Croco

"Hoo Boy! Looks like a dead end, here. But not to worry...Heh, heh...I've got a Bomb...! Never leave home without 'em."

- Croco

Croco is a purple anthropomorphic crocodile thief from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. He is a recurring villain in the game who is always stealing things from other people. Croco is not allied to Smithy. In fact, he is allied only to himself and his only interest is getting rich.

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, but not without a warning: he'll be back to fight them again.

And he's telling the truth - When Mario, Mallow, and Geno jump on a spring in the Moleville 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 doesn't appear again until near the end of the game in Bowser's Keep. This time he doesn't battle Mario; instead, he sells him items and gives advice. He also happens to be near a Treasure Box (made by Magikoopa) that contains an infinite number of coins, so Mario can buy anything he needs.

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

Trivia

 * According to an "invisible" NPC in Mushroom Kingdom, Croco shamelessly wears crocodile-skin shoes, despite him being a crocodile himself.
 * Despite being classified as a crocodile, Croco shares several physical traits with Yoshis, namely his stature. His feet are also very similar in appearance to Boshi's.
 * Croco bears a slight resemblance to the crocodile character Sale from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.