History VideoGame / SuperPaperMario

** Chapter 2 also has Mimi, a [[TheDarkChick henchwoman of Count Bleck]], who feigns her position as Merlee's handmaid, only to make life in the mansion a hellish nightmare, and eventually become's the chapter boss.

* SurpriseCreepy: This is quite notable for much of its dark elements, especially if you're coming from one of the other games in the series.

** O'Chunks, or rather, [[HypnoTrinket O'Cabbage]] also qualifies, as Dimentio was testing the Floro Sprout the Floro Sapiens used to brainwash and slave the Cragons on him, [[spoiler:which he then uses on Luigi during the final boss fight]].

* TheCaligula: King Croacus, who more or less declares [[CurbStompBattle an incredibly one-sided war against the Cragons]] while spending his fortunes on making everything, especially himself, "beautiful". [[spoiler:We later learn that [[TheGoodKing he was a wise and just ruler in the past]], and only started acting badly after he got poisoned from polluted waters. His last sane order was that none of the defeated Cragons be killed, just held prisoner until they stop poisoning the water supply with their trash.]]

* TheCollector: Francis has a massive collection of nerd memorbilia in his fortress, and is constantly trying to get more, which even leads him to kidnap Tippi.

* ThePsychoRangers: Count Bleck and his main henchmen/henchwomen serve as this [[EvilCounterpart opposite to the main heroes]]. [[spoiler:It's only very fitting that they fight each other seperately in Castle Bleck]].

* SmallNameBigEgo: Flint Cragley, one of the Cragnons. He's a famous explorer among his people, but he's moreso focused on news filming and gets pretty cowardly when actual danger arises. He's something of a successor to Kolorado and Flavio from the preceeding ''Paper Mario'' games, and is also a focus of Chapter 5 like they were.

* SupremeChef: Like in the previous games. This time we have two chefs, [[SweetBaker Saffron]] and [[AngryChef Dyllis]]. Saffron lives in Flipside, [[NiceGirl is nice and caring]] and can cook delicious dishes with one ingredient, whereas Dyllis lives in Flopside, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold is pushy and somewhat aggresive but just as talented as Saffron]] and requires two ingredients to make a dish.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You can find a cute and friendly creature named Whacka, and if you hit him, you can get a bump that serves as a healing item. The game does harshly remind you of what you did to get it: "A bump from a poor, defenseless Whacka. Restores 30 HP and cures poison. Worse, if you hit the Whacka eight times, he disappears, with the implication that he ''died''. Afterwards, you can find a Cragon woman in his place waiting for him. She figures out he's gone and cries "Bring back my Whackaaaaaa". As if you needed to feel even worse.

* WhamLine: Two very important ones in the game, which both change everything about the seemingly irrelevant post-Chapter flashbacks.

* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: It is implied that, after the heartbreak of Blumiere's [[spoiler:(Count Bleck's)]] love, Timpani [[spoiler:(Tippi)]], being exiled to multiple dimensions by his father and presumably killed, that Blumiere ended up wiping out his race, the Tribe of Darkness.

* FliesEqualsEvil: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with the [[SpotTheImposter "That's My Merlee"]] quiz show, where the real Merlee has flies buzzing around her while Mimi has none. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since Merlee was hiding in the toilet (she can also be seen with flies around her initially after emerging from it).

* FliesEqualsEvil: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with the [[SpotTheImposter "That's My Merlee"]] quiz show, where the real Merlee has flies buzzing around her while Mimi has none. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since Merlee was hiding in the toilet.

* FliesEqualsEvil: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with the [[SpotTheImposter "That's My Merlee"]] quiz show, where the real Merlee has flies buzzing around her while Mimi has none. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since Meelee was hiding in the toilet.

* {{Superboss}}: Three: Wracktail at the bottom of the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials, Shadoo at the bottom of the Flopside Pit if you go down twice, and End Boss, the 100th Sammer Guy. They are also the only optional bosses in the game, barring the Francis rematch. While End Boss is the only one that can't be fought until the postgame, Shadoo is considered to be the hardest of the three and must be defeated after Wracktail.

* CourtJester: Dimentio is a harlequin jester and one of Bleck's main minions, mostly serving to make weird jokes and be the brains behind a few plans like the Floro Sprout production in Chapter 5. [[spoiler:Most of this jesting is an act; beneath it all, he's a maniac who's been manipulating the whole plot for his own means and planning to betray Bleck at the last minute.]]

** Also, Fracktail ends up being [[BrainwashedAndCrazy driven]] [[AIIsACrapshoot crazy]] by the BigBad, forcing Mario to fight it and only regains control over itself when Mario delivers the final blow and perishes soon thereafter, just like [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Volvagia and Link from]] ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'''s manga.

** Mimi is TheDarkChick opposite of TheChick to Peach, being Bleck's most feminine lieutenant who has an obvious crush on him.

