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calextheneko · 6 months

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Mario RPG Post Game Bosses Quick and Dirty Guide

Okay, so I can't promise the tactics I'm going to suggest here are the best effective tactics in the game for defeating each of the bosses in the post game. But I will say they let me roll through all of them pretty fast. Also bosses are pretty much in the order I encountered them. If at any point you're unsure if what boss you should be fighting you can go talk to Frog Sage at tadpole pond to be hinted at where to go.

Before Any Fights

Make sure you've fought and defeated Jinx three times and beaten Culex in Montro town and got the Jinx Belt and Quartz Charm accessories.

Level up as much as possible. You can buy the EXP Booster from the frog coin merchant in Seaside Town which doubles the XP of the person who has it equipped even if they're not in battle. The Lucky Egg bought from the Treasure Hunter in the Moeville Item Shop can be used to double your XP earned a lot for the party if you're good at the shuffle game.

Buy the Earlier Times item from the Frog Coin Merchant in Seaside Time. When RNG just goes bad or you mess up this will let you restart the fight right away rather than having to slowly die and resume from the last save point.

Make sure you have a Feather. If you didn't get won from beating Dodo in the statue mini game you can buy one, or if you want a second buy a second one from the Treasure Hunter in the Moeville Item Shop.

Make sure yo have the Lazy Shell (Weapon and armor) and Safety Ring.

Get as many Kercolas, Red Essences and Rock Candies that you can.

Practice timed hits and perfect blocks because both are required for multiple boss fights and will be the difference between life and death.

Consider getting the Star Egg from Grate Guy's Casino if you can stand the torture that is winning 100 Games of Look the Other Way. It deals a flat 100 damage to all enemies so isn't the best damage but it's reliable and reusable so comes in handy when you need something to damage everyone.

Now to the bosses.

Belome

Fought in Belome temple. Don't be an idiot like me and immediately run through all of Kero Sewer and then have to do Midas River because he's not there. Frog Sage told me he was up to his old tricks. So old tricks made me think the sewers. It was the temple. Travel to Monstro Town and enter the temple from there to get to him instantly.

Belome is frustrating but easy. But you can get rid of most of the frustrating part. Take any party members you want but I recommend including Peach for healing like I will for every fight. You don't need any special preparations to beat him but immunizing your entire party to sleep will save you a lot of grief. I did not, I only had Peach immune to sleep. She had the Safety Ring. Belome spams Sleep attacks so Mario and Geno went to sleep A LOT.

Belome's main gimmick this time is that he can't be injured by any attack as long as he has a clone out. He'll basically bounce back and forth between creating a clone, attacking and attempting to put the party to sleep. If you're prepared (unlike me) and immune to sleep 90% of this fight is solved. Just need two characters who hit hard to rip through the clone as soon as it comes out and beat down Belome. He doesn't really have anything dangerous and aside from not taking damage and so much sleep spam is really not that different from previous fights.

Jinx

Since I was already in Monstro Town decided to go visit Jinx yet since based on the wishes I read on the Pink Stars (You'll see them when you start the post game and follow the story leading to the boss rematches) that he was one of them.

Preparation

Jinx is going to spam mortal blows on your party. Accessories like the Safety Ring and the Quartz Charm are absolutely mandatory unless you have flawless mastery of timed hits to the point you never miss, even so good to have them for safety on the occasion you mess up and they're both really good accessories. Party members, someone, anyone that you're really good with their timed hits and Peach for healing.

Jinx is a bit different in that you're not looking to deplete his HP. All you have to do is use a Team Attack and you instantly win. But before you try to be a smarty pants and go in with a 100% gauge prepped he will set your gauge to 0 when the fight starts. It doesn't matter if the team attack actually deals damage, Jinx wants to duel you to see how to get in synergy with your partners to do a team attack and so you will instantly win as soon as you use any attack. Recommend Lazy Shell and Safety Pin go specifically on Peach.

