Super Mario RPG/Characters
A list of character that appear in Super Mario RPG.
Main Party
Mario
The Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom leaps into action once again to save the world. He's, unsurprisingly, the Jack of All Stats of the game and he specializes in jump and fire magic.
- Badass Mustache: Mario's mustache earns admiration from his fans and scorn from his enemies at various points in the game.
- Drop the Hammer
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Generally averted. Almost everyone you meet knows who Mario is, and they treat him with the respect deserved by one who saves the world for a day job. He's so famous in fact, a Snifit in Seaside Town considers a jump from him as accurate identification.
- Evolving Attack: Though he learns six magic attacks, they're basically just powered up versions of the two base attacks: Jump, Super Jump, Ultra Jump, and Fire Orb, Super Flame, Ultra Flame.
- His basic jump attack also gets more powerful as you use it more.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: His base unarmed attack and a few of his weapons are punch combos.
- The Hero
- Heroic Mime: He pantomimes, even to the point of shapeshifting into other characters to act out what he would otherwise be saying.
- Lampshaded at the beginning by Toad asking Mario "what's with the silent treatment".
- Infinity+1 Sword: The secret Lazy Shell weapon.
- Jack of All Stats
- Kleptomaniac Hero: You can get called out on it - after assisting a man to his house in Rose Town, he asks if the treasure chests in his house are safe. If you tell them someone took them he's Genre Savvy enough to realize only Mario could jump high enough to get them, and you have the option to come clean about it.
- Kleptomaniac Hero, Found Underwear: Toadstool's ???.
- Even funnier in the Japanese where it's called "Peach's XXX".
- Kleptomaniac Hero, Found Underwear: Toadstool's ???.
- Megaton Punch: Mega Glove.
- Narrative Shapeshifting: He can even walk on air while doing it. He's a talented storyteller!
- Playing with Fire: Those of his magic attacks that aren't Jump attacks.
Mallow
A "tadpole" from Tadpole Pond who came to the Mushroom Kingdom on an errand, to his utter shock and horror he's told he isn't a tadpole, and joins Mario to find his real family. He's the resident Squishy Wizard who has lots of magical abilities deriving from the weather.
- An Ice Person: Snowy
- Badass Adorable: He looks like a walking marshmallow with a cheery smile and a childlike disposition. He's also a magic slinging badass whose weakest attack is summoning lighting storms from cloudless skies!
- Boring but Practical: Thunderbolt is the only Herd-Hitting Attack you have access to until around Land's End when other people begin to learn them, and with a timed hit and good training to Mallow's magic it's pretty effective. The only other attack up to then that can hit all enemies is Bowser's Terrorize, but his magic attacks are nowhere near as strong as Mallow's.
- Elemental Powers
- Empathic Environment: The source of his magic is his power to control the weather.
- Enemy Scan: Psychopath
- Informed Flaw: Everyone, including Mallow himself, says he's sort of a crybaby, but he only cries three times in the entire game, and all for pretty understandable reasons. Granted, that's three more times than any other character, so he may have a point.
- Interspecies Adoption: Mallow was adopted by Frogfucious, and grew up believing he was a "Frog that can't jump".
- Oblivious Adoption: He doesn't realize he's not a frog. No one else in his hometown seems to notice either.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Granted, he doesn't realize he's royalty for most of the game. But he does continue on with the quest after learning it.
- Shock and Awe: Thunderbolt and Shocker.
- Simple Staff
- The Smart Guy: He's the primary elemental magic user of the group.
- Squishy Wizard
- Tender Tears: Which create pouring rain.
- Weather Control Machine
Geno
A representative spirit from Star Road sent to find the Star Pieces, he takes up residence in the body of a doll and makes it grow to life size to use as a body. He's quite a Glass Cannon and Fragile Speedster.
- Arm Cannon: His main weapon of choice.
- Badass
- Badass Arm-Fold: His victory pose.
- Badass Cape
- Beam Spam: Geno Blast.
- But Now I Must Go: After the final Star Piece is reclaimed.
- Charged Attack: Geno Beam, Geno Blast and Geno Flash.
- Death From Above: Geno Blast.
