History VideoGame / PaperMario64

* CanonImmigrant: The Koopa Bros. first appeared in ''Manga/SuperMarioBrosMangaMania'' issue #2, several years before ''Paper Mario''.

** When Peach happens to overhear a conversation between a Koopatrol and a Hammer Bro., they casually talk about everything that the Princess really needs to know - the next target for Mario, his next opponent, and their weeknesses.

** Generally you can deliver letters to recipients at any time. In the case of Kolorado, there's a point during chapter 5 where he's been badly hurt by a spiked rolling rock, but he gets back up as soon as you enter the next room. You can deliver him a letter during this very brief period, and not only will he have unique dialogue for it, Parakarry will break his usual spiel to ask if he's okay.

* BonusBoss:
** The Master, as well as the other disciples of the dojo. As you progress through the game, you can keep coming back for new dojo fights, each getting progressively harder until you reach the Master at his full strength.
** In Chapter 4, the Anti Guy guards a chest with a powerful badge; you can either beat him or bribe him with his TrademarkFavoriteFood (it must be cooked). He has no special abilities — just high HP and extremely high attack power.
** The Anti Guy appears again in the final chapter. In the second room where you run into a Bowser head door, you take a seven question quiz, and getting 3 wrong answers before getting 5 right results in a brutal brawl with ''three'' Anti Guys at once. This fight isn't impossible, but it's hard to survive unless you have prepared for it in advance (meaning you've already anticipated the questions and answered wrong on purpose).
** Kent C. Koopa appears in Pleasant Path after completing Chapter 5, blocking the path to Koopa Village and demanding a rather hefty toll of 100 coins for safe passage. You can pay him the money, beat him up, or take the quicker underground shortcut. But if you choose to fight him, he's sturdy, hits like a truck, and is able to attack even if you flip him over by jumping on him twice. But he does have a weakness that Mario can discover by talking to the Koopas at Koopa Village: he's susceptible to sleep effects unlike most bosses in the game, allowing you to prevent him from attacking.

* CosmeticAward: The Diploma for beating [[BonusBoss The Master]]. Other than just changing ''three'' conversations in the whole game, it's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

** The Master is a substitute for Jinx from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', who was off-limits due to Square owning him. He fills the same role here, being a martial arts dojo BonusBoss who can be challenged three times.

** If you want to get the Power Plus badge the [[BonusBoss Anti Guy]] is guarding without fighting him, you can bribe him with a Lemon Candy.

** This game's very premise is a development of an idea introduced by Geno, who claims that Star Road was responsible for granting wishes. Shooting Star Summit is a location in both games.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the Japanese version, one of the wrong answers in Chuck Quizmo's quiz, which asks about the relationship between Mario and Luigi, is [[{{Twincest}} "lovers"]]. This was changed to "neighbors" in the English versions of the game.

** Before it was fixed, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjiNZYIOoZ4 getting a Game Over with Watt as your active partner]] had a 100% consistent crash rate that kicked you to the Switch menu at the end of the Game Over sequence - but only on the US version. Fortunately, the issue has been patched.

* MarketBasedTitle: Known in Japan as ''Mario Story''.

** In the Crystal Palace, doppelgangers of your current partner will appear at certain points, prompting Mario to hit the fake ones in order to progress. Hitting your real partner has them chide you, especially in the case of Kooper. His doppelgangers are of ''completely different characters'' and he chews you out if you hit him.

** When you first enter Shiver City, you can spin jump on the frozen pond while there are people standing on it, but Mario will get scolded by the penguin patrol for potentially endangering pedestrians. Do it a second time, and he'll throw Mario back a screen (and undo the damage you've done to the ice). You won't be able to break the ice until it's clear (during the murder investigation).

** If you're standing on the table in the Koopa Village Toad House, the Toad will yell at you to get off the table before he lets you use his services.

** Kent C. Koopa appears in Pleasant Path after completing Chapter 5, blocking the path to Koopa Village and demanding a rather hefty toll of 100 coins for safe passage. You can pay him the money, beat him up, or take the quicker underground shortcut like you probably do. But if you choose to fight him, he's sturdy, hits like a truck, and is able to attack even if you flip him over by jumping on him twice. But he does have a weakness that Mario can discover by talking to the Koopas at Koopa Village: he's susceptible to sleep effects unlike most bosses in the game, allowing you to prevent him from attacking.

** The rare Amayzee Dayzee avoids Mario outside battles and almost always flees the battle if Mario doesn't kill it on his first turn, probably because it's familiar with its status as a [[PinataEnemy Piñata]] MetalSlime.

** If you're standing on the table in the Koopa Village Toad House, the Toad will yell at you to get off the table before he lets you use his services, probably to keep Mario from getting stuck on the flower vase on the table while trying to walk to the bed in the cutscene.

* TheDogBitesBack: Tutankoopa's pet Chain Chomp, Chompy, turns on him when Mario defeats him in battle, probably because Tutankoopa would repeatedly summon Chompy to battle after Mario defeated it without letting it rest. Chompy is even seen chasing its master at the end of the game.

* MonsterAllies: All of Mario's partners are members of the various enemy races he fights in his other games -- to wit, a [[TheGoomba Goomba]], a [[TurtlePower Koopa]], a [[ActionBomb Bob-omb]], a [[WingedHumanoid Paratroopa]], a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Boo]], a [[ShockAndAwe Li'l Sparky]], a [[FishPeople Cheep-Cheep]], and a [[AirborneMook Lakitu]]. Some non-playable members of these races are friendly and helpful to Mario as well.

* ButThouMust: When an ally offers to join Mario's party, he can decline the offer, but they will insist that they're qualified for the team until Mario says yes.

* ButThouMust: When Kooper offers to join Mario's party, he can decline the offer, but Kooper will insist that he's qualified for the team until Mario says yes.

* ShellGame: The Fuzzy that steals Kooper's shell challenges Mario to find it by jumping around the trees while carrying it. He has to whack the tree where it's hiding in for three rounds to retrieve the shell.

* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Your jump is a direct contact attack from above, and your hammer is a non-direct contact attack from the side. Spiky, electrified, and fiery enemies cannot be harmed by direct contact (such as your jump), but you can hit them with your hammer. Many attacks (such as your hammer) are ground-only, and can't hit aerial enemies. Almost all types of Koopa can be flipped on their backs with an attack from above, reducing their defense. Alternatively, one of your partners has a defense-piercing attack. These are only a few broad examples; most enemies have some kind of resistance or weakness to some type of attack.

* VideoGameCaringPotential: You don't have to save the Koopas and Toads being harassed in Chapters 1 and 4 respectively, but they will be very thankful if you do.