Jinx hits fast and hard as usual. Anytime you miss a timed hit rather it be attacking or healing Jinx will counter with an instant death attack. This is why you want protection from Mortal Blows. Basically, this entire fight is just a practice of your timed hits and defenses. His attacks can deal massive damage and sometimes one shot characters but all of them can be negated to 0 damage with a properly timed block. There's really no trick to it beyond that. Just used timed hits and blocks to build up your gauge and fire it of as soon as its full. Make sure all party members are up and able to perform the attack. Summoning Toad is not what he needs, you need all three party members. Peach with the Lazy Shell and Safety pin will survive anything he throws at her, so just use her to heal up and revive anyone that goes down while you build up that gauge. Don't lose your cool and keep that timing up and victory will be yours.

Punchinello

Preparation: Not a whole lot you can prepare to do on this fight. Like Jinx this fight is going to revolve entirely around getting your Timed Hits right. And you'll mostly be dealing with attacks that can kill you instantly if you fail to block. But they're not guaranteed 9999 damage like some later bosses they're just really strong attacks, might be survivable with something like Lazy Shell + Ghost Medal. Speed is probably the most important factor here though so the Lazy Shell armor can be a liability. Since Speed is important Geno is naturally one of the best fits for the party. And again I make Peach the third for reviving and healing others.

The Fight Itself

So like I said this game revolves around timed hits. You can't damage Punchinello directly. You can only attack the bombs he throws out. If you do a perfectly timed hit, the bomb will change the direction its facing and face him. Then when the bomb goes off it will explode on Punchinello and damage him instead of you. Be careful to watch the bombs before you attack them some of them will already be pointing at him leave those untouched. This is why speed is important. You only have four party members and he'll drop four bombs. And of course only perfectly timed time attacks will turn them around so if you screw it well hope you can go again before that bomb goes off. The bombs can be killed if enough damage is done but this is kind of a last resort sort of thing and you're more likely to kill one on accident from it taking damage when you damage all enemies with your perfect hits. Mastering the timing for a perfect block against the bombs is mandatory to survival. If you have a hard time feel free to use Earlier Times if you have it to restart the fight until you get it down. Basically hit A right before the bomb hits you. But if a bomb hits you and takes you down you either have to swap that party member out or waste a turn reviving them and lose up to two attacks possibly resulting in more bombs going off on you. Because your timing has to be perfect you they won't spin around loses happen sometimes. Just, best of luck with the perfect blocks and perfect timed hits.

Boster

Preparation

I hate this fight, with all of my hate. This is the first fight to kill me in the entire game. You must bring Geno for this fight, and equip him with a Feather to boost his speed. This fight is just... not a good fight, and is absolutely terrible design in an otherwise wonderful game because there is a very specific solution to the fight and it's just, screw you if you don't know it. Super fast Geno is that solution. Bring Peach for healing, and give Mario the Quartz Charm for damage.

The Fight

So at the start of every round Booster will start building his train. If it gets to his turn he will finish building the train and crash it into your party for 9999 damage. Coincidentally, every turn one of his Sniffets will cast Morale Boost that increases his speed every single turn. See why I hate this fight? The trick is Booster must be attacked before his turn each round to interrupt his building. Which is why you need Geno because the fight will quickly get to the point where no one can out speed him but a speed boosted Geno. Make sure he gets interrupted each round. Then I murdered the Sniffets next, in hind sight it might have been easier to go straight for Booster. Either way just deal as much damage as fast as you can. Rock Candies are useful to deal significant damage to everyone, Geno Flash, Psych Bomb (but only if Peach doesn't have the lazy shell) and of course if you're good at it Super Jump is always amazing. If you're not, kick a lazy shell into them. Just kill the Sniffets or Booster as fast as possible and be aware you might have to restart. If your backline party tags in I recommend immediately restarting the battle with an Earlier Times (You can buy it with Frog Coins in Seaside Town) because Mallow and Bowser will not be fast enough to really do anything unless Booster is low on health and they can finish him off right there. I don't know his HP but you can always have Mallow use Thought Peak once to see his HP if you go for killing Booster first to track the damage on him and know how close you are to killing him. Also, can charge a team attack before coming to the fight and swap Peach out for a turn to Mallow or Bowser to do a damage dealing team attack. I do not reccomend swapping out Geno because you want him there to interrupt Booster from building when the next attack starts. Roselina freaking Luma this fight is easily the hardest in the game for me and just so obnoxious. Best of luck.

