouth. However, the Bros. have to avoid Weeping Reclusa's shots and wooden protrusions as they head towards the beast's maw. When they reach the end, Weeping Reclusa will launch dark energy, which the Bros. must repel with a Bro Bomb. If their Bro Bomb successfully repels the dark energy, the Bros. will enter Weeping Reclusa's maw, where Reclusa himself awaits.

Phase three begins when Reclusa realises that he has been confronted by Mario and Luigi (much to his chagrin). This leads him to turn into the Weeping Core. In this form, the monster will take measures to permanently repel Mario and Luigi's attacks should he get hit by the same one more than once (The first time, he will not resist, but he will analyse the attack.).

In this state, Reclusa can attack by rolling into the Bros., and must be repelled with hammer strikes. After enough repulsions, he must be repelled by both Bros. His second attack has him extend spikes and spin around; these must be jumped over. After the Weeping Core breaks from enough damage, Reclusa emerges in his normal form from the wreckage to commence the fourth phase of the fight, turning the background red.

Reclusa has several attacks during this phase of the fight. In one, he splits into seven copies, some of which flash emblems of the Bros. These copies launch energy bullets at their respective targets, who have to repel these bullets with hammer strikes, the finale involves all remaining copies simultaneously firing a stronger variant of the bullets all at once. Another one of his attacks has him disable one of the Bros (draining his color), so the other Bro. is forced to carry him. The still-active Bro. has to dodge Reclusa's claws and energy blasts in this attack. The barrage is ended by a large fireball being thrown, and the colored Bro. has to use his hammer to repel it. Afterward, the greyed-out Bro. will regain his color, ending the attack.

Upon losing half of his health, Reclusa goes berserk and the background turns dark purple. His bullet attack now spawns 8 clones instead of 7. His final attack only used within enraged state has him firing either 4 or 6 energy blast in the order he flashes the Bros' corresponding emblem, all except the last are instantaneous and single target with the finale slowly generating a shockwave for both to jump. Its yet to be confirmed whether Reclusa forgoes the disabling attack in this state.

Afterwards, Reclusa attempts to send Mario and Luigi to their doom by destroying the floor. In this final leg, both Bros. have to use their hammers to bash at Reclusa's head before they hit the ground since all 3 are descending rapidly; however, the Bros. must charge Bond power to add more strength. Ten charged hits to Reclusa's head will defeat him once and for all, failure to land the final charged strike before they impact gives an immediate Game Over.

Gallery[edit]

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  Reclusa awakened after the battle against Zokket

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  The first phase in the final battle against Reclusa

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  Reclusa's angry face

Names in other languages[edit]

References[edit]