-+-+-+-+ PAPER MARIO +-+-+-+-
The Thousand-Year Door
Boss Guide
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
===============
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===============
Introduction [.1]
Version History [.2]
E-Mails and Whatnot [.3]
General Boss Strategies [.4]
Bosses [.5]
Lord Crump (Prologue) [lrdcrmp1]
Blooper (Prologue) [blpr]
Two Bald Clefts (Chapter 1) [twbldclfts]
Two Bristles (Chapter 1) [twbrstls]
Gold Fuzzy (Chapter 1) [gldfzzy]
Red Bones (Chapter 1) [rdbns]
HOOKTAIL (Chapter 1) [hktl]
Shadow Sirens (Chapter 2) [shdwsrns1]
MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE (Chapter 2) [mgnsvngrppl1]
Iron Clefts (Chapter 3)
Bowser (Chapter 3) [bwsr1]
Rawk Hawk (Chapter 3) [rwkhwk]
MACHO GRUBBA (Chapter 3) [mchgrbb]
????? (Chapter 4) [?????]
DOOPLISS (Chapter 4) [dplss]
CORTEZ (Chapter 5) [crtz]
Lord Crump (Chapter 5-ish) [lrdcrmp2]
SMORG (Chapter 6) [smrg]
MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE 2.0 (Chapter 7)[mgnsvngrppl2]
Dark Bones (Chapter 8) [drkbns]
Gloomtail (Chapter 8) [glmtl]
Shadow Sirens (Chapter 8) [shdwsrns2]
Sir Grodus (Chapter 8) [srgrds]
Bowser (Chapter 8) [bwsr2]
ShAdOw QuEeN (Chapter 8) [showqn]
Optional Bosses [.6]
Gus [gs]
Clefts [clfts]
Atomic Boo [atmcb]
Embers [mbrs]
X-Yuxes [xyxs]
Bonetail [bntl]
FAQ [.7]
Special Thanks [.8]
Goodbye [.9]
===============
INTRODUCTION [.1]
===============
This is my third GameFAQs guide. I noticed that GameFAQs had
only one boss guide, so I decided to write this. Welcome.
Are you struggling to get past a boss and need help?
Need a strategy for future reference? Or are you just plain
bored? I hope this guide can fix all your answers and needs,
since that’s what it was created for.
We’ll be going over the bosses of the game, big and
little. I’ll cover their HP, attack, and defense first, then
their attacks, then when you encounter them, then some
strategy on how to defeat them. Finally comes a little
history on what they are and where they’re from and all that.
Cool?
After the bosses and mini-bosses you have to tear
through, though, come the bosses you can either choose to
fight or have to fight if you do something wrong (in the case
of the Clefts, Embers, and X-Yuxes). Bonetail is included,
too, for those of you who gots ta know.
Finally, THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS. LOTS OF THEM.
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Okay, all that aside, I hope you enjoy this guide.
===============
VERSION HISTORY [.2]
===============
-~Version .3 (7/11/08): Completed everything up to the “Gold
Fuzzy” boss fight. (Well, MINI-boss fight.)
-~Version .35 (7/12/08): Completed everything up to the
first Shadow Sirens fight. (My sister put on that Nancy Drew
movie, and I want to watch.)
-~Version .48 (7/18/08): Completed everything up to the
Macho Grubba fight, where I put down a few measly words. In
my current game file, I’m, like, 5 seconds away from the
dude, so I’ll battle him then.
-~Version .65 (7/19/08): Completed the optional boss section
and all bosses up to Cortez. Also fixed a few teeny errors
and added the “encountered” parts to each boss to tell
readers where and when bosses are encountered.
-~Version .75 (7/21/08): Completed all bosses up to Magnus
von Grapple 2.0. I also added the Embers optional boss fight.
See, it’s really been awhile since I last played Paper Mario.
So when I finally decided to start a new game file after many
months of absence, I also decided to write this boss guide as
I go since, well, a lot of the information I learned in the
game has fallen out of my head…so I’ve got to replace it. If
I had decided to write this much earlier, I probably would
have it done in a day or so. But I didn’t. Deal with it.
-~Version .78 (7/22/08): Added the X-Yuxes optional boss
section and another “general boss strategy.” …What? I didn’t
fight any other bosses today!!
-~Version .95 (7/23/08): Completed everything but the Shadow
Queen boss fight. Yes, I know. One measly boss fight. Wait
‘till another day, ‘kay?
-~Version 1.0 (7/24/08): Completed the Shadow Queen boss
fight, which means I am done with this guide. Yayness!
-~Version 1.1 (7/28/08): Changed, like, five words and added
that Supercheats and Neoseeker have permission to host this
guide and are hosting it.
-~Version 1.2 (8/29/08): Added some moves to Grodus and the
Shadow Queen that Jessy Boudreau e-mailed me about. (Added
Jessy to the special thanks section as well.) Also added
another small guideline to the e-mail section that just
occurred to me.
-~Version 1.3 (10/30/08): Added a strategy to Macho Grubba
that Kyle Joyce sent in which is an awesome strategy I had
never thought of before. Added Kyle to the Special Thanks
section as well. And, of course, I fixed a few typos here and
there.
-~Version 1.31 (5/5/09): I’m back after all this time!
MysticGamer23 told me of a move Rawk Hawk does which I had
never seen before. Thanks, buddy. And I added MysticGamer to
the Special Thanks section.
===============
E-MAILS AND WHATNOT [.3]
===============
If you see any errors in my guide, want to use this guide on
your website, or have a question relating to bosses, feel
free to e-mail me! But, to make sure you know what will and
what will not be accepted, I will put the rules and policies
first. The e-mail comes after that.
Here is what I would like you to e-mail me about:
-~Questions. If you just keep dying on a boss, dagnabbit, or
wonder if there’s a better strategy to be using or where to
find useful items for bosses and how much they cost--
something like that--e-mail me. I will be happy to answer
them.
-~Errors. Did I say something that was wrong, or did I spell
something incorrectly? E-mail me about it, and you will be
placed in the special thanks section for helping to make my
guide better.
-~Suggestions for this guide. Think I should list another
boss or mini-boss, or include another section? Got a strategy
you want listed? If your side of the argument seems good, I
may put something else up on this guide.
-~If you want to use my guide. If you would like to use this
guide on your website, e-mail me first for permission. If I
see fit that it should be on your website, you will be
allowed to host it. But this is copyrighted! It is mine!
Those are e-mails that WILL be accepted. If, however,
your e-mails contain the kind of content mentioned below,
they will be rejected.
-~Questions that have already been answered. Read the guide
FIRST, then submit questions. Like I always say, if the
question was answered here but you still didn’t understand
it, say that you didn’t understand it in the e-mail.
-~Questions unrelated to this guide. Don’t ask me, “How do I
get through this room in the X-Naut Fortress?” That’s not my
job here, is it? I’m here to answer all your questions on
BOSSES, but this is not a walkthrough.
-~Flaming. If you hate me, seethe where you are at home. I
don’t need to know about it.
-~E-mails with bad language. I make it a point to have all
my guides swear-free, so even the smallest swear word in your
e-mail will have it not posted in the FAQ section. “Sucks” is
allowed, but no more.
-~Pranks. Do not send me an e-mail where the only content is
“kjduwncywhnuij.” That is useless.
-~Sloppy grammar and spelling. Your e-mail won’t be rejected
because of this, but it might not be posted just because I
can’t read the darn thing. If you submit an e-mail, be sure
to try and use the best spelling and grammar that you can. Be
in-depth and specific, too, so I know what exactly to tell my
readers.
Alright, FINALLY we are to the e-mail. Hopefully you
have read all the rules; I trust that you have. So, the e-
mail is burtonfam6@att.net. Got that? Also, remember to have
the e-mail’s subject titled “PM Boss Guide.”
To check out those people that have got this guide on
their websites, see the Special Thanks section. If it’s your
website that has this guide, you can also get a warm, fuzzy
feeling by looking there.
===============
GENERAL BOSS STRATEGIES [.4]
===============
These are general tips for any boss fight, and they should
help you stay alive. If you’re dying again and again on a
boss, check here to see how you might live.
USE ITEMS
It’s pretty bad to be in a pickle and have nothing to defend
yourself with. Your star power is empty. Your health is low.
Your partner has fainted. You have 3 FP left. And, of course,
no items. Items can attack multiple enemies at once, put them
to sleep, heal yourself, buff yourself up, and more. Most
major bosses are found at the end of “dungeons,” but let’s
face it: If you’re dying repeatedly on a boss, it’s worth
going back through the place to go stock back up again at
your local item store. These dungeons are not exactly Legend
of Zelda length, and you’ve already unlocked all the doors
and gotten whatever items you might need to progress, so
coming from the end back to the beginning of a dungeon won’t
take that long. As a small hint, after Zess T. has her
contact lens and the “legendary cookbook” from the trouble
center ad, make her mix a Jammin’ Jelly and Ultra Shroom to
create a Jelly Ultra, which restores 50 HP and 50 FP. Veeery
nifty.
USE THE PEEKABOO BADGE!
One very special badge you can use is the Peekaboo Badge.
What does this nifty item do? It allows you to see the
enemy’s health without Tattling on them, so in boss fights
you can save your partner’s turn by not Tattling on them. You
have to get this badge from Dazzle down beneath Rogueport, in
the small underground city area (where lots of civilized life
is). It costs 7 Star Pieces to buy it, and only requires 2 BP
to equip. Try it!
EQUIP BADGES, PEROID
The Peekaboo Badge itself is very nifty, but let’s not
discount the oodles of other badges out there. Buy them at
stores, grab cheap ones from a few defeated enemies, trade
Star Pieces in for them…they have a lot of uses. Here are
some badges you should definitely consider. The HP Plus and
FP Plus badges up your HP and FP by 5, respectively. The
Happy Heart and Happy Flower badges very slowly restore your
HP and FP, again respectively. Offensive badges like Power
Bounce and Power Smash can up your offensive power to give
enemies a beating. Lucky Start--gotten only after defeating
the Atomic Boo mentioned in this guide--starts you off in
every battle being electrified, with slowly-restoring health
or FP, being “dodgy,” and other things. (Those “lucky starts”
only last for a few turns, though.)
TRAIN UP!