Now then whose next... I honestly forget so I had to go google the post game fights. And it turns out it's the freaking cake again in Marrymore. Make your Portal references now.

Bundt Cake

Preparations: Not a ton of prep work here, Quartz Charm and Black Belt are recommended. Peach will put this fight into easy mode so should be included for something other than her healing. Other than her big your favorite damage dealer. Probably put Safety Ring on Peach as usual. She won't be focusing on damage.

The Fight

So the goal is to put out the candles just like last time. The catch this time, the chefs are there and will keep lighting the candles and if they light all the candles bad things happen. Which I never found out what would happen because I never let them get that far. So, you need Peach or as many sleep bombs as you can carry. Peach is better, because you're going to cast Sleepy Time to put both chefs to sleep. I believe if you spin the stick enough to max it out it's 100% chance of putting both of them to sleep but I'm not 100% sure. All I know is I never saw it fail when maxed out in the fight. I also never failed to max it out.

After you put the chefs to sleep, it's just a matter of dealing damage to the cake and healing up as needed. Chefs will wake up every now and then and need to be put back to sleep but as long as you keep them under control this fight is easier than the original fight with the cake. No wonder I forgot this one. I don't know when I actually did it. Just make sure to play it safe and keep yourself healed up and those chefs asleep and you'll be good.

Johnny Jonathan Jones

Preparation

This is going to be a one on one fight between Mario and Jones. Prepare accordingly and equip Mario with your best accessory. Quartz Charm is my preference. Can also do Lazy Shell Armor and Safety Ring if you want to try to turtle your way through the fight. Just a quick warning, there's no way to heal in the fight at all. You can't use items, and only Mario can fight. I guess Jones is a Melee player. Anyway before the fight you'll be asked to choose which party members you want cheering you on. You won't get anyone to fight but you will get buffs from the party. Best way to beat Jones is to take him down as fast as possible so I took Geno and Bowser for damage up and I guess defense up but mostly damage go up.

The Fight

This fight was the second one to kill me. It can be rough. It's going to test your ability to do perfect blocks. Jones will attack with both spells and physical attacks so you need to be ready to block them... And that's really all there is to this fight. Be able to block his attacks and strike back till he's dead. He doesn't have a lot of HP thankfully since the fight is 1 v 1. If you're a master of Super Jump you can probably kill him in one turn. I don't know I'm not good at Super Jump. Though I finally found out it was because unlike what Toad told me it's not hit the button right before the attack lands but actually when it lands. So with that new knowledge I will have to go back and try super jumping things again and get to 100. Right back to Johnny. So, again it might take you a few tries but you just keep practicing his fight until you can block all his attacks with the correct timing and then take him out. There's not really any shortcut or trick to this fight (Besides Super Jump) just gotta learn the timing.

Culex

Preparation: Here's the one we've all been waiting for. Let's get down to it. Culex is the main course and all the other bosses were just an appetizer before him. So first off, Lazy Shell and Safety Ring on Peach. Second, Geno with Quartz Charm and Mario with Black Belt or Safety Badge. Might want to also consider Zoom Shoes or Feather on Geno and give the Quartz Charm to Mario instead depending on how you want to play it. Finally, go into the fight with your Team Gauge already charged to 100%. We're going to be using Mario, Geno and Peach's Team Attack A LOT this fight. Savs-Us-All blocks the next attack each party member takes and will work on anything.