- Fixed Damage Attack: Geno Whirl, if you time it right, can do exactly 9999 damage, instantly killing anything. It doesn't work on bosses, though...excluding Exor.
- Frickin' Laser Beams: His magic attacks.
- Glass Cannon and Fragile Speedster: He's fast and equally adept at magic and physical attacks, but has horrible defenses.
- Kamehame Hadoken: Geno Beam.
- The Lancer
- Mr. Exposition: Given his position as the only one who understands what the Star Road is all about, it's slightly inevitable.
- Rocket Punch: His unarmed attack and Double Punch.
- Shapeshifting: Morphs into a cannon for his ultimate attack, Geno Flash.
- Some Call Me... Tim: His real name is "♥♪!?" Hearty Music
- Status Buff: Geno Boost increases one ally's attack and defense.
- Theme Naming: All his magic attacks are "Geno ______"
- The Unpronounceable:His real name.
- Wave Motion Gun: Geno Flash.
Bowser
The leader of the Koopa Troop and Mario's archnemesis got booted out of his home when Exor crashed into it. Now he's decided to let Mario join the Koopa Troop to work together to smash Smithy. He's primarily a physical attacker and Mighty Glacier. His magic is weak compared to Mallow's or Geno's, but it can cause Standard Status Effects.
- Badass
- Benevolent Boss: Yes, Bowser of all people is shown as this. The handful of his former henchmen you meet up with over the course of the game apologize for abandoning him, but Bowser is universally forgiving of them, wishes them well in their new lives, and they're very willing to help him out.
- The Big Guy
- Boisterous Bruiser
- Book Dumb: In the Japanese his speech is always in hiragana and katakana. By contrast, Geno seems to use the most kanji.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Crusher, the only spell of his that isn't Summon Magic, and the only Earth attack learned by any of the party members.
- Enemy Mine
- Epic Flail
- Fastball Special: The Hurly Gloves involves chucking Mario at an enemy. Judging from the way Mario is flailing his arms around when Bowser throws him, he's never expecting it either.
- Foe Yay: Play your cards right in Marrymore and you can get him to kiss Mario!
- In the same scene he asks Toadstool for a kiss when she promises one to Mario for rescuing her.
- Pet the Dog: When he frees a Chain Chomp in Booster's Tower that Booster had locked up because she bit him. Gets more moments as he meets back some of his former troops across the game.
- Slave to PR: Though he's been ousted from power, he still goes through great lengths to put on an air of power and intimidation. Several points in the game we see his inner musings on how to go about helping Mario and/or asking Mario for help while still saving face as a villain.
"I'm the biggest, baddest brute around, and don't you forget it. But if Mario hears that I've been kicked out of my own castle... My reputation will be ruined! Even I have an image to keep up you know!"
- Standard Status Effects: He can cause Fear and Poison.
- Still the Leader: Inverted. He is the fourth to join your group... and the only things he can influence are combat and the mooks inside his own castle.
- Summon Magic: Though his magic attacks are the worst in the game, they fall into this category with him calling Boo, Mokura and Mecha-Koopas to attack opponents.
- Token Evil Teammate
Toadstool
The Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom has been kidnapped again, but this time she isn't content to sit back and let Mario do the heroism once he rescues her. She's the White Mage of the group, thus, your primary healer.
- Armor-Piercing Slap
- Badass Princess
- Bound and Gagged: Well, bound at least. She's tied up and hanging from the ceiling in the prologue.
- The Chick
- Combat Medic / White Magician Girl: She starts out with okay weapons, but her healing is invaluable. Once her stronger weapons and spells appear, she's one of the best characters.
- Damsel in Distress: For the first third of the game or so.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Her Infinity+1 Sword
- Improbable Weapon User: Her arsenal includes parasols, fans, gloves, and her frying pan.
- Lady of War
- Parasol of Pain
- Rebellious Princess: She's not very confrontational about it, though; she dresses up her grandmother as herself and floats out of her window with her parasol to join Mario's group.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something
- Standard Status Effects: She can silence enemies and and put them to sleep.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: Her ultimate spell, Psych Bomb.
