Fawful - Concept and Creation

Concept and Creation

Fawful is a Beanish character and a major antagonist in the Mario series. He was created by Masanori Sato, who worked as the illustrator for Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the first game in the Mario & Luigi series. Fawful's Japanese name, Gerakobits, is derived from geragera, the Japanese onomatopoeia for a scornful laugh, while his English name is a pun on the word "awful."

Because Fawful was not based on any existing characters in the Mario series, the Nintendo Treehouse, which is responsible for localizing games for North American audiences, had more creative freedom in writing for the character. Bill Trinen and Nate Bihldorff, both employees of the Treehouse, wrote the English dialogue for Fawful through the exchange of notes. Rather than sticking close to the original Japanese script, where Fawful simply adds "Fururururu!" to the end of every line, Trinen and Bihldorff intended to make Fawful as "wacky" and "crazy" as possible in the Western release. Thus, in English versions of the games, all of Fawful's dialogue consists of broken English and word salads, including his catchphrase "I HAVE FURY!" In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Fawful is voiced by Nami Funashima.