-+-+-+-+ PAPER MARIO +-+-+-+-
			   The Thousand-Year Door
				   Boss Guide
			-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

===============
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===============
Introduction [.1]
Version History [.2]
E-Mails and Whatnot [.3]
General Boss Strategies [.4]
Bosses [.5]
	Lord Crump (Prologue) [lrdcrmp1]
	Blooper (Prologue) [blpr]
	Two Bald Clefts (Chapter 1) [twbldclfts]
	Two Bristles (Chapter 1) [twbrstls]
	Gold Fuzzy (Chapter 1) [gldfzzy]
	Red Bones (Chapter 1) [rdbns]
	HOOKTAIL (Chapter 1) [hktl]
	Shadow Sirens (Chapter 2) [shdwsrns1]
	MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE (Chapter 2) [mgnsvngrppl1]
	Iron Clefts (Chapter 3)
	Bowser (Chapter 3) [bwsr1]
	Rawk Hawk (Chapter 3) [rwkhwk]
	MACHO GRUBBA (Chapter 3) [mchgrbb]
	????? (Chapter 4) [?????]
	DOOPLISS (Chapter 4) [dplss]
	CORTEZ (Chapter 5) [crtz]
	Lord Crump (Chapter 5-ish) [lrdcrmp2]
	SMORG (Chapter 6) [smrg]
	MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE 2.0 (Chapter 7)[mgnsvngrppl2]
	Dark Bones (Chapter 8) [drkbns]
	Gloomtail (Chapter 8) [glmtl]
	Shadow Sirens (Chapter 8) [shdwsrns2]
	Sir Grodus (Chapter 8) [srgrds]
	Bowser (Chapter 8) [bwsr2]
	ShAdOw QuEeN (Chapter 8) [showqn]
Optional Bosses [.6]
	Gus [gs]
	Clefts [clfts]
	Atomic Boo [atmcb]
	Embers [mbrs]
	X-Yuxes [xyxs]
	Bonetail [bntl]
FAQ [.7]
Special Thanks [.8]
Goodbye [.9]

===============
INTRODUCTION [.1]
===============
This is my third GameFAQs guide. I noticed that GameFAQs had 
only one boss guide, so I decided to write this. Welcome.
	Are you struggling to get past a boss and need help? 
Need a strategy for future reference? Or are you just plain 
bored? I hope this guide can fix all your answers and needs, 
since that�s what it was created for.
	We�ll be going over the bosses of the game, big and 
little. I�ll cover their HP, attack, and defense first, then 
their attacks, then when you encounter them, then some 
strategy on how to defeat them. Finally comes a little 
history on what they are and where they�re from and all that. 
Cool?
	After the bosses and mini-bosses you have to tear 
through, though, come the bosses you can either choose to 
fight or have to fight if you do something wrong (in the case 
of the Clefts, Embers, and X-Yuxes). Bonetail is included, 
too, for those of you who gots ta know.
	Finally, THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS. LOTS OF THEM. 
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
	Okay, all that aside, I hope you enjoy this guide.

===============
VERSION HISTORY [.2]
===============
 -~Version .3 (7/11/08): Completed everything up to the �Gold 
Fuzzy� boss fight. (Well, MINI-boss fight.)
 -~Version .35 (7/12/08): Completed everything up to the 
first Shadow Sirens fight. (My sister put on that Nancy Drew 
movie, and I want to watch.)
 -~Version .48 (7/18/08): Completed everything up to the 
Macho Grubba fight, where I put down a few measly words. In 
my current game file, I�m, like, 5 seconds away from the 
dude, so I�ll battle him then.
 -~Version .65 (7/19/08): Completed the optional boss section 
and all bosses up to Cortez. Also fixed a few teeny errors 
and added the �encountered� parts to each boss to tell 
readers where and when bosses are encountered.
 -~Version .75 (7/21/08): Completed all bosses up to Magnus 
von Grapple 2.0. I also added the Embers optional boss fight. 
See, it�s really been awhile since I last played Paper Mario. 
So when I finally decided to start a new game file after many 
months of absence, I also decided to write this boss guide as 
I go since, well, a lot of the information I learned in the 
game has fallen out of my head�so I�ve got to replace it. If 
I had decided to write this much earlier, I probably would 
have it done in a day or so. But I didn�t. Deal with it.
 -~Version .78 (7/22/08): Added the X-Yuxes optional boss 
section and another �general boss strategy.� �What? I didn�t 
fight any other bosses today!!
 -~Version .95 (7/23/08): Completed everything but the Shadow 
Queen boss fight. Yes, I know. One measly boss fight. Wait 
�till another day, �kay?
 -~Version 1.0 (7/24/08): Completed the Shadow Queen boss 
fight, which means I am done with this guide. Yayness!
 -~Version 1.1 (7/28/08): Changed, like, five words and added 
that Supercheats and Neoseeker have permission to host this 
guide and are hosting it.
 -~Version 1.2 (8/29/08): Added some moves to Grodus and the 
Shadow Queen that Jessy Boudreau e-mailed me about. (Added 
Jessy to the special thanks section as well.) Also added 
another small guideline to the e-mail section that just 
occurred to me.
 -~Version 1.3 (10/30/08): Added a strategy to Macho Grubba 
that Kyle Joyce sent in which is an awesome strategy I had 
never thought of before. Added Kyle to the Special Thanks 
section as well. And, of course, I fixed a few typos here and 
there.

===============
E-MAILS AND WHATNOT [.3]
===============
If you see any errors in my guide, want to use this guide on 
your website, or have a question relating to bosses, feel 
free to e-mail me! But, to make sure you know what will and 
what will not be accepted, I will put the rules and policies 
first. The e-mail comes after that.
	Here is what I would like you to e-mail me about:
 -~Questions. If you just keep dying on a boss, dagnabbit, or 
wonder if there�s a better strategy to be using or where to 
find useful items for bosses and how much they cost--
something like that--e-mail me. I will be happy to answer 
them.
 -~Errors. Did I say something that was wrong, or did I spell 
something incorrectly? E-mail me about it, and you will be 
placed in the special thanks section for helping to make my 
guide better.
 -~Suggestions for this guide. Think I should list another 
boss or mini-boss, or include another section? Got a strategy 
you want listed? If your side of the argument seems good, I 
may put something else up on this guide.
 -~If you want to use my guide. If you would like to use this 
guide on your website, e-mail me first for permission. If I 
see fit that it should be on your website, you will be 
allowed to host it. But this is copyrighted! It is mine!
	Those are e-mails that WILL be accepted. If, however, 
your e-mails contain the kind of content mentioned below, 
they will be rejected.
 -~Questions that have already been answered. Read the guide 
FIRST, then submit questions. Like I always say, if the 
question was answered here but you still didn�t understand 
it, say that you didn�t understand it in the e-mail.
 -~Questions unrelated to this guide. Don�t ask me, �How do I 
get through this room in the X-Naut Fortress?� That�s not my 
job here, is it? I�m here to answer all your questions on 
BOSSES, but this is not a walkthrough.
 -~Flaming. If you hate me, seethe where you are at home. I 
don�t need to know about it.
 -~E-mails with bad language. I make it a point to have all 
my guides swear-free, so even the smallest swear word in your 
e-mail will have it not posted in the FAQ section. �Sucks� is 
allowed, but no more.
 -~Pranks. Do not send me an e-mail where the only content is 
�kjduwncywhnuij.� That is useless.
 -~Sloppy grammar and spelling. Your e-mail won�t be rejected 
because of this, but it might not be posted just because I 
can�t read the darn thing. If you submit an e-mail, be sure 
to try and use the best spelling and grammar that you can. Be 
in-depth and specific, too, so I know what exactly to tell my 
readers.
	Alright, FINALLY we are to the e-mail. Hopefully you 
have read all the rules; I trust that you have. So, the e-
mail is [email protected]. Got that? Also, remember to have 
the e-mail�s subject titled �PM Boss Guide.�
	To check out those people that have got this guide on 
their websites, see the Special Thanks section. If it�s your 
website that has this guide, you can also get a warm, fuzzy 
feeling by looking there.

===============
GENERAL BOSS STRATEGIES [.4]
===============
These are general tips for any boss fight, and they should 
help you stay alive. If you�re dying again and again on a 
boss, check here to see how you might live.
			USE ITEMS
It�s pretty bad to be in a pickle and have nothing to defend 
yourself with. Your star power is empty. Your health is low. 
Your partner has fainted. You have 3 FP left. And, of course, 
no items. Items can attack multiple enemies at once, put them 
to sleep, heal yourself, buff yourself up, and more. Most 
major bosses are found at the end of �dungeons,� but let�s 
face it: If you�re dying repeatedly on a boss, it�s worth 
going back through the place to go stock back up again at 
your local item store. These dungeons are not exactly Legend 
of Zelda length, and you�ve already unlocked all the doors 
and gotten whatever items you might need to progress, so 
coming from the end back to the beginning of a dungeon won�t 
take that long. As a small hint, after Zess T. has her 
contact lens and the �legendary cookbook� from the trouble 
center ad, make her mix a Jammin� Jelly and Ultra Shroom to 
create a Jelly Ultra, which restores 50 HP and 50 FP. Veeery 
nifty.
			USE THE PEEKABOO BADGE!
One very special badge you can use is the Peekaboo Badge. 
What does this nifty item do? It allows you to see the 
enemy�s health without Tattling on them, so in boss fights 
you can save your partner�s turn by not Tattling on them. You 
have to get this badge from Dazzle down beneath Rogueport, in 
the small underground city area (where lots of civilized life 
is). It costs 7 Star Pieces to buy it, and only requires 2 BP 
to equip. Try it!
			EQUIP BADGES, PEROID
The Peekaboo Badge itself is very nifty, but let�s not 
discount the oodles of other badges out there. Buy them at 
stores, grab cheap ones from a few defeated enemies, trade 
Star Pieces in for them�they have a lot of uses. Here are 
some badges you should definitely consider. The HP Plus and 
FP Plus badges up your HP and FP by 5, respectively. The 
Happy Heart and Happy Flower badges very slowly restore your 
HP and FP, again respectively. Offensive badges like Power 
Bounce and Power Smash can up your offensive power to give 
enemies a beating. Lucky Start--gotten only after defeating 
the Atomic Boo mentioned in this guide--starts you off in 
every battle being electrified, with slowly-restoring health 
or FP, being �dodgy,� and other things. (Those �lucky starts� 
only last for a few turns, though.)
			TRAIN UP!
