Jonathan Jones

The pirate captain.
Jonathan Jones
Species	Shark
Eye color	White
Debut	Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Jonathan Jones (often referred to as simply "Johnny") was a shark pirate who appeared as a boss character and ally in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and its Switch remake. He had to be fought to earn the fifth Star Piece.

Background

Jonathan Jones was the captain of a group of shark pirates who all stood upright. His left hand had been replaced by a hook hand, and he could be a ruthless pirate, but he also upheld a strong code of honor. At some point in the past, he defeated a man-eating shark that was terrorizing the seas, and because of that, he came to rule the oceans and considered himself to be the king of the pirates. He came to occupy the Sunken Ship in the Star Hill region, but it was unclear if they were the original crew of that ship or if they only occupied it after it had sunken. In the former case, Jonathan Jones' crew would have been the ones who imprisoned King Calamari in the treasure vault. He later found a Star Piece that had fallen into the ocean and claimed it as a treasure.

In Super Mario RPG, Mario's group came to the Sunken Ship in search of the Star Piece. Jonathan Jones decided to battle him for it, accompanied by his Bandana Blue minions. If all of the Bandana Blues were beaten, Jonathan Jones would challenge Mario to a one-on-one duel for the remainder of the battle. After being defeated, Jonathan Jones surrendered the Star Piece. He also declared Mario his sworn matey and volunteered his services whenever Mario needed them. Soon afterwards, Jonathan Jones showed his promise by cutting off the escape route of Speardovich so that Mario could battle him to reclaim his stolen Star Piece. Jonathan Jones was last seen in a scene of the game's ending, watching the sunset from a rock in the middle of the ocean, and he was also seen riding a pirate ship float in the game's ending parade.

A new rematch was added to the Switch version as post-game content which chronologically took place prior to the game's final battle. Jonathan Jones was shown to have made a wish on Star Hill for an exciting duel. Once Mario met with Jonathan Jones at the Sunken Ship, he talked about how had felt an emptiness within him and so wanted to have another exciting duel with Mario. Once again it was one-on-one, and this time it was without access to any items. Mario defeated Johnny once again, but the duel had successfully reignited the fire in his belly, so he thanked Mario by giving him an Extra-Shiny Stone he had found at the bottom of the ocean. The stone was necessary to access the final rematch against Culex. Johnny's Monster List entry remarks that after the duel, he looked out the window and remarked that he burned brightly like a blue flame. His Star Hill wish also changed into one wishing that Mario would defeat Smithy in a 'corker' of a battle.

Abilities

• HP: 820, Attack: 85, Defense: 80, Magic Attack: 25, Magic Defense: 60
  • Thought Peek: "Whoa! It's all over." / "You're good. Very good. Now this is a fight!"

In battle, Jonathan Jones wielded a deadly trident. This was used to perform his Skewer attack. His other special attacks included Fire Saber (called Mega Drain in the Super NES translation) and Diamond Saw. If all of his minions were defeated, he would also "Toughen Up" and turn red. Jonathan Jones had no weak points, and his only special defense was against Sleep.

• HP: 2000
  • Thought Peek: "Mario sure is amazing. I'm glad I got a rematch with him."

Duel-Ready Johnny is a much stronger variation of the original battle who must be defeated with just Mario. He uses the same attacks as in the original fight, but he will power himself up twice. First with a Vigor Up, and then with a Toughen Up that would make him red. The battle is made harder by being a one-on-one battle without access to items, other party members or triple moves, as Mario is left without any way to heal damage. The only boons he can get are in the form of ally buffs which boost different stats depending on which two characters Mario has in his party during the fight.

Trivia

• His name is likely supposed to be a parody of Davy Jones' Locker, which is considered to be the bottom of the sea. The Japanese spelling of his surname ("Jounzu") could also be intended to be a play on the name of Jaws ("Jouzu"), the bloodthirsty shark from the film of the same name.
• In the Super NES version, only his battle sprite had the hook hand, and he was instead he was depicted with both hands in his official artwork and field sprite. The Switch remake corrected this by depicting him with the hook hand in his new artwork and model.
• He will protest if Mario jumps onto his head in the field, saying that he didn't have the right to go on his head just because they were mateys.
• His dialogue is largely written in the form of pirate speak, but with some British phrases here and there.