If you’re a level 5 facing off against Macho Grubba, results
can be disastrous. For this reason, battle almost every enemy
you see; if you’re low on health/FP/whatever or are in too
much of a rush to get somewhere, you can pass them by, but
it’s important to bash nearly every baddie you see so that
you can level up and increase your health--great for long-
haul battles and powerful enemies--FP--you can use more
special moves, and thus more powerful and varied attacks with
increased FP--and BP--you can put on more badges with more
BP, which means more techniques to be used and more “life
insurance,” if you know what I mean.
TALK TO MERLEE
If you get to the Rogueport Sewers by the pipe in east
Rogueport, the first room there has Merlee’s building in the
background. To get to it, use your second “curse” to slip
through some bars and into a warp pipe otherwise
inaccessible. Paying Merlee money can help you in various
ways during and before future battles. For instance, she may
appear during the enemy’s turn to decrease the damage you
take, during your turn to increase the damage you give, after
the battle to increase the coins you get, or after the battle
to increase the amount of star points you get--very
effective, the last one. Check ‘er out.
USE FP-REQUIRING MOVES
Using your pathetic ordinary Hammer during the battle with
Hooktail won’t get you very far. Use FP-requiring moves, like
Power Smash, to increase the damage you give. Power Bounce
can let you bounce on the same enemy forever and ever until
you miss an action command. That’d be nifty. Of course, you
have to use those moves RESPONSIBLY. No point in using
Multibounce on one enemy. Use them wisely.
SAVE OFTEN
If you die from a boss and the last time you saved was an
hour and a half ago, it’s not good. You’ll find yourself
WAAAAY back in the game, FAR from the boss, and very
frustrated at having to redo much of your work. Take the
game’s advice: Every time you see a Save Block, save!
SUPERGUARD
By pressing B just as the enemy’s attack hits you, you can
either avoid all damage or turn the attack AGAINST them,
depending on the attack. This is similar to a guard action
command, but a little harder to do due to the more-precise
timing needed. Mastering it can render you virtually
invincible. If you turn the attack against them, you not only
avoid taking damage, but do 1 point of damage back to the
enemy. Neat. Practice up!
UPGRADE YOUR PARTNERS
See any yellow boxes with strange objects in them? Hit them,
and they’ll give you Shine Sprites. What are these things? If
you played Super Mario Sunshine, you’ll recognize ‘em
instantly. (Come to think of it, is Isle Delfino dark again
because they left?) If you pay three of these to Merlon the
wizard in Rogueport (his house is the one right beside Prof.
Frankly’s house to the left), he’ll upgrade one of your un-
upgraded partners. After you get Bobbery, your Bob-Omb sailor
partner, you can find an Up Arrow in Hooktail’s Castle, where
the room with the huge spike trap was. Using this Up Arrow,
you can upgrade an already-upgraded partner AGAIN. Sweet.
Upgraded partners get another move, more attack power, and
more HP. Double sweet.
BE STYLISH!!
If you do a move the “stylish” way, you earn more star power.
To be stylish, press A at a certain time while performing a
move. Nearly every move can be stylish. So, you may notice
that just performing an ordinary moves yields precious little
star power. But if you’re stylish, you may get up to eight
times more star power, or something. A lot. That’s all you
need to know. To start you off: When doing Mario’s ordinary
jump, do the action command properly to jump again. At the
peak of that jump, press A to belly-flop down onto the enemy.
When Mario jumps back off, press A at the peak of THAT jump
to perform another stylish move. Using an ordinary hammer
attack, press A right after you bash the enemy with your
hammer to do a back flip. Press A again right after landing
to pose. There’s a guide here dedicated to stylish moves, so
check it out for more information.
===============
BOSSES [.5]
===============
Actually, this section has both bosses AND mini-bosses. These
are all the big dudes you HAVE to go through in the game; for
those optional bosses you can fight whenever, check out the
appropriate section. (Actually, Clefts aren’t really
optional, but they’re forced on you if you do something
wrong.)
-+-+-+-+LORD CRUMP (PROLOGUE) [lrdcrmp1]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 5
-~Attack: 1
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Body Slam. His body slam is just a simple run up
and leap at the enemy. Easy to guard action command and
Superguard.
-~Encountered: Rogueport harbor, about 5 seconds into the
game.
-~Strategy: Oh, please. You’re going to have a WHOPPER of a
hard time getting CLOSE to dying on this dude. Right off the
boat, and you’re already squaring off against some punk. With
an attack power of 1 and 5 HP, use your Hammer and Jump on
him; you have no special abilities or items yet. Not even a
partner (though you ARE saving Goombella from this guy). If
you’re just starting the game and aren’t familiar with
jumping action commands yet, use the hammer, since the action
command to deal more damage there is considerably easier to
do.
-~History: Lord Crump is the right-hand man of Sir Grodus,
who this game’s main villain, the head honcho, the big bad
guy. Lord Crump overestimates his own strength and usually
gets himself into more than he can handle. The X-Nauts he
commands usually aren’t much better off than he is. He has a
pretty stupid laugh (Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!), and his
catchphrase is, “And with that…Pow! I’m gone!”
-+-+-+-+BLOOPER (PROLOGUE) [blpr]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 12
-~Attack: 1
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Tentacle Whip, Ink Spray. When the Blooper is on
the ceiling, it attacks with its two tentacles only. If one
tentacle is gone, only one attacks. When it’s been knocked
down, it attacks using an ink spray that hurts both you and
your partner.
-~Encountered: Rogueport Sewers, in the room with the
ordinary pipe to Petal Meadows.
-~Strategy: The Blooper hangs above the ceiling, so you
can’t get it yet. To knock it down, you have to defeat its
two tentacles. Each tentacle has 3 HP. The one in front is in
the air, and the other is on the ground, so the first needs
jumps to get and the second, either. Both tentacles will
attack if both are present. After “defeating” both tentacles,
the big body will fall down and be stunned. The next turn, it
will recover--which is its turn. It will attack two more
times, then go back up to the ceiling and have the tentacles
return, so defeat it quickly!
If you want to defeat both tentacles quickly and
easily, you can use a Fire Flower if you have one. You
should; you probably got one on the way to the Thousand-Year
Door with Prof. Frankly.
On a side note, if you beat the tentacle in the air
first in the first turn, the Blooper will ask you if you
think it tastes good. Your answer after that is up to you.
-~History: Bloopers have been around for awhile. Normally
sea creatures, recently these guys have been seen floating
around in the air…like this one. They spray ink and attack
with tentacles and are, overall, pretty ugly. According to
the Tattle Log, this Blooper probably comes from the “western
sea” based on its dialect.
-+-+-+-+TWO BALD CLEFTS (CHAPTER 1) [twbldclfts]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 2 each
-~Attack: 2 each
-~Defense: 2 each
-~Attacks: Ram. Ramming is just a slow charge headfirst into
its enemy…you. Attacks the person in front only.
-~Encountered: Shhwonk Fortress, first building.
-~Strategy: Later in the game, two Bald Clefts at once is
laughable. You fight FOUR MOON Clefts at once! But that
aside, there are only one of two things you can do: Use a POW
Block or Superguard carefully. (They’re impervious to fire,
so no Fire Flowers.) There was a POW Block hidden in a bush
near the entrance to this part of Shhwonk Fortress…did you
find it? A POW Block will kill both in one hit. Superguarding
is a slow and careful process, but you can avoid damage and
deal 1 point of damage to your attacker. It’s pretty easy to
Superguard Bald Clefts, too.
-~History: Just another kind of Cleft, Bald Clefts
fortunately have no spikes on top--hence the name--so jumping
can be used, but it’s not practical since only Ultra Boots
could deal any kind of damage at all, and you don’t have them
at this point. These two disguised themselves as statues in
the first part of Shhwonk Fortress until you check the
pedestals they’re on.
-+-+-+-+TWO BRISTLES (CHAPTER 1) [twbrstls]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 2 each
-~Attack: 1 each
-~Defense: 4 each
-~Attacks: Spike Slam. The Bristle will approach slowly and
stab you with the arrow-like thing on its side.
-~Encountered: Shhwonk Fortress, second building.
-~Strategy: Even worse than the Bald Clefts, Bristles can’t
be jumped on without the Spike Shield badge and can’t be
hammered, period, lest the spikes on their sides jut out and
poke you. Now, your only hope is a POW Block. (Maybe the
Superguard; I haven’t tested it yet.) Just like the Bald
Cleft battle, there was another hidden POW Block near the
entrance to this second part of the Shhwonk Fortress. Also
like Bald Clefts, these guys are impervious to fire, so using
Fire Flowers is useless.
-~History: As far as I know, Bristles are original to Paper
Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. They are masters of defense:
They are flame-proof, and the spikes on top of them and the
big points in their sides prevent both jumps AND ground
attacks from reaching them. Using the Spike Shield badge or
items are important to winning.
-+-+-+-+GOLD FUZZY (CHAPTER 1) [gldfzzy]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 10 (20 for Fuzzy Horde)
-~Attack: 1 (5 for Fuzzy Horde--5 Fuzzies attack with 1
attack strength each)
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Body slam. The only thing this particular Fuzzy
can do is ram into you with its body. It doesn’t even suck
health out of you; be thankful for that.
-~Encountered: Beneath Shhwonk Fortress, in the main room.
-~Strategy: A pathetically easy mini-boss. It can’t even
suck the energy out of you. I don’t recommend using FP-
requiring moves, it’s that easy. It’s very easy to block with
the guard action command and Superguard, so use it in excess.
After taking damage, the Gold Fuzzy will summon a Fuzzy Horde
to aid it. This Fuzzy Horde has 20 Fuzzies--thus, it has 20
HP. Don’t worry about the Fuzzy Horde; when they attack
before the Gold Fuzzy, only five of them attack, and they do
it one at a time. It’s really easy to block even with the
Superguard (although the Superguard really does nothing to
them). Focus your attacks on the Gold Fuzzy. The fight should
be over in a grand total of three or four turns, and chances
are you took no damage.
-~History: Fuzzies are very annoying, extremely hyper
parasites that attack by leeching onto a victim and draining
its health to add to its own. Fortunately, Gold Fuzzies can’t
attack by health-draining, but they have more HP than the
average Fuzzy. According to Goombella, they are very rare.
Gold Fuzzies are actually pretty creatures…if you can get
past the crazy expression and hyper attitude.
