Geno

Geno
Real Name	♥♪!?
Species	Star Spirit
Affiliation	Star Road
Weaponry	Hand guns
Abilities	Magic
Debut	Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Geno is one of the playable party members featured in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and its Switch remake. The character Geno is actually a spirit from some celestial civilization tasked with guarding the Star Road, where he was known by a different name. His true name is said to be incomprehensible in human language, but it is presented as presented as the symbols "♥♪!?". He became known as Geno due to the Geno doll he possessed.

Background

When the Star Road was shattered by Exor, ♥♪!? was dispatched to the surface by an unspecified "higher authority" in order to gather the seven pieces of the shattered road, so the Star Road could be repaired. To do so, he needed to take on an earthly form. After browsing the toy collection of young Gaz of Rose Town, he chose to possess the Geno doll, thus growing it to life-size. He then entered the Forest Maze in pursuit of a Star Piece that had landed there. It had ended up in the possession of Bowyer, and so Geno confronted him for it. This escalated into a battle, where Geno soon received assistance from Mario and Mallow. Together, the three of them destroyed Bowyer (and did so with a Triple Move in the Switch remake).

Afterwards he explained his mission to Mario and Mallow, and they decided to travel together in search of the seven Star Pieces. As neither Mario nor Mallow could comprehend his name, he simply called himself Geno after the doll. Geno proved to be invaluable to Mario's party. In battle, his magic techniques vanquished many an enemy. Outside of battle, Geno provided moral support for his comrades. Towards the end of the adventure, he even convinced Bowser himself to continue helping Mario against the Smithy Gang at a point when Bowser was ready to turn back due to his castle having been freed. In the Switch remake, he also played a role in a post-game sidquest that chronologically took place prior to the final battle. In this sidequest, Geno noticed activity on Star Hill while Mario was asleep at the Marrymore Inn, and they went to investigate, resulting in finding new wishes that were connected to boss rematches. In one of those encounters, Booster was fascinated with Geno due to just now noticing him and realizing that he was a living doll. He gave Geno the Stella 023 weapon after their battle.

When Smithy was finally destroyed and the seventh Star Piece was gathered, ♥♪!? left his body and returned to the sky, leaving behind the empty Geno doll. In the sky, he united the Star Pieces to fix the Star Road. In his star form, he was able to watch the following celebrations before ascending to the stars above. In the Switch version, he had a moment where he reunited with Mario, Peach, Mallow (carrying the Geno doll) and Bowser to watch the fireworks before ascending. As for the Geno doll, Mallow was seen carrying it in some ending scenes, and Gaz was also seen playing with it in one ending scene, indicating that it was returned to him.

Cameos

A Geno doll also appeared in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga as the host of the Star 'Stache minigame in the Little Fungitown arcade. The ending credits confirmed that the rights to Geno are were owned by Square-Enix, who had developed Super Mario RPG as Squaresoft. Geno's appearance was omitted from the 3DS remake.

Abilities

Geno was imbued with powerful magic and tended to have high attack power with lower defense. The special abilities he learned throughout the game are:

• Geno Beam: A powerful blast of energy charged by Geno.
• Geno Boost: This move can raise an ally's attack power.
• Geno Whirl: Geno summons a whirling disk that, depending on the timing, can be either pitifully weak or infinitely strong. It can do as much as 9999 damage, although its strength is nerfed in most boss battles.
• Geno Blast: An expanded version of the Geno Beam that attacked all enemies.
• Geno Flash: This charged blast is so powerful that Geno transforms into a cannon fire it.

In the Switch remake, he could also take part in Triple Moves along with Mario and a third party member:

• Star Riders: Carried out with Mallow. The first Star Piece floated upon into the sky, and the three characters rode rainbow paths that formed to catch up to it, with Geno helping a stumbling Mallow along the way. Upon reaching the star, the three unleashed powerful blasts powered by the Star Piece upon one enemy.
• Shooting Star Shot: Carried out with Bowser. For this attack, Bowser hurled Mario and Geno into the air. Mario would then grab Geno in mid-air and toss him even higher into the air. From there, Geno would unload his Star Shot so that the stars rained down on all enemies with greater power.
• Spare-Us-All: Carried out with Peach. Peach enlarges her parasol and opens it with help from Geno and Mario, forming a protective shield that would temporarily protect them from all attacks.

Geno's main weapons involve firing projectiles from his hand. The Finger Shot, Hand Gun and Hand Cannon weapons will allow Geno to follow bullets from his hand at enemies. With the Double Punch weapon equipped, Geno will instead fire out his fists. There was also the Star Gun weapon that shot stars at enemies. The Switch version added an ultimate weapon for him called Stella 023.

Geno's armor consisted primarily of capewear. This included the Mega Cape, Happy Cape, Sailor Cape, Fuzzy Cape, Fire Cape and Star Cape.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, a Geno costume for Mii Fighters was included as part of a DLC pack that also included a playable Square character, Cloud Strife. The full costume could only be worn by Mii Gunners, but its hat could be worn by any Mii Fighter. Geno later appeared as a Primary Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that could be gained through Summoning or a Spirit battle. When fought in a Spirit battle, Geno would possess Sheik, and the battle would also involve Mario, Bowser, Peach and Kirby (acting as a stand-in for Mallow).
• In Tetris 99, Geno's image made a background appearance during a Super Mario RPG-themed event that promoted the release of the Switch remake.

Other Media

• He appeared in the Super Mario-Kun manga when it adapted Super Mario RPG, with a role similar to his role in the game.

Trivia

• In the Japanese version, Geno's true name is presented as a different group of made-up symbols, and it is also referred to as being part of a star language.
• The original in-universe basis of the Geno doll is never elaborated within the game - whether the original Geno was a real person like Mario, Peach and Bowser or an in-universe fictional character, or someone from folklore/legend, or if he was simply a character created to sell the doll.
• It is unclear if he is connected to the Star Haven and associated Star Spirits from Paper Mario.
• According to Belome, Geno tastes bitter, but not bad.