He knows about timed hits! Let's play Super Mario RPG!

Welcome to Let’s Play Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars!



I’m going to talk a bit about what I hope to accomplish with this LP, so if you don’t want to listen to my navel-gazing and would like to go straight to the game, Ctrl+F “Mushroom” to go to it.

This is Let’s Play Number Two for me. For those of you who read my first LP, Fire Emblem, this one is going to be a little different. For one thing, I expect this LP to have fewer updates, but longer actual writeups. My current update plan (subject to change) is as follows:

1. First star
2. Second star
--Kero Sewers, Midas River, Tadpole Pond
--Rose Way, Rose Town, Forest Maze
3. Third star
--Pipe Vault, Yo'ster Island, Moleville
--Cole Mines
4. Fourth star
--Booster Pass, Booster Tower, Booster Hill
--Marrymore, Star Hill
5. Fifth star
--Seaside Town, The Sea
--Sunken Ship, Seaside Town Revisited
6. Sixth star
--Land's End, Belome's Temple
--Monstro Town, Grate Guy's Casino, Bean Valley
--Nimbus Land, Nimbus Palace
--Barrel Volcano
7. Seventh star
--Bowser's Keep
--Weapons Factory
--Culex and other weirdness
--Smithy, ending

The second main difference is that I expect the writeups to be much more interesting. FE was a strategy-RPG, and I felt compelled to walk the audience through my strategy every time. However, this resulted in (I feel) the mission writeups being pretty weak. They were boring to write and I can’t imagine they were too thrilling to read. This time, I hope to cut out all the boring filler and show just the bits of the game that are interesting enough to write about, resulting (hopefully) in a shorter but overall more fulfilling experience.

Three, this game is much better-known than FE. As much as I love it, FE has mostly a niche market, and I wrote the LP under the assumption that most people wouldn’t know the ins and outs of the series. I don’t believe that’s the case with this game, so this time it will be less “Here’s how to play Mario RPG” and more “Here are the cool parts of Mario RPG”. This also means I won’t be dwelling on the story (such as it is) too much as I did with FE. Think the Suikoden LPs, Brickroad’s original FF1 LP, or TheSL’s Shiny Gold LP for the kind of tone I hope to have.

Finally, I know more about this game than FE, and indeed any game. I was honestly stunned when people complimented me for my play in the FE LP, because in my heart I know that I’m not that great of an FE player. With Mario RPG, however, I bow to no man in my knowledge of its intricacies. It was my very first RPG, my very first game of any genre other than platformer, and I’ve played it to death over the years.

I’m not kidding at all here. I got it when it first came out, when I was eight years old, and played basically nothing else for all of 1996 and 1997 – I would play through it, watch the ending, then immediately start up another file and play again. For me, new video games were strictly a birthday, Christmas, and maybe end-of-school-year-if-I-got-good-grades-and-didn’t-get-into-trouble treat, so I played the hell out of the ones I had, a practice I maintain to this day. Even after I got an N64, I would revert back to Mario RPG whenever I finished a new game. Even now, I play through the game at least once a year, and usually two or three times. Therefore, my hope is that the LP can be an entertaining combination of dumb-kid stories, secrets and strategies, and thoughtful essays about the effect the game has had on me personally and video games as a whole.

No pressure, right? That said, let’s get to it!

Got a Mushroom!



How thorough is my knowledge of and affection for Super Mario RPG? I even have a story about the file select screen.

My first file was named after me, my real name. My second was actually my sister’s – she started a file, couldn’t get past the Hammer Brothers, gave it up – and I finished it. From there, I worked through the names of all my friends and family members – couldn’t reuse names, right? How would you ever tell them apart? Then, having tapped the names of everyone I knew in real life at that point, I began to use fictional character names. I had a file for every named character in the game, then I moved on to other games – Street Fighter II, Donkey Kong Country, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct. (Shut up, it was cool at the time.) I fondly remember some of these files – “Guile”, for example, was the first file in which I was able to do 30 Super Jumps and get the Attack Scarf. “Glacius” was my first no-Princess run.

It was about 2000 or so when I adopted the Tanto handle, and began using that name for all my video game save files and main characters. It was about this time that I began to realize that I had been playing Mario RPG a lot. I was a confirmed nerd by this point, and was talking to other gamers, people who only played their games once or twice, or even (and this was the height of decadence for me) didn’t even play them at all, just bought them and chucked them into a backlog. Conveniently, my previous saves had been wiped at this point, so I began to keep a count of how often I played through the game, dubbing files Tanto2, or Tanto10, or whatever. I checked my cartridge before beginning this LP, and I’m up to Tanto28 by this count.

