------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paper Mario 2: The Thousand-Year Door for Nintendo Gamecube FAQ/Walkthrough Guide Written by DarthMarth Version 1.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Table of Contents (press Ctrl+F and type in the code next to the section to jump to it. On Mac browsers, use Command+F.) --- 1. Table of Contents (you’re reading it) 2. Introduction -Intrd- 3. FAQ -Frakq- 4. The Basics of PM2 -TbPM2- 5. The Partners -Thprt- 6. Walkthrough -Wkthr- a. Prologue: A Rogue’s Welcome -Prolg- b. Chapter 1: Castle and Dragon -Chap1- c. Chapter 2: The Great Boggly Tree -Chap2- d. Chapter 3: Of Glitz and Glory -Chap3- e. Chapter 4: For Pigs the Bell Tolls -Chap4- f. Chapter 5: The Key to Pirates -Chap5- g. Chapter 6: 3 Days of Excess -Chap6- h. Chapter 7: Mario Shoots the Moon -Chap7- i. Chapter 8: The Thousand’s Year Door -Chap8- 7. Sidequests -Sdequ- 8. The Tattle Log -Ttalg- 9. The Badges -Thbdg- 10. The Star Pieces -Tstpi- 11. The Shine Sprites -Shspr- 12. The Items -Thitm- 13. Shop Listings -Splst- 14. Cooking -Cokng- 15. Star-Powered Attacks -Srpwa- 16. Legal Information –Legin- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Introduction (Intrd) Welcome to my third and hopefully best yet full FAQ/Walkthrough for one of my favorite games ever and the sequel to another of my favorite games ever: Paper Mario 2: The Thousand-Year Door! In such an elaborate game filled with sidequests and things to collect and do, you’ll probably want a guide to help you keep your papers in order (was that original or what?) as you progress through the game. This guide is especially made for the completist player who wants to do everything this game has to offer. As always in my FAQ/Walkthroughs, I’ll attempt to answer every question you could possibly have about the game in here. If I don’t or you have corrections, you can E-mail me at dpitch40@cs.com. Helping me would be greatly appreciated! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. FAQ (Frakq) Q: Why do you write *BOOM* every time you type "partner?" A: It's an inside joke from the PMS board. Q: Why won't the mayor in Fahr Outpost let me use the cannon? A: Make sure you've visited the Thousand-Year Door with the Garnet Star and learned about the cannon from Frankly. Also, Bobbery should be your active partner. Q: What's the point of the Gold Bars? A: They're for storing Coins. (In case you didn't notice, they can be bought and sold for nearly the same amount) Q: There's a green rat in the harbor who wants me to give him a hundred coins. Is he just scamming me? A: If you give him coins, he gives you triple the amount you gave later in the game. It's a pretty good deal if you can get the coins early in the game. Q: What happens when I read the ghost's diary in Chapter 6? A: It's surprisingly boring, and you get a game over. If you want to read it, save first. Q: X told me to go to the "watering hole." Where is that? A: For those of you non-slangers, he means the juice bar. Q: How do I get on the rooftops in East Rogueport? A: To get on the roof, first use Yoshi to cross the canal in front of the trouble center. Then jump up the crates you see to reach the rooftops. (You have to cross the canal again to reach most of the things up here) Q: My question isn’t answered in here! A: E-mail me at dpitch40@cs.com. If you e-mail me, please put "Paper Mario 2" somewhere in the e-mail title or it will likely be deleted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. The Basics of PM2 (TbPM2) For veterans of Paper Mario, getting used to TTYD should be very easy. However, I'm including this section to introduce new fans of the series to the basics. (Note: the partner descriptions are also in her at the end) So, with further ado, let’s get on to the combat system! But first, the controls out of battle! >>>>>>>>>>>>>> FIELD CONTROLS <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Control Stick: Move. You should have been able to guess this. The control stick is used to move Mario, or move the cursor in menus. A Button: Jump, Talk, Action. Jumping has always been Mario's most basic action, letting him cross short gaps or scale short ledges. Once Mario has the Super Boots, you can press A in midair to do a Spin Jump which shakes the ground and can find hidden panels. Once you have the Ultra Boots, hold A and rotate the control stick until Mario folds into an accordion, then release it to do a Spring Jump to send him flying into the air. If you press A near an NPC, you can talk to him/her. Pressing it near a door or something does a context-specific action. (Such as opening the door) It's used to make selections in menus. B Button: Hammer. B uses your Hammer. On the field, it's good for making first strikes and smashing things. Once he upgrades his Hammer, hold B and rotate the control stick to make Mario wind up. Release B to use a devastating spin attack. (the Super Hammer can break huge blocks and the Ultra Hammer can break stone blocks in this way) In menu screens, it's used to cancel selections. X Button: Field skill. This button makes your active partner use his/her field skill. R and Y Buttons: Paper abilities. These buttons activate Mario's various paper abilities, like Paper or Tube Mode. Z Button: Stat display. Pressing Z toggles the stat display on the top of the screen and displays the D-pad shortcuts. It also lets you back up through text. Start Button: Menu. As usual in mist games, pressing start opens the Menu screen. D-Pad: Menu shortcuts. Pressing the D-pad takes you to various useful parts of the Menu. D-Up jumps to Mario's gear screen, Left to the Party screen, Down to the Journal Screen, and Right to the Badges screen. Memorize the shortcuts to save time in navigating menu screens. L Button: ORAEO TIEM!!11!11!1!111!!. Tihs butotn mkaes teh oraeos appaer!!1!1!!! Actually, it just displays your stats at the top of the screen. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> PAPER ABILITIES <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< As mentioned above, Mario can be "cursed" with 4 different abilities over the game in hilarious cutscenes that let him use his... Paper-ness to the fullest. Plane Mode (Rogueport Sewers): Once Mario gains this ability early in the game, you can press Y on stone airplane panels to make Mario fold himself into (what else?) a paper airplane! He can then glide long distances and cross obstacles. While gliding, press back (the direction you aren't going) to level out and lose speed or forward to dive but gain speed. Balance the use of the two buttons to glide as far as possible. He switches back to normal when you hit something or press B. Paper Mode (Hooktail Castle): With this ability, hold R anytime to make Mario...turn sideways. Why does he need to be cursed for that? Anyway, with Paper Mode, he can slip though narrow places, like tight cracks between walls or bars. Tube Mode (Twilight Town): Hold R and rotate the control stick clockwise to enter Tube Mode, which makes Mario roll into a tube and be able to get under low overhangs. (Unfortunately, you can't look through him) Press B to change back. Boat Mode (Pirate's Grotto): Press Y on a wooden boat dock to enter boat mode, which folds Mario into a boat and lets him sail on water. Press Y again near another dock to change back. And now, it's... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> THE COMBAT SYSTEM <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Paper Mario's combat system is turn-based, but it has a lot of real-time elements in the form of the action command, which lets you block or dodge enemy attacks or make your own attacks stronger. To block an attack, hit A right as it hits you to make it deal 1 less damage, more if you have a Damage Dodge Badge. If you hit B with even better timing as you're stuck, you'll Superguard, which negates an attack and deflects it back at the attacker for 1 defense- piercing damage. It can even deflect some projectile attacks. Mastering the Superguard (or at least the Guard) is essential for winning in battles. Enemies (and later, Mario) can also have innate defense ratings that reduce the damage they take from most attacks by their defense. And now... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> THE TURN SYSTEM <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< There are 3 rounds of each turn: Mario, his partner, and the enemy. Mario has many options for his turn. He can use his Jump or Hammer (this includes special attacks), an Item, one of his Star Powers, or a Tactic. The Tactics are Appeal, which refills some of your Star Power, Defend, which raises defense for 1 turn, Switch Partner, which is self-explanatory, and Run Away. (Also self-explanatory; mash A to increase your chances of running but be aware that this makes you lose coins) His Jump and Hammer commands are his basic attacks and will be described shortly. The action command for the Hammer is to hold the control stick to the left until the meter fills and the white star lights up, at which point you should release it immediately. BASIC HAMMER ATTACKS Hammer: 2/4/6 damage to front ground enemy Action Command: Hold the control stick left and release it when the red circle lights up Style Command: Hit A as Mario strikes the target to make him backflip; hit it again with great timing right as he lands for even more appeal Mario's Hammer is best used on spiked/fiery enemies and/or ones with high defense. It does more damage per hit than the jump attack, but can only hit ground enemies. (And only the frontmost one) Also, it becomes outclassed by the jump attack if Mario boosts his attack power, since both hits of the jump attack are powered up. Super Hammer (2 FP): 4/6 damage to front ground enemy, 1 unchangeable damage to all ground enemies behind it Action Command: Hold the control stick left and release it when the red circle lights up Style Command: Hit A with perfect timing a few seconds into the spin (the Timing Tutor Badge is the only way to find it) The Super Hammer is a spin attack that works much like the Hammer attack, but sends the target flying back and crashing into everything behind it for more damage. You probably won't find yourself using it too often. Needless to say, you need the Super Hammer to use it. Ultra Hammer (4 FP): 6 damage to front ground enemy, 3 unchangeable damage to all ground enemies behind it Action Command: Hold the control stick left and release it when the red circle lights up Style Command: Same as Super Hammer This move is a stronger version of the Super Hammer attack, doing more damage to enemies behind the target. You need the Ultra Hammer to use it. BASIC JUMP ATTACKS Jump: 1 + 1/2 + 2/3 + 3 damage Action Command: Press A as Mario jumps onto the enemy to bounce, press A again as he lands on enemy again from bounce Style Command: Press A at height of bounce, if second action command was done his A at height of rebound This is Mario's basic jump. It can target any enemy, but is ineffective against enemies with high defense or spikes/fire. It's best used to clip the wings of flying enemies or take out dangerous enemies in the back. As you get Badges like Power Plus or P-Up, D-Down, Mario's jump becomes better since they power up both hits of it. If you have the Jumpman Badge, a few Power Plus Badges, maybe the All or Nothing Badge, and of course the Spike Shield Badge, you can compose your attacks completely out of Jumps, since you'll be doing at least 10 total damage per attack. (At the time I write this, Mario does 7 damage with each hit of his regular Jump Attack. Try telling me I need my Hammer) Spin Jump (2 FP): 2 + 3/3 + 5 damage Action Command: Press A as Mario jumps onto the enemy to Spin Jump Style Command: Press A as Mario is nearly at the highest point of his jump at the enemy, not his Spin Jump The Spin Jump is a slightly stronger version of the Jump attack you get with the Super Boots. Use it if you need a little extra power in your attacks. Spring Jump (4 FP): 6 + 5 damage Action Command: Press A as Mario jumps onto the enemy to bounce Style Command: Press A as Mario hits the enemy with the second hit of the attack, then again at the highest point of his rebound This powerful move can only be used with the Ultra Boots. It sends Mario flying high into the air. Watch his shadow on the ground so you can know when he's about to land and do the action command for massive damage. --- You partner's turn is much like Mario's, but they only have their abilities, Items, and Tactics available. Partner's abilities are different for each one. Note that you can switch Mario and his partner's turn (and positions) by pressing Z before either have attacked. After Mario and his partner have gone, your enemies have a turn. Be ready to guard! In TTYD, enemies can also carry items, which they may use on their turns. Focus your attacks on enemies carrying items; some of them can be brutal such as Sleepy Sheep! (You have a very small chance of getting an unused item from a battle after winning) Speaking of Sleepy Sheep, many enemies and/or items in the game can temporarily induce status effect which mess with a character's stats or ability to fight. The effects of the status effects and their corresponding icons are listed here: Allergic ("Not allowed" symbol): Cancels all other status effects Asleep (Sheep): Can't move, act, or block, ends when damage is taken Attack Up (Angry face): Raises attack power Burned (Flame): Takes 1 fire damage after every turn Charged (Flashing rainbow colors): Next attack does more damage Confused (Brown swirl): Makes character do random things Defense Down (Diamond and down arrow): Defense is lowered Defense Up (Diamond and up arrow): Defense is raised Dizzy (Blue swirl): Attacks may miss Dodgy (Red cape): Can dodge some attacks Electrified (Lightning bolt): Direct attackers take 1 lightning damage, prevents attacks from Swoopers and Fuzzies Fast (X2): Takes 2 actions per turn Frozen (Light blue hexagon): Can't move, act, or block, takes 1 damage when thawed HP Recover (Yellow HP with up arrow): Recovers 2 HP per turn FP Recover (Green FP with up arrow): Recovers 2 FP per turn Huge (Large face): Attack power is raised by 2 Immobilized (Stop watch): Can't move, act, or block Invisible (Face behind glass): Avoids all attacks KOed (Character has fallen down): Can't battle at all Payback (Red curved arrow): Returns 1/2 damage to direct attackers Poison (Purple skull in green square): Takes 1 damage per turn Slow (Sad purple face): Can only attack every 2 turns Tiny (Tiny face): Attack power is lowered by 2 Now, a few other things about the battle system: First Strikes: By attacking enemies in the field, you can get a first strike, which lets you attack the front enemy before the battle even starts! It's a great advantage, but the enemy has it too! (Unless you put on the Chill Out Badge) >>>>>>>>> THE STAGE <<<<<<<<< A completely new addition to PM2 is that battles now take place on a stage, complete with backdrop and an audience. This changes the battle system in numerous ways. Firstly, your audience will grow and shrink depending on how you battle. (Defeating enemies easily and doing action commands makes it grow; missing action commands or getting hit a lot makes it shrink) The number in the lower- right corner shows how many people are in your audience. Initially, there can be up to 50. The number of people the battle theater can seat increases by increments of 50 every 10 levels Mario gains. Anyway, the point of having a big audience is to get Star Power! The bigger your audience, the more Star Power you'll get for doing just about anything. Appealing and doing Stylish Moves (by hitting A at specific times during regular moves) boost it the most. This is essential as you start getting moves that take up more Star Power. Your audience