Doomsday31415

If you open the menu at the same time as jumping to hit a star chest, you'll be able to switch party members around while under the effects of a star.  By doing this, the game applies all level up bonuses (including HP and spells) to the switched member.  In this way, you can give Peach the bonuses Mallow would have gotten at level 70 (e.g. Dark Star).

Death doesn't disqualify the run, but no save states or other emulator features allowed!

Well, that was fast.

There's a reason no one else has touched hard mode with an 8 foot pole... 

Yes:

https://www.speedrun.com/smrpg_armageddon

At the present time, there isn't a separate category for v8 easy/hard compared to v8 beta.  If there were, my best (and only) time in v8 easy would be 3:25:03*.

* Depends on start/end timing.

There's two major reasons to do it with the beta:

1. A lot of the early boss fights are faster (Mallow does more damage with Shocker and the bosses have less HP) and a lot of the later boss fights are safer/faster (Dark is used far less)
2. Most boss fights yield 1 exp, which saves a ton of time skipping the level up screen.

There's one fight near the end that gives thousands of experience and takes a few minutes to get through the level up sequence for, but it's much faster to do it all at once than spread out through the game.

Nice!  Even more impressive is the fact you did it while missing over 300 max HP!

Thanks for the shoutout, and welcome to the Xion club! 

30 minutes ago, Fein-Life said:

What mode is this

This was with one of the betas for v8, which you can find in the downloads section.

Good luck!  No amount of strategy will save you from Xion if you can't block her attacks...

And you're welcome 

Considering Rosalina is entirely strategy, and you saw exactly how to do it, it's not surprising you were able to win.  She is the hardest boss., though, so grats all the same. 

Galaxy items, specifically Galaxy Rings, will help you survive Xion.  I farmed coins using the Master.

Switching out Mario is dependent on the rom, since certain events get broken by the change.  So the patch would need to be made specifically for vanilla.

Unfortunately, I don't remember what the changes are, so your only chance is to check with DK and hope he has the changes written down somewhere.

It's relatively small, but the superboss armors do have different stats in v8.

Boss rush is basically post Smithy, so it would be an even longer run.

As far as rules, it's what you would expect: no emulator features.

A lot of bosses use certain attacks after a set number of turns.  Rosalina is no exception.

I used speed bracer on Mario because it maximized my chances of success.

Crystal Rings are probably the way to go.  They provide the status protection while Lazy Shell/Nova Armor/Rainbow Robe protect against the elements.

Schala's Ring gives one character invincibility.  On the 10th use, it gives everyone invincibility and disappears forever.  You can't get it back due to a bug.

Nova Armor is the male counterpart to the Rainbow Robe.

Super Suit and Brave Suit don't matter to you at this point.  Every point of defense makes a massive difference.

Have you beaten May and Dawn?  You'll want their rewards before doing the FF boss rush...

14 minutes ago, Fein-Life said:

What setup did you use ? The only problem I run into is Peach dies after riot blade overtime.. and Mario will die after Tsunami or whatever its called if he doesn't block or have the invincibility.. 

Do you have a video of beating her hardmode and do you have a gear set recommendation?

You can always use Celebi to keep Peach invincible for a little while.  Schala's Ring is very useful for this as well.

I don't have a video for beating Terra, since I didn't feel she was that hard compared to the others.

No, she has 10 lives.  However, if you don't defeat her fast enough, she'll heal them back indefinitely.

1 minute ago, Fein-Life said:

Crystal Stars is used in the Terra fight or Rosalina?

The latter.

1 minute ago, Fein-Life said:

I've definitely taken 10 lives off of terra and she just keeps on KEEPING ON........ this is insane..

Like I said, one life is restored every time Terra uses Riot Blade, up to the maximum of 10.

I believe her max lives are 10.

By the way, Crystal Stars also heals a life.  Max lives for THAT fight is 10.

4 minutes ago, Fein-Life said:

Ummmm.... Does Terra Die? I've been fighting her for 8 hours and I'm starting to think something is wrong... lol. I gotta be close yeah??

Every time Riot Blade gets used, Terra heals a life.  If you didn't know, a life is 30,000 HP.

All four of the pokemon Dawn is referring to can be found in Nimbus Land.  Since you already have Celebi, Latias and Latios are the only others you're missing.

9 minutes ago, Fein-Life said:

Also, where do you get the Lazy shell weapon?

You don't.  The Ultima Weapon is Mario's strongest weapon except for the weapon you get for beating boss rush.

6 minutes ago, Fein-Life said:

I really feel like I'm stuck in the game with a wall.. I got to Rosalina but didn't bother facing her because I used my Found illusion on Exor.. 

You can get additional Found Illusions in the Sunken Ship with Rin Kagemine, Lin Kagemine, and Luka Megurine.  Beyond that, you can defeat Larxene to get infinite Found Illusions.

In case you're not aware:

http://ngplus.net/InsaneDifficultyArchive/www.insanedifficulty.com/board/indexab10.html?/topic/7319-the-ultimate-game-content-spoiler-q-a-thread-v80/

2 minutes ago, Fein-Life said:

How the fuck did you beat Xion without save states....

Blood, sweat, and a lot of blocking.

The better question is how I kept my sanity without using fast forward through all that...

3 minutes ago, Fein-Life said:

And the dark daisy you actually beat with Attacks? I just figured out my Ultima Weapon hits for about 15k Damage , that shocked me.. but I still haven't figured out how to get his better weapons..

Ultima, Dark Star, and Meteor all hit for 20k+.  Ultima Weapon is Mario's best weapon until after you beat boss rush.

I actually made videos for the final bosses of v8 hard without save states.  Just search for "VS Xion" and such.  You have two options with the Dark Daisies: burst them down before they attack, or use invincibility.

17 minutes ago, Fein-Life said:

Also, is there some kind of pre requisite for finding Latias Latios? I've encountered so many hidden daisy and they never appear...

Did you talk to May?

If that's not the issue, do keep in mind that entering an area with a hidden monster will increment the counter as well.  Also, you can't just load a save state after getting a daisy, you need to run away and try again.

Glad you're enjoying it!

You're playing hard mode, right?  Things are about to get a lot "harder" for you...

P.S.: There's a discord (link's up top) for smrpga and ng+ in general.