So what do I name this very special playthrough of Mario RPG?



It feels right.



Like all Mario games, this one begins with a kidnapping.

Mario follows in hot pursuit!



After, presumably, charging through eight differently-themed worlds, liberating a bunch of mushroom retainers, and killing off all of Bowser’s offspring, Mario arrives at the dread Bowser’s Keep and bangs on the door.



Bowser’s Keep is a straightforward beginner’s dungeon, only three rooms, no tricks or traps. There are enemies here, but they don’t give you anything for beating them, so it’s usually best to avoid them unless you just want to brush up on your timed hits.



There’s one forced fight, however, against a quartet of Terrapins. These guys are a joke, though, and go down with no real trouble.



Eventually, Mario makes his way to the end and finds that Bowser is holding the Princess hostage on a chandelier, for some reason.

Attacking Bowser here is futile. He doesn’t do much damage, but attacking him will eventually cause your attacks to do no damage. Instead, we have to pound Kinklink, the chain, with our Jump special until it gives way…



I remember thinking this was the height of humor as a kid. I sure was dumb.



Bowser’s chandelier begins to tumble, but he’s not going down without a fight. He throws a couple hammers to break Mario’s own chain, and after a bit of stumbling around by our hero it breaks, as well.



In utter defiance of the laws of gravity, Mario’s chandelier quickly catches up with Bowser’s, and they jaw at each other for a while. Mario, however, is able to jump back up to the Princess in a single bound.

Their joyful reunion, however, is cut short when the castle begins to shake…



Um. Yikes. This isn’t your father’s Mario game, I guess.



The impact of the giant sword crashing into Bowser’s Keep sends Mario flying, conveniently towards his own house.

As if losing the Princess wasn’t bad enough, Mario also has to put up with Toad’s withering snark.

Mario’s Pad has a remix of 1-1 as its music, which I thought was just as cool as all hell back in the day. Yes, referring back to earlier games in a series was once novel!



Toad lampshades Mario’s silent protagonist status, then admonishes him to head right back to Bowser’s Keep and find the Princess. We save, and then head out to do so…



When I grew a little older, it always bugged me that Mario’s Pad was right next to Bowser’s Keep. They’re practically neighbors. Either there’s enough room for eight worlds in between screens here, or Mario just likes to take the long way around during his Princess-saving excursions.



The giant sword (known as Exor, although we won’t officially learn that until much later) informs us that getting in the second time won’t be as easy as it was the first. He’s apparently a member of the “Smithy Gang”, which plans to Take Over The World�. And…



Exor literally talks down the bridge, leaving us stranded outside the gates. It will be a long while before Bowser’s Keep is accessible again.

Yup, he sure does.

Toad gives us a further three Mushrooms for the road and tells us to meet him in Mushroom Kingdom. Before we leave, however, there’s still the problem of Mario’s HP…



So we head into the house and flick the lamp to take a (free) night’s rest.

Technically, since Mario’s Pad is never more than a quick jaunt across the map away, you should never have to pay for an inn, but that’s awfully inconvenient. Actually, I rarely pay for an inn anyway…



On to Mushroom Way…



Mushroom Way is a short, three-“room” intermediary area positioned between Mario’s Pad and the Mushroom Kingdom. It’s crawling with Goombas, Paratroopas (inexplicably called “Sky Troopas” in this game), and Spikeys (presumably Spinies). There’s no real danger here, so we proceed leisurely forward, slaughtering everything in our path.



Mario RPG’s battle system is pretty simplistic… A is normal attacks, Y is special attacks (magic), X is items, and B is “Other” (blocking and running, both of which are mostly useless). All regular attacks and most special attacks can be “timed” for additional damage or an extra effect. Unlike Paper Mario, which has a wide variety of Mario Party-esque motions for its attacks, Mario RPG has only three: press button, hold button and release, and circle the control pad rapidly.

Occasionally, beating an enemy will cause it to release a flower which gives a bonus. This one raises the recipient’s HP to max. The plentitude of these flowers is what makes Mushroom Way virtually impossible to lose.



At level 1, Sky Troopas can’t be killed with a single regular attack, so it’s time to break out Jump. Jump actually increases in power the more you use it… I didn’t learn this until much later, once I started watching speedruns, because I usually drop Jump once Fire Orb and Super Jump become available.



