Yaridovich

"I'm such a genius, it scares me sometimes. No wonder I'm so important!"

- Yaridovich

Yaridovich is one of Smithy's lieutenants in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and a master of disguise. He is a shape-shifter and can assume many sizes and shapes, just like Smithy. Yaridovich can even impersonate whole populations by splitting himself into multiple bodies. However, Yaridovich cannot change his color, and as such, any form he takes exists in shades of gray and red. In his true form, Yaridovich resembles a spear. His name itself comes from a Japanese spear known as a "yari". It is also a Russian patronym that means "Son of Yarid."

History
Yaridovich is charged with acquiring the fifth Star Piece on Smithy's behalf during the events of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. To trick Mario, Yaridovich kidnaps the population of Seaside Town and imprisons them in a large building. Then, Yaridovich split his essence into a multitude of Toad-shaped bodies, including a Toad elder. When Mario arrives in the town, Yaridovich, in his disguise as the Town Elder, asks the hero to retrieve the Star Piece for him. Mario agrees and heads for the sea.

When Mario returns with the Star Piece, Yaridovich reveals that he is a member of the Smithy Gang and will torture the real Town Elder with a tickling feather until Mario surrenders the Star Piece. Mario reluctantly agrees, and Yaridovich runs to the coast. Mario follows behind.

Yaridovich was to be picked up by the Axem Rangers and their battleship Blade. However, the Axem Rangers were running late, so Yaridovich decides to swim away. Before he can reach the water, Jonathan Jones appears and blocks the fake Toads' path. With nowhere to run, Yaridovich assumes his true form and battles Mario and his allies.

Yaridovich attacks the party with a variety of powerful magic. After he takes a few blows, Yaridovich creates a double of himself using Mirage attack!. The Yaridovich that takes more damage than the other is the fake (and also has a different Psychopath thought). At this point, Yaridovich and his clone attack primarily with melee attacks and Skewer). After repeating this cycle a few times, Yaridovich relents, leaving behind the Star Piece, as well as the Shed Key required to rescue Seaside Town's true inhabitants.

Yaridovich returns as a Machine Made, a gray, mass-produced copy of the original. Interestingly, it can split into four Machine Made Jabits or Drill Bits with the Multiplier! move.

Yaridovich can be seen in the parade during the end credits, along with Mack and Bowyer, in which all three are pounded by Smithy's hammer.

Appearance
Yaridovich resembles a spear-like mechanical monstrosity, and is shown to have the ability to assume many sizes and shapes. He can even impersonate whole populations by splitting himself into multiple bodies. However, Yaridovich cannot change his color, and as such, any form he takes exists in shades of gray and red.

Battle
Yaridovich always starts his battle using Water Blast, and he'll use it every two turns. Every second turn, he can use Flame Stone, Will Wisp, Pierce (causes double damage of a normal move) or his physical move. All of these moves can easily cause over 50 damage, since he has high attacking stats. Toadstool and her Group Hug are many times necessary in the battle. Mallow's HP Rain is also useful, but is unreliable since heals only one character at a time. He also has high defenses, so any move many times will cause under 50 damage. However, Yaridovich is weak to Thunder, so Mallow's Shocker can easily cause over 100 damage. At times, he can make a clone to yourself. This clone has two decent special moves: Meteor Blast and Static E!. However, this has much lower defenses. Mallow's Thunderbolt can easily identify who is the clone. This also has lower attacking stats, so neither of his attacks will be very dangerous.

Trivia

 * After doing the mirage attack, Yaridovich's true form can be ascertained simply by not moving the cursor when you make an attack. When choosing a target to attack with the A button (or using a single-target magic attack with the Y button), despite that there are now two indistinguishable Yaridovich's, the default target for any action you make, as well as the copy with significantly higher defense, will be the true Yaridovich.