+-+-+-+ 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] Grodus (Chapter 8) [grds] Bowser (Chapter 8) [bwsr2] Shadow Queen (Chapter 8) [shdwqn] Optional Bosses [.6] Gus [gs] Clefts [clfts] Atomic Boo [atmcb] Embers [mbrs] X-Yuxes [xyxs] Bonetail [bntl] FAQ [.7] Special Thanks [.8] =============== INTRODUCTION [.1] =============== 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. All that aside, I hope you enjoy this guide. (Hey, that rhymes! And so does that, kind of!) =============== VERSION HISTORY [.2] =============== -~Version 1.0 (7/24/08): Added all bosses and known strategies. The guide is in its barest (but complete) form. -~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. -~Version 1.32 (12/27/09): You know, there have been a lot of updates to this guide. Anyway, I’ve added a question and some minor corrections from other people. -~Version 1.33 (3/17/12): After all these years, I am back to change the e-mail address. So there. -~Version 1.40 (7/11/15): People still read this thing? It's been seven years! Anyway, I spent awhile redoing the structure and design of the guide so it's easier to read. I also did some basic wordsmithing to make the guide sound less like it was written by a 13-year-old and added some boss moves I'd neglected that The Waka Vore Fan sent in to me. =============== 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 does some part of the guide mysteriously look like alien sign language? 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 counsel 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. Just remember to give credit where it's due, which is to say, to me. 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. -~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. -~Flaming. If you hate me, seethe where you are at home. I don’t need to know about it. -~Pranks. Do not send me an e-mail where the only content is “kjduwncywhnuij.” That is useless. -~The secret launch codes to the US nukes. I don't need my life turning into a George Clooney movie, man. -~An offer to ally myself with a Nigerian prince. I don't care how many pounds you offer me. If you're going to tempt me, at least do it using a currency I'm familiar with! Alright, FINALLY we are to the e-mail. (Did I just channel Fawful?) Hopefully you have read all the rules; I trust that you have. So, the e-mail is halojutsu@gmail.com. Got that? Also, remember to have the e-mail’s subject titled “PM Boss Guide.” Makes spotting your missive and responding to it easier. 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 - might be worth making room for them just for boss fights, then going back to whatever badges you normally wear. 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. (Not like THAT. Just pay her a visit, silly.) ===== 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, you may find yourself the father of a brand new aneurysm. You’ll find yourself WAAAAY back in the game, FAR from the boss, and more than likely 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. If you’re stylish, however, you'll get what top-tier analysts have referred to as "oodles of Star Power." 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. Most moves have their own Stylish timing, though moves in the same "family" (like hammer moves) will usually have similar requirements. =============== 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. According to Trent Castro, Superguarding does not work here. I think you can avoid damage with it, but you just won’t return it. 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 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 pretty easy to block even with the Superguard (although the Superguard really does nothing to them, so you'd just be showing off). Focus your attacks on the Gold Fuzzy. The fight should be over in a grand total of three or four turns. -~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. 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 for grinding. 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 second-strongest of the group, 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 a relatively 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, she’ll try and trick you into sparing her life by asking if you want a thousand coins, a rare badge, and, um, sniffing the bottoms of her 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 a certain other dragon later in the game, 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. What, you thought I made them all up?) 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: This is only 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 if one strategy isn't working, but I recommend taking care of Beldam first, the old hag in the back; that way, no more huge 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. 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. Incidentally, in the original Japanese version of the game, Vivian is transgender. Not the first transgender character in the Mario series, either - ever heard of Birdo? -+-+-+-+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 (after clearing the dungeon). -~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. 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. -~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 just might upgrade it later. -+-+-+-+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. (Running away would be quicker, if you have a hot date to get to.) After the battle, you’ll get your fourth partner, a Yoshi that you can name yourself! (I named mine things like Thrasher and Thorn, because I like, uh, hot, flashy names…and the Inheritance series.) 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 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. 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. He also fights dirty, but that allegedly stops after you defeat him. The champion right before him was Prince Mush. -+-+-+-+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, Dodgy Effect. Wow. What a group. 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. Grubba also occasionally uses the Dodgy Effect to, what else, turn himself Dodgy so your attacks might miss (thanks to The Waka Vore Fan for bringing that to my attention). -~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. He'll typically use that extra turn to augment himself in some way; increasing power, making himself dodgy, those kinds of shenanigans. I used Goombella for this battle; chances are you haven’t upgraded your Yoshi partner, so its HP’s only at 10, which probably isn’t enough to take on the gargantuan Macho Grubba. Use Goombella’s Multibonk like crazy, considering you’ve upgraded her. Use Power Smash like crazy. 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. Another strategy 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. Solid strategy. -~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. 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, and a particularly crafty, dangerous one at that. 