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How to find & win all post-game rematches - Super Mario RPG

If you thought the Smithy gang was tough, wait until you find Super Mario RPG's post-game rematches.

Ozzie Mejia

November 17, 2023 11:00 AM

Nintendo

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After completing Super Mario RPG, the adventure continues... sort of. Once the credits have rolled, players' save files will receive a 'Clear Data' label to indicate that the story has been completed. At this point, it's time to experience some of the remake's exciting new additions. While the main story is a faithful re-creation of the original story, the post-game content is all-new and will challenge even the most hardened of Super Mario RPG veterans. Shacknews was thrown for a loop by these fights, too, but worry not, because we're here to help find these battles and ultimately prevail.

How to access post-game rematches - Super Mario RPG

After accessing a Clear Data file, Mario will wake up in his bed back at Mario's Pad. He'll find Toad who will ask if he was dreaming of beating Smithy again. Yes, the endgame that players experienced turned out to be a dream. To help Mario prepare for the fight ahead, Toad offers a Stay Voucher, good for a night in the Marrymore Suite.

Proceed to Marrymore and use the Stay Voucher at the Inn. Mario will sleep in the lap of luxury, as usual, but this time, a brief cutscene will reveal Geno looking outside the window. After Mario wakes up, Geno will inform Mario that he saw something land atop Star Hill.

Head over to Star Hill. After entering the first gate, Geno will observe that everything looks normal. But upon reaching the next area, new pink stars can be seen scattered about. Geno will note that these weren't here before and that they must be new wishes. He'll urge Mario to see the Frog Sage to learn more. If you read each of the wishes, they're a hint pointing to the post-game matches ahead.

Post-game rematches can be found one at a time. To cue one up, see the Frog Sage over in Tadpole Pond.

Belome

Belome wants a third fight with Mario and company. He'll be waiting in his temple in Land's End.

This is the most straightforward of the rematches. However, even this fight has a gimmick. Belome will once again eat a member of the party to create a clone. However, the clone will shield Belome against physical attacks. The clone must be defeated before physical attacks can hit Belome. If you'd rather approach this differently, Special Attacks can still connect.

Belome loves to put your party to sleep using attacks like Sleep Bubble and Aurora Beam. Pack Party Cleanses or use Peach's Group Hug to knock everyone to their senses. Mario's Ultra Jump will prove most effective against Belome, but be careful. If Belome creates a Mario clone, Mario's Ultra Jump will do no damage.

This encounter will take a while to win, but it's patience that will win the day fairly easily. Strap in, though. The fights get much harder from here.

Punchinello

Punchinello is back to his bomb-crafting ways and is waiting in his old spot in Moleville.

This is where the post-game rematches start to introduce some major twists. Off the bat, you'll notice that Punchinello has a lot of HP and your characters will only do about 1-2 damage with each attack. Meanwhile, Punchinello and his bombs will do hundreds of HP of damage with each attack. If you don't know what you're doing, you'll see a Game Over screen real fast.

The first hint that players may notice is that when Punchinello deploys bombs, some will be facing the wrong direction. Bob-Ombs facing Punchinello will backfire and explode in his face. To win, don't aim at the bomb maker, but rather aim at the bombs. If a Bob-Omb takes enough damage, it will do an about-face and turn towards Punchinello. When Punchinello sends out the bombs, any that are facing him will run at him and do 80 damage each.

Even with this knowledge at the ready, Punchinello is not an easy out by any means. His Grinder attack can KO a party member in a single blow if not blocked and Sand Storm will wipe out over half an entire party's health while inflicting the Fear effect. Keep everyone healed with Croaka Colas and Peach's Group Hug and you should be able to outlast this much-tougher boss.

Booster

Booster is sitting atop Booster Tower playing in his room. Use the fast travel feature from the pause menu to warp straight there and find Booster with his Snifsters.

