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

Q*bert

I thought that to.

Her *ahem* Frog Stick?

DON'T THINK YOU WEREN'T THINKING THAT AS WELL.

Damn, I need to check in here more often, even if doing so reminds me of the shame that was my X-Com LP that was forgotten in the midst of changing jobs over the summer. This is great, great stuff.

The update is again late because Real Life has been kicking my ass as of late. Does anyone have any hints for dealing with Real Life? I just can’t beat Real Life; it’s just too hardcore. They should really consider banning Real Life in order to stabilize the metagame.

When we last left off at Super Mario RPG, Booster had spirited away the Princess to the wedding halls of Marrymore to subject her to a fate worse than death. The ceremony will begin any second now, so it’s up to us to—



…Did someone say four-star hotels? Screw you, Princess, I was born to live a life of luxury!



The inn here at Marrymore has bought out the shop in a hostile takeover, so they’re both in the same place. The inn is more interesting than your usual “Pay X coins to sleep” joint, but we’ll get to that after checking out the wares the shop has on hand.



…Which is to say, not too much. The Super Hammer and the Chomp Shell are both weaker than the weapons we found in Booster Tower, and the Happy line doesn’t stand a chance against the Work Pants, so the only things we really need to buy here are the Hand Gun and the Whomp Glove, new weapons for Geno and Mallow respectively. (And we may not ever even use the latter.)

The B’Tub Ring is a Princess-exclusive accessory that is used to unlock a special item later on. Look for it in the random weirdness update.



The Marrymore Hotel has two room options: A standard bed for ten coins, and the luxurious suite for a whopping 200. The suite is surprisingly boring for having such an exorbitant price, but management is spicing it up by giving Flower Tabs to anyone looking to splurge on it. (If you stay three times, you snag a Flower Jar; five times, a Flower Box.) After making a reservation, a bellhop leads us up to the top floor.



Hidden treasure chest count: 21/39

On the way, we stop in the regular room to laugh at the plebians and uncover a hidden treasure chest.



One of the myriad of things I cut from the first update was this guy, an NPC first encountered in the inn at Mushroom Kingdom. During Mack’s invasion, he announced big plans to make a wad, but instead of going to, say, Rose Way, he’s opted instead to seek out the legendary Grate Guy’s Casino, the only hidden area in the game. As we can plainly see, he’s not having much luck. The Casino is a massive disappointment, but it contains one extremely valuable item, so we’ll be looking it up when the time comes.



The suite has a ton of cute little touches, like a shower, room service, and a complimentary bathrobe. Still not worth the 200 coins, but hey.



Whenever you summon a bellhop to your room, even if it’s just to mess with them, they ask (tastefully, of course) for a tip of ten coins. You should always pay them, not just because Zarathustra will come in and yell at you if you don’t, but for other reasons as well, as we’ll soon see.



You guys can’t hear it, but whenever Mario uses the shower, he whistles the theme to 1-1. (This was called back to in Thousand-Year Door.) In addition, when he emerges he’s all red-faced. Sadly, the bathrobe is evidently the wrong size.



The real reason to stay in the suite, besides the complimentary Flower items, is room service. It’s selling Pick Me Ups at twice the normal price, but Kerokero Colas at a 75% discount. Still, we’d have to buy at least five to see any overall savings, considering it cost us 200 coins just to get in the door. I mostly just use the suite so that I can sell the Goodie Bag right away and free up that item slot.



After a good night’s sleep, we head downstairs and compliment the bellhop on his service. If you’ve been tipping diligently, the bellhop will usually give you an additional complimentary item like a Max Mushroom or a Red Essence as a reward, so be generous.



One more thing before saving the Princess: We head back to Booster Pass. The “loud noise” we heard when we flipped that switch was evidently this new area opening up, which contains a Frog Coin, a Flower, a Kerokero Cola, and a Snifit Apprentice. (More on him later.)



Talk to any of the people clustered around outside the chapel to set off the next event. Raz and Raini (another casualty of my first update cuts) are kicked out mid-vow and the door sealed. We’ll have to find another way in.



Yeah, well, not if we have anything to say about it.



The Snifits are guarding the main door, but their lax approach to security has created a hole in the perimeter. We head around back and enter through the basement.

…Where a pair of chefs are putting the finishing touches on Booster’s wedding cake.

Hm, that cake looks so tasty; I can’t stop myself…



Heh.



Our fun with the chefs complete, we head into the lobby, which is currently deserted but for an overly-suspicious Snifit. Even the fireplace is cold.



