Super Mario RPG: Sunken Ship Walkthrough

Welcome to our complete story walkthrough of Super Mario RPG on Nintendo Switch and SNES.

Something’s very wrong in Seaside Town, but it’s hard to say what exactly is going on. To figure things out, Mario and his friends have made their way to the Sunken Ship on the Sea floor to put an end to these pirates once and for all.

Here’s our guide on navigating the Sunken Ship, finding all of its treasures, and tackling the enemies that lie in wait in Super Mario RPG.

Sunken Ship Enemies

Greaper

This ghostly figure resembles a Shy Guy. This ship is also full of them! It can cast strong magic spells, but shouldn’t be overly difficult to take out.

Dry Bones

Physical attacks cause them to fall apart, just like you’d expect. Unfortunately, they’ll only get right back up again! You’ll need to use a special move, so we’d recommend having Mallow in your party to attack them all at once.

Alley Rat

A more powerful version of the rat enemies you encountered earlier in the game. They can inflict poison on a party member, but are otherwise weak.

Enigmax / Gorgon

It can use the Diamond Saw spell, which deals heavy damage to a single party member. Run away, defeat it quickly, or make sure you’ve got a healer on duty.

Reacher

They attack with long-ranged physical attacks, hence the name. Their magic defense is incredibly low, so try hitting them with spells to take them out fast.

Straw Head

These guys can turn party members into scarecrows, so watch out! Remember to use the Trueform Pin you obtained earlier in the run to avoid this.

Whuhoh / Hidon

Hidden inside a Treasure Box in the dungeon, these enemies are pretty tough. It will counter every normal attack and summon additional enemies to attack. Its only weakness is Jump.

Sunken Ship Walkthrough

Head into the east door for a save block and then head into the northwest door to start your dungeon-crawling adventure. The next two rooms are full of Greapers and Dry Bones, so either avoid or fight them and continue onward. When you get to a room full of Alley Rats, drop into the hole in the corner to find a Flower.

In this room are lots of doors with Greapers blocking the way. You’ll have to battle them to get through, so you may as well fight them one after another to get it over and done with. All of these doors contain unique puzzles.

Room 1 - Iron ball

The door on the right has you guiding a Paratroopa to push the iron ball onto the switch. When you do this, you’ll receive a clue and a full heal.

If you mess up the puzzle, you can exit and re-enter the room to try again. Continue to the middle door.

Room 2 - Trampolines

In the middle room, you have to stop the trampolines by hitting the blocks. The goal is to space them sufficiently apart so that the iron ball that drops bounces on all of them and then hits the switch.

When you complete the puzzle, you’ll receive a Flower and another clue.

Room 3 - Maze

The leftmost door contains a 3D maze that makes it difficult to see where you’re going. If you can’t manage to finish it, don’t worry – this maze is quite tricky.

Enter the maze from the hole on the left. Walk northwest until the end of the room, and then walk southeast and make a few jumps. You’ll need to jump up to an upper platform that you can’t see and then head southwest until you make it to the second-floor exit. Head southeast and Mario will pop out and become visible for a moment.

From there, head into the northeast door and then head east and jump up. Go northeast until you’re at the northeast edge of the room, and then head northwest and drop down. You’ll then need to go southwest, northwest, and then northeast all while jumping repeatedly. Finally, head northwest and jump up to appear outside of the room and hit the switch to get Royal Syrup and another clue.

Again, this maze is tricky, so feel free to skip it – it seems purposefully designed to take you a little while. It’s something on the seafloor, it’s got two vowels, and it has an “S” in the word (but the word isn’t “Sea”). When you’re finished, leave this room.

Go south into another room and hit the treasure box for some coins. There’s a Dry Bones guarding it that brings lots of enemies, so defeat them all with Bowser’s Terrorize skill for some solid experience points. On this floor is another cloaked figure who sells armor, weapons, and healing items, so feel free to stock up as you see fit.

Head down and you'll be in front of three more doors here with Greaper battles blocking them.

Room 4 - Coins

In the leftmost room, you must collect all the coins from the coin trail, but make sure you collect the moving coin last. This might take you a few tries, so exit and re-enter the room as many times as you need. This hint says that the word has four consonants. Leave this room and then enter the middle door.

Room 5 - Cannonball

Fortunately, this puzzle is much easier. Activate the block on the left and the cannon will shoot. You’ll need to position yourself under the next block and hit the cannonball so that it activates the next block and so on. It should only take you a try or two – it’s all down to timing!

This clue states that at least two consonants are side by side. Leave here and enter the northeast door.

Room 6 - Barrel

Save your progress here if you like and then climb up onto the pile of barrels in the northeast corner of the room. Jump onto a barrel and it’ll roll onto the floor. From here, you’ll need to jump on its northwest edge to roll it onto one of the switches.

Hop onto the other one yourself and you’ll receive a full heal and one last clue that tells you the “R” comes before the “L”.

What is the Sunken Ship password?

Save again if you want and then head into the door. Enter the password here by jumping and hitting the boxes until it spells out the word you need. if you haven't figured it out yet, the password is 'PEARLS'.

Afterwards, interact with the pipe to unlock the door. The minute you step through it, you will engage a boss, so be ready!

Boss - King Calamari

This Giant Blooper will be where you need those Fire Bombs, so make sure you have some handy. We'll cover how to take down this mammoth octopus/squid in our How To Defeat King Calamari guide.

When it’s been defeated, you’ll land on a springboard in a lower area of the Sunken Ship. That’s right, you’re not done yet! In fact, you’re only about halfway there.

Head through this door and jump up the boxes, and then go through this door here. Avoid the bullet bills in this area; if you get knocked down you’ll have to climb back up and try again. Enter the upper door at the corner of the room and go down the stairs and enter the door. Run to the opposite end of this room and open the surprise boxes for some coins.

Hidden Treasure 23 - Mario clone

Enter the door next to the barrels and you’ll find a clone of Mario in the room. Jump at the right edge of the middlemost area of light and you’ll uncover a J block.

Position yourself under this, stand on the Mario clone and jump and you’ll receive a Kerokero Cola from the box!

Exit this room and then head southwest. own the stairs here is a full heal and a save block. You can jump up the boxes and hit the Treasure Box on the other side of the room for a quite nasty surprise: a Hidon!

How to get the Safety Badge - Hidon strategy

Hidon deals lots of damage when it attacks so make sure you have lots of Mushrooms. We'd recommend swapping in Mallow or Peach instead of Bowser. It’s immune to electricity but weak to Mario’s Jump attacks.

Use Geno Boost on Mario and then attack with a well-timed Super Jump. Hidon will eventually release a bunch of Goombettes; they deal a ton of damage when they attack (specifically when targeting Geno), so make sure you prioritize taking them out with Mallow’s Thunderbolt.

You’ll receive a Safety Badge when you win, which protects its user against every status ailment. It's a good idea to equip Mario with it.

In the next area enter the door again and you’ll find another whirlpool that will take you to the bottom of the sea floor. Go back to the previous room, collect the Frog Coins and then advance to the next room. There are Zeostars in this room, so run past them and continue to a large water-logged room.

At the northwest corner is a pile of barrels. You can actually sneak behind them and enter a door to obtain the Safety Ring, which is an upgraded version of the Safety Badge that you can equip on another party member. Head to the northeast corner of the room and jump up the barrels. You can swim across the water for a Frog Coin, then swim back and enter the door here.

In this room, you’ll finally find some pirates! But you’ll be attacked by four enemies. If you have a spare Fire Bomb, use one here to defeat them instantly. Otherwise, attack them as normal and they’ll flee as soon as they’re defeated.

Open the Treasure Box for a full heal and go up the stairs to fight two more enemies. Enter the door that opens to take on the last boss the Sunken Ship has to offer.

Boss - Jonathan Jones / Johnny

Johnny — or Johnathan Jones — is the leader of the pirates and a formidable-looking foe. Surprisingly, he's not too tough to take down if you've been levelling at a steady pace.

For the best tactics to take down Johnny, have a look at our How To Defeat Jonathan Jones guide. When he admits defeat, Johnny will give you the fifth Star Piece!

With that, you’ve wrapped up everything there is to do in the Sunken Ship. Leave through the exit in this room and hop on the trampoline to return to the world map. Next up, you’re headed back to Seaside Town to see if anything’s gotten better with the villagers.

For more help on getting through Super Mario RPG, check out our full Super Mario RPG guide for everything you need.