-+-+-+-+RED BONES (CHAPTER 1) [rdbns]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 5
-~Attack: 3
-~Defense: 1
-~Attacks: Bone Throw. This attack can hit either you or
your partner. It does 3 points of damage, which can be
potentially dangerous at the beginning of the game.
-~Encountered: Hooktail Castle, in a room with dungeon
cells.
-~Strategy: The Red Bones is just a cranked up Dull Bones.
There are some things that make it unique, though, and it’s
not just the red color. The first is that, when all its
buddies are gone, it can build another body from scratch.
This takes one turn. Also, if there are other enemies on the
field and the Red Bones has fallen, if the other enemies
aren’t taken care of quickly enough, the Red Bones comes back
to life. In this particular battle, there are four Dull Bones
with it, the Red Bones being in the center. Use Koops’s Power
Shell to wipe out all Dull Bones and slightly damage the Red
Bones. If you have one, you might want to use a Fire Flower
to not only eliminate all Dull Bones, but seriously injure
the Red Bones as well. Whatever you want to do. Remember,
though, that destroying all its buddies means that the Red
Bones will probably build some more. You can continuously
defeat what it builds for star points, which is a pretty good
strategy. If it does build another army but you don’t want to
use up all the time to get star points, take out the Red
Bones first, then quickly destroy its spawn.
-~History: There are four kinds of Bones in this game: Dull
Bones, Red Bones, Dry Bones, and Dark Bones. The Red Bones is
a mini-boss and is only found twice in the game (the first
time being a mini-boss fight, the second being a normal fight
to solve a puzzle in the Palace of Shadow). The second-
strongest of the Bones, Red Bones are still pretty weak. The
typical Bones concept of getting up and fighting again when
knocked down starts with the Red Bones.
-+-+-+-+HOOKTAIL (CHAPTER 1) [hktl]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 30 (20 at first, recovers 10 later)
-~Attack: 5
-~Defense: 1
-~Attacks: Fire Breath, Hand Slam. The Fire Breath attack
blasts both you and your partner, so be careful. The Hand
Slam can, I believe, be aimed at your partner if Hooktail so
chooses.
-~Encountered: Hooktail Castle, big room on the top of the
castle.
-~Strategy: It’s mentioned twice sometime before the fight,
not counting if you choose to Tattle on ol’ Hooky, that
Hooktail fears things that start with “cr” and end with
“icket.” Meeting the thief Ms. Mowz gives you a bigger hint,
saying that there’s a badge in Hooktail Castle that sounds
like a cricket. You might recall seeing a badge with a
musical note on it in a dungeon cell next to the room with
the black chest. That’s the Attack FX R badge. It requires 0
BP to equip, and it makes your attacks sound cricket-like. To
get into the cell it’s in, use your newly-acquired second
“curse” to slip between the bars. So, if you find that badge,
Hooktail’s attack and defense will drop drastically, allowing
you to have an easy fight. Use the Power Smash hammer attack
on Hooktail’s foot with Mario. You can use either Goombella
or Koops; doesn’t really matter which, although Koops has
better defense. You can choose to attack either Hooktail’s
head or foot.
Once you knock Hooktail’s HP down to 0, it’ll try and
trick you into sparing its life by asking if you want a
thousand coins, a rare badge, and, um, sniffing the bottoms
of its feet…if you say yes to any of them, Mario will run up
and hold his hands out expectantly. What he’ll get is a big
bite from Hooktail that does 5 damage. So obviously, say NO
to all of Hooktail’s lame offers. Whether you say yes or no,
Hooktail will pretend to go away, then charge back in and eat
half the audience to recover 10 HP. You no longer recover
star power, so you and your partner hop down and continue to
bash away at the remaining 10 HP just like you did before.
-~History: Right before the battle with Gloomtail, it is
mentioned that Hooktail is actually female. Hooktail is the
youngest of three dragon siblings: Hooktail, then Gloomtail,
and finally Bonetail (who happens to be so old, he’s made of
bones). Hooktail got bad food poisoning from eating a cricket
long ago, which is the reason she gets so sick from hearing
cricket chirps.
-+-+-+-+SHADOW SIRENS (CHAPTER 2) [shdwsrns1]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 10 (Vivian), 12 (Marilyn), 9 (Beldam)
-~Attack: 1 (Vivian), 2 (Marilyn), 1 (Beldam)
-~Defense: 0 each
-~Attacks:
- Vivian: Shade Fist, Fiery Jinx. (Real names of her
moves, by the way.) Shade Fist can hit anybody,
anywhere. It only does 1 damage. Later into the
fight, Vivian will use her Fiery Jinx, which does
1 damage to both you and your partner.
- Marilyn: Hand Smash, Lightning. Marilyn can attack
either you or your partner with the Hand Smash.
The Lightning attack hits both you and your
partner.
- Beldam: Hand Slap, Blizzard, Partner Power-Up, Enemy
Shrinkage. The Hand Slap is a simple move which
does 1 damage and can hit anyone. The Blizzard
moves nails both you and your partner. Beldam can
super-size her partners to increase their attack
power and shrink you to decrease yours. Be
careful.
-~Encountered: Boggly Woods, not far from the ordinary pipe
leading to the Rogueport Sewers.
-~Strategy: The first time you tangle with the Shadow
Sirens. They’re pretty easy, so fear not. Marilyn is the most
powerful here, so you might want to take her out first. Then
again, if you take the weaker ones out first, you have less
enemies attacking you. Try taking care of Beldam first, the
old hag in the back; that way, no more ginormous Marilyn or
shrunken Mario. Vivian’s not much of a problem, so work on
Marilyn next. Just beware of her powerful hand smashes and
lightning strikes, ‘cause they hurt. Sure, maybe not as much
as riding on a bicycle without a seat, but they hurt. (Not my
line, that was taking from the movie The Naked Gun 2½. Funny
movie. Go see it.) Vivian is the second-weakest…and, come to
think of it, the second-strongest. Whatever. Probably the
smallest threat, so you should be able to take her out with
ease. You should have the Special move Earth Tremor, so if
you’ve got the star power for it, you can give them all a
thrashing with it. Or, use Koops’s Power Shell to swipe ‘em
all at once with a weaker move. Come to think of it, using
both a fully-powered Earth Tremor and a fully-powered Power
Shell could render them all helpless in just a couple of
turns.
-~History: The three Shadow Sirens (or “Shadow Beauties,” as
Vivian mistakenly calls themselves) are three magic-using
weirdoes under the service of Sir Grodus. Beldam is the
eldest and is a total whiny nag that blames all of her
mistakes on poor Vivian, who has an inferiority complex.
Speaking of Vivian, she joins your party during chapter 4 of
the game, so be nice to her!! Marilyn is a near-silent,
rotund siren with the ugliest haircut in the world. She also
happens to be the strongest, so watch out.
-+-+-+-+MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE (CHAPTER 2) [mgnsvngrppl1]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 30
-~Attack: 2
-~Defense: 1
-~Attacks: Stomp, Earthquake, Rocket Fist Launch. When the
big robot decides to stomp on you, it’ll walk on over, raise
its foot, and try to throw your timing off by changing his
aim from you to your partner repeatedly. He’ll eventually
stomp and hurt ONE of you. Using his earthquake move, he’ll
stomp on the ground repeatedly and damage both you and your
partner. Finally, he can launch his “hands” out and have them
float in the air to act as separate enemies. These fists have
2 HP each, so they’re very easy to destroy. They’ll launch at
you and batter you for 2 damage per hit, so take them out
quick. Doesn’t matter with what, like if you use an entire
turn to take them both out, an item like Fire Flower or
Thunder Rage, or Earth Tremor.
-~Encountered: Great Boggly Tree, very first room.
-~Strategy: Magnus is a pretty easy boss. I do, however,
remember a friend of mine facing off against the boss for the
first time. He was inexperienced then, so he’d run from every
single run-able fight; thus, he lost all his money. He was
ridiculously low on health, so he couldn’t use any money on
the heal block before the battle. So he died repeatedly on a
pathetically easy boss. As I’m sure both of us could tell
you, never make the mistake of losing so much money and
getting too darn beat up that the simplest boss fight can be
a hassle. So anyway, with only 30 HP, Magnus isn’t much of a
threat. Use your Spin Jump--Power Jump if you have it the
badge equipped--to work away at the robot’s health. If you
have the Power Bounce badge equipped, use it!! You can eat
away at the boss’s health like there’s no tomorrow by
bouncing on him repeatedly. If you’ve upgraded Goombella
once, she’ll have the Multibonk move, which is an exact
replica of the Power Bounce move. If he launches his rocket
fists, they’ll act as separate enemies, so take ‘em out.
Quick. Otherwise, you’ll get beaten and pummeled silly by
some remote, hovering arms. Use a multiple-target move for
best results, like Fire Flower, Thunder Rage, Earthquake, and
your Special move Earth Tremor. Like any boss, if you find
yourself low on health and/or FP, use Sweet Treat or an item
to recover your lost resources. Magnus should be defeated in
a few easy turns.
-~History: The X-Nauts have highly-advanced technology, so
what did they develop? A giant, killer, high-tech present
box! (That’s what it looks like, anyway.) This big robot
isn’t very well-equipped for battle…plus it’s hot pink…but
they hype it all up with up-to-speed weaponry and gadgets
during your next fight with it on the moon. AND it’s a sleek
black color. Prepare yourself until then.
-+-+-+-+IRON CLEFTS (CHAPTER 3) [irnclfts]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 6 each
-~Attack: 4 each
-~Defense: Well, they’re invincible
-~Attacks: Charge. A very simple charge from their spiked
bods. It penetrates defense…ouch.
-~Encountered: Glitzville, ranked #10 in the Glitz Pit.
-~Strategy: Defeat these morons, and you’re on a trip to the
major league of the Glitz Pit! …But the first time you meet
them, they’re impossible to beat. Run away or DIE. Either
one. (Save yourself some time and energy and run away.) After
the battle, you’ll get your fourth partner, a Yoshi that you
can name yourself! (I name mine things like Thrasher and
Thorn, because I like, uh, hot, flashy names…) Redo the
battle. This time, use your Yoshi’s Gulp move to spit one
“Iron Adonis Twin” into the other to cause damage. Do this
one more time to kee-yill them. Very simple. (By the way, how
does Yoshi fit a massive, heavy, SPIKE-FILLED enemy inside
his teeny widdle mouth? Another Mario mystery.)