may also throw things. When you hear an audio cue and a yellow-and- black icon with the X button on it appears, quickly look in the audience. If someone is holding something good (like a heart, flower, coin, or item) above their head, do nothing and let them throw it to you. If it's something painful (like a rock or can) hit X to kick the bum out! Also, certain audience members have different, unique abilities. Here are all the ones I've noticed: Luigi: Throws increasingly good items as the battle goes on Toad: Tends to throw beneficial items Dull Bones: Doesn't give any Star Power Bulky Bob-omb: Takes up 2 seats (decreasing the size of your audience), occasionally explodes and scares away audience members Shy Guy: Occasionally runs backstage and drops things on either side, doing damage and/or inflicting status effects. Be prepared to block when you see one doing this! Boo: Random makes battlers invisible Crazee Dayzee: Puts all audience members around it to sleep, preventing them from giving Star Power Puni: Runs away from loud noises X-Naut: Gives less Star Power, tends to throw rocks or cans The backdrop also comes into effect. It's quite flimsy, and will often collapse. Be prepared to block when you see it wobbling and hear creaking! Things can also randomly drop from the sky, doing damage if unblocked and invoke status effects. (They also sometimes drop onto the audience, scaring some of them away) One other thing distantly related to the stage system is the Slot Machine Meter that appears in the top right part of the battle screen. An icon is added to the meter every time you strike an enemy and succeed with the Action Command. If the first two icons don't match, the meter is reset. If they do, pull off another action command for some Slot Machine mayhem!!1!1!!1!! The two matched icons appear and a third dial spins. Hit the A button with precise timing to match the 3 icons up to make something huge happen! (Although the wheel moves so fast this is pretty much impossible) Depending on what you matched, you'll get one of the following effects. Except the last one (which you should avoid getting at all costs), matching 3 icons also fills your theater to capacity for the rest of the battle. Mushroom: Fully refills the HP of you and your partner Flower: Fully refills Mario's FP Star: Fully refills Mario's Star Power Shine Sprite: Fully refills HP, FP, and Star Power Poison Shroom: Halves HP, FP, and Star Power and makes audience leave ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. The Partners (Thprt) >>>>>>>>> GOOMBELLA <<<<<<<<< Goombella is Mario's very first partner. She is a smart, if slightly sassy, Goomba girl who has come to Rogueport to look for Professor Frankly. She specializes in attacking air enemies, and, of course, finding out information on enemies with Tattle. Her field skill tells you everything she knows (which is plenty) about the current area. Using it in front of a person or object tells you about it instead. HP: 10/20/30 ---Abilities--- Headbonk: 1 + 1/2 + 2/3 + 3 damage to any non-spiked/fire enemy Action Command: Hit A just before striking target Style Command: Hit as Goombella jumps Headbonk is Goombella's most basic attack. It works exactly like Mario's Jump and is best used on flying or low-defense enemies. Tattle: Adds target to your Tattle Log and reveals its HP permanently Action Command: Press A as the small cursor aligns with the big one Style Command: Hit A right after aligning cursors and making them disappear Tattle is a very useful move that tells you everything you'll need to know about the target. It's recommended you Tattle on every new enemy you find. Super Ability-Multibonk (3 FP): 2 + 1 + 1.../3 + 2 + 1 + 1... Action Command: Hit A just before striking target Style Command: Same as Headbonk Multibonk is an extremely deadly move that lets you repeatedly Headbonk the target until you miss the Action Command, allowing for potentially unlimited damage. Note that the attack does less damage with every hit; use some Charges beforehand to boost the move's power to insane levels. Ultra Ability-Rally Wink (4 FP): Enables Mario to act again Action Command: Mash A or B to fill gauge, whichever one is shown Style Command: Press A about a second or so after Goombella winks This ultra-useful Ultra Ability gives Goombella's turn to Mario, which is very good if he's doing lots and lots of damage. When doing the action command, pay attention to which button is enlarged; mashing the other one empties the gauge. >>>>> KOOPS <<<<< Koops is your newfound Koopa partner. He's a timid Koopa who first joins Mario to defeat Hooktail, who killed his father, and impress his girlfriend Koopie Koo. He also has quite a useful field skill. Hitting X sends him shooting out forward. He'll strike any enemies/switches or grab any items he hits. (And with items, return them to Mario) It's great for long-ranged first strikes as well as going places Mario can't. Also, if you hold X, Koops will continue to spin in one place. Mario can then do anything he wants while keeping Koops spinning as long as you hold X. Release X to make him shoot backwards even farther than he was shot forwards. This lets you remote-control him to hit some switches. When battling, Koops excels at hitting ground enemies. Also, because of his shell, Koops innately has 1 Defense, which offsets his low HP. HP: 10/15/25 ---Abilities--- Shell Toss: 2/3/5 damage to front ground enemy Action Command: Hold the control stick left and release when it passes through the red circle Style Command: Hit A as Koops strikes the target to make him spin on his shell; hit it again as he's slowing and about to stop spinning for even more appeal. Koops' Shell Toss works much like Mario's Hammer attack. Since it's a hit and run, it ignores any effects the target may have on it. Power Shell (3 FP): 2/3/5 damage to all ground enemies Action Command: Hold the control stick left and release when it fully fills Style Command: Press A as Koops returns to regular position after attack to make him handstand; press it again about 2 seconds later for more appeal. This move works like Shell Toss, only hit hits all ground enemies for relatively little FP. When fighting hordes of weak enemies, this move is probably your best bet. Super Ability-Shell Shield (4 FP): Protects Mario from a 6?/8 damage Action Command: Hit A as the needle passes through the red area Style Command: Press A as shell is falling, right before it covers Mario Koops can pull a giant shell out of somewhere and put it over Mario to protect him from a set amount of damage, depending on how well you did with the action command. It's unlikely you'll get the numbers above very often, since the timing is so hard to pull off. Ultra Ability-Shell Slam (6 FP): 6 damage to all ground enemies, pierces defense Action Command: Flick the control stick to the left repeatedly Style Command: Same as Power Shell This stronger version of Power Shell does more damage and, if you're successful, ignores defense, which is great for heavily armored enemies. The action command is very hard, however. I've been able to achieve results by turning the controller 90 degrees counterclockwise (so the control stick is on the bottom) and using your pointer finger to flick the control stick rapidly. >>>>>>> FLURRIE <<<<<<< Flurrie is an aristocratic wind spirit, and former drama queen. She has set up an incongruous house in the Boggly Woods to rest, and is a friend to the Punies there. In battle, Flurrie has a wide variety of moves that can be potentially quite good, but have some very difficult action commands. She's also good at taking damage with her high HP. Her field skill is to send a powerful blast of wind forward as long as you hold X. The wind can stun enemies or blow certain objects away, which often reveals secret passages. HP: 15/25/35 ---Abilities--- Body Slam: 2/4/6 damage to any non-spiked/fire enemy, including ones on the ceiling Action Command: Line up the two targeting cursors with the control stick Style Command: Hit A right as Flurrie hits the ground after slamming the enemy With this move, Flurrie uses her giant...stage presence to slam down on an enemy. It's a powerful move that can hit almost anything, including enemies clinging to the ceiling. Gale Force (4 FP): Attempts to blow enemies out of battle Action Command: Hold and release A with rhythm according to the meter Style Command: Press A immediately after Flurrie stops blowing wind Gale Force uses Flurrie's wind powers to blow enemies off the field. It you fill the meter enough (it takes practice to know when to hold and release it, and you aren't given time to completely fill the meter), this move could end the battle instantly. (I'm pretty sure that enemies blown away don't give Star Points) Lip Lock (3 FP): 4/6 damage, heals 4/6 HP to Flurrie Action Command: Hold A only when the Star is lit up Style Command: Press A as soon as you hear the sound indicating how well you pulled the action command off This disgusting move has Flurrie give an enemy a huge, wet kiss to both do damage and heal her own HP. If you use Flurrie to take damage (which is a good idea), this move is essential. The Action Command is very hard to do, however. (There is no rhythm as in Gale Force) Dodgy Fog (4 FP): Action Command: Tilt the control stick in the directions shown with perfect timing as each icon lights up Style Command: Press A after Flurrie raises her arms and creates the fog cloud Flurrie's Ultra Ability surrounds Mario in a cloud of fog...Dodgy Fog. This gives him a chance of evading attacks for the next few turns, which can be good against a dangerous foe. The action command determines the duration of the move, but it's nearly impossible to do. The proper timing is to press the control stick a fraction of a second after you hear the beeping noise that each icon makes when it lights up. It takes a lot of practice. >>>>> YOSHI <<<<< Where would Mario be without his trusty Yoshi? In Paper Mario 2, he finally gets one of the little dinosaurs as a partner. This Yoshi is a newborn who hatches in chapter 3, but he's already hot-tempered and energetic. I'm calling him Yoshi, but you actually get to name him yourself after he hatches. Also, he insists on calling you my your Glitz Pit nickname, The Great Gonzales. Yoshi has some powerful battle abilities that mostly involve the shoulder buttons, and are good at hitting enemies multiple times. His field skill, obviously, is to let Mario ride him! (Which is amazing, considering Mario is twice his size) While riding Yoshi, Mario travels much faster, making travel easier. (He can't do anything except move around, though) If you hold A while moving, Yoshi does a flutter jump, which lets him cross wider horizontal gaps than Mario can. It has no vertical jumping power, however. HP: 10/20/30 Ground Pound: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1/1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1/1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 damage to target non-spiked/fire enemy Action Command: Mash R Style Command: Hit A right after the meter disappears, right before Yoshi spins and ground pounds, hit A again right as he is bouncing back to the ground This move is Yoshi’s basic attack. It deals great damage spread over many hits that decrease in power, making it useless against enemies with even low defense. It’s one of the strongest abilities in the game if you raise Yoshi’s attack power, though. (If you do, each successive hit does 1 less damage until they all do 1 again) The action command is one of the toughest to do; I’ve found that turning the controller so the side with the R button is closest to you. Hold it in your right hand and use your thumb to mash R. (You don’t have to press it all the way every time, just so that it clicks) Gulp (4 FP): 4/5/6 defense-piercing damage to target, 4/5/6 defense piercing, non-alterable damage to ground enemy behind target Action Command: Hold R and release it when the star lights up Style Command: Press A right after Yoshi spits the target out Gulp is Yoshi’s signature and most powerful attack. He can swallow almost any enemy (except huge ones) and spit them out, doing heavy damage both to the target and the next ground enemy behind it. Even better, the damage pierces defense, and is the only way to defeat the Armored Harriers! The only thing keeping this move down is its relatively high FP cost, but other than that, it’s a great move! Super Ability-Mini-Egg (3 FP): 1 + 1 + 1/1 + 1 + 1 + 1 to random enemies, has a chance of shrinking anything hit Action Command: Press A as the meter passes through each circle Style Command: Hit A right after throwing last egg Mini-Egg is another powerful attack move that can shrink enemies, reducing their attack power. It’s a very useful status effect, and the attack itself can be insanely deadly if you use Badges or something to boost Yoshi’s attack power, since every egg gets stronger. With 2 Power Plus P Badges at Ultra level, you can do 12 damage per attack! Ultra Ability-Stampede (6 FP): 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 damage to all ground enemies Action Command: Alternately hit L and R Style Command: Press A immediately after Yoshi whistles The powerful Stampede attack calls a herd of Yoshis to race across the field and trample every ground enemy for heavy damage. Koops' Power Shell is probably better, though, unless you can boost Yoshi's attack power. If you do, the first hit of Stampede is fully boosted, and each consecutive hit does 1 less damage, making the move much stronger. >>>>>> VIVIAN <<<<<< Vivian is the youngest of the 3 Shadow Sirens, Grodus' ghostly femme fatales. She has a bit of an inferiority complex, probably because she's constantly pushed around and punished by her older sister Beldam and moaned at by her other sister Marilyn. She eventually gets fed up with this treatment and joins Mario when he shows her an act of kindness in Twilight Town. (Or course, the fact that his identity had been stolen so she had no idea who he was also helped) In battle, Vivian is a master of fire and evasion moves. Her field skill will be recognizable to players of Paper Mario. It pulls Mario down into the shadows, where he's invisible and invincible. Things like enemies and spikes pass through him in this state. HP: 15/20/30 Shade Fist: 3/4/5 damage, may set target on fire Action Command: Hit the button that is displayed Style Command: Press A as Vivian is about to reappear from the ground after attacking Shade Fist is a useful attack move that can hit any enemy for decent damage and do more over several turns by setting it on fire. The action command requires quick reflexes. Veil (1 FP): Protects Mario from all attacks for 1 turn, but loses next turn Action Command: Hit the buttons in the displayed sequence Style Command: Press A as Vivian is returning to her position after the move ends This move is like Vivian's field skill, only in battle. Since you lose a turn after the move is finished, it's only useful for avoiding charged attacks. Super Ability-Fiery Jinx (6 FP): 4/5 damage to all enemies, pierces defense, may set them on fire Action Command: Hit each button as it is displayed Style Command: Press A right as Vivian stops waving her finger Fiery Jinx works like Shade Fist only it hits every enemy, making it very powerful. It's the second-best move to hit all enemies; only Bob-ombast is better. (Although Fiery Jinx is more desirable against armored enemies) Ultra Ability-Infatuate (4 FP): Attempts to confuse all enemies Action Command: Press A the instant a heart appears over an enemy Style Command: Press A as soon as the action command for the final enemy is pressed Infatuate has Vivian attempt to confuse all enemies by blowing kisses at them. The action command is hard to time, but it's a