Hey, look, Toad’s being harassed by a Goomba. I bet he regrets that “door” crack he made earlier, huh? Well, I guess we can just leave.

Heh.

You actually can, which stunned me at first. If you do, Toad shows up at Mushroom Kingdom a little worse for the wear but otherwise unharmed, so all’s well that ends well. However, passing up on saving Toad means passing up on the sweet rewards you get for saving him, so I guess we have no choice.



Mario makes it up to level 2 during the fight. He’s able to crush most of the Mushroom Way enemies with ease, now.



In addition, whenever you level up you get to select one category to raise even more. One of the three always grants a better bonus than the other two, and the dirty little secret is that the one to select always goes in the same order. If your level is a multiple of three, pick Special. Multiple of three plus one, go HP. And if it’s a multiple of three minus one, select Attack.

Of course, this goes only for the “balanced” characters, Mario, Mallow, and Geno. Bowser really has no use for special and should be selecting either HP or Attack every time, and the Princess should go with Special every time so her magic is still functional under the Lazy Shell. More on this much later, though.

For saving his worthless hide, Toad gives us a Honey Syrup and scurries on.

Mario can now strike down Sky Troopas in a single timed blow…



Mario can use these twirling flower things to jump up to higher levels. There’s a flower (permanently raises FP) on one of the plateaus, and on another…



Toad needs our help again.



For saving him this time, Toad coughs up a Flower Tab. These items (and their companion items Flower Jars and Flower Boxes) permanently raise FP and completely refill your FP.

The final area of Mushroom Way contains a Lakitu throwing down an endless stream of Spikeys for us to fight.

I think one of the reasons people don’t perceive Mario RPG as a “real” Mario game is because its enemies are so bizarre. This first area tries hard to be a regular Mario level, only in RPG form – Goombas, Koopas, Lakitu – but later ones have some strange enemies. Masked jesters. Gremlins who live inside clusters of diamonds. Samurai ants. The game will occasionally toss in a classic Mario enemy like a Bob-Omb or a Blooper, but the later areas contain monsters almost completely divorced from the classic Mario bestiary. Mario 3 contains 60 distinct enemies, and Mario World contains about 40 more – you’d figure that between those and the usual underground monkeys, you could completely populate a Mario RPG without having to break out the weird stuff.

(Yes, I am aware that “weird” is relative when you’re dealing with Mario.)



Another classic Mario enemy is the Hammer Brother, who waits for us at the end of this area.



Sometimes I think that video games have grown easier as I’ve gotten older. I have this vision from my childhood of new games being these epic adventures that take me weeks upon weeks to master, and I’m always a little disappointed when I find myself at the end of a new one after three days. The latter levels of Super Mario Bros. were like a myth to me – without warping, I couldn’t even sniff them, and if I did warp, I died about ten seconds in every time. It took me a year, on and off, to beat the original Donkey Kong Country. The Arena in Kirby Super Star, weeks. Even later on, Ocarina of Time took me a solid month to finish.

But then I realize that I basically just sucked at video games as a kid. I can do Mario 1 in twenty minutes, these days. DKC, an hour. If it takes me more than ten minutes to do the Arena I consider it a failure. And Ocarina of Time only needs a weekend or so.

But the most telling piece of evidence here is that I lost to the Hammer Bros. as a kid. And to this day, I still don’t know how I did it. Yes, it was my first RPG, but you could knock over the Hammer Bros. with a strong wind.



Anyway… Defeating the Hammer Bros. with a minimum of fuss requires that you jump each one once each, then punch one. This will kill it at any level. (At level 3, a single Jump can kill one.)



The survivor will then use Valor Up, raising its defenses. This is why it’s important to Jump on it before killing the first. If you’ve jumped once, a second Jump should finish off the second.

The Hammer Bros. have an attack called "Hammer Time" but they didn't use it against me this playthrough. More's the pity.

Bringing down the Bros. nets you a fair chunk of coinage, a Flower Jar, and…



One of the Hammer Bros.’s hammers, Mario’s first weapon.



On to the Mushroom Kingdom!



Mario RPG has had less of an influence on the series than most Mario games, I think most people would agree. Because of Nintendo and Square’s dispute, we’re not likely to see Geno, or Boshi, or Jonathan Jones ever again. It has still had some influence, however.

