Bethany Plays: TTYD Battle with the Shadow Queen: The Sinister Spectre

Welcome to the deepest, dankest part of the Palace of Shadow.

And Grodus is standing in front of a crypt, like he's a villain in a normal RPG and not a walking computer-alien in a Mario game.

Nothing good.

Grodus reached the treasure before us. We don't exactly have much of a counterplay. We lose.

And I think it's time we finally learned why Grodus needed Peach this whole time. The game made sure we were robbed of that reveal back when TEC and Peach found out, and she didn't finish the part of the email that would've told Mario.

No, Peach. Sending me the map was the only thing that stopped it getting any worse. Yes, we did wind up opening the Door for Grodus, but if you let him have the Map, he would have you and the Crystal Stars. At the very least, we still control those. For now.

At last, people will stop making fun of his glasses!

This is the formal naming of the Demon sealed away for a thousand years. Although the Shadow Queen appears only for her final boss, she is one of Mario's most popular dread fiends.

There's a bombastic dramatic cue here as Grodus waves his staff to snuff out the candles and light them black.

And a new ominous theme starts when the coffin opens.

First comes the creepy hand, then the creepy rest of the body.

As the legend says, the cataclysm was preceded by darkness taking the skies.

And we'll see that happen everywhere.

From the unsullied Boggly Woods...

To even the skies of Glitzville...

The Shadow Queen has her own dialogue box formatting, complete with a unique sound effect for text printing. The devs had one chance to make absolutely sure we were more scared of her than we ever were of Grodus, and they went right for it.

The Shadow Queen has a passing surprise that Grodus would appear. I'm sure it's nothing.

Besides, he knew what he needed to supply to make the Shadow Queen a happy camper.

Whatever it is Peach has, the Shadow Queen likes.

The world?

Little less so.

The other half of the world is going to panic over some earthquakes.

Fortunately, not even Pennington is fooled as to what's going on here.

The Fahr Outpost Bob-ombs see the end of the earthquake, and stop running in panic as soon as the shaking stops. They've got panicking down to a science.

You can say that again.

Frankly is currently also in Gloomtail's room- the devs have made a lot of use of that space while we haven't been. (If you've sequenced-broken the game to avoid fighting Gloomtail, his model will still be loaded here). I'm not 100% sure we're intended to actually believe he is diagetically in this space, but we are supposed to read this as him feeling better and having given chase after us once he's realised what's happened.

If you glitch your way into Gloomtail's room as soon as you beat Bowser, you will actually fall into this cutscene and be returned to the Shadow Queen fight from here. Speedrunners, or at least the TAS are able to accomplish this so quickly that this actually saves time over watching the cutscene. I guess the room is right above our heads...

Anyway, back to doom and gloom.

And the regime of Peach in black. Peach in goth just works for a lot of people- hell, lightning struck twice and gave us Bowsette 14 years later. No wonder the Shadow Queen stuck around in the public perception.

Dealing with Peach doesn't come easily to her. She can do it, but we have an in.

If we can muster the courage to exploit it.

Grodus, drunk on success, tells the Shadow Queen to nip this problem in the bud.

And the Shadow Queen asks exactly why Grodus thinks he is capable of bossing her around.

The answer? Grodus was also working from an incorrect legend. Frankly has a lot of gaps in his knowledge, providing us with only information he is either comfortable calling fact or actively couches as a guess before suggesting. The X-Nauts have been so far ahead we've assumed they somehow had better information, but no, their information was just as bad as any other in Rogueport. He was correct about what was waiting for him... he was just wrong about what he could do with it.

Grodus, realising that oh crap, he needs another backup plan, begins to act as if he has any sort of power in this situation and hope the Shadow Queen is unwilling to call his bluff until he actually has some.

The Shadow Queen calls forth a bolt from the blue and disabuses him of any such notions.

Textbook "Bigger Fish" villainy. We've been terrified of Grodus all game, and for good reason- he is unlike any other Mario villain, and for every one of his sinister plans, he has two more waiting in the wings in case they go awry. In two lines, the Shadow Queen has a) outplayed Grodus at his own game and b) utterly humiliated him at hers.

And to add insult to injury, comments that was one of her weaker showings.

