About
These days I'm mostly an RPG gamer, but when I started out, I was all about Mario platformers. The concept of an RPG, a game with a story, that wasn't all about fast reflexes or button mashing, was alien to me. I saw these games on Nintendo Power with graphics better than the others, but didn't see any other differences and didn't imagine what the gameplay was like.
Upon first playing Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, I was surprised that Mario could talk to the other characters outside of little scripted scenes after a castle. Plus the scenes that were scripted were very detailed and funny. I saw the characters in a new light, with more personality and detail than on any other game, it felt like playing an anime.
There have been other Mario RPGs since then. I greatly enjoyed Paper Mario and some of the GBA Mario RPGs, but Seven Stars is still my favorite Mario RPG, my favorite Mario game, and the game that taught me that levels are your strongest ally.
As for the reasons for making this site, besides the obvious "because Mallow is awesome," I made it for the Creature Feature marathon at Amassment, a great shrine/fansite community that often hosts fun events like this. Many thanks to Cherri for letting me borrow some of her webspace for my sites.
I also have a site for Boshi over at Way Cool, so check that out later too. All my fansites are linked on my collective: Confetti, and there's also my art site: Fantasy Bit for you to visit.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was made by Square (now Square Enix) and the Mario franchise belongs to Nintendo. The game first came out for the Super Nintendo and nowdays can be obtained digitally for the Wii.
I drew fanart on the layout, I have more art at Deviant Art and Fanart Central. The fonts are from Da Font.
Game
Square, now Square Enix, certainly lives up to its reputation with Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. It has the classic Mario feel with a twist. The timed hits are creative and fun. What are timed hits? This game has an option to add extra power to attacks and special abilities, including healing, by pressing a button, or buttons,again while the animation plays. It has distinct animations for each weapon and ability, making the turn based battles much more interesting.
There are lots of mini-games, some are within the plot and some optional or replayable. To name the ones that come to mind: the yoshi egg guessing game, the coin collecting game near Kero Sewers, the Pipe Vault whack-a-goomba, the mine cart race at Moleville, the yoshi race at Yo'ster Isle, the beetle catching game at Booster Hill, the peek-a-boo and look the other way mini games at Booster Tower, finding the flag for the ghosts at Monstro Town, climbing up the mountain-side near Land's End, the statue game at Nimbus Land, and the hidden casino with card and slot games.
The game also has a variety of references, cameos and jokes. Toad has his moments of sarcasm and the game enjoys making fun of itself. Link, Samus, Donkey Kong and 8-bit Mario all make cameos, and Culex is a clear reference to Final Fantasy. Bowyer talks like Joda and even Bruce Lee gets a mention.
There are interesting antagonists ranging from not-so bad, to cunning, to evil. Not all of them are in the same group, which makes more sense than every baddie banding together. Some of the Seven Stars only antagonists that catch my attention the most are Croco, Belome, Valentina, Exor and the Axem Rangers.
There are also friends that have sadly not made any appearances outside of this game to this day, such as Boshi, Jinx, Johnny, Geno and Mallow, out of which only Geno and Mallow are playable. Boshi is my favorite Mario character and one of my top favorite video game characters overall, despite playing a very minor role, but enough about the cute blue punk yoshi.
Albeit Mallow has some basic healing abilities, Peach is more so the white mage of the team, while Mallow fits better into the role of black mage. Black mage style characters with their awesome attack magic and multi-target abilities are often my favorite type to play as.
As much as I love Mario, I do wish they had given the option to switch him out. He could have still kept his big role in the plot and continued being the over-world character you control, so having his name on the title would still make sense. Mario is a strong and useful character, certainly one of the strongest, if not the strongest playable character in the game, but it would have been nice to get some more variety. Aside from that, the only thing missing are the Koopalings. Yes, I'm nitpicking, but that's only because this game is so close to perfect.
Species
Mallow is named after a marshmallow, and he certainly looks like one, but he's actually a sentient cloud with weather magic. Unlike X-Men's Storm, there's no flying involved, but he can still control rain and lightning.
When Mallow cries, the weather reacts and it starts to rain. Albeit this looks like an involuntary side-effect, Mallow does show that he is aware it's his doing. He's the second playable character to join the team and a nice addition.
Though he grew up thinking he was a tadpole, Mallow's true home is on the cloud kingdom of Nimbus Land. There are plenty of cloud people there, so he's not the last of his species or anything dramatic like that. He does hold an important position that he's unaware of for most of the game, but for now, let's talk about his species.
The first creature that comes to mind is Lakitu's cloud. It's obviously not the same as a cloud person. It has a happy face but doesn't seem to be sentient in the same way as Lakitu and Mallow. I've never heard one of those clouds speak, at least not up to the day in which I wrote this site and there are a lot of Mario games out there so far. There's that boss from Yoshi's Story Cloud N. Candy, but he's more of a cotton candy creature than a cloud creature, I think.
I suppose it's possible that the cloud people have evolved from the smiley clouds. As their awareness increased, they established themselves and grew limbs to make interacting with the world easier and moved on to a sedentary lifestyle. Alongside that change they gained more mass, they're still soft and fluffy, but more solid than their smiley cloud ancestors. Gaining limbs and mass as part of the process to settle down, likely cost them the ability to fly, since they're not as light and airy as they used to be. Anyway, that's just my theory, but there does seem to be some evidence pointing to its likelihood.
