Mario RPG Classic Mode

CLASSIC MODE

Just like before, our classic modes will be based on the games and more or less recreating them through Smash battles. I’m most familiar with Thousand-Year Door, so let’s do that one:

1.       Rogueport: Whether forced to play as Paper Mario or not, Goombella will be your companion here and you will fight Lord Crump.

2.       Petalburg: Probably set in a castle stage, maybe from Legend of Zelda or something else, with Koops as your companion. A boss fight with Hooktail herself might be cool.

3.       Boggly Woods: Set in a forest level that matches the theme. Honestly that Ori game kinda matches the feel, but we’ll see. Flurrie will join you as a companion and I could see Lord Crump and the three Sirens acting as your opponents.

4.       Glitzville: Set on a Boxing Ring-type stage (possibly the Punch-Out one) with the Baby Yoshi as your companion and Rawk Hawk and a Grubba-color-schemed Spike as your opponents.

5.       Twilight Town: Luigi’s Mansion or another spooky stage from another series. Doopliss is just your opponent with Vivian as your companion.

6.       Keelhaul Key: Soda Jungle or maybe a Tropical Island stage from some series (the Animal Crossing island stage comes to mind). And either a very large Dry Bones or Stalfos from Legend of Zelda, or just a straight up boss battle with Cortez himself, Bobbery acting as your companion.

7.       The Excess Express: Man, if Fuzzies had made it in. Set on a Train stage from really any series it would make sense for a train stage to appear in. Fighting a horde of any small round character with a black color swap that would bear a resemblance to the Smorgs. Ms. Mowz would be your companion here.

8.       The Moon: Probably on Mario Galaxy, given the gravity effects, and fighting Sir Grodus and Lord Crump for the last time.

9.       The Thousand-Year Door: Any cathedral-looking stage, maybe that Kalos Pokemon League one or if that cathedral from Undertale ends up being a thing, with a dark-colored Peach and a giant member of the Shadow Sirens as your opponent. (If the queen is a color swap, then her)

Lord Crump

Two lines of RPG firmly established, a sequel to the first Paper Mario is produced for the Game Cube. Visiting a seedy town called Rogueport, Princess Peach discovers a treasure map which she quickly sends to Mario. Mario heads her way, only to find the princess missing in action. He soon encounters a friendly Goomba being harassed by a gang of strange creatures led by a large purple general with a big red beard.

This is Lord Crump, general of the X-Naut forces and right hand man to their leader Sir Grodus. As Mario investigates the mystery behind the treasure map and the X-Nauts, Lord Crump will menace Mario several times, facing him on his own, accompanied by a troop of X-Naut soldiers, or piloting a giant mech of his own design.

As a fighter, Lord Crump will be heavy and strong, though a little slow. As the leader of the X-Naut forces, he will be accompanied by a handful of soldiers who will help him out with several of his moves. His moveset will pull from his own boss battles as well as moves performed by his various minions.

Likelihood rating: Probably not

Character Sheet: Lord Crump

 LORD CRUMP

Are you guys excited? I'm excited. You should be too. You know why? Cause today we get to cover all the freakin' amazing characters from Super Mario RPG and the Paper Mario (pre-TOK) series, and even the not so amazing ones too. Here's the full list:

1. Cheep Cheep

2. Bob-Omb

3. Spike

4. Tiny Mouser

5. Mouser

6. Paper Mario

7. Mr. L

8. Geno

9. Mallow

10. Flurrie

11. Tippi & Pixls

12. Kersti

13. Huey

14. Merlon

15. Star Spirits

16. Smithy

17. Kammy Koopa

18. Sir Grodus

19. Count Bleck

20. Dimentio

21. Yaridovich

22. Axem Rangers

23. Lord Crump

24. The Shadow Sirens

25. O'Chunks

26. Mimi

27. Croco

28. Booster

29. Jonathan Jones

30. Valentina

31. Jr. Troopa

32. Doopliss

33. Rawk Hawk

34. Francis

35. Culex

Today, let's cover Lord Crump, and by extension, the X-Nauts as a whole, because separately, they didn't have quite enough, but together, they have plenty. Lord Crump is the right-hand man of Sir Grodus who leads his forces when the pull off missions down on the planet. He acts as the main villain across several chapters including the prologue, chapter two, chapter five, and chapter seven before you send him spinning off into space. He is differentiated from Sir Grodus in that he often fights alongside his X-Naut minions and uses them frequently as part of his own moveset.

First, let's cover what the X-Nauts bring to the table. They are the most basic enemies in Thousand-Year Door, and as such don't actually do much. In battle, their movesets amount pretty much to a tackling move, drinking potions to give themselves a boost, or throwing potions at you as projectiles. And then there's Crump himself. He will butt bash you on his own or he will call in a horde of X-Nauts, that will either stack up to form a tower for him to stand on, or will pile up into a ball for him to roll across the stage. He also has a giant robot called Magnus von Grapple (and a 2.0 version) which pulls off various moves like stomping on you, sending off its first to fly at you, and suck up the audience to shoot them at you. He does command a battleship in chapter five as well.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: X-Naut

I figure he could function in a similar fashion to Olimar or Rosalina, summoning smaller allies who fight alongside him. This base move would call in an X-Naut to fight alongside him. He can call in up to three.

Side B: Potion Throw

An X-Naut on his side would pull out a small potion bottle and throw it at an opponent, hitting them and damaging them with certain effects based on the color of the potion.

Up B: X-Naut Stack

The X-Nauts he has out at the time will pile underneath him and hoist him up, throwing him into the air. Depending on how many X-Nauts he has, he will fly varying distances.

Down B: Potion OR X-Naut Ball

I couldn't decide between the two as I tend to like them both. For potion, one of the X-Nauts will pull out a potion and either drink it himself or give it to Crump, boosting their stats. For X-Naut ball, the X-Nauts currently on the stage will gather up into a ball and Crump will push it across the stage. How many X-Nauts are in it will determine how much damage is done.

Final Smash: Magnus von Grapple

Lord Crump will fly down in the Magnus von Grapple robot and it will tromp around the stage, attacking the various fighters.

Entrance: Probably just step out of the elevator on their moon base.

Taunts: "Buh-huh-huh-huh," of course, his signature laugh. Maybe messing with the horn that gets bent in chapter five. Trying to control some of his minions as they run around.

Thanks for reading! Today was a bit of a personal favorite. I actually kind of love this guy and don't think he gets talked about enough. That said, a lot of these characters are some of my favorites, so I don't know if that really means much. Speaking of favorites, next up is Vivian and her sisters, the Shadow Sirens.