Part 11: Monstro Town and Jinx's Dojo

Main Walkthrough

Sky Troopa Climbing

Once you've reached Monstro Town, spoken to Monstermama, spoken to the 'star' on the second floor of her house, and then spoken to Monstermama again, you'll unlock the path to Bean Valley, the next stop on your trip. Unfortunately, getting up to Bean Valley is no mean feat, thanks to what comes next.

Return to the desert section of Land's End. You can do this either via the main map, which means you'll have to walk through the entire area again, or you can go through Belome Temple and pay the guy on the springboard 100 coins to jump up to your destination. Either way, you're looking for the area just before you entered Belome Temple, where there's an exit in the north of the map.

Upon arrival a Sky Troopa named Sergeant Flutter will deploy his troops along the edge of a steep cliff. Your job is to jump from one Sky Troopa to the next, all the way to the top of the cliff. The Sky Troopas will move slowly to the next one in line whenever you jump on one, so if you're careful and aim your jumps properly this section isn't as bad as it looks. Just make sure you've cleared any shells above you before you try to jump, or you'll knock your head and fall.

Whenever you make the trek up Sergeant Flutter will time you. If you manage to get to the top quickly enough he'll give you a prize:

  • 12 seconds or less: Troopa Pin (one only)
  • 12 to 11 seconds: Frog Coin
  • 11 seconds or less: 5 Frog Coins

To get any of these prizes you'll need to perform some careful, well-timed, well-executed running jumps, staying on each shell only as long as is absolutely necessary. Unless you're a jumping savant this will require some practice. That said, if you do get this down to a consistent 11 seconds or less, hopping up the Sky Troopas is easily the best way to mine Frog Coins in Super Mario RPG. At the very least you should try for the Troopa Pin, as it will multiply its wearers' attack values by 1.5 times, as well as boosting their speed.

Bean Valley

Enemies

  • Box Boy - 900 HP - Weak to Jump
  • Chewy - 90 HP
  • Chomp Chomp - 150 HP - Weak to Lightning
  • Fautso - 420 HP - Weak to Jump and Ice
  • Fink Flower - 200 HP - Weak to normal attacks
  • Geckit - 100 HP - Weak to Ice
  • Kriffid - 320 HP - Weak to Ice
  • Octovader - 250 HP - Weak to Fire
  • Shy Away - 140 HP - Weak to Ice
  • Spinthra - 230 HP - Weak to Ice
  • Stinger - 65 HP

The majority of the enemies in Bean Valley are the same as what you fought in Land's End, so you won't be running into any huge surprises here. Right at the entrance you'll run into a choice between two pipes, though the upper pipe just leads to a dead end. Go down the pipe to the right to emerge in another small clearing with another pipe. Check the west end of the clearing for a hidden chest containing a Frog Coin before you go down the pipe.

Beyond the pipe you'll find yet another pipe, as well as an exit to the north. The pipe will take you to a dead-end with a chest containing a Flower. Backtrack once you've got the Flower and go through the northern exit. In the next clearing you'll find a Shy Away watering some Pirahna Plants. If you wait for the Shy Away to grow the plants, then defeat the resulting enemies, you can enter the pipes and find some items:

  • Northern Pipe - Enemies, exit to Grate Guy's Casino - we'll discuss this in another section of the guide
  • Eastern Pipe - Chest containing a Box Boy (use Jump attacks), springboard leading to a Frog Coin chest, hidden chest containing a Red Essence (check along the eastern wall, just south of the yellowed stairs)
  • Southeastern Pipe - Randomized chest (see below), hidden chest containing a Kerokero Cola (check the air southwest of the randomized chest)
  • Southern Pipe - Randomized chest (see below)
  • Western Pipe - Randomized chest (see below)
Three of these pipes contain 'slot' chests that flash three icons: Mushroom, Flower, and Star. Hit the chest and you can attempt to line up the icons. The final lineup gives you a different prize, depending on how you did:
  • Three matching symbols - Frog Coin
  • Two Mushrooms - Full heal
  • Two Flowers - Flower
  • Two Stars - Rock Candy
  • No matches - Box Boy battle

In the north of this little field is a save block. Use it, as heading into the next area will bring you to another Pirahna Plant battle... only this one turns out to be much larger than the last five.


Megasmilax

HP:
  • 1,000 HP (Megasmilax)
  • 200 HP (Smilax)
Weakness: Ice

Starting off as little more than a normal Pirahna Plant bud, Megasmilax will quickly grow into something substantially more intimidating. Megasmilax and its smaller heads use the following attacks:
  • A normal chomp attack
  • Drain, a single-target magic attack
  • Flame, a single-target Fire attack (Smilax)
  • Spore Nap, a single-target attack that can put a character to sleep (Smilax)
  • Petal Blast, an attack that can turn the whole party into Mushrooms (Megasmilax)
  • S'crow Dust, a single-target attack that can turn one character into a Scarecrow (Megasmilax)
  • Fire Wall, a Fire attack against your whole party (Megasmilax)
This battle starts off against a single, simple Smilax bud. Defeat it, though, and a Shy Away will show up and water the plant, sprouting two Smilaxes... then three... and then two more, along with Megasmilax, the actual boss. Megasmilax can be quite the pain, thanks to its Petal Blast attack that will change characters into Mushrooms. Expect a lot of downtime if you don't bother to equip your characters properly.

This fight isn't that bad so long as you equip at least a single Trueform Pin on one of your characters. This will prevent Mushroom and Scarecrow from sticking once Megasmilax shows up. Wipe out the two Smilaxes - Mallow's Snowy attack can get the job done quickly - then lay the pain on Megasmilax. Single-target attacks from Mario, Bowser, and Geno can put it down in a few rounds.


The Shy Away that was watering Megasmilax will mention someone's name - you'll get to know her soon enough - and flee, leaving behind a note. Check the note for a Seed. This Seed is part of a side quest that can get you some of the best equipment in the game. Go down the pipe and you'll find a brick that will create a beanstalk into the sky, granting you access to the next section of Bean Valley.


The Vinery

Enemies
  • Birdy - 150 HP - Weak to Ice
  • Heavy Troopa - 250 HP - Weak to Jump
A short subsection of Bean Valley, The Vinery has you climbing spiralling foliage in pursuit of some unknown destination. There are coins as you climb up the vines, and you'll occasionally come across a better treasure that will require a leap of faith (and probably a fall back to the round) to reach. The Vinery is separated into a few simple sections:
  • The first area is three vines. Hop between each. Near the top of the screen is a Frog Coin that you'll need to leap off of the side of a vine to get.
  • The second area has two vines at the bottom. Go up the red vine on the left to find a chest containing a Flower. At the top of the blue vine in the middle you'll face two other vines, and the golden vine on the left has a Frog Coin attached. Carefully leap over, climb the vine until you're face-to-face with the leaf partway up, and then jump back towards the blue vine to grab the Frog Coin.
  • The third area has four vines. Climb up until you see a Frog Coin beside a red vine. Get up near the top of the vine before leaping over to grab it. Once on the small, central vine, hop into the air to reveal a hidden platform. Get back on the red vine, use it to jump onto the platform, and then use the platform to reach the green vine on the left.
Get past this area and you'll find a small section with two chests. They contain a Frog Coin and a Rare Scarf. Drop into the upper hole in the ground and you'll find two more chests, these containing Flowers. Drop again, and... you'll find yourself in a new kingdom before long.

Main Walkthrough