One peculiarity about Mallow is that he can float with just a head/torso and arms. I haven't seen any other cloud people do this, but then he only does so to power up his magic and he's the only cloud person who is shown in battle, so it is likely they can all do this. Mallow's pants look empty when he floats above them, thus it's not that he separates from his legs, but rather, it looks like his legs merge into his body to give it a more cloud-like shape.
My conclusion is that cloud people are flexible. When Mallow focuses on summoning his magic, he calls upon his ancient powers as a cloud, thus his body takes on a more cloud-like shape, temporarily going back to a form slightly closer to his origin. His legs retract into his round head/torso, then go back to filling his pants and shoes after the magic has been released.
Habitat
The home land of the cloud people is the lovely Nimbus Land, one of my favorite video game towns. It is composed of several houses made from vines, or maybe made from clouds and covered in vines, and a large palace with a grand entrance, the inside of which looks like marble.
Natural rain isn't much of a problem, since Nimbus Land seems to be higher up than most clouds, though the fact remains that magical rain shouldn't be all that rare among the cloud people. It is not specified if everyone can use weather magic or just the royals, but there's nothing to hint at such a limitation, so I believe it's something that all the cloud people can do.
Though the kingdom seems to be fond of their monarchs, there's certainly a big class difference between the big palace and the little houses. The floors and maybe the unseen walls, have clouds (the non-sentient kind) as part of their building materials, which makes them rustic within the context, though elegant in comparison to land residences. The beds are also made from clouds, so the citizens' homes are most likely much softer than the palace and ironically more comfortable in that sense, despite not being too fancy.
On the subject of cloud beds, the inn at Nimbus Land has a special bed that brings vivid dreams, though they are mostly weird, such as Mario dreaming that he's being cooked, or Toad transforming into a ghost, they're still amusing. Nimbus Land also has hot springs. Although the citizens can visit the palace and walk around, only royalty is allowed at the hot spring cloud.
In addition, I see a Jack and the Beanstalk theme going on, since Nimbus Land floats above a cliff called Land's End and Mario and friends reach it by climbing a beanstalk. When you first visit the palace, you confront Birdo as a mid-boss. She doesn't lay golden eggs, but she might still be a reference to the classic fairytale.
There are other lands similar to Nimbus Land that have appeared on other Mario games, such as Sky Land, but this and the others are different in that they're not populated by cloud people.
Though Nimbus Land is Mallow's natural habitat, he grew up at Tadpole Pond, home of the famous frog philosopher, Frogfucious, the musician tadpoles, and the preferred inspirational hangout of the mushroom composer, Toadofsky. It's a calm place filled with gossiping tadpoles who apparently get news from all over the world from the currents, or most likely the water dwelling creatures that ride them. There's also a Lakitu there who works for Frogfucious.
Power
Mallow's HP, defense and physical attacks are not as strong as Mario's, but he has very good magic. he uses staff-like weapons, which are fitting to his mage-like combat style. He also uses cymbals as a weapon which fits Tadpole Pond's musical theme. The punching gloves are pretty much a standard weapon, rather than a themed one. He's the first character to have a multiple-target special attack: Thunderbolt, which he knows when he joins the party at level 2.
At level 3, Mallow learns HP Rain, the game's first available healing magic. Though his healing is not as strong as Peach's (still known as Toadstool here), it's still quite useful early in the game, since you don't get Peach until you're about half way through.
At level 6, Mallow learns the ability Psychopath... What an interesting name. However, if you're hoping to see the cute puffball go in a crazy stabbing rampage, you'll be disappointed. All this ability does is tell you the enemy's HP and if you use timed hits, the thoughts.
The whole HP thing doesn't change the number, it's just for the sake of wasting a turn on impatient curiosity, but the mind reading thing is kind of amusing. Mallow is not said to have psychic abilities, though his weather control is mentioned outside of battle, so I conclude that he only has a very minor psychic ability, that's not noticeable enough to be much of a highlight, at least not in comparison to his weather control.
On level 10, Mallow learns Shocker, which is basically a giant bolt of lightning. Unlike the Thunderbolt attack, Shocker is a single target attack.
On level 14, he learns Snowy, a multiple target attack that creates a snowman to throw at the enemies, which explodes into snow dust. Unlike the previous abilities, you have to rotate the control pad rather than press a button at the right time to make it more powerful.
On level 18, Mallow learns his final special ability, Star Rain. This game only has 30 levels, so it's great for beginners, I knew nothing about RPGs before playing it and it made me start to love them. Star Rain is also multi-target, a big star stomps on the enemy and keeps jumping when you press the button at the right time.
What does this have to do with the weather? Not much, but it does fit the sky theme. However, any theories about the cloud people having connections with the Star Road fall apart at the fact that the king and queen of Nimbus Land are not familiar with it until Mario and friends explain what's going on, the king even keeps getting the name mixed up, calling it Star Way and other variations.
Clover
The five party members, out of which you can use Mario and two others in battle, each have a symbol that appears when they focus their magic. Four of those symbols are based on cards, Mario has a blue spade, Peach a pink heart, Bowser an orange diamond and Mallow a green clover. Geno has a red star, which fits him, as he is a star and a being from a "different world."