Snifit #1 is a little slow on the uptake and warns us not to get involved.



He has no idea who he’s dealing with!



Good ol’ Number One resolves to go warn Booster, but #2 is doing just as good a job blocking the second door as 1 was doing with the first. Thus stymied, #1 takes the only sensible option: Enlist the intruder’s help to bash the door down.



In this event, you have run towards the door, timing yourself so as to reach it at the same time the Snifit does. Snifit #1 runs at the same speed you do, so as long as you start moving at the right time, you shouldn’t have any problems. Snifit #1 jumps (in his dainty, floaty Snifit way) right before he’s about to charge.



We bash through the door with no problem, and send the Snifits flying through the third door as well.





The good news is that we’ve got Booster and Co. cornered in the main hall. The bad news is that they’ve locked the door again. Before proceeding, we save and suit up our team in the proper equipment.



The boss that lies beyond uses both fear and sleep. Fear (in the form of the Sand Storm spell) is far more common, but sleep is more debilitating, so we need both Fearless and Wake Up Pins. I used to take all Fearless, but the boss put all my characters to sleep once and I’ve been paranoid about him ever since. Geno Boost cancels out fear anyway, so even if Bowser is scared, we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.



Listening at the door reveals that the Snifits don’t consider Mario much of a threat, but Bowser seems like another story.



Bowser, flattered by the compliment, offers to batter down this door as well. Well, this is why we brought him, I suppose…



Evidently the church’s lock is more substantial than the one at Booster Tower, because Bowser is unable to break it down alone. Eventually he swallows his pride and asks Mario for help… in his own way.

This is a repeat of the door-breaking event from before, with the difference that you have less space in which to run. Bowser snaps his fingers twice before charging.

The concerted effort of Mario and Bowser allows us to break into the main hall, sending the Snifits, Booster, and the Princess flying.



It also causes the Princess to lose her various accessories.

This next part… Well, the problem with scenes that contain large quantities of Booster, as this next one does, is that there isn’t a lot that I, your intrepid LPer, can say about them. I just have to get out of the way and let them move forward, and so I shall.

The Snifits go scurrying around the hall, eventually picking up all of the Princess’s fallen gear, save one.



This next part is severely irritating. You have to run around and talk to the Snifits to get the accessories back, but they move erratically and at extremely high speeds, even jumping over the pews, so it’s difficult to pin them down. On top of that, you have very little time to collect all four objects and still get the “something good” the voiceover promises you.



My advice is to mostly stay in the middle and wait for the Snifits to come out. The Snifits usually don’t spend a whole lot of time amidst the pews without returning to the center, but they do seem more likely to jump to another row if you try to corner them there. Instead of wasting a lot of time chasing them all over the room, stay calm, remain patient, and wait for one of them to pass near you. Then intercept him and grab his accessory.



The Crown, at least, is always easy to get, resting serenely on Booster’s head once you’ve picked up the other three.



You got it, big guy. Hand over the dame, or we’re going at it.



The Princess is thrilled to see us, but is less than enthused to see our new friend.



The Princess begins to offer us a little sugar, but…



Bowser and Booster want in on it as well.



This is actually the reward you get for collecting the accessories quickly. As time passes during that event, the candles light. Depending on how many candles are lit when you collect the Crown, a different person kisses Mario, like so:

1-2 candles: Princess
3-4 candles: Bowser
5-6 candles: Booster
7-8 candles: Bowser and Booster

Mario RPG remains the only game in the series where you can make Mario and Bowser kiss.



We played the accessory-collecting event well, so Bowser and Booster find themselves in an awkward situation.



The Princess shows no mercy.

We’re just about to leave, when…



The chefs we ran into earlier arrive with the completed cake.



They’re a little distressed to find the hall empty, though.



They seem to be taking this surprisingly hard.



Look, buddy, I’ll have a slice if that’s all—



Crap, they’re fighting us!

The battle against the cake begins with the two chefs attacking you. They’re weak, but completely invulnerable to damage, so focus your attacks on the cake instead.



This is also a good time to do your Geno Boosting, while it’s safe to do.



After pounding on the cake for a while, it shakes ominously. The apprentice takes notice and tries to warn Torte. The master chef pays him no heed, however.



One attack later…



And the apprentice tries again.



Hard to argue with that logic, I guess…



This time, however, the cake begins moving in earnest, and the chefs take off, leaving us to deal with their horrible mutant creation. Imagine if the military got their hands on this deadly confectionary technology?



