Out of the post-game rematches, Booster and Punchinello come neck and neck with being considered the hardest fight. This is because Punchinello isn’t a traditional fight but instead forces you to use action commands to survive. Action commands can be tough to master, especially in a high-stakes battle. The guide below goes over where to find Punchinello’s rematch and how to defeat him in Super Mario RPG.

Where to Find The Punchinello Rematch¶

You will be able to rematch Punchinello once you reach the post-game and sleep in the Marrymore Inn. Once this is done, you can head back to Moleville and into the mines. At the end of the mines, you will find Punchinello again. The fight will start once you approach him and he gets done gloating about how he is much stronger this time.

Best Party For The Punchinello Rematch¶

Mario is your team staple, so you can’t swap him out of your party. For your other two members, though, we highly recommend bringing Geno and Peach. Geno is able to up your defense by hitting the action command on Geno Boost, and Peach can heal the party. You will be using her Come Back move constantly, so be sure to have her in your party at all times.

Best Equipment to Fight Punchinello Rematch¶

Mario¶

Geno¶

Peach¶

There are some key notes to make about this fight. Firstly, it doesn’t matter how high your damage is, so the weapons are subjective. You should pick the weapon that you had the easiest time getting consecutive action commands on. If that means changing to Mario’s hammer instead for the fight, then go ahead and make the swap. Secondly, you are not going to be looking to defeat any enemies. While this is still a fight, it’s basically just relying on you to use action commands to get through it.

How to Defeat Punchinello in His Rematch¶

The Punchinello rematch is anything but a traditional battle. Your goal isn’t to directly defeat any enemies on the field. Instead, the whole game can be thought of as sort of a minigame. Punchinello will constantly summon four Bomb-ombs onto the battlefield. They will come in either facing toward him or towards your party. Whoever the Bomb-ombs are facing, they will attack when it’s their turn. Your goal is to turn around as many of the Bomb-ombs as possible. This can be done by using an action command where you press A to double your normal attack. on your normal attack. Be careful though, you can also turn a Bomb-omb towards you by using an action command on one that’s facing toward Punchinello.

For the most part, you won’t be able to turn all four Bomb-ombs around before they explode, especially if they all came onto the field facing toward your party. Additionally, the explosion from a Bomb-omb will kill the party member it hits. To keep this from happening press the A right as the ! mark pops up over your character’s head. If you can manage this, you should block the entire attack. It took us a few different rematches to get this timing just right.

Punchinello will also step in to attack you when he’s not summoning his helpers onto the field. His attacks hurt, so make sure to block them as much as possible and heal with Peach constantly. He will do a powerful close-range attack with Grinder on a single party member. He also can use Flame Wall, which can’t be blocked, and Sandstorm, both of which damage your whole party.

Sooner or later, you will lose a party member, so use Come Back to resurrect the fallen member. It’s also possible to put the Bomb-ombs to sleep, using Sleepy Time if you need more time to turn them around. Be sure to bring items in case Peach goes down, as you will want to use a Pick Me Up to revive her as quickly as possible. Once you get down the timing of blocks and action commands to flip the Bomb-ombs, the fight goes by quickly. Punchinello only has 1,200 health, and each bomb that hits him deals 80 points of damage.

If you manage to flip all four bombs, he will take 320 damage in a single round. Additionally, attacking him directly doesn’t work. Even your strongest attacks will only deal two damage, so you must use the Bomb-ombs to win. Once the fight is over, Punchinello will summon a giant Bomb-omb on the field, which ends up exploding on him.

Punchinello Rematch Reward¶

Punchinello is an enemy that demands you practice one of the game’s major mechanics. This can be tricky at first, especially since you have to learn when to block for the Bomb-ombs. After a few rematches, though, it’s easy to get the formula down most of the time and use Peach to bring back any fallen party member.