Now let's see what we can find about clovers. The clovers are more often referred to as clubs and Mallow's staff-like weapons do look like clubs. Thinking about them brings to mind lucky clovers, albeit those have four leaves. Like the playing card's clover, Mallow's symbol has three leaves. I find it ironic that a being from the clouds has a leaf symbol, which is associated with earth, but it might just be a follow-up on the Jack and the Beanstalk theme. The plant family malvaceae is also known as mallow, though the leaves don't really look like clovers.
There's a lot of fortune telling information out there, and rules about the value of each card in various games, but it didn't feel like any of that had much of a connection with anything that reminded me of Mallow. The Jack and the Beanstalk theme is what resonates the most, and after that the luck theme.
If your memory needs refreshing about Jack, it's that classic story about the boy who trades his cow for magic beans. His mom gets angry at his poor business skills and throws the beans out, but they grow into a huge beanstalk. Jack climbs it and finds a castle with a giant. He steals the giant's golden egg laying goose and climbs down the beanstalk with the giant chasing him. Arriving on the ground first, Jack chops down the beanstalk and the giant falls to his doom. That's just a very quick summary and since this tale is about as old as dirt, you'll find many versions online, some involving magical harps and what-not.
On to the luck theme, despite only having three leaves, Mallow was pretty lucky to have been rescued and adopted by Frogfucious (or maybe it was more than just luck...), lucky to run into Mario when he did, and lucky to have been born a prince, but then, RPGs are full of convenient coincidences, aren't they?
Story
The story of Super Mario RPG begins with the game making fun of itself. Bowser kidnaps Peach, known as Toadstool in this game, and Mario runs off to save her. He fights Bowser, saves the princess, and the three are tossed into the air when a giant sword falls on Bowser's castle. Mario, Bowser and Peach fly off in different directions, and Smithy's gang takes over the castle. With the bridge to Bowser's Keep broken, Mario runs off to search for the princess, being roped into several side-quests along the way.
One of those side-quests is to help Mallow recover his stolen money from the purple crocodile thief, Croco. Right away we are introduced to Mallow's weather control abilities, as it starts to rain when he cries over his lost frog coin. Mario helps him catch Croco and get the coin back to buy a pie.
They return to the Mushroom Kingdom and find it has been overrun by Smithy's minions. They fight off Mack and his pogo-stick baddies to free the kingdom and obtain a star piece, though they're not sure what it is yet. Mallow suggests talking to his grandfather, Frogfucious, whom he claims knows everything, and inquire about the missing princess and the suspicious situation.
After getting across the Kero Sewers and fighting the amusing oddball Belome for passage, Mario and Mallow arrive at Tadpole Pond and deliver the pie. Frogfucious shares his wisdom about the star piece and the general situation. Then he makes a shocking (not really) revelation, Mallow is not a tadpole. The entire scene is played in a hilarious soap opera style. Frogfucious builds up the tension and tells the story, keeping quiet when eavesdropping tadpoles swim by. Then as he delivers the news, all the eavesdroppers jump out of their hiding places in shock.
Filled with new determination, at Frogfucious' suggestion, Mallow joins Mario to try to find his real parents. Their next stop is Rose Town, where the mushroom people are being paralyzed by mysterious arrows that fall from the sky. Mario and Mallow take out Bowyer and his arrow goons at the Forest Maze. Another of Smithy's minions bites the dust, another star piece is recovered, and our heroes are joined by the star spirit ♥♪!?, alias Geno.
Moving on to Moleville, after an optional stop at Yoster Isle, like in many RPGs, our heroes get roped into several quests along the way, this time to save mole siblings Dyna and Mite, who are trapped in the mines. There they have a run in with Croco, who tries to rob them again and is once again defeated. Further into the mines they find another of Smithy's minions, Punchinello. Punchinello puts up a fight with Bob-ombs, but is eventually defeated and another star piece is recovered.
Mario, Mallow and Geno move on to Booster's territory where they run into Bowser in front of Booster's tower. They also find that Booster is holding Princess Peach prisoner. Mallow takes a backseat as the next part of the story revolves around saving the princess and the newly joined Bowser get some participation in the group conversations. They chase Booster to Marrymore, where they save Peach before she is forced to marry him.
After escorting the princess back to the Mushroom Kingdom, she sneaks out to join Mario's team and the five head out to Tadpole Pond to consult Frogfucious' gossip... I mean wisdom, about the location of the next star piece. They find it easily enough at Star Hill, surprisingly without having to fight anyone for it. I thought it was odd that they didn't add a boss there, but I guess not even Smithy's gang knew about that star, how does Frogfucious do it?
Mario and company move on to Seaside Town, where the mushroom people are acting like zombies. They explore a near-by sunken ship following rumors of another star piece and battle it out with the resident octopus that sunk it, and the shark crew and captain. With Jonathan 'Johnny' Jones, who I should note is not a part of Smithy's gang and simply claimed the star as his own because it fell in his territory, defeated, Mario and company get another star.
The group returns to Seaside Town to find that they've been tricked. The zombie-like mushroom people were part of Smithy's gang who wanted Mario to get the star for them. He is forced to hand it over for the safe release of the real townspeople hostages. I'm not sure why they didn't try to take the other stars Mario was carrying...