The Fight

Culex is as expected a beast. And the third and final character I have met my end by. Oh wait, no I didn't because every time I was in danger of dying I used Earlier Times. HA! Take that Culex! You technically never sent me to the game over screen, and I technically beat you on my first try. Anyway, his newest jerk move is to use an HP that deals your max HP -1 in damage. This is important. His new spell Meteor is not HP to 1, it is your max HP -1. If you have even a single point of damage on you the spell will kill you. Now, after he opens the fight with that he'll use it every five turns and give you a counter, and responding to that is going to be a large part of our strategy for how to beat him. Finally, make sure you are maxed out in your inventory on Red Essences, Rock Candies, Kercolas, and Pick-Me-Ups.

First off, surviving the first round is the most important and hardest part of the fight. Once you make it past the first round the fight becomes a lot easier. The largest problem is that depending on your set up there is a high chance that Culex will open the fight dropping your party's HP to 1 and then the Wind Crystal will go off and use an AoE killing your entire party. It's that kind of fight. So, you have two choices here, can keep using the Earlier Times item to restart the battle till you have at least two characters alive or can give Geno the Feather pre-fight so he can move faster and have him use a Kercola. Regardless of which method you use Geno will go first and use a Kercola to get the two or if if you're really lucky your entire party up to max health. Peach on her turn if anyone is dead use Come Back unless the living characters are in need of healing because they will get KOed if you don't keep yourself healed up. Basically priority is as follows

Negate or Survive Culex's Meteor Attack > Heal HP > Revive Down Allies > Deal Damage.

Now, on negating Culex's attack. There are a couple ways to do it. Peach should be going last each round while Culex goes first meaning she'll always go off before him. When the first Cooldown hits 1, have Peach use the Team Attack Save-Us-All on her turn and you'll just straight up negate Meteor when Culex uses it on 0. Other options is once you have someone guaranteed to go after Culex is to use Kercolas, but remember you only have three. Another is to throw a Red Essence on Peach and then have her heal everyone and the two others use Max Mushrooms as needed. Try to save Pick Me Ups for reviving Peach if she dies and use Comeback to revive your other allies, but if you need to get everyone up fast use it. Anytime you have your team gauge fully charged use Save-Us-All with Peach right before Culex casts Meteor. Obviously it won't be charged every turn and that's why you'll need to make do with Kercolas and Red Essences. Save the Red Essences for Peach you don't have enough of them to use on your entire party and last till the end of the fight.

Now... As for actually defeating the enemies. I recommend starting with the Wind Crystal it's weak to special attacks, all special attacks so Geno Flash or even just Geno Beam will make quick work of it. If you're good at Super Jump you can probably take out the Wind Crystal right away.

From there I took out the Water Crystal but I think it may have been a better choice to go after the Earth Crystal. One of them can summon Bowyer's button locks and seal one of your commands. I think it's the Earth Crystal that does it but not 100% sure. Fire Crystal felt like the least threatening of them so saved it for last.

While this is going on always be aware of when Meteor is coming and prepare accordingly. Remember that if Meteor goes off any character with damage on them will die unless Save-Us-All is active. Mario and Geno should focus on damage and killing as much as possible. In the rare event the party doesn't need healing on Peach's turn she should use a Rock Candy to damage everyone, or if you run out of those the Star Egg. You can also use the Fire and Ice bombs just be aware the naturally a the fire crystal resists fire and the water crystal resists water.

Once all the Crystals are down the fight becomes much easier to deal with. Culex will replace Meteor with Final Claw, an attack that deals 9999 damage, but it only targets one person, and it can be blocked with a perfect block. Timing is a bit tricky but it can be done. But either way losing one person is a lot better than the entire team and you have a countdown till he uses it just like Meteor so whenever Team Attack is charged can just use Save-Us-All and bam no Final Claw. So like the previous fight when Team Attack is charged always pop it with Peach when Culex's counter is on 1 to just negate his ultimate instant kill attack. At this point it's just a matter of keeping yourself healed and beating Culex down. Keep persisting and use that Team Attack anytime its charged to negate Final Claw and victory is finally yours.