Yikes! Booster is working on a new train called the Engine 023. If you go in unprepared or without any knowledge of what to do, you're in for some pain. Booster will turn his back to the party and begin working. A Snifster will then use Moral Support to help speed his work up. Booster will then attack with Engine 023, a group attack that cannot be blocked and does a whopping 9,999 damage to the entire party!

Your only move is to stop Booster from completing Engine 023 at all costs. Use group attacks like Mario's Ultra Jump, Bowser's Mechakoopa Stomp, Mallow's Thunderbolt, Geno's Geno Flash, and Peach's Psych Bomb to hit every enemy at once. If you inflict enough damage, you'll break Booster's concentration and he'll briefly stop his work. You need to keep up the pressure because he'll frequently try and get back on task.

There will be at least one instance where you can't stop Booster from deploying Engine 023. There are a few things you can do in this situation. Mario, Geno, and Peach's Spare-Us-All Triple Move allows each of them to negate one enemy hit. This includes Engine 023, so if you can time it right, you can save your entire party. The other life-saver is Red Essence, the item that makes one party member invincible for three turns. Strategically use Red Essence on Peach. Worst case scenario, Engine 023 will wipe out the party, but Peach will stay standing and she can use her Come Back move to bring back a downed party member. That party member, in turn, can use a Pick Me Up and then you're right back in the fight.

This is a brutal battle against Booster and his entourage, but if you defeat him first, the battle ends. Try and aim at Booster if you can and pour it on with your best attacks.

Bundt

How does a cake come alive twice? It's somehow happened to the Marrymore chefs again. This is a total reverse of the original fight. Instead of putting out the candles on the Bundt, you're trying to prevent the chefs from lighting them. If you don't know what to look for, you won't be able to stop the chefs from using Ignite. They'll light the candles faster than you can put them out. Once they're all lit, Bundt will fire a Celebration Shot attack that hits for 9,999 HP and will do so on every turn until the candles are out, so those chefs have to be stopped. Fortunately, you get a big hint on how to do that just before the encounter.

When you meet the chefs again, you'll notice that they've worked so hard to create this cake that they've exhausted themselves. To keep them from lighting the candles on Bundt, use Peach's Sleepy Time attack. A fully maxed-out Sleepy Time attack will put both chefs to sleep for several turns. This will give Mario enough time to put the candles out. Use Super Jump (not Ultra Jump, otherwise you'll jump on the chefs and wake them up) on the cake. Bundt is weak to Mario's jump attacks, so have him attack exclusively. Use Peach to heal him and use Geno to buff him with Geno Boost.

Just because the chefs have been dealt with, though, that doesn't mean the rest of this fight is a… ahem… cakewalk.

Thank you. I'll be here all week.

Bundt's attacks do a lot more damage this time around and it'll often attack back-to-back with Raspberry. Sand Storm and Light Bubble are the two big attacks you'll want to watch out for, as they'll inflict Fear and Sleep, respectively, on Mario. Be ready with Cleansing Juice, Party Cleanse, or Peach's Group Hug. Mario and Peach are your two most important party members here. Your third should be ready to keep your Flower Points refreshed and Peach alive, so stock up on Croaka Colas, Royal Syrups, and Pick Me Ups. If Peach is down, use Sleepy Bombs as a backup plan to keep the chefs in dreamland.

Jonathan Jones

Jonathan Jones will either be your easiest or toughest battle depending on how good you are with timed hits. Johnny wants to go 1-on-1 with Mario again, but this time with a major caveat: There are no items allowed. That means you go in with what you've got and there's no way to heal.

There are a couple of ways to prepare for this. Players will receive ally buffs from their party constitution, so be sure to pack Geno and Peach to get their Attack, Speed, and Magic Defense buffs. You should also have two aces up your sleeve in both the Lazy Shell weapon and armor. If you don't have those, get them immediately by grabbing the Seed (which you should already have from Bean Valley) and Fertilizer (from Beezo in Nimbus Land) and taking them to the gardener in Rose Town.