Goombella: Wh-What's going on, Mario? I... I don't...
Koops: Ummmm... This is crazy! Mario...
Flurrie: I... I don't understand... Mario... What is this?
Dr. Agon: Wh-What's going on, Gonzales? This is nuts...
Bobbery: Wh-What is all this? I don't understand, Mario...
Ms. Mowz: Wh-What's going on, Mario?

Yes. We're going to have to fight that.

With that said, however, the Shadow Queen was expecting an agent from the outside to be awaiting her.

You didn't think Beldam was just comic relief, did you? Vivian's various comments imply she was too young when the Door closed to know what Beldam had in mind, if her plans dated to before the Door's closing at all.

The Shadow Queen understands, instantly, that Beldam is the one responsible for this situation.

And, as you might recall, Beldam was the one who picked out Peach. Presumably, everything Grodus knows about the Shadow Queen, true or false, came from Beldam's mouth, which is why he trusts her so in spite of the rest of the X-Nauts' misgivings.

And also implicates herself as possibly being the one responsible for all the rumours about the treasure in the first place. She's old enough I can believe it and couldn't possibly prove her wrong.

Remember the box the Map came in? I want to bring that back up now, because now is when it is relevant. Remember how Beldam had the Map? And used the box as part of her plan to choose Peach as the Shadow Queen's vessel? This plan is such a master stroke on Beldam's part that it's hard to believe the game that the Heroes were the ones who created the box in the first place.

Imagine if the Heroes scattered the Crystal Stars and left no easy way to gather them again, because they felt that was the best way to stop the Shadow Queen for good. Beldam, somehow, makes a Map leading to them, but if she had that power, she has no reason not to do it herself. But, if she ties using the Map to having a pure heart, then she has an excuse to go looking around at fair maidens that she might employ the assistance of. If Peach assisted Beldam willingly- or even if she took the Map, ran, and girl-bossed her way into finding the Crystal Stars on her own- the Shadow Queen still wins. Peach walks into the Palace of Shadow with the seven Crystal Stars, opens the crypt... and the Shadow Queen can help herself to her body.

The only reason we still have winning moves is because Peach did something Beldam didn't expect: Call for help. Like Grodus, Beldam is able to plan around the sudden addition of Mario to the board, and if her claim here is true, then every buffoonish failure to put a stop to Mario was intentional. Considering most of these buffoonish failures have taken the form of blaming Vivian for not having whatever tool Grodus gave her to succeed, this says volumes about her relationship with her sister that I feel the developers weren't fully prepared to unpack.

The Shadow Queen pays due compliments to Beldam, which she brushes aside. Beldam's presence here isn't going to impact either side- you'd think she'd try putting a stop to us somehow.

Now, she notices us. The things with her Crystal Stars.

She is impressed enough with what we are that she is willing to offer her hand to us where she denied it to Grodus.

Goombella: Wh-What do we do, Mario? I mean, no WAY can we agree to serve her!!!
Koops: Ummm... What do we do? We can't serve her!!!
Flurrie: Wh-What do we do, darling? We cannot bow to her!
Dr. Agon: Gonzales serves NOBODY, lady! Right, Gonzales?
Bobbery: Mario, we mustn't serve evil! You must resist, old boy!!!
Ms. Mowz: Who does this witch think she is? Mario is no pawn of evil! Ridiculous! Right, Mario?

Everyone tells Mario not to side with the Shadow Queen... except Vivian. As far as cinematic language goes, the same sentiment is expressed, but considering her sisters literally burst in and claimed credit for the Shadow Queen's revival, Vivian is no doubt feeling very conflicted about what just happened... and if Mario reckons she should return to the Queen's embrace, she's not wholly opposed to it. Of course, we are absolutely not going to take this lying down.

Shadow Queen: Yesss... You are obedient... Good, my pet... Now you are mine... You will serve me for eternity.
Fade to black
And so the Shadow Queen engulfed the world with her foul magic... For Mario... For Peach... And for the world, it was...
G A M E O V E R

(If you do, it's Game Over. In the Japanese version, she turns Mario into Doopliss's sprite when she enslaves you- here in English, there is no indicator Mario has submitted).

Anyway, back in a timeline where we haven't suddenly taken leave of our senses in fear.

Time for our boss fight against...

Well... Princess Peach.

...Even the theme doesn't feel entirely enthused to be here.

All of the partners have suitable rallying cries to start us off.

Although Vivian is really ready to shoot her shot. Yeah, uh, please don't.

