One of the best things about Super Mario RPG compared to other games in the genre is that it’s a relatively brief adventure that doesn’t outstay its welcome. Despite generally being quite fast-paced, there are a few specific areas that last a little longer than others.
Perhaps the best example of this is the Sunken Ship section of the game, which takes place a little over halfway into Mario and the gang’s trip around the Mushroom Kingdom. This isn’t a particularly difficult area, but it does have a few puzzles towards the end that drag things out a bit. Luckily, we’re here to help.
How To Reach The Sunken Ship
The Sunken Ship part of Super Mario RPG takes place a few levels after Star Hill. After beating that area, you’ll find yourself in a location called Seaside Town. From here, talk to the elder and find out that there’s a Star in the Sea. Leave the Seaside Town and go towards the Sea. It’s a straight path here to where you need to be, so just keep going until you get outside of the cave and see a whirlpool in the sea.
Jump into the whirlpool and you’ll be sucked under the sea. Keep going towards the ship and enter it. Once again, the path forward here is pretty simple and mostly features fights against Greapers and a variety of other spooky enemies. You’ll eventually find yourself in a room that has two floors separated by a grate, which is where the puzzles begin.
How To Get The Sunken Ship Password
The puzzle room has six doors in it, three on each floor, and behind each of them is a puzzle. Completing them will offer you a clue that hints at what the password is for another door downstairs that’s blocking you from finishing the area. Go through each of the doors and complete their respective puzzle, which are all relatively simple, and you’ll get a clue to the final answer.
The first door has you guiding a flying Koopa Troopa into a cannonball to knock it off onto a switch, while the second door has you hitting blocks to line up springs to launch a cannonball onto, you guessed it, a switch. Third up is a 3D maze that will annoy the heck out of you, but is pretty easy if you just jump around and move. Next is the fourth puzzle, my favourite, which has you following a trail of coins around a room, making sure not to pick up the one that’s currently moving.
After that is a puzzle where you have to hit a box to launch a cannonball, and then jump under it to hit another box, repeating the process two more times. Finally, there’s a room with a barrel that you have to knock down, stand and jump on, and then roll over to one of the two switches to weigh it down, before jumping on the other yourself.
Sunken Ship Password Clues
Here are the clues if you don’t want to know the answer and just to be reminded of what each scroll says.
The first clue reads, “There is an S in the word”. The second clue reads, “It is found on the bed of the ocean”. The third clue reads, “It has two vowels”. The fourth clue reads, “It is very valuable”. The fifth clue reads, “‘It’ is actually a ‘they'”. The sixth and final clue reads, “The R comes before the L”.
What Is The Sunken Ship Password?
If you don’t want to go through all six of the Sunken Ship puzzle rooms in order to find the password and just want to skip ahead a bit, then we’ve got you covered. The password for the Sunken Ship door is “PEARLS”, and that’s the same for every playthrough, so if you’re speedrunning it or just don’t want to spend any more time in such a long section of the game, then feel free to skip ahead to the end.
Moving through the unlocked door will put you up against the boss of the Sunken Ship, a huge squid that has you fighting his tentacles before getting to smash his face in. He’s a relatively easy boss for this section of the game, so don’t sweat this bit too much.