So anyway, after the hostages are safe, the deal is off and it's time to chase down the bad guys and get the star back. They try to run away, only to be stopped by Johnny, who has developed respect for Mario after his defeat. The fake mushrooms merge into Yaridovich, who fights Mario and friends and is defeated. Johnny runs off back to his ship leaving a note, with the excuse of not doing so well on land, but it's okay, since Mario and friends can handle the situation and get the star back.
With five stars down and two to go, Mario and friends head out to an area known as Land's End. They go through Belome's temple (so he doesn't live in the sewers), win a rematch and get to Monstro Town. In this place, populated by 'reformed' goombas, koopas, ghosts, etc., Bowser runs into some of his old troops and is surprisingly understanding with them. There's a dojo, there are optional boss battles, there's lots of fun stuff to be done. At Jinx's dojo, the tiny cricket martial artist doesn't look like much, but he's super strong.
There's also the optional boss Culex, whose door opens with a shiny stone from Moleville. He looks like he came right out of Final Fantasy and says that he is from another world. He can't live in this dimension, but he wants to fight a strong warrior before going home. He has four crystals to aid him in battle, which is very Final Fantasy-ish and the music is from Final Fantasy. This isn't the first time other games have been referenced, since Link has been seen at the Rose Town inn and Samus was a guest at the Mushroom Kingdom castle.
Next up, Mario and friends head up, up a mountain-side aided by paratroopas led by Sergeant Flutter and up via a beanstalk to Nimbus Land after battling it out with Smilax the piranha plant. There they hear there's a prince with the same name as Mallow, what a coincidence... Mallow sees a statue and thinks it's him, though it is in fact the king when he was young. With the help of Garro the sculptor (smartest cloud person in the land if you ask me), Mario gets painted like a gold statue and sneaks into the palace.
Valentina locked up the king and queen, claiming that they're sick and need to rest, and tricked the gullible citizens into believing that her sidekick and personal punching bag, Dodo, was Prince Mallow, whom she conveniently just found. She intends to stage a marriage with him to take the crown. So Mario and friends battle it out with Valentina's minions, Dodo and Birdo, then with Valentina herself, who is forced to retreat. Valentina, like Booster, is also an 'independent' antagonist, which is something I like about this game, not all the obstacles are directly caused by Smithy, which makes the world feel more elaborate.
With the rightful rulers of Nimbus Land restored to power, Mallow is finally reunited with his parents. Mario and friends give him a moment alone and wait outside with umbrellas at the ready. Predictably, it rains, as Mallow has a tearful reunion, then the young prince invites his friends over to meet his parents. After a chat with the royals, Mallow decides to continue traveling with Mario and his friends until the whole Star Road business has been taken care of. They get clues about a star falling into a near-by volcano and head on over.
At the volcano, Mario and friends fight off Czar the dragon for passage to the area where the star fell. Again, Czar is unrelated to Smithy. However, Smithy's gang soon shows up in the form of a hilarious Power Rangers parody, the Axem Rangers. They steal the star and are chased by Mario and friends onto their ship, the Dyna Blade. After another battle, the enemies are defeated and the star is back in Mario's hands.
With only one more star piece left, they conclude the only place they haven't searched is Bowser's Keep, due to the lack of bridge to reach it. They borrow the royal cloud bus from Mallow's parents and fly on over. At Bowser's castle, his troops have been brainwashed, but Mario and friends soldier on, until they run into a Magikoopa that may or may not be Kamek. It's funny seeing Bowser alongside Mario and Peach going through the classic multiple door challenge that Mario must usually endure to rescue Peach. They even run into Croco at the castle, which makes me wonder, how in the world did he get there? This time the purple crocodile isn't there to pick a fight, he instead offers to sell them some items, which are no doubt stolen goods.
The last boss of the castle is Exor, the giant sword. His defeat brings access to a sort of alternate dimensional space where Smithy's weapon factory is located. He's manufacturing robot versions of his fallen minions in preparation to invade the world. After going through the factory and fighting a giant clock, Mario and friends finally battle it out with Smithy, with him defeated, the last star piece is recovered and peace is restored through the land, along with the wishes of the Star Road.
Geno leaves the doll behind and takes the star pieces back to the Star Road, while everyone else goes back to their lives after having a parade to celebrate their victory. The parade is ironically led by Luigi, despite him being notably absent from the game save for his wish at Star Hill, wanting to be a great plumber like his brother. This game has my favorite credit sequence I've seen so far, with the parade serving as a fun extended ending scene.
Scenes
Let's have a more detailed look at Mallow's most important moments during the game. The first of those moments is obviously when we first meet him, crying over his stolen frog coin at the Mushroom Kingdom. I should note that he did chase after Croco to get his coin back, but began to cry after Croco got away.
Interestingly, after Mario gets his attention, Mallow needs a moment to recall what he was crying about. This, along with the fact that Frogfucious mentions that he's a bit of a crybaby, tells us right away that he's easily upset. However, he's not entirely a wimp, just a bit over-sensitive.
Let's not forget that Frogfucious also mentions Mallow's powerful magic and assures that he will be able to help Mario on his adventure, after the shocking revelation that he's not a tadpole. This is also seen during the recovery of the coin from Croco, where the crocodile tries to get away after his battle with Mario and Mallow, but Mallow faces him head on, demanding to get his coin back.
