Mario RPG variants

[Cheater Hater]

Why would using a stat booster be cheesing the fight? You're almost certainly going to need one for the second half of the fight (and for later fights) and you can buy an infinite amount of them.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Why would using a stat booster be cheesing the fight?  You're almost certainly going to need one for the second half of the fight (and for later fights) and you can buy an infinite amount of them.

Yay!  Someone actually responded to my stupid Mallow solo thread!  


Maybe I was mistaking the Bracer for the Red Essence at the time.  It's been a long time since I've played this game, so I've forgotten a few things.  Maybe I should have bought a Bracer for Birdo and the Czar Dragon.  

Another factor was wanting to see how far Mallow's natural abilities could take him.  Once the bosses start doing over 100+ damage per round, I guess it's time for stat buffing items.  Good thing I have Frog Coins to spare.  The only thing I've used them for so far is the Exp. Booster.

You'll probably get to see a post on the Axem Rangers and Bowser's Keep once I come home tomorrow afternoon.  Maybe part of Smithy's factory too.  After I beat the game, I may go back and fight Jinx and Culex.  There probably won't be another playthrough anytime soon after that.  The Super Nintendo Classic came with Earthbound, and I really want to try that out for the first time.

EDIT:  Just bought enough Bracers to last me until the end of the game.  A few Energizers too.

[Cheater Hater]

Yeah, SMRPG is fun, even if it's not really designed for variants (a relatively low level cap, little character customization, Bundt). Do you know the mechanics of the game (a couple examples: Bowyer hit Y/X because there's a point counter that increments most when attacking, but it's balanced for a three-person party, and each level has a specific stat that is boosted more when you choose it than the other two)? I'm wondering if Smithy is doable as a Mallow solo (at least without lucky rolls on the heads)? You might need all your Red Essences for that (I'm not sure if those are infinite or not--Frog Coin stuff definitely is through Midas River, as are Rock Candies and FP boosters through the Mushroom hunter but I don't think you can buy Red Essences anywhere).

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Yeah, SMRPG is fun, even if it's not really designed for variants (a relatively low level cap, little character customization, Bundt).  Do you know the mechanics of the game (a couple examples: Bowyer hit Y/X because there's a point counter that increments most when attacking, but it's balanced for a three-person party, and each level has a specific stat that is boosted more when you choose it than the other two)?  I'm wondering if Smithy is doable as a Mallow solo (at least without lucky rolls on the heads)?  You might need all your Red Essences for that (I'm not sure if those are infinite or not--Frog Coin stuff definitely is through Midas River, as are Rock Candies and FP boosters through the Mushroom hunter but I don't think you can buy Red Essences anywhere).

No, I'm not intimately familiar with the mechanics.  I just blunder along in the game based on half-forgotten memories, and occasionally check GameFAQs for details.

Red Essences are banned in this playthrough due to being overpowered.  That's the invincibility item if I remember correctly.  Bracers and Energizers are allowed.

I'm sure Smithy can be beaten, and probably Culex too.  I've beaten harder RPGs solo, like Etrian Odyssey 3, Dragon Quest IX, Star Ocean 3, the Bravely games, etc.  

Here's a post on the Axem Rangers now that I've beaten them.  The fight went much better after using a Bracer and an Energizer to buff my stats.  Yellow, Black, and Red could still hit pretty hard when combined thanks to their physical attacks and getting multiple actions per round.  Green was almost irrelevant.  The best he could do was cast Meteor Swarm for around 20 damage.  Weak all-target attacks are good for solo runs!

I punched out Pink first because she could heal.  She was so stupid she refused to cast Recover or Mega Recover on herself even as I was attacking her.  Yellow was a threat because he countered my punches with Body Slam, a strong physical attack doing around 54 damage.  Green only took about 2 hits to die.  At some point after the first couple of Rangers died, Red used Vigor Up to buff himself.  I saved Black for last because I was afraid he'd use Spritz Bomb once he was low on health.  For whatever reason, he didn't use it in my successful attempt.

The second half of the fight against the Breaker Beam cannon was easy.  It did about 53 damage and could only act once per round.  All it took was more punches and occasional HP Rain healing.  I didn't bother with offensive spells because I wanted to save FP for recovery.  That, and I didn't want to trigger any  counterattacks that I didn't know about.

Time for Bowser's Keep!  Mallow will finally get his best equipment.  For now, I'm still level 21, with the same equipment I used to beat Czar Dragon.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Super Mario RPG:  Magikoopa Created a Substitute!

Bowser's Keep

-Bowser's Keep redux was the penultimate area of the game, and of course had some equipment I wanted to find.  This place had a special gimmick.  One room had 6 doors with numerals on them.  Behind each door was a randomly selected challenge.  These could be either platforming, puzzles, or combat. 