If you�re a level 5 facing off against Macho Grubba, results 
can be disastrous. For this reason, battle almost every enemy 
you see; if you�re low on health/FP/whatever or are in too 
much of a rush to get somewhere, you can pass them by, but 
it�s important to bash nearly every baddie you see so that 
you can level up and increase your health--great for long-
haul battles and powerful enemies--FP--you can use more 
special moves, and thus more powerful and varied attacks with 
increased FP--and BP--you can put on more badges with more 
BP, which means more techniques to be used and more �life 
insurance,� if you know what I mean.
			TALK TO MERLEE
If you get to the Rogueport Sewers by the pipe in east 
Rogueport, the first room there has Merlee�s building in the 
background. To get to it, use your second �curse� to slip 
through some bars and into a warp pipe otherwise 
inaccessible. Paying Merlee money can help you in various 
ways during and before future battles. For instance, she may 
appear during the enemy�s turn to decrease the damage you 
take, during your turn to increase the damage you give, after 
the battle to increase the coins you get, or after the battle 
to increase the amount of star points you get--very 
effective, the last one. Check �er out.
			USE FP-REQUIRING MOVES
Using your pathetic ordinary Hammer during the battle with 
Hooktail won�t get you very far. Use FP-requiring moves, like 
Power Smash, to increase the damage you give. Power Bounce 
can let you bounce on the same enemy forever and ever until 
you miss an action command. That�d be nifty. Of course, you 
have to use those moves RESPONSIBLY. No point in using 
Multibounce on one enemy. Use them wisely.
			SAVE OFTEN
If you die from a boss and the last time you saved was an 
hour and a half ago, it�s not good. You�ll find yourself 
WAAAAY back in the game, FAR from the boss, and very 
frustrated at having to redo much of your work. Take the 
game�s advice: Every time you see a Save Block, save!
			SUPERGUARD
By pressing B just as the enemy�s attack hits you, you can 
either avoid all damage or turn the attack AGAINST them, 
depending on the attack. This is similar to a guard action 
command, but a little harder to do due to the more-precise 
timing needed. Mastering it can render you virtually 
invincible. If you turn the attack against them, you not only 
avoid taking damage, but do 1 point of damage back to the 
enemy. Neat. Practice up!
			UPGRADE YOUR PARTNERS
See any yellow boxes with strange objects in them? Hit them, 
and they�ll give you Shine Sprites. What are these things? If 
you played Super Mario Sunshine, you�ll recognize �em 
instantly. (Come to think of it, is Isle Delfino dark again 
because they left?) If you pay three of these to Merlon the 
wizard in Rogueport (his house is the one right beside Prof. 
Frankly�s house to the left), he�ll upgrade one of your un-
upgraded partners. After you get Bobbery, your Bob-Omb sailor 
partner, you can find an Up Arrow in Hooktail�s Castle, where 
the room with the huge spike trap was. Using this Up Arrow, 
you can upgrade an already-upgraded partner AGAIN. Sweet. 
Upgraded partners get another move, more attack power, and 
more HP. Double sweet.
			BE STYLISH!!
If you do a move the �stylish� way, you earn more star power. 
To be stylish, press A at a certain time while performing a 
move. Nearly every move can be stylish. So, you may notice 
that just performing an ordinary moves yields precious little 
star power. But if you�re stylish, you may get up to eight 
times more star power, or something. A lot. That�s all you 
need to know. To start you off: When doing Mario�s ordinary 
jump, do the action command properly to jump again. At the 
peak of that jump, press A to belly-flop down onto the enemy. 
When Mario jumps back off, press A at the peak of THAT jump 
to perform another stylish move. Using an ordinary hammer 
attack, press A right after you bash the enemy with your 
hammer to do a back flip. Press A again right after landing 
to pose. There�s a guide here dedicated to stylish moves, so 
check it out for more information.

===============
BOSSES [.5]
===============
Actually, this section has both bosses AND mini-bosses. These 
are all the big dudes you HAVE to go through in the game; for 
those optional bosses you can fight whenever, check out the 
appropriate section. (Actually, Clefts aren�t really 
optional, but they�re forced on you if you do something 
wrong.)
 
-+-+-+-+LORD CRUMP (PROLOGUE) [lrdcrmp1]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 5
 -~Attack: 1
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Body Slam. His body slam is just a simple run up 
and leap at the enemy. Easy to guard action command and 
Superguard.
 -~Encountered: Rogueport harbor, about 5 seconds into the 
game.
 -~Strategy: Oh, please. You�re going to have a WHOPPER of a 
hard time getting CLOSE to dying on this dude. Right off the 
boat, and you�re already squaring off against some punk. With 
an attack power of 1 and 5 HP, use your Hammer and Jump on 
him; you have no special abilities or items yet. Not even a 
partner (though you ARE saving Goombella from this guy). If 
you�re just starting the game and aren�t familiar with 
jumping action commands yet, use the hammer, since the action 
command to deal more damage there is considerably easier to 
do.
 -~History: Lord Crump is the right-hand man of Sir Grodus, 
who this game�s main villain, the head honcho, the big bad 
guy. Lord Crump overestimates his own strength and usually 
gets himself into more than he can handle. The X-Nauts he 
commands usually aren�t much better off than he is. He has a 
pretty stupid laugh (Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh!), and his 
catchphrase is, �And with that�Pow! I�m gone!�
-+-+-+-+BLOOPER (PROLOGUE) [blpr]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 12
 -~Attack: 1
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Tentacle Whip, Ink Spray. When the Blooper is on 
the ceiling, it attacks with its two tentacles only. If one 
tentacle is gone, only one attacks. When it�s been knocked 
down, it attacks using an ink spray that hurts both you and 
your partner.
 -~Encountered: Rogueport Sewers, in the room with the 
ordinary pipe to Petal Meadows.
 -~Strategy: The Blooper hangs above the ceiling, so you 
can�t get it yet. To knock it down, you have to defeat its 
two tentacles. Each tentacle has 3 HP. The one in front is in 
the air, and the other is on the ground, so the first needs 
jumps to get and the second, either. Both tentacles will 
attack if both are present. After �defeating� both tentacles, 
the big body will fall down and be stunned. The next turn, it 
will recover--which is its turn. It will attack two more 
times, then go back up to the ceiling and have the tentacles 
return, so defeat it quickly!
	If you want to defeat both tentacles quickly and 
easily, you can use a Fire Flower if you have one. You 
should; you probably got one on the way to the Thousand-Year 
Door with Prof. Frankly.
	On a side note, if you beat the tentacle in the air 
first in the first turn, the Blooper will ask you if you 
think it tastes good. Your answer after that is up to you.
 -~History: Bloopers have been around for awhile. Normally 
sea creatures, recently these guys have been seen floating 
around in the air�like this one. They spray ink and attack 
with tentacles and are, overall, pretty ugly. According to 
the Tattle Log, this Blooper probably comes from the �western 
sea� based on its dialect.
-+-+-+-+TWO BALD CLEFTS (CHAPTER 1) [twbldclfts]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 2 each
 -~Attack: 2 each
 -~Defense: 2 each
 -~Attacks: Ram. Ramming is just a slow charge headfirst into 
its enemy�you. Attacks the person in front only.
 -~Encountered: Shhwonk Fortress, first building.
 -~Strategy: Later in the game, two Bald Clefts at once is 
laughable. You fight FOUR MOON Clefts at once! But that 
aside, there are only one of two things you can do: Use a POW 
Block or Superguard carefully. (They�re impervious to fire, 
so no Fire Flowers.) There was a POW Block hidden in a bush 
near the entrance to this part of Shhwonk Fortress�did you 
find it? A POW Block will kill both in one hit. Superguarding 
is a slow and careful process, but you can avoid damage and 
deal 1 point of damage to your attacker. It�s pretty easy to 
Superguard Bald Clefts, too.
 -~History: Just another kind of Cleft, Bald Clefts 
fortunately have no spikes on top--hence the name--so jumping 
can be used, but it�s not practical since only Ultra Boots 
could deal any kind of damage at all, and you don�t have them 
at this point. These two disguised themselves as statues in 
the first part of Shhwonk Fortress until you check the 
pedestals they�re on.
-+-+-+-+TWO BRISTLES (CHAPTER 1) [twbrstls]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 2 each
 -~Attack: 1 each
 -~Defense: 4 each
 -~Attacks: Spike Slam. The Bristle will approach slowly and 
stab you with the arrow-like thing on its side.
 -~Encountered: Shhwonk Fortress, second building.
 -~Strategy: Even worse than the Bald Clefts, Bristles can�t 
be jumped on without the Spike Shield badge and can�t be 
hammered, period, lest the spikes on their sides jut out and 
poke you. Now, your only hope is a POW Block. (Maybe the 
Superguard; I haven�t tested it yet.) Just like the Bald 
Cleft battle, there was another hidden POW Block near the 
entrance to this second part of the Shhwonk Fortress. Also 
like Bald Clefts, these guys are impervious to fire, so using 
Fire Flowers is useless.
 -~History: As far as I know, Bristles are original to Paper 
Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. They are masters of defense: 
They are flame-proof, and the spikes on top of them and the 
big points in their sides prevent both jumps AND ground 
attacks from reaching them. Using the Spike Shield badge or 
items are important to winning.
-+-+-+-+GOLD FUZZY (CHAPTER 1) [gldfzzy]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 10 (20 for Fuzzy Horde)
 -~Attack: 1 (5 for Fuzzy Horde--5 Fuzzies attack with 1 
	attack strength each)
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Body slam. The only thing this particular Fuzzy 
can do is ram into you with its body. It doesn�t even suck 
health out of you; be thankful for that.
 -~Encountered: Beneath Shhwonk Fortress, in the main room.
 -~Strategy: A pathetically easy mini-boss. It can�t even 
suck the energy out of you. I don�t recommend using FP-
requiring moves, it�s that easy. It�s very easy to block with 
the guard action command and Superguard, so use it in excess. 
After taking damage, the Gold Fuzzy will summon a Fuzzy Horde 
to aid it. This Fuzzy Horde has 20 Fuzzies--thus, it has 20 
HP. Don�t worry about the Fuzzy Horde; when they attack 
before the Gold Fuzzy, only five of them attack, and they do 
it one at a time. It�s really easy to block even with the 
Superguard (although the Superguard really does nothing to 
them). Focus your attacks on the Gold Fuzzy. The fight should 
be over in a grand total of three or four turns, and chances 
are you took no damage.
 -~History: Fuzzies are very annoying, extremely hyper 
parasites that attack by leeching onto a victim and draining 
its health to add to its own. Fortunately, Gold Fuzzies can�t 
attack by health-draining, but they have more HP than the 
average Fuzzy. According to Goombella, they are very rare. 
Gold Fuzzies are actually pretty creatures�if you can get 
past the crazy expression and hyper attitude.
