Super Mario RPG Switch Restricted Weapons/No Deaths Run - Sunken Ship Part 2/Hidon/Whuhoh
0Original version video, which has spoilers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I6rrbCOlhc
Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2o0_k4kOryFUHsFDdkj9f0n2YfuNKar
This was handled in the original after fully securing the 5th Star Piece, and if I had banned Super Jump then, I would have handled it later. I will outline the reasons why, because even as it is, this fight gets dragged out, and you will quickly see why I find a lack of DEF stat Pierce Ally Buff to be a case of hindsight being hindsight.
Let's make one thing perfectly clear: this fight was designed around the player figuring out to jump on the guy peeking out of the treasure box, like what already happened with Pandorite. It was not designed around the player doing whatever they want and expecting results that would be as efficient without added effort. Now this design is at least helpful in teaching about common sense, but we do still want our options.
The summary of fighting Hidon (renamed to Whuhoh in the remaster but I'm not using that name) without Jump Specials is that you're dealing with somebody who has high Physical DEF AND full immunity to the classic element trio. There would be a second obvious solution of non-elemental focal damage Special usage because Hidon does at least still have only 30 Magic DEF, but our only available option right now for that is Geno Beam, and well, that's on Geno, to say nothing of Geno Beam in Super Mario RPG Revolution being Ice elemental anyway. With Mallow/Bowser, only Bowser would have any non-elemental Special attacks any time soon. I swear that this would be a case of This Looks Like A Job For Aquaman, but he's not even here. Peach doesn't even have any damage Specials until Level 18, so she also suffers, and I think pointing this out is fair for that.
Mercifully for Mallow/Bowser, however, Bowser still has high Physical ATK at this point, so he can still beat on Hidon himself. So what's the problem? Well, quite simply, Hidon's behavior. He counterattacks physical attacks, and can potentially even use Carni-Kiss in doing so. That's backed by his 110 PATK, so unless it's fully blocked, it's absolutely going to sting even with Bowser's Ally Buff. And that brings up that Carni-Kiss wasn't blockable in the original to begin with. That alone is a mess, but believe me, this gets worse.
Hidon also happens to have Static E, which becomes dangerous because Hidon has 60 MATK, causing his Static E to have 72 TMATK. Combining this with a half-blocked Carni-Kiss can allow Hidon to still kill a non-Defending Mallow from very high health even with 5+ Chain active, and these two attacks hit different DEF stats as well, so different level up choices wouldn't have changed this. Static E has the added bonus of being 4 FP because its Magic Power is low enough, so even if you get lucky and Hidon wastes his FP on his more expensive Specials, you'd still have to watch out for Hidon still using one last spite Static E. Oh, and yes, Hidon has Will-O-Wisp (108 TMATK), which at least is blockable here, but no suck luck in the original. And how original, he can use these Special attacks whenever he feels like it.
How life is so much better in the remaster. It really shows when the armor threat here without usage of a quick answer weakness is more of a fair and balanced fight as anybody knows I very much welcome. I can even point out about the Mini Goombas (originally Goombettes, but given the material they originally involved, I can see the reason for lore changes) ending up more or less hindering Hidon as a result of providing ease in having 5+ Chain in-between Hidon's turns. Hidon also wastes his turn summoning them back if they're wiped out, but this is actually helpful game design by bolstering the physical AoE as a result of effectively turning sweetspot timing physical hits on Hidon into occasional stun against him. Clincher is that I'd be surprised if ArtePiazza was thinking of this fight with their general changes.
Of course, that does bring up that Super Mario RPG Revolution still saw fit to give Peach's Sleepy Time some damage capability. ArtePiazza didn't have this happen for the remaster, undoubtedly out of faithfulness, even though Sleepy Time, by even applying Sleep to the Mini Goombas, would have ended up reducing interaction opportunity with the Timing Chain mechanic, which as I outlined is not desirable for results. I don't know. I'm just asking for consistency in auxiliary answers. It's actually fine to have cases like Hidon being a counter to Mallow as long as the other chosen party member can pick up the slack at relevant points.
Oh, and, by the way, I ended up with a 137 Chain before bungling an HP Rain timing, and ended the fight with a 32 Chain.