Oh yeah, you also face these sore losers again after
defeating the Shell Shockers (the Shady Koopas), but same
strategy. They’re still sore losers.
-+-+-+-+BOWSER (CHAPTER 3) [bwsr1]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 30
-~Attack: 3
-~Defense: 1
-~Attacks: Fire Breath, Ground Slam, Bite. The Fire Breath
attack damages both you and your partner. The Ground Slam
attack involves Bowser leaping up and sitting on you. If you
fail to use the Superguard or guard action command, you’ll
lose an ability on your battle menu, like using items, your
hammer, whatever. His bite can sometimes poison you, so watch
out.
-~Encountered: Glitzville, in the Glitz Pit right after one
of the final battles.
-~Strategy: What??? The Koopa King????? Here in
Glitzville??????? …??? …Whatever. He’s pretty easy, actually.
Somewhere at the bottom of the major league battles, Bowser
appears right after you tear apart someone else (usually it’s
the Magikoopa Masters, but recently for me it was Craw-
Daddy). So, no saving, no healing. Oddly enough, if you lose,
you lose the Glitz Pit battle and must do it over again, even
though you won…AND fight Bowser again, who nobody seems to
have stopped…so anyway, use lots of powerful moves, like
Power Smash and Power Jump and whatnot. Don’t forget Power
Bounce and Multibonk! They’re always useful! The side-effects
of Bowser’s moves can be annoying. If you took a bit of
damage in the battle you just fought, heal using Sweet Treat,
then beat the crap out of the big reptile.
-~History: Appearing in almost every single canonical Mario
game, Bowser is Mario’s sworn enemy and the one who kidnaps
Peach. It’s been hinted at several times in several games
that he’s actually in love with the princess. In this game,
he learns of the Crystal Stars and decides that they sound
like “good world-conquering tools” and sets out to collect
them, just like you and, uh, the X-Nauts are. Unfortunately
for him, he’s always a few steps behind you.
-+-+-+-+RAWK HAWK (CHAPTER 3) [rwkhwk]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 40
-~Attack: 3
-~Defense: 1
-~Attacks: Air Dive, Double Slam, Item Shake, Air Stomp.
Rawk Hawk’s air dive attack is a simple flying maneuver that
launches the big birdy right into your face and does 6
damage; naturally, he does this later into the fight. Double
Slam is a move that bonks both you and your partner, one
after the either. The “Item Shake” is where Rawk Hawk cheats
(what else is new? He tried to make you forfeit the match)
and grabs onto a ledge up high where you can’t reach him and
shakes off several objects to bonk both you and your partner.
Getting the guy off can be tricky; use items or a fully-
powered Earth Tremor to shake him off. You can also use
Flurrie’s Body Slam to pummel ‘im. MysticGamer23 has also
seen Rawk Hawk perform an “Air Stomp” where he goes forward
while hanging from the ceiling and drops on one of your
characters. Thanks, MysticGamer. That was probably something
I never would have noticed myself.
-~Encountered: Glitzville, champion of the Glitz Pit.
-~Strategy: Win this fight, and you become the champion of
the Glitz Pit! Unfortunately, ole Rawky’s not gonna fight
fair. Not only did he lock you in a room in a lame attempt to
make you forfeit the match, but he has an attack which is
clearly illegal in the world of battling. (And it wouldn’t
surprise me if he was taking steroids.) Anyway, Rawk Hawk is
a powered-up Bowser, only with none of those nasty side-
effects from the attacks. As always, use a nice, powerful FP-
requiring move to give him big bashes. You should be able to
block most of his attacks, save for that annoying, cheating
move he uses where he drops stuff on you…use a powerful Earth
Tremor, any-target-hitting item like Shooting Star or Thunder
Storm, that sort of thing to knock him off. You can also use
Flurrie’s Body Slam to knock him off. All you have to do is
hurt him to make him let go. You don’t want him dropping pots
and pans on your head for too long.
-~History: The current champion of the fighting arena called
the Glitz Pit, the Rawk Hawk’s a little full of himself and
lives for his fans (remind you of Barry Bonds?). He also
fights dirty, but that apparently stops after you defeat him.
The champion right before him was Prince Mush, who was one of
the fighters that knew too much information about Mr.
Grubba’s secret evil plans, so he had to pay the price…
-+-+-+-+MACHO GRUBBA (CHAPTER 3) [mchgrbb]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 60
-~Attack: 4
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Back Flip Slam, Charge, Body Slam, Double-Turn
Ability, Attack Raise, Defense Raise. Wow! Back Flip Slam has
Grubba back-flipping to sit on you or your partner. Charge is
a dash across the stage that hurts you and your pal. Body
Slam is where Grubba dashes in, then leaps on you and hurts
you. Used at the very beginning of the match and every time
the move ends, the Double-Turn Ability allows Grubba to
attack twice in one turn for awhile; he uses the extra turn
to use either Attack Raise or Defense Raise to buff himself
up. (If you see any attacks I’ve missed, feel free to share
them via e-mail.)
-~Encountered: Glitzville, in the arena of the Glitz Pit
shortly after defeating Rawk Hawk.
-~Strategy: At the very start of the battle, Macho Grubba
will use the move that lets him attack twice in one turn;
this counts as his turn, so proceed to beat him black and
green. Despite the fact that he can augment his attack and
defense at will, attack twice in one turn, and has 60 HP,
Grubba’s actually an easier boss than you’d think. I used
Goombella for this battle; chances are you haven’t upgraded
your Yoshi partner, so its HP’s only at 10, which isn’t
nearly enough to take on the gargantuan Macho Grubba. Use
Goombella’s Multibonk like crazy, considering you’ve upgraded
her. Use Power Smash like crazy. Don’t stop. If you find
yourself running out of FP, use Sweet Treat to restock. If
you continue to use Power Smash (Power Bounce, a jump
command, is even better, of course, but you’re fine with
Power Smash) and Goombella’s Multibonk (hopefully you’ve
upgraded her), the big, orange dude with a bad haircut should
be finished in no time. Use the Superguard whenever possible;
with close-range, melee attacks like his which involve his
entire body, it can be easier than you’d think.
A strategy recently was sent in to me by Kyle Joyce on
how to defeat Grubba:
“What helped me first of all I upgraded Yoshers so he
would have more help. I got the egg thing for him. I got the
Soft Stomp Badge. So I would Soft Stomp him so his defense
would go down then I would shrink him with the Yoshi eggs
which decrease his attack.”
The strategy Kyle Joyce suggests is quite simple: Equip
the Soft Stomp Badge to pound on Grubba and lower his defense
so that it doesn’t get in the way. You’ll also have to have
upgraded your Yoshi partner so that it has the Mini-Egg move.
Use this move and shrink Grubba so that his attack is
pathetic. And from there, you beat the crud out of Macho
Grubba without much worrying.
-~History: Mr. Grubba was the boss of the Glitz Pit--both
boss, as in leader, and boss, as in big bad enemy. Mr. Grubba
is a kind of Clubba, big-lipped creatures with brains about
the size of peanuts. Mr. Grubba himself is not only
significantly stronger and braver than most Clubbas, he’s got
a hardcore southern accent…weird. Ms. Jolene, the manager,
takes over running the ‘Pit after Grubba gets his butt
kicked.
-+-+-+-+????? (CHAPTER 4) [?????]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 40
-~Attack: 4
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Head Ram, Hammer, Jump. Head Ramming is his only
method of attack (as far as I know, he never lives long
enough to show me much more) and is a simple ghostly float
up, then a strike conking both your heads; sometimes, he goes
for your partner. Only after transforming into Mario does he
use the simple Hammer and Jump attacks that you can use. As
far as I know, those are the only attacks of yours he uses.
-~Encountered: Creepy Steeple, on the roof.
-~Strategy: If you fought the Atomic Boo before fighting
this guy, it should tell you how this fight goes. They both
have the same HP, attack, and defense, but the Atomic Boo is
actually HARDER. And it’s a mini-boss! …So, if the Atomic Boo
was a piece of cake, Mr. Loser here will be even easier. He
has only simple, weak attacks and 20 health points less than
Macho Grubba, who was the big boss before him! Use the same
maneuvers here: Power Smash/Jump/Bounce/whatever, and either
Goombella’s famed Multibonk or your Yoshi’s simple Ground
Pound; hopefully, you’ve upgraded him by this point so it
does 5 consecutive hits instead of 4 and it has 20 HP instead
of 10. Keep up the pattern of whaling on him; you probably
won’t need to use any Special moves or items at all. After
he’s down to, eh, about 20 HP, he’ll transform into
Mario…only weaker, and not with a partner or any useful
moves. He’s still simple. Polish him off.
-~History: The enemy you’re fighting is a Duplighost.
Duplighosts have the ability to copy someone’s image and gain
their abilities and attacks. This dude does the same. Unlike
ordinary Duplighosts, he’s got a party hat and some glowing
eyes to top off his appearance. I’m not gonna say much more;
if you want some spoilers, go see the boss right after this.
-+-+-+-+DOOPLISS (CHAPTER 4) [dplss]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 40
-~Attack: 4
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Hammer, Jump. Same attacks as before. The Hammer
and Jump attacks are exact replicas of your own.
-~Encountered: Creepy Steeple, on the roof again.
-~Strategy: Well, ol’ Doopy-doo-wop got himself some
partners…your own. They believe that DOOPLISS is the real
Mario, and you’re the doppelganger, since you are, uh,
purple. Don’t bother attacking “his” partner; he’ll run
through the other partners in the order you got them, and
each is consecutively harder than the last, usually.
Concentrate all your effort on Doopliss. This fight is no
different from the last, only you’re taking a little extra
damage from “his” partners. Use the attacks you did before
and try to ignore your own friends pummeling you. Use guard
action commands and even Superguards to defend against your
former allies; the Superguard won’t be nearly enough to
defeat them anytime soon. If you need health, use an item or
Sweet Treat, like always.
-~History: Doopliss has, apparently, never had anyone say
his own name to him before you did, so he could use
unstoppable magic. As you might have seen whenever he
ambushes you in front of a shack near Twilight Town, you
can’t hurt him at all, and he can’t hurt you. Not to mention
he stole your own body. This time, he’s got your own
partners--Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, and your Yoshi--tricked
into believing HE’S the real Mario, although there were signs
of him being fake: He’s an absolute chatterbox now, and he’s
gotten pretty full of himself, referring to himself as “Super
Mario” instead of “me.”
