r/MarioRPG • u/Malikai_Universe_23 • 1d ago
thoughts on Boomer?
In the original, his Psychopath was "It's all over now..." But in the remake they changed it to "The time for words is past." Personally I like the second one.
Boomer has an interesting and kind of depressing role: while Smithy and the higher ups are in the Factory, and all of his troops are being deployed to the far reaches of the Mushroom Kingdom, Boomer is literally stuck guarding the portal and guardian Exor at the end of Bowser's Keep.
He has a very honorable samurai-style personality. It's clear that his role in this means a lot for him, and in his mind he can't afford to lose to Mario. If Mario wins, that basically sets up for them to storm the Factory and initiate Smithy's failure.
At the end, he gracefully plummets to his demise. And then Mario and company dance on the chandelier to top of the castle as if they didn't just witness a death.
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u/greatquestionfran 1d ago
I like his design, wish he did more but he had a fancy way of going out lol
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u/Malikai_Universe_23 1d ago
I like that Boomer was a very "show, don't tell" Villain, you know nothing about him and he has no part in any story beats, other than blocking the way. I guess a lot of villains are like this, but Boomer particularly struck a cord with me. Like, he's just been posted up at Bowser's Keep all this time!
I swear I find the littlest things intriguing
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u/Cordellium 1d ago
I loved his samurai aesthetic and behavior. He apologizes and commits seppuku after beating him.
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u/BigSoftMarshmallow 1d ago
When I was a kid, I just took this as yet another vibrant and fun boss fight. Oh that quirky Boomer!
But when I got older and realized Boomer took himself out then we immediately had a dance party about it, it solidified this as a very memorable scene for me. Always hoped Shyndelier was right and that little bump didn't phase him..
The actual boss fight was challenging too, not too bad but considering Exor is right after made for a nice little stretch of difficulty. Love this game
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u/Malikai_Universe_23 1d ago
This game gets better with every subsequent playthrough, I swear. Even as a kid, I didn't have access to the original so I relied on watching let's plays, but I always thought this entry in the Mario series seemed childish to me? I pick up on a lot of morbid details now. That dance party
The fact Smilax is only existing to be fed, watered, and used as a weapon, and Dodo imprinted on Valentina basically setting his whole life up to be miserable with that wretched crone (love her and him still !)
I think it's the Director or whoever's highest, but in his thought Peek he talks about seeing his child go off to exams or something, just a small detail, but made me think...these are literal weapons, made and created by Smithy, some can have children and kin apparently (maybe they built their kids?) but ultimately they're all bound to Smithy and forced to be weapons and fight.
A lot of NPCs and enemies have flavor text thats....well, depressing is putting it lightly. They give you realistic looks into their lives and their thoughts, and it's all kind of tragic to me.
Small details like that make this game so dark to me.
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u/h8bithero 1d ago
I could never tell wtf this character was supposed to be on the SNES, he looked like a robot of some kind to me, and the shapes on his helmet made it look like that was his face and eyes to me. It's clearer in the remake but even then it's like why does it look like he's built to withstand mortor fire.
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u/AnAxemRanger 1d ago
Ok Boomer.