Goombella: Mario! If we don't defeat her now, the world is lost... So don't even think of it as Peach! We've gotta fight with everything we have! Let's go!
Koops: Listen, Mario! Traveling with you has taught me bravery... I will fight to the end! We have to save the world! Let's do it!
Flurrie: Mario, darling! We've come this far... I shan't forget all you've done for me! So our journey ends here... We must end it well, dear! We MUST!
Dr. Agon: Gonzales! We're not REAL champs unless we beat this evil lady! So don't go soft on me! That's not Peach, you know! Show no mercy!
Bobbery: I know Scarlette is watching over me from the other side! I KNOW it, old boy! If I don't send this queen packing, my girl will be most displeased, hm? Mario! Let's send this shady demon back to the darkness!
Ms. Mowz: Mario, you've been through a lot to get here... You've worked miracles in that time... So keep your magic going here... Mario, my sweet! Muster your courage and defeat the Shadow Queen!

Koops, Flurrie and Bobbery also talk about what Mario has given them, while Goombella and Dr. Agon are the ones telling Mario to set aside whatever concerns the man himself might have and focus on the big picture: We need to take the Shadow Queen down now, apologise to Peach once she's still Peach to apologise to. Bobbery might be my favourite of the bunch.

Omigosh, what happened? I can't believe Peach got possessed! That's AWFUL! Now she's… the Shadow Queen. The demon that destroyed this town 1,000 years ago. Max HP is 150, Attack is 7, and Defense is 0. She'll unleash big lightning attacks. She'll also use magic to raise Attack and Defense, or to absorb HP… She might even try to drag us into the darkness… I don't feel good about attacking Peach, but we have to do SOMETHING! Don't think of it as Peach! We just have to fight to the end! C'MON!!!

The Shadow Queen has an assortment of attacks to unleash on us alongside her absolutely ludicrous amount of HP. Her signature lightning bolt may only do 7 damage Piercing, but she'll be throwing out plenty of them. She can also use Power Lift, giving herself +3 Atk/Def, breathe some toxic fumes to deal 4 damage and attempt to Poison, Confuse or Allergic us, as well as a host of other attacks that have some exciting functionality elsewhere in the fight and would bog down the explanation here.

In the Japanese version, none of the Shadow Queen's attacks could be Superguarded. This was a good way to get the player to stop leaning on an overpowered strategy, but I assume this was removed because you could lean hard into a build that assumed Superguarding was always an option and get screwed over at the final stretch. Also understandable, I suppose.

Of course, I need to switch in Goombella so I have the Shadow Queen's Tattle.

If it's any consolation, I'm no better at Spring Jumping on Peach than I am any other opponent in TTYD.

There's her bolt from the blue.

And here's some decent numbers even without Power Lift.

...Never mind.

That's her Power Lift.

...We need a better plan.

Sadly, this isn't it.

The Shadow Queen calls forth a shadowy form to summon a horde of Dead Hands.

This is a combo attack that does three hits of 3 damage under normal circumstances, and the affected character is dragged under the stage to make timing the blocks that much harder.

She seems fond of it.

...Wow, we've gotten her HP down pretty far.

Now's not the time, I'm saving your life and the lives of everyone you know and care about.

At any rate, after having deducted 61 of her hit points (39 in the Japanese version), she notices that this is a fight she might lose if she continues as she is.

And decides she can break in Peach's body later.

The amorphous shape she has been assuming in earlier attacks comes into play. This is the form we'll be fighting for most of the fight, although the theme it's currently using disagrees with the word "fight".

We're not dealing any damage to this.

And she tells us to feel lucky we have died to her using her true strength, rather than a flick of a pinky like Grodus.

Despite having knocked off 80 of her HP, we can't take the other 70. We have to hit her three times to proceed, although the game is a little weird about defining such.

Bomb Squad counts a hit when Bomb does not.

It's mainly looking for Mario's hits. Right now, I have landed two- although the second won't count until those bombs go off.

"No one would play to an audience for an attack they hoped would connect..."

The Shadow Queen's Left and Right Hands can leech HP from the target. She can also use this attack while in Shadow Peach form, summoning the hand from nowhere. A lot of attacks I just brushed aside are kinda intended to be seen properly in her true form, even if it is possible for her to use them earlier.

She can also just slap you with her hand.