-+-+-+-+RED BONES (CHAPTER 1) [rdbns]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 5
 -~Attack: 3
 -~Defense: 1
 -~Attacks: Bone Throw. This attack can hit either you or 
your partner. It does 3 points of damage, which can be 
potentially dangerous at the beginning of the game.
 -~Encountered: Hooktail Castle, in a room with dungeon 
cells.
 -~Strategy: The Red Bones is just a cranked up Dull Bones. 
There are some things that make it unique, though, and it�s 
not just the red color. The first is that, when all its 
buddies are gone, it can build another body from scratch. 
This takes one turn. Also, if there are other enemies on the 
field and the Red Bones has fallen, if the other enemies 
aren�t taken care of quickly enough, the Red Bones comes back 
to life. In this particular battle, there are four Dull Bones 
with it, the Red Bones being in the center. Use Koops�s Power 
Shell to wipe out all Dull Bones and slightly damage the Red 
Bones. If you have one, you might want to use a Fire Flower 
to not only eliminate all Dull Bones, but seriously injure 
the Red Bones as well. Whatever you want to do. Remember, 
though, that destroying all its buddies means that the Red 
Bones will probably build some more. You can continuously 
defeat what it builds for star points, which is a pretty good 
strategy. If it does build another army but you don�t want to 
use up all the time to get star points, take out the Red 
Bones first, then quickly destroy its spawn.
 -~History: There are four kinds of Bones in this game: Dull 
Bones, Red Bones, Dry Bones, and Dark Bones. The Red Bones is 
a mini-boss and is only found twice in the game (the first 
time being a mini-boss fight, the second being a normal fight 
to solve a puzzle in the Palace of Shadow). The second-
strongest of the Bones, Red Bones are still pretty weak. The 
typical Bones concept of getting up and fighting again when 
knocked down starts with the Red Bones.
-+-+-+-+HOOKTAIL (CHAPTER 1) [hktl]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 30 (20 at first, recovers 10 later)
 -~Attack: 5
 -~Defense: 1
 -~Attacks: Fire Breath, Hand Slam. The Fire Breath attack 
blasts both you and your partner, so be careful. The Hand 
Slam can, I believe, be aimed at your partner if Hooktail so 
chooses.
 -~Encountered: Hooktail Castle, big room on the top of the 
castle.
 -~Strategy: It�s mentioned twice sometime before the fight, 
not counting if you choose to Tattle on ol� Hooky, that 
Hooktail fears things that start with �cr� and end with 
�icket.� Meeting the thief Ms. Mowz gives you a bigger hint, 
saying that there�s a badge in Hooktail Castle that sounds 
like a cricket. You might recall seeing a badge with a 
musical note on it in a dungeon cell next to the room with 
the black chest. That�s the Attack FX R badge. It requires 0 
BP to equip, and it makes your attacks sound cricket-like. To 
get into the cell it�s in, use your newly-acquired second 
�curse� to slip between the bars. So, if you find that badge, 
Hooktail�s attack and defense will drop drastically, allowing 
you to have an easy fight. Use the Power Smash hammer attack 
on Hooktail�s foot with Mario. You can use either Goombella 
or Koops; doesn�t really matter which, although Koops has 
better defense. You can choose to attack either Hooktail�s 
head or foot.
	Once you knock Hooktail�s HP down to 0, it�ll try and 
trick you into sparing its life by asking if you want a 
thousand coins, a rare badge, and, um, sniffing the bottoms 
of its feet�if you say yes to any of them, Mario will run up 
and hold his hands out expectantly. What he�ll get is a big 
bite from Hooktail that does 5 damage. So obviously, say NO 
to all of Hooktail�s lame offers. Whether you say yes or no, 
Hooktail will pretend to go away, then charge back in and eat 
half the audience to recover 10 HP. You no longer recover 
star power, so you and your partner hop down and continue to 
bash away at the remaining 10 HP just like you did before.
 -~History: Right before the battle with Gloomtail, it is 
mentioned that Hooktail is actually female. Hooktail is the 
youngest of three dragon siblings: Hooktail, then Gloomtail, 
and finally Bonetail (who happens to be so old, he�s made of 
bones). Hooktail got bad food poisoning from eating a cricket 
long ago, which is the reason she gets so sick from hearing 
cricket chirps.
-+-+-+-+SHADOW SIRENS (CHAPTER 2) [shdwsrns1]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 10 (Vivian), 12 (Marilyn), 9 (Beldam)
 -~Attack: 1 (Vivian), 2 (Marilyn), 1 (Beldam)
 -~Defense: 0 each
 -~Attacks:
	- Vivian: Shade Fist, Fiery Jinx. (Real names of her 	
		moves, by the way.) Shade Fist can hit anybody, 
		anywhere. It only does 1 damage. Later into the 
		fight, Vivian will use her Fiery Jinx, which does 
		1 damage to both you and your partner.
	- Marilyn: Hand Smash, Lightning. Marilyn can attack 	
		either you or your partner with the Hand Smash. 
		The Lightning attack hits both you and your 	
		partner.
	- Beldam: Hand Slap, Blizzard, Partner Power-Up, Enemy 
		Shrinkage. The Hand Slap is a simple move which 
		does 1 damage and can hit anyone. The Blizzard 	
		moves nails both you and your partner. Beldam can 
		super-size her partners to increase their attack 
		power and shrink you to decrease yours. Be 	
		careful.
 -~Encountered: Boggly Woods, not far from the ordinary pipe 
leading to the Rogueport Sewers.
 -~Strategy: The first time you tangle with the Shadow 
Sirens. They�re pretty easy, so fear not. Marilyn is the most 
powerful here, so you might want to take her out first. Then 
again, if you take the weaker ones out first, you have less 
enemies attacking you. Try taking care of Beldam first, the 
old hag in the back; that way, no more ginormous Marilyn or 
shrunken Mario. Vivian�s not much of a problem, so work on 
Marilyn next. Just beware of her powerful hand smashes and 
lightning strikes, �cause they hurt. Sure, maybe not as much 
as riding on a bicycle without a seat, but they hurt. (Not my 
line, that was taking from the movie The Naked Gun 2�. Funny 
movie. Go see it.) Vivian is the second-weakest�and, come to 
think of it, the second-strongest. Whatever. Probably the 
smallest threat, so you should be able to take her out with 
ease. You should have the Special move Earth Tremor, so if 
you�ve got the star power for it, you can give them all a 
thrashing with it. Or, use Koops�s Power Shell to swipe �em 
all at once with a weaker move. Come to think of it, using 
both a fully-powered Earth Tremor and a fully-powered Power 
Shell could render them all helpless in just a couple of 
turns.
 -~History: The three Shadow Sirens (or �Shadow Beauties,� as 
Vivian mistakenly calls themselves) are three magic-using 
weirdoes under the service of Sir Grodus. Beldam is the 
eldest and is a total whiny nag that blames all of her 
mistakes on poor Vivian, who has an inferiority complex. 
Speaking of Vivian, she joins your party during chapter 4 of 
the game, so be nice to her!! Marilyn is a near-silent, 
rotund siren with the ugliest haircut in the world. She also 
happens to be the strongest, so watch out.
-+-+-+-+MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE (CHAPTER 2) [mgnsvngrppl1]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 30
 -~Attack: 2
 -~Defense: 1
 -~Attacks: Stomp, Earthquake, Rocket Fist Launch. When the 
big robot decides to stomp on you, it�ll walk on over, raise 
its foot, and try to throw your timing off by changing his 
aim from you to your partner repeatedly. He�ll eventually 
stomp and hurt ONE of you. Using his earthquake move, he�ll 
stomp on the ground repeatedly and damage both you and your 
partner. Finally, he can launch his �hands� out and have them 
float in the air to act as separate enemies. These fists have 
2 HP each, so they�re very easy to destroy. They�ll launch at 
you and batter you for 2 damage per hit, so take them out 
quick. Doesn�t matter with what, like if you use an entire 
turn to take them both out, an item like Fire Flower or 
Thunder Rage, or Earth Tremor.
 -~Encountered: Great Boggly Tree, very first room.
 -~Strategy: Magnus is a pretty easy boss. I do, however, 
remember a friend of mine facing off against the boss for the 
first time. He was inexperienced then, so he�d run from every 
single run-able fight; thus, he lost all his money. He was 
ridiculously low on health, so he couldn�t use any money on 
the heal block before the battle. So he died repeatedly on a 
pathetically easy boss. As I�m sure both of us could tell 
you, never make the mistake of losing so much money and 
getting too darn beat up that the simplest boss fight can be 
a hassle. So anyway, with only 30 HP, Magnus isn�t much of a 
threat. Use your Spin Jump--Power Jump if you have it the 
badge equipped--to work away at the robot�s health. If you 
have the Power Bounce badge equipped, use it!! You can eat 
away at the boss�s health like there�s no tomorrow by 
bouncing on him repeatedly. If you�ve upgraded Goombella 
once, she�ll have the Multibonk move, which is an exact 
replica of the Power Bounce move. If he launches his rocket 
fists, they�ll act as separate enemies, so take �em out. 
Quick. Otherwise, you�ll get beaten and pummeled silly by 
some remote, hovering arms. Use a multiple-target move for 
best results, like Fire Flower, Thunder Rage, Earthquake, and 
your Special move Earth Tremor. Like any boss, if you find 
yourself low on health and/or FP, use Sweet Treat or an item 
to recover your lost resources. Magnus should be defeated in 
a few easy turns.
 -~History: The X-Nauts have highly-advanced technology, so 
what did they develop? A giant, killer, high-tech present 
box! (That�s what it looks like, anyway.) This big robot 
isn�t very well-equipped for battle�plus it�s hot pink�but 
they hype it all up with up-to-speed weaponry and gadgets 
during your next fight with it on the moon. AND it�s a sleek 
black color. Prepare yourself until then.
-+-+-+-+IRON CLEFTS (CHAPTER 3) [irnclfts]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 6 each
 -~Attack: 4 each
 -~Defense: Well, they�re invincible
 -~Attacks: Charge. A very simple charge from their spiked 
bods. It penetrates defense�ouch.
 -~Encountered: Glitzville, ranked #10 in the Glitz Pit.
 -~Strategy: Defeat these morons, and you�re on a trip to the 
major league of the Glitz Pit! �But the first time you meet 
them, they�re impossible to beat. Run away or DIE. Either 
one. (Save yourself some time and energy and run away.) After 
the battle, you�ll get your fourth partner, a Yoshi that you 
can name yourself! (I name mine things like Thrasher and 
Thorn, because I like, uh, hot, flashy names�) Redo the 
battle. This time, use your Yoshi�s Gulp move to spit one 
�Iron Adonis Twin� into the other to cause damage. Do this 
one more time to kee-yill them. Very simple. (By the way, how 
does Yoshi fit a massive, heavy, SPIKE-FILLED enemy inside 
his teeny widdle mouth? Another Mario mystery.)