Mallow is a peculiar character in that despite crying easily and giving up if left to fend for himself at first, all it takes is a little encouragement and support to make him do a one-eighty and go adventuring with the bravest of them. His self confidence is not much at first, but with someone to give him a little push, Mallow shows his true potential. He doesn't cower or back down, fighting Mack and his allies alongside Mario when the Mushroom Kingdom is attacked.
Later, at the Forest Maze, Mallow shows he can play it smart by insisting they spy on Bowyer before attacking. Geno, not yet a part of their group, goes on the offensive versus Bowyer on his own and Mario runs ahead help Geno fight Bowyer, leaving Mallow struggling to keep up with him. Mallow was quick to express that they had to help "the guy in blue," he's just not as fast a runner as Mario. All the while Mallow tells himself not to cry and only lightly complains about being ditched when he catches up with Mario. Mallow understands that it was an emergency and quickly shakes off the dust and joins Mario and Geno versus Bowyer.
At the Molleville mines Mario and friends face off against Croco again, though he's only a mid-boss in this case and the real baddie is Punchinello. We see Mallow being braver than ever before as he boldly claims Punchinello's threats are bluffs after they defeat him. In this scene he is the first to do this, before Geno and Mario join in, which causes Punchinello to bring out his biggest Bob-omb and blow himself up in the process. Fortunately, Mario, Mallow and Geno survive the blast, and Mallow doesn't even cry.
Mallow takes a backseat for a while and his next prominent scene happens at Star Hill, where they find an ungranted wish in the form of a (non-sentient?, though happy faced) star, that fell when the Star Road was broken. The wish is from Mallow's parents who want him to return home, albeit at this point it is not revealed who they are. Mallow looks like he's about to cry, overcome with emotion, but stops himself, as it is not the time for tears, he should hurry on and find his parents. There's also a wish from Mallow himself, hoping he wasn't such a crybaby, his embarrassed reaction is hilarious.
Mallow's story gets some closure as we discover that he's the long lost prince of Nimbus Land. How exactly he became lost is not really explained. You find out, upon arriving at Nimbus Land, before the characters realize it, that Mallow is the prince, but that didn't ruin it for me. I knew right away that Mallow had to be the real prince and the other Mallow an imposter, he was a big black tucan-like bird, not even of the cloud-people species. It was still surprising to find out Mallow was a prince and it got me all excited to take back his kingdom.
This was, in my opinion, the biggest surprise in the game. I mean, you don't even get to really theorize about it. You know Mallow will find his parents eventually, but you don't know who they are and you don't get any substantial clues. I figured the cloud place on the map had to be his long lost home, but there was nothing to hint at his royal heritage. Then before you can start to wonder about which of those cloud-like beings you just encountered in this new place could be related to Mallow, bam, you just know. I liked it this way because, while I love theorizing and figuring things out as the plot progresses, expectations can sometimes take away from the magnitude of a surprise. It's fun to say "I called it," but it's also fun to get an unexpected twist now and then, and the royalty angle brought just that.
Mallow notices a statue of his younger father at Garro's house and thinks it's himself, which makes Garro, the sculptor, conclude that Dodo is an impostor, and helps them sneak into the palace. Another notable scene during the Nimbus Land sub-plot is when they find the room in the palace where the royals are supposedly resting, though in truth they were locked up and not actually ill. Bowser offers to knock down the door and Mallow stops him, worried about his parents' health. Bowser seems surprised by Mallow being so direct with him and snaps at him with a tough guy act, but Mallow sees it's just an act and Bowser has no intentions of actually hurting him. He might have been more easily spooked in the past, but by now, Mallow has become very brave.
There's a funny scene at Smithy's factory where Mallow presses a button and a giant claw grabs him, though Mario quickly saves him. Mallow remarks that it was scary, but doesn't make a big fuss and is instantly ready to continue on with the final stretch of their quest.
Not much else stands out in terms of Mallow scenes after that until the end, but it was nice that he got his own little sub-plot. In the ending, Mallow is shown at Nimbus Land with his parents, being introduced to the citizens as the rightful prince. He participates in the celebratory parade along with the rest of the game's cast, riding on the royal bus with his parents and Frogfucious.
Personality
Mallow can come off as gullible at first, given the fact that he calls himself a tadpole or frog in several occasions, despite looking nothing like the species he claims to be. Maybe he thinks he's an albino frog... He does cry easily, but he's not really wimpy. Like most mage-type characters, physical strength is not his forte, but he has powerful magic. He does try to defend himself, as seen with Croco, but despairs when he doesn't seem to be making progress. His determination to never give up develops along the journey and he gets to be quite brave. At the end of the game, his rain-inducing tears only show themselves in particularly emotional times and not nearly as easily as before.
If we think to that scene when Mario and Mallow first meet, the fact that Mallow momentarily forgets what he was crying about after stopping himself upon noticing there's a sopping wet man standing nearby, so it might be a good idea to stop the rain, hints that crocodile tears were not rare for him back then. Ironic that it was a crocodile making him cry. Frogfucious further confirms this by admitting that Mallow is a bit of a crybaby. The phrase "crocodile tears" usually refers to a fake, forced, insincere, or overly dramatic display of emotion. Mallow isn't a hypocrite, but he is a bit of a drama king when we first meet him, albeit not on purpose. His wish at Star Hill shows that he wants to change his overly emotional ways. He does change with time and without the need for the change to come from a wish. All of this gives us a glimpse at Mallow's childhood with Frogfucious.