Since I wasn't feeling too adventurous, I made a save state and went through doors 1-4 in that order.  Door #1 had platforming over lava, and I lost most of my lives trying to get through it.  Isometric perspectives do not mix well with jumping puzzles!  The prize was the Sonic Cymbal, Mallow's ultimate weapon.    

Door #2 had another platforming puzzle, this time featuring isometric zoomed-in Donkey Kong.  Dodging the barrels was not easy with those limitations.  The prize was the Super Slap, a useless weapon even in a normal run.  It's for Peach, but the Frying Pan acquired from a side quest is better.  That, and she should use most of her turns healing anyway. 

Door #3 had a sort of blackjack-based puzzle involving withdrawing 1-4 coins from a treasure chest at a time.  I solved it by accident.      After that was a switch puzzle where each switch turned on/off the ones surrounding it.  The final challenge for that room was one of those games about "jumping" pieces over each other, and trying to remove all but 1.

Door #4 was a gauntlet full of random encounter enemies.  Most were easily defeated with Thunderbolt and Star Rain.  The cannons could deal over 50 damage per attack, and there were two of them.  Star Rain could defeat them with its non-elemental properties.  The "boss" of the gauntlet was another treasure chest monster and its red dragon ally Bahamutt.  Bahamutt spent most of its time casting fire spells and Iron Maiden, but the Safety Ring blocked all of them.  The mimic used Sand Storm, Flame Wall, and could heal its ally.  Melee attacks gradually defeated them both.

After clearing the doors, a hypnotized Magikoopa attacked Mallow.  Both an Energizer and a Bracer were necessary to survive some attacks and prevent the fight from taking too long.  Magikoopa's gimmick was creating a "Substitute" like a Pokemon that had to be destroyed to get a chance to hurt him for real.  He alternated between two substitutes. 

One was the relatively easy Bahamutt, and the other was a clone of Jinx, an optional boss in Monstro Town.  Jinx clones could wallop Mallow with their martial arts attacks, and would have instantly killed him with Silver Bullet if he weren't wearing the Safety Ring.  After each substitute was broken, Mallow could attack Magikoopa once.  When exposed, Magikoopa used spells such as Water Blast and Flame Wall.  Melee attacks ground down Magikoopa until the spell was broken.

Magikoopa offered to heal the party for free, and created a golden treasure chest with unlimited coins.  Perhaps that was Bowser's plan to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom by devaluing its currency.  Have you seen the exchange rate with the Beanbean Kingdom in Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga?    

Croco sold healing items and the ultimate sets of armor.  (That weren't the Lazy Shell, but the Lazy Shell is so overpowered it's banned in this playthrough.  The Lazy Shell decreases offensive stats, but increases defenses to the point where most attacks deal single digit damage.)  Mallow bought the Prince Pants from the reformed crocodile.   

Next up was Boomer, a sort of samurai boss.  His gimmick was switching between a red defensive stance to a blue offensive stance.  Boomer had several spells, such as Blast and Storm.  His physical attacks were Skewer and an instant-kill move called Shaker.  Overall, the fight wasn't too tough with the Energizer and Bracer combo.

The final boss of Bowser's Keep was Exor, the giant sword from the beginning of the game.  Its weak spot was the top, but it couldn't be damaged if both eyes were active.  The mouth (called "Neosquid") mostly cast spells like Solidify, Flame Wall, Aurora Flash, Corona, and Water Blast, but of course Carni-Kiss was the most dangerous.  The left eye tried to inflict status ailments, and the right eye knew the spell Dark Star.  Dark Star could deal over 70 damage, and that's with Bracer buffs.  I sometimes cast Star Rain to damage multiple parts, but eventually determined that killing the right eye over and over again with the Sonic Cymbal was more FP-efficient.  

Exor was defeated on the first try, and Mallow was sent to Smithy's world.  I saved at Mario's house and decided that was a good end to the session.

Stats and Equipment:

Level 22, 69 FP

HP:  185
Speed:  18 (23)
Attack:  113 (183)
Defense:  68 (121)
Mg. Attack:  100 (100)
Mg. Defense:  69 (98)

Weapon:  Sonic Cymbal
Armor:  Prince Pants
Accessory:  Safety Ring

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Short Side Update:  Jinx

I mentioned Jinx during the battle with Magikoopa, and decided now would be a good time to take him on.  He resided in the Monstro Town dojo, and first I had to take on Jagger the Terrapin.  He was like the enemy in Bowser's Keep, only a little tougher.  Jinx himself got stronger with each fight, since he was holding back the first two times.