And with that, you get a completely useless key item per Final Fantasy Superboss tradition that just says you beat the hardest boss. Huzzah! Hope that helps. Not a perfect guide by any means but this is what worked for me.

#Mario RPG #Super Mario RPG #SMRPG #MarioRPG #Boss Fights #Game Guide #Mario #Geno #Peach #Belome #Jinx #Booster #Punchinello #Bundt #Johnny Jonathan Jones #Culex #super mario rpg remake

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milkpumpkin96 · 4 months

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Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Review

I never had the chance to play the original Super Mario RPG, so I was SUPER excited when I learned it would be remastered for the Switch. After investing just over 20 hours into the game, I can say that it definitely lives up to its hype. I have always been a huge fan of Mario RPG games.

So, this review is specifically for the remastered version (even though this version is very faithful to the original).

[SPOILER WARNING]

OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10

Honestly, I have no idea as to why I never played smrpg. I have played every Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi game, yet I never invested time into the original rpg game.

A lot of people struggle to get into the rpg genre due to the heavy time investment and/or the amount of dialogue. Super Mario RPG solves the issues by being an only 15ish-hour lighthearted game with playful characters, fun dialogue (and not too much of it), and unique enemies and NPCs.

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GAMEPLAY: 8.5 / 10

The remake operates very smoothly and the graphics maintain that Nintendo cutesy charm. It is a 100% graphic updated from the original, and it also added backgrounds to every area (instead of the weird bluish black voids)!

With this graphics update, Bowser no longer looks like a hell-spawn. I had always found SNES Bowser to be . . . eerie.

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The main game itself is not very difficult, which has irked nostalgic players of the game. Many people found the original to be harder (e.g., timing attacks were harder in the original game, and the og would not let you swap out characters during a fight, et cetera).

I have never played the original game, and even though I enjoyed my adventuring I do agree that I wish it was a bit more difficult. It would be hard to make a challenging game with a character like Princess Peach though . . . she is majorly a healing type, who can easily bring characters back to life ("come back") or perform individual and group heals ("therapy" and "group hug"). To use the abilities requires FP, but not a lot of it, and it was incredibly easy to attain a mass of FP with all the flower tabs and the safety badge which cuts FP usage in half.

As such, I tried to avoid using Princess Peach as much as possible, unfortunately. I want a challenge!

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However, the post-game to the Switch remaster of smrpg is a NIGHTMARE!!! There is evidently a difficulty spike as you beat the game. When I say "nightmare," I mean a fun nightmare. The post-game is just a gauntlet of rematching bosses from the main game (but not all of them), but twists are added. Bosses such as Punchinello and Booster have instant K.O. attacks, and fights such as Johnny require perfectly timed blocks.

I greatly enjoyed all the rematches and it took me around five or six hours to complete. I died quite a few times, particularly fighting Punchinello, Booster, and Johnny Jones. . . and it took me over 50 turns to complete the rematch against Culex. Speaking of Culex, the post-game finally reveals his epic 3-dimensional form.

I also think it is good that they added some post-game content due to how short the main game is. I do wish the main story was at least a tad bit longer, but I think overall the length is digestible for most people.

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MUSIC: 10 / 10

I am not alone when I say this, but Yoko Shimomura is a truly masterful composer. The soundtrack is going to be phenomenal when I know she is behind the works. The songs are the same in both the original and the new version of Super Mario RPG, but remastered--going from 16-bit chiptune to orchestrated.

I have no nostalgia for the original version, so I can easily say that I was blown away when I first heard the game's music. Of course with the game's added sound player and option to switch back and forth between the old and modern soundtracks, I can confidently say that I highly prefer the orchestral versions. One, I am a big fan of orchestrated music in general, and secondly, I highly appreciated the emphasis, intention, and passion put behind Shimomura's remaster. Again, I lack any sort of nostalgia for the old stuff (though I still loved the old tracks greatly).