	Oh yeah, you also face these sore losers again after 
defeating the Shell Shockers (the Shady Koopas), but same 
strategy. They�re still sore losers.
-+-+-+-+BOWSER (CHAPTER 3) [bwsr1]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 30
 -~Attack: 3
 -~Defense: 1
 -~Attacks: Fire Breath, Ground Slam, Bite. The Fire Breath 
attack damages both you and your partner. The Ground Slam 
attack involves Bowser leaping up and sitting on you. If you 
fail to use the Superguard or guard action command, you�ll 
lose an ability on your battle menu, like using items, your 
hammer, whatever. His bite can sometimes poison you, so watch 
out.
 -~Encountered: Glitzville, in the Glitz Pit right after one 
of the final battles.
 -~Strategy: What??? The Koopa King????? Here in 
Glitzville??????? �??? �Whatever. He�s pretty easy, actually. 
Somewhere at the bottom of the major league battles, Bowser 
appears right after you tear apart someone else (usually it�s 
the Magikoopa Masters, but recently for me it was Craw-
Daddy). So, no saving, no healing. Oddly enough, if you lose, 
you lose the Glitz Pit battle and must do it over again, even 
though you won�AND fight Bowser again, who nobody seems to 
have stopped�so anyway, use lots of powerful moves, like 
Power Smash and Power Jump and whatnot. Don�t forget Power 
Bounce and Multibonk! They�re always useful! The side-effects 
of Bowser�s moves can be annoying. If you took a bit of 
damage in the battle you just fought, heal using Sweet Treat, 
then beat the crap out of the big reptile.
 -~History: Appearing in almost every single canonical Mario 
game, Bowser is Mario�s sworn enemy and the one who kidnaps 
Peach. It�s been hinted at several times in several games 
that he�s actually in love with the princess. In this game, 
he learns of the Crystal Stars and decides that they sound 
like �good world-conquering tools� and sets out to collect 
them, just like you and, uh, the X-Nauts are. Unfortunately 
for him, he�s always a few steps behind you.
-+-+-+-+RAWK HAWK (CHAPTER 3) [rwkhwk]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 40
 -~Attack: 3
 -~Defense: 1
 -~Attacks: Air Dive, Double Slam, Item Shake. Rawk Hawk�s 
air dive attack is a simple flying maneuver that launches the 
big birdy right into your face and does 6 damage; naturally, 
he does this later into the fight. Double Slam is a move that 
bonks both you and your partner, one after the either. The 
�Item Shake� is where Rawk Hawk cheats (what else is new? He 
tried to make you forfeit the match) and grabs onto a ledge 
up high where you can�t reach him and shakes off several 
objects to bonk both you and your partner. Getting the guy 
off can be tricky; use items or a fully-powered Earth Tremor 
to shake him off. You can also use Flurrie�s Body Slam to 
pummel �im.
 -~Encountered: Glitzville, champion of the Glitz Pit.
 -~Strategy: Win this fight, and you become the champion of 
the Glitz Pit! Unfortunately, ole Rawky�s not gonna fight 
fair. Not only did he lock you in a room in a lame attempt to 
make you forfeit the match, but he has an attack which is 
clearly illegal in the world of battling. (And it wouldn�t 
surprise me if he were taking steroids.) I can�t remember if 
he has 30 HP the first time you fight him and 40 later, so 
help me if you can. Anyway, Rawk Hawk is a powered-up Bowser, 
only with none of those nasty side-effects from the attacks. 
As always, use a nice, powerful FP-requiring move to give him 
big bashes. You should be able to block most of his attacks, 
save for that annoying, cheating move he uses where he drops 
stuff on you�use an Earth Tremor, any-target-hitting item 
like Shooting Star or Thunder Storm, that sort of thing to 
knock him off. You don�t want him dropping pots and pans on 
your head for too long.
 -~History: The current champion of the fighting arena called 
the Glitz Pit, the Rawk Hawk�s a little full of himself and 
lives for his fans (remind you of Barry Bonds?). He also 
fights dirty, but that apparently stops after you defeat him. 
The champion right before him was Prince Mush, who was one of 
the fighters that knew too much information about Mr. 
Grubba�s secret evil plans, so he had to pay the price�
-+-+-+-+MACHO GRUBBA (CHAPTER 3) [mchgrbb]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 60
 -~Attack: 4
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Back Flip Slam, Charge, Body Slam, Double-Turn 
Ability, Attack Raise, Defense Raise. Wow! Back Flip Slam has 
Grubba back-flipping to sit on you or your partner. Charge is 
a dash across the stage that hurts you and your pal. Body 
Slam is where Grubba dashes in, then leaps on you and hurts 
you. Used at the very beginning of the match and every time 
the move ends, the Double-Turn Ability allows Grubba to 
attack twice in one turn for awhile; he uses the extra turn 
to use either Attack Raise or Defense Raise to buff himself 
up. (If you see any attacks I�ve missed, feel free to share 
them via e-mail.) 
 -~Encountered: Glitzville, in the arena of the Glitz Pit 
shortly after defeating Rawk Hawk.
 -~Strategy: At the very start of the battle, Macho Grubba 
will use the move that lets him attack twice in one turn; 
this counts as his turn, so proceed to beat him black and 
green. Despite the fact that he can augment his attack and 
defense at will, attack twice in one turn, and has 60 HP, 
Grubba�s actually an easier boss than you�d think. I used 
Goombella for this battle; chances are you haven�t upgraded 
your Yoshi partner, so its HP�s only at 10, which isn�t 
nearly enough to take on the gargantuan Macho Grubba. Use 
Goombella�s Multibonk like crazy, considering you�ve upgraded 
her. Use Power Smash like crazy. Don�t stop. If you find 
yourself running out of FP, use Sweet Treat to restock. If 
you continue to use Power Smash (Power Bounce, a jump 
command, is even better, of course, but you�re fine with 
Power Smash) and Goombella�s Multibonk (hopefully you�ve 
upgraded her), the big, orange dude with a bad haircut should 
be finished in no time. Use the Superguard whenever possible; 
with close-range, melee attacks like his which involve his 
entire body, it can be easier than you�d think.
     A strategy recently was sent in to me by Kyle Joyce on 
how to defeat Grubba:
     �What helped me first of all I upgraded Yoshers so he 
would have more help. I got the egg thing for him. I got the 
Soft Stomp Badge. So I would Soft Stomp him so his defense 
would go down then I would shrink him with the Yoshi eggs 
which decrease his attack.�
     The strategy Kyle Joyce suggests is quite simple: Equip 
the Soft Stomp Badge to pound on Grubba and lower his defense 
so that it doesn�t get in the way. You�ll also have to have 
upgraded your Yoshi partner so that it has the Mini-Egg move. 
Use this move and shrink Grubba so that his attack is 
pathetic. And from there, you beat the crud out of Macho 
Grubba without much worrying.
 -~History: Mr. Grubba was the boss of the Glitz Pit--both 
boss, as in leader, and boss, as in big bad enemy. Mr. Grubba 
is a kind of Clubba, big-lipped creatures with brains about 
the size of peanuts. Mr. Grubba himself is not only 
significantly stronger and braver than most Clubbas, he�s got 
a hardcore southern accent�weird. Ms. Jolene, the manager, 
takes over running the �Pit after Grubba gets his butt 
kicked.
-+-+-+-+????? (CHAPTER 4) [?????]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 40
 -~Attack: 4
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Head Ram, Hammer, Jump. Head Ramming is his only 
method of attack (as far as I know, he never lives long 
enough to show me much more) and is a simple ghostly float 
up, then a strike conking both your heads; sometimes, he goes 
for your partner. Only after transforming into Mario does he 
use the simple Hammer and Jump attacks that you can use. As 
far as I know, those are the only attacks of yours he uses.
 -~Encountered: Creepy Steeple, on the roof.
 -~Strategy: If you fought the Atomic Boo before fighting 
this guy, it should tell you how this fight goes. They both 
have the same HP, attack, and defense, but the Atomic Boo is 
actually HARDER. And it�s a mini-boss! �So, if the Atomic Boo 
was a piece of cake, Mr. Loser here will be even easier. He 
has only simple, weak attacks and 20 health points less than 
Macho Grubba, who was the big boss before him! Use the same 
maneuvers here: Power Smash/Jump/Bounce/whatever, and either 
Goombella�s famed Multibonk or your Yoshi�s simple Ground 
Pound; hopefully, you�ve upgraded him by this point so it 
does 5 consecutive hits instead of 4 and it has 20 HP instead 
of 10. Keep up the pattern of whaling on him; you probably 
won�t need to use any Special moves or items at all. After 
he�s down to, eh, about 20 HP, he�ll transform into 
Mario�only weaker, and not with a partner or any useful 
moves. He�s still simple. Polish him off.
 -~History: The enemy you�re fighting is a Duplighost. 
Duplighosts have the ability to copy someone�s image and gain 
their abilities and attacks. This dude does the same. Unlike 
ordinary Duplighosts, he�s got a party hat and some glowing 
eyes to top off his appearance. I�m not gonna say much more; 
if you want some spoilers, go see the boss right after this.
-+-+-+-+DOOPLISS (CHAPTER 4) [dplss]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 40
 -~Attack: 4
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Hammer, Jump. Same attacks as before. The Hammer 
and Jump attacks are exact replicas of your own.
 -~Encountered: Creepy Steeple, on the roof again.
 -~Strategy: Well, ol� Doopy-doo-wop got himself some 
partners�your own. They believe that DOOPLISS is the real 
Mario, and you�re the doppelganger, since you are, uh, 
purple. Don�t bother attacking �his� partner; he�ll run 
through the other partners in the order you got them, and 
each is consecutively harder than the last, usually. 
Concentrate all your effort on Doopliss. This fight is no 
different from the last, only you�re taking a little extra 
damage from �his� partners. Use the attacks you did before 
and try to ignore your own friends pummeling you. Use guard 
action commands and even Superguards to defend against your 
former allies; the Superguard won�t be nearly enough to 
defeat them anytime soon. If you need health, use an item or 
Sweet Treat, like always.
