You’re standing in the middle of Mushroom Kingdom’s item shop, jumping repeatedly like a maniac. It feels ridiculous. But if you’ve got the Signal Ring equipped, you know that high-pitched "ding" means something is there. You just can't see it. That’s the classic super mario rpg hidden chests experience in a nutshell. It’s frustrating. It’s rewarding. It is, quite honestly, one of the most obsessive-compulsive side quests Nintendo ever tucked into a role-playing game.
Whether you're playing the 1996 SNES original or the shiny 2023 remake on Switch, these invisible boxes—officially called Surprise Boxes—are the bane of every completionist's existence. There are 39 of them. Some give you a measly Mushroom. Others hand over Croaka Cola or a Frog Coin. But the real prize isn't the loot; it's the satisfaction of finally hearing that "You found a surprise box!" message for the 39th time so the guy in Monstro Town finally stops judging you.
Why These Invisible Boxes Drive Us Crazy
The placement of these things is diabolical. Most RPGs put secrets behind cracked walls or in dark corners. Square and Nintendo decided to put them in mid-air, often in the most high-traffic, "why would I jump here?" locations possible. Take the very first one in the Mushroom Kingdom item shop. You have to jump on the shelf, then jump on the NPC’s head, then wait for him to move to the corner. It’s a literal platforming puzzle hidden inside a menu-based combat game.
Missing just one feels like a failure. Especially because once you get to Monstro Town, there’s a frustrated-looking Greaper in one of the houses who tells you exactly how many are left. "Boy, you’re bad at this," he basically implies. Getting that number down to zero is a rite of passage.
The Problem With the Mushroom Kingdom Duo
Early in the game, you’re basically blind. You don’t have the Signal Ring yet. This leads to the most famous "missable" in the game. In the Mushroom Kingdom castle, specifically the hallway leading to the throne room, there’s a chest sitting on top of the doorway. You have to jump on a Toad's head to reach it. If you don't do it before the Shy Guys invade later, or before certain story beats, people used to think it was gone forever. Thankfully, the remake is a bit more forgiving, but the anxiety of missing it still haunts veterans of the 90s era.
Finding the Super Mario RPG Hidden Chests in the Mid-Game
Once you hit Rose Town and the Forest Maze, the difficulty spikes. Not the combat—the hiding spots. The Forest Maze is a labyrinth of trees and underground pipes, and it’s arguably the densest area for super mario rpg hidden chests.
There is one hidden in a transition area between the woods. You have to jump in a specific patch of grass that looks identical to every other patch of grass. It’s mean. Honestly, without the Signal Ring—which you get from the basement of the Mushroom Kingdom item shop—you’d spend decades trying to find these. Even with the ring, it only tells you "There's a hidden chest nearby." It doesn't tell you it's three feet above your head or tucked behind a staircase you can't even see due to the isometric camera angle.
The Sneakiest Spots in Booster Pass and Marrymore
Booster Pass has a chest that is literally impossible to find by accident. You have to go to the far left of the entrance, jump, and then realize there’s a second one nearby. Marrymore is even worse. Most people just want to get the wedding over with, but there’s a chest in the inn. You have to stay the night, then jump on the shelves while you’re supposed to be sleeping. It’s these weird, domestic moments where the game expects you to be a chaotic adventurer.
- Rose Town Item Shop: Go to the back, jump on the boxes, and find the one tucked in the upper corner.
- The Pipe Vault: This place is a nightmare. There are several chests hidden in the platforming sections where the camera angle makes it nearly impossible to judge your landing.
- Booster’s Tower: There’s one near the bottom of a long staircase. You’ll likely find it while trying to dodge Snifits.
The Late Game Grind: Nimbus Land and Beyond
Nimbus Land is where things get truly vertical. Because the floor is made of clouds, the developers felt emboldened to hide things in the literal sky. There’s a hidden path off the edge of the screen in the town area that leads to a chest that isn't even over solid ground. You’re just jumping into the void.
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And don't get me started on the one in the Treasury. You see a row of visible chests. You think, "Great, loot!" But there’s a hidden one sitting right on top of one of the visible ones. It’s a hat-on-a-hat situation. It’s the game mocking your assumptions.
The Monstro Town Greaper Check
By the time you reach Monstro Town, you should have about 30 or so chests. If the Greaper tells you that you have 9 left, you've probably missed the ones in the Land's End "Sky Bridge" area. Land’s End is notoriously difficult for these because of the spinning flowers. You have to time a jump from a moving platform into a seemingly empty space. If you miss, you fall down to the desert and have to restart the whole climb. It's tedious, but that’s the price of 100% completion.
Fact-Checking the "Missing" Chests
There is a lot of misinformation online about "permanently missable" chests. In the original SNES version, the chest in the Mushroom Kingdom castle was widely considered missable if you didn't grab it before the invasion. In the Nintendo Switch remake, the developers added a way to get it later, acknowledging that punishing players for not jumping on a random NPC's head in the first ten minutes was perhaps a bit much.
Also, some people claim there are 38 chests, while others say 39. The confusion usually stems from the hidden chest in the very first area of the game—Mario's Pad. Most people forget to go back into Mario’s house and jump in the corner after the tutorial. It’s the easiest one to miss because who goes back home once the adventure starts? Mario certainly doesn't.
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How to Systematicallly Clear the Map
If you’re serious about finding every super mario rpg hidden chest, you need a plan. Don't just wander.
- Get the Signal Ring immediately. In the remake, this is much easier to acquire early on. Equip it on Mario and never take it off. Even if it costs you a better accessory slot during a boss fight, the peace of mind is worth it.
- Check every shop shelf. For some reason, shopkeepers in this world love storing invisible boxes above their merchandise.
- Abuse the "Echo" in the Remake. The Switch version has a much more obvious visual cue when the Signal Ring triggers. Use that to triangulate. If it dings when you move left but stops when you move right, you’ve narrowed the search area by half.
- Jump on heads. If there is an NPC standing still, jump on them. Use them as a stool. It sounds rude, but it’s often the only way to reach the height required to trigger the hit box of a hidden chest.
- Look for "Negative Space." If a room has a weirdly empty corner or a pillar that looks like it's blocking nothing, there is probably a chest there. The level designers used these chests to fill out the isometric map's corners.
Moving Toward 100% Completion
Finding all 39 chests doesn't actually give you a legendary weapon or a secret boss. It gives you a sense of closure. When the Greaper in Monstro Town finally tells you "You've found them all!", it’s a better feeling than beating Smithy. It means you’ve seen every inch of the world that Chihiro Fujioka and his team built.
Once the chests are done, your next step should be the Super Jump challenge in Monstro Town. If you thought jumping in corners was hard, try landing 100 consecutive Super Jumps for the Super Jacket. It makes the hidden chest hunt look like a walk in the park. After that, head to the post-game rematches in the Switch version. Punchinello and Jonathan Jones have some new tricks that require way more strategy than just finding invisible boxes.
Keep that Signal Ring equipped until the count hits zero. Check the corners of the Bowser’s Castle corridors, even when you're being chased by boulders. The chests are there. You just have to be willing to look like a fool jumping at thin air until you find them.