Super Mario RPG Switch Remake - Low Level Finale: Smithy
25Challenge playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c1MMIPTlZnOvI4eiDzyABR_
Our epic low level challenge comes to a close with a showdown against the game's main villain Smithy! With at least 10,000 HP (more if you count its allies and body parts) between his two phases and several unique forms, Smithy is easily the most intriguing and complex battle in the entire game!
The first phase is the quickest, ending after Smithy loses 2K HP. It is however a very intense phase offensively, as Smithy wastes no time at all to pressurise the party and opens by using Sledge, targeting the entire party with non-elemental magic that tends to wipe out anyone not wearing the Lazy Shell armour. You might say, oh, time to revive the other two members. In a lengthy and arduous battle such as this one however, we really don't want to deplete such an invaluable finite resource so early. We've only got six, and any opportunity to preserve the ones we have is one we don't want to miss.
This thinking dictates my strategy for the first phase - waste absolutely no resources whatsoever! I use Geno and Peach's triple move to grant the party invincibility for exactly one attack, and surviving Sledge lets them live for two turns to lay some punishment unto the boss. This should remove almost a half of his health. Smithy will eventually use Sledge another time, this time with my protection gone. The reserves will switch in automatically, Lazy Shell!Bowser among them. Peach having the shell diminishes the potency of her healing, and she's a worse tank when all is said and done with much lower health and defences. Magic Head deals over 50 damage to optimised magically defensive Bowser when the buffs have been dispelled, and Peach will fare noticeably more poorly when taking on physicals. Mallow can do whatever at this stage; we definitely want Bowser to be buffed, which is easily accomplished with a Yoshi-Ade, which I farmed up specifically for this battle.
Shortly though, Bowser will face Smithy alone, which is exactly the way I planned it. The Star Egg could be used throughout for a stable source of damage, but I end up using Fright Bombs for their much shorter animation. This is the final battle after all. Peach is switched back in when the phase ends - she has been equipped to maximise the power of physical attacks, used namely against the Magic Head form. Mario has been equipped to always have the attack buff on when revived, as he will die to a breeze (much like Peach tbqh).
The two forms we'll see most often are Tank Head and Magic Head. The former specialises in all sorts of ST physicals, which I'm bad at blocking, and instadeath attacks. This is one of the places to spam Rock Candies, as taking out the body will undermine the boss's offence, but Tank Head also takes neutral damage from the elemental bombs. Mario's Jump is most potent against this Smithy form.
Magic Head, on the other hand, threatens everybody but Bowser with MT magic. Jump is weak here, and both the elemental bombs deal 0 damage. The good news is that the boss has the weakest physical defence of all Smithy forms, and Peach can easily outdamage a Rock Candy with a well-timed blow. Giving her a Red Essence is a smart tactic here, but the question whether Mario should be given the same treatment remains open. Of similar nature is deciding when to revive the characters. If unlucky or unable to time perfect blocks on the physical attacks, which can be used by any form, sandbagging will commence and go on indefinitely, quickly parting us from our means of resurrecting the fallen at any time in the future.
The real jackpot is when the ice-weak Mask Head comes in. Not only does it not do much to threaten us, but when locked in a helpless state it enables us to unleash our whole arsenal of Ice Bombs for 1,2K damage a turn, which is how Smithy can sometimes lose a huge portion of its humongous stock of hit points.
The fourth form? Treasure Head attempts to inflict negative status ailments. I've seen it poison Mario before, but the form never lasts long enough for me to understand what else it can do, though of course I have seen its movepool.
While not a perfect play, as I can never get the perfect blocks down, it's the first clear I recorded and, I believe, the most entertaining one to share.
A challenge run of yet another old-school JRPG title has been completed, adding one more series to a substantial profile of games of a similar era, aesthetic and style. I guess it feels good that some things just don't change even 16+ years later? It sure feels this way to me. Meanwhile, you can expect to see me continue the challenge into the postgame (is Culex 3D impossible? I know of one way of finding out...), and I'll probably be uploading some other videos in the meantime.