 -~History: Doopliss has, apparently, never had anyone say 
his own name to him before you did, so he could use 
unstoppable magic. As you might have seen whenever he 
ambushes you in front of a shack near Twilight Town, you 
can�t hurt him at all, and he can�t hurt you. Not to mention 
he stole your own body. This time, he�s got your own 
partners--Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, and your Yoshi--tricked 
into believing HE�S the real Mario, although there were signs 
of him being fake: He�s an absolute chatterbox now, and he�s 
gotten pretty full of himself, referring to himself as �Super 
Mario� instead of �me.�
-+-+-+-+CORTEZ (CHAPTER 5) [crtz]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 60 (20 per form, 3 forms)
 -~Attack: 4
 -~Defense: 1
 -~Attacks: Stab, Bone Scatter, Bite, Sword Attack, Saber 
Attack, Hook Attack, Rapier Attack. During his first form, 
Cortez can only use Stab (as far as I know). This is a simple 
thrust of all the weapons he carries. He also uses this in 
his second form. Bone Scatter is only used in the second 
form. He charges his attack up for one turn, then throws the 
bones the other. Dunno exactly how much this hurts since I 
avoided damage, but I think it might be 8 or 9. Bite is only 
used during the third form and is a simple move where Cortez 
floats his skeletal head over and bites you. The last four 
attacks are all only in the third form as well, and the said 
attacks belong to different weapons Cortez carries that have 
their own health. Bring their health down to make them 
inactive.
 -~Encountered: Pirate�s Grotto, final room.
 -~Strategy: Cortez has 20 HP per form and three forms. 
Defeat one form to move onto the next. During the first form, 
Cortez will be a hulking skeleton with four arms carrying 
weapons, with a long spinal cord attached to a bone pile. 
This bone pile is what you�ll be attacking, so use your 
standard Power Smash and whatnot. (The bone pile looks rather 
sharp. I haven�t tested it, but it might be that you can�t 
jump on it. Dunno.) Cortez�s only attack does 4 damage. After 
bashing his bone pile down to 0 HP, the curtains of the stage 
swish in, then out, to reveal a different form. Cortez�s 
spine seems a bit longer now, and his ribcage has a weird 
green light in it. Continue to attack, but beware of his 
super move. If he suddenly charges up attack power, use 
Vivian�s Veil to avoid damage or tough it out! Take this form 
out quickly to reveal only Cortez�s floating head and his 
four weapons hovering in the air. Each of these weapons: 
Cortez�s Sword, Cortez�s Saber, Cortez�s Hook, and Cortez�s 
Rapier. (A teeny thought occurs to me about the first two 
names that I might be wrong; I think I�m right, but if I got 
a name wrong, e-mail me.) These all have 4 HP each; take them 
down to put them out of action for a few turns. Use Vivian�s 
Fiery Jinx (if you�ve upgraded her) to destroy all of them, 
not to mention hurt Cortez. Speaking of whom, after the big 
guy takes a lot of damage, he�ll eat half your audience to 
replenish all his health. (Remind you of Hooktail and, later, 
the Shadow Queen?) Grrr! Continue to bash him with some of 
your best moves until he finally �dies.� (Although, after the 
battle, as he will explain, he�s ALREADY dead, so you CAN�T 
kill him�but after a little negotiating, he calms down and 
unhesitatingly hands over your Crystal Star. You gain the 
ability �Sweet Feast,� which is a bigger, more effective 
version of Sweet Treat, where you have fewer Poison 
Mushrooms, and some images are bigger, so they replenish 
more. Truly, it is �sweet.�
 -~History: Legend has it of an ancient pirate that died, but 
his spirit was tied to his treasure. Staying on Earth to 
guard his treasure, the hulking, skeletal beast DOES admit 
that it gets boring after awhile. He tries to scare you into 
turning back a few times while in the Pirate�s Grotto, but 
obviously you didn�t listen.
-+-+-+-+LORD CRUMP (CHAPTER 5-ISH) [lrdcrmp2]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 60 (30 now, recovers 30 later)
 -~Attack: 3
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Body Slam. Lord Crump has retained his only body 
slam move. Of course, he�s got a bunch of X-Naut helpers to 
attack you this time.
 -~Encountered: About five minutes after defeating Cortez, in 
the bit of land left of the camp firing cannonballs at your 
pathetic little island.
 -~Strategy: Surely you have healed up. Lord Crump isn�t 
particularly tough, but if you didn�t heal after defeating 
Cortez, it CAN be. There�s a heal block on Cortez�s ship, so 
heal, dang it!! Anyway, this time, Lord Crump�s got about a 
bajillion X-Naut soldiers to help him out. The first group�s 
formed in a pyramid and have 6 HP. They�ll attack on their 
own, so use multiple-target moves like Vivian�s Fiery Jinx 
and maybe even Bobbery�s Bob-ombast (or however you spell it) 
to inflict damage; remember that although Bobbery�s final 
move is powerful and attacks all foes, it requires a whopping 
9 FP, so don�t go crazy with it. Also keep in mind that 
Vivian�s requires 6 FP. Attacking one foe at a time still 
works, of course, but I do suggest using multiple-target 
moves�anyway, have Mario use powerful jumping moves like 
Power Jump or Power Bounce to bash Crump black and green 
while your partner hopefully targets all foes. When you beat 
Crump up a bit, he�ll call his small pyramid of foot soldiers 
in front of him back and instead send several dozen X-Nauts 
in hanging from a ledge above. They still have 6 HP. Vivian�s 
Shade Punch, Fiery Jinx, Flurrie�s Body Slam, Bobbery�s Bob-
ombast, a fully-powered Earth Tremor�use whatever to reach 
them, or ignore them. They�ll drop harmful objects on the 
both of you, so watch out. After reducing the villain�s HP 
down to 0, he�ll go and heal it all again! Now, he�s got a 
huge army of X-Nauts that will roll into a ball at his 
command to roll on both you and your partner; this only 
counts as the X-Nauts� attack, so Crump is still free to 
attack. The army there has 10 HP instead of the old groups� 
6, so they�re harder to take out. Use the same strategies as 
before to win.
 -~History: I�ve already told you about Lord Crump. He 
disguised as a pirate going along the voyage with you in 
order to spy on you and maybe steal a Crystal Star or two. Of 
course, he fails. Like he does everything. He was known as 
�Four-Eyes� before he revealed himself to be Lord Crump�s 
main man. Oddly enough, Crump breaks the fourth wall (if you 
don�t know what the fourth wall is, go look it up on 
Wikipedia) by telling the camera that, yeah, you know who he 
is as it�s kind of obvious, but Mario doesn�t, so don�t tell 
him.
-+-+-+-+SMORG (CHAPTER 6) [smrg]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 50
 -~Attack: 5
 -~Defense: 1
 -~Attacks: Arm Slap, Pincer Crush. The Arm Slap is used by 
all active arms (maximum of three) to attack you or your 
partner. The Pincer Crush is only used if Smorg chooses to 
use its large pincer instead of the smaller arms. The attack 
hurts both of you and does a WHOPPER amount of damage, so be 
careful.
 -~Encountered: Excess Express, on top of the train on day 
three of the train ride.
 -~Strategy: Smorg, despite only having 50 HP, can be tougher 
than it looks. First thing you want to do is whale on the 
three big arms Smorg is waving about. You can�t attack its 
body yet without taking care of the bombs; your attacks won�t 
do anything. These all attack you separately, so use Vivian�s 
Fiery Jinx, Bobbery�s Bob-ombast, or the Special move Earth 
Tremor to take care of them all at once, because they can do 
a total of 15 damage of all of them are out. When they�re all 
gone, the pink, Smorg body will be defenseless, so take this 
opportunity to beat it up; use your new Spring Jump move 
successfully to do 12 damage to it. The move is hard to time 
for an action command due to Mario�s disappearing off the 
screen briefly, then falling quickly down onto Smorg. As a 
hint, watch the little shadow on the ground to see when Mario 
will arrive over Smorg. Use whatever strong attack your 
partner�s got as well. After a bit, Smorg will either call 
out the arms again or send out one BIG arm with a pincer. 
This humongous arm has more HP and can not only do insane 
amounts of damage, but attack both you and your partner. 
Taking that thing out as quickly as possible is definitely at 
the top of your list. I believe it had 12 HP, can�t be sure, 
even though I faced the stupid thing just a few hours 
ago�well, whatever. Spring Jumps will be even harder to time, 
but if it�s your cup of tea, use it. Continue the pattern of 
destroying all appendages, then attacking the body to win. 
And remember�you have the Special move Sweet Feast. It 
requires a whole lot of star power, but it can greatly heal 
you in a time of need. And if you need to, use items like 
Thunder Rage or Shooting Star to attack all arms at once. I 
doubt Earthquake would work, since the only ground enemy is 
the Smorg body, which, like I mentioned, is invincible until 
you take care of the appendages.
 -~History: Nothing is known of the Smorgs except for these 
facts: #1: They come in colors of black and pink; #2: There 
are about ten zillion of them, and #3: They hate little red-
capped plumbers. You first met some of the little Smorgs at 
the Riverside Station, where they swarmed around a switch. If 
hundreds of the little flower-like Smorgs join together, they 
can create this huge monster simply known as, uh, Smorg. In 
fact, the only thing in their dialogue is �smorg.�
-+-+-+-+MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE 2.0 (CHAPTER 7) [mgnsvngrppl]+-+-+
 -~HP: 70
 -~Attack: 6
 -~Defense: 2
 -~Attacks: Drill Attack, X Boomerang, Rocket Fist Launch, 
Machine Gun. The Drill Attack is a flying move where Magnus 
dives onto you, sharp arms outstretched in front of it. It 
disappears off the screen before it attacks. This hurts both 
you and your partner. The X Boomerang, again, attacks both 
you and your partner and is a giant, flying disk that whirs 
straight into you. The Rocket Fist Launch is the same as 
before, only the fists now have 4 HP. The Machine Gun attack 
is the deadliest; it sucks up members of your audience and 
launches them at you with staggering speed. A member of the 
audience can do up to 3 damage. Don�t even bother with the 
Superguard here.
 -~Encountered: X-Naut Fortress, room all the way to the 
right on Sublevel 3.
 -~Strategy: Yes, it�s your hated birthday present-like 
robotic enemy, Magnus von Grapple. Only now, it�s been super-
updated. It flies, dives, has more HP and attack, and has a 
live-ammo machine gun. Use your standard strong attacks, like 
Power Smash, as usual. However, I URGE you to use Power Lift; 
this helps with his Machine Gun move, since the most damage a 
�bullet� can do to you is 3, so powering up your defense to 3 
or higher can make sure this deadly move does no damage to 
you at all. If you�re taking large amounts of damage, use 
your Sweet Feast move to recover lots of HP and FP. Should he 
ever launch his rocket fists, use Vivian�s Fiery Jinx, 
Bobbery�s Bob-ombast (though I don�t recommend it, too much 
FP), a multiple-target item like Thunder Rage or Shooting 
Star (not Earthquake because it only hits ground enemies, and 
not Fire Flower because it doesn�t do enough damage), or just 
plain Earth Tremor. If Magnus uses his Machine Gun move, 
which involves sucking up some of the audience and launching 
them at you, and your defense is not 3 or higher, forget the 
Superguard; just jam A repeatedly! It is, by far, his 
deadliest move, so that is why I urge you to use Power Lift 
to increase your defense. It works.
