Culex 3D

After stepping out of the Jinx fight, you may notice that a certain door has returned… the door to Culex, but this fight will be much different than the last, and the highest hill to climb in Super Mario RPG.

You can use the Extra Shiny-Stone you received from Johnny to open it, but make sure you’re ready to go. We strongly recommend that every character be at level 30. Stock up on all the healing items you can, especially Pick Me Ups and Max Mushrooms, and equip all your best accessories. Once again, we recommend putting the Lazy Shell armor on Peach for survivability since she can heal and revive teammates. Make sure to make use of all the powerful accessories and weapons you’ve received from the other postgame bosses as well, such as the Teamwork Band and the Enduring Brooch. We also recommend bringing in a few characters with resistance to Sleep and/or Mushroom.

No matter how well you prepare, you’re in for a long, tough fight as Culex as 9999 HP and is once again joined by four Crystals. Culex will begin by immediately casting Meteor, which leaves every party member with one HP only if they’re fully healed. If you have even one HP missing before the attack launches, it’s instant death, and this attack will repeat every time his count reaches zero, so always swap Peach in to Group Hug everyone up to max health before he casts it.

The crystals work similarly as your last encounter, and have the same weaknesses– Ice for the Fire Crystal, Fire for the Water Crystal, Lightning for the Earth Crystal, and Jump for the Wind Crystal. We recommend focusing them down one at a time so you take fewer AOE attacks, but every time you kill one they’ll give a buff to the rest of the enemies.

The attacks you’ll have to look out for the most are Petal Blast from the Wind Crystal, which will do party-wide damage and inflict Mushroom, Light Bubble, which will inflict Sleep, various button locks that seal off certain actions you can perform, and Dark Star, which can be easily avoided by Tapping A before the third bounce, just when the star re-enters the screen.

The rest of the attacks simply do party-wide damage or single-target, and aren’t too much trouble as long as you’re on your defensive game and heal with Mallow or Peach accordingly.

Make smart use of Triple Moves as well. We went for straight damage with the Mario-Bowser-Peach combination most of the time as dealing major damage to all of the crystals at once was so valuable.?

Continue to hammer away at various weaknesses, always revive downed party members ASAP, and keep an eye on the Meteor timer, and you’ll eventually take out the crystals. Once Culex is by himself, the fight will get much easier as the move at the end of his timer will change into Final Claw, a single target attack that takes out 9999. After nearly having your party wiped every time previously, this is a cinch to deal with as long as you’re quick on the revive, and there’s even a small defense window to throw up a shield if you’re quick enough.

With enough persistence, Culex 3D will finally go down, and you’ll have beaten the toughest boss in all of Super Mario RPG. Congrats! He’ll even tell you how many turns it took to defeat him, and you can challenge him as many times as you want to try and get a better score. After a short conversation, you’ll receive a Crystal Shard.

Congratulations on beating the hardest boss in Super Mario RPG! You still may not be done though! Make sure to check out all the Easter Eggs the game has to offer!