Skip to main content

How to find secret boss Culex in Super Mario RPG

If there’s something that you can count on in just about every role-playing game, it’s that you’ll eventually have an opportunity to fight a secret optional boss that is stronger than anything else in the game. In Super Mario RPG, that optional challenge is Culex, an interdimensional being that looks quite out of place in the world of Super Mario RPG with his 16-bit visuals, which are retained from the original SNES version of the game.

What hasn’t changed, though, is that he’s still a tough opponent to take down. But before laying the hurt on him, you’ll need to actually find him. Here’s how to get to Culex and earn a valuable reward for his defeat.

How to find Culex

Finding Culex begins by heading to a home on the left side of Moleville. There are a few folks in here, but you’re looking for the guy selling fireworks for a whopping 500 coins. Purchase these outrageously expensive fireworks, then head back outside to a nearby girl who is pretending to run a store. You can give her the fireworks in exchange for a Shiny Stone, which is exactly the item that you’ll need to access the door that leads you to the fight against Culex.

Once you’ve obtained the Shiny Stone from Moleville, make your way to Monstro Town. When you arrive, look for a sealed door on the bottom level. Specifically, if you’re coming from the stairs, it’ll be the third door from the right. With the Shiny Stone in your inventory, you’ll break the seal on the door when you interact with it, allowing you to enter and face off against Super Mario RPG‘s ultimate challenge.

Mario stands near a door in Super Mario RPG.
Nintendo

Prepare for a big bump in difficulty when facing down this hulking foe, as he’s got quite a huge HP pool and can deal some substantial damage to your party. As such, it’s best not to try to tackle this fight until you’ve powered up quite a lot yourself, ensuring to also bring an abundance of healing items to keep your party alive through his devastating attacks.

With enough strategy and plenty of healing, though, you can take Culex down and earn yourself the immensely helpful Quartz Charm, which will boost one character’s damage by 50%, as well as prevent you from succumbing to instant death attacks. Having such a powerful accessory makes the whole process of finding and fighting Culex well worth the effort, even if it did cost you a ridiculous 500 coins, too.

And you may find that there’s one new secret waiting for you too, but we’ll leave that for you to discover.

Editors' Recommendations

Billy Givens
Billy Givens is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. His work can be…
Princess Peach Showtime: all dresses and how to get them
Peach holds a sword in Princess Peach: Showtime!

Princess Peach Showtime largely revolves around the titular character finding and equipping a variety of exciting costumes to earn special powers, but she can also find various new dress styles to equip for purely aesthetic purposes. While some can be purchased at the Lobby Shop right away, some will only be available there after beating bosses -- and others will require you to find ribbons throughout your adventure to unlock. Here's where to find every dress in Princess Peach Showtime.
All dress locations in Princess Peach Showtime

Checkered Dress - Earn 100 points or more in "Kung Fu Rehearsal"
Cowgirl Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "Cowgirl in the Wilderness"
Dashing Thief Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "The Perfect Infiltration"
Detective Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "The Case of the Missing Mural"
Disco Dress - Purchase at the Lobby Shop for 500 Coins (must have beaten Disco Wing)
Fang Dress - Purchase at the Lobby Shop for 500 Coins (must have beaten Light Fang)
Figure Skater Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "A Snow Flower on Ice"
Geometric Dress - Earn 45 points or more in "Cowgirl Rehearsal"
Gradient Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 100 Coins
Grape Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 500 Coins (must have beaten the game)
Heart Dress - Earn 100 points or more in "Dashing Thief Rehearsal"
Horizontal-Stripes Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 100 Coins
Kung Fu Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "A Kung Fu Tale"
Mermaid Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "Melody of the Sea"
Mighty Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "Mighty Mission: Alien Invasion"
Ninja Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "Ninjutsu: The Art of Rapids"
Patissiere Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "Welcome to the Festival of Sweets"
Polka-Dot Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 100 Coins
Purrjector Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop (must have beaten Purrjector Cat)
Radiant Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 500 Coins (must have beaten the game)
Regular Dress - Unlocked automatically
Scaly Dress - Earn 60 points or more in "Mighty Rehearsal"
Secret Dress - Find every Theet (must have beaten the game)
Sparkle Dress - Purchase at the Lobby Shop for 500 Coins (must have collected 100 Sparkle Gems)
Special Cowgirl Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark Locomotive & the Doomed Town")
Special Dashing Thief Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark Prison & the Dangerous Trap")
Special Detective Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark Museum & the Purple Mystery")
Special Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 1,000 Coins (must have collected all Sparkle Gems)
Special Figure Skater Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark Ice & the Shadowy Stage")
Special Kung Fu Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark School & the Twisted Fist")
Special Mermaid Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark Depths & the Swirling Currents")
Special Mighty Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "Dark Space & the Great Meteor")
Special Ninja Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark Ninja & the Legion Guards")
Special Patissiere Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark Baker & the Bewitching Sweets")
Special Swordfighter Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 300 Coins (must have beaten "The Dark Swordfighter & the Arena")
Spotlion Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 500 Coins (must have beaten Spotlion)
Starry Dress - Earn 140 or more points in "Swordfighter Rehearsal"
Swordfighter Dress - Find Ribboner and collect the ribbon in "The Castle of Thorns"
Two-Tone Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 100 Coins
Vertical-Stripes Dress - Purchase from the Lobby Shop for 100 Coins

Read more
Super Mario Bros. Wonder almost featured a realistic Mario and surfing
A Wonder Effect appears in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Last year, Nintendo brought Mario back to his 2D roots with a surprise new game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The critically acclaimed platformer was an instant crowd-pleaser thanks in no small part to its namesake feature, Wonder Effects. These power-ups completely transformed Mario’s world, letting its developers experiment with wacky ideas from wiggling pipes to singing Piranha Plants.

The notoriously secretive Nintendo has now peeled back the curtain on how those creative swings came to be. The company hosted a panel about the game’s development at this year’s Game Developers Conference. In it, Producer Takashi Tezuka and Director Shiro Mouri went in depth about how it built Wonder Effects. The panel included some wild ideas that ended up on the cutting room floor – enough to fill a sequel.

Read more
How to play Mario Kart 8 online with friends
Mario, Link, Isabelle, and a Squid Kid race down the track in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch.

Multiplayer games began as purely local events. If you wanted to play with, or against, your friends, there was no other option than to get together either at someone's house or, if you're going even further back in time, at a local arcade. While playing locally is still a great way to play, it isn't always an option. Online multiplayer is not only more convenient most of the time, but it has become the norm for nearly all modern multiplayer games.

Read more