The cake is actually two enemies, Bundt and Raspberry. They can both attack, but we can’t attack Raspberry (the base) until we’ve dealt with Bundt (the face). To destroy Bundt, you must attack it while all its candles are out. An attack, regardless of strength, will blow out one of Bundt’s five candles, but Bundt re-lights one of them every turn, so this takes a while. Meanwhile, both halves of the cake are spamming powerful magic at you.



Magic such as Sand Storm, which causes fear, and Elegy, which induces sleep.



Finally chomping down on Bundt allows us to attack Raspberry directly. Raspberry’s a more conventional foe, with 900-ish HP. Regular attacks are the best method of disposing of him.



Raspberry has most of the powerful spells, so you have to be cautious and keep your health up.

Eventually, we battle the cake to a stalemate, and the Snifits arrive on the scene.

The Snifits’ cute little rhyme is interrupted by the arrival of their boss.





The concept of cutting the cake into slices has evidently never occurred to these morons, so the Snifits begin to debate the best way to eat it. Snifit #1 suggests boiling it, which I don’t understand at all, but #2 has a better idea:







Eventually the Snifits toss the struggling cake into the air…



And Booster chows down. Um.





And thus ends the Great Booster Wedding.

The experience from the food fight pushes Mario up to level 11.



Evidently in Booster’s neck of the woods you only need a girl to stand there while you eat cake, as he’s happy to leave her to us once the party’s over.



The Princess joins us for the brief trek back to the Mushroom Kingdom.




Once we step outside the hall, we find Raz and Raini and the other wedding guests. They’re anxious to get back to their own wedding, so we leave them to it.



But not without blessing their union. I think it goes without saying that Mario is an ordained minister.



Note also this asshole in the corner, pretending to be Toadofsky. Look, buddy, I know Toadofsky. He’s got a weird haircut and bobs his head a lot, and you, my friend, are no Toadofsky.



I feel compelled to ruin his little show here.



Outside we have a nice little commemorative portrait.

This next bit is one of my favorites. Most areas with two exits have an “entrance” and an “exit”. Even though the two are functionally identical (both lead back to the map), one technically leads “away” from the area you’re in, and the other leads “back”. We’re required by the plot to go “back” at this point, but if we try to leave Marrymore by the “exit”, we get this scene:



Note that this is the only time Mallow or Geno have anything at all to say about the Princess-rescuing plot. Annoyed that their blatant attempts at but thou must-ing didn’t work…



…They simply block off the offending exit.



Leaving Marrymore by its “entrance” will automatically drop us off at Mushroom Kingdom.



There, the guy we returned the wallet to so long ago has found a Flower Jar in it (?), which he returns to us. Hey, whatever.



That’s me, the crusher of dreams…



In the castle, Toad is quick to welcome us back.

He is of course stunned to find that we have rescued the Princess. It only stands to reason, I guess; the Princess spends so little time here that her subjects probably forget what she looks like…



When I was a kid I was utterly baffled as to why the Princess made her grandma work as a chambermaid. I figure that this is actually a translation quirk; the Princess probably called this woman by some kind of affectionate honorific, which was translated more or less literally…



The Princess also gets very offended if you examine her “???”.



We finally head into the throne room for a long bout of exposition.



Bullshit!



The Princess finally asks the million-dollar question.



The other members of Mario’s party finally make an appearance.



Bowser’s presence understandably unnerves the mushroom retainers. This is very entertaining; can we get on with this?




The Princess demands an explanation, but Bowser is too embarrassed to give one.



Mallow steps in and offers a brief summation of the Story So Far, explaining the events at Bowser’s Keep, the destruction of the Star Road, and the machinations of Smithy.

I think this speaks for itself.

The Princess then asks Mallow and Geno what their deal is. Mallow gives her the sob story about his parents, and Geno explains about the Star Road. Or at least he thinks he does…





Geno tries to clarify, but then Bowser jumps in.

Character-driven wackiness out of the way, the Princess has made up her mind:




But the Chancellor isn’t having any of it.



Rather than get into a fight over it, the Princess has a sudden spell of exhaustion and takes her leave.



After the Princess leaves, the Chancellor finally puts two and two together and realizes that Mack and Co. were Smithy’s underlings. With this bit of intelligence, he orders us to go take out Smithy. Thanks for that, but…

Also note that we never have to talk to the Chancellor again. Huzzah!



Yeah, right. Because as soon as we step outside…



The Princess floats down and demands to go with us.