Minor Villains
Croco
A crocodile thief who pops up routinely to swipe stuff from the party before fleeing.
- Cowardly Boss: A variation, he runs from you after stealing and you have to chase him down, but once you engage him he stands and fights.
- Goldfish Poop Gang
- Heel Face Turn: Eventually.
- Mini Boss
- No Cure for Evil: Averted, he can heal himself the first time you fight him, though he only does it once.
- Recurring Boss
- "Wake-Up Call" Boss: He's the second mini-boss in the game, and following the first you naturally wouldn't expect much. This line of thinking proves fatal if you thought to just breeze though Bandit's Way without leveling up Mario and Mallow.
Belome
Another monster of ambiguous design who guards the Kero Sewers, he has a huge tongue and an appetite to match.
- Big Eater
- Enemy Summoner: In the second battle he can clone party members by tasting them.
- Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: His appearance in the Kero Sewers is foreshadowed, with Mallow saying Frogfucious warned him about Belome. However, his reappearance in Land's End in a golden underground temple dedicated to him was a bit out of left field.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Defeating him in the Kero Sewers causes the sewers to flood as the floodgate opens. Justified as he was standing on the switch keeping it shut.
Punchinello
A bomb-happy...thing lurking in the Moleville mines, he attacks Mario to try and get some recognition.
- Attention Whore: EVERYTHING he's doing is attempt at being famous.
- Big Bulky Bomb: King Bomb. Eep.
- Death by Irony: He tries to summon his biggest bomb yet to blow up Mario, and it falls and crushes him.
- Flunky Boss
- Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Lampshaded, Mallow says when he introduces himself "Never heard of ya".
- Stuff Blowing Up
- Throw Down the Bomblet
Booster
A bizarre man living in a tower to the south, he lives a secluded life in a world of Snifits, trains, and many a minigame.
- Beard of Barbarism: Essentially what you would get if you cross-bred a Klingon and Santa Claus.
- Beetle Mania:
Snifit 1: Booster really, really, REALLY likes beetles! Be he can't catch his own.
Snifit 2: That's right, he's busy keeping the princess from the sky entertained.
Snifit 3: So we're catching beetles for him.
- Big Eater: he eats an entire cake in a single bite!
- Cloudcuckoolander: He lives in a giant tower full of toys, rides around on an electric train set, believes that Toadstool's tears are signs she's "sprung a leak", and he has to have his Snifits explain to him what a party is (and judging from their description, they're not entirely sure themselves).
"My bride-to-be is chanting 'MARIOHELPMEMARIOHELPME'. Is she showing her happiness?"
"I wonder when my next bride will fall from the sky?" This happens. When Valentina flies off, she has to land somewhere eventually...
- Cool Train: Consider the unseen rail system he must have to be able to ride it up and down the tower.
- Train Fu: If you mess up the final minigame in his tower you face him and all his Snifits together, and his strongest attack is to jump on his train and ram it into a party member.
- Curtain Camouflage: One of the minigames in his tower.
- Expy: Of Wario, possibly. He looks very similar to him, anyway.
- Gonk
- Man Child: He's selfish, spoiled, and cries/goes into a rage at the drop of a hat.
- Psychopathic Manchild: A comedic and relatively friendly version.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: His Snifits
- Unholy Matrimony: Done VERY comedically at the end of the game. With Valentina, of all people!
Johnathan "Johnny" Jones
A Shark Man pirate living in a sunken ship off the coast of Seaside Town, the fifth Star Piece fell into his realm.
- Alliteration
- Defeat Means Friendship: Though he doesn't join the party.
- Duel Boss: Optional. He challenges Mario to a one-on-one fight, but only if the player kills off all his Mook henchmen.
- Honor Before Reason: Althougth it works heavily in your favor. He'll give up the Star he has if you win, and because he acknowledges you're the rightful owner after you beat him, and he later decides to cut off the retreat of Yardovich later because he considers Mario that much of a Worthy Opponent, even though he had no real reason to get involved.
- Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Subverted. He isn't a bad guy at all really—he hands you the Star Piece after defeat and helps prevent Yaridovich's escape so that the party can fight him and get the Star Piece back. Also, Mario invaded his ship to find the Star, so when you think about it he was just defending himself and his prize rather than being openly hostile.