For example: Towns. It seems almost inconceivable now, but Mario RPG is pretty much the first Mario game to show any of the Mushroom Kingdom aside from the parts that Mario was currently smashing, stomping, or scorching. The Mushroom Kingdom of the modern day is a kind of whimsical, ironic place that doesn’t take itself too seriously – and that depiction began with Mario RPG. You’ve got practical jokers, little kids with big dreams, and castle staff – more, in other words, than a collection of Toads saying “Our princess is in another castle”. Mario’s original setting was vague enough that it could have gone in any direction – it could have gone the way of Sonic, trying to use modern technology to tell a “serious” story that doesn’t really fit in with the series’ roots. Mario avoided that, and Mario RPG’s sillier take on Mario’s world is a big reason for that, I think.

For example, part two: Mario as a celebrity.

Mario RPG was the first Mario game that extended his celebrity in the real world to the game world. All of the people in the Mushroom Kingdom recognize Mario on sight, as they should. To them, he’s basically a superhero. The Paper Mario games run with this, using the fact that people don’t recognize Mario to demonstrate how senile or out-of-touch they are.





That’s me, the crusher of dreams…

Hidden treasure chest count: 01/39

Yeah, we’re finding ‘em all. You expected anything less?



Hidden treasure chest count: 02/39

Conveniently, there’s another right here in the room.



The Mushroom Kingdom’s shopkeeper is kind of an asshole… I guess the designers wanted to create NPCs that reacted to your actions, but they couldn’t make every shopkeeper in the game do it, so this is the only one who whines if you climb all over his furniture or talk to him from behind the counter.

Maybe he’s doing it to compensate for his crappy inventory! There’s basically nothing of note here.



Flower Jars are extremely valuable, but I usually sell the first one to give me some walking-around money. As in most RPGs, money is useless late but scarce early, and with the 300 coins we snag from this sale, we can purchase armor for both Mario and Mallow and stock up on Mushrooms, Honey Syrups, and Pick Me Ups, with enough left over to do it again at the next town we come to. This should last us until at least Moleville, and by then we’ll have more efficient ways to earn money. Besides, it’s not like flowers are in short supply.



Indeed it is. It’s the Shirtiest Shirt I’ve ever seen. It is, in fact, the platonic ideal of Shirt-ness. Sure, other Shirts will be better, but none can match this one for pure Shirt flavor.



Mario meets a GameFAQs poster!



Meet Bush!

To most people, this guy is a simple Easter egg, hidden behind a building by the game’s perspective. (There are a few more in Rose Town, in fact.) To me, though, Bush was hope. (Is that the first time those words have ever been written?)

I lost my internet cherry on Nintendo’s official message boards, must’ve been around 1997. Nintendo was in the middle of its N64 hyping phase during this time, but I did not have one, so I spent most of my time skulking around the old SNES boards. During this time, the Super Mario RPG boards were awash with rumors of secret characters. Sure, there were a ton of rumors claiming to get Link or Samus out of bed and into the party, but I don’t believe any character received more bogus rumors than this guy, dubbed Bush. Supposedly, he was some kind of plant-man who used nature magic, and he could be yours if you strummed out a particular tune in Tadpole Pond, or went through a particular sequence of paths in the Forest Maze, or entered a particular code in every building in the game.

Every time someone popped up with a new rumor, I would immediately rush to my maxed-out file and try it out. (People lying? On the internet?) And each time, of course, I would prove that rumor false. After a while, people realized that “codes” that only “worked” in particular windows of time were more difficult to disprove, so they moved to that, and I would start new files just to try their methods. But I kept trying, each time hoping that this would be the real code, the one that worked. This could be because I was/am extremely stupid and gullible. (You decide!) But I like to think that it was because Mario RPG had been such a mind-blowing game to me, so packed with awesome secrets, that I wanted to believe that there was still something out there that I hadn’t yet seen. Grate Guy’s Casino amazed me. Culex shocked me. Why not hidden characters?

I kind of miss those days, when I was so filled with wonder. It’s tough to surprise me these days, and I yearn for the time when even the most basic RPG tropes were cool and new to me. That’s what Bush was to me – the promise that there was something beyond heaven and earth than was dreamt of in my philosophies.

Toad is waiting for us in the lobby of the castle.



Hidden treasure chest count: 03/39

By far the most-missed hidden treasure chest in the game, this one is just bad game design. It can only be gotten right now, at this very moment, by jumping on Toad’s head as he runs to the door, then jumping from there to an invisible platform where you can get the chest. This is completely unintuitive, is never hinted at in any way, and you never get another chance at it. Bah.