Seeing as how we don’t have any leads, Mallow suggests heading over to Tadpole Pond and asking Frogfucius.



The Princess is a dedicated healer character with no uses outside that. Her Therapy, Group Hug, and Come Back spells are extremely powerful, but she has no offensive potential to speak of. Take a good look at those last several shots, because we won’t be seeing her again for quite a while.



Stopping by Tadpole Pond reveals that Frogfucius does indeed have a tip for us: The next star’s in a place called Star Hill. (You do have to go ask Frogfucius — Star Hill doesn’t open up otherwise.)

As you can see, Star Hill is big and blue and littered with stars…



To get anywhere in Star Hill, you have to “talk” to these little flowers, lighting them. Only then do the doors to the next area open.



Geno offers us a little exposition as soon as we enter Star Hill proper, revealing that this is where wishes go after they’re granted. A wish retirement home, of sorts. Except, now that the Star Road is shattered, some wishes are ending up here even though they haven’t been granted yet, as we’ll soon see.



The cool thing about Star Hill is that if you see a star with a face on it, you can talk to it and hear its wish. Almost all the wishes are from people we’ve met in our quest. Some of them are just for fun, but others, like this one, give hints. This is Frogfucius’s wish, telling us to keep an eye out for Cricket Jam for him.



Of course, you have to figure that people aren't too thrilled to hear about you eavesdropping on their wishes.



The Star Hill is a weird place. The enemies here are weak, but strange—like these Crook repaints, Sackets, as well as mastodon skeletons and burrowing gophers. In addition, the terrain is difficult to negotiate in some places, since you can’t cross certain craters. Also, the area is entirely one-way; you can’t backtrack, nor can you exit without finding the star. There are no items and no boss. Like I said, weird.



Yikes!



Mallow eventually shakes off his depression and resolves to hurry on.

This is the only reference to Luigi in the whole game. He appears in the ending and in the manual, but this is the only mention of him in the game itself.

If you think about it, Luigi as we know him today was developed during this period. You might remember that there was a long stretch of games in the mid-90s — this game, Yoshi’s Island, Mario 64 — where Luigi appeared in cameo roles at best. There was a real concern at the time that Luigi was slipping away and being forgotten — I remember reading a lot of letters to the editor in Nintendo Power asking why Luigi wasn’t in more games.

In retrospect, we can see that the Mario series (and by that I mean the main series, not the Kart/Party/Sports games) was in a transitional phase. They were moving from being all things to all people to being more single-player/adventure oriented, a trend that continues to this day. Before this change, Luigi was basically Mario 2 — he was there so that we could have two-player. The removal of focus from cooperative play, however, allowed Luigi to transition from being “Player 2” to his own character. And this real-word sense of underdog-ness was added into Luigi’s character, as he began to develop a second-banana complex, becoming jealous of his more famous brother. It’s an interesting transition to examine.



I’m not sure whose wish this is. My intuition is that it’s Gaz, but I’m not sure.



If you try to leave without collecting the Star Piece, Geno will yell at you.



Of course, it’s not like the Star is that hard to find. It’s just sitting there.



I’ve always found this Star Piece to be a bit odd. It’s so underdeveloped — almost as if the designers wanted to throw us a bone after the whole Booster/Princess scenario.



Next time: Here’s some weapons

I think "I hope I become famous" is Toadofsky's. You should show off all the wishes, though; the way they call back to bit characters is very interesting.

And don't forget to go back to the castle and see how Peach is keeping anyone from missing her.

Hahahahahaha

I remember the part about Booster thinking the Princess was leaking, but I had forgotten that he tasted her tears. How creepy!

Well, see, Toadofsky already has another wish that can basically only be his, so I don't think it's him. Here it is:



And the rest:

Raz and Raini


Torte


Belome


Stair guy in Rose Town


Yoshi


I think that's all of them...

Don't worry; it's on tap for the end.

Ah, I'd forgotten that one.


Awesome.

I always thought that the more candles that were lit, the better you could see in the chapel. Thus, you would be more likely to be kissed by Princess Toadstool. I have gotten every kind of configuration, but I was never sure how I got them. Thanks for clearing up how the game works!

Short update today, with not a lot of action, but I couldn’t justify mashing it together with either the previous update or the next one, so it gets its own day in the sun. On the other hand, we take our first steps towards breaking the game wide open in this update, so maybe it’s more important than it seems?



After snagging the fourth Star Piece at Star Hill, we climb down to the seashore, where the happy Seaside Town awaits us.