She gets three attacks if she has her two hands out.

Again with the audience. Admittedly, we are failing attacks.

Vivian goes for a Fiery Jinx.

...Not now, game, it's the final boss.

So yeah, remember what I said about the game wanting Mario to attack? If he went for it rather than playing safe with Sweet Treat, this phase would be over this turn.

It was only Sweet Treat, too.

Now I've got another three turns of this.

That cut it fine.

Although the bombs were nice enough to take out the Queen. Perhaps I did need that Sweet Treat, since these went after her.

After attacking her a third time, she gets annoyed with the fact we're still trying.

And summons her Dead Hands. She can have Left and Right Hands or Dead Hands.

The Dead Hands plunge into the audience and consume every soul there to restore her to full health. The game does not even entertain the notion this would have done anything less with a less full house.

Like Bowser in 64, we're going to cut to go do something else before we continue. Unlike Bowser, the Shadow Queen will not be letting us keep our progress from fighting her first phase into the second.

Goombella: Mario, what're we supposed to do now? We could be totally done for...
Koops: Ummm... Mario, what'll we do? This could be it for us...
Flurrie: Mario, whatever will we do? This could be the end...
Dr. Agon: Gonzales, what's our move? This looks bad...
Bobbery: Mario, what's next, old boy? This looks rather dire...
Ms. Mowz: Mario, what should we do? We could be finished...

Options are at a bit of a premium right now.

You are more merciful than I imagined. Then again, I guess we're powerful enough to impress her. She wants that power on her side rather than not existing.

Goombella: Yeah, right! Pffft!
Koops: No...way! No way, lady!
Flurrie: Now, that's just senseless... Are we to betray everyone who believed in us?
Dr. Agon: Oh, you haven't heard, lady? Champs NEVER give up!
Bobbery: Serve a witch? My Scarlette would be rather angry with me, I should think...
Ms. Mowz: Why are we even talking about this? NEVER!

The game is not going to let us Game Over this time.

...Now what?

Clearly, Mario has something.

Despite any possible confusion, this is the Partner speaking. From the sounds of it, and the looks on Mario's face, this wasn't his idea.

Frankly earlier asserted that the Crystal Stars were neutral objects: They first existed to serve the Shadow Queen's will, and the Heroes stole them from her and used their power for their own ends in sealing her. Here and now, though?

It seems they do, in fact, have sentience. And enough moral good to choose our side when push comes to shove.

We're counting on you, Mario.

The Crystal Stars will visit the locations from which they were found in turn.

Although that leaves everyone with the awkward question of "what's it doing here?"

Koopley may not look it, but he's very worried about the idea of the Diamond Star leaving our hands. What happened to us?

Because if it's big enough to send us into the darkness...

We can only hope.

The Emerald Star is back in Boggly Woods, and a good thing all the Punies are gathered to pray to it.

The Elder was not expecting that at all.

Punio reminds her she wasn't expecting anything, she barely knew they even had it.

Petuni is able to figure out what the Emerald Star is communicating. This sentiment is carried across to the rest of the Crystal Stars, despite the lack of a similar instinct being vocalised by anyone other than the Punies.

Although if Punio can hear it, it may not be as indistinct as it seemed at first glance.

Everyone takes this as their indication to start sending their positive wishes into the Stars.

And that counts even the background fodder.

As mentioined, the other locations won't pretend not to understand what to do and cut right to doing it.

The Glitz Pit characters acknowledging who they're really sending their prayers to.

A fight you wish you could've sold tickets for. Although perhaps the Shadow Queen killing the entire audience wouldn't have helped.

It's helping, and that's what matters.

The otherwise antagonistic members of the Glitz Pit put their egos aside and tell Mario that, if we can beat them, we can beat anyone.

Or we make them look pathetic. I have a soft spot for fighting fools like this, I admit it.

This Koopa is so obviously supposed to be King K that to pretend otherwise is ridiculous, but he is clearly using the Shady Koopa design that belongs to Shellshock instead of his own. I wonder how that happened.

Only Jolene seems entirely on board with calling us Mario here in Glitzville.

Meanwhile, the Twilight Town characters... are struggling for numbers. It is, admittedly, difficult for the Ruby Star to figure out who it can call upon in a story where we explicitly didn't care about many of them.

Although I'll freely admit it's putting a lot of faith in, of all characters, Eve's kids.

