Mario RPG was my first RPG so I was pretty young at the time. I actually never made it past the tadpole pond place on my first playthrough. I picked up the game a few years later, though, and finished it (but I'm not sure if I ever beat Smithy... I remember beating Culex, though!).

But, yeah, the you can imagine how frustrating the boss battles where to some little kid who never played an RPG before. >.>