powerful attack when it works. >>>>>>> BOBBERY <<<<<<< Bobbery *BOOM* or should I say, Admiral Bobbery, is your new Bob-omb partner. He's also my personal favorite because of his incredibly high HP and attack power. He specializes in explosions of all types, and is always willing to blow himself up for Mario's cause. He is a great partner to keep in front because he's such a tank with his massive HP. His field skill also makes him blow up. Mario first throws him, letting him land on ledges, then he walks a few steps forward before exploding. You can make him blow up any time by pressing X again. HP: 20/30/40 ---Abilities--- Bomb: 4/5/6 damage to front ground enemy, 1 bonus to fire enemies Action Command: Hold A until the star lights, then quickly release it Style Command: Hit A as Bobbery is bouncing after exploding and returning to your side of the field Bomb is Bobbery's basic attack, and is very powerful. It can only be used on the front ground enemy, but does great damage and is good against fiery enemies or ones with high defense. Its action command is also very easy to do. Bomb Squad (3 FP): 3 + 3 + 3 damage in areas of effect Action Command: Hit A with good timing Style Command: Press A shortly after last bomb is thrown (hard to do) This weird move throws 3 time bombs at the enemies that explode at the end of the next round, damaging everything near them. Hit A to throw one when the targeting cursor is aligned how you want to adjust the distance. (Remember, you'll get the most distance at 45 degrees and less distance when you're farther for that) For some weird reason, Bomb Squad doesn't appear to get stronger as Bobbery levels up. Super Ability-Hold Fast (4 FP): Damages varies Action Command: Hit A exactly as each red circle lights up Style Command: press A about half a second after finishing Action Command This move makes Bobbery red with rage, causing him to explode whenever directly attacked and retaliating for half the damage of the attack, rounded down. This ability is a good idea if you like to use Bobbery to soak up damage with his high HP. With the action command, simply reacting to when each circle illuminates isn't fast enough. Use great timing to hit A right as they light up to maximize the duration of the move. Ultra Ability-Bob-ombast (9 FP): 8 damage to every enemy, 1 bonus to fire enemies Action Command: Mash A Style Command: Same as Bomb This powerful ability creates a massive explosion to deal unbelievable damage to every enemy, often taking them all out instantly. It has a huge FP cost, but it's worth it. Like Bomb, it does an extra point of damage against fire enemies. The action command is one of the simplest in the game, as well. >>>>>>>> MS. MOWZ <<<<<<<< Ms. Mowz is Mario's most unusual partner. She starts as a freelancing treasure hunter and manager of the Lovely Howz of Badges. She is also one of Mario's biggest admirers, constantly flirting with him every time they meet. Strangely enough, Ms. Mowz is actually an optional partner; you get her to join by completing a trouble after chapter 4 and she isn't required for the game. In Battle, Ms. Mowz is great at messing with enemies, and has several incredibly useful moves like Kiss Thief and Smooch. Love Slap: 2/3/4 damage, pierces defense Action Command: Rapidly flick the control stick left and right Style Command: Press A as Ms. Mowz is returning to your side after attacking Love Slap is a very useful move on enemies with huge defense. It does low damage, though, and shouldn't be used on anything else. For the action command, try turning the controller sideways and using the palm of your hand to move the control stick. Kiss Thief (2 FP): Steals an item from target Action Command: Hit A after meter passes OK mark but before it fills completely Style Command: Hit A as Ms. Mowz approaches the target, when she's about halfway This is definitely Ms. Mowz' best move. With it, you can finally get the items you find enemies holding without hoping for them after a battle. It's especially good for stealing Badges. Super Ability-Tease (3 FP): Attempts to make all enemies dizzy Action Command: Hold A to fill gauge, but don't let it completely fill Style Command: Press A at the height of Ms. Mowz's backflip after her attack Ms. Mowz can split into 4 phantom images and attempt to utterly confuse all enemies with some tricky moves. It isn't really the most useful status effect move. Ultra Ability-Smooch (10 FP): Heals 10 of Mario's HP Action Command: Alternately hit A and B Style Command: Press A right before Mario's HP is actually restored (takes practice) This move is the only healing ability in the game that uses FP, and is a good alternative to Star Powers and Items. It takes more FP than any other move, but gives Mario a huge HP boost. For the action command, it's best to use both thumbs to tap A and B. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Walkthrough (Wkthr) MARIO'S HOUSE As the game opens, we see our hero Mario’s house, unchanged since Paper Mario. Also unchanged is Mario’s old partner Parakarry, who swoops down to deliver a letter to his friend! (Sound familiar?) Mario’s brother Luigi takes the letter inside and informs him, then reads the letter out loud. "Hello there, Mario! I am now on holiday, traveling in the Mushroom Kingdom. In my travels, I came into possession of a mystical map...a treasure map, actually. I thought you could help me hunt for it! You will, of course, won't you? I'll meet your at Rogueport. (That means you MUST come!) -Peach" With their initial fear of its being another party invitation aside, the brothers look into the package. Sure enough, a strange map has been included. As Mario looks at the map depicting a new land, the title screen displays. (No, you aren't playing Metroid Prime 2. Sorry.) --- a. Prologue: A Rogue’s Welcome (Prolg) Enemies: Lord Crump, Goomba, Paragoomba, Spiky Goomba, Spinia, Spania, Blooper ROGUEPORT A bizarre, colorful boat eventually passes under the giant floating letters. As the boat pulls into the town of Rogueport, a shipmate awakens Mario. Warning you to be careful in the seedy town, he sends you off and leaves immediately. You're now free to explore the Rogueport Harbor as you experience your first few (non-cutscene) moments of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door! Talk to the nearby citizens and try out the Save Block. Remember, every single body of water in this game, now matter how small, cut off, or chlorinated it may be, is infested with ravenous evil killer piranhas, so don't fall in! When you're ready, head to the right towards the stairs leading to the main city. You hear a commotion ahead; several weird, bespectacled creatures led by one with purple horns are attacking a Goomba girl! They seem to be demanding to know about things called "Crystal Stars," which the girl claims to know nothing about. After the leader of the thugs tells his minions to take her to their base (who are these guys?), regain control of Mario and run up. She Goomba quickly runs behind you and gets even more defiant. The leader, who you're about to learn is named Crump, engages you in a battle; prepare for your first fight of the game! MINIBOSS: LORD CRUMP Appearance: A short, fat guy with round goggles, a red cape, a white X on his chest, and a weird purple hat with horns. HP: 6 Attack: 1 Defense: 0 This wierdo should be incredibly easy; a few attacks should finish the fatso off. Use the battle as a chance to practice the in-battle controls as the Goomba girl guides you on what to do. After you win, Crump is enraged and summons hundreds of minions to PUNISH YOU! They swarm around you and begin piling up into where you are...or were. You and the Goomba both appear outside the pile as the wierdos remain oblivious. Go up the stairs to the right and through the archway to another area of Rogueport. After you leave, Crump calls all his minions off, making them snap to attention and stop beating the pulp out of him. Meanwhile, you and the Goomba girl appear in the main square of Rogueport, where you saw Princess Peach in the into. A gallows is the square's most prominent feature, which should tell you a bit about what the town is like. The girl thanks Mario with a kiss. (He seems to have gained the ability to unwittingly attract every female he sees between games) She introduces herself as Goombella. She has come to Rogueport to find a treasure, the same one your map supposedly leads to. Suddenly, a resonant "GREAT HOOGLY BOOGLY!" is heard and an elderly Toad whom veterans of *shudder* Super Mario Sunshine should recognize as Peach's attendant Toadsworth. He asks what you're doing here, and after earning you're looking for the Princess, says he doesn't know where she is! (Not again!) He gives you a tip to stay at the nearby inn (visible by its bed sign) and then leaves with another warning to watch your back. Goombella comments that Peach may have gone out on her own to search for the treasure and joins your party! GOOMBELLA'S ABILITIES: A PRIMER Goombella is Mario's very first partner. She is a smart, if slightly sassy, Goomba girl who has come to Rogueport to look for Professor Frankly. She specializes in attacking air enemies, and, of course, finding out information on enemies with Tattle. Her field skill tells you everything she knows (which is plenty) about the current area. Using it in front of a person or object tells you about it instead. HP: 10/20/30 ---Abilities--- Headbonk: 1 + 1/2 + 2/3 + 3 damage to any non-spiked/fire enemy Action Command: Hit A just before striking target Style Command: Hit as Goombella jumps Headbonk is Goombella's most basic attack. It works exactly like Mario's Jump and is best used on flying or low-defense enemies. Tattle: Adds target to your Tattle Log and reveals its HP permanently Action Command: Press A as the small cursor aligns with the big one Style Command: Hit A right after aligning cursors and making them disappear Tattle is a very useful move that tells you everything you'll need to know about the target. It's recommended you Tattle on every new enemy you find. Super Ability-Multibonk (3 FP): 2 + 1 + 1.../3 + 2 + 1 + 1... Action Command: Hit A just before striking target Style Command: Same as Headbonk Multibonk is an extremely deadly move that lets you repeatedly Headbonk the target until you miss the Action Command, allowing for potentially unlimited damage. Note that the attack does less damage with every hit; use some Charges beforehand to boost the move's power to insane levels. Ultra Ability-Rally Wink (4 FP): Enables Mario to act again Action Command: Mash A or B to fill gauge, whichever one is shown Style Command: Press A about a second or so after Goombella winks This ultra-useful Ultra Ability gives Goombella's turn to Mario, which is very good if he's doing lots and lots of damage. When doing the action command, pay attention to which button is enlarged; mashing the other one empties the gauge. After joining you, Goombella asks you to help her look for Professor Frankly, then lets you roam Rogueport freely...or almost freely. If you approach a grey- haired woman on the west side of the square, she tells you she's looking for a contact lens, and orders you not to move. She's never going to find the lens, so you'll have to move eventually. When you do, it magically appears right under your feet and you crush it. She decides to block the way to the western side of Rogueport until you can get a replacement lens, which won't happen until after Chapter 1. Now, to check out the other attractions of Rogueport Square. Next to the house of the woman whose contact lens you crushed is an item shop. (Recognizable by the Fire Flower sign) Feel free to fill your pockets with items here and to try out the various shop features. (You start with 100 coins, which is plenty to buy things) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> TOAD BROS. BAZAAR <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Fire Flower-10 Coins Fright Mask-5 Coins Honey Syrup-5 Coins Mushroom-5 Coins(!) Sleepy Sheep-8 Coins(!) Tasty Tonic-3 Coins(!) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> LOVELY HOWZ OF BADGES (Second price is for if Badge is one of 6 randomly selected Badges on the counter) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ---Prologue--- FP Drain Badge-100/70 Coins Happy Flower Badge-150/105 Coins Last Stand Badge-50/35 Coins Last Stand P Badge-50/35 Coins Piercing Blow Badge-75/52 Coins Power Jump Badge-50/35 Coins Simplifier Badge-50/35 Coins Super Appeal Badge-50/35 Coins Unsimplifier Badge-50/35 Coins ---After Chapter 1--- Close Call Badge-100/70 Coins Close Call P Badge-100/70 Coins Sleepy Stomp Badge-75/52 Coins ---After Chapter 2--- First Attack Badge-100/70 Coins Power Rush Badge-50/35 Coins Pretty Lucky P Badge-150/105 Coins ---After Chapter 3--- Ice Smash Badge-75/52 Coins Power Rush P Badge-50/35 Coins Shrink Stomp Badge-75/52 Coins ---After Chapter 4--- Damage Dodge Badge-150/105 Coins Head Rattle Badge-100/70 Coins Soft Stomp Badge-75/52 Coins ---After Chapter 5--- Damage Dodge P Badge-150/105 Coins Fire Drive Badge-100/70 Coins Super Appeal P Badge-50/35 Coins ---After Chapter 6--- Attack FX P Badge-100/70 Coins After you're finished there, check out the alley behind the shop and Inn. This leads to the back alley, the seediest part of Rogueport. Once the camera rotates around to show the alley, go left to find a run-down house next to the Inn. Go inside and look behind the mattress leaning on the left wall for a Star Piece! These crystalline objects are used to buy Badges from a certain wierdo you'll meet later. There's nothing more to do here, so go back to the square. Look behind some boxes near the east entrance, then finally go into the inn. There isn't much to do on the first floor, a bar, except talk to the people. Go upstairs before the rich merchant Flavio's singing drives you crazy. The second floor is the actual Inn. Unlike in the first PM, you have to pay to stay here. (Luckily, the fee here is only 5 coins) You can also talk to that loony Toadsworth here. Once you're finished in the Inn, go out the second-floor door to the left. The walkway you enter leads to a Badge shop, the Lovely Howz of Badges, but it's closed for the Prologue. For now, jump onto the room next to the show winder. Go as far left on is as you can and feel around on the back side of it to hopefully find a third Star Piece! Now that you're probably finished in the square, go back outside and take the east exit to East Rogueport. As you first enter the eastern side of Rogueport, a bandit runs past you! At first he just seems like a rude passersby, but Goombella notices he stole half your coins! Chase the bum down! Run back to the house in the back alley you got the Star Piece in and talk to the little thief; he reluctantly hands your coins back. Now, return to East Rogueport. Notice the attractions here. Next to an ugly brick wall is a house with a...Shine Sprite from Super Mario Sunshine over its door!? If you go inside, you can find from Goombella that the man is Merlon! (Not the same one from Paper Mario, though) In exchange for 3 Shine Sprites, he'll promote one of your partners *BOOM* to the next rank. However, since you don't have any Shine Sprites yet, begone! The house next to Merlon's belongs to Professor Frankly, the man you're looking for, but I'll skip him for now. Guarding a doorway through a brick wall is Gus, a spearman Craw who charges an admission fee of 20 coins to anyone wishing to enter what's behind the wall. You can't really do anything there yet, so don't bother with the toll. Later, you'll be strong enough to fight him and never have to pay. Finally, look south of the two houses. There's a warp pipe here, but it's behind a fence and you can't open it. Finally, give that brick wall next to Merlon's place a closer