What is the Princess’s “???”? Lingerie? Dirty pornographic magazines? Plans to depose the Chancellor in a violent coup? We’ll never know, because her chambermaid bribes us with a Mushroom to keep it quiet.



The Chancellor and a collection of superfluous Toads await us in the throne room.

Fascist Toads, who try to make us go up the middle.



I, however, can break through their oppression and jump up to the throne! Ha ha ha!

…Actually, though, there’s nothing to do up here. Onwards:



The Chancellor, of course, is completely clueless regarding the giant sword which split the sky.

I like to think that “drop my spores” is a mushroom euphemism for “defecated myself”.



What’s that, boy? Trouble at the old mill?

Anyway, Mario eventually explains about the kidnapping, and the sword, and the destruction of the bridge. The Chancellor, being completely impotent, sends Mario to do the princess-saving thing once again.

The Chancellor gives us a (completely useless, as it’s not like we can ever get lost) Map, as well as permission to loot the vault.



The Vault Guard gives us a lecture straight out of Things What Live In Boxes 101.

Loaded down with new stuff, we head outside, and find that…



A robbery is in progress!

Mallow takes it like a man, though:



Mallow’s ability to control the weather via his emotions was a big deal in the advertising runup for the game, but it doesn’t actually show up that much in-game. It’s basically just here, and another throwaway gag later in the game…

Mallow explains the situation: He was in town to buy some things for his grandfather, but Croco, that purple, top-hatted crocodile we spotted earlier, made off with the old man’s rare coin. Mallow recruits us to help him win it back.



Whoo!

Mallow is probably the second-weakest party member with everything taken all together, but bad help is better than no help. His strength is magic, but he’s really slow and will be obsoleted by Geno before too much longer. We mustn’t forget to equip Mallow with the Pants and Antidote Pin we bought earlier, though.



If you talk to the shopkeep with Mallow in your party, he gives you a Pick Me Up pro-bono to assist in the “get back Mallow’s coin” effort.



On our way out, we spot Croco again. Seems he’s headed for Bandit’s Way, so we follow in hot pursuit.



Croco tries to warn us off chasing him, but we’re not so easily deterred.

With his new Hammer, Mario is now a physical-attacking machine. Mallow can help out with his stretchy unarmed punches, but his real strength is magic.



This is the optimal enemy group in Bandit’s Way, offering the best experience and coins gain, but still weak enough that we can kill it in one turn.



Attack the giant reptilian Frogog with the Hammer, then wipe out the rest of the group with Mallow’s hit-all spell, a timed Thunderbolt.

A few fights into Bandit’s Way and Mario levels up. He also learns his first new move, Fire Orb. All of Mario’s special moves are variations on either Jump or Fire Orb.



Couldn’t jump? Good sir, have you ever played a Mario game before?



Hidden treasure chest count: 04/39

By jumping straight right from a spinning flower, we reveal a hidden treasure box containing a Kerokerocola, which completely refills all HP and FP for all characters. Since I’m generally not a fan of the Princess, Colas take care of most of my healing needs in the late game.



These dog-like enemies, K-9s, are the strongest enemies in Bandit’s Way. (The Frogogs look big and tough, but are fairly weak.) Even these, however, are pretty easy to dispatch.

Mallow reaches level 3 and learns the healing spell HP Rain. HP Rain is useful in exactly one fight, but besides that? Eh.



I beg to differ!



This treasure chest contains a Star, which allows us to beat enemies (and gain experience!) without fighting for as long as it lasts. It’s not broken or anything, but it’s a major time-saver.



I don’t usually go out of my way to get to level 4 before Croco, but it’s certainly helpful.

Our first status effect! Mario is currently “scared”, which halves his offensive and defensive abilities. Mario and Mallow are both wearing Antidote Pins, which prevents poison. We’ll run into Pins which do the same for all status effects later on.



It turns out that you actually have to sneak up on him. If you approach Croco from the back, you get this…



But if he spots you, you get this:



It took me several playthroughs before I realized this. Before, I just charged Croco endlessly until he deigned to fight me. After sneaking up on him three times, however:

This came completely out of nowhere.



Croco is extremely weak to fire, so the best way to bring him down is to spam Fire Orb. Tapping Y allows you to throw more fireballs.



Mallow is almost completely useless, however. His regular attack, seen here, is weak, and Thunderbolt competes with Fire Orb for FP. His best use is to use Honey Syrups to make sure Mario can Fire Orb without missing a beat.


