Rubber Band is a boss in Paper Mario: The Origami King. It is a large humanoid rubber band monster (true form a single rubber band) that guards the Blue Streamer and is a part of the Legion of Stationery. It is the main boss of Chapter 2, is the second boss of that Chapter and is overall the fourth boss of the game.
History[]
Paper Mario: The Origami King[]
Rubber Band kidnaps a large horde of Toads, likely consisting of Shogun Studios park-goers and staff. After Mario, Olivia and Bobby reach Big Sho' Theater, Rubber Band forces Mario to play a role in its stage show. Mario passes though three stages - a Wild West gunfight, a battle with Paper Macho Koopas, and a Swan Lake parody - before fighting Rubber Band. It is defeated after being separated from its banded armor and flung into the wall.
Attacks[]
Rubber Band's attacks change depending on its form.
In its first form, before the battle begins and at the end of its turn, Rubber Band slings several rubber bands onto the arena. If Mario walks onto these spaces, he is slung to the other side of the band, while also continuing any actions executed during that turn. Rubber Band also attacks by flinging rubber bands that can trap Mario and cost him a turn. If caught, the boss will pull on the band that restrained Mario and fling it back at Mario. The last possible attack it can perform is one where it snaps a rubber band at Mario.
In its second form, Rubber Band will snap itself at Mario, dealing heavy damage. It will also try and counterattack
Strategy[]
At first glance, the battle with Rubber Band seems tough. Not only are its attacks hard to block, but if Rubber Band is damaged through normal attacks (hammer, jump or an item), it will regain all of its rubber bands and restore health. The only way to defeat Rubber Band is to press the ON switch then activate the 1,000 Fold Arms, after which Mario can then grab the top of Rubber Band's head, stretch and let go. Not only will it inflict a large amount of damage (varying on how close to Rubber Band you are), but it will also remove some of its rubber bands from the arena, limiting the amount of health that Rubber Band can restore. This must be done until Rubber Band loses all but one of its bands, which commences the second phase. When Rubber Band is low on health, make sure you are at full health so you can survive the attack it launches at the start of the second phase.
In the second phase, Rubber Band is immune to normal and Vellumental attacks, and will continuously attack with the powerful “Solo Snapback” attack. In order to deal the finishing blow, the player must press the ON switch and activate the 1,000 Fold Arms like before. This time, Rubber Band quickly moves left to right and will occasionally try to "chomp" Mario, doing 22 damage. Either wait until Rubber Band stops moving and bends its "head" to then grab Rubber Band and deal the finishing blow, tank Rubber Band's chomp to then grab it from that angle, or try to snag it as it’s moving, before it can attack you.
Trivia[]
- A small tip is that during the second phase of Rubber Band, Rubber Band will always stop in the left (Mario's right) side.
- Rubber Band is very similar to Magnus Von Grapple from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, seeing as both are boss fights against large humanoid entities and both bosses have a launching move.
- Additionally, both are the main bosses of the second Chapter that takes place in a forest-like area.
- Rubber Band is infamous for its second phase where it not only has one of the hardest-hitting attacks in the game, but is also able to cheap shot the player with no apparent way to avoid it.
- Rubber Band is the first boss in Paper Mario: The Origami King to be able to hit Mario during the 1,000 Folded Arm section.