 -~History: Remember the bright pink robot you faced in the 
Great Boggly Tree? The more-recent version, Magnus von 
Grapple 2.0 (or just Magnus 2.0), has been improved far ahead 
of its predecessor. It flies, it sucks up live ammunition for 
use in the Machine Gun, it has sharp hands�and it�s sleek and 
black (which, I think, is the BIGGEST improvement). It�s been 
kept at the X-Naut Fortress. Lord Crump again is the one who 
pilots this machine.
-+-+-+-+DARK BONES (CHAPTER 8) [drkbns]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 20
 -~Attack: 5
 -~Defense: 2
 -~Attacks: Bone Throw, Triple Bone Toss. The Bone Throw 
attack is the same as before, only, eh, stronger. The Triple 
Bone Toss is like a Dry Bone�s, where it throws three bones 
to attack you or your partner. These bones do 3 damage, but 
are easily blocked with the Superguard like its other attack.
 -~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, before the courtyard-like 
area.
 -~Strategy: Remember the Red Bones from Hooktail Castle? 
Well, this battle is similar. A stronger-than-average Bones 
only encountered once (save for a time in the tower in the 
courtyard where every kind of Bones is fought) guarding a 
door. This guy�s got some Dry Bones with him, too. What do I 
suggest? Use Art Attack to draw a circle around them. When 
the Dry Bones are down, circle around the Dark Bones only. 
When Art Attack�s over, launch every jumping move you�ve got 
at it; try the Spring Jump. Also remember that the Dry Bones 
aren�t down forever; if you don�t finish off the Dark Bones 
quickly enough, they rise again. Vice versa, too. If you 
want, use fire or explosion-based moves to clear out the 
fallen Dry Bones. The downside to this, of course, is that 
the Dark Bones can build a Dry Bones from scratch with a spot 
open.
-+-+-+-+GLOOMTAIL (CHAPTER 8) [glmtl]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 80
 -~Attack: 8
 -~Defense: 2
 -~Attacks: Bite, Poison Breath, Hand Slam, Megabreath, 
Earthquake. The Bite is the quickest and hardest to block of 
the moves. It�s a very sudden, quick lunge forward to bite 
Mario. The Poison Breath attacks might poison you and it 
attacks both you and your partner. Hand Slam isn�t much 
different from Hooktail�s old move. Gloomtail walks forward 
and bashes you into the ground with the palm of his hand. 
Megabreath is an attack that must be charged up to do and is 
the strongest attack; I�m not sure how much damage it does, 
but you can be sure you�ll exclaim �holy cow!!� Finally, the 
Earthquake is a slam into the ground that rumbles the floor 
and hits whoever�s in front, doing 10 damage to them. 
Gloomtail might only do this once, but I don�t know.
 -~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, room all the way on the 
right from the courtyard-like area.
 -~Strategy: In a crane game at the X-Naut Fortress, there 
were two badges: Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P. These 
require 4 BP to equip, but they prevent you from getting 
poisoned. If you got these, equip them before the fight!! 
It�s only too easy for Gloomtail to poison you. You should 
put one on for your partner, too, if you have the BP to do 
it. (You might want to take off some badges for this fight 
just to have some spare BP.) Gloomtail doesn�t have any 
weakness to crickets, so this fight will be straightforward. 
Use powerful moves like your Spring Jump and Power Smash and 
whatnot--Spring Jump is even more powerful than Power Jump. 
If Gloomtail charges up immense power, USE VIVIAN�S VEIL. 
This will prevent either of you from getting hit. If Vivian�s 
out cold or you don�t have any FP left (it only requires 1 FP 
to use the move) or something, at least use a Boo Sheet to 
make attacks go through you. Do SOMETHING to avoid this 
attack, �cause you don�t want to get beaned by it. Beware of 
his Bite move, since it�s very sudden and prepares very 
little time to block.
 -~History: Gloomtail is Hooktail�s older brother and the 
middle child of the three dragons of the game. He was kept in 
the Palace of Shadow and, apparently, hasn�t had any true, 
fresh meat in over a thousand years. Maybe he survived on 
Dark Wizzerds and Swoopula. I can�t imagine it�d be very 
tasty. He�s a dark black color with a purple belly. Very 
impressive-looking. And, like most creatures, his bright 
colors do, in fact, show that he is poisonous.
-+-+-+-+SHADOW SIRENS (CHAPTER 8) [shdwsrns2]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 40 (Doopliss), 40 (Marilyn), 30 (Beldam)
 -~Attack: 6 (Doopliss), 7 (Marilyn), 6 (Beldam)
 -~Defense: 0 each
 -~Attacks:
	- Doopliss: Head Ram, Jump, Hammer. Same attacks he�s 
		always had, only they do more damage.
	- Marilyn: Hand Smash, Lightning, Power-Up. Also the 	
		same attacks she�s had before, only she can now 
		power herself up for a big attack the next turn. 
		And, of course, she�s more powerful.
	- Beldam: Hand Slap, Blizzard, Partner Power-Up, Enemy 
		Shrinkage. For the umpteenth time, same attacks 
		as before, only more powerful.
 -~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, courtyard-like area, after 
inserting all the Palace Keys into the pedestals in the tower 
after making them appear by getting the key from Gloomtail.
 -~Strategy: Well, Vivian�s with you, so who filled her 
place? The freak-in-a-sheet, Doopliss, of course! Use your 
Spring Jump to inflict up to 12 damage on one. You can use 
multiple-target moves like Vivian�s Fiery Jinx or Bobbery�s 
Bob-ombast to inflict major hurt. You can even use Earth 
Tremor, Art Attack, or Supernova, if you get that desperate. 
You can take out Beldam easily within a few turns. So, I 
suggest tearing Beldam apart first, then working on Marilyn, 
then finally freak-sheet. If Marilyn charges up attack power, 
hide using Vivian�s Veil. (Or, again, you can use a Boo Sheet 
or something. Just avoid the attack!)
 -~History: The Shadow Sirens lost Vivian, so who do they 
replace her with? Doopliss, of course, who ran by more than 
upset after you defeated him at Creepy Steeple. They�re a lot 
stronger now, of course, and possess the same abilities as 
before. Doopliss can still transform into one of you to 
attack.
-+-+-+-+SIR GRODUS (CHAPTER 8) [srgrds]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 50
 -~Attack: 7
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Lightning, Laser, Fire Drive. Lightning is like 
Marilyn�s attack; a simple blast of lightning to cause 
damage. The Laser move is similar to a Wizzerd�s. The Fire 
Drive, apparently, is like Mario�s Fire Drive, only blue. 
�Okay, I�m POSITIVE I�m missing some attacks here, so if 
anyone can tell me some of the moves I�ve missed, good. E-
mail me. Jessy Boudreau has told me of the Fire Drive move. 
Thank you, Jessy. I still think I may be missing some moves, 
though.
 -~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, semifinal room (throne 
room).
 -~Strategy: If you read the stats above, you might be 
wondering, �What!? This is Grodus, and he sucks!?� Well�he�s 
only relatively easy because there�s an even HARDER boss 
fight coming up right after this with no saving or healing in 
between. So, as Ike would say, �Prepare yourself.� (�I wonder 
how many readers know what I�m talking about? Probably many, 
knowing how many people have Super Smash Brothers Brawl.) One 
strategy you might take before this battle is to get yourself 
close to leveling up, then beat Grodus and level up, thus 
restoring all your stats to peak condition for the next 
battle. If you don�t, then finish Grodus as quickly as 
possible so that you don�t take too much damage. Alright, to 
the battle, men! To the battle! At the start of the battle, 
Grodus will make four Grodus X appear around him, creating an 
impenetrable shield around him. In case you hadn�t guessed, 
Grodus X are the equivalent of Mini-Yux, only Grodus creates 
two of them at a time, they have 4 HP, and they attack on 
their own. To get rid of them, use Vivian�s Fiery Jinx like 
there�s no tomorrow. At least use SOME multi-target move that 
deals 4 damage or more and doesn�t decrease your resources 
too much. Use Mario�s Spring Jump whenever the shield is 
broken. Unless you have the Quick Change badge equipped, keep 
Vivian out so she can destroy all the Grodus X that appear. 
Fortunately, all four Grodus X that can appear are needed to 
create a shield, so you can wait until all four appear.
 -~History: Sir Grodus is the leader of the X-Nauts. (If 
you�re reading this and don�t know Grodus�s master plan, QUIT 
READING. This contains major spoilers!) Kidnapping Peach 
since she had the magic map that could locate the Crystal 
Stars, he was too late--she had already sent it off to Mario. 
After Mario collected most of the Crystal Stars, Grodus 
altered his plan a bit. When Mario had all but the one the X-
Nauts had, Lord Crump, unaware of the changed plan, attempted 
to defeat Mario by using Magnus 2.0, but failed. Of course, 
Doopliss, disguised as Prof. Frankly, tricked Mario into 
opening the Thousand-Year Door, allowing Grodus to walk right 
in without collecting the Crystal Stars. So, whether Lord 
Crump won or lost to Mario, the plan would be completed. He 
planned to use Peach�s body as a �vessel� for the return of 
the Shadow Queen, the ancient demon that destroyed the town 
sitting where Rogueport currently is long ago.
-+-+-+-+BOWSER (CHAPTER 8) [bwsr2]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 70 (Bowser), 50 (Kammy)
 -~Attack: 7 (Bowser), 5 (Kammy)
 -~Defense: 2 (Bowser), 0 (Kammy)
 -~Attacks:
	- Bowser: Bite, Fire Breath, Ground Slam. Same moves as 
		before with the same side-effects: Bite may 	
		poison you, Fire Breath may burn you, Ground 	
		Slam, unless blocked, will disable the use of one 
		of your battle options.
	- Kammy: Magic Blast, Health Restoration, 		
		Electrification, Invisibility, Size-Up, Defense 
		Increase. Quite a list there. Magic Blast is an 
		ordinary blast of magic like any ordinary 	
		Magikoopa would do. Health Restoration heals one 
		of them by 8. Electrification electrifies one of 
		them, so no physical contact. Invisibility makes 
		one impossible to attack. Size-Up makes one of 	
		them huge.
 -~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, directly after the fight 
with Grodus.
 -~Strategy: �What�s a finale without Bowser? A cruddy 
finale, that�s what!� Well, that�s what you think, Mr. King. 
