Grate Guy

“Yikes!! They're pretty tough!”

—Grate Guy, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Grate Guy is a jester in the game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. He and his partner, Knife Guy, work for Booster as bodyguards as well as jesters. As Booster flees to Marrymore with Princess Toadstool in tow, Mario is prevented from leaving Booster Tower by the pair of jesters. As such, Mario and company must battle Grate Guy and Knife Guy on the balcony of the tower.

Grate Guy is a magic user, and generally the more dangerous of the two; he will either attack, use Echofinder to Silence a target (preventing them from using magic), or use an attack that does no damage, but puts the target to Sleep. At some point in the battle, Knife Guy will call for a team-up, and he will stand on Grate Guy's head. They are still considered separate targets during this time.

It is in this team-up phase that the battle's real difficulty lies: Grate Guy will use Meteor Blast every turn, inflicting strong damage to the party. This phase's length is determined by a hidden counter, as well as Grate and Knife Guy's HP. Each time Grate Guy takes damage, the counter is increased by 1, and each time he uses Meteor Blast, the counter is increased by 2. If either Grate or Knife Guy is defeated, or the counter reaches at least 5, they will separate and return to their first phase. The battle comes down to defeating one of them as quickly as possible, as neither Grate or Knife Guy are much of a threat on their own. If Mallow has learned Shocker, he can use it on Grate Guy to easily inflict a couple hundred points of damage, but is probably better off keeping the party healed with items and HP Rain, at least until Knife Guy is defeated.

Later in the game, Grate Guy opens up Grate Guy's Casino. The entrance to the casino is well hidden in the underground of Bean Valley. Only those with a Bright Card, the casino membership card, may enter. Mario can win a membership from Knife Guy. The odds at the casino are terrible however; Mario and other casino members can lose a lot of coins here, much to Grate Guy's satisfaction.

Grate Guy holds no grudges against Mario and will even play the game "Look the Other Way" with the plumber. To play, Mario must guess which way Grate Guy will look, and look the other way. Essentially, the game has 50/50 odds. If Mario wins, he will be usually be rewarded with sub-par prizes such as a Rotten Mush or a Wilt Shroom and a Moldy Mush, although he will occasionally receive rare items like Red Essences and Kerokero Colas. If Mario plays a hundred times, he will be rewarded with the Star Egg, an extremely powerful item.

Trivia

• Despite his name ending with "Guy", he is not a Shy Guy species.
• Grate Guy likes to balance on a circus ball, just like Bowser's follower, Lemmy Koopa.