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: As is usually the case in the ''Mario'' franchise. Females aren't spared from the hijinks and jokes of the Paper Mario universe. Princess Peach is a playable character and has her moments both in gameplay and story. This also applies to the female baddie Mimi, where the player can whack her with impunity.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In Chapter 1, Tippi instantly recognizes Dimentio when they first meet him. How Tippi knew him or why she recognized him was never explained or mentioned again afterward.

* TookALevelInBadass: Peach.

** This game gives us the "Dark Dark Boo", a dark version of an ''already dark'' enemy.

* BonusBoss: Three: Wracktail at the bottom of the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials, Shadoo at the bottom of the Flopside Pit if you go down twice, and End Boss, the 100th Sammer Guy. They are also the only optional bosses in the game, barring the Francis rematch. While End Boss is the only one that can't be fought until the postgame, Shadoo is considered to be the hardest of the three and must be defeated after Wracktail.

** The Flipside Pit of 100 Trials. 9 floors of fighting enemies to find a key, 1 floor with treasure, an exit, and a door to the next 9 floors. Repeat this until you fight the BonusBoss, [[spoiler:Wracktail]], on floor 100.
** The Flopside Pit of 100 Trials. Imagine the above, but all the enemies are tougher and look like black silhouettes, and the BonusBoss is [[spoiler:silhouettes of the playable characters]]. And you have to complete it twice before you can face the boss and get the reward, for some reason.

* FakeLongevity: The Flopside Pit of 100 Trials. The voice at the end refuses to reward you the first time, and makes you go through the entire area a second time to claim your prizes [[spoiler:and your BonusBoss battle]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: While [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor this game's predecessor]] was already dark for Mario standards, this game takes it ''even further.'' While the X-Nauts' true goal of [[spoiler:bringing the end of the world]] wasn't made apparent until halfway into the last game, in this game the threat of not just Mario's world, but the ''entire multiverse'' collapsing into total nothingness is constantly looming over you through an ever-increasing void that will eventually swallow the multiverse whole. Even ignoring that, a theme of death and the loss of loved ones seems to permeate the game's atmosphere as Count Bleck's backstory involves [[spoiler:him losing his true love, Timpani (Tippi's former self) when his father banishes her to wander across dimensions until she dies, which causes Bleck to go mad from grief and try to exact revenge on the entire multiverse by completely wiping out everything.]] Mario and co. even get front row seats to watch the end of a dimension, and Dimentio shows up afterwards and [[spoiler:kills them, except not really, leading them to a journey through the afterlife, where they witness the daughter of the rulers of the afterlife transform into a Pure Heart.]] Finally, in the end, [[spoiler:Tippi and Count Bleck [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves]] to stop the apocalypse.]] Even just the beginning, where Peach is forcibly married to Bowser (and the union is so unhappy that it creates ''the tool of the apocalypse''), establishes that the game is going to be fairly different. ''Super Paper Mario'' may well be the single darkest game in the entire ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' franchise, let alone the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' spin-off series.

** Also, Fracktail ends up being [[BrainwashedAndCrazy driven]] [[AIIsACrapshoot crazy]] by the BigBad, forcing Mario to fight it and only regains control over itself when Mario delivers the final blow and perishes soon thereafter, just like [[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda Volvagia and Link from]] ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'''s manga.

** [[IncrediblyLamePun Pun aside]], no one on Mario's side ever knows who Mr. L really is. Not even Mario himself, who only finds him "familiar."

* WhamEpisode: Chapter 6-2, [[spoiler:in which Sammer's Kingdom succumbs to the void, making the Pure Heart useless, followed by Dimentio sending the party to the Underwhere, setting up Chapter 7.]]

* OmnicidalManiac: Count Bleck. [[spoiler:Until he learns that the love of his life is still alive, that is. Then he becomes more of a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds]].

* LateCharacterSyndrome: Luigi joins the party in Chapter 7 meaning he’s only playable for two chapters and. sees very little use as a result. Even worse is that he isn’t playable (along with the rest of the cast save for Mario) for the final level and isn’t available for the FinalBoss [[spoiler: due to being used as host for Super Dimentio]].

* {{Nerd}}: Francis is a tech genius with opaque glasses, way too much geek paraphernalia, and an obsession with getting a girlfriend.

* DarkerAndEdgier: While [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor this game's predecessor]] was already dark for Mario standards, this game takes it ''[[UpToEleven even further.]]'' While the X-Nauts' true goal of [[spoiler:bringing the end of the world]] wasn't made apparent until halfway into the last game, in this game the threat of not just Mario's world, but the ''entire multiverse'' collapsing into total nothingness is constantly looming over you through an ever-increasing void that will eventually swallow the multiverse whole. Even ignoring that, a theme of death and the loss of loved ones seems to permeate the game's atmosphere as Count Bleck's backstory involves [[spoiler:him losing his true love, Timpani (Tippi