Sadly, Seaside Town is playing the “The Smithy Gang is attacking this town” music, so we know something’s up.



Seaside Town is full of shops, but most of them aren’t open for business at the moment. The people inside are…



Well, let’s just say they’re a little odd. Yeah, standing on the bookshelves is real normal.



I sense something is afoot.



The inn here is free, but…



…You have to put up with the innkeeper’s freaky voyeurism as part of the deal.



My finely tuned investigative senses lead me to a suspicious-looking building on the west side of town, but it’s blocked by two goons, and locked besides.



The town’s famous seashore is deserted, but… It’s deserted normally, too, so no help there.



The only shop here is weird, as well. It’s the only place in the game where you can just flat-out buy Bombs instead of screwing around with point-swapping or Yoshi Cookies or whatever. It also sells the prophetically-named Bad Mushroom (poisons one foe; exactly as useful as it sounds) and the odd Muku Cookie item, which summons the Mukumuku monster from Star Hill to… restore your HP, I think? It’s been forever since I used it. It must not be very exciting because I don’t remember anything about it, aside from its animation.



One of the definitely-not-evil townsfolk directs us to the Elder, who lives in a house in the north part of town. Onwards, then.

The Elder is plainly evil and an imposter, but at least he can form a coherent sentence. He tells us that the fifth Star has fallen into the sea, and claims that a pirate by the name of Jonathan Jones has gotten his mitts on it. The Elder needs it for a “certain purpose” (which is surely not grabbing it and running back to Smithy, we can only assume) and tells us to go fetch. Alright, chief, whatever you say.



Upstairs awaits the only friendly face in Seaside Town at the moment, a former tadpole who we evidently met back in Tadpole Pond, though damned if I remember him. It seems his philosophy degree isn’t much help in finding a job in this economy, so he’s pawning unique items for Frog Coins in order to make ends meet.



Of these five items, three — See Ya, Earlier Times, and Coin Trick — are virtually useless. See Ya allows you to run away from any battle that doesn’t have the “Can’t run!” status (read: bosses), and as enemies prevent you from running more and more frequently as the game progresses, it’s a necessity if you run away a lot. However, we’re basically past the point where you should be running for any reason whatsoever, so it’s worthless. See Ya used to be one of my first purchases in every playthrough, but I can’t see myself ever using it these days.

Coin Trick is an accessory that can only be equipped on Mario. It doubles the amount of coins you earn from battle, but coins are so plentiful in this game that I can’t really justify sacrificing Mario’s accessory slot for it.

Earlier Times, meanwhile, starts the battle over… but it doesn’t heal you, revive fallen party members, or give you back any of your spent items. In other words, it’s like a Kerokero Cola for your opponents. I honestly wonder if some tired programmer forgot to carry the one on that one, because it’s completely useless. I sometimes wonder if Intelligent Systems included the Trial Stew in Thousand-Year Door just so that Earlier Times would no longer have the distinction of being the most worthless item in the Mario RPGs.



The real treasures here are the Experience Booster and the Scrooge Ring. The Experience Booster is as broken as it gets; it doubles the experience gained by the equipped character, turning them into an unstoppable machine of destruction in no time at all. I like to equip it on Geno so that I can get my hands on the two most useful spells in the game as soon as possible. The Experience Booster turns the rest of the game into a snap.

Its only weakness is that it has no defensive abilities whatsoever, and we’re about to move into one of the most dangerous combat areas in the game. But that’s a small price to pay for completely destroying the game’s balance.

As for the Scrooge Ring, it halves the FP cost of the equipped character’s special moves. Sounds great, but to use it you have to sacrifice the accessory slot and FP refills are plentiful, so even I, who would like to give Geno Whirl and Geno Blast a big smooch on the cheek, don’t have much of a use for it. You can grind out 50 Frog Coins on Land’s End if you really have your heart set on it, but I don’t think it’s worth it.

Note also that for all the Frog Coins the game throws at us — they’re the prize in almost every minigame, hidden in almost every hidden treasure chest, and there’re a few additional ways to collect them besides — this place and the Frog Coin Emporium back at Tadpole Pond are the only places where you can actually spend them. (Oh, and you can bet them at the Casino, but you just win more Frog Coins, so it’s kind of pointless.) And once you’ve got your hands on the Experience Booster (which only costs 22) the other prizes you can buy pale in comparison. You’d think there’d be an extra shop where we could buy Rock Candies or Kerokero Colas or something, but no: This is it.