He had several powerful melee attacks such as Jinxed and Triple Kick.  Timed defense weakened them to a point where I could attack with the Sonic Cymbal and heal as needed.  I hoped for Silver Bullet the most because my Safety Ring blocked its instant-kill effect.  Jinx obliged and proceeded to waste many of his turns.  The worst attack was Hadoken Bombs Away.  Even with timed defense, its damage was in the high 80s to low 90s range.  You should have seen what it did to Peach at the beginning of the fight!  

With some help from an Energizer and a Bracer, Mallow could defeat the sensei in single combat.  He received none of the credit and Jinx instead renamed the dojo after Mario.     The Jinx Belt was useless to me even with its stat boosts.  The Safety Ring was a superior defensive accessory.  I also wanted those Bracers and Energizers back.  Time to reset!  Those fights were just for bragging rights.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Super Mario RPG:  Cleaning a Literal Clock

Smithy's factory seems to be designed to mess with any "Twitch Plays Super Mario RPG" attempt.  I had to carefully jump on the screws to get them to move in the right direction in order to advance.  Along the way, there were mass-produced versions of Mack, Bowyer, several Axem Rangers, and Yaridovich.  The first boss was Count Down and its two Ding-a-Ling bells.

Count Down was another gimmick boss.  It followed a rigid schedule of casting attack spells and healing.  The spells were the same ones other late game bosses had, such as Petal Blast, Water Blast, Recover, and Corona.  The Ding-a-Lings used physical attacks, status ailment spells, and occasionally Dark Star.  This was another fight that required the Bracer and Energizer combo.  I took out the top right Ding-a-Ling first, and the one on the top left eventually ran out of FP.  Then I killed the clock part, causing the hands to spin around uncontrollably.  After that was the final Ding-a-Ling.  My main tactic was the usual Sonic Cymbal and HP Rain combo.  Shocker did about 300 damage to the clock, but my melee wasn't much weaker.

I had to fight a mass-produced Yaridovich to get to the next area, but that battle wasn't too remarkable.  The only real difference was that it could split into several drill bit enemies instead of a mirage clone.

Next up was the Domino and Cloaker fight.  Cloaker was the fighter and used sword slashes and rock throws.  Domino was the wizard who wasted many of his turns trying to inflict Fear with Endobubble.  After buffing myself with items, I focused on Cloaker with melee because he was tougher.  After Cloaker died, Domino plugged himself into the giant snake Mad Adder.  If you kill Domino first, Cloaker will bond with the snake Earth Link.

Good thing my buffs carried over between forms!  Domino mostly cast elemental spells that the Safety Ring blocked.  Mad Adder used Sand Storm, Water Blast, and Boulder.  Boulder missed once.  Sonic Cymbal clangs were enough to murder both opponents.

Defeating Domino and Cloaker unlocked the final area of Smithy's Factory.  Only a couple more bosses to go! 

Stats and Equipment:  Same as before.  Bosses don't give much experience at this point in the game, and I already have my final equipment.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I didn't have as much time to play tonight, but you can add one to the Death Count.  Mallow had to go through several battles against Smithy's staff, all with the random battle music playing.  If you've been following this playthrough, the random battle music becomes more ominous with only one character. 

The Clerk was easy.  The hammer allies could be taken out with two Star Rains.  When only the Clerk remained, he buffed both his attack and defense.  After that, it was all cymbal clanging. 

The Manager was tougher, but I thought I could bypass any attempt to buff by taking out all the hammer minions except for one.  It seemed to work, too.  Spritz Bomb was dangerous as always, though thankfully it missed sometimes.

The Director. . .well, I'll have to rethink my tactics for him.  He could respawn his hammer minions infinitely, and frequently used Spritz Bombs.  He could also buff himself.  With enhanced stats, Spritz Bomb could do over 100 damage to Mallow even after I used a Bracer!     I held out as long as I could, but the enemies pounded down Mallow.

Death Count:  20

Perhaps I could avoid the Director's Valor Up/Vigor Up and minion respawning by killing all but one hammer?  If that doesn't work, I'll have to grind a couple of levels.

EDIT:  I forgot to mention that I had to refight the Manager because I didn't save after that fight before Mallow died.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Super Mario RPG:  Mandatory Level Grinding

I defeated the Director using the tactic I proposed in my last post.  Sure enough, he didn't buff himself if at least one hammer ally was alive.  After that, it was pretty much the same as the Clerk and Manager fights.

The Factory Chief at least had the honor of boss music, even if he was just a palette swapped Ninja.  He had a secret weapon named Gunyolk, a sort of tank with what seemed to be lava at the top.  Gunyolk could use various spells, but Breaker Beam was probably the most dangerous.  The Factory Chief couldn't inflict status ailments on Mallow with Funguspike and Thornet, but he could deal major damage with them. 