look. If you try to walk right into the center of it, you actually can! It turns out that part is indented, leading to a secret alley; how cool! If you go down the alley behind Frankly's house, past the creepy, dark-faced man, and jump onto some crates, you can walk just to the right to find your fourth Star Piece. Once you're ready, enter Professor Frankly's house. The two greet each other and Goombella shows off her school spirit. ("Gooooooo Goombas!!!") He then notices the famous hero Mario standing behind her. (What are you, a sidekick?) He asks why you've come; Goombella replies that they're looking for the ancient treasure that lies behind the Thousand-Year Door. Even Frankly has no idea what it is; it could be a legendary treasure beyond imagining, a terrifying monster, or even nothing. All he knows about it is that you need the Crystal Stars to open the Door, and you need the map to find the Crystal Stars. He's practically blown away when Goombella tells him you actually have the map! He's excited and decides you should all set off for the Door at once! He walks over to the fence next to the warp pipe, and kicks a portion of it away. (You could SO have done that) Before entering the pipe, he decides to teach you about the action command and has you and Goombella fight. In this mock battle, he teaches you about using your hammer, jump, guard, and Superguard. He walks you through the whole thing, so just follow along. After the battle ends, jump on the nearby pipe and press down on the control stick to enter it. (Check out the cool new pipe animation) ROGUEPORT SEWERS PM veterans should be familiar with the concept of a min-level beneath the main town which becomes more open to you with every new ability you gain. Save at the Save Block if you wish. If you want, go to the left to reach an underground plaza of sorts beneath Rogueport Square. Unfortunately, a fallen pillar blocks everything except the fortune-teller Merluvlee and the happy local wierdo Dazzle. You can use your Star Pieces to buy a Badge from Dazzle if you want, but it's best to save for something better like the Quick Change or Power Plus Badge, some of the best in the game. >>>>>> DAZZLE <<<<<< Attack FX Y Badge-1 Star Piece Chill Out Badge-2 Star Pieces Flower Finder Badge-6 Star Pieces Flower Saver Badge-10 Star Pieces Flower Saver P Badge-10 Star Pieces Happy Flower Badge-4 Star Pieces Happy Heart Badge-4 Star Pieces Happy Heart P Badge-4 Star Pieces Heart Finder Badge-6 Star Pieces Item Hog Badge-5 Star Pieces Peekaboo Badge-7 Star Pieces Power Plus Badge-15 Star Pieces Power Plus P Badge-15 Star Pieces Pretty Lucky Badge-3 Star Pieces Quick Change Badge-8 Star Pieces Since you have this guide, you shouldn't ever need Merluvlee's services at all. =P Now, return to the first area and go down some stairs to a lowered area to the right of the entry pipe. A gang of 3 Goombas stands on the other side of the gap. The sickos are..."interested" in Goombella and fight you for her! As you and Goombella enter this battle against the 3 types of Goomba, Frankly stands on the sidelines and explains flying and spiked enemies. Makes sure not to jump on spiked enemies or try to hammer flying enemies (Goombella can't Headbonk the Spiky Goomba, even with her helmet) and you should do fine. Make sure to try out that action command and guard! After the battle is over, Frankly explains first strikes to you. Make sure not to get hit by one! After beating the ruffians, climb the stairs they were on top of and ride the moving platform across the indentation you just crossed to a warp pipe behind a fence. Enter it to reach a new area of the Sewers. In this new area there are 2 more easy enemy groups containing one Goomba each. Just use the right attacks for first strikes and these battles will be over before you blink. Go down some stairs. You can hit the 2 blocks here for a Fire Flower and Mushroom if you didn't stock up. Anyway, use your Hammer to smash the 2 yellow blocks, then enter the warp pipe behind them. You emerge in an even lower room, behind a MASSIVE yellow block. You'll find some new enemies, Spinias and Spanias, down here. Luckily, they aren't much tougher than Goombas at all. (They just have 1 more HP and don’t have flying varieties) As you go to the right, you see a tiny grey creature disappear into a crack in the wall...what was that all about? Keep going right to some stairs. (Note the off-color section of wall with peeling wallpaper; its location will be important later) Climb the stairs and enter the doorway to the right of the top of them. The only object in this room is a strange black treasure chest. When you examine it, it talks to you! It says that you must be a legendary hero to hear its voice. The poor soul inside was sealed there by a great demon long ago. Professor Frankly says not to trust the box, or to mention the Crystal Stars...oops. The chest says it contains a power that will help you find the Crystal Stars, but you'll need to find the key. Leave the room and go left to fall off the ledge you're on, onto a lower one containing the Black Key! (That was easy) Return to the chest and give it the Key. When you open the chest, it turns out to be a demon! He has tricked you into freeing him, and will curse you for your insolence! Oh no, oh no! After the curse concludes, the demon...explains it? He says that you can now stand on special Plane Panels (like the one you saw above the Black Key ledge) and press Y to become a paper airplane...wait, how is that a curse? The demon pathetically attempts to make this new ability sound like a bad thing and explains it further. You can press B or hit a floor or wall to return to normal. You can only steer up and down, or left and right. Holding the control stick back (the direction you are gliding away from) angles the Mario-plane upward, making him gain altitude but lose speed rapidly. Pressing the direction he is gliding in makes him dive and lose altitude but gain speed. Balance the two for maximum distance. After you ensure the demon you understand your "horrible" curse, the cutscene ends with Goombella just as wierded out as you. Return to the previous room and try out your new ability on the Plane panel you saw. (Make sure to start from as far to the edge of the panel as possible for maximum distance) Hit Y and balance pressing the control stick left or right. You only need to glide to the top of the giant yellow block; from there you can jump to the left ledge and enter the doorway. You emerge in a huge, roughly circular chamber: the Thousand-Year Door room. Professor Frankly is excited about finally seeing the door, and Goombella is confused about the strange pedestal in the middle of the room. Jump onto it; 2 circles of blue light surround you and the map rises into the air! On it, a strange castle thing appears on some grassy fields northeast of Rogueport; this is where the Diamond Star is! Also, Mario gains his first Star Power: Sweet Treat! Frankly takes you back to his house to explain. ROGUEPORT Back in Rogueport, Frankly takes out outside to show you how to use your new Star Power. He'll teach you about using Sweet Treat, your Star Meter, and appealing. He also talks about the Bingo slot machine that periodically appears and the audience. (He doesn't teach you about Stylish moves, which are detailed in Game Basics for normal attacks, Partners for partner abilities, and Badges for Badge attacks) After that tutorial, you go back inside to discuss the next Crystal Star, the Diamond Star. He says it's in Petal Meadows. He also wonders if Peach went off there to search for the treasure on her own. Goombella mentions there are some evil people looking for the Crystal Stars. (Remember Crump and his army of wierdos?) Frankly decides to stay here and sends you and Goombella off to search for the Crystal Star...and Princess Peach. As you're leaving, however, he stops you one last time to give you your first Badge: Power Smash. He teaches you briefly about using Badges, then finally leaves. Before continuing on to Petal Meadows, there are a few other things you may want to do. The Lovely Howz of Badges (out the second-floor door in the Inn) is now open, and you can buy Badges from it if you want and have the coins. I'd recommend the Super Appeal and Power Jump Badges for now. After that, you may also simply want to train against the weaklings in the sewers some more to earn more coins and level up, which will make Petal Meadows much easier. ROGUEPORT SEWERS When you're ready to advance the storyline, go right in the first Sewers area, past where you boarded the moving platform. There's a Plane Panel here; use it to fly the gap with the Spiky Goomba to the far right ledge and enter the next area. There's a strange tentacle coming out of the sewage here. If you whack it, an enraged Blooper appears and fights you! MINIBOSS: BLOOPER Appearance: A giant white squid thing with a black band between its eyes. HP: 12 Attack: 1 Defense: 0, is flying Location: Rogueport Sewers This giant squid thing shouldn't be tough at all. You can choose to attack it with Jump Attacks (especially if you got the Power Jump Badge) or attack its 3- HP tentacles to make it fall to the ground where you can hit it with Power Smash attacks. Use Sweet Treat if need be to heal HP and FP. Once you beat the Blooper, two moving platforms rise out of the water. Jump across them (don't worry about Goombella's falling into the piranha-infested sewage every few seconds) and go into the warp pipe here to enter... --- b. Chapter 1: Castle and Dragon (Chap1) Enemies: Goomba, Paragoomba, Spiky Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Bald Cleft, Bristle, Fuzzy, Gold Fuzzy, Paratroopa, Dull Bones, Red Bones, Hooktail PETAL MEADOWS Ah, scenic Petal Meadows. A place where people can relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. Your first Crystal Star will be a piece of cake! After emerging from the warp pipe, you can whack the trees behind the pipe to get a Star Piece of the left one and a Mushroom from the right. Save at the Save Block, then go to the right. You don't get far before a massive dragon flies overhead to the castle in the background, the one pictured on the map as the location of the next Crystal Star! Maybe Petal Meadows isn't so peaceful after all. Keep going and note the strange rock formation here. 6 rocks surround a larger one that looks vaguely like a warp pipe, and the left and right ones have strange indentations. You can't do anything here for now, so keep going to the next area. (You can hit the yellow block for another Mushroom on your way out) You'll fight some Goombas in the next area; nothing new. Be sure to get first strikes on them and the battles will be easy. Hit the red block here for a fairly worthless Close Call Badge. You'll see short and tall pipes here as well, but once again you can't do anything here yet. One other thing for this area: if you hit one of the weird poles with eyes near the end of the area with your hammer repeatedly (it's the one that bobs up and down when hit) a Horsetail pops out. It's a useful item for cooking. Fight another group of Goombas in the next area; this one is bigger than any others you've faced, with 4 various Goombas in it. After beating them, examine the two large bushes to reveal a warp pipe behind them and enter it to appear in...the background! Cool! Run to the right and whack a ! switch to trigger a cool animation in which a bridge spanning the nearby river appears from turning pages. After hitting the switch, keep going right to find yet another Star Piece, then return to the foreground and across the bridge. You can examine the lower bush for a Mystery and hit the block for a Fire Flower. Then go right through the wooden arch. PETALBURG You've arrived in Petalburg, the village of the Koopas! The first building you'll see if the local Inn, and the second is the item shop, which carries a few items Rogueport's doesn't. >>>>>>>>>>>>> NIFF T'S SHOP <<<<<<<<<<<<< Courage Shell-5 Coins(!) Fire Flower-8 Coins Honey Syrup-5 Coins Mr. Softener-8 Coins(!) Mushroom-4 Coins POW Block-5 Coins(!) You may want to buy at least 2 POW Blocks here; you'll need them soon! There's nothing much else to do in the first area, so continue to the second. There isn't much else to do here, and you can't continue east as the gate is shut. To continue, visit the mayor of Petalburg in the ugly pink house in this area. (Also, you can search the bushes in his yard to find Turtley Leaves, valuable cooking ingredients) When you ask the senile, bushy-eyebrowed old coot about the Crystal Stars, he says the dragon you saw earlier, Hooktail, has one. (But you probably already knew that) He was going to give a reward for the defeat of Hooktail, but since you can't protest he cancels it and calls you Murphy. He says there is a pipe near Petalburg that takes you to Hooktail's castle, but you need stones called the Sun and Moon Stones to gain access to it. (Could he mean the rock formation in the first area? Those indentations must have been where the Stones go) Anyway, the Stones are hidden in Shhwonk Fortress east of here. He gives you permission to go there. Now, leave before he drives you crazy! Now, talk to the Koopa guarding the gate; he lets you through. A sweater- wearing Koopa you probably saw near the mayor's house walks up to you. He introduces himself as Koops and tries to ask you for a favor, but nervously changes his mind and leaves. Now, go through the gate to the path to Shhwonk Fortress. SHHWONK FORTRESS Besides the usual Goombas here, you'll also fight some new enemies: Koopa Troopas. These shelled enemies have high HP, attack, and defense, but they can be flipped over if you jump on or Headbonk them, leaving them helpless against attack. If you want, you can use Sweet Treat to heal and then appeal to get your Star Power back while they're flipped; they take 2 turns to get up. Upon entering the area, search the first bush you see for a Star Piece. If you didn't stock up on POW Blocks in Petalburg, don't worry; hit the block here for one and continue into a guardhouse of the fortress. There are two rocky enemies called Bald Clefts in here; examine the pedestals they're sitting on to fight them! They have the same attack and HP as a Goomba, but also 2 defense. You can take them out with Power Smash attacks if you want, but it's best to simply destroy them simultaneously with a POW Block. After the Bald Clefts go down, the door to the next area opens up. Defeat more Goombas and Koopas here. If you're out of POW Blocks, search the last patch of bushes to the right for another, then enter the next guardhouse. This room is just like the first only with Bristles. They not only have massive defense and have spiked all over them preventing you from getting close, but also an immunity to fire. This means the only way to slay them now is to use a POW Blocks. With one of those, they go down as easily as the Bald Clefts. Defeating them opens the next door. In the final outdoor area, defeat more enemies and get some items if you wish. The block contains a Fire Flower and there's an Inn Coupon behind the wall near the center of the area. Enter the far door to find... It's a Thwomp! He apparently guards the Sun and Moon Stones. If you agree to battle him for them, he challenges you to...a game show! (This sounds like something out of Banjo-Tooie) Switching the scene out to a glitzy set, he starts asking you questions. You must get at least 5 questions right to get past; failing 3 or more will make him send some Clefts after you. The answers should be easy, but for the truly clueless, here they are: 1. Stone Keys 2. ??? (This randomly generated question asks the sum of two prices of items; check my shop guide and add them up) 3. Kroop 4. Hooktail Castle 5. Go through a pipe 6. Koopa