-+-+-+-+CORTEZ (CHAPTER 5) [crtz]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 60 (20 per form, 3 forms)
-~Attack: 4
-~Defense: 1
-~Attacks: Stab, Bone Scatter, Bite, Sword Attack, Saber
Attack, Hook Attack, Rapier Attack. During his first form,
Cortez can only use Stab (as far as I know). This is a simple
thrust of all the weapons he carries. He also uses this in
his second form. Bone Scatter is only used in the second
form. He charges his attack up for one turn, then throws the
bones the other. Dunno exactly how much this hurts since I
avoided damage, but I think it might be 8 or 9. Bite is only
used during the third form and is a simple move where Cortez
floats his skeletal head over and bites you. The last four
attacks are all only in the third form as well, and the said
attacks belong to different weapons Cortez carries that have
their own health. Bring their health down to make them
inactive.
-~Encountered: Pirate’s Grotto, final room.
-~Strategy: Cortez has 20 HP per form and three forms.
Defeat one form to move onto the next. During the first form,
Cortez will be a hulking skeleton with four arms carrying
weapons, with a long spinal cord attached to a bone pile.
This bone pile is what you’ll be attacking, so use your
standard Power Smash and whatnot. (The bone pile looks rather
sharp. I haven’t tested it, but it might be that you can’t
jump on it. Dunno.) Cortez’s only attack does 4 damage. After
bashing his bone pile down to 0 HP, the curtains of the stage
swish in, then out, to reveal a different form. Cortez’s
spine seems a bit longer now, and his ribcage has a weird
green light in it. Continue to attack, but beware of his
super move. If he suddenly charges up attack power, use
Vivian’s Veil to avoid damage or tough it out! Take this form
out quickly to reveal only Cortez’s floating head and his
four weapons hovering in the air. Each of these weapons:
Cortez’s Sword, Cortez’s Saber, Cortez’s Hook, and Cortez’s
Rapier. (A teeny thought occurs to me about the first two
names that I might be wrong; I think I’m right, but if I got
a name wrong, e-mail me.) These all have 4 HP each; take them
down to put them out of action for a few turns. Use Vivian’s
Fiery Jinx (if you’ve upgraded her) to destroy all of them,
not to mention hurt Cortez. Speaking of whom, after the big
guy takes a lot of damage, he’ll eat half your audience to
replenish all his health. (Remind you of Hooktail and, later,
the Shadow Queen?) Grrr! Continue to bash him with some of
your best moves until he finally “dies.” (Although, after the
battle, as he will explain, he’s ALREADY dead, so you CAN’T
kill him…but after a little negotiating, he calms down and
unhesitatingly hands over your Crystal Star. You gain the
ability “Sweet Feast,” which is a bigger, more effective
version of Sweet Treat, where you have fewer Poison
Mushrooms, and some images are bigger, so they replenish
more. Truly, it is “sweet.”
-~History: Legend has it of an ancient pirate that died, but
his spirit was tied to his treasure. Staying on Earth to
guard his treasure, the hulking, skeletal beast DOES admit
that it gets boring after awhile. He tries to scare you into
turning back a few times while in the Pirate’s Grotto, but
obviously you didn’t listen. (Players of the first Paper
Mario may recognize a throwback to the Dry Dry Ruins.)
-+-+-+-+LORD CRUMP (CHAPTER 5-ISH) [lrdcrmp2]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 60 (30 now, recovers 30 later)
-~Attack: 3
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Body Slam. Lord Crump has retained his only body
slam move. Of course, he’s got a bunch of X-Naut helpers to
attack you this time.
-~Encountered: About five minutes after defeating Cortez, in
the bit of land left of the camp firing cannonballs at your
pathetic little island.
-~Strategy: Surely you have healed up. Lord Crump isn’t
particularly tough, but if you didn’t heal after defeating
Cortez, it CAN be. There’s a heal block on Cortez’s ship, so
heal, dang it!! Anyway, this time, Lord Crump’s got about a
bajillion X-Naut soldiers to help him out. The first group’s
formed in a pyramid and have 6 HP. They’ll attack on their
own, so use multiple-target moves like Vivian’s Fiery Jinx
and maybe even Bobbery’s Bob-ombast (or however you spell it)
to inflict damage; remember that although Bobbery’s final
move is powerful and attacks all foes, it requires a whopping
9 FP, so don’t go crazy with it. Also keep in mind that
Vivian’s requires 6 FP. Attacking one foe at a time still
works, of course, but I do suggest using multiple-target
moves…anyway, have Mario use powerful jumping moves like
Power Jump or Power Bounce to bash Crump black and green
while your partner hopefully targets all foes. When you beat
Crump up a bit, he’ll call his small pyramid of foot soldiers
in front of him back and instead send several dozen X-Nauts
in hanging from a ledge above. They still have 6 HP. Vivian’s
Shade Punch, Fiery Jinx, Flurrie’s Body Slam, Bobbery’s Bob-
ombast, a fully-powered Earth Tremor…use whatever to reach
them, or ignore them. They’ll drop harmful objects on the
both of you, so watch out. After reducing the villain’s HP
down to 0, he’ll go and heal it all again! Now, he’s got a
huge army of X-Nauts that will roll into a ball at his
command to roll on both you and your partner; this only
counts as the X-Nauts’ attack, so Crump is still free to
attack. The army there has 10 HP instead of the old groups’
6, so they’re harder to take out. Use the same strategies as
before to win.
-~History: I’ve already told you about Lord Crump. He
disguised as a pirate going along the voyage with you in
order to spy on you and maybe steal a Crystal Star or two. Of
course, he fails. Like he does everything. He was known as
“Four-Eyes” before he revealed himself to be Grodus’s main
man. Oddly enough, Crump breaks the fourth wall (if you don’t
know what the fourth wall is, go look it up on Wikipedia) by
telling the camera that, yeah, you know who he is as it’s
kind of obvious, but Mario doesn’t, so don’t tell him.
-+-+-+-+SMORG (CHAPTER 6) [smrg]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 50
-~Attack: 5
-~Defense: 1
-~Attacks: Arm Slap, Pincer Crush. The Arm Slap is used by
all active arms (maximum of three) to attack you or your
partner. The Pincer Crush is only used if Smorg chooses to
use its large pincer instead of the smaller arms. The attack
hurts both of you and does a WHOPPER amount of damage, so be
careful.
-~Encountered: Excess Express, on top of the train on day
three of the train ride.
-~Strategy: Smorg, despite only having 50 HP, can be tougher
than it looks. First thing you want to do is whale on the
three big arms Smorg is waving about. You can’t attack its
body yet without taking care of the bombs; your attacks won’t
do anything. These all attack you separately, so use Vivian’s
Fiery Jinx, Bobbery’s Bob-ombast, or the Special move Earth
Tremor to take care of them all at once, because they can do
a total of 15 damage if all of them are out. When they’re all
gone, the pink, Smorg body will be defenseless, so take this
opportunity to beat it up; use your new Spring Jump move
successfully to do 12 damage to it. The move is hard to time
for an action command due to Mario’s disappearing off the
screen briefly, then falling quickly down onto Smorg. As a
hint, watch the little shadow on the ground to see when Mario
will arrive over Smorg. Use whatever strong attack your
partner’s got as well. After a bit, Smorg will either call
out the arms again or send out one BIG arm with a pincer.
This humongous arm has more HP and can not only do insane
amounts of damage, but attack both you and your partner.
Taking that thing out as quickly as possible is definitely at
the top of your list. I believe it had 12 HP, can’t be sure,
even though I faced the stupid thing just a few hours
ago…well, whatever. Spring Jumps will be even harder to time,
but if it’s your cup of tea, use it. Continue the pattern of
destroying all appendages, then attacking the body to win.
And remember…you have the Special move Sweet Feast. It
requires a whole lot of star power, but it can greatly heal
you in a time of need. And if you need to, use items like
Thunder Rage or Shooting Star to attack all arms at once. I
doubt Earthquake would work, since the only ground enemy is
the Smorg body, which, like I mentioned, is invincible until
you take care of the appendages.
-~History: Nothing is known of the Smorgs except for these
facts: #1: They come in colors of black and pink; #2: There
are about ten zillion of them, and #3: They hate little red-
capped plumbers. You first met some of the little Smorgs at
the Riverside Station, where they swarmed around a switch. If
hundreds of the little flower-like Smorgs join together, they
can create this huge monster simply known as, uh, Smorg. In
fact, the only thing in their dialogue is “smorg.”
-+-+-+-+MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE 2.0 (CHAPTER 7) [mgnsvngrppl]+-+-+
-~HP: 70
-~Attack: 6
-~Defense: 2
-~Attacks: Drill Attack, X Boomerang, Rocket Fist Launch,
Machine Gun. The Drill Attack is a flying move where Magnus
dives onto you, sharp arms outstretched in front of it. It
disappears off the screen before it attacks. This hurts both
you and your partner. The X Boomerang, again, attacks both
you and your partner and is a giant, flying disk that whirs
straight into you. The Rocket Fist Launch is the same as
before, only the fists now have 4 HP. The Machine Gun attack
is the deadliest; it sucks up members of your audience and
launches them at you with staggering speed. A member of the
audience can do up to 3 damage. Don’t even bother with the
Superguard here.
-~Encountered: X-Naut Fortress, room all the way to the
right on Sublevel 3.
-~Strategy: Yes, it’s your hated birthday present-like
robotic enemy, Magnus von Grapple. Only now, it’s been super-
updated. It flies, dives, has more HP and attack, and has a
live-ammo machine gun. Use your standard strong attacks, like
Power Smash, as usual. However, I URGE you to use Power Lift;
this helps with his Machine Gun move, since the most damage a
“bullet” can do to you is 3, so powering up your defense to 3
or higher can make sure this deadly move does no damage to
you at all. If you’re taking large amounts of damage, use
your Sweet Feast move to recover lots of HP and FP. Should he
ever launch his rocket fists, use Vivian’s Fiery Jinx,
Bobbery’s Bob-ombast (though I don’t recommend it, too much
FP), a multiple-target item like Thunder Rage or Shooting
Star (not Earthquake because it only hits ground enemies, and
not Fire Flower because it doesn’t do enough damage), or just
plain Earth Tremor. If Magnus uses his Machine Gun move,
which involves sucking up some of the audience and launching
them at you, and your defense is not 3 or higher, forget the
Superguard; just jam A repeatedly! It is, by far, his
deadliest move, so that is why I urge you to use Power Lift
to increase your defense. It works.