Right after the Grodus fight, Bowser attacks. You�re weakened 
now (unless you leveled up after the fight), so Bowser takes 
advantage of this. Kammy starts off floating on a broom. 
Knock her off, and you can attack her on the ground, though 
Bowser�s big bod� is in the way. Focus your attacks on Kammy 
first. She can heal either one of them and give them other 
nasty power-ups. So, without Kammy, Bowser is practically 
useless. Focus Spring Jumps and other strong attacks on her 
that can reach her. If you want, use Art Attack and circle 
her repeatedly for around 15 damage. You should also use 
Power Lift to increase your attack and defense to lay the 
hurt on them. Guard well against Bowser�s attacks, as they 
have very nasty side-effects (if you�re still wearing the 
Feeling Fine badges, that takes care of the poison part). If 
you�re running out of HP or FP, use an Ultra Shroom or 
Jammin� Jelly. Surely you have lots of them by now. It�s 
important to have oodles of these things lying around for 
this purpose.
 -~History: Bowser heard something about a Thousand-Year Door 
with a legendary treasure behind it, which certainly 
intrigued the Koopa King. Setting off, he entered the 
Thousand-Year Door and accidentally saved Mario from Grodus 
by landing on top of him when he was about to deliver the 
final blow to Mario and his partner. Seeing that Peach was 
there as well, Bowser figured he�d kill three birds with one 
stone by eliminating Mario, nabbing Peach, and taking the 
legendary treasure. Of course, he didn�t know that it was 
actually a demon�
-+-+-+-+SHADOW QUEEN (CHAPTER 8) [shdwqn]
 -~HP: 150
 -~Attack: 7
 -~Defense: 1
 -~Attacks: Dark Lightning, Green Poison, Pink Poison, Shadow 
Wave, Stat Increase, Shadow Hand Drain, Shadow Hand Slam, 
Dead Hands Charge, Dead Hands Attack. Dark Lightning nails 
one of you with dark-colored lightning. Green Poison is a 
weaker attack that can induce 9-turn poison. Pink Poison, 
apparently, does damage but not poison. Shadow Wave must be 
charged up first, but nails you and your partner with 
incredibly immense power. Stat Increase boosts her attack and 
defense by 3 for a few turns. If her Shadow Hands are up, she 
may drain your HP to add to her own with Shadow Hand Drain, 
or just hit you with Shadow Hand Slam. Dead Hands Charge is 
where the small army of hands charges at whoever�s in front 
and hits them three times with an attack power of 3, and Dead 
Hands Attack pulls one of you underground and hits you three 
times. Whoo! Lot of moves.
 -~Encountered: Palace of Shadow, very final room.
 -~Strategy: This is the final battle, so naturally it�s the 
hardest (aside from Bonetail). The Queen�s got some horrid 
moves that can put massive dents in your HP, so guard well. 
Before you start, have about 60 HP and at least 45 or 50 FP. 
This battle actually goes in three phases, so I�ll explain 
each phase.
-+-+PHASE ONE+-+-
You�re now only fighting the Shadow Queen�s dark vessel, 
Peach. Use multiple Spring Jumps to bash her all around. (Her 
defense now is 0, so no worries.) About the only move she can 
use is Dark Lightning, so no worries there, either. Use 
strong partner moves, like Vivian�s Shade Punch to light her 
ablaze or, of course, Goombella�s Multibonk. You probably 
won�t be needing to use any Special moves or items, so don�t 
bother unless you�re way too desperate. After getting the 
Shadow Queen down past about 85 HP, the second phase will 
begin.
-+-+PHASE TWO+-+-
Now, the Shadow Queen is invincible, now attacking you in her 
demon form and being able to use all her moves. Stay alive!! 
I think you HAVE to attack her, despite the fact that you do 
no damage, to actually move on to the third phase. The Shadow 
Queen�s real tough now, so use items like Ultra Shrooms to 
heal your HP. Keep fruitlessly whaling away at the Shadow 
Queen until the third phase begins. If she charges up her 
Shadow Wave move, use Vivian�s Veil, quickly!!
-+-+PHASE THREE+-+-
After attacking the Shadow Queen a bit, she�ll eat the 
audience to recover all her HP. After a looong cut scene, you 
will have all your HP, FP, and star power restored by Peach, 
plus you will be able to damage Queenie. This is where the 
real battle begins. I think, once you get the little slot 
machine thing rolling, the game will automatically get three 
Shine Sprites to bring your audience back, since I remember 
pressing A to stop the reel, and quite some time later, the 
reel happened to stop on a Shine Sprite. Use Power Lift here. 
A lot. It will certainly help lay the hurt on the Shadow 
Queen, and it will protect you from quite a bit of damage the 
Shadow Queen dishes out. You should have Vivian out for this 
battle. Use Vivian�s Fiery Jinx to wipe out the Shadow Hands 
whenever they are out. Having Vivian handy is, of course, 
good for dodging the terribly-powerful Shadow Wave move the 
Shadow Queen uses frequently; try out Vivian�s Veil move to 
dodge the wave of darkness. Use lots of Spring Jumps. You 
should have quite a number of Jammin� Jellies and Ultra 
Shrooms, so use those whenever you get low on health. Try not 
to use Supernova unless you�re that desperate; you should 
save your star power for Power Lift. Continuously burning the 
Shadow Queen with fire is important to whittling away at her 
health. The Shadow Hand Drain moves are pretty annoying, 
since they only add to the demon�s health. If one partner 
faints, bring out another. Don�t use your Yoshi, since its 
moves are really too weak to get past the defense of the 
Queen and its Gulp doesn�t work. So, I suggest using Bobbery. 
Most HP of any character, strong attacks, and Bob-ombast to 
attack all enemies in a big, powerful explosion. Again, it 
requires 9 FP, plus it�s the final move Bobbery can learn, 
but it may be useful. If you want, use Goombella�s Multibonk 
after having used Power Lift to bonk the Shadow Queen 
repeatedly. I think your biggest concern may be the Dead 
Hands; these hands sticking out of the ground have 8 HP and 
do some pretty mean moves to you, although a Power Lifted 
defense of 3 or higher oughta eliminate that threat. Really, 
the only other thing I can say to you is�good luck. No 
pressure, but the world�s counting on you.

===============
OPTIONAL BOSSES [.6]
===============
There are four bosses/mini-bosses here that can be fought 
whenever the heck you see fit. The only exceptions here are 
numbers two, four, and five, which MUST be fought if you do 
something wrong. So, here are the bosses.
-+-+-+-+GUS [gs]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 20
 -~Attack: 3
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Spear Ram, Spear Toss. Using Spear Ram, Gus will 
run in place for a bit, then charge into you; you can use the 
Superguard to turn the damage back at him. He�ll also 
occasionally use Spear Toss to attack you from afar; he 
mysteriously still has his spear after he does this.
 -~Encountered: East Rogueport.
 -~Strategy: At the very beginning of the game, Gus can be a 
bit of a hassle. To battle him, talk to him and choose �I can 
take you!� instead of paying the toll to get through or 
declining. After beating him, you can access the right side 
of east Rogueport anytime without paying a toll. Let�s assume 
you want to fight the moron right off the bat. Wait until 
after you have the Special move Sweet Treat, though, since 
you wouldn�t need to read this if you were a level 47 with 
some skee-yills. Be sure to equip the Power Smash badge Prof. 
Frankly gives you after you leave his house. When you engage 
in the fight with Gus, let me point out that shiny little 
spear he�s holding up. Attempt to jump up on him, and you�re 
a Mario shish kabob. Use Power Smash like there�s no 
tomorrow. Goombella is totally useless here except for 
Tattling and appealing for more star power. Use nothing but 
Power Smash and Superguard if you can. When no FP is left for 
Power Smash, use Sweet Treat, then have Goombella appeal a 
lot to try and get more star power for you. Don�t forget to 
use healing items like Mushrooms to heal yourself if Gus gets 
the better of you. Plus, like Gus advises you, if things get 
way too hopeless, run.
 -~History: A member of the Robbos, Gus is a grungy, bird-
like creature who loves to take tolls from people in order 
for them to pass into Robbo territory. Kind of a crybaby 
after he loses, he hates you with a passion and says so if 
you talk to him.
-+-+-+-+CLEFTS [clfts]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 2 each
 -~Attack: 2 each
 -~Defense: 2 each
 -~Attacks: Ram. A simple, spiky ram from each of the hard-
headed monsters. Extremely easy to use the Superguard on.
 -~Encountered: Shhwonk Fortress, final building, only 
appearing if you fail to answer three questions correctly.
 -~Strategy: During the trivia quiz with the Thwomp in the 
final section of Shhwonk Fortress, if you get three questions 
wrong, you are forced to fight either four or five Clefts, I 
can�t remember which. Your only hopes here are the 
Superguard, a POW Block, or maybe an overused Power Smash. If 
you�re good with the Superguard, then these guys are easy to 
time, so use it as much as you can. Otherwise, ANSWER ALL THE 
QUESTIONS CORRECTLY. If you manage to beat all of these guys, 
the unfathomably furious Thwomp will very reluctantly let you 
down under Shhwonk Fortress.
 -~History: Clefts are ordinary enemies found around the 
Boggly Woods. Facing so many at a time at the current point 
in the game can be very hazardous to your health, but it 
shouldn�t be too hard to get out of if you follow my 
instructions.
-+-+-+-+ATOMIC BOO [atmcb]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 40
 -~Attack: 4
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Big Scare, Body Slam, Boo Spit. The Atomic Boo 
has to use one turn to charge up the Big Scare, which damages 
both you and your partner. The Body Slam is a simple physical 
attack that can hurt either one of you. Finally, it can spit 
out Boos to ram into you. (I�m not sure, but I think it can 
turn invisible, too, so that attacks go through it.)
 -~Encountered: Creepy Steeple, after freeing the Boos from 
the box, making them appear in the main room, and angering 
them.
 -~Strategy: To make the Atomic Boo appear, go to the statue 
at the right end of the big, main room and push it back to 
reveal a hole. Fall down it and go through the door on your 
left. Open the strange box to make 200 Boos appear. (As a 
side note, the last Boo that comes out will ask you how many 
Boos came out of the box; if you answer correctly, you get an 
Ultra Shroom. Very nifty.) Back out in the main room, you 
should see a Boo crying. Talk to it and promise not to hurt 
it, and all the other Boos will come out. Stand still and 
wind your Super/Ultra Hammer up. Several Boos will stick to 
you, so quickly swipe them off by swinging around. After 
knocking off enough Boos, the Boo you were just talking to 
will claim you broke your promise. All 200 Boos will form 
into the Atomic Boo. (By the way, if too many Boos stick to 
you, they�ll throw you out of the steeple. So YEAH, you�re 
going to fight back.)
