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Eggplant Wizard (ナスビ使い) is a fictional character who serves as an antagonist in the Kid Icarus series. He appeared in the 1986 video game Kid Icarus, and is prominent in both sequels. Although his appearance has evolved throughout the years, he is consistently depicted as an anthropomorphic cyclop eggplant which he carries a staff whbich he uses to shoot eggplants at other characters which the projectiles transform them into an eggplant. Eggplant Wizard is notorious as one of the most challenging and hated enemies in video games, and he has been mentioned by mainstream media outlets such as ABC News.

Concept and creation
Eggplant Wizard is a sorcerer who can disable all of a person's abilities by encasing them into eggplant and was serves as an arch-nemesis to Pit. Eggplant Wizard was inspired by Kid Icarus creator Toru Osawa's passion for eggplants and the eggplant mans from Wrecking Crew. Osawa said that he drew the character to celebrate his summer bonus. Shigeru Miyamoto and Masahiro Sakurai both consider the character key to the enduring popularity of the Kid Icarus series.

Appearances
Eggplant Wizard first appears in the 1986 video game Kid Icarus which he can be found in castles.

He also appears in the animated television series Captain N: The Game Master and serves as an antagonist.

Reception
Since his debut in Kid Icarus, Eggplant Wizard has received largely positive reception from critics, with IGN writer Luca M. Thomas called him the "most popular, most cunning enemy character to come out of the Kid Icarus series." Shacknews writer Ozzie Mejia called Eggplant Wizard as the most aggravated antagonist in all of video games and she wrote that she throw her controller against the television after Eggplant Wizard turns her into an eggplant for the hundredth time when she was kid. Destructoid writer Chad Concelmo ranked him as "the biggest asshole video game wizard" and stating that there is no other characters who has more hatred than Eggplant Wizard due to his high defense and his ability to transform Pit into an eggplant. 1UP.com writer Jeremy Parish called him a weird idea for an enemy, but also Pit's most challenging. He compared the enemy to the Hammer Bros. from the Mario franchise because they often come in pairs and throw projectiles at the player character, but also noted that the Eggplant Wizards were worse because they would target Pit. Nonstop Nerd staff wrote that Eggplant Wizard can completely ruin anyone’s playthrough of the game and he was manages to be the most threatening enemy because he can damage the player with his projectiles and magically transforms all who oppose him into eggplants. The staff also wrote that any gamer who’s received the curse understands how terrible it is which after becoming an eggplant, players can't deal damage to enemies.

UGO Networks writer Chris Plante ranked the moment when Eggplant Wizard was turning people into eggplants as on of the 20 most memorable Nintendo Entertainment System moments. GamesRadar+ included Eggplant Wizard in their list of the "top seven edible enemies in gaming." They stated that he was "one of the strangest, most talked-about weirdos in all of gaming" and questioned why he is in a game about Greek mythology. GamesRadar+ also claimed that the character was "clearly-designed-by-a-madman old bastard of the NES baddo fraternity" and that his "oddness belied a far more insidious property". Eggplant Wizard has been suggested as a playable character or item for Super Smash Bros. series by critics. Chris Morgan of Yardbarker named Eggplant Wizard as the true cult icon of early Nintendo and he noted of how could readers resist espousing his many charms.

Eggplant Wizard has been viewed as synonymous with the Kid Icarus series even outside the gaming community. Jason Cipriano of MTV Multiplayer Blog wrote that he described Eggplant Wizard as the emblematic of series' wacky design and stated that fans would be excited to see him appear in Kid Icarus: Uprising. To celebrate the release of the game, ABC News writer Lauren Torrisi featured several eggplant recipes. Ishaan Sahdev of Siliconera reported about a GameStop promotion for Kid Icarus: Uprising gave away a selection of augmented reality 3DS cards, one of which features Eggplant Wizard.