The Lazy Shell armor will cut damage from Johnny's Diamond Saw and Fire Saber attacks down to 1 while the Lazy Shell weapon can do as much, sometimes more, damage than Mario's Ultra Jump. Be careful, though. Johnny's physical attacks, including Skewer, can still pack a punch. Even if you're able to reduce their damage in half, they'll pile up fast. Don't get careless!

If you beat Johnny again, he'll give you an Extra Shiny Stone and, yeah, you can probably see where that's going. But that's a fight for later.

Jinx

Jinx and Jagger would like to learn the importance of tandem moves. After the intensity of the last several fights, Jinx is an easier rematch by comparison. To win, all you have to do is use a Triple Move. The catch is, Jinx will reset your Action Gauge to zero.

The key to winning against Jinx isn't so much about offense as it is about survival. You just have to last long enough to fill your Action Gauge and perform a Triple Move. Jinx has several one-hit KO moves, but those can be negated with certain accessories. Think Attack Scarf, Safety Ring, and Jinx Belt. Those are the three accessories that should be equipped on your primary party members. One of those party members should be Peach, because if you run out of Pick Me Ups, you're up a creek without her Come Back ability.

The other party member you should have is Geno. A timed Geno Boost will not only buff a party member's defense, but it will also fill the Action Gauge slightly. Increased defense will help you stand up to some of Jinx's other big attacks like Quicksilver and Bombs Away.

Once you perform a Triple Move, the fight is over, so keep at it!

3D Culex

Well, this is it. This is the hardest fight in the game. It is heavily recommended that you max out to Level 30 before attempting this final rematch. If you're ready, take the Extra Shiny Stone that you won from Jonathan Jones and return to the sealed door in Monstro Town where you found Culex last time.

Culex has returned in full 3D glory. Worse, he brought along one of Final Fantasy's deadliest attacks: Meteor. In fact, he'll begin the fight with Meteor and reduce your entire party to 1 HP. On top of that, the four crystals will attack afterward, so it's entirely possible that you might not even get a turn off.

Culex will then deploy Meteor every four turns. He'll be counting down, so use that to keep track of when doom is coming. Your usage of Peach is critical to surviving this battle. If you have any Red Essences, use them on Peach on the turn before Meteor goes off, because unlike that first turn, Meteor will wipe out the entire party if it goes off. Mario, Geno, and Peach's Spare-Us-All Triple Move will not work, because the crystals will usually attack first and that'll use up its effect immediately.

Oh, did I mention there's another wild card in this fight? Culex has been studying up on your battle with Bowyer, because every few turns, he'll disable one of your buttons. If he lands on X before you can use your Red Essence on Peach, swap her out immediately and have one of the other party members take the brunt of Meteor.

With all of this in front of you, what hope do you have in this fight? Equip Mario with both Lazy Shells and attack Culex relentlessly. Bowser's Mechakoopa Stomp is a strong area-of-effect attack that can hit Culex and the crystals for a few hundred HP each. Got Rock Candy? Now's the time to use them. Cross your fingers that you get some Freebies. Pour on the pressure, because any prolonged fight favors Culex since your resources will likely start to run low.

Use Peach to keep everyone healthy and use Come Back whenever anybody goes down. You must do your best to keep Peach alive, because six Pick Me Ups may not be enough to carry you through. Your other secret weapon is Mario, Peach, and Mallow's Healing Rainbow Triple Move, which will not only heal everybody, but it will fully revive any other downed party members.

If all of this isn't hard enough, any downed crystals will grant extra strength to their remaining party members. However, if you can survive until the crystals are downed, Culex will no longer be able to use Meteor. Instead, he'll switch to Final Claw, which hits a single party member for 9,999. However, this can be blocked.

Once the crystals are gone, you're home free. Hammer away on Culex until he finally goes down.

Those are all of Super Mario RPG's post-game rematches. They are not for the faint of heart, but if you believe yourself to be strong enough, then we at Shacknews wish you the best of luck.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?