Bonetail: the skeleton super-boss of the 100th floor

BossBonetailPaper Mario

200 hit points: more than the game's final boss. Known as Occicroc in French, Bonetail waits on the 100th floor of the Pit of 100 Trials in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. This portrait covers his dragon siblings Hooktail and Gloomtail, his immunities, his knack for healing himself, and the irony of his reward: a badge you can simply buy in a shop.

Bonetail — Occicroc in French — is the most feared optional super-boss in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. This undead dragon waits for the boldest players at the very bottom of the game's largest dungeon.

His name lands like a verdict: a portmanteau of “occire” (to slay) and “croc” (fang). Behind that pile of bleached bones hides the toughest enemy Mario can ever face.

Contents

• Occire and croc: a skeleton back from beyond the grave
• The last dragon of a cursed bloodline
• At the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials
• Tougher than the final boss
• A laughably small reward
• Male or female? A matter of translation
• Quick facts
• FAQ

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Occire and croc: a skeleton back from beyond the grave

Bonetail's French name, Occicroc, sets the tone right away: it is the jaw that deals death, forged on the old French verb “occire”. An identity built to chill the blood before the very first turn of the fight.

Where his brothers still sport gleaming scales, he is nothing more than a dragon reduced to a bare skeleton. Tattered wings, bleached bones and hollow stare: Bonetail is a textbook undead creature, lurking in the darkness for centuries.

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The last dragon of a cursed bloodline

Bonetail is no lone monster: he is the third and last dragon Mario runs into over the course of the adventure. The first, Hooktail (Carbocroc in French), guards the castle in Chapter 1; the second, Gloomtail (Toxicroc in French), stands watch in Chapter 8.

According to the storyteller of Rogueport (Grifty), the three dragons once formed a family of siblings that terrorized the entire world, long before the Shadow Queen was imprisoned.

More unsettling still: Bonetail is said to have served as a familiar to the Shadow Queen herself. Reduced to an undead husk, he still stands guard in the deepest reaches of the pit, the last relic of that cursed era.

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At the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials

To take on Bonetail, you first have to survive the Pit of 100 Trials , a chasm hidden in the cellars of Rogueport. Every landing locks Mario in with enemies that grow steadily more fearsome.

The skeletal dragon waits on the 100th and final floor, right at the end of that descent into hell. It is a purely optional challenge: nothing forces you to dive that deep to finish the main story.

You are far better off tackling it at the very end of the game, with an over-trained party and an inventory packed with healing items. Clearing a hundred floors in a row without a single save point is a trial in itself.

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Tougher than the final boss

On paper, Bonetail is quite simply the most powerful enemy in the game. With his 200 hit points, he boasts the biggest health pool in the whole bestiary — more than the Shadow Queen, the final boss.

His devastating breath can put the party to sleep, confuse it, shrink it or freeze it, while bites and claw swipes chew through the health bar. Worse still: he can heal himself for 20 HP (up to twice) just to drag the ordeal out.

He is also immune to most status ailments and to time-stopping powers, which robs the player of his best tricks. Put together, all of that earns him his reputation as the hardest fight in the game.

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A laughably small reward

The cruelest part is how meager the loot is. Bringing the monster down yields exactly one item: “Return Postage” (Choc Retour in French), a badge that sends half of the damage an attacker deals straight back at them.

The real irony lies elsewhere: the badge is one of a kind, and should you ever decide to sell it (500 coins), the badge shop will only hand it back at the prohibitive price of 999 coins — the most expensive buy-back in the game.

To top it all off, Bonetail cannot be fought a second time: once beaten, he is gone for good. The 2024 Nintendo Switch remake softens the blow by adding a 999-coin bonus on victory.

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Male or female? A matter of translation

A fun detail: Bonetail's gender changes from one country to the next. In the original English version (2004), the dragon is presented as male.

In every other version — French included — as well as in the 2024 Switch remake (right down to its English version), Bonetail becomes a female dragon. A localization inconsistency finally straightened out twenty years later.

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Bonetail at a glance

French name	Occicroc
Game	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004, GameCube)
Type	Undead dragon (optional super-boss)
Location	100th and final floor of the Pit of 100 Trials
Hit points	200 (the highest in the game)
Siblings	Hooktail (Carbocroc) and Gloomtail (Toxicroc)
Loot	“Return Postage” badge (Choc Retour)
Remake	Nintendo Switch (2024)

🍄 Want to keep the adventure going? Check out our Mario plushies in the shop.

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FAQ

• Where do you find Bonetail?
  On the 100th and final floor of the Pit of 100 Trials, a chasm hidden in the cellars of Rogueport. You have to survive the 99 floors before it to reach him.
• Is Bonetail harder than the Shadow Queen?
  Yes. With 200 hit points, his immunities and his ability to heal himself, he is reckoned tougher than the game's final boss.
• What does Bonetail drop when you beat him?
  Only the Return Postage badge (Choc Retour in French), which reflects half of the damage taken. The Switch remake adds a 999-coin bonus.
• Can you fight Bonetail again?
  No. Once beaten, he disappears for good and never comes back to the bottom of the pit.
• Is Bonetail male or female?
  Male in the original 2004 English version, but female in every other version and in the 2024 Switch remake.

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