Troopas 7. Question 7 (he's actually asking you what number question this is...O_o) After you win, the Thwomp is angry but reluctantly slides aside and raises a warp pipe. Enter it to reach some waterlogged tunnels deep under the fortress. Down here, hit the red block for the useful Multibounce Badge. Note the two tunnels; a Stone key is down each. The tunnels leading to the Stones contain 2 groups of 2 Fuzzies each, and upon grabbing the Stones you're assaulted by 4 Fuzzies. Get first strikes in the tunnels, and try your new Badge out to soften all of them up. A Fire Flower helps against the 4-Fuzzy battles, but this shouldn't be hard either way. After you get both Stones, a gold-colored Fuzzy will appear and attack you! This guy is just like a normal Fuzzy only with over3 times as much HP. Use the Power Smash attack to heavily damage him. Once he's down to 5 HP or lower, he falls in a swarm of Fuzzies to aid him. (Try 2 consecutive Power Smashes to make him at 2 HP when he does this, at which point he can easily be finished off) The Fuzzy horde attacks many times per turn, but it's a little too powerful; focus on the Gold Fuzzy. (It's a wonder you can even find it) Once the Gold Fuzzy goes down, all the others retreat and you're home free to return to Petalburg. Backtrack all the way to the peaceful village. PETALBURG Restock and heal here if you wish; you've got a long dungeon ahead of you. You may wish to train in Shhwonk Fortress some more. Once you're ready, leave to the west to head for the strange rock formation. PETAL MEADOWS As you leave the village, Koops stops you again. He manages to say what he has to this time; he wants to join you to continue what his dead father left off by storming Hooktail's castle and proving his strength to the village. Without further ado, he joins your party! KOOPS' ABILITIES: A PRIMER Koops is your newfound Koopa partner. He's a timid Koopa who first joins Mario to defeat Hooktail, who killed his father, and impress his girlfriend Koopie Koo. He also has quite a useful field skill. Hitting X sends him shooting out forward. He'll strike any enemies/switches or grab any items he hits. (And with items, return them to Mario) It's great for long-ranged first strikes as well as going places Mario can't. Also, if you hold X, Koops will continue to spin in one place. Mario can then do anything he wants while keeping Koops spinning as long as you hold X. Release X to make him shoot backwards even farther than he was shot forwards. This lets you remote-control him to hit some switches. When battling, Koops excels at hitting ground enemies. Also, because of his shell, Koops innately has 1 Defense, which offsets his low HP. HP: 10/15/25 ---Abilities--- Shell Toss: 2/3/5 damage to front ground enemy Action Command: Hold the control stick left and release when it passes through the red circle Style Command: Hit A as Koops strikes the target to make him spin on his shell; hit it again as he's slowing and about to stop spinning for even more appeal. Koops' Shell Toss works much like Mario's Hammer attack. Since it's a hit and run, it ignores any effects the target may have on it. Power Shell (3 FP): 2/3/5 damage to all ground enemies Action Command: Hold the control stick left and release when it fully fills Style Command: Press A as Koops returns to regular position after attack to make him handstand; press it again about 2 seconds later for more appeal. This move works like Shell Toss, only hit hits all ground enemies for relatively little FP. When fighting hordes of weak enemies, this move is probably your best bet. Super Ability-Shell Shield (4 FP): Protects Mario from a 6?/8 damage Action Command: Hit A as the needle passes through the red area Style Command: Press A as shell is falling, right before it covers Mario Koops can pull a giant shell out of somewhere and put it over Mario to protect him from a set amount of damage, depending on how well you did with the action command. It's unlikely you'll get the numbers above very often, since the timing is so hard to pull off. Ultra Ability-Shell Slam (6 FP): 6 damage to all ground enemies, pierces defense Action Command: Flick the control stick to the left repeatedly Style Command: Same as Power Shell This stronger version of Power Shell does more damage and, if you're successful, ignores defense, which is great for heavily armored enemies. The action command is very hard, however. I've been able to achieve results by turning the controller 90 degrees counterclockwise (so the control stick is on the bottom) and using your pointer finger to flick the control stick rapidly. After he joins you, his girlfriend, Koopie Koo, comes out. She wants him to stay and not risk his life in the Castle, but Koops is insistent. He gets mad and beats the pulp out of you, then storms off. (That's love for you) As you cross Petal Meadows, try out Koops' cool, ground-based abilities, which can attack spiked enemies. Try using his field skill for a first strike at long range! In the middle area, enter the lower warp pipe you see; with Koops, you can now get the treasure. You'll emerge on the tall warp pipe nearby. Use his field skill to hit the block the Happy Heart Badge sits on, then jump down and pick it up when it falls. Once you make it back to the first area, you can return to Rogueport if you want to buy Badges or something. Once you're ready, insert the Sun and Moon Stones into the indents in the rocks. This summons 2 ! switches that much be hit simultaneously. Impossible? Never! Stand right next to one switch with your back to it, use Koops' field skill, and continue to hold X to make him stay. Head over to the other switch while doing this. Release X, then IMMEDIATELY press B. If successful, this maneuver hit both switches and breaks off the rock around a warp pipe in the middle. Take it to enter the background again, then go over to Hooktail Castle. HOOKTAIL CASTLE This is it: your first real dungeon. As you'll soon see, many hapless explorers have lost their lives here...including Peach! (Just kidding) You start out in a gatehouse of sorts. Before using the springboard, exit through the ground-level door. The bridge spanning the moat is out, but you'll get past that soon. For now, drop down the stairs and jump across some rocks. When you're on the final rock, you'll be close enough to retrieve the useful HP Plus Badge from the other side of the moat with Koops. Now, return to the gate house. In here, use the springboard. You can heal with the Heart Block in here, but beware; it takes coins now. After that, leave through the door to the right. Back in the moat, get onto the Plane panel. Use your ability to glide across the moat; it shouldn't be hard at all. Enter the double doors here to finally get into the actual castle. See what I mean? The castle is littered with the bones of Koopas unlucky enough to venture into the castle...and some Dull Bones. Heh heh heh... You'll fight more Koopas in here, as well as new Paratroopas. They are winged Koopas, but a simple jump attack or Headbonk grounds and flips them, turning them into easy Koopa Troopas. Remember not to use Koops against them. Keep in mind that the stairs here simply lead to another Plane panel for exit of the castle. Lastly: hit the red block in the first hallway for the potentially deadly Power Bounce Badge! Now, enter the next room. This room is littered with more skeletons. Halfway through, Koops runs to one of the skeletons. It's his poor father! He notices a note in the skeleton's hand and reads it. It contains the last words of his dad. Although he didn't defeat the dragon Hooktail, he did learn its weakness: crickets? There is also a cricket-related item in the castle you should find and use against Hooktail. The note also warns you not to fall for any tricks when fighting Hooktail and not to give in to your kinder side. Then it closes with a final greeting to...Kolorado!? It isn't Koops' father after all! (Mario's going to have some explaining to do when he revisits Koopa Village) Now, continue to the right. Examine an unusual red skeleton at the door to the next room. It comes alive and attacks you! More accurately, he summons an army of Dull Bones, weak living skeletons, to attack you! They'll attempt to push you back, so clear them out with your hammer and make your way to the Red Bones to engage it in battle! This fight shouldn't be too hard. The Red Bones is accompanied by 4 of his Dull Bones minions. The Dull Bones have only 1 HP, but 2 attack and 1 defense. Don't try using any jump-based attacks on them. The Red Bones has 5 HP and 3 attack and can come back to life a few turns after you beat him, so save him for last. To clear out all the Dull Bones at once, try using Koops' Power Shell attack. After that, focus on the Red Bones and any Dull Bones it creates until you win. After that, go through the door it guarded to the next room. You emerge in a very tall room. Go right and up the stairs, grabbing the Shine Sprite along the way. These objects are used to promote your partners *BOOM*, but you'll need 3. You can't go through the locked door, so investigate the stone blocks. You don't appear to be able to do anything...or can you? If you whack the purple block on the lower ledge, another purple block lowers down to the ground nearby! Go back up and use the purple block to jump across the stone ones and smash a yellow block. This frees another gravity-defying block marked with a yellow triangle. Hit the corresponding block to raise it and stand where it was. Hit the red ! switch with Koops' field skill to reverse the direction of the stairs! Climb them in their new position and use Koops again from the ledge you can reach to get a Castle Key to unlock the door. Hit the ! switch again from the other side to reset the stairs. Before leaving, you have a few Star Pieces to get. First, stand next to the purple switch block while facing away from it. Use Koops' field skill and hold X. Climb the stairs and get onto the moving purple block, then release X. This hits the switch and lets you ride the block up like an elevator. Go through the door you can now reach to find a ledge in an adjacent room with a Star Piece! Now, go back and lower the purple block. Repeat the "elevator" procedure, this time with the yellow moving block. You can now jump to a high ledge with another Star Piece on it. Now, unlock the door to the next room. You can ride the giant green block in here by hitting the switch with Koops, but there's another locked door after that. Save with the Save Block, then go through the east door. In this dungeon-like room, you'll probably notice another Attack FX Badge much like the one you could get from Dazzle in a jail cell. There's no way to reach it right now; try the ! switch. It briefly raises some bars in another cell, but not for long enough for you to go through. Use Koops' field skill again to hit the switch while standing right in front of the bars, then quickly go through them to the next room. The only feature of this dungeon is...another black chest! Don't be fooled when it begs to be let out and pretends not to know about a curse; if it's anything like the last one, there's a demon inside! Still, since the previous "curse" was actually a new ability, maybe you should open the chest. (You have no choice; in case you didn't figure it out, you're trapped behind the movable bars in the previous room) Look for the Black Key by going to the next room. Note the strange holes in the floor in this room. Try reaching the chest in the center without going over them; you'll need practice for later. Once you open the treasure chest and get the Black Key, spikes jut out of the holes, and the spiked ceiling begins to lower! Luckily, if you have any idea at all where you're going, you'll have plenty of time to escape. Back in the previous room, open the black chest. It goes through the usual routine of "cursing" you, laughing maniacally. Unlike the last one, this "curse" can be used anywhere. You can now press and hold R to...turn sideways? I still don't understand why Mario needs the curse of a thousand-year-old demon to do that. Anyway, after the demon finishes his pathetic speech, go back to the room with the jail cells. You can now use your new Paper Mode to slip through the bars of the jail! Cool, huh? Before leaving, be sure to slip into the leftmost cell and get the Attack FX R Badge. Although it makes your attack sound like a frog, it's supposed to be a cricket; this Badge is Hooktail's weakness! Now, exit the room. Make sure to save in here, then keep going backwards. Continue to backtrack through the tall room to where you fought the red Bones. Okay, you're FINALLY where you need to be. One of the sets of bars in this room is only vertical; use Paper Mode to slide through them and go right to get another Castle Key. Now that you have this, leave and go to the Save Block room. Save once again in here if you wish, then climb the stairs and use Koops to hit the small green block while standing on the huge one. After the ride is over, climb the stairs and go through the locked door. In case you have no sense of direction, you're back in the tall room, on the next level. If you're injured, heal with the Heart Block in here. There's a gap in the walkway up ahead; hit the ! switch to fill it in. At the next gap, use Koops' field skill to hit the switch. There is no switch at the third gap, however. Jump through the open window near it and go along the windowsill to get past the gap. (When you're outside, go to the right first for a Star Piece) Fight some more Dull Bones in the next room. Hit the green ! block on top of the stairs to lower another huge block. Remote-control Koops to hit it while standing on the block and ride it up to a walkway with 2 doors and some Goombas. Go through the left one first. This appears to be a storage room; it's filled with weapons and treasure. There's also a masked mouse in here who introduces herself as Ms. Mowz, a world-famous treasure hunter. She's come to the castle to seek out a rare Badge. She doesn't seem to care much about the Crystal Star and leaves, already having what she came for. As she does, she kisses Mario. (First Goombella, now Ms. Mowz? Does Mario have new cologne or something?) She also gives you a tip about a Badge that can defeat Hooktail, which you should already have. After Ms. Mowz leaves, plunder the treasure she was guarding. There's a second Shine Sprite in here, and the chests contain a Castle Key, Mushroom, and Honey Syrup. After getting everything, exit the room. Go across the walkway and unlock the door. The next door seems to be on an unreachable ledge. Or is it? Whack the yellow block once to lower another block, then remote-control Koops to raise it while you're standing on it. Get off the block and carefully make your way along the narrow rafter. You'll soon reach a Plane Panel to the left; use Paper Mode to slip through the bars and reach it. Before using the Panel, get onto the far rafter and go right to reach a Star Piece. Now, return and use the Plane Panel to reach the far door. You're almost to the end, but if you want a Badge you'll have to take a detour. Go down the short flight of stairs and hit the small yellow block to lower a huge one. Drop down to where it fell; you can now reach the Last Stand P Badge on a ledge. If you get the Badge, you'll have to make your way back through the last few rooms to get to the highest stairs again. Anyway, climb up to the highest landing. Be sure to get the Shine Sprite here; you should have enough to level up a partner with Merlon after you return to Rogueport! Now, exit through the door. You emerge on a high bridge far above the ground leading to the tower where Hooktail lives. Avoid or fight the Paratroopas up here and climb the long staircase leading up the tower. A