Ah, well.



We’ve done everything we can do here for the moment, so to the Sea.



Note that despite the name, the Sea is mostly just a short network of flooded caverns.



The first room, however, contains a Shaman who’s set up shop. He has a more well-rounded selection than the fake shop in Seaside Town, so we take a look at what he’s got to offer.

Most of his inventory is recycled from the Marrymore shop, but he has a few interesting things on hand. What we need here is the coolest weapon in the game, the Hurly Gloves, the Sailor Shirt, and the Sailor Pants. The Sailor Cape has only the slightest of defensive boosts on the Work Pants and lacks its boosts to attack and speed, so Geno keeps his pair for the moment. As for the Nautica(l) Dress, by the time we actually need to use the Princess we’ll have access to better armor (a few times over, actually), so we save our money and pass up the new Dress.



As thanks for our patronage, the Shaman gives us dire warning about the giant squid who brought down the Sunken Ship, and the grisly fates of those who meant to explore it. Uh, thanks, I guess.

The next room is swarming with Zeostars, but it also has a Star, so we grab it and wipe out every enemy in the room. The Experience Booster is going overtime…



…Pushing Geno up to level 11, at which point he gains the awesome Geno Whirl spell. The sheer amount of awesomeness that Geno Whirl brings us cannot be summed up in mere words; you have to experience it.



Geno Whirl is a bit of an odd spell. Untimed, it’s very weak, worse certainly than a fully-charged Geno Beam, and it doesn’t have any special properties. Moreover, it costs a relatively expensive 8 FP. I couldn’t figure this spell out as a kid; there had to be more to it.

There was. And when I learned what it was, it changed the game for me.

You see, if you time Geno Whirl correctly, it does 9999 damage. To everything. (Okay, not bosses.) But once you’ve mastered the timing for Geno Whirl, you can cut down literally everything in your path in one shot, no problems. If I run into an enemy in the field that takes more than two regular attacks to bring down, I’ll usually just Whirl it and save myself some trouble. And the way the screen flashes and those nines pop up? Exhilarating. Geno Whirl is the second-best spell in the game; it’s useless against bosses, but I usually end up casting it probably more times than any other spell in the game. Major time-saver. (Except maybe the best spell in the game, but I’ll get to that next time.)



Oh, and the Princess got to level 10 or whatever.



Also, the Hurly Gloves we bought for Bowser earlier? Coolest weapon in the game. He picks up Mario bodily and throws him at the enemy. I don’t have to explain how awesome that is, I think.

(If Mario has some kind of status effect, Bowser throws the Mario doll instead. Which is hugely disappointing.)



We take a brief detour off the beaten path to grab these treasure boxes…



Recall that in the Kero Sewers, Mario couldn’t dive, so we had to go out of our way to drain the sewers so that we could proceed. The Sea, however, is dotted with these little whirlpools…



…Which pull Mario to the bottom and allow him to walk on the ocean floor.



There’s actually a hidden exit here; if you head over to the corner and jump in the room beyond…



You’ll end up in the top of this chamber, where a Max Mushroom awaits.



We finally exit the Sea caves to more water, whirlpools, and Bloopers.

Underwater, we head west to the Sunken Ship and enter through the crow’s nest, launching us into the deadliest dungeon in all of Super Mario RPG. A dungeon that we’ll explore… in our next installment.

Next time: Fight against a somewhat stronger monster

Mallow may be useless most of the time, but my most recent playthrough, I found that the Sea and the Sunken Ship are a place where he really shines. Thunderbolt can wipe out most of the enemies - indeed, a nice portion of the encounters - in those areas with a single hit. It's about the last point in the game where he's worth picking.

This is roughly the point I got in my Fun Club playthrough before I got distracted. By the way, does Geno Whirl work against Hidon, by any chance? :3c

Yeah, I always liked that he was kind of brought back to the forefront for this bit, since Bowser's appearance (and kill power) means he got pushed well into the background.

So...many...POSTS!

In retrospect, the whole cake thing was kind of...awesome, but...why was it alive? i mean, I love it, but it was kind of random to be attacked, and the revelation of the killer cake scene...

...

Well, Booster is awesome! When food attacks, EAT IT!

And what about the secret character Justin Bailey? She can only be around during a certain section of the game- and I think you passed it >_>.

Not quite. She appears randomly in between the end of the Princess-rescuing sequence and the collection of the sixth star. I'll be checking back every time I go to the map between now and then.