-~History: Remember the bright pink robot you faced in the
Great Boggly Tree? The more-recent version, Magnus von
Grapple 2.0 (or just Magnus 2.0), has been improved far ahead
of its predecessor. It flies, it sucks up live ammunition for
use in the Machine Gun, it has sharp hands…and it’s sleek and
black (which, I think, is the BIGGEST improvement). It’s been
kept at the X-Naut Fortress. Lord Crump again is the one who
pilots this machine.
-+-+-+-+DARK BONES (CHAPTER 8) [drkbns]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 20
-~Attack: 5
-~Defense: 2
-~Attacks: Bone Throw, Triple Bone Toss. The Bone Throw
attack is the same as before, only, eh, stronger. The Triple
Bone Toss is like a Dry Bone’s, where it throws three bones
to attack you or your partner. These bones do 3 damage, but
are easily blocked with the Superguard like its other attack.
-~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, before the courtyard-like
area.
-~Strategy: Remember the Red Bones from Hooktail Castle?
Well, this battle is similar. A stronger-than-average Bones
only encountered once (save for a time in the tower in the
courtyard where every kind of Bones is fought) guarding a
door. This guy’s got some Dry Bones with him, too. What do I
suggest? Use Art Attack to draw a circle around them. When
the Dry Bones are down, circle around the Dark Bones only.
When Art Attack’s over, launch every jumping move you’ve got
at it; try the Spring Jump. Also remember that the Dry Bones
aren’t down forever; if you don’t finish off the Dark Bones
quickly enough, they rise again. Vice versa, too. If you
want, use fire or explosion-based moves to clear out the
fallen Dry Bones. The downside to this, of course, is that
the Dark Bones can build a Dry Bones from scratch with a spot
open.
-+-+-+-+GLOOMTAIL (CHAPTER 8) [glmtl]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 80
-~Attack: 8
-~Defense: 2
-~Attacks: Bite, Poison Breath, Hand Slam, Megabreath,
Earthquake. The Bite is the quickest and hardest to block of
the moves. It’s a very sudden, quick lunge forward to bite
Mario. The Poison Breath attacks might poison you and it
attacks both you and your partner. Hand Slam isn’t much
different from Hooktail’s old move. Gloomtail walks forward
and bashes you into the ground with the palm of his hand.
Megabreath is an attack that must be charged up to do and is
the strongest attack; I’m not sure how much damage it does,
but you can be sure you’ll exclaim “holy cow!!” Finally, the
Earthquake is a slam into the ground that rumbles the floor
and hits whoever’s in front, doing 10 damage to them.
Gloomtail might only do this once, but I don’t know.
-~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, room all the way on the
right from the courtyard-like area.
-~Strategy: In a crane game at the X-Naut Fortress, there
were two badges: Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P. These
require 4 BP to equip, but they prevent you from getting
poisoned. If you got these, equip them before the fight!!
It’s only too easy for Gloomtail to poison you. You should
put one on for your partner, too, if you have the BP to do
it. (You might want to take off some badges for this fight
just to have some spare BP.) Gloomtail doesn’t have any
weakness to crickets, so this fight will be straightforward.
Use powerful moves like your Spring Jump and Power Smash and
whatnot--Spring Jump is even more powerful than Power Jump.
If Gloomtail charges up immense power, USE VIVIAN’S VEIL.
This will prevent either of you from getting hit. If Vivian’s
out cold or you don’t have any FP left (it only requires 1 FP
to use the move) or something, at least use a Boo Sheet to
make attacks go through you. Do SOMETHING to avoid this
attack, ‘cause you don’t want to get beaned by it. Beware of
his Bite move, since it’s very sudden and prepares very
little time to block.
-~History: Gloomtail is Hooktail’s older brother and the
middle child of the three dragons of the game. He was kept in
the Palace of Shadow and, apparently, hasn’t had any true,
fresh meat in over a thousand years. Maybe he survived on
Dark Wizzerds and Swoopula. I can’t imagine it’d be very
tasty. He’s a dark black color with a purple belly. Very
impressive-looking. And, like most creatures, his bright
colors do, in fact, show that he is poisonous.
-+-+-+-+SHADOW SIRENS (CHAPTER 8) [shdwsrns2]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 40 (Doopliss), 40 (Marilyn), 30 (Beldam)
-~Attack: 6 (Doopliss), 7 (Marilyn), 6 (Beldam)
-~Defense: 0 each
-~Attacks:
- Doopliss: Head Ram, Jump, Hammer. Same attacks he’s
always had, only they do more damage.
- Marilyn: Hand Smash, Lightning, Power-Up. Also the
same attacks she’s had before, only she can now
power herself up for a big attack the next turn.
And, of course, she’s more powerful.
- Beldam: Hand Slap, Blizzard, Partner Power-Up, Enemy
Shrinkage. For the umpteenth time, same attacks
as before, only more powerful.
-~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, courtyard-like area, after
inserting all the Palace Keys into the pedestals in the tower
after making them appear by getting the key from Gloomtail.
-~Strategy: Well, Vivian’s with you, so who filled her
place? The freak-in-a-sheet, Doopliss, of course! Use your
Spring Jump to inflict up to 12 damage on one. You can use
multiple-target moves like Vivian’s Fiery Jinx or Bobbery’s
Bob-ombast to inflict major hurt. You can even use Earth
Tremor, Art Attack, or Supernova, if you get that desperate.
You can take out Beldam easily within a few turns. So, I
suggest tearing Beldam apart first, then working on Marilyn,
then finally freak-sheet. If Marilyn charges up attack power,
hide using Vivian’s Veil. (Or, again, you can use a Boo Sheet
or something. Just avoid the attack!)
-~History: The Shadow Sirens lost Vivian, so who do they
replace her with? Doopliss, of course, who ran by more than
upset after you defeated him at Creepy Steeple. They’re a lot
stronger now, of course, and possess the same abilities as
before. Doopliss can still transform into one of you to
attack.
-+-+-+-+SIR GRODUS (CHAPTER 8) [srgrds]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 50
-~Attack: 7
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Lightning, Laser, Fire Drive. Lightning is like
Marilyn’s attack; a simple blast of lightning to cause
damage. The Laser move is similar to a Wizzerd’s. The Fire
Drive, apparently, is like Mario‘s Fire Drive, only blue.
…Okay, I’m POSITIVE I’m missing some attacks here, so if
anyone can tell me some of the moves I’ve missed, good. E-
mail me. Jessy Boudreau has told me of the Fire Drive move.
Thank you, Jessy. I still think I may be missing some moves,
though.
-~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, semifinal room (throne
room).
-~Strategy: If you read the stats above, you might be
wondering, “What!? This is Grodus, and he sucks!?” Well…he’s
only relatively easy because there’s an even HARDER boss
fight coming up right after this with no saving or healing in
between. So, as Ike would say, “Prepare yourself.” (…I wonder
how many readers know what I’m talking about? Probably many,
knowing how many people have Super Smash Brothers Brawl.) One
strategy you might take before this battle is to get yourself
close to leveling up, then beat Grodus and level up, thus
restoring all your stats to peak condition for the next
battle. If you don’t, then finish Grodus as quickly as
possible so that you don’t take too much damage. Alright, to
the battle, men! To the battle! At the start of the battle,
Grodus will make four Grodus X appear around him, creating an
impenetrable shield around him. In case you hadn’t guessed,
Grodus X are the equivalent of Mini-Yux, only Grodus creates
two of them at a time, they have 4 HP, and they attack on
their own. To get rid of them, use Vivian’s Fiery Jinx like
there’s no tomorrow. At least use SOME multi-target move that
deals 4 damage or more and doesn’t decrease your resources
too much. Use Mario’s Spring Jump whenever the shield is
broken. Unless you have the Quick Change badge equipped, keep
Vivian out so she can destroy all the Grodus X that appear.
Fortunately, all four Grodus X that can appear are needed to
create a shield, so you can wait until all four appear.
-~History: Sir Grodus is the leader of the X-Nauts. (If
you’re reading this and don’t know Grodus’s master plan, QUIT
READING. This contains major spoilers!) Kidnapping Peach
since she had the magic map that could locate the Crystal
Stars, he was too late--she had already sent it off to Mario.
After Mario collected most of the Crystal Stars, Grodus
altered his plan a bit. When Mario had all but the one the X-
Nauts had, Lord Crump, unaware of the changed plan, attempted
to defeat Mario by using Magnus 2.0, but failed. Of course,
Doopliss, disguised as Prof. Frankly, tricked Mario into
opening the Thousand-Year Door, allowing Grodus to walk right
in without collecting the Crystal Stars. So, whether Lord
Crump won or lost to Mario, the plan would be completed. He
planned to use Peach’s body as a “vessel” for the return of
the Shadow Queen, the ancient demon that destroyed the town
sitting where Rogueport currently is long ago.
-+-+-+-+BOWSER (CHAPTER 8) [bwsr2]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 70 (Bowser), 50 (Kammy)
-~Attack: 7 (Bowser), 5 (Kammy)
-~Defense: 2 (Bowser), 0 (Kammy)
-~Attacks:
- Bowser: Bite, Fire Breath, Ground Slam. Same moves as
before with the same side-effects: Bite may
poison you, Fire Breath may burn you, Ground
Slam, unless blocked, will disable the use of one
of your battle options.
- Kammy: Magic Blast, Health Restoration,
Electrification, Invisibility, Size-Up, Defense
Increase. Quite a list there. Magic Blast is an
ordinary blast of magic like any ordinary
Magikoopa would do. Health Restoration heals one
of them by 8. Electrification electrifies one of
them, so no physical contact. Invisibility makes
one impossible to attack. Size-Up makes one of
them huge.
-~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, directly after the fight
with Grodus.
-~Strategy: “What’s a finale without Bowser? A cruddy
finale, that’s what!” Well, that’s what you think, Mr. King.