Fire Orbing Croco results in him skipping his first turn as he “douses a tail fire”. Mack, the next boss, does this as well.

Croco has a weak regular attack and a stronger bomb attack. The bomb can beat Mallow easily if you forgot to equip him with armor.



You’ll know Croco’s almost done when he uses the Weird Mushroom spell to heal himself. At that point, he’s about two Fire Orbs away from going down.



Mission accomplished!



Croco spoils include a Flower Tab and a Wallet that the crocodile presumably swiped from someone else. Finders keepers!



Mallow announces that he’s heading back to the Mushroom Kingdom to finish his errand. Conveniently, a Warp Spring appears, allowing us to instantly warp back to the entrance of this area.

However, things are not as we left them in the Mushroom Kingdom. The place has been overrun with Shyguys on springs, known as Shysters.



Shysters have a regular attack and the Drain spell, neither of which is much of a threat. Mallow’s Thunderbolt can wipe out a Shyster group of any size in one shot, provided that he has either a) reached level 4 or better, or b) given at least one level-up bonus to Special.



Yeah, an invasion of spring-loaded evildoers’ll do that.



The guard also gives us ten coins. Gee, and all we had to do to save the price of a Honey Syrup is save his miserable life.



Heh. Looks like Mallow’s errand will have to wait.

It’s possible (and easy) to rush straight to Mack, the boss of the Shysters, and finish him off right away. However, doing so forces us to pass up on some of the treasures that saving the citizens brings in. Saving this guy and returning his Wallet, for example, nets us a Flower Tab.



Heh.



I pray for Shyster trios, because they give more experience than the normal duo without any extra effort to dispatch.



You heard the man.


Clearing the house of Shysters earns us another Flower Tab.

The Shysters have also invaded the castle, but they’re no more dangerous in there.



Soon after entering, Mario and Mallow both hit level 5.



By defeating the Shysters chasing Toad and then escorting him to the Princess’s bedroom, we can uncover a save point and a heal spot.



We can also pick up a third Flower Tab. Score!

Thanks for the contribution, dude.



We make our way back down to the guest bedroom, where the Vault Guard pauses in his tale of good fortune only to give us a Wake Up Pin, which prevents Sleep and Silence. It also raises defense more than the Antidote Pins we’re currently wearing, so on to Mallow it goes.



Except me!

We’re out of treasure to find and people to save, so there’s no help for it – I’m going to have to grind out a level against the endless stream of Shysters pouring in from the throne room. The difference between facing down Mack at level 5 and doing it at level 6 is like night and day, so I always make sure I’m there before I fight him. Level 6 is where Mario picks up Super Jump, the predecessor to the Power Bounce skills from the Paper Mario games. If you get a timed hit with Super Jump, Mario bounces and gets another hit; you can do this endlessly if your timing is good enough.

Grinding leaves kind of a bad taste in my mouth, but I promise not to gain another level until after we get Geno to make up for it. Deal?



Mack and the Shysters in the throne room seem quite content with their conquest. Time to break it up!



Mack is your classic flunky boss – he surrounds himself with four Shysters and replenishes them periodically. They’re slightly stronger than the normal Shysters we fought outside, but at level 5 Mallow can still one-shot them with Thunderbolt.



Wiping out Mack’s minions “stuns” him, evidently.

Mack is the first “real” boss in the game, using fire-themed spells and wave after wave of Shysters to attack. Irritatingly, I also encountered another hurdle: The emulator I’m using has just enough lag to throw off my Super Jump timing, and I was unable to get more than about ten bounces at a time. This lengthens the fight considerably.



I love this. Raging wall of flame, one damage. Behold the power of Shirt.



Super Jump, even at its reduced bouncing capabilities, is still stronger than regular Jump or Fire Orb, and we have little trouble bringing down the first Smithy Gang member.



The experience from the fight is enough to get Mallow up to level 6. Mallow learns “Psychopath”, which allows him to see the remaining HP of enemies, as well as (if timed) read their thoughts.

Floating behind the throne is a Star Piece. We don’t know what it’s for yet, but it sure is shiny, huh?



Two of Mack’s surviving flunkies quickly bail, mentioning something about informing the boss. Dun dun dun.



Now that the invasion thing is cleared up, Chancellor sends us in search of the Princess again. Mallow suggests meeting with his grandfather, Frogfucius, for advice on what to do next. We don’t have any better ideas, so that’s our next destination.



Next time: Beware the forest’s mushrooms