- Irony: The whole point of a human pirate making someone walk the plank is to make them fall to their doom where the sharks are.
- Prongs of Poseidon
- Sequence Breaking: You can avoid having to duel him with Mario alone halfway through the fight if you leave at least one of his fellow pirates around. The game proceeds on like you did the usual way afterward.
- Shark Man
- Turns Red: Literally.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Currant Juice.
- Worthy Opponent
Queen Valentina and Dodo
A vain woman who locks up the King and Queen of Nimbus land and has her pet Dodo pose as Prince Mallow so she can rule.
- An Ice Person: A majority of her attacks, including Blizzard, Solidify and Diamond Saw.
- Battle Butler: Dodo's duties seem to consist of doing Valentina's bidding and kicking your ass in-between shifts.
- Dual Boss: With Dodo.
- Duel Boss: But before that, Dodo whisks away your center party member for a little one-on-one.
- Fake King: Er, Prince.
- Gainaxing: Every time you hit her. How did they get away with that, anyway?
- Ms. Fanservice
- No Indoor Voice: Mallow mentions that her voice can be heard in a 10 mile radius.
- Recurring Boss: Dodo can be faced up to three times, though the first two fights can be avoided.
- Squishy Wizard
Culex
"Will you accept my challenge? You will enter combat against me?"
A knight from another dimension, he planned to conquer Mario's world but found it isn't suitable to his kind, so he departs, but first asks Mario for a battle. He attacks with four elemental Crystals.
- Art Shift: A big clue that he's not of this world is that he uses a flat 2-D sprite that never moves (it just floats around), while all other enemies in the game use 2.5-D isometric sprites that walk in place.
- Badass Boast: With a bit of Ice Cream Koan for good measure:
I am matter. I am antimatter. I can see your past. I can see your future. I consume time...and I will consume YOU!
- Bonus Boss
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Upon defeat.
"Perhaps in another time, another game, we may have been mortal enemies..."
- Elemental Powers: As expected of a Final Fantasy-based boss—there's the Fire Crystal, Water Crystal, Earth Crystal, and Wind Crystal.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Of the Bilingual Bonus variety. His name is Latin for "mosquito."
- Which itself is a shout out to Final Fantasy IV's Golbez, who was named after a type of fly. Oh, and is possibly the most competent Final Fantasy not-quite-villain.
- Flunky Boss
- Musical Nod: The Prelude and victory fanfare from the Final Fantasy series in general, and the track that plays when you fight him is Final Fantasy IV's boss theme.
- Shout-Out: His entire existence is one giant Mythology Gag about Final Fantasy.
The Smithy Gang
Mack
The first member of Smithy's Gang, he and an army of Shypers invade the Mushroom Kingdom and turn the castle into their base while Mario is off tracking down Croco in Bandit's Way.
- Badass Cape
- Disc One Final Boss
- Flunky Boss
- Goomba Stomp: His and the Shypers' preferred method of attack.
- Knife Nut
- Playing with Fire: Flame and Flame Wall.
- Starter Villain
- Visual Pun: Mack the Knife.
Bowyer
An animated giant bow who set up base in the Forest Maze, he terrorizes Rose Town by firing paralyzing arrows at the helpless citizens.
- The Archer
- Dangerously Genre Savvy: Unlike most of his cohorts, Bowyer doesn't find it fair that the party gangs up on him three-on-one. He fixes the problem by randomly locking one of the player's button commands, often preventing them from using healing items or attacking, depending on which command he uses.
- Evil Redhead
- For the Evulz: Unlike Mack and Yaridovich, Bowyer had no real reason for attacking Rose Town except for the fun of target practice.
- Interface Screw: Whichever button you use most gets locked down for two or three turns at a time.
- Lean and Mean
- Meaningful Name: "Bowyer" is the term for a person who makes, maintains and repairs bows and arrows.
- Puzzle Boss: A subtle variation, he locks whatever button command the player uses most, so the trick is to confuse him and mix up your attack patterns.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Shock and Awe: Static E, Bolt, and Lightning Orb.