	Alright, now to the fight. This fight is just slightly 
more difficult than the fight with Doopliss (a.k.a. ?????)--
which isn�t saying much. Your hammer won�t reach, and neither 
will any other ground-based moves. So, use aerial moves and 
jumps. Need I say �Multibonk and Power Bounce� again? Maybe 
so. Whatever. Unfortunately, the Atomic Boo�s attacks are 
very hard to guard action command and ludicrously difficult 
to Superguard. Which is probably why the Atomic Boo�s harder 
than dopey Doopy. That, and some of its attacks can bash both 
you and your partner.
	Oh, and after defeating the hulking ghost, the Lucky 
Start badge drops down where it was. Pick it up! It allows 
you to start each battle with a 2-turn positive status, like 
slowly-recovering HP or FP, electrified, or being dodgy so 
attacks might miss. It�s 4 BP to equip, but be sure to make 
room for it, as it�s a nifty badge that can turn the tides of 
a battle.
 -~History: As mentioned in the game Luigi�s Mansion, Boos 
gather strength in numbers. Also similar to Luigi�s Mansion, 
the Atomic Boo is very similar to Boolossus, a boss in the 
game. Both were exceptionally huge and composed of many Boos, 
although Boolossus was made of 15 Boos and the Atomic Boo�s a 
whopping 200.
-+-+-+-+EMBERS [mbrs]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 8 each
 -~Attack: 3 each
 -~Defense: 0 each
 -~Attacks: Flame Burst, Flamethrower, Fireball. Using Flame 
Burst, an Ember will get close to one of you, pause, and 
extend its fire to hurt you. Flamethrower hurts only one of 
you (I think), despite its length. This bright blue attack is 
a line of fire blown from the Ember. The Fireball is a simple 
ball of fire controlled into hurting on of you.
 -~Encountered: Keelhaul Key, in front of the Pirate�s 
Grotto, if you fail to do the �Stache Brothers sequence 
correctly.
 -~Strategy: If you accidentally whack the Red Brother 
instead of Spin Jump on him or vice versa, hit a brother one 
too many times, or hit the Blue Brother first, three angry 
Embers will descend and attack. These are just ordinary 
Embers; if you use an ice or explosion-based attack, they�ll 
take more damage. Avoid physical contact, as you�ll just get 
burned. Definitely avoid fiery moves, as it will not only 
heal the flame spirit, but split it off into another enemy. 
Admiral Bobbery is a nice partner to have around here due to 
his explosive attacks. If you want to take care of all of 
them quickly, use Art Attack, an Earth Tremor and then some 
quick moves, or Koops�s Power Shell repeatedly (I believe 
Koops, hiding in his shell, should be okay).
-+-+-+-+X-YUXES [xyxs]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 10 each
 -~Attack: 3 each
 -~Defense: 1 each
 -~Attacks: Laser Ring. Just a simple purple ring that 
�OoOoO�s in and out and eventually smacks one of you. The X-
Yuxes� Laser Ring almost always immobilizes you if you don�t 
block it, so be careful.
 -~Encountered: X-Naut Fortress, Sublevel 3 (I think), far 
right room. If you get three questions wrong the mechanical 
Thwomp asks, two X-Yuxes appear.
 -~Strategy: Just a reminder, these things are pronounced 
�Cross-Yux,� not �Ex-Yux.� So, does this remind you of 
Shhwonk Fortress? Of course it does! Get three questions 
wrong out of many that a Thwomp will ask you--this time, a 
mechanical one--and you get to fight some tough enemies. This 
time, you�re fighting two X-Yuxes instead of four or five 
Clefts. You�re a whole lot stronger now, so take my advice 
and use the Showstopper Special move you just got to defeat 
them in one turn, easily (hopefully). If, for whatever tiny 
reason, you don�t have two circles of star power, you�re in 
danger. After all, they don�t have that much defense or 
attack power, but their attacks almost always immobilize you, 
so you can�t attack, run, use items, or do anything else. Not 
to mention they create two Mini-X-Yuxes at once. So quickly 
use Vivian�s Fiery Jinx or, better, Bobbery�s Bob-ombast to 
attack them both at the same time. If they create the mini 
versions, use the same multi-target move to clear the little 
annoying critters out, then have Mario attack one. Keep up 
the pattern until they die. Do not bother with the 
Superguard; timing their attacks is nearly impossible, so it 
is far easier just to use a guard action command to avoid 
being immobilized. (You still take some damage, but you�re 
not immobilized.)
 -~History: The latest batch of Yuxes, X-Yuxes (pronounced 
�Cross-Yuxes� for those who didn�t read the paragraph above) 
are bright-red Yuxes designed to protect important areas. 
Naturally, there�s one in front of Grodus�s room. They�re 
tough, even when facing off against just one, since their 
attacks immobilize their poor victims unless the victim 
blocks right, and they create two Mini-X-Yuxes at once. Ouch.
-+-+-+-+BONETAIL [bntl]+-+-+-+-
 -~HP: 200
 -~Attack: 8
 -~Defense: 0
 -~Attacks: Hand Slam, Poison Breath, Ice Breath, Fire 
Breath, HP Restoration. The Hand Slam is a simple WHAM into 
the ground with Bonetail�s hand that can be aimed at either 
one of you. The Poison, Ice, and Fire Breaths can poison, 
freeze, and burn you, respectively. The skeletal dragon can 
also heal itself by 20 HP at will, although fortunately it 
rarely does this. I think there might be some more moves, so 
if I missed any, e-mail me about them and tell me what they 
are.
 -~Encountered: Pit of 100 Trials, VERY BOTTOM FLOOR.
 -~Strategy: I have only faced and defeated Bonetail once, so 
forgive me for my general inexperience.
	First, let me start off with a warning. Bonetail is 
found at the very bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials, which is 
the room right next to the Thousand-Year Door on the left. 
It�s at the bottom. THE bottom. It takes you a few hours to 
reach the bottom. If you lose, there goes a few hours of your 
time. No saving, no healing before you battle with the 
dragon. Not to mention you have been completely BATTERED by 
the toughest enemies in the game (Elite Wizzerds, Piranha 
Plants, Arantulas) up to this point. Think on that for a 
minute before we proceed.
	All that pressure and tension aside, let�s launch into 
a strategy that should hopefully allow you to beat Bonetail 
the first time you encounter it. Here�s are what your stats 
should be: Your HP should be at least 100--yes, 100--your FP 
should be at least 60, preferably around 75 or 80, and you 
should have LOTS of BP. Wear lots of �lucky� badges: Lucky 
Day, Lucky Start, Pretty Lucky, yada yada yada. Wear the best 
badges you can; this means Close Call, the badges I just 
mentioned, HP Plus and FP Plus, Happy Heart, Happy Flower, 
and especially the Feeling Fine badge; get some of these 
kinds of badges for your partner as well. Finally, reach 
floor 50 of the Pit of 100 Trials before you even attempt to 
take on Bonetail; your reward for reaching floor 50 is the 
Strange Sack (I believe it is called that), which allows you 
to carry twice the items. Great. So if you have the sack, 
stack up on PLENTY of Jelly Ultras; get the �legendary 
cookbook� for Zess T. by completing a trouble on the trouble 
center for her to enable her to cook two things at once, then 
give her an Ultra Shroom and Jammin� Jelly to mix. To get 
tons of these things easily, go to the Pianta Parlor and buy 
either one for 64 Piantas. To unlock games to earn Piantas 
without spending money, you�ll have to complete troubles at 
the trouble centers and that sort of thing. When I say lots 
of Jelly Ultras, I mean LOTS. Say, 8 minimum. I made the 
mistake of not doing this and nearly lost the battle with 
Bonetail. Of course, I ALSO happened to get three Shine 
Sprites during a slot machine session, so everything was 
replenished, allowing me to KICK BONETAIL�S BUTT. I hope you 
have the same luck, but that was an extremely fortunate, rare 
moment for me. Just be glad it wasn�t three Poison Mushrooms. 
That would be DARN bad. Especially in this fight.
	So, if you are finally prepared, lets get down into 
battle strategy. Before I even had an account of GameFAQs, I 
read on hunterzero0130�s boss guide that was here before mine 
that using the Power Lift Special move works wonders. I had 
never even USED the move before, so it was here I discovered 
that, wow, the move really DOES work! So use Power Lift to 
increase your attack and defense. Do not give me credit for 
this, give hunterzero0130 the credit. Also, Bonetail 
fortunately doesn�t have too much defense, but it�s enough. 
Use Power Smash--surely Mega Smash is in this game somewhere, 
I have yet to find it--to give the creep a thrashing. Again, 
I�ve only beaten Bonetail once, so I�m not sure what partner 
to recommend using. Not Yoshi, since Yoshi�s Gulp can�t 
swallow Bonetail, and its other moves are too weak to 
penetrate the defense. So, uh�Bobbery, I guess. Use Bobbery. 
He�s got the most HP (when fully-upgraded) and some good 
moves.
	If anyone�s got some other strategies for Bonetail, 
share them. Please�?
	Also, defeating Bonetail gives you the awesome Return 
Postage badge, where all physical attacks done to you do half 
the damage back to your attacker. Neat, huh? Of course, 
that�s IF you defeat it�surely you will�

===============
FAQ [.7]
===============
If you have any questions, suggestions for the guide, new 
strategies for boss fights, errors that need pointing out, 
helpful hints on attacks I missed or something, or want to 
put this guide on your site, e-mail me (my e-mail address is 
listed in the appropriate section). If your e-mail doesn�t 
fit under any of the �not accepted� categories, it will be 
posted here (if it�s a question or suggestion--otherwise, 
you�ll be listed in the Special Thanks section). You will 
also get a nifty spot in the Special Thanks section. Sound 
good? Then e-mail me!
	Uh, so far, no e-mails.

===============
SPECIAL THANKS [.8]
===============
I would like to thank:
 - Nintendo, for making the game.
 - Me for working hard on this guide.
 - Supercheats for hosting my guide on their website. Go 
check it out.
 - Neoseeker also for hosting my guide on their website. Go 
check that out, too.
 - Jessy Boudreau for e-mailing me about some moves I missed 
for some bosses.
 - Kyle Joyce for submitting a cool strategy about Macho 
Grubba.
 - Whoever invented soda �cause it tastes good.
 - My dog for being cute and fuzzy.

===============
GOODBYE [.9]
===============
That�s all, folks.
	Hope you enjoyed this and it helped you beat the snot 
out of some big monster. That�s why this guide is here. Any 
questions, e-mail me. And remember�this is MINE. Do not claim 
it is your own, use it to make money, put it on your site 
without my permission, all that other stuff that could land 
your butt in jail.
	Goodbye.