History Videogame / SuperMarioRPG

** Mokura/Mokuka may count, though as a secret mini-boss. He floats around in the desert of Land's End and in one area of Belome's Temple with a random encounter rate, so it's very likely to miss him unless you keep going back and forth on the screens. He has a lot of health and is unaffected by physical attacks, making him difficult to beat unless you're at max level.
*** Not really. Just use Bowser's poison gas.

During a routine [[SaveThePrincess princess-saving]] by Mario, a giant sword with a face on the hilt crashes into Bowser's Keep, sending Mario, the Princess, and Bowser flying. Soon afterwards, a messenger from the stars named Geno (or rather, "[[TheUnpronounceable ♥♪!?]]") informs Mario that the sword also destroyed the Star Road, which grants the wishes of Mario's world. Unless the seven [[PlotCoupon Star Pieces]] can be obtained and reassembled, no wishes will ever come true again. With the help of his companions (including, for the first time, Bowser), Mario sets off to smash the Smithy Gang and save the world.

During a routine [[SaveThePrincess princess-saving]] by Mario, a giant sword with a face on the hilt crashes into Bowser's Keep, sending Mario, the Princess, and Bowser flying. Soon afterwards, a messenger from the stars named Geno (or rather, "[[TheUnpronounceable Heart-1/8 Note-Exclamation Point-Question Mark]]") informs Mario that the sword also destroyed the Star Road, which grants the wishes of Mario's world. Unless the seven [[PlotCoupon Star Pieces]] can be obtained and reassembled, no wishes will ever come true again. With the help of his companions (including, for the first time, Bowser), Mario sets off to smash the Smithy Gang and save the world.

* TakingYouWithMe: Pulsars have the deadly CounterAttack "Migraine"- it self-destructs and [[OneHitKill instantly kills]] off one of your characters.

** If you spam "no" while trying to overwrite an different save file, Mario's expression will change from the victory pose (normal) to anger (spam it a few times) or depression (spam it a lot).

* EasterEgg: in Mushroom Kingdom, there's a young toad running around quickly in a square path. Jump onto his head and stay on for a few laps, and Mario will eventually fall off and collapse out of dizziness.

*** [[TheThreepennyOpera Mack]] is a [[KnifeNut knife]].

* MeaningfulName: Smithy's goons are all modeled after weapons.
** [[TheThreepennyOpera Mack]] is a [[KnifeNut knife]].
*** It's also the name of a song, Mack the Knife.
** '''Bow'''yer is, not surprisingly, a [[TheArcher bow]].
*** Bowyer is also the profession of someone who makes bows. (Just like a fletcher is someone who makes arrows.)
** "Yari" means "[[BladeOnAStick spear]]" in Japanese. Yaridovich's design is decidedly spear-like.
** The '''[[AnAxeToGrind Axe]]'''m [[PsychoRangers Rangers]] name speaks for themselves.
** Smithy himself is a weapon maker, i.e., a '''blacksmith'''.

* GuideDangIt: Finding Grate Guy's Casino.
** First, beat Knife Guy 10 times to win the Bright Card. Then, go to Bean Valley and enter one of the pipes. If you stand in a certain spot and jump not once or even twice, but ''three'' times, a platform will appear that when jumped on takes you to a secret area that holds Grate Guy's Casino. You can only enter with the Bright Card.

** Also the Mystery Egg's use. Only one character can "activate" it. And ONLY when equipped with a seemingly useless accessory.
** What to do is a bit more obvious in the Japanese version as the Mystery Egg's description say that [[ThePowerOfLove it need to be raised with love]] which mean you need to equip the Love Love ring which possess [[ThePowerOfLove Love Love power]].
*** You equip Toadstool with the B'tub Ring, a random item bought from a Mole kid, and use the Mystery Egg on her turn ten times... On the tenth time, it will turn into the Lamb's Lure. Use it another 48 times, and it will turn into the Sheep Attack, an item that turns most non-boss enemies into sheep and ends the battle.
** In fact, most of the weapons and accessories have very vague in-game descriptions, often not mentioning what their most important effects are!
** Indeed. The game is notorious for the sheer crazy steps needed to complete secrets, or even activate the ability to even start the steps for those secrets. Many of the secrets, like the above Star Egg, are piled onto other secrets where you wouldn't expect to look for them. Super Mario RPG definitely gives the old Pokemon [=PokeGod=] rumors a run for their money.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: Lazy Shell, Frying Pan. The Super Jacket armor and Attack Scarf accessory are also {{Game Breaker}}s.
* InfinityMinusOneSword: The Ultra Hammer.