- Strange Syntax Speaker: "Fix it I will, nya! Shoot an arrow I shall! When target it hits, that button locked!"
- Weirdly, Mallow's Psychopath reveals he at least thinks normally.
- Verbal Tic: He has one, nya!
Yaridovich
A creature wielding a spear, he splits into copies of Mushroom kingdom citizens and collectively poses as the citizens of Seaside Town to trick Mario into retrieving the next Star Piece for him.
- Badass Cape
- Blade on a Stick
- Cool and Unusual Punishment/Tickle Torture: A But Thou Must! moment, he tickles the real Elder of the town into submission if the player refuses to give him the Star.
- Cowardly Boss: It takes Johnny Jones and his men cornering him to get him to hold still and fight.
- Eyes of Gold
- Grievous Harm with a Body: He can remove his own head and stab people with it.
- Insufferable Genius/Smug Snake: Even when he's pretending to be Mushroom citizens, Yaridovich is quite the dick to Mario. He only gets worse when he reveals his true form.
- Lean and Mean
- Lost Forever: Though it's questionable just how useful they are, the rather unorthodox items sold in the shops under Yaridovich's watch cannot be bought anywhere else.
- Master of Illusion
- Meaningful Name: His name is a combination of "Yari", the Japanese word for "spear", and "ovich", a traditional Russian naming convention.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Besides the Musical Spoiler of the "troubled town" theme playing when you first visit, it's quite obvious there's something more than a bit strange about Seaside Town when Yaridovich is playing as its citizens.
- But Thou Must!/Stupidity Is the Only Option: Nonetheless, you must go along with his whole act anyway.
The Axem Rangers
"We struggle for chaos!"
Commanding Smithy's airship Blade, they attack Mario in Barrel Volcano to steal the sixth Star Piece from him.
- All Your Colors Combined: "Formation, HO! Here we go!"
- An Axe to Grind
- Big Eater: Axem Yellow.
- Card-Carrying Villain: "We fight for evil"!
- Charged Attack: Breaker Beam.
- Combined Energy Attack: An evil version; After each of them is individually defeated, they pour their energy into the Blade so that it can fire the devastating Breaker Beam.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience
- Cool Shades/Sinister Shades: Axem Black. He even gets upset when they break when he's defeated.
- Dangerously Genre Savvy: Whenever a Star Piece is located it rises up, spins around Mario's head for several seconds and then drops into his hands. The Axem Rangers snatch the star during the process, leaving Mario to look around wondering what happened before he notices them.
- Five-Bad Band:
- The Leader: Axem Red
- Second-In-Command: Axem Black (he's a parody of Lancers)
- The Brute: Axem Yellow (hard physical attacker)
- The Evil Genius: Axem Green (spell spammer)
- The Dark Chick: Axem Pink (heals the others)
- Flash Step: Axem Black moves so fast he leaves multiple images as he sweeps in to attack. Of course, given that the game is a turn-based battle system, this is mostly just Rule of Cool, although it can help illustrate why he's able to attack in-between your turns...
- Lean and Mean: Axem Green.
- Petal Power: Axem Pink's Petal Blast.
- Psycho Rangers
- Shoot the Medic First: Axem Pink heals her allies, she has the lowest HP, and she can turn the party into Mushrooms. Invoking this trope is highly advised.
- Shout-Out: To Super Sentai (in Japan) and Power Rangers (everywhere else), obviously.
- This Cannot Be!
- Throw Down the Bomblet: Axem Black tosses out grenades to attack.
- Turns Red: Axem Red starts using Status Buffs to boost his attack and defense when too many of his allies are killed off.
- Wave Motion Gun: Breaker Beam.
- Wolfpack Boss: If you faced any of them alone they'd probably die in one round. But together...
- Quirky Miniboss Squad
Exor
A giant sword that crashed into Bowser's castle and shattered the Star Road, it's mouth acts as a gateway between the Mushroom Kingdom and Smithy's world.
- BFS: It is one!
- Climax Boss: Though all the gang members are fought at the end of the respective worlds, Exor is notable for being the final boss of the Mushroom Kingdom before The Reveal that he's just a gateway to Smithy's world and the game continues on there.