I also appreciate how the music becomes layered as players build up their chain. Once the five chain hits, there is added background percussion. I do admit that some of the songs can be a little too intense, but it's catchy and gets me going!

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I would say my favorite updated tracks include:

Battling Monsters

Hello, Happy Kingdom

Got a Star Piece!

Fight Against an Armed Boss

Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

Versus: Smithy Battle

Fight Against Smithy, Who Likes Transforming

Obviously. . . I love battle music.

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STORY: 8 / 10

Super Mario games are not really known for their "mind-blowing" plotlines. However, smrpg was one of the first Mario games to really have a plot that was not just Bowser kidnaps princess Peach; Mario must save the damsel in distress.

In fact, this was the first Mario game that Bowser actually joined your party! And damn, do I really love when I can play as Bowser.

Super Mario RPG had heavily set the stage for future Mario rpg games where more story and unique characters become involved. Still, the story is not overly complex, but it is something. It is charming, fun, silly, and interesting enough.

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In summary, while Mario is fighting Bowser as the latter had kidnapped Peach once again, the massive sword named Exor slices through the Star Road and stabs through Bowser's keep, ejecting all of the characters.

The Star Road is an area within the stars that grant mortals' wishes. When Exor destroys it, all of the star pieces from the Star Road are scattered everywhere, which in turn permanently prevents people from having their wishes come true. Exor is a part of the "Smithy Gang," led by Smithy himself, in which they aimed to turn the planet into a weaponized, hate-filled world devoid of wishes.

On Mario's quest to find Peach, he encounters a self-proclaimed frog named Mallow (whose real species is a nimbus cloud). Mallow joins the party, and after being told by the Frog Sage that he is in fact NOT a tadpole but a bastardized cloud person, he sticks with Mario in order to find is real parents (who are King and Queen of Nimbus Land).

During their journey, they join up with Geno, who is a wooden doll come-to-life on a mission to gather all the star pieces and repair the Star Road. Geno himself is a warrior star that hails from the Star Road and decided to inhabit the doll's body because it "looked powerful."

Eventually, the trio meets up with both Princess Peach and Bowser and they all "join" Bowser's Minions in order to take down Smithy and restore the Star Road to its former glory, allowing everyone to make wishes once again.

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I think that the overall story was pretty cute and it was very cool to see Square Enix's added elements. Geno himself is very Final Fantasy-esq . . . no wonder so many fans find him to be super cool. Mallow is also a very unique character who is both useful with his "Thought Peak" and magically strong with his thunder attacks, yet he is very . . . whiny.

I also find it very strange that players have absolutely no idea who Smithy is or what he looks like until the very end of the game. There is certainly a mystical element to this, but it is also kind of weird. For the longest time, I assumed that Exor was Smithy! In other words, a small complaint I have is that I wish most of the villains were fleshed out a bit more, particularly Smithy and his goals, but I cannot really expect too much from a Mario game. It would be hilarious to see more Geno interactions with the bad guys.

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SETTING: 9 / 10

The Switch version of Super Mario RPG is very cute and charming in a graphical sense. As mentioned earlier, in my opinion, I am happy that areas are fleshed out with backgrounds rather than endless mono-colored voids! Like most Mario games, players traverse around the Mushroom Kingdom(?) or whatever island the kingdom rests upon, going to places such as Peach's Castle, Bowser's Keep, and new areas like Rose Town, Monstro Town, Marrymore, and the Forest Maze.

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I found the Forest Maze and Star Hill to be particularly beautiful. The nicely saturated greens and browns and blues are appealing to the eye, and the little green or golden floaties gave off a pleasant mystical touch. Regardless of the linearity of the game, exploring areas was still massively enjoyable and magical. One could find secret little areas and hidden blocks along the way.

Super Mario RPG was very innovative at the time and definitely pioneered novel aspects in future RPG games as a whole. In other games I have played inspired by smrpg, a lot of settings include distinct regional characteristics inhabited by unique people. For example, I am playing the game Sea of Stars, and the Stonemasons Outpost filled with Molekin people is certainly an homage to smrpg's Moleville.