* StoneWall: The Lazy Shell armor will turn ''anyone'' into this when it's equipped, raising their defense and magic defense through the roof but at a severe cost to their offensive power. You can even give it to [[TheMedic the Princess]], whose main talent is healing your party, which can make your party nearly unbeatable unless you run out of [[{{Mana}} Flower Points]].

----
<<|EasternRPG|>>

* GoldenSaucer: Grate Guy's Casino. It's actually hard to find and access, not very large, and not very profitable. Booster's Tower is also supposedly a very fun yet eccentric amusement park, with clowns, an indoor railroad, and dolls.

* FridgeLogic: It's unknown how the hell Toad got into the final dungeon without a single scratch on him.
** Same is true of Croco. Wasn't it a plot point that you need to take a flying bus to get there?
** Another instance of FridgeLogic turned FridgeBrilliance concerns Bowser's ultimate exclusive armor: the... Heal Shell? That doesn't suit Bowser at all, unlike the other four - wait, "hi" and "fi" are sometimes pronounced the same in Japanese! FEAR Shell! That suits him perfectly!
** There is a bit of FridgeHorror as well. The enormous bomb mentioned in the AshFace entry above? Summoned by Punchinello as part of his final attack. It falls on and crushes him, then explodes. Punchinello is never seen or heard from again.

* ChestMonster: Four of them: Pandorite, [[FinalFantasyVI Hidon]], [[IncrediblyLamePun Chester]], and Box Boy. They're all [[BossInMookClothing pretty tough]] and drop some useful items when beaten.

** Samus's cameo is only available during a certain period in the game.

* BossDissonance: The normal enemies you encounter aren't too tough and will likely die with one strike from a Timed Hit. Bosses however make frequent use of group-hitting attacks that do heavy damage, most have at least one status-inducing attack (often also group-hitting), a lot of them employ Mooks to assist them, and a lot of them have unique gimmicks to catch you off guard (Bowyer locks button commands, Bundt has to have candles blown out, Johnny Jones fights one-on-one, etc).

* BicepPolishingGesture: Bowser does this in the Japanese version. It had to be changed in the other versions due to cultural differences.

** Mokura may count, though as a secret mini-boss. He floats around in the desert of Land's End and in one area of Belome's Temple with a random encounter rate, so it's very likely to miss him unless you keep going back and forth on the screens. He has a lot of health and is unaffected by physical attacks, making him difficult to beat unless you're at max level.

The game was hugely popular - it ''is'' a Mario game and a Square RPG, after all, when Square was at the height of its 2-D {{RPG}} prowess, just before the transition to 3-D with ''FinalFantasyVII.'' Deserves credit for innovating ActionCommands and the hybrid {{platformer}} / RPG gameplay, as well as its superb plot and [[{{Woolseyism}} localization]] (which was notable for being one of the last where Square didn't take itself seriously) as well as one of the first games to engage in a full-on frenzy of LampshadeHanging regarding the tropes of the Mario series and [=RPGs=]. Nintendo would take the "Mario role-playing games must bring the funny" theme and run with it, producing [[VideoGame/PaperMario a series of]] [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi excellent pseudo-sequels]] without Square's involvement (they would finally work again, starting with a Mario themed basketball game on the {{DS}}).

** Given the "Doesn't take itself serious" mood of the game, he may have actually been dead serious, [[{{your mileage may vary}} depends on how you interpret it the first time]].

* AwesomeButImpractical: Peach's Psych Bomb attack (the last attack she earns). Hits everyone and definitely makes Peach a bit of a {{Badass}} but it burns a lot of FP that could be better used for her healing abilities.

* RoyGBiv: The seven star pieces are colored this way.