Mallow comes off as quite innocent and good natured, though not overplayed naive. It's ironic that he doesn't notice right away that Nimbus Land is his home, despite there being a prince apparently sharing his name and lots of cloud people around. I'm going to be lenient and rather than saying his brain decided to go on vacation, I'll say that it is somewhat reasonable given the world he lives in. In a world where there are all kinds of species co-existing, maybe the citizens are so used to it that they don't immediately register the physical differences, or in this case, the glaring similarities. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but at least he recognizes the statue as himself, though it was actually his father when he was young.
Frogfucious must have taught Mallow to be kind and help others when the opportunity presented itself, but also to defend himself. He must have been quick to offer comfort and encouragement, as when Mario offers it, it has an immediate effect, as if that's all Mallow needs to get back on his feet.
His kind nature becomes more evident as the game progresses and Mallow is often the first to declare "we have to do something" when the heroes run into someone in need of assistance, and is willing to put up a fight for the right reasons. He doesn't just rush into battle though, as evidenced when he stops Mario from fighting Bowyer at the Forest Maze, (before Geno gets into a jam and they have to help him), so they can check out the situation and get some intel, and when he stops Bowser from knocking down the door at Nimbus Land; Mallow does think before he acts. Frogfucious raised him well.
Mallow is also a fan of Bruce Lee... You know how it goes, there's always that paragraph that takes one quote and reads deeply into it. At the Forest Maze, when Mallow stops Mario from rushing in to face Bowyer fists flying, he remarks "who do you think you are, Bruce Lee?" I can picture little Mallow watching Bruce Lee movies, (not sure where the electric outlets are at Tadpole Pond, but there are stranger things), and thinking 'I want to be strong and brave!' but also recalling his grandpa's lessons in how to play it smart and analyze the situation before jumping into a fight.
So there you have it, Mallow is kind, brave and well on his way to becoming wise, though he still has plenty of room to learn. The adventure with Mario certainly served as a good experience for him. He could be overly emotional at times, but he learned to control that, without losing his willingness to be helpful, which is something expected of a good prince. When he was first introduced I thought he would be a stereotypical cowardly crybaby, but I'm glad he's not. He's an interesting character with good development and an elaborate background.
Relationships
Mario: Mallow has developed a friendship with Mario, as many other side characters do. It's a sort of little brother relationship that is further seen in the fact that Mallow's victory pose is his own version of Mario's classic victory pose.
Geno and Peach: Mallow is friends with them as well, though he interacts with them as a group more so than individually.
Bowser: I could have included him along with Peach and Geno with the same explanation, but decided he deserves an extra note because of the fact that Mallow is not at all afraid of him. Bowser is the self proclaimed fierce leader of the Koopa Troop, who tries to stay tough despite the fact that he was kicked out of his own castle. It was in this game, in my opinion, that the comical side of Bowser's personality started to really develop. As Mallow is initially a bit of a crybaby, it shows his development that he can interact and even disagree with Bowser without making a fuss about it, something that Bowser himself seems to be surprised by.
King and Queen Nimbus: Mallow has a tearful reunion with his parents, who seem happy to have him back, but I have more to say about it than just the plain facts, so I'll elaborate with some theories on the family page.
Garro and the bus driver: I think Mallow will probably continue to form a friendship with Garro, since he did help him sneak into the palace when Valentina was in charge. The royal bus driver is another person Mallow will probably see often, especially since he can provide quick transportation to visit Tadpole Pond.
Frogfucious: Mallow greatly admires his adoptive grandfather and his wisdom. Frogfucious raised him and basically taught him all he knows. Mallow was an infant when Frogfucious found him and too young to recall the incident. The name Mallow was conveniently written on his belt.
Family
Mallow's biological parents are the king and queen of Nimbus Land. Nimbus Land is above Land's End, mostly disconnected from the world below until it is reached by a beanstalk. They have a cloud bus with a driver that looks like he shares Metaknight's species (Kirby). The bus can fly, so that would explain how they get to and from Nimbus Land, even if that doesn't happen often.
It's anyone's guess how Mallow got lost, we only know that he was carried away by the waters that led to Tadpole Pond and Frogfucious saved him. Most likely, the king and queen were off vacationing when they lost Mallow.
Mallow's parents made a wish on a star that fell to Star Hill before it was granted. The Star Road was functioning until relatively recently, when Exor smashed it, so either the wish was made somewhat recently, there was a big backlog at the Star Road, or something caused them to archive the wish.
If the wish was made recently, why did the king and queen take so long to wish upon a star? It is possible that they were unaware of the legend, as they were unaware of the existence of the Star Road itself, though characters who didn't know about the Star Road had been shown to have at least heard about wishing on a star. Maybe the king and queen simply had no reason to believe in wishing in stars until recently, though that would still leave the question as to why they made the wish now of all times?
A big backlog in the Star Road seems unlikely, as most of the other yet to be granted wishes that fell on Star Hill reference characters that are part of the games' supporting cast and their wishes seem to be recent in relation to the present time in the game. Plus Geno doesn't look like he would be okay with letting a big backlog sit around without doing something about it.