Of course a generic Twilighter- maybe Freddie, probably unnamed- gets to say something philosophical.

...Hey, where are the item shop guys? The crows? At least let the parrot out!

Eve- at least, I assume- gets to offer her prayers to Vivian, since this is her chapter. Although the Toads who are Dr. Agon's fans missed their chance.

Yeah, and you did nothing to help then.

At least you're finally putting yourself up to it this time.

The Sapphire Star went to Keelhaul Key, although only Pa-Patch and a skeleton crew are cheering us on from here. This isn't the worst outcome for now.

Although Pa-Patch is injecting some good old "AYE-AYE CAPTAIN!" to get some actual energy out of these Toads.

At least he's doing it well.

...Although those two Toads in the back never have full textboxes, just the little ones. It's kinda hilarious seeing the first Toad's massive "Go! Go! Go!" followed up by "(Do it! Fight!)"

Aye aye. Nose mouth.

The rich folk we met in the Excess Express accompany Pennington to pray at the Garnet Star.

I'd point out this has nothing to do with our detective work, but I think he genuinely does think there is a connection. It's got him to pray for us regardless.

That's a dark thought I don't think Bub was fully appreciating until Sylvia said it aloud.

Goldbob: "I don't actually have proof it works, but let's try it anyway."

Bub's happy to pitch his own voice in.

Both Toodles and the Goldbobbingtons cheer on Mario, albiet under their own preferred names.

Pennington looks around in confusion, since nobody seems to be cheering for the man who is actually in peril. At least from his buffoonish perspective.

The Crystal Star, rather than returning to its own home in Rogueport, goes to Fahr Outpost. I presume they did this because they were clearly going to each Chapter location in turn and it can hardly go visit TEC, now, can it? In doing so, they've missed a scene that the more I think on it, I really wish was there. There are so many characters who are currently residing in Rogueport that could've offered their prayers but do not have a dedicated scene- Toadsworth, Luigi, Zess T., Flavio, Don Pianta and the Family, and even Frankly, if it hadn't already been shown he went after us directly.

With that said, they had one joke in mind for the Fahr Outpost bombs, and it's just funny enough to keep.

The Russians even organise their cheering.

It doesn't last.

...Pray into the Crystal Star, what, do you think the TV is how I hear it? ~~OK, it is.~~

All of these prayers are displayed as textboxes all over the room, and will be until the fight starts back up again. By the way, "We're Counting On You Mario" is still playing until then, too.

Don't give up!

Mario! Mario!

Fight on, man!

Go, Goombella!

Fight! Fight!

Yeah, Koops!

Rock on, guys!

YOU GO, BRO!

Yay, Flurrie!

Go, everyone!

Hang in there!

Yeah, baby!

Do it, shrimp!

Fight, BOMB!

C'mon, Vivian!

We love you!

Ahoy, Admiral!

My darling!

Right on, Boss!

Go, Luigi... Er, I mean... Mario?

All the dialogue boxes that the textdump shows to spawn here. Sadly, the textdump has no more dialogue tags than the game does for them, although a few are obvious. Yes, Luigi does wind up cheering us on after all.

Just to make sure, hard proof that everyone is hearing them in-universe, too.

Goombella: That is so totally cool...
Koops: That's... amazing...
Flurrie: That's... simply incredible...
Dr. Agon: That is so AWESOME!
Bobbery: What wondrous creatures...
Ms. Mowz: That's so nice...

...Bobbery, do you have something you need to explain?

So then... what exactly did all this prayer accomplish, other than being encouraging and throwing the Shadow Queen off her guard?

Oh, nothing much.

Just purifies the strongest heart in the room.

(Although the choice in "phrasing" on the Shadow Queen's moans is kinda questionable).

The Shadow Queen's hold on Peach is literally shattered, although it hasn't been broken entirely.

But it has been broken enough for Peach to get a message out.

With all the visual effects of the voice textboxes all over the screen, it might not be entirely obvious what's going on, but Peach's voice has broken out and the partner has reacted to hearing it.

Peach isn't going to break out on her own, even with all these well-wishes. This isn't 64, that's not the medium of power in question here.

But Peach is going to use the chance to play a trick on the Shadow Queen.

If Peach can't break out no matter what she does, she's going to give all her magic to someone who can use it.