Spiky Goomba is impossible to avoid, but it should be easy. Once you reach the top, Save and Heal if necessary, make sure you have the Attack FX R Badge equipped (and some attack Badges like Power Smash), then enter the massive final doors. You enter a huge chamber with Hooktail right on top of you. After deciding how he'll eat you, the dragon attacks! BOSS: HOOKTAIL Appearance: A massive red and white dragon. You can only see its head. HP: 20 Attack: 5/3 Defense: 1/0 Location: Hooktail Castle Hooktail is the youngest of the dragon siblings, and is the only one to have a castle named after him. He is a fearsome and powerful foe, but hates crickets after an...unpleasant childhood experience. Wearing the Attack FX R Badge weakens him, giving him the stats after the slashes above. After that Hooktail shouldn't be too tough. He has a claw slam that damages your front party member, and fire breath that damages both. Also, when you defeat him, Hooktail will offer a variety of rewards for your forgiveness. Don't accept any of them, or he'll attack you! After that, he heals half his HP by eating some of your audience! Use your strongest moves to beat him for good! After beating Hooktail, you start looking for the Diamond Star. Suddenly, Hooktail coughs up a middle-aged Koopa. It's Koops' dad! He had been trapped in the dragon's stomach for 10 years. (Amazing that he made it out with his sense of smell) When you mention you're looking for the Diamond Star, Koops' father tells you he found it in the dragon's stomach and gladly hands it over. You win!!! (And learn a new Star Power, Earth Tremor!!!) END OF CHAPTER 1 After the End of Chapter scene disappears, you're asked if you want to save. After that, the screen fills and empties with Mario faces. ??? A cutscene starts in a high-tech chamber. Several of the wierdos you defeated in Rogueport Harbor lead Princess Peach into the room; they must have kidnapped her! They confirm this to their apparent leader, a large, robed figure with a huge computer for a brain. Obviously this guy (called Grodus by his minions) is the main villain of the game! He demands to know where the map is, but Peach denies knowing about it. As he threatens her, a minion reports that the Crystal Star guarded by Hooktail has been taken! When Peach reveals she knows you, Grodus has her sent to her room for questioning. He then tells Crump to guard the excavation of the next Crystal Star, in the Boggly Woods. Grodus seems to be smarter than he looks, however. (Or maybe not, considering that he looks like a genius with a computer on his head) He decides not to send only Crump and summons the Shadow Sirens. Wait, who? The 3 ghostly women rise out of the floor in front of Grodus, and the oldest one speaks. They decide to take the map from you and disappear. The scene switches back to Princess Peach in her Spartan room. Just like in Paper Mario, you control Peach for a brief scene after each chapter. The right- hand door is locked, and there are no secret passages behind fireplaces this time. Go through the left door. Those wierdos seem to have thought of everything; Peach gets a large bathroom the size of her normal room. Take a shower in the bathtub (this must be a first in video gaming) and a set a new world record for a quick shower, then return to the bedroom. The door on the far wall opens on it's own; go through it to enter a high-tech hallway. There's a door about halfway down, but it's won't open. The far door opens as Peach approaches it, so go through. This room is dominated by a massive computer. A voice speaks to Peach, and is revealed to be the computer itself. It's called TEC-XX, but lets Peach call it TEC. (I didn't know computers liked to have nicknames) It was created by Grodus and claims to be the perfect computer. (You'd think it should have mastered the caps lock key by now) When Peach asks why TEC has let her come here, it responds that it was investigating a strange feeling that occurred while it was watching Peach. Extremely confused, Peach reluctantly guesses that TEC may be in love with her. O_o (I hope that "glitch" didn't occur while Peach was showering...that dirty computer!) TEC, while claiming to be the perfect computer, doesn't understand love and becomes more confused as Peach tries to explain it. It promises to grant Peach a wish if she teaches it more about love. (This is sounding more and more like a B-movie plot) She asks TEC to let her send a message, which it does. After sending the E-mail, TEC sends Peach back to her room and the scene ends. You're once again asked if you want to save, then a pattern of Peach faces appears. BOWSER'S CASTLE The scene switches not back to Mario, but to Bowser's castle! The Koopa King bursts into a long hallway and demands to know why Kammy Koopa has summoned him. A flunky tells him to wait in the back of the room until she arrives. You then-get-ready-gain control of Bowser! Bwahahahahaha! Try out his fire breath, and have some hilarious conversations with some more flunkies! Once you reach the back of the room, Kammy arrives. She reports that Mario has been spotted in Rogueport on a treasure hunt for valuable Crystal Stars, which Bowser decides he must have. Out of the blue, she changes the subject and...asks if he likes fried eggs. O_o Apparently, she had them for a picnic on her "surveillance mission" to Petal Meadows. Another flunky breaks the weird conversation up with news that Peach has been kidnapped...by someone else! Bowser is unemployed! He quickly hops into his weird helicopter vehicle and crashes through the back wall, flying off to re-kidnap the Princess with Kammy trying to keep up. Once again, you're given the option to save. PETALBURG After the collage of Bowser heads, the scene switches back to Mario in Petalburg. Koops has decided to stay with Mario to become stronger, and says goodbye to his father and girlfriend. Before leaving the village, look in the side yard of Kroop's house. Use Paper Mode to slip through the fence and get the Mega Rush P Badge. Now, feel free to stock up on items if you want, then leave. PETAL MEADOWS After you leave Petalburg, Mario receives an E-mail on his Mailbox SP. (He must have entered the information age between games) It's the message Peach sent! She says she is safe, although she has no idea where she is or who it is that kidnapped her. She tells you they are also looking for the Crystal Stars and magic map, which you should protect at all costs. Now, continue back to Rogueport Sewers. ROGUEPORT SEWERS Note that you can now use Paper Mode to slip through some bars just outside the waterlogged room you fought the Blooper in. This gives you access to a pipe that leads to Merlee's house in the background. If you can spare the coins, her "curses" can be very helpful. (Do she and the demons in the black chests have weekly meetings or something?) Return to the Thousand-Year Door room to find the location of the next Crystal Star, but before standing on the pedestal again, slip through the bars behind you as you enter the room. Use the springboard to reach a Plane Panel and glide across the room to the opposite ledge. Use the springboard here to reach a ledge with a Shine Sprite, then drop back down. Slip back through the bars and go through the door to the left. This dank, spear-lined room is the entrance to the Pit of 100 Trials, a diabolical endurance challenge. You won't get far if you try to enter it now, so just look behind the stairs you enter on for another Star Piece. Now, return to the pedestal in front of the Thousand-Year Door. The cutscene plays as before when you use the Diamond Star to reveal the location of the next Crystal Star. The Emerald Star is apparently in a giant, black-and-white tree. The magic map is as confusing as ever, You're automatically taken back to Frankly's house to find out what to do. ROGUEPORT Frankly says that the Emerald Star is in the Great Tree, in Boggly Woods. She shows you what one of its inhabitants, a tiny creature appropriately named a Puni, looks like. Wait, haven't you seen these things before? You saw one scurry into a hole in the room where you found the Black Key, remember? Maybe you should return to where you saw it happen; if you remember, there were some bars you could slip through with Paper Mode there. First, however, explore Rogueport some more; quite a few new things are open to you. New Badges are on sale at the Lovely Howz, and a traveling salesman named Charlieton can be found selling 4 of his random wares in Rogueport Square. You can enter and exit Rogueport Sewers to reset them. >>>>>>>>>> CHARLIETON <<<<<<<<<< Attack FX C Badge-120 Coins Boo's Sheet-24 Coins Double Pain Badge-36 Coins Dried Shroom-2 Coins' Earth Quake-18 Coins Hammerman Badge-180 Coins Jammin' Jelly-120 Coins Jumpman Badge-180 Coins Mega Rush Badge-60 Coins Repel Cape-18 Coins Shooting Star-36 Coins Slow Go Badge-12 Coins Stop Watch-24 Coins Timing Tutor Badge-120 Coins W Emblem Badge-360 Coins Also, if you were following my walkthrough, you should now have 3 Shine Sprites, enough to promote one of your partners! I'd recommend promoting Goombella first, since this gives her the potentially deadly Multibonk and lets her do 4 easy damage with Headbonk. When you enter Rogueport Square again, you'll probably notice some weird guy in green standing next to some crates. It's Link, and he's come to help us!!! No, wait, it's your brother Luigi. What's that vegetable doing here? If you talk to him, he tells you a story of what he did since you left. He received a second letter soon after you left, a plea for help from the Waffle Kingdom. He soon embarked on his own adventure bizarrely familiar to his own. He's currently taking a break from saving Princess Eclair and gathering the 7 Compass Fragments. (each of which points to the next...any of this sound familiar?) Good luck to him. Only one thing has changed in Rogueport Harbor. A rat introducing himself as Lumpy has set up business there and asks for multiples of 100 coins in investments. If you can spare the money, it'll be worth it; you'll be paid back triple what you gave him late in the game! Now, for some other business. You've probably grown much stronger since the Prologue, so it's time to take on Gus, the Craw guarding the eastern side of East Rogueport. Use Koops as you partner (After Tattling on him with Goombella, of course) and hammer him with Power Smashes (literally) until he's defeated. Use items if necessary. After defeating Gus, you can access the area behind him whenever you want. Only one building is of use right now: the Trouble Center. (The middle one) As usual after beating a chapter, 3 new Troubles are available at the Trouble Center, as well as 6 that were available from the start. Do them all to snag some phat lewt. Now, head back to the Toad Bros. Bazaar. The contact lens you ordered for Zess T. has arrived! Buy it for about 8 coins (I think) and hand it over. Zess moves out of the way, granting you access to West Rogueport, and enters her house. If you have any items you want to cook, talk to her again. (She never gets over your clumsy mistake, unfortunately) Make sure to cook all your Mushrooms and Honey Syrups. Now, check out West Rogueport. You'll probably notice the western side of Rogueport is more respectable and wealthy than the other parts. It has a shop selling advanced items near the western end of it. >>>>>>>>>>>>>> WESTSIDE GOODS <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Dizzy Dial-12 Coins(!) Dried Shroom-2 Coins(!) Life Shroom-50 Coins Super Shroom-20 Coins Thunder Bolt-10 Coins(!) Volt Shroom-10 Coins(!) These items are a little expensive, but very powerful if you can afford them. Going east from that is the Pianta Parlor. This casino offers a variety of minigames and prizes. You can buy Piantas from the weird, Pianta-shaped machine next to the counter for 3 coins each. There are 2 slot machines to play next to that, although that isn't recommended. It's best to just buy your Piantas. At the counter, you can buy prizes or play minigames that emphasize your paper abilities. The selection of both increases as you get more special cards like the one from the Try to Find Me! trouble. The giant Game Boy is for viewing your scores in these minigames. Outside, there is also Lucky, an enormously fat Bob-omb that runs the lottery. Since you'll probably never win and the prizes aren't too good, it's best to avoid this psychopath. There are some houses and a garden on the east side of the area, but nothing major. The alleyway to the north leads to a combination train/blimp station, but you can't do anything there yet except use the Save Block. For now, just find the 3 Star Pieces in this area. They're found behind the trash can to the extreme left, the tall warp pipe in the garden, and the wall next to the east exit. There's also one other thing of interest in this area: a passage to a new area of Rogueport Sewers. It's cleverly hidden, but in plain sight. Hint: you need one of your paper abilities to get at it. Still can't find it? !elddim eht ni etarg eht hguorht pils ot edoM repaP esU ROGUEPORT SEWERS In this area, you drop onto a tall pillar. You can't do anything to the left right now, so drop down behind the platform and look around for a Star Piece. Defeat the easy Spunias and Spanias, then go down the warp pipe on the ground. You emerge in an area that's a mirror of one you're already been through under the east side of Rogueport. You'll fight more easy enemies here. You can hit the blocks for a Slow Shroom and Gradual Syrup. There isn't really anything else to do here right now, so return to the first area. Simply enter the nearby horizontal pipe to emerge atop the tall pipe in the garden. ROGUEPORT Use the secret sewer entrance again here. ROGUEPORT SEWERS This time, jump across the platforms to the right. They rise and sink like a balance when you're on them, so be quick. The doorway to the right takes you to a large underground plaza, the same area as you find Dazzle in but on the other side of the fallen pillar. Just like on the opposite side, look behind the short pillar as you enter for a Star Piece. The first building, the one right across from Merluvlee's house, is locked from the inside. You won’t be getting inside until much, much later. Now, go around the central fountain and down some steps. Behind a broken pillar to the right, in front of Merluvlee's house is another Star Piece. In a chest to the left in the water is a chest containing the useful Soft Stomp Badge. Now use the left behind the fountain and check out the two central buildings. The right-hand one is actually a shop selling some exotic items you won't find anywhere else. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> UNDERGROUND SHOP <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Gold Bar-110 Coins(!) Gold Bar x3-350 Coins(!) Gradual Syrup-15 Coins(!) Jammin' Jelly-200 Coins(!) Slow Shroom-15 Coins(!) Ultra Shroom-200 Coins(!) The other building is home to Wonky, a bizarre know-it-all who will tell you random, interesting things for 5 coins each. If you want, you can save before talking to him, then restart to save your coins. Now, if you're ready, go back to the room where you saw the Puni to continue the storyline. (It's the one where you found the Black Key) Sure enough, you find the Puni there again. When you confront him, the first thing he does is to ask if you're going to eat him. (Choose the second answer for hilarity) Your partner asks what the Puni is doing here instead of in the Boggly Woods. He says you must be an X-Naut if you know he's from the Boggly Woods. Wait, Grodus mentioned the X-Nauts during Peach's scene! He and Crump must be the ones making the Puni's lives miserable and searching for the Emerald Star! Your partner decides to go with the Puni to get the Emerald Star before the X-Nauts do. Relieved, the Puni introduces himself as Punio. (The first of a predictable naming pattern among Punis you'll soon see) He goes back into the hole he entered the first time; use Paper Mode to follow him. When you speak to him in this area, he goes into another hole and uses a secret switch to open a secret tunnel in the wall. Climb the stairs and enter it, then go right to an area containing a grey stone pipe. (If you go left first, you can reach a ledge with a Damage Dodge Badge) Punio says the pipe leads to his home and enters it. Follow him to commence chapter 2. --- c. Chapter 2: The Great Boggly Tree (Chap2) Enemies: Dark Puff, Pale Piranha, Cleft, Vivian, Marilyn, Beldam, X-Naut, Pider, Yux, Mini-Yux, Magnus von Grapple Whoah, check it out! This wood is definitely mind-boggling! It's filled with black trees with white leaves, rainbow-colored ground, and white flowers! Talk about wierd. Anyway, you're finally in the second chapter. Let's get to work! Punio is now following you as a pacifistic partner, so follow his advice and proceed to the next area, saving is you want. At the beginning of this area, you run into the minions of Grodus you saw in Peach's scene: the Shadow Sirens! This isn't good...or is it? The oldest sister (Beldam) addresses the youngest one (Vivian) about their task: to find you and steal your map. Beldam asks how Vivian got the necklace she's found, scolds her for wasting time on it, and tells her to get out the picture of you. Vivian doesn't have it; her older sister was supposed to. Before their fighting gets out of hand, they notice you, but ignore you; without the picture, they have no idea what Mario looks like! They get right back to the issue of the picture; for losing something she probably never even had, Beldam takes the necklace. With that kind of treatment, I almost feel sorry for poor Vivian... Anyway, you are free to talk to the sisters, but they don't have anything very interesting to say. (Especially the giant middle sister, Marilyn) Anyway, keep going to the right. You'll soon encounter the Boggly Woods' unique enemies, which all match the wood's monochrome color scheme. The Dark Puff are fairly easy, unless they charge up with electricity while in the air. If they do, Earth Tremor or a Fire Flower are the only things that can beat them. Be careful not to jump on the spiked Pale Piranha, and use powerful attacks like Power Smash to defeat the Clefts. (Koops will work if you upgraded him) You can hit the leftmost tree in this first area for a Sleepy Sheep and search the rightmost ring of flowers for a Honey Syrup. Then continue to the next area. As you go right, Punio points out the Great Tree in the background. Follow him down the pipe and over to the tree. THE GREAT TREE You find Punio waiting at the base of the massive tree, in front of an incongruously high-tech door. Punio doesn't know what the door is doing there, and he can't open it. He suddenly remembers something and climb up a root. Follow him and talk to him again. The Puni Elder told him about a secret entrance somewhere around here, but he can't find it. There's something hiding the entrance; you'll need the wind power of a woman named Madame Flurrie who lives nearby to find it. Set off for Flurrie's house and leave the area. FLURRIE'S HOUSE The scene switches to an extremely incongruous pink-covered mansion. A partially unseen figure is in the room; it must be Madame Flurrie. As she goes on with herself about how marvelous it is to live in the woods, it becomes obvious she's the aristocratic type. Apparently, she used to be a glamorous actress and is preparing for a comeback. However, she seems to be missing something important. After this, the scene switches back to Mario. Go through the pipe in the background to the foreground and go the way Punio indicates. You can look around the back of the first patch of flowers you pass for a useless Inn Coupon. The next area is in front of a lot of lined-up trees. There are some more mind- boggling enemies in this area, but they should be fairly easy. You can enter the vertical pipe near the entrance, which takes you to a Plane Panel. The panel appears to be useless, however. Keep going right to a tall ledge. Try to walk into the sparkling part of the ledge nearest the camera; there is a small tunnel there! Go right and up to the walkway of tree stumps in the background. As you go left along the walkway, jump while standing between the 6th and 7th stumps from the right to make a P-Down, D-Up P Badge pop out of a cleverly hidden block. Now, keep going left to a ! switch you should hit. This raises the pipe and Plane Panel, making them high enough for you to glide onto the ledge! Drop from the walkway and do so, but first look to the left of the Plane Panel. Use Koops to get the Shine Sprite there, then glide to the ledge. Hit the red block for a Quake Hammer Badge and continue to the next area. This area has Madame Flurrie's house in the background. Whack the first tree you come across here for a Star Piece and keep going left. Use the Heart Block if you have to, then slip through the black fence with Paper Mode. Before entering the pipe, go left while keeping next to the fence to find a hidden Star Piece behind it. (There's a Volt Shroom behind the other side of the fence) Anyway, once you're in the background, enter Flurrie's house. Puni calls to Madame Flurrie, but there's no response. When you try to open the door at the right side of the opulent room, she suddenly tells you not to come in. Puni tells Flurrie his problem, and although she'd love to help, she simply CAN'T be seen in public without her favorite necklace. (That must be what she's missing) Wait, didn't Vivian find a necklace? Hurry back and confront the Shadow Sirens again! Conveniently enough, after you leave the house, the scene switches back to the ghostly trio. Vivian suddenly discovers she actually had the picture of you with her the entire time! (Does she have pockets or something?) Beldam instantly notices that the man in the picture just passed them by earlier, and decides to punish Vivian some more for messing up. Anyway, make your way back through Boggly Woods. Make sure you've used the Heart Block and are at full health! When you reach the spot where you found the Shadow sirens, they seem to know you'd come back looking for the necklace and demand to have the map. Your partner *BOOM* demands to know who the sisters are, and they give a rehearsed group introduction. (Notably enough, this is the only time in the game Marilyn says anything other than "Guuuhhh!" Savor the moment. NOW.) After this, they engage you in battle. MINIBOSSES: BELDAM, MARILYN, AND VIVIAN Appearance: 3 strange purple ghost-like sisters. The front one has a red- striped pointed hat and pink hair; the middle one is enormous with a yellow hat and yellow hair; the back one is tiny with a blue hat and an evil smile. HP: 9/12/10 Attack: 1/2/1 Defense: 0 Each of the Shadow Sirens is tougher than any enemy you've seen so far, but they should still be easy. I hope you promoted Goombella; her Headbonk is great for doing heavy damage to the Sirens. With Mario, start off with an Earth tremor to reduce their HP, then focus your attacks on Marilyn. (The middle one) She has more HP and attack than the other sisters, so take her out first. Next get rid of Beldam (the back one) to stop her annoying ice and size-changing magic. Vivian (the front one) simply attacks with fire magic and doesn't have any special characteristics. After you defeat the Shadow Sirens, Beldam once again blames the others and has them all flee. Conveniently enough, they also drop the necklace. Take it back to Flurrie's house. She has you leave it by the door, and after putting it on, converts the chandelier to a disco ball to make a flashy entrance. 0_0 I hope she wasn't this...massive during her acting career... She recognizes you as Mario and thanks you for returning her necklace with a huge kiss. (That's 3 so far...has Mario been working out of something?) While complimenting Mario's mustache (maybe that's what's changed), she decides to join Mario's search for the Crystal Stars. You just got yourself a new (albeit slightly disturbing) partner! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FLURRIE'S ABILITIES: A PRIMER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Flurrie is an aristocratic wind spirit, and former drama queen. She has set up an incongruous house in the Boggly Woods to rest, and is a friend to the Punies there. In battle, Flurrie has a wide variety of moves that can be potentially quite good, but have some very difficult action commands. She's also good at taking damage with her high HP. Her field skill is to send a powerful blast of wind forward as long as you hold X. The wind can stun enemies or blow certain objects away, which often reveals secret passages. HP: 15/25/35 ---Abilities--- Body Slam: 2/4/6 damage to any non-spiked/fire enemy, including ones on the ceiling Action Command: Line up the two targeting cursors with the control stick Style Command: Hit A right as Flurrie hits the ground after slamming the enemy With this move, Flurrie uses her giant...stage presence to slam down on an enemy. It's a powerful move that can hit almost anything, including enemies clinging to the ceiling. Gale Force (4 FP): Attempts to blow enemies out of battle Action Command: Hold and release A with rhythm according to the meter Style Command: Press A immediately after Flurrie stops blowing wind Gale Force uses Flurrie's wind powers to blow enemies off the field. It you fill the meter enough (it takes practice to know when to hold and release it, and you aren't given time to completely fill the meter), this move could end the battle instantly. (I'm pretty sure that enemies blown away don't give Star Points) Lip Lock (3 FP): 4/6 damage, heals 4/6 HP to Flurrie Action Command: Hold A only when the Star is lit up Style Command: Press A as soon as you hear the sound indicating how well you pulled the action command off This disgusting move has Flurrie give an enemy a huge, wet kiss to both do damage and heal her own HP. If you use Flurrie to take damage (which is a good idea), this move is essential. The Action Command is very hard to do, however. (There is no rhythm as in Gale Force) Dodgy Fog (4 FP): Action Command: Tilt the control stick in the directions shown with perfect timing as each icon lights up Style Command: Press A after Flurrie raises her arms and creates the fog cloud Flurrie's Ultra Ability surrounds Mario in a cloud of fog...Dodgy Fog. This gives him a chance of evading attacks for the next few turns, which can be good against a dangerous foe. The action command determines the duration of the move, but it's nearly impossible to do. The proper timing is to press the control stick a fraction of a second after you hear the beeping noise that each icon makes when it lights up. It takes a lot of practice. After this, Punio asks her to help him find the secret entrance to the Great Tree. Return to the Tree and stand on the root Punio was on. Use Flurrie's field skill to the right to blow away some wallpaper over the rather ostentatious secret entrance. Punio eagerly jumps into it. While he's inside, Flurrie makes some small talk with you about her former acting career. Punio soon opens the door and invites you inside. THE GREAT TREE Don't expect this level to be simple like the giant tree in Paper Mario was. This giant tree is a huge and confusing level, so stay alert. Anyway, it's strangely empty in the first area; the Punies are usually everywhere. Suddenly, 2 X-Nauts walk in. They quickly decide to "get you." How frightening indeed. =P The X-Nauts are slightly stronger than the Boggly Woods enemies, but they should still be fairly easy to defeat. After you do, they run away to tell Lord Crump what happened. After Punio thanks you, another Puni emerges from the statues in the background. Its first thoughts are whether or not you'll eat it. O_o More Punies emerge and Punio reassures them that you aren't a carnivore. A fat Puni, Puniper, emerges next and still distrusts you. He tells you the other Punis, including the elder and Punio's sister, have been imprisoned by the X- Nauts. Most of the Punis join you to help free their friends, but Puniper remains skeptical and behind. Anyway, use the Heart and Save Blocks if you want. There's another door at the right end of this room, so take the pipe instead. There's a strange wooden mechanism that seems to react to and count your Punies. You can't do anything with it yet, so just take them pipe. You can find a Power Punch in the bush directly south of the pipe. Take the next pipe up to the top level of this room. You'll probably fight some enemies here, as well. There are no Dark Puffs or Clefts, but instead you'll find Piders. These enemies are suspended by strands of webbing and randomly lift off the ground. If they do, use a jump attack, Headbonk, or Flurrie's Body Slam to hit them. Their attack is fairly easy to block, luckily. Anyway, proceed to the next area. Before you enter the next room, a short cutscene plays. As an X-Naut in a storeroom complains to himself about his job, a familiar mouse appears behind him and strikes. It must be Ms. Mowz! This room contains red and blue jail cells. The red one has the Puni Elder, and the blue one contains 90 more Punies and Punio's sister. You can enter the cells with Paper Mode, but you can’t get the Punies out without the cell keys. For now, enter the room to the right. This is the storeroom you saw in the cutscene, and sure enough, Ms. Mowz is waiting in it. After the usual flirting (and making Flurrie jealous is she's you're active partner) Ms. Mowz jumps to a window (in a tree?) and gives you a clue about the Crystal Star; it's in the lower part of the tree. Soon after she leaves, the X-Naut she knocked out wakes up. Thinking you were the one that hit him from behind, he attacks! Defeat the weakling and take the Red Key he drops. There's also an Ultra Shroom in one of the chests. (The right-hand one is empty) Return to the jail cell room and unlock the Puni Elder's cell with the Red Key. Instead of being grateful, she gets mad at Punio. (And huge) The stubborn old woman thinks Punio just went off for no reason when his sister and everyone else was captured, and goes into a massive lecture about his mistake. After everyone finishes, return to the entry room. Talk to Puniper; the jerk is surprised you managed to rescue the elder. Luckily, the elder herself is on your side and scolds him in her usual way. After some more motivational speech, the 10 Punies in the entry hall join you, giving you 11 total! Wait, where have you seen this before...? Your partner *BOOM* then asks about the Crystal Star. The elder responds that it's been passed down within the Puni generations in the depths of the tree. She also says that you need to unite the Punies to get the Star. The elder gives you the Puni Orb, which lets you make the Punies assemble at a pedestal where you place the orb. To make them follow you again, you must remove the orb. As you leave, the elder says on last thing. If you lose any Punies, you can return to her to call them back. Now, take the pipe back up from this room. Conveniently enough, there's a pedestal for the Puni Orb in this room. Insert the orb; your group of Punies gathers on the floor tile and another machine counts them. Also, another pipe emerges from the ground nearby. Enter it to go to the next room. (Make sure to remove the Orb for the Punies follow you) This room is on the other side of the door in the entry room. Use the control panel next to it to unlock it, then check this room out. There are more pedestals on both sides of a weird pillar, which sits on a pool of...bubble liquid? Hmmmm... Maybe you