Baron Dante

"You must find this little green trouble-maker and get rid of him forever."

- Baron Dante

Baron Dante is the primary antagonist in Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Croc 2, and all other incarnations.

Appearances
Baron Dante is the central villain in the Croc series, and he has appeared in every Croc game to date.

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos

 * See Baron Dante's Invasion of Gobbo Valley article for more details.

He appears, firstly, in Forest Island in the intro of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, where he is shown invading the Gobbos and capturing them, along with his loyal Dantinis. He is then shown in every Guardian Level cutscene by turning innocent, harmless creatures into evil monsters, each with the intention to stop Croc from rescuing all the Gobbos. Croc faced them one at a time and defeated them, turning back into the harmless animals they were before. In the process, he defeated Tooty the Feeble, Flibby the Boxing Ladybug, Chumly the Rocket Man, Demon Itsy, Neptuna the 'Fish', Cactus Jack, and Fosley the Balloon Dantini. After Croc defeated them all, Baron Dante was forced to fight Croc himself.

Baron Dante's Funky Inferno
This was the final showdown between Croc and the Baron. He fights in three phases and has three lives in each phase. In the first phase, he tries to slam his fist at the ground to create shockwaves, or he just tries to hit Croc. During the second phase, Dante stands still in the middle of the arena and after a while tries to ram into Croc. In the third and final phase, he flies up and shoots bolts of magic at Croc. As his lives decrease he shoots more rapidly at Croc. After he descends, he is vulnerable and Croc eventually defeats the Baron once and for all.





Crystal Form
After Baron Dante was defeated, Croc then recovered the Jigsaw Pieces scattered in various places around the Islands, and then visited the mysterious Crystal Island where a strange creature that resembled Baron Dante but is thought to be a totally different creature. It was called The Secret Sentinel and it fights in a large cross like arena (similar to the hospital cross symbol). After Croc defeated The Secret Sentinel, it shattered into many crystals, one of which Croc picked up.

Croc 2
In Croc 2, the Dantinis somehow resurrected the unforgotten evil Baron Dante. He made several attempts on the brave crocodile's life once more, and has even gotten a new dartboard with Croc's picture on it.

After several attempts failed, Baron Dante decided to confront Croc himself, on the mountain tops of Inca Village. Croc, driving the Professor Gobbo's plane, managed to shoot Baron Dante off the mountain, where he retreated to the Bride of the Dungeon of Defright, Croc following closely behind.

In the dungeon, Croc met and freed the Professor Gobbo, and the two of them confronted Baron Dante 2 a final time on a dark mountain top. Croc protected the Professor Gobbo from Baron Dante's evil magic long enough for the inventor to open a portal to another dimension and banish the evil being.

Croc was reunited with his family, as he had originally set out to do. However, as Swap Meet Pete predicted, Dante was not defeated. He managed to kidnap Croc's unborn siblings (eggs) and bring them into his secret world. Croc freed the eggs, but what became of Baron Dante after that is unknown.

Croc Mobile: Jungle Rumble!
Baron Dante returns as the main antagonist. He retains his appearance of the first game. No further plot or motive is given.

Croc Mobile: Pinball
Baron Dante is at the top of the screen on the left. He can be attacked by shooting the ball into the pocket there.

Croc Mobile: Volcanic Panic!
In Croc Mobile: Volcanic Panic!, Baron Dante returns once again to halt the wedding of King Rufus and Princess Tara.

Dantinis
The Dantinis are very loyal to Baron Dante 1 and 2, with some people describing them as his followers, to others who say they are his slaves. However, no matter what status they are to him, he has complete control over them. He can order them to whatever he wants with no resistance whatsoever.

It is also clear that he trusts them greatly, relinquishing a majority of the control over the Gobbo Archipelago to the Dantinis, who can be seen wandering and patrolling each level of the game.

Guardians
The Guardians featured in the Croc games are influenced by Baron Dante 1 and 2, and their primary purpose given to them by Baron Dante himself was to stop Croc at all costs.

Magical Powers
Baron Dante 1 and 2 features impressive magic powers which can accomplish a whole array of things:


 * Turn ordinary creatures into destructive monsters
 * Levitation
 * Can fire magic/electric shots from his glove
 * Super strength
 * Can bash his fist against the ground making sonic waves
 * Can shoot fire
 * Expert climber (Mountain)
 * Can create a storm (Croc 2)
 * Able to become a ghost (speculated but quite plausible)

Trivia

 * His bio from the official Croc site states: King of all villians, hater of all things Gobbo and stronger than a thousand Dantinis.
 * From that sentence, 'villains' was spelled incorrectly.
 * Baron Dante was named after the film director, Joe Dante. The 'Baron' part was added because 'It sounded evil.'
 * Although many believe Baron Dante wears an eyepatch due to missing an eye, an eye texture can clearly be seen at the bottom of the eyepatch texture, indicating he still has an eye under his patch (however, due to the game's old graphics, the eye's texture probably wasn't able to be changed).
 * Baron Dante, was originally called "Denver". The name was changed when the Lead Designer joined the Croc team (to quote; "Denver? That sounds rubbish!").

Croc 2 Bio
"The evil arch nemesis of all that is good and kind. Brought back from the n'th dimension by his loyal Dantinis, revenge isn't the only thing he has on his mind. Dante wants to know the secret of the flying machine the smart Gobbo has invented and will stop at nothing to get it."

Croc Mobile: Jungle Rumble! Bio
"This cruel sorcerer is the cause of all of the Gobbos strife. [sic] Little is known about him or his hatred for all Gobbo kind, but he was probably dropped as a baby."