Croco

"Heh, heh...I've got a bomb...! Never leave home without 'em."

- Croco

Croco is a purple anthropomorphic crocodile bandit from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. His name is a shortening of the word "crocodile". He is a recurring villain in the game who is always stealing things from other people.

Mario first sees Croco being chased by Mallow. When Croco escapes, Mallow starts to cry, and a rainstorm begins. Mario talks to Mallow, who says that Croco stole his grandpa Frogfucius' Frog Coin that Mallow was supposed to trade for a Cricket Pie. Mario agrees to get the Frog Coin back for Mallow and Mallow joins Mario. They move on to Bandit's Way, where they spot Croco. They chase him, until he hops on blocks to get past the area with boulders blocking the paths. He claims he is "still 100 miles away", so Mario and Mallow continue to chase him through Bandit's Way until they hit a dead end. Croco goes into hiding. Mario and Mallow sneak behind him thrice to shock him. Just before Croco is able to run for a fourth time, Mallow yells at him to stop running. Croco claims he will give the coin back, but instead attacks. After giving much damage to Croco, Mallow again runs up to him and scolds him, threatening to give another belting to him if the coin is not returned. Croco gives it to the duo, hops around with anger, and leaves.

When Mario, Mallow, and Geno jump on a trampoline in the Coal Mines that is supposed to be an exit, Mario hits the ceiling of the mines and faints. Croco then proceeds to steal all of Mario's coins. After chasing Croco (who is here aided by a trio of Crooks) again, Mario, Mallow, and Geno battle the purple thief. Halfway through the battle, Croco steals all of Mario's items, but the party of heroes gets the items back at the end of the fight.

Croco makes a small appearance in Nimbus Land where Mario catches him looting houses and scares him off, causing Croco to drop a Signal Ring.

Croco does not appear again until near the end of the game in Bowser's Keep. This time he sells the player items and gives advice.

In the ending sequence of the game, Croco is seen racing in the Mushroom Derby against Yoshi. Though he loses this race, he is consoled by the bystander Boshi and the two walk off together.

Trivia

 * According to an "invisible" NPC in Mushroom Kingdom, Croco shamelessly wears crocodile-skin shoes, despite him being a crocodile himself.
 * If Croco is hit by a fireball in any battle, his tail catches on fire and he wastes a turn trying to put it out.
 * Croco is similar in personality to Popple, another thief that steals items and is a boss.

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