Mario RPG Cliches

Now, what do dragons, secret bosses and Bowser getting possessed have in common? One easy answer, they are all cliches of various Mario RPG series, and some which I will prove and describe in this article. So get reading, and realise how very the same some things in the games are.

The Dragons

From Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, dragon bosses have played giant parts in Paper Mario games, and it shows, often which 'tail' at the end of their names. To start, here is what I mean:

Paper Mario 2 had Hooktail, Gloomtail and Bonetail, the first two being story related, and the last being a secret boss. The first was a red dragon, last a skeletal dragon. And Gloomtail was a dark coloured dragon like the first one.

Now, see Super Paper Mario. Fracktail is a robot dragon, and in colouring plus stats it is very similar to Hooktail. And there is Wracktail, at the bottom of the pit who seems to be both an equivalent of Gloom and Bonetail in the previous game, as not only does he have dark colours and look like the first dragon boss (similar to how Hooktail and Gloomtail are alike), but is also kind of skeletal, old, a prototype and found at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials, just as Bonetail was in the prior game. And Bonechill? That seems to be an odd skeletal dragon thing from a later chapter, and that could also be the equivalent of Bonetail to an extent, with the similar name, being a skeletal dragon and not being an exact colour swap of the first boss. Not related to the robot dragons, but comparable to Paper Mario's at least. Plus, while not many figure this out, he is found late in the story, which could be comparable to how Gloomtail was found late in the story in Paper Mario 2. Coincidence? Or not?

So to conclude the dragon part, both games have three dragon bosses, and many are very much equivalents of the dragon bosses in the last game. Something to keep in mind.

The secret end bosses

From about Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga, there has seemed to be a pattern with the final battles, often concluding in a final fight with an unexpected foe. And to describe this, compare the Mario RPGs in this respect:

In Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga, you went through the story first thinking Cackletta was the last boss, then Bowletta. You defeat Bowletta with ease, and then get eaten to find the true form, Cackletta's soul? An unexpected fight for sure.

Now take Mario and Luigi Partners in Time. You fight Princess Shroob, win and then end up having to fight her twin sister, a more powerful Princess Shroob in two battles directly leading on from each other with no break! And to top it all off, then there's Shrowser, after you finally get to save.

And in Super Paper Mario, Dimentio turns even more evil at the final battle and turns into Super Dimentio, also merging with Luigi as Mr L and Brobot! Notice anything here, how the final boss fight is never with who you expect from the previews and how the game progresses, how each game puts in a twist involving a more powerful villain after it ends?

The secret boss

Which is always more powerful than the end one. Super Mario RPG had Culex, Paper Mario had The Master, Paper Mario 2 had Bonetail, Super Paper Mario had both Wracktail and Shadoo as secret bosses. And ever notice how the secret bosses are often at the bottom of devastingly difficult pits of hundreds of enemies, and you must face them after all that, with floors of monsters more difficult than them before hand for the true prize? Seems to be a home console game pattern, as this is never observed in the Mario and Luigi games in any way.

Bowser's Possession

Poor Bowser in the Mario and Luigi series. In one, he forgets who he is and ends up as rookie to Popple, then gets his body hi jacked the minute or so he remembers who he actually is by Cackletta. And in the second game, right at the end he accidentally eats the shroobified Princess Shroob and becomes Shrowser, a full of energy, possesed demon like creature. Is this a cliche the Mario and Luigi series seems to overuse a lot, because I can guarantee the third game will likely have this making a return.

Extra Notes:

You may be able to call the fight with the Shadow Queen and Smithy's second form battle in Mario RPG secret final boss battles that were not expected. But since you hear about the Shadow Queen thing earlier in the game quite clearly, and the Smithy battle involves the same evil villain who was in the first final boss battle stage, I didn't put them in for deliberate reason. I also could have put in the way that the Pit of 100 Trials idea has been used to death in Nintendo's games by now, for no real reason.

Also, anything notice a minor similarity between the upper part of Stallord and Bonechill? And how some fans say Stallord may have once been a dragon, perhaps like the Tail types and Bonechill were in various games?

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