Croco is a crafty criminal, but one who has finally been caught, thanks to your dogged pursuit of the knave through Bandit’s Way. Chase him onto the fifth screen, then sneak up behind him several times until Mallow has the bright idea to flank Croco, at which point the reptile will return the wrongly requisitioned coin… but it was just a ruse, and the rogue prefers violence to capitulation! This page will provide tips and strategies for defeating Croco in Bandit’s Way in Super Mario RPG.

How to Defeat Croco in Bandit’s Way¶

Up to this point the only other boss you’ve fought are the Hammer Bros, who were veritable pushovers, and while Croco’s no heavy-hitter himself, he’s more dangerous than the twin turtle-shelled terrors you tangled with earlier.

Croco can hit fairly hard and has a decent amount of HP (320), but most of his attacks can be blocked, and as long as you keep Mallow above 25~ HP Croco shouldn’t be able to one-shot anybody. If you followed our advice earlier and reached Lv4, this encounter shouldn’t be too bad.

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(1 of 3) Croco’s main attacks consist of him tossing bombs at you,

Croco - Attacks and Special Abilities¶

Croco only has two attacks - Bomb Throw and Charge. Both can be blocked, and the former will deal around 20~ damage while the latter will inflict 15~ damage. Since they’re single-target attacks, even if you completely botch your defense you should still be able to easily heal via Mushrooms or Mallow’s HP Rain special. When you reduce Croco to below 100 HP, he’ll use a “Weird Mushroom” to recover 60 HP. He can only do this once.

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Thanks to Croco’s weakness to fire, Mario’s Fireball attack, if perfectly executed, can deal over 100 damage.

Croco - Stats and Weaknesses¶

Croco’s 320 HP makes him fairly durable, as you’d be lucky to deal more than 40~ damage per round attacking with Mario and Mallow. Since you can expect Croco to heal for 60 HP via his Weird Mushroom ability once per battle, he effectively has 380 HP. Fortunately, Croco is weak to Fear, Mute, and Poison - none of which we can take advantage of. He’s also weak to fire, which we can exploit thanks to Mario’s “Fireball” special. This will set you back a hefty 5 FP, but a perfectly mashed attack will deal over 100 damage to Croco, significantly shortening the fight.

Have Mario spam Fireball every turn (as long as your thumb holds out!) and use Mallow to attack or heal with Mushrooms, depending on how well you block. By doing this Croco might not last longer than four turns!

Croco - Rewards¶

Give Croco a well-deserved thrashing and he’ll drop the Special Frog Coin he stole and yield 16 Exp and 10 Coins. He should also drop a Flower Tab and, after some chatter, Mario and Mallow will discover a Wallet, which can be returned to its owner back at the Mushroom Kingdom. Speaking of which, Mallow suggests heading back there now - he’s keen to spend his grandfather’s coin. Enter the menu, bring up the “Map” and fast travel back to the [Mushroom Kingdom]…