And Peach isn't exactly weak on her own merits. Especially as far as magical feats are concerned.

This is also our full heal. 64 did this quietly, but the fact TTYD has it explicitly and as part of the narrative means going back to 64 means expecting to see the same being true there.

Goombella: What... IS this? I feel like, TOTALLY full of energy now...
Koops: What... What's this? I feel all full of energy...
Flurrie: What...is this, now? I feel positively BURSTING with energy...
Dr. Agon: Whoa... What IS this? I feel insanely pumped with energy all of a sudden!
Bobbery: What... What's THIS, now? I feel rather like a new Bob-omb! I feel fantastic!
Ms. Mowz: What... What IS this? I feel completely full of powerful energy now...

I'm not entirely sure what it is... but if it'll give us the edge, I'll take it.

And the Shadow Queen certainly wishes it wasn't happening.

She never did anything less.

Now there can be nothing left to do except to pry Peach away through the old-fashioned method.

And the Shadow Queen is more than willing to throw everything she's got to make sure she keeps what she has waited a thousand years to claim.

We are dropped into the boss fight with the Shadow Queen without an audience. Don't worry, the game has a plan for that.

The Shadow Queen's true boss theme starts now.

There's one last line of dramatic posing from both sides before the fight begins.

...

By the way, hope you can actually win this: The Shadow Queen fights tooth and nail as the final boss, and if you lose, you're going all the way back to the top of this update. This is probably the most punishing time-cost/difficulty balance in the entire Mario franchise, although there are plenty of RPGs who took that as a challenge and not as design to be avoided.

That's the Shadow Queen! Wow, she's scary… but we gotta hold our ground! Max HP is 150, Attack is 7, and Defense is 1. She'll use lightning magic and boost her own Attack and Defense power. And, if she uses her breath on us, we could be poisoned, confused, or lose power-ups! But... the worst is when she saves energy for a big attack! That… is… GNARLY! We'd do best to just avoid it by hiding in the shadows with Vivian, I think. Boy, and not only is her body scary, but her hands are pretty mean, as well. She has several attack patterns, so watch closely to see what's coming! Now, Mario! Let's do it! This is it, our final battle! Let's give it all we've got!

The Shadow Queen, in addition to all her attacks and a Charged move, can have either her Left and Right Hands or Dead Hands out. The Left and Right Hands will attack for 7 damage, either slapping you or draining you of 7 HP (I don't think it goes back in to the main body this time?), while the Dead Hands will prefer to hit you with the combo attack of three 3 damage hits. The Shadow Queen herself will keep to her own attacks, for the most part.

The Hands only have 5 HP, and I think can be taken out with a Power Shell.

I usually use Fiery Jinx. If you can do it with Power Shell, you probably should, it's half the price.

I get the feeling Quick Change is going to be important.

Opening with quite possibly the worst Power Lift I have ever done.

Power of love. And righteous indignation, on Vivian's part.

Koops: Now we're talking! Time for payback!
Flurrie: Now THAT is more like it! Prepare to pay for all of your ills!
Dr. Agon: Now THAT'S what I'm talking about, baby! And now, it's time to settle the score!
Vivian: Now we've got her number! Time to suffer, Queen!
Bobbery: Ah, yes, MUCH better! Prepare for payback!
Ms. Mowz: Now we're in business! Get ready to pay!

Goombella is enjoying herself.

Keep dreaming.

The Shadow Queen summoned the Dead Hands, and then dropped a bolt from the blue.

...Although I think the Dead Hands got a free attack here? Cheating, much?

Mario and Goombella both get an attack off, and now it's time to mention something important.

This Bingo! is always going to happen at the start of the fight. But why, since we just got fully healed?

This is how the game refills your audience. It's... almost impressive, how hard it is for the game to do this naturally. The fact that your audience is responsible for refilling your Star Power in the first place is also a relatively minor note: Most people only really see the audience as cosmetic and "sources of rock throws". In general, the implementation of the audience in this fight has been not great for a variety of reasons, and I have some suggestions.

Although perhaps when the Shadow Queen has charged up an ultimate attack is not the best time to tell them to her face.

A third of the way down.

But hahaha not letting her unleash that.

This wave of darkness attack lands 14 damage to both characters.

For some reason, she's switched from her Left and Right Hands to the Dead Hands of her own accord.

Also she's charged up again with the free turn she got from me leaving Veil.

