I just defeated him on my second try. The second Croco, that is. I'll tell you how it was done later in this post.

So... I finally made it trough the Sewers and fought the second pushover so far in this challange. Seriously... Belome was a joke. Almost as easy as the Hammer Brothers.

So... next, I went trough Rose Way. No bosses, but a lot of annoying enemies to avoid. I didn't really bother getting the coin boxes, as they are being guarded by enemies. It's simply not worth risk.

So... I restocked on a few items in Rose Town before entering the forest... where I got my second Game Over so far. And yes, the 2 Game Overs so far were both because I accidently runned into an enemy and just wasn't able to escape before I got owned.

Bowyer wasn't too bad, actually. Another boss that I beat on my first try. But that may be because he NEVER used that Electric attack that hits all the characters. 90% of his attacks were, in fact, just normal attacks which I could survive by blocking... even though I usually just got a -50% block.
I defended with Mario and Mallow almost all the time. And whenever someone got KOed or were at too low HP, I revived/healed with them. A few times, I threw in a Jump with Mario, though. Geno was only doing normal attacks trough the entire battle.

Bothe Mario and mallowed leveled up. I picked Special Attak/Def with Mario and HP with Mallow, simply because Mallow would get a +6HP bonus. I figured that would be better than a +1 boost in S.Atk/Def. I'll try to focus as much as possible on Special Atk/Def as possible, though. Because all physical attacks from enemies can be blocked, while specials can't. Also, the characters physical attacks will be useless later on, so you'll have to rely a lot more on Special Attacks like Super Jump.

Next up is Croco 2 in Molleville. The first BOSS that I got a Game Over on. First, I went back to Rose Town to pick up Geno's first weapon, the Finger Shot, though. And I also bought him a Mega Cape in Molleville. So there... now Geno's equipment won't change for the rest of the game.

The first battle against Croco went pretty much like this: Geno attacks, Mario Jumps, Mallow defends. Croco attacks physically, I block for half dammage. Repeat. And whenever someone was at low HP, I healed them with mushrooms.
Bombs= instant KO's as long as they don't hit Geno. But you'll just have to use Pick Me Up's. However... then, Croco stole my items. THIS is when it gets tough. Croco starts "throwing enemies" at you, for a great deal of dammage. Mario will die in one hit, even if he's defending. And I never managed to get in any 0 dammage blocks... so he got KOed pretty early. Geno and mallow could take one of those without getting KOed, but soon my FP would run out, which would mean no more HP Rains... which means that I'm screwed. Soon, they both got KOed.

Anyways... I didn't just attempt him directly. I knew that I had to come up with a solid strategy. Geno is your main man in this battle since he's the only one who really can survive during the second part. Even Mallow dies in 2 hits, if he blocks. And if he fails to block, 1 hit will be enough. So... how do you beat Croco?
Well... I decided that what I really needed was a nice boost in Defense and Attack power! So...

...I got 4 Frog Coins and went to Tadpole Pond and bought 1 Bracer and 1 Energizer. So... in the very begining of the battle, I used them both on Geno with Mario and Mallow. From now on, Geno could easily take anything Croco would throw at him, while Geno himself would deal about 50-60 dammage every turn. So... bye ,bye Croco!

After the battle against Croco 2, I went back out of the cave to save and restock on a few items. And that's where I currently am.


ps: A total of 3 Game Overs so far.