Super Mario RPG Switch Remake - Low Level Part 12: Johnny
15Challenge playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c1MMIPTlZnOvI4eiDzyABR_
Two different recordings of this boss battle, one with us circumventing the Mario vs. Jonathan Jones duel and the other one with us going for the solo Mario in the last "half" of the boss's HP bar.
The former - the choice to keep fighting Johnny with a full party - is clearly as sensible as it gets. Getting Mario KO'd leads to a game over, and that's exactly what happens if you don't have perfect timing on your block, as Johnny's special attacks require good knowledge of the timing to not fall to.
There are two ways to avoid the duel: you can either get Mario killed off or leave at least one mook alive. As the surviving mooks can still die to splash damage from proper timing on your attacks (Bowser's current weapon never seems to splash - what gives?), you're most safe against being forced into the duel if Mario is killed, but I successfully carry out the other strategy in this video.
Geno is used instead of Peach, as his Geno Beam has far better damage potential than Peach's regular attack. Don't we want healing? The enemy attacks do add up if we don't time the blocks right, but items exist, and a lot of the blows are indeed fairly easy to withstand with action commands.
In this battle, the mooks can occasionally trigger the Lucky Jewel effect when killed, letting us preserve the jewel for later. This could potentially benefit us in the future, as Lucky Hammer is kind of a gimped weapon for Mario? Mario's lv. 3, so we shouldn't care TOO much. We'll see?
The second strat involves dealing as much damage to Johnny as possible before he becomes red n' hard and challenges Mario to a 1vs1 fight. He does this after 420 of his 800 max HP, meaning if we land the meanest possible blow before he enters his next phase, Mario will have less work to do. What's the best way to do it? Use a Rock Candy under Attack Up from the Party Energizer for 300 damage. As Mario gets a freebie here, he can reuse the item on the following turn, technically not having to fight Johnny himself at all...
What would an itemless clear be like? Well, Mario's Jump damage would increase to 25 or so above the puny damage he normally incurs in the first phase. If you block right, you can make it work at lv. 3!
The worst part of this battle, however, was all the resetting until I got 0 exp at the end. Oh, the pain!