can use this to get your Punies across the pit? In fact you can! Use the Puni Orb on the left side, then stand just to the left of them and use Flurrie's field skill to blow them down into the goo. Keep blowing as they float back up in bubbles to blow them across. Remove the Puni Orb, then jump across and enter the pipe with them. There are more enemies in this two-level room, but nothing very interesting, at least at first. Use Koops' field skill to attack the Pider on the top level before it scares the Punies off the ledge. Also, you can reveal a Plane Panel by blowing a black gourd off of it with Flurrie. Glide to another panel from it, then back to the left, to a platform with another Shine Sprite. After that, enter the warp pipe on the top-right side of the lower level. This room also has two levels; the top one winds between two sides of the room with some Piders in the gaps. Once again, take them out by attacking with Koops, then pick up any Punies that fell off. The other thing of note on the top floor is a red ? block. It looks unreachable, but you can reveal a coin block under it with Koops’ field skill. Once the block is revealed, jump onto it and hit the red block to make a Damage Dodge P Badge pop out. Now, drop down to the lower floor. Search the leftmost bush for a Star Piece and save with the Save Block. There is another X-Naut door on the right-hand side, but it’s locked as usual. There’s also a hidden door on the left side that Flurrie can reveal. It leads to a handy shop selling many exclusive items. >>>>>>>>>>>>>> PUNGENT'S SHOP <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Honey Syrup-5 Coins HP Drain-10 Coins(!) Ice Storm-15 Coins Mini Mr. Mini-8 Coins(!) Mushroom-5 Coins(!) Mystery-3 Coins(!) Buy whatever items you want (the HP Drain and Ice Storm are especially good and can’t be bought anywhere else) and then return to the top level of the previous room. Both of the doors on the top level lead to hives of the Jabbies, the Punies’ enemies. There are 100 Jabbies to the left, but only 10 to the right, enough for your Punies to take on. After the Jabbi army enters and gets into ranks in the right-hand room, lead your Punies against them! (Is this starting to sound familiar?) For some reason, Mario and his partner *BOOM* can’t hurt the Jabbies, so it’s up to your Punies. All you can do is have Flurrie blow te Jabbies around, allowing your Punies to attack them more easily. Lead them right up to the Jabbies to make them start fighting. Try not to let the Jabbies separate your army and take them out one by one; use this tactic against them instead! If all your Punies are beaten, you’ll have to try again. After you win, your army infiltrates and destroys the hive (they’re little secret agents), allowing you to enter the door behind. This room has an unusual formation of pillars in it. You can’t do anything with it yet, except open the chest to get the Blue Key! After a slightly touching scene with Punio’s sister, backtrack to the jail room to free your buddies! In the jail room, use the key to open the blue cell and free the 90 Punies in it! Now Olima-I mean, Mario has 101 Dalm-I mean, Punies! And Punita gave her brother a nasty Mushroom she was saving! Yay! Now, return to the room before the 10-Jabbi room. This time, go left, into a room with an army of 100 Jabbies! This battle should go much like the first one only bigger; use the same tactics to win and gain entry to the next room. There’s another pedestal for the Puni Orb in here. Use it to reveal a pipe leading downward. As soon as you emerge, check behind the pipe you took for a Star Piece. Go around the large tree stump (there are trees inside the Great Tree?) and to the next room. It’s another pedestal! Who knows what great thing will happen when you put the Puni Orb in this time? It’s another pipe! A cage lowers around Mario and the Punies! Lord Crump walks up and flaunts his easy victory over your, then leaves. Luckily, he’s even dumber than he thinks you are. Use Paper Mode to easily escape the cage and take the pipe that appeared. This room has 4 pedestals in the back, much like in the room with the Blue Key. Check behind the entry pipe for another Star Piece and hit the ! block to trigger something. You probably know what this means; return to the Blue Key room. (Write down the pattern of images you see on the pillars in here) Lo and behold, there are now 4 white switches in here! Hit them to switch the images on the large pillars to match those you saw earlier. The pillars recede and a door is revealed behind them. There’s a super-sized treasure chest in the small room you enter! Open it to receive...the Super Boots! You're taken to a tutorial screen much like with new partners. Somehow, a Toad girl named Toadette appears next to you and give you a tutorial on how to use the Super Boots. These new weapons increase the damage of Mario's jump and let him perform a Spin Jump. So do one, press A while in the air. The Spin Jump can do extra damage in battle and smash things out of battle. After you're ready, leave the room. Wait, now that the pillars are lowered, you're trapped? Time to try out your new ability! Spin Jump the wooden boards in the middle of the room to smash them and drop to a sublevel. A pipe here leads back to the entrance, but first get the treasure of this room. Jump across the pillars to reach a Shine Sprite and a spot where you can have Koops retrieve a Charge Badge. After getting these things, use the pipe to get out and return to the cage where your Punies are trapped. Slip back into the cage and smash the boards to the left of the center with a Spin Jump. Use the pipe to go back up and place the Puni Orb back in the Pedestal. Use Flurrie to blow the Punies down the hole you made. Once they're all down, get the Puni Orb and follow them through. Before going further in the tree, you should use your Spin Jump for a few other things now that your Punies are together again. First, go to the room right above the entry hall. In here, Spin Jump around the right-hand side of the room. (Use the pedestal to get the Punies out of the way if necessary) You should be able to see a panel "hop" off the floor when you do. Stand right next to it (but not on it) and so a Spin Jump to flip it, revealing a Star Piece! Now, go up and repeat this process in the blue Puni jail to get another Star Piece. Now, head back through the left-hand Jabbi room. In the room where you used the pedestal to make the pipe appear, place the Puni Orb and Spin Jump the wooden boards. You'll land on a large tree stump with a pipe, but don't go in yet. First go back up and have Flurrie blow all the Punies down into the hole. Remove the Orb and follow them, then enter the pipe on the stump. There isn't much of interest in this room, so go down the two pipes to the next. There's a large pool of water here; go down the pipe to the lower level of the room. Lave the Punies behind and jump across the pillars, then enter the vertical pipe to reach the other side of the top level. You can hit the blue ! switch to drain the water, but when you get within Koopa range of it, you can't help but hit a floor panel that causes the switch to sink beneath the water. The solution: stand on the switch and hold X to make Koops hover over the ! switch. Step off the floor panel to raise the switch right onto Koops, triggering a big flush. After the water is gone, drop into the empty basin and open the chest for a Shrink Stomp Badge. (There's also a Dizzy Dial behind the stairs) After you get these things, climb the stairs and go back down the pipe to your Punies. The water from above has drained down here, creating a new pool You can now lead them across the pillars since some lily pads have floated up between them. Before entering the down pipe here, jump onto some lily pads at the top of the room and get the Shine Sprite in plain view. (Be careful not to fall into the water, which is, as usual, piranha-infested) Then go down the pipe. There's another pedestal and a huge Puni platform here. Make sure you have every Puni and place the orb. The large platform lowers like an elevator to the room below. You must be nearing the end; Heart and Save Blocks can be found here. (As well as a Mushroom behind the left bush) When you're ready, enter the next room. This room is large, octagonal, and lined with Puni statues. Stairs lead down to a Puni Orb pedestal and large platform in the middle. Obviously, this room is important. Make sure you have all 101 Punies and put the Orb onto the pedestal. This causes the Emerald Star to appear behind you; your quest is over...or is it? Before you can get the Star Lord Crump runs up and snatches it! After he gloats over his cunning victory, he begins a 5-minute timer counting down to the detonation of a bomb that will destroy the Great Tree! (Don't worry, if you hurry, this is more than enough time) Quick, follow him and get out of here! (Remember to remove the Puni Orb) In this next room, quickly defeat some X-Nauts that attack you. (Stupidly enough, the timer keeps counting down even during battles and dialogue) Before unlocking the door and leaving, check the bottom-right bush for a Star Piece. When you go through the door, you emerge on the lower level of the room with the winding path. Quickly take the pipe back up (and watch as the stupid timer never pauses) and leave the room the way you first entered. Hurry back through this two-level room. You're back in the bubble room; hurry and blow the Punies back across as you did before, then cross over yourself. Use the X-Naut door on the other side to get to the entry room. The Puni Elder is blocking Lord Crump's escape as Mario and co. enter. Punio demands that Crump give the Crystal Star back and leave forever. Seeing that he's trapped, Crump ends the timer and attacks you in a giant red robot! BOSS: MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE Appearance: A giant humanoid robot. Its body is boxy, pink, and has a white X across it. The arms and legs are made of paper springs. Lord Crump sits in a hemispherical cockpit on top. HP: 30 Attack: 2 Defense: 1 Location: the Great Tree It looks like Crump is trying to take you out with an obligatory, bizarrely- named giant robot. Luckily, this trash-talking monstrosity isn't too difficult. The only real complication is its point of defense; use your strongest attacks to damage him. (The Power Jump can be strong now that you have a stronger jump) Magnus' main attack is a stomp that can be tough to block, but isn't too powerful. (Try using partners *BOOM* to soak up damage, especially Flurrie) The only other trick the robot has is to detach its rocket arms. These arms are capable of dealing massive damage, but have only 2 HP, so take them out before they can attack! (Flurrie's Gale Force works well if you can perform the Action Command) After you defeat Magnus von Grapple, Lord Crump and his remaining X-Nauts leave and the Emerald Star is yours! (As is a new Star Power, Clock Out!) END OF CHAPTER 2 After saving, watch the Mario heads and prepare for another Peach scene. ??? The scene starts with Grodus in his throne room receiving a report of what happened in the Great Tree. He comments that there are 4 more Crystal Stars unaccounted for, since the X-Nauts already have one from Rogueport! After this slightly shocking news, we see Peach again. As Peach comments on her situation, the door opens once again. Time to pay TEC another visit. (Take a shower again if you want) When Peach visits TEC, it comments that Peach was wishing she could dance at a ball again. TEC doesn't know why, but it wants to dance with her. Before you have time to start laughing at the idea of Peach dancing with a 10-ton computer, it creates a holographic image of Peach as a dance partner! You start in a dance minigame with this holographic partner; hit the buttons that appear onscreen. After you finish, if you did well enough, TEC lets you use its E-mail again to send another message to Mario. Soon after, the scene ends and you can save again. PETAL MEADOWS Time for Bowser's scene! For once, the Koopa King is one step BEHIND you and attempting to track Peach down in Petalburg, where someone has apparently seen her. To get there, you'll have to play some...Super Koopa Bros!? This incredibly hilarious minigame replaces Mario with Bowser for classic platforming action! Playing as Bowser, you have to make your way through a classic level and smash everything! DESTROY!!! Use your fire breath to destroy stuff, and collect meat to make Bowser grow until he fills the screen and becomes invincible! Unfortunately, the level doesn't last long. (Why doesn't Bowser smash the castle at the end?) After the level ends, you're at Petalburg. After Bowser scares away all the locals, he sees Peach standing in a nearby window! This is too easy! As Bowser approaches the strangely silent Peach, a Koopa runs out and takes his Peach poster to protect it! Bowser is now the king of guys who talk to posters! Level up! (Or not) With this, the scene ends. Save once more time and switch back to Mario. BOGGLY WOODS After some final goodbyes with the Punies, leave the Great Tree. As you emerge into the Boggly Woods, you get Peach's E-mail. She is still safe and trying to find out what her captors are up to. Now, briefly return to Flurrie's house. Enter Flurrie's bedroom and open the chest to get an ultra-useful Super Appeal P Badge. Also, use a Spin Jump to find another Star Piece at the foot of Flurrie's bed. After getting these treasures, leave Boggly Woods and return to Rogueport...Sewers. ROGUEPORT SEWERS As soon as you exit the pipe in the sewers, Spin Jump around the room to find another hidden panel and Star Piece. Go back through the secret tunnel Punio revealed and out of the room. Slip back through the bars and go right. One the way, test out your new Star Power, Cloak Out, against some Spinias. It's not exactly the strongest Star Power. Now that you have Flurrie, you can do something about the bad wallpaper on the stairs here. Blow it off with her field skill to reveal a Happy Heart P Badge. Now climb the stairs and return to the room with the black chest. Spin jump in front of the pedestal with the chest for another Star Piece. Don't return to the Thousand-Year Door yet; first, return to the beginning area of the Sewers. Find yet another Star Piece in the pit where you fought the gang of Goombas with a Spin Jump. NOW go to the Thousand-Year Door room. Before revealing the next Crystal Star, find one more Star Piece by Spin Jumping towards the southern end of the room. Now, step on the pedestal. After the usual cutscene, the map reveals the location of the Gold Star. It's...on a floating machine high in the sky? How long has the map's warranty been expired? Head over to Ancient Stuff Inc. for a fresh one...or not. ROGUEPORT Back at Frankly's house, the professor says that you'll need all the Crystal Stars to break the 1000-year seal on the city behind the door. As if you didn't already know. Unfortunately, he doesn't know why the treasure had to be sealed, or what destroyed the ancient city. He then explains why the Gold Star is in the sky. It's hidden in Glitzville, a city in the sky whose main attraction is an arena where the rich come to watch and bet on fights. The only way to get to Glitzville is with a blimp in West Rogueport, but a ticket is very hard to get. The only one who could give you one is Don Pianta, the mob boss that runs the Pianta Parlor. After this, leave Frankly's house for some more sidequesting. Firstly, if you didn't already beat Gus, now is a good time to do so. If you already have, simply go behind where he was and check out the new Troubles. You should also order the Contact Lens and give it to Zess T. to gain entry to West Rogueport if you haven't already. Next, it's time