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COMBAT: 9 / 10

While the combat may be easier than in the original version of Super Mario RPG, it was nonetheless enjoyable.

As you venture throughout the game, players acquire a total of five possible characters to utilize: Mario (who must always be in your party), Mallow, Geno, Bowser, and Princess Peach. Each character comes equipped with their own unique stats and abilities. You can only use three characters at a time, but the game allows you to even swap characters mid-battle if needed. So, a lot of different combinations can be tested.

Aside from Mario, I normally used Mallow and Bowser. I always used Mallow's "Thought Peak" to discover weaknesses, and plus, most of Mallow's abilities attacked enemy groups as a whole (at the cost of power, but regardless it helped battling go by a little quicker). Bowser was my other character of choice mostly because I just love him. The King Koopa is a tank but otherwise not too tactically special, although I enjoyed all the triple moves that involved him.

Geno is a great offensive character to use as well but I found that timing his attacks was more challenging; I avoided using Peach as aforementioned, but she is incredibly useful with her healing abilities and attacks such as "Sleepy Time" that puts all enemies to sleep.

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Timing attacks are easier in remaster than the original . . . and despite this, I still found difficulty in landing them sometimes (especially blocking). The Switch version also allows you to swap out characters in the middle of battle, even when the character is fainted, which makes things easier as well.

Players can also store unlimited amounts of items in the chest back at Mario's house, but can only carry a certain number at a time. Frog coins were not too difficult to find or earn either. As such, there is definitely a difficulty difference between the original and the remaster, but making the game "easier" did not derail enjoyment of the game. In fact, I really did struggle sometimes, especially in the post-game, so having these hoards of items and being able to swap out characters proved very useful in certain fights.

Also, I am an adult . . . I am sure children still struggled, haha.

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The game plays out like a typical turn-based JRPG, and I can confidently say that I am glad that for one, there are NO random enemy encounters (which I personally find annoying outside of Pokémon or something like that), and secondly, this game does not require you to devote an ungodly amount of time to grinding for exp. In my experience, if you just normally progress through the game and take out every enemy at least once per room, you will be fine level-wise. I beat the hidden boss Culex at level 22 and beat the game around level 24-25. The game caps your level at 30.

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I loved the addition of the triple attack moves. It acted as a chain-breaker, and honestly, it did not really affect the difficulty much. Sometimes, the triple attacks were obsolete or did very little damage to enemies. At other times, it completely obliterated who I was fighting against. The cutscenes that initiated these triple attacks never got old either and were rather amusing to watch.

Every version of this attack was useful. I predominately liked "Star Riders" with Mario, Geno, and Mallow; "Shooting Star Shot" with Mario, Bowser, and Geno; and "Clown Car Barrage" with Mario, Mallow, and Bowser. It is clear I preferred the offensive triple attack moves. While the healing/protective ones with Peach were useful when implemented, by the time my gauge was full I typically was not in need of it.

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ENJOYMENT: 9 / 10

Overall, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a charming, silly little game that is not too short, nor too complicated, but equipped with some challenging and innovative aspects.

I believe it to be a great game fit to please a majority of audiences, not just Nintendo fans or RPG fans. Even for gamers not into these style of games, I think it can be really fun and does not require a heavy time investment.

I am super pleased that I was able to play smrpg on my Switch, as I have never played the original. Now I can claim that I have played every Mario RPG game, and have loved almost every one of them. Super Mario RPG started it all, and you can see how it influenced both the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi series . . . and even other video games as well.

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 26 hours

OVERALL SCORE: 9/10

PLATFORM USED: Nintendo Switch

DATE OF COMPLETION: December 2023

#smrpg #video games #smrpg remake #video game review #smrpg review #super mario rpg #mario bros #mario #princess peach #bowser #mallow #geno #Another unnecessarily long review #But damn do I love Mario rpg titles

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