Paper Mario Dark Star Edition: The Dark Replicator with CantWin File Code (4.5x)

0:00:00 Badge and Item Build 0:00:26 Fight begins 0:17:36 10 Replications down 0:34:26 20 Replications down 0:50:33 30 Replications down 1:09:27 40 Replications down 1:27:47 50 Replications down 1:43:53 60 Replications down 1:59:23 70 Replications down 2:17:23 80 Replications down 2:29:13 Replicator KO'd, 3 Replications left The moment you stepped before me... You sealed your own fate! CantWin is a File Code in Dark Star Edition that sets you to level 27, gives you all 128 badges, and the 5 unlockable stones immediately (all but Greed, Badge, and Rainbow). However, in return, it forces all encounters to be at least 4.5x difficulty, the equivalent of Super + Mega Curse. Equipping Curse badges does NOT stack with this multiplier, but if you equip Ultra + Mega Curse or all 3 Curses, you will do a fight on that respective difficulty instead of the innate 4.5x difficulty that CantWin forces. You can fight the 7 main Temple bosses in any order you desire, but I chose to fight them in the 'intended' order (the order fought in the Dark Rush). The Dark Replicator is the 7th fight as a result. The Dark Replicator has 20 Base HP, which scales up to 90 on CantWin's innate 4.5x difficulty. The Replicator doesn't attack directly. However, it has 99 Defense, which means you can't damage it directly either. The Replicator's gimmick, which is how it takes damage, is that it creates Dark Replications, of which it will always try to maintain having 3 out. Each Replication created forces the Replicator to lose 1 HP. If there are 3 Replications out when its turn begins, the Replicator will spend its turn healing the Replications for 8 HP each; a recovery that does NOT scale up with Curses. The Dark Replications also have 20 Base HP (90), but they have 0 Defense. They have 6 Base Attack each, but that base value increases by 1 for each one-sixth of HP that they're missing. Their Base Attack can therefore be as high as 11, and CantWin's innate difficulty scales their attack up to between 27-49 depending on where said Replications' HP is. Understanding the Replicator's effective HP is not like other fights in this game due to the Replications. You get the Replicator's effective HP with Curses by taking its max HP (after curse scaling) and squaring it. With 90 Replications able to be created, the Dark Replicator effectively has 8100 HP in CantWin's innate 4.5x modifier. Here it is; I'm at the point where I can no longer ignore him. When it comes to CantWin, this is the true boss of Chapter 9. No singular fight has more HP to deal with in CantWin than this one, and it's not even remotely close. Even giving other fights the handicap of 9x difficulty STILL doesn't hold a candle to this fight on 4.5x. That said, it's actually straightforward to survive the Replications' attacks. If you KO 1 of them each turn, the remaining 2 won't deal more than 18 damage from full HP with all fractional reductions active. And you can bring that damage down further through Super Guarding, which as you'll see is pretty easy to pull off in this fight once you get a feel for it. Needless to say, the Mega Bounce Exploit is the only way you'll have any chance of clearing this fight. Alongside Mega Bounce and Dodge Master, Perfect Stand and Dark Shield ensure that I take as little damage as possible. I'm also using both HP Drain and Pity Flower, aiming for absolute longevity. The Mega Bounce Exploit fully makes up for not having any +Attack badges. Dark Saver is used to help reduce move costs since I will use FP every round in some way. My item build consists of 10 Yoshi Biscuits and 10 Dark Shroom Cakes, fitting of a pseudo-immortal build. Double Dip is mandatory as it generally is, and Item Saver is used in order to maximize the number of regen turns I have to work with. Thanks to Item Saver, I have 87 turns of regen to work with instead of the 60 that I'd get without it. With how long this fight is, you can imagine why Item Saver was also always going to be a mandatory addition to the build for this fight. Lakilester and Buzzatrice are the main partners to use. Lakilester maintains Cloud Nine's damage reduction, and Buzzatrice is mainly used for Rejuvenate support so that I can get through additional turns without reliance on Cake Regen. Other partners such as Bombette, Bow, and even Watt are good while you have cake regen active though. The best way to get the extra turns needed, as I learned while progressing through this fight, is as follows: Use Cloud Nine before your last turn of Cake Regen (even if you already have Cloud Nine active) Super Guard the attack of either surviving Replication (doesn't matter which, but Pity Flower gets you more total FP back if you only Super Guard the first one) Mega Bounce KO any of the replications Use Rejuvenate to get back the necessary HP in conjunction with HP Drain When Cloud Nine runs out, refresh your Cake Regen and Cloud Nine in the same turn