How to Beat Johnny Jones in Super Mario RPG

Super Mario RPG offers some challenging bosses in the campaign and post-game, including the legendary Johnny Jones. Here’s a guide for how to beat Johnny Jones both times in Super Mario RPG.

How to defeat Johnny Jones Mario RPG boss fight

One thing to keep in mind with this fight is you want to leave one of his four Bandana Blues enemies around until the end. When you drop Johnny to 50% health, he turns red and does his “Get Tough” attack. This buffs his attack and defense, and worse, if his Bandana Blues are all gone, he’ll challenge Mario to a 1v1! You can avoid this if you keep at least one Bandana Blue around.

Before his Get Tough phase, Johnny only tosses out minor physical attacks with his trident. After the halfway point, though, he busts out his bigger attacks: Diamond Saw and Fire Saber. These moves are a bit more punishing and may take a little practice to get your blocks down.

Johnny has high defense and elemental resistance, so your attacks will feel pretty pitiful against him. However, just keep wailing on him, and eventually he’ll go down. Just prepare for a pretty lengthy battle. Once you beat Johnny Jones in the Super Mario RPG story, you’ve only done half the job.

Beating the post-game rematch with Johnny Jones in Super Mario RPG

The real Johnny Jones fight in Super Mario RPG doesn’t come until the post-game. Visit Johnny again, and he’ll challenge Mario to a rematch duel. However, there are no tricks this time, as Mario will fight Johnny Jones all by himself. Well, sort of. His party members will still be around to “cheer” him on to grant their passive buffs!

I recommend Geno and Bowser for this fight. Together, they boost Mario’s strength, speed, and defense. I also recommend utilizing the Lazy Shell and the Quartz Gem as far as equipment goes to further boost your stats. You cannot use items in the duel, so we want to mitigate as much damage as possible.

Once you’re in the battle, it’s all technical ability. There is no strategy for this rematch as you can’t heal or use items, and Johnny is so resistant to elements that the best option is just your standard attack. It all comes down to the timing, both on attacks and blocks. You want to always do extra damage while taking as little as possible yourself.

He doesn’t bring any new attacks to the battle, but they are far more devastating this round. Even his basic attacks can nearly KO Mario if allowed to do full damage once he reaches his red phase. Your blocks need to be precise, but otherwise, it’s the same fight as before.

You simply need to wail on him and hope your health bar lasts longer than his. When you defeat him in the rematch, you get the Extra-Shiny Stone. You’ll need this item for another post-game boss, Culex 3D.

Super Mario RPG is now available on Nintendo Switch.