That leaves the possibility of the wish having been made years ago when Mallow was first lost and it was archived. Why was it archived? The king and queen seem to be nice people, though not as take charge as a king and queen should be. Valentina imprisoned them and basically took over the kingdom, tricking everyone into thinking Dodo, a big black bird, was the fluffy white cloud prince. I guess brains aren't the cloud people's strong point, or maybe they did know something was up, Garro said he was suspicious, but the rest didn't have the innitiative to act. Sounds like these people could use a good leader to help them learn and grow as a nation, don't you think? Someone to teach them to have courage and determination...
Mallow being lost might have been an innocent, though possibly dumb accident, then there's the fact that the royal couple didn't seem to be actively looking for their son. The only sign that they wanted him back was that wish they made, and indirectly the fact that they didn't have another child or name another heir. Regardless of how Mallow was lost and how nice king and queen Nimbus might be, the fact still stands that their ineptitude cannot be denied.
Frogfucious, though he purposely overplays his aura of mystery, is indeed a wise old frog. His antics, such as having a Lakitu make him look like he's floating, are comical and entertaining. Overall he's a very supportive grandfather figure for Mallow, who takes good care of him despite letting him believe he's a tadpole for most of his early life.
My theory is that the old wish was archived by the wise stars for kingdom's well being. Mallow would be safe with Frogfucious, who would raise him in wisdom. The wish was not rejected, it was turned into a star (the non-sentient? kind that are vessels for wishes), but it wasn't granted. I think the Star Road did plan to grant that wish when the time was right for Mallow to go home, to help Nimbus Land have a wise and worthy prince. Who knows, maybe the apparent accident that separated Mallow from his parents wasn't even an accident, maybe it was timed so that Frogfucious would find Mallow. Or maybe Frogfucious was aware of the whole plot all along, he does seem to know a lot...
It's clear that despite having found his biological parents and settling into his new life as a prince, Mallow still considers Frogfucious to be his grandfather and is still quite attached to the wise old frog who raised him. Though I can't picture Frogfucious moving to Nimbus Land, I can definitely see Mallow going to Tadpole Pond to visit often. I can also picture the cloud boy growing up to be a wise and strong king, which is just what Nimbus Land needs.
Conclusions
Appearance: Mallow looks like a marshmallow, but he's actually a cloud. He looks a lot like his dad when he was young, but his hair color is like his mom's, Queen Nimbus that is, not Wanda. His swirly pink hair can also be compared to Jigglypuff (Pokemon), though Wanda (Fairly Oddparents) has the closest resemblance.
The swirly pink hair isn't the only ultra cute factor about Mallow, just look at those Hello Kitty style eyes. Isn't he adorable? On the subject of characters he resembles, we can't forget Ristar, even if their only similarity lies in their stretchy arms and their general link with a star/sky theme.
Attire: Mallow wears pastel colors that further contribute to a "soft" appearance. He wears pink shoes and sky blue and white pants, and a brown belt. He is too short to have enough torso space to wear a shirt, but since King Nimbus used to be this small too, it's logical to think that one day he'll be taller.
Aptitude: Other than controlling the weather, Mallow's talent lays in music, specifically the cymbals. He actually uses them as a weapon, but he did grow up at Tadpole Pond, around music loving tadpoles and toads like Toadofsky, so it is reasonable to think he has learned a thing or two about music.
Appetizing: Belome is capable of creating a clone of someone whom he has tasted and comments on the characters' tastes when he does. He says that Peach tastes Peachy, but doesn't like the taste of Bowser and claims it to be repulsive. As for Mallow, he gets and all caps "YUMMY," making him the most delicious playable character in the game, according to Belome anyway. He's so cute, so cuddly, don't you just want to eat him up? We don't get a specific flavor, since Belome just calls him yummy, but if I was to take a guess, I think Mallow tastes like sweet cotton candy.
Appeal: The concept of cuteness and power all bundled up in a little package certainly has its appeal, but that's not all there is to Mallow. His story can be seen as a sort of coming of age. He lived in a simple world where he thought he knew who he was, but then something happened to turn his world upside-down and he set off on a journey to find his place. His wish to be a stronger person and understand his destiny is one often seen in many characters and one that people can relate to. Out of the five playable characters he gets the most development. Mario, Bowser and Peach are established characters and Geno is left with an air of mystery, but Mallow's story is told to the fullest. Though it is Mario's title in the game, if you take the character development into consideration, Mallow can feel like the real protagonist.
Monomyth
A lost boy with mysterious magic who turns out to be a prince... A walking cliche or an epic hero? I guess it depends on how you look at it. Technically, Mario is the protagonist of the game, but Mallow is the protagonist of this site, so let's look at this from his perspective.
Departure
Call to Adventure: Mallow runs into Mario, gets roped into the battle with Mack and when they later talk to Frogfucious, he insists that Mallow should go with Mario.
Refusal of the Call: Mallow argues that he's just a simple tadpole and adventuring isn't for him.
Supernatural Aid: The famous hero, Mario, whom many NPCs refer to as "THE Mario." (Poor Luigi...)
Crossing the First Threshold: After hearing the story of how Frogfucious found him, Mallow becomes determined to find out the truth about his parents.
Belly of the Whale: After Mallow leaves Tadpole Pond with Mario, we get a sense that there's no turning back for him and he'll see this adventure to the end.