- Cognizant Limbs: "Exor" is actually the tip of the sword's handle, the other targets in the battle are the two eyes and mouth, the latter of which is named "Neosquid" for some reason.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: A rather odd instance, this is the animation used for the eyes when they attack.
- Fireball Eyeballs: Exor's "face" on the hilt, not the two larger ones.
- The Dragon
- Go for the Eye: Exor is immune to damage until one of the two eyes is incapacitated, so guess who dies first.
- Jaw Drop: The mouth when you KO it.
- Non-Lethal KO: Its eyes and mouth can't be permanently killed, they sit out a few turns then regenerate.
- One Hit KO: A perfectly timed Geno Whirl can kill Exor in one hit, the only boss vulnerable to this.
- The Walrus Was Paul: Exor's mouth is named "Neosquid". No explanation for this is provided.
Smithy
The Big Bad who wants to Take Over the World with an army of anthropomorphized weapons, he works from a dark factory in another world using Exor as a gateway into the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Arm Cannon
- Badass Beard Of Evil
- Bad Boss: Though he isn't seen much, the few moments he does have on-screen indicate he doesn't care about his minions much, or even his own factory.
- Big Bad
- Big Ol' Eyebrows
- The Blacksmith
- Cognizant Limbs: In the final battle his body and head are two different enemies, though the lower body can't be killed off for good and is so weak it's little more than a distraction from his head.
- Death From Above: Sledge, which calls a giant piston to stomp the party.
- Dimension Lord
- Drop the Hammer
- Enemy Summoner: Smelter spits out a blob of goo, Smithy pounds it into a Mook to assist him. Rinse, repeat. And, if the conveyor belts running out of his lair are an indicator, Smithy also personally created every other member of the Smithy Gang himself. Thankfully, those Machine Made copies of the gang's elite members aren't called in to help him during the final battles.
- Evil Overlord
- Final Boss, New Dimension
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: The Mask Head is weak against ice, the Tank Head is weak against electricity, and the Treasure Head is weak against fire.
- Flat Character: He's given very little backstory and personality besides being a distant Evil Overlord who wants to conquer the world. He says his desire is to fill the world with his weapons, and he actively hopes the Star Road is not repaired and that wishes will continue to go ungranted, but aside from The Evulz he doesn't express much reason for doing what he does.
- Gradual Grinder: The Treasure Head.
- Hidden Villain: He's never seen in person until the final battle. In fact if you didn't know better, a player could easily mistake Exor as Smithy, since Exor isn't named until the battle with it.
- Large and In Charge
- Legacy Character: Judging by the broken Smithy heads seen in the bottom of the factory.
- Mechanical Lifeform
- No Cure for Evil: Averted, one of his heads in the final battle has Recover and Mega Recover.
- No Ontological Inertia: After he explodes, Exor disintegrates and blows away.
- One-Hit Kill: Magnum.
- One-Winged Angel
- Pitiful Worms: Invoked shortly after he transforms.
- Planet Looter: Presumably.
- Planet of Hats: "We could get rid of all wishes and create a world filled with... WEAPONS!!"'
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Shapeshifting: Transforms his head into various forms for the final battle:
- A Tank that fires standard bullets and golden One Hit KO bullets. A standard form specializing in physical attacks.
- A Wizard that calls down flurries of arrows, swords and spears to attack, among other spells. Has powerful magic but very low defense.
- An Iron Box that uses Recover and Mega Recover to restore Smithy's HP. No offensive attacks but very high defense.
- A Treasure Chest that uses Standard Status Effects every turn.
- Tank Goodness
- Technopath
- Unstoppable Rage: The main reason he goes One-Winged Angel is that he's so utterly pissed off that Mario and co defeated him in the first round. The fact that he also unwittingly broke his own factory in his rage and forced him into what seems to be a boiler room also doesn't help quell his temper either.
- Vile Villain Saccharine Show: The Mushroom Kingdom and outlying regions are, as you'd expect, colorful and lively with all manner of cartoonish creatures, and even the members of the Smithy Gang fit with this atmosphere...then you get to Smithy's Factory.
- Back to Super Mario RPG