Right after the Grodus fight, Bowser attacks. You’re weakened
now (unless you leveled up after the fight), so Bowser takes
advantage of this. Kammy starts off floating on a broom.
Knock her off, and you can attack her on the ground, though
Bowser’s big bod’ is in the way. Focus your attacks on Kammy
first. She can heal either one of them and give them other
nasty power-ups. So, without Kammy, Bowser is practically
useless. Focus Spring Jumps and other strong attacks on her
that can reach her. If you want, use Art Attack and circle
her repeatedly for around 15 damage. You should also use
Power Lift to increase your attack and defense to lay the
hurt on them. Guard well against Bowser’s attacks, as they
have very nasty side-effects (if you’re still wearing the
Feeling Fine badges, that takes care of the poison part). If
you’re running out of HP or FP, use an Ultra Shroom or
Jammin’ Jelly. Surely you have lots of them by now. It’s
important to have oodles of these things lying around for
this purpose.
-~History: Bowser heard something about a Thousand-Year Door
with a legendary treasure behind it, which certainly
intrigued the Koopa King. Setting off, he entered the
Thousand-Year Door and accidentally saved Mario from Grodus
by landing on top of him when he was about to deliver the
final blow to Mario and his partner. Seeing that Peach was
there as well, Bowser figured he’d kill three birds with one
stone by eliminating Mario, nabbing Peach, and taking the
legendary treasure. Of course, he didn’t know that it was
actually a demon…
-+-+-+-+SHADOW QUEEN (CHAPTER 8) [shdwqn]
-~HP: 150
-~Attack: 7
-~Defense: 1
-~Attacks: Dark Lightning, Green Poison, Pink Poison, Shadow
Wave, Stat Increase, Shadow Hand Drain, Shadow Hand Slam,
Dead Hands Charge, Dead Hands Attack. Dark Lightning nails
one of you with dark-colored lightning. Green Poison is a
weaker attack that can induce 9-turn poison. Pink Poison,
apparently, does damage but not poison. Shadow Wave must be
charged up first, but nails you and your partner with
incredibly immense power (about 15 damage). Stat Increase
boosts her attack and defense by 3 for a few turns. If her
Shadow Hands are up, she may drain your HP to add to her own
with Shadow Hand Drain, or just hit you with Shadow Hand
Slam. Dead Hands Charge is where the small army of hands
charges at whoever’s in front and hits them three times with
an attack power of 3, and Dead Hands Attack pulls one of you
underground and hits you three times. Whoo! Lot of moves.
-~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, very final room.
-~Strategy: This is the final battle, so naturally it’s the
hardest (aside from Bonetail). The Queen’s got some horrid
moves that can put massive dents in your HP, so guard well.
Before you start, have about 60 HP and at least 45 or 50 FP.
This battle actually goes in three phases, so I’ll explain
each phase.
-+-+PHASE ONE+-+-
You’re now only fighting the Shadow Queen’s dark vessel,
Peach. Use multiple Spring Jumps to bash her all around. (Her
defense now is 0, so no worries.) About the only move she can
use is Dark Lightning, so no worries there, either. Use
strong partner moves, like Vivian’s Shade Punch to light her
ablaze or, of course, Goombella’s Multibonk. You probably
won’t be needing to use any Special moves or items, so don’t
bother unless you’re way too desperate. After getting the
Shadow Queen down past about 85 HP, the second phase will
begin.
-+-+PHASE TWO+-+-
Now, the Shadow Queen is invincible, now attacking you in her
demon form and being able to use all her moves. Stay alive!!
I think you HAVE to attack her, despite the fact that you do
no damage, to actually move on to the third phase. The Shadow
Queen’s real tough now, so use items like Ultra Shrooms to
heal your HP. Keep fruitlessly whaling away at the Shadow
Queen until the third phase begins. If she charges up her
Shadow Wave move, use Vivian’s Veil, quickly!!
-+-+PHASE THREE+-+-
After attacking the Shadow Queen a bit, she’ll eat the
audience to recover all her HP. After a looong cut scene, you
will have all your HP, FP, and star power restored by Peach,
plus you will be able to damage Queenie. This is where the
real battle begins. I think, once you get the little slot
machine thing rolling, the game will automatically get three
Shine Sprites to bring your audience back, since I remember
pressing A to stop the reel, and quite some time later, the
reel happened to stop on a Shine Sprite. Use Power Lift here.
A lot. It will certainly help lay the hurt on the Shadow
Queen, and it will protect you from quite a bit of damage the
Shadow Queen dishes out. You should have Vivian out for this
battle. Use Vivian’s Fiery Jinx to wipe out the Shadow Hands
whenever they are out. Having Vivian handy is, of course,
good for dodging the terribly-powerful Shadow Wave move the
Shadow Queen uses frequently; try out Vivian’s Veil move to
dodge the wave of darkness. Use lots of Spring Jumps. You
should have quite a number of Jammin’ Jellies and Ultra
Shrooms, so use those whenever you get low on health. Try not
to use Supernova unless you’re that desperate; you should
save your star power for Power Lift. Continuously burning the
Shadow Queen with fire is important to whittling away at her
health. The Shadow Hand Drain moves are pretty annoying,
since they only add to the demon’s health. If one partner
faints, bring out another. Don’t use your Yoshi, since its
moves are really too weak to get past the defense of the
Queen and its Gulp doesn’t work. So, I suggest using Bobbery.
Most HP of any character, strong attacks, and Bob-ombast to
attack all enemies in a big, powerful explosion. Again, it
requires 9 FP, plus it’s the final move Bobbery can learn,
but it may be useful. If you want, use Goombella’s Multibonk
after having used Power Lift to bonk the Shadow Queen
repeatedly. I think your biggest concern may be the Dead
Hands; these hands sticking out of the ground have 8 HP and
do some pretty mean moves to you, although a Power Lifted
defense of 3 or higher oughta eliminate that threat. Really,
the only other thing I can say to you is…good luck. No
pressure, but the world’s counting on you.
===============
OPTIONAL BOSSES [.6]
===============
There are four bosses/mini-bosses here that can be fought
whenever the heck you see fit. The only exceptions here are
numbers two, four, and five, which MUST be fought if you do
something wrong. So, here are the bosses.
-+-+-+-+GUS [gs]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 20
-~Attack: 3
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Spear Ram, Spear Toss. Using Spear Ram, Gus will
run in place for a bit, then charge into you; you can use the
Superguard to turn the damage back at him. He’ll also
occasionally use Spear Toss to attack you from afar; he
mysteriously still has his spear after he does this.
-~Encountered: East Rogueport.
-~Strategy: At the very beginning of the game, Gus can be a
bit of a hassle. To battle him, talk to him and choose “I can
take you!” instead of paying the toll to get through or
declining. After beating him, you can access the right side
of east Rogueport anytime without paying a toll. Let’s assume
you want to fight the moron right off the bat. Wait until
after you have the Special move Sweet Treat, though, since
you wouldn‘t need to read this if you were a level 47 with
some skee-yills. Be sure to equip the Power Smash badge Prof.
Frankly gives you after you leave his house. When you engage
in the fight with Gus, let me point out that shiny little
spear he’s holding up. Attempt to jump up on him, and you’re
a Mario shish kabob. Use Power Smash like there’s no
tomorrow. Goombella is totally useless here except for
Tattling and appealing for more star power. Use nothing but
Power Smash and Superguard if you can. When no FP is left for
Power Smash, use Sweet Treat, then have Goombella appeal a
lot to try and get more star power for you. Don’t forget to
use healing items like Mushrooms to heal yourself if Gus gets
the better of you. Plus, like Gus advises you, if things get
way too hopeless, run.
-~History: A member of the Robbos, Gus is a grungy, bird-
like creature who loves to take tolls from people in order
for them to pass into Robbo territory. Kind of a crybaby
after he loses, he hates you with a passion and says so if
you talk to him.
-+-+-+-+CLEFTS [clfts]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 2 each
-~Attack: 2 each
-~Defense: 2 each
-~Attacks: Ram. A simple, spiky ram from each of the hard-
headed monsters. Extremely easy to use the Superguard on.
-~Encountered: Shhwonk Fortress, final building, only
appearing if you fail to answer three questions correctly.
-~Strategy: During the trivia quiz with the Thwomp in the
final section of Shhwonk Fortress, if you get three questions
wrong, you are forced to fight either four or five Clefts, I
can’t remember which. Your only hopes here are the
Superguard, a POW Block, or maybe an overused Power Smash. If
you’re good with the Superguard, then these guys are easy to
time, so use it as much as you can. Otherwise, ANSWER ALL THE
QUESTIONS CORRECTLY. If you manage to beat all of these guys,
the unfathomably furious Thwomp will very reluctantly let you
down under Shhwonk Fortress.
-~History: Clefts are ordinary enemies found around the
Boggly Woods. Facing so many at a time at the current point
in the game can be very hazardous to your health, but it
shouldn’t be too hard to get out of if you follow my
instructions.
-+-+-+-+ATOMIC BOO [atmcb]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 40
-~Attack: 4
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Big Scare, Body Slam, Boo Spit. The Atomic Boo
has to use one turn to charge up the Big Scare, which damages
both you and your partner. The Body Slam is a simple physical
attack that can hurt either one of you. Finally, it can spit
out Boos to ram into you. (I’m not sure, but I think it can
turn invisible, too, so that attacks go through it.)
-~Encountered: Creepy Steeple, after freeing the Boos from
the box, making them appear in the main room, and angering
them.
-~Strategy: To make the Atomic Boo appear, go to the statue
at the right end of the big, main room and push it back to
reveal a hole. Fall down it and go through the door on your
left. Open the strange box to make 200 Boos appear. (As a
side note, the last Boo that comes out will ask you how many
Boos came out of the box; if you answer correctly, you get an
Ultra Shroom. Very nifty.) Back out in the main room, you
should see a Boo crying. Talk to it and promise not to hurt
it, and all the other Boos will come out. Stand still and
wind your Super/Ultra Hammer up. Several Boos will stick to
you, so quickly swipe them off by swinging around. After
knocking off enough Boos, the Boo you were just talking to
will claim you broke your promise. All 200 Boos will form
into the Atomic Boo. (By the way, if too many Boos stick to
you, they’ll throw you out of the steeple. So YEAH, you’re
going to fight back.)
Alright, now to the fight. This fight is just slightly
more difficult than the fight with Doopliss (a.k.a. ?????)--
which isn’t saying much. Your hammer won’t reach, and neither
will any other ground-based moves. So, use aerial moves and
jumps. Need I say “Multibonk and Power Bounce” again? Maybe
so. Whatever. Unfortunately, the Atomic Boo’s attacks are
very hard to guard action command and ludicrously difficult
to Superguard. Which is probably why the Atomic Boo’s harder
than dopey Doopy. That, and some of its attacks can bash both
you and your partner.
Oh, and after defeating the hulking ghost, the Lucky
Start badge drops down where it was. Pick it up! It allows
you to start each battle with a 2-turn positive status, like
slowly-recovering HP or FP, electrified, or being dodgy so
attacks might miss. It’s 4 BP to equip, but be sure to make
room for it, as it’s a nifty badge that can turn the tides of
a battle.
-~History: As mentioned in the game Luigi’s Mansion, Boos
gather strength in numbers. Also similar to Luigi’s Mansion,
the Atomic Boo is very similar to Boolossus, a boss in the
game. Both were exceptionally huge and composed of many Boos,
although Boolossus was made of 15 Boos and the Atomic Boo’s a
whopping 200.
-+-+-+-+EMBERS [mbrs]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 8 each
-~Attack: 3 each
-~Defense: 0 each
-~Attacks: Flame Burst, Flamethrower, Fireball. Using Flame
Burst, an Ember will get close to one of you, pause, and
extend its fire to hurt you. Flamethrower hurts only one of
you (I think), despite its length. This bright blue attack is
a line of fire blown from the Ember. The Fireball is a simple
ball of fire controlled into hurting on of you.
-~Encountered: Keelhaul Key, in front of the Pirate’s
Grotto, if you fail to do the ‘Stache Brothers sequence
correctly.
-~Strategy: If you accidentally whack the Red Brother
instead of Spin Jump on him or vice versa, hit a brother one
too many times, or hit the Blue Brother first, three angry
Embers will descend and attack. These are just ordinary
Embers; if you use an ice or explosion-based attack, they’ll
take more damage. Avoid physical contact, as you’ll just get
burned. Definitely avoid fiery moves, as it will not only
heal the flame spirit, but split it off into another enemy.
Admiral Bobbery is a nice partner to have around here due to
his explosive attacks. If you want to take care of all of
them quickly, use Art Attack, an Earth Tremor and then some
quick moves, or Koops’s Power Shell repeatedly (I believe
Koops, hiding in his shell, should be okay).
-+-+-+-+X-YUXES [xyxs]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 10 each
-~Attack: 3 each
-~Defense: 1 each
-~Attacks: Laser Ring. Just a simple purple ring that
“OoOoO”s in and out and eventually smacks one of you. The X-
Yuxes’ Laser Ring almost always immobilizes you if you don’t
block it, so be careful.
-~Encountered: X-Naut Fortress, Sublevel 3 (I think), far
right room. If you get three questions wrong the mechanical
Thwomp asks, two X-Yuxes appear.
-~Strategy: Just a reminder, these things are pronounced
“Cross-Yux,” not “Ex-Yux.” So, does this remind you of
Shhwonk Fortress? Of course it does! Get three questions
wrong out of many that a Thwomp will ask you--this time, a
mechanical one--and you get to fight some tough enemies. This
time, you’re fighting two X-Yuxes instead of four or five
Clefts. You’re a whole lot stronger now, so take my advice
and use the Showstopper Special move you just got to defeat
them in one turn, easily (hopefully). If, for whatever tiny
reason, you don’t have two circles of star power, you’re in
danger. After all, they don’t have that much defense or
attack power, but their attacks almost always immobilize you,
so you can’t attack, run, use items, or do anything else. Not
to mention they create two Mini-X-Yuxes at once. So quickly
use Vivian’s Fiery Jinx or, better, Bobbery’s Bob-ombast to
attack them both at the same time. If they create the mini
versions, use the same multi-target move to clear the little
annoying critters out, then have Mario attack one. Keep up
the pattern until they die. Do not bother with the
Superguard; timing their attacks is nearly impossible, so it
is far easier just to use a guard action command to avoid
being immobilized. (You still take some damage, but you’re
not immobilized.)
-~History: The latest batch of Yuxes, X-Yuxes (pronounced
“Cross-Yuxes” for those who didn’t read the paragraph above)
are bright-red Yuxes designed to protect important areas.
Naturally, there’s one in front of Grodus’s room. They’re
tough, even when facing off against just one, since their
attacks immobilize their poor victims unless the victim
blocks right, and they create two Mini-X-Yuxes at once. Ouch.
-+-+-+-+BONETAIL [bntl]+-+-+-+-
-~HP: 200
-~Attack: 8
-~Defense: 0
-~Attacks: Hand Slam, Poison Breath, Ice Breath, Fire
Breath, HP Restoration. The Hand Slam is a simple WHAM into
the ground with Bonetail’s hand that can be aimed at either
one of you. The Poison, Ice, and Fire Breaths can poison,
freeze, and burn you, respectively. The skeletal dragon can
also heal itself by 20 HP at will, although fortunately it
rarely does this. I think there might be some more moves, so
if I missed any, e-mail me about them and tell me what they
are.
-~Encountered: Pit of 100 Trials, VERY BOTTOM FLOOR.
-~Strategy: I have only faced and defeated Bonetail once, so
forgive me for my general inexperience.
First, let me start off with a warning. Bonetail is
found at the very bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials, which is
the room right next to the Thousand-Year Door on the left.
It’s at the bottom. THE bottom. It takes you a few hours to
reach the bottom. If you lose, there goes a few hours of your
time. No saving, no healing before you battle with the
dragon. Not to mention you have been completely BATTERED by
the toughest enemies in the game (Elite Wizzerds, Piranha
Plants, Arantulas) up to this point. Think on that for a
minute before we proceed.
All that pressure and tension aside, let’s launch into
a strategy that should hopefully allow you to beat Bonetail
the first time you encounter it. Here’s are what your stats
should be: Your HP should be at least 100--yes, 100--your FP
should be at least 60, preferably around 75 or 80, and you
should have LOTS of BP. Wear lots of “lucky” badges: Lucky
Day, Lucky Start, Pretty Lucky, yada yada yada. Wear the best
badges you can; this means Close Call, the badges I just
mentioned, HP Plus and FP Plus, Happy Heart, Happy Flower,
and especially the Feeling Fine badge; get some of these
kinds of badges for your partner as well. Finally, reach
floor 50 of the Pit of 100 Trials and then leave before you
even attempt to take on Bonetail; your reward for reaching
floor 50 is the Strange Sack (I believe it is called that),
which allows you to carry twice the items. Great. So if you
have the sack, stack up on PLENTY of Jelly Ultras; get the
“legendary cookbook” for Zess T. by completing a trouble on
the trouble center for her to enable her to cook two things
at once, then give her an Ultra Shroom and Jammin’ Jelly to
mix. To get tons of these things easily, go to the Pianta
Parlor and buy either one for 64 Piantas. To unlock games to
earn Piantas without spending money, you’ll have to complete
troubles at the trouble centers and that sort of thing. When
I say lots of Jelly Ultras, I mean LOTS. Say, 8 minimum. I
made the mistake of not doing this and nearly lost the battle
with Bonetail. Of course, I ALSO happened to get three Shine
Sprites during a slot machine session, so everything was
replenished, allowing me to KICK BONETAIL’S BUTT. I hope you
have the same luck, but that was an extremely fortunate, rare
moment for me. Just be glad it wasn’t three Poison Mushrooms.
That would be DARN bad. Especially in this fight.
So, if you are finally prepared, lets get down into
battle strategy. Before I even had an account of GameFAQs, I
read on hunterzero0130’s boss guide that was here before mine
that using the Power Lift Special move works wonders. I had
never even USED the move before, so it was here I discovered
that, wow, the move really DOES work! So use Power Lift to
increase your attack and defense. Do not give me credit for
this, give hunterzero0130 the credit. Also, Bonetail
fortunately doesn’t have too much defense, but it’s enough.
Use Power Smash--surely Mega Smash is in this game somewhere,
I have yet to find it--to give the creep a thrashing. Again,
I’ve only beaten Bonetail once, so I’m not sure what partner
to recommend using. Not Yoshi, since Yoshi’s Gulp can’t
swallow Bonetail, and its other moves are too weak to
penetrate the defense. So, uh…Bobbery, I guess. Use Bobbery.
He’s got the most HP (when fully-upgraded) and some good
moves.
If anyone’s got some other strategies for Bonetail,
share them. Please…?
Also, defeating Bonetail gives you the awesome Return
Postage badge, where all physical attacks done to you do half
the damage back to your attacker. Neat, huh? Of course,
that’s IF you defeat it…surely you will…
===============
FAQ [.7]
===============
If you have any questions, suggestions for the guide, new
strategies for boss fights, errors that need pointing out,
helpful hints on attacks I missed or something, or want to
put this guide on your site, e-mail me (my e-mail address is
listed in the appropriate section). If your e-mail doesn’t
fit under any of the “not accepted” categories, it will be
posted here (if it’s a question or suggestion--otherwise,
you’ll be listed in the Special Thanks section). You will
also get a nifty spot in the Special Thanks section. Sound
good? Then e-mail me!
Uh, so far, no e-mails.
===============
SPECIAL THANKS [.8]
===============
I would like to thank:
- Nintendo, for making the game.
- Me for working hard on this guide.
- Supercheats for hosting my guide on their website. Go
check it out.
- Neoseeker also for hosting my guide on their website. Go
check that out, too.
- Jessy Boudreau for e-mailing me about some moves I missed
for some bosses.
- Kyle Joyce for submitting a cool strategy about Macho
Grubba.
- MysticGamer23 for pointing out a Rawk Hawk move I had
never seen before.
- Whoever invented soda ‘cause it tastes good.
- My dog for being cute and fuzzy.
===============
GOODBYE [.9]
===============
That’s all, folks.
Hope you enjoyed this and it helped you beat the snot
out of some big monster. That’s why this guide is here. Any
questions, e-mail me. And remember…this is MINE. Do not claim
it is your own, use it to make money, put it on your site
without my permission, all that other stuff that could land
your butt in jail.
Goodbye.