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, Spin Jump. Pretty much the same attacks as before. They're all replicas of your own, so you'll just have to adjust to Doopliss's timing if you want to defend against them. The partners' attacks are generally the same as when they're on your side, though Goombella will have Multibonk regardless of whether or not she learned it with you. (Thanks again to The Waka Vore Fan for reminding me of that.) -~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 the 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 something normal, like, you know, "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 them and damage Cortez all at once. 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?) 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 kicked the bucket as pirates were wont to do, but his spirit was tied to his treasure. Staying on our mortal plane 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 rail 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 and brace for a little pain. 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 (is this just going to become a thing with bosses now?). 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 by telling the camera that, yeah, you know who he is and 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 arms; 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 active. 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. 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... 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 vocabulary 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, but try and save enough Star Power for those Power Lifts. 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 (arguably the most important 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 area. -~Strategy: Remember the Red Bones from Hooktail Castle? Well, this battle is similar. A stronger-than-average Bones only encountered once (save for one more encounter in the tower by the courtyard) 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 don't stay down forever; if you don’t finish off the Dark Bones quickly enough, they will 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 expect a surprised curse word or two. 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 called 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, nor does he give you insipid offers with all the authenticity of a Nigerian prince, 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. Again, same attacks as before, only more powerful. -~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, courtyard area, after inserting all the Palace Keys into the pedestals in the tower, which appear after 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. -+-+-+-+GRODUS (CHAPTER 8) [grds]+-+-+-+- -~HP: 50 -~Attack: 7 -~Defense: 0 -~Attacks: Lightning, Laser, Fire Drive, Immobilization. Lightning can blast both you and your partner for 7 damage. The Laser move is similar to a Wizzerd’s. The Fire Drive, apparently, is like Mario‘s Fire Drive, only blue. Grodus can also immobilize you and render you utterly helpless. Thanks to Jessy Boudreau for informing me about the Fire Drive move and The Waka Vore Fan for his Immobilization. -~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.” 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 on Grodus 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!) He kidnapped Peach since she had the magic map that could locate the Crystal Stars, but he was a bit 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 Crystal Stars save the one the X-Nauts possessed, Lord Crump, unaware of the changed plan, attempted to defeat Mario by using Magnus 2.0, but failed. 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. Without Kammy, the battle becomes a lot more straightforward. 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. -~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, very final room. -~Strategy: This is the final battle, so naturally it’s the hardest (aside from the optional Bonetail). The Queen’s got some horrid moves that can put massive dents in your HP, so guard well. Hopefully before you start, you 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, 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 devour 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. Every time I fight this woman, actually. 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 most of 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 or FP. 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 immediately. 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. I suggest using Bobbery should Vivian be defeated (and she probably will) - most HP of any character, strong attacks, and has 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. What does he think this is, Fire Emblem? -~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 this 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.) 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? 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. It allows you to start each battle with a 2-turn positive status, like slowly-recovering HP or FP, being 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 pretty cool badge that can turn the tides of a battle. -~History: As mentioned in the game Luigi’s Mansion, Boos gather strength in numbers. Also in reference to Luigi’s Mansion, the Atomic Boo is very similar in nature to Boolossus from that 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'll still take some damage, but at least you won't be 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, Bite, 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 Bite is commonly shared among the three dragons and is a very quick bite that’s so quick you’ll barely have time to prepare for it. Apparently, you can’t Superguard against it. 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, Floor 100. -~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 ideally 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. 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. So, if you are finally prepared, let's 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, what do you know, it really is useful. 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 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. 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! Q: How come the Shadow Queen only gave 1 Star Point on defeat? A: I don’t know. Maybe the game designers thought it would be funny if a great, evil villain gave you one measly Star Point. There’s also the possibility that the game designers thought players might lose motivation to keep playing, so there would be no point in leveling up (no pun intended). Nothing is wrong with your game, in case you’re wondering. =============== SPECIAL THANKS [.8] =============== I would like to thank: - Nintendo, for making the game. - 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. - Trent Castro for shedding a small bit of advice on Bristles and asking a question. - Drew B for alerting me to another one of Bonetail’s moves. - The Waka Vore Fan for writing to me about boss moves I was missing regarding Macho Grubba, Doopliss (and Goombella), and Grodus.