The combination of attacks was too much for Mallow to handle at level 22, or so I thought.  I leveled up to 25.  Some of it was in the Factory, and other grinding sessions were in Barrel Volcano.  If you're looking for more Bracers and Energizers, the enemies in Barrel Volcano sometimes drop them.

Death Count:  21


With extra defenses, Mallow could survive the attacks and win.  Perhaps I could have won on my first attempt if I stuck to healing until Gunyolk exhausted its rather low amount of FP.  Then again, I would have needed to grind anyway for the final boss.


One memorable line from the Player's Guide called Smithy's first form a "diabolical Santa Claus" or something like that.  It's an accurate description of him!  He could summon two pogo Shy Guys that could cast Sword Rain.  Smithy had powerful spells such as Meteor Swarm and Sledge, and could hit hard with his hammer melee attack.  With the aid of a Bracer and Energizer, Mallow burst Smithy's eardrums with the Sonic Cymbal.  I left the Shy Guys alive because they eventually ran out of FP and became harmless.

Smithy's true form consisted of a series of heads he could attach to his body.  The tank head could shoot bullets, the wizard head could cast endgame spells, etc.  I tried attacking the wizard head because it had comparatively low defenses, but multiple attacks in a row hit for over 100 damage.  There was no way Mallow could survive that!  

Death Count:  22

It was time to grind to the cap of 30.  Super Mario RPG is not a game for low level solos.  (Maybe Mario could do it. . .)  Fortunately, there was a trick I found accidentally.  Going to the conveyor belt full of Jabits paid off.  If I got a good encounter, each fight could yield 72-88 experience or so with the Exp. Booster equipped.  The Jabits could also be one-shotted with Thunderbolt.  The Mad Mallets took two hits, but the Poundettes died as easily as the Jabits.


Final Stats and Equipment

Level 30, 71 FP

HP:  205
Speed:  18 (23)
Attack:  138 (208)
Defense:  87 (140)
Mg. Attack:  122
Mg. Defense:  88 (117)

Weapon:  Sonic Cymbal
Armor:  Prince Pants
Accessory:  Safety Ring


After I take a break, I'll try the final boss again.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Super Mario RPG:  Victory!

The second Smithy form had a gimmick where he could change his heads.  The tank form could shoot Bullet Bills that dealt 55 damage (Defend, Bracer) or 110 (normally).  It also had a Magnum instant kill move that was useless with the Safety Ring equipped.  The wizard form had weak defenses, and took a little less than 250 damage per Sonic Cymbal attack.  It could also hit for up to 173 damage with Dark Star without Bracer protection!     Add one to the Death Count for those attacks.

Final Death Count:  23

Yes, not even level 30 was enough to do it without being lucky.  The reason I emphasized the lack of Bracer protection is that the box head knew Shredder, a move that cancelled all buffs on the party.  (Think the "wave of ice" move bosses use in Dragon Quest 8.)  Eventually, I ran out of Bracers because of that stupid Shredder.  The box head was the most defensive form, and took only about 90 damage from a melee attack.  There was a treasure chest form that used status ailment spells with psychadelic colors, but it only appeared for a couple of turns at a time.

Attacking during the wizard and box forms was the way to go.  The tank form was the scariest overall because it could shoot multiple times in a row, in addition to the hammer and finger gun attacks all heads had.

The fight took a while because Smithy 2 had 8000 HP, and the wizard head was rarely seen at some points.  Out of desperation when I had less than 140 HP, Mallow clanged the wizard with his Sonic Cymbal. . .and won.  Hip hip hooray!    


How was the solo Mallow playthrough?  It was mostly fun.  I was surprised by how inefficient his magic was compared to regular attacks, especially when so many enemies are immune to lightning or ice.  What kind of Black Mage is better off ignoring most of his spells?     It was better to save the FP for HP Rain in most circumstances.  Healing without items was the one advantage Mallow had over Mario, Bowser, and Geno.  There's a good reason most players ditch Mallow after the midgame    I wouldn't recommend this variant because the Smithy 2 battle comes down to luck more than skill.  If you're going to do a solo, play with Mario instead.  Or maybe Geno because he has the great Geno Boost buff.

What challenges would I suggest to other players on Realms Beyond?  No Equipment might be good.  Bowser's armor and weapons are weak compared to the other characters, so he might fare better because of his natural stats.  Attack spells would be better proportionately in a game where not many items boost Mg. Attack.

A funny one might be "He Doesn't Know About Timed Hits!" where you can't take advantage of timed attack and defense.

Will I do Culex?  Probably not anytime soon.  He has Shredder.

Next up is Earthbound.  I'm still debating on whether to do solo Ness or a "No Equipment" challenge with all 4 characters.


EDIT:  Mallow's not a Black Mage.  He's really a crappy Red Mage who wasted most of his slots on flashy elemental spells.