Good to know I'm just never going to be attacking with the partner this fight.

Whee, Stylish for escaping the Veil.

That's a lot of damage in general.

...Thankfully that didn't work. The Boo donking also counts as a hit for the "advancing past her invincible phase" section earlier, if it randomly happens.

That's better. Vivian as the partner also gets us one more thing:

Fiery Jinxes on the Dead Hands. Whatever you can do to finish these is well-appreciated.

You only get one of these for free.

In contrast to her, who apparently gets as many of these as she feels like.

I almost wonder if I should not bother with Veiling.

Especially since that's what she says about it.

With that said, Mario is in horrible pain.

Still making sure I apply that damage. Almost 100 done.

That will help fix the problems for a while.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

I have never seen her use Dark Wave this much.

Well, I guess no better time to test this theory of not switching.

So long, hands.

And so long, nearly half of Dr. Agon's HP in a single move.

I'm matching it in a single jump.

Zess Special, for 20 HP/FP on Mario.

Lots and lots of Power Plus stacking. You have really made it difficult, with all that Dark Wave spamming.

And also your normal attacks, too. I think all these Veils are helping me avoid some damage from those.

But we're getting closer and closer to 0 HP.

Keep your beak outta this.

Shooting Star can also take out the hands just fine.

...I'm grateful it's not +7 Atk, but I do now need to figure out how I'm getting around all that extra Def.

You cannot tell me you lot are bored.

Fiery Jinx is certainly one way.

But as for my finishing touch?

It's overkill. But it's going to get the job done.

Spam Dark Wave on me, why don't you?

The Shadow Queen, in response to her Crystal Stars being turned against her in direct combat, fades away, leaving Peach to fall to the ground behind the shadows.

And drops a pity Star Point. The Shadow Queen will always drop a pity Star Point no matter how low levelled you are. I imagine they would've made her drop nothing if TTYD allowed it.

Good question. The Heroes of old clearly couldn't. A lot of games include that nugget about sealed evil without clearly explaining why the modern heroes are different outside of "they want the game to have a satisfying Hero Wins ending", and this is no exception.

But against Mario and Peach, the Shadow Queen was bested. Perhaps not "easily", but firmly bested.

Something that Beldam and Marilyn are concerned by.

Peach is lowered to the ground properly on the overworld this time, too.

And all the candles go back to a natural red glow of their own accord. This might've made the room look creepy, but compared to the black candles, it really is so much warmer this way.

The Shadow Sirens take this as their cue to bolt.

Although Doopliess has to find his own way out of this mess.

So, is Peach all right?

...Somehow. Although mentally, this might take a little longer to recover from. Ah, who am I kidding? Peach doesn't know the meaning of the word "trauma".

The happy denouement theme doesn't play until we're sure Peach is OK.

And sure enough, it's not long until she's perked back up. Well, the technical definition.

I don't mean to put more troubles on one who already has plenty, but... you did, Peach. That's why you sent me the Map instead of trusting the people you already had could handle the burden of possessing it. You knew things were going to escalate to the point you needed my help.

Now, granted, this isn't normally what happens when you invoke the Mario clause, but I do think you had an idea this wouldn't be a vacation for us.

Goombella: Aw, it's totally OK, Peach! It was like, no big deal!
Koops: Umm... Hey, that's OK, Peach! Don't worry about it!
Flurrie: Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head, Peach! It was nothing! ♥
Dr. Agon: Man, it was no biggie, Peach! Nothing we couldn't handle!
Bobbery: Don't you dare apologize, my dear! It was all in a day's work for us, hm?
Ms. Mowz: Don't fret, Peach! It wasn't too much trouble...

...Flurrie, please. But yeah, I do like to imagine Mario's just fine with how this went down, as far as Peach is concerned. The less said of the things he's going to have nightmares about, the better, though.

Peach is always more than willing to thank whoever Mario is finishing the adventure alongside this time. Even if it's Bowser himself. He usually earns it.

...Who now?

Ah, right. Frankly was following us. Guess you got past all the traps OK, then, Frankly?

Hopefully. I have no idea where that demon went, but it certainly looked like it was the way of the Chest Demons.

He started this game not being on top of who Mario and Peach are. Sure, finding out who two of the most famous people in the world are isn't the most impressive of accomplishments, but he is definitely bragging.