Super Mario RPG Switch Restricted Weapons/No Deaths Run - Megasmilax
0Original version video (first part):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPfgMW54mVE&t=724s
General rules on playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2o0_k4kOryFUHsFDdkj9f0n2YfuNKar
Congratulations, Megasmilax. You earned yourself an isolated part by using your 110 TMATK Petal Blast whenever you feel like it now to be potentially cheap.
Megasmilax, called Queen Flower in the JP version, is supposed to be a sort of filler boss, aside from setting up the next story arc. She pretty much was, but here in the remaster, she is generally nastier, and screams at you to use the remaster's new mechanics, namely mid-battle Switching and Peach's Ally Buff. How? Well, in the original, Megasmilax had her Petal Blast usage only be done on her first turn and every 4 turns afterwards. This was to counterbalance how Megasmilax's Petal Blast is by and far her nastiest threat--in later boss fights, either you can weather it, or there are other mitigating factors. Now? Well, she still uses it on her first turn, but she also has a random chance of using it from that point onward. You actually see her use it twice in a row here, and I actually had a practice run where she used it thrice consecutively. Yes, if she feels spiteful enough, she can straight up spam it and deal a lot of damage to you on top of the Mushroom infliction in and of itself.
Even if I could get past the battle being potentially luck-based if you aren't psychic enough to see these issues coming, on top of how mid-battle Switching actually freezes the timer on buffs and debuffs alike, to say nothing of this being Petal Blast's introduction, I'm not buying the challenge factor being an excuse for the luck aggravation, because Megasmilax has OTHER aspects to involve challenge. First off, the regular bite attack of her and her Smilaxes is already abrupt, a concern by itself, but it is made even more of a threat by how the timing window for it also covers when you can end up with a registered mistime for the Smilaxes' Hot Shot and Flame attacks. Megasmilax herself has 140 PATK, and even the Smilaxes' 100 PATK can potentially milk the loss of Bowser's Physical DEF Ally Buff.
Also making things harder is that Megasmilax and her Smilaxes no longer bother to bite counter your regular attacks whatsoever. You might think that being attacked more might be bad, but you'd have more opportunities to set your Chain back up, as well as potentially get your sleeping characters hit to offset the Smilaxes' Pollen Nap usage. If anything, I would prefer the random bite counterattacks to the potential Petal Blast spam.
Of course, here's the clincher, one I didn't even think to personally note until this very recording with my finishing attack: Megasmilax has 80 Magic DEF, which is still high at this point. This is characteristic of a plant and thus not a bad design choice in and of itself, but it absolutely aggravates the Petal Blast luck issues, especially when having high Chain against Megasmilax for Mallow's Magic ATK Ally Buff to see the light of day and wallbreak that way is already challenging enough. I can say that in the original, an unprotected party, unless Petal Blast missed (and you're relying on luck for that to happen), would get 1 turn every 4 rounds, where here in the remaster, PB could conceivably not see use for a long enough time for somebody unprotected to get multiple consecutive turns that would easily add up, but the problem is the RNG spike issue that is the reason why any obnoxious unblockable attack in the original that could be used whenever the enemy felt like it could quickly turn into a nightmare. There was never any getting around that. The house would always win.
Oh, and the Mushroom debuff? It's still not nerfed aside from being able to Switch out, which as I bring up is an arguable point, to say nothing of it not being an option for Mario himself. At least it has Bowser use the Doll variant for the Hurly Gloves.
I assure you that this would still be easier on the SNES even with the same Levels I have here, but I was needing to Level grind there beyond my current Levels because of an earlier fight that had its problems with antiquated design. Even then, even the fact that single target magic attacks weren't blockable wouldn't have changed the Petal Blast usage being fully deterministic to helpful effect there.
Now I will say this: Super Mario RPG Switch has still been showing good rebalancing. It will do that still. Megasmilax's added luck involvement is simply a misfire, and I would rather still call that out because Kid Icarus Uprising has bosses like Aurum Generator Of RNG Idiocy, Chariot Cheater, and Hades' Heart, all of whom should be called out in a remaster of KIU's own. If we make excuses for bad design even if it's easily missed, we would allow more bad design to run rampant.