Super Mario RPG is a pretty linear game most of the time, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t several hidden secrets. In addition to secret or more hidden areas and bosses, some extremely powerful items can only be obtained if you worry a little and get off the most linear path.
Super Mario RPG (Switch): How to get Lazy Shell items
The most useful pair of items for the RPG’s toughest challenges are the twoLazy Shells: the weapon for Mario and the armor that can be used by any character in the group. Getting them is far from obvious during your adventure, but it’s also nothing out of this world.
Follow the guide below to learn how to get the two necessary items, theSeedand theFertilizer, so that the gardener can open the way to the precious legendary hulls.
The first item needed is the Seed
Compared to the next item on the list that you will need to enable both Lazy Shells, finding the Seed is actually quite simple.
In fact, you’re expected to get it by accident simply by following the game’s story. Believe me, it’s very likely that it’s already in your inventory and you didn’t even know or remember it — as was my case.
TheSeedis the item you receive as a reward for battling a Boss called Megasmillax. You might not remember his face from his name, but the boss is basically a Piranha Plant (Mario’s classic enemy, the carnivorous plant inside a pipe) with three heads.
Thebossis part of the main plot, blocking your passage through Bean Valley while you are heading towards the long beanstalk that leads to Nimbus Land, the land of clouds.
After you defeat the plant, just interact with the note directly above the green pipe to find the Seed. Choose the first dialogue option to get it for yourself and complete the first step towards special equipment.
To germinate the Seed, you will need Fertilizer
After obtaining the Seed, you will need some Fertilizer to develop the beanstalk that will take you directly to the two Lazy Shells. Unlike the Seed, theFertilizeris very well hidden. The location where you will find the item is the area directly after the battle with Megasmillax, Nimbus Land.
However, the Fertilizer cannot be found until you defeat the boss and save the city from Queen Valentina’s clutches.
In addition to being the person behind Megasmillax’s blocking of the pipe in the past area, Valentina is the usurper of the throne of Nimbus Land.
After convincing the population without much difficulty that her assistant Dodo, a large black bird unlike the other “cloud people”, is actually the lost prince of the kingdom, Mallow, Valentina took over the land of clouds.
You face the false queen following the story naturally, in the final part after infiltrating the castle.
Valentina fights alongside her bird, Dodo, who kidnaps the middle member of her group at the beginning of the battle.
The false queen has a large amount of health points, but her defense is very low, so you can abuse physical attacks to end the confrontation as quickly as possible.
After defeating Valentina and restoring order to the kingdom, simply walk to the far right of the map and start moving around the edge of the clouds, as if you were trying to “leave” the scene.
A little above the house on the right, you can fly out and reach a Shy Guy floating in the sky. Talk to him to finally get theFertilizer.
Last step: find the gardener
Now return to Rose Town, Geno’s “home” town, where the inhabitants were being attacked by arrows falling from the sky, to find a path directly into the center of town.
On the next screen, you will come across an older Toad living alone in an isolated house. This is the gardener. Talk to him to discover that the veteran mushroom has been searching for the Seed and Fertilizer for many, many years.
With great excitement, which even accelerates the music of the city’s soundtrack, the old gardener will talk a little about the importance of these two items in his life.
After the old man’s animated speech, a huge beanstalk will sprout from inside the house to the height of the clouds. Go outside, jump on the lined-up crates and climb the new foot to find two question mark boxes on top of the clouds.
Congratulations, you have finally achieved the long-awaited reward. One of the boxes holds theLazy Shell, which is an equippable weapon for Mario, while the other hides theLazy Shell, which can be used as powerful armor by any of the group members.
Mario’s weapon is the best available to the plumber in the entire game, not only providing a high attack value but also offering a very accessible window for achieving the action command (pressing the attack button at the right time).
The armor, in turn, considerably increases the defense of any character who uses it, but it decreases the user’s attack value in return. Both items are extremely valuable for facilitating most of Super Mario RPG’s toughest enemies, such as Cullex and almost all of the bosses in the post-game content.