Initiation
Road of Trials: Mallow encounters many trials alongside Mario and his friends. One scene that seems fitting is when Mario runs off to aid Geno against Bowyer and Mallow is left to catch up with him, reminding himself with every step that he must not cry.
Meeting with the Goddess: I'm going to cast Geno in this metaphorical role. He is a star and he explains the whole situation with the Star Road, which becomes central to their quest.
Woman as Temptress: I don't think sweet little Mallow has experienced his first crush yet. Not much in the way of temptation pops up in his journey. We could count the temptation of leaving Mario's group to stay at Nimbus Land after it is liberated from Valentina, but he doesn't even doubt in his resolve to stick with his friends until wishes are restored to the world.
Atonement with the Father: Mallow's biological parents were absent from his life, so their reunion must have been full of questions and emotions, as proven by the rain. At this point Mallow is no longer a cry-baby, so if he cried, there must have been some strong 'feels' going on.
Apotheosis: After Mallow finds out the truth about his origins, there's a sense of closure in his character arc.
Ultimate Boon: Fighting along-side Mario and his friends to defeat Smithy and save the world!
Return
Refusal to Return: There's no direct refusal that can be seen, though I imagine that being a prince might take some adjusting when it all finally sinks in. Mallow is still probably on the high of the victorious adventure and having found his answers, but when that calms down, he might feel nostalgic for his days as a tadpole from time to time.
The Magic Flight: I'm guessing that it was the same cloud bus that gave them a ride off Bowser's keep after Smithy's defeat, since at that point, the bridge was yet to be rebuilt.
Rescue from Without: Mallow wasn't injured in the final battle, though I imagine he must have been tired and glad to be with his friends.
Crossing of the Return Threshold: The scene in the ending when Mallow is shown with the Nimbus Land king and queen, greeting his subjects.
Master of Two Worlds: The time beyond the game when Mallow finally finds the balance between his old life as an ordinary boy and his new life as a prince. This is hinted at in the parade, where Mallow is riding the cloud bus together with his parents and Frogfucious.
Freedom to Live: The post game period to come when Mallow grows up to be a wise king thanks to the experiences he had.
Traits
Mysterious birth: A boy that looks like a cloud whose origins are initially unknown, yup, sounds mysterious alright.
Missing childhood: It's not missing, he was raised by Frogfucious, but his whole childhood was in a sense a lie, since he was convinced he was a tadpole.
Identity in question: Then he found out that (shock) he was not a tadpole!
Betrayal: I'm guessing that Valentina must have earned the trust of the Nimbus king and queen to make her way into the palace and stage her takeover, but Mallow wasn't around at the time. Even so, she did try to steal what was rightfully his.
Tragic flaw: He cried too easily, though he did overcome it.
Death at the hands of evil: Didn't happen... But hey, if we stretch it, there has to be a metaphor in there somewhere. I know! The ignorance of his kingdom/parents robs him of his luxurious royal childhood and foolishness is an evil only cured by wisdom. There.
Resurrection myth: See the sentence above.
Special powers: Oh yes, definitely, I dedicated a whole page to them already.
Archetypes
Innocents: The mushrooms, the moles, the cloud people, even the reformed goombas and koopas.
Family: Frogfucious, king and queen Nimbus and maybe even the other tadpoles are like family to Mallow.
Sidekick: Mallow is more likely to be a sidekick than to have a sidekick.
Dreamer: Toadofsky, the mushroom composer from Tadpole Pond fits the bill, he's always dreaming about a new song, even if he mostly just rips off other songs Mario contributes. To be fair, Mario never told him where those tunes came from, so Toadofsky might be unaware of the copyright infringement.
Fool: The cloud people. The king and queen get their kingdom nearly stolen from under their noses and the citizens, save for Garro, do nothing. In theory, I think they all have some form of weather magic. I mean, why would Mallow be the only one? It wouldn't make sense, and they make it pretty clear this isn't something that Frogfucious taught him, though he must have offered some coaching at some point. This is likely a skill of Mallow's species, although to be fair, Valentina is very strong, so she could have overpowered the king and queen and used them as hostages against the guards. Still, if they had been wiser that whole mess might have been avoided.
Sage: Definitely Frogfucious.
Warrior: Mario, duh! Though Bowser would argue that it's him, and Jinx and Culex are quite the warriors, I'm still giving this one to Mario.
Nemesis: Valentina and Croco
Traitor: Maybe Valentina by extension.
Rebel: Surprisingly, Princess Peach. She's the one who's all like "screw the rules I'm jumping out the second floor window with my parasol as a parachute and joining the front lines!" That was not a literal quote, obviously. But really, the other characters pretty much do what's expected of them, save for the part about Bowser joining forces with Mario, which was rather unexpected at the time this game came out. Yet that was out of the need to get some kind of force organized that could get his castle back, he even insists that he's not joining Mario, but allowing Mario to join the Koopa Troop (gotta save face somehow). As for Peach, the chancellor insists that she remain in the castle when she expresses wanting to go with Mario. So she convinces her grandmother to cover for her while she sneaks out...
Nightmare Creature: Smithy, though I think Exor is much more badass, but I just have a thing for swords, especially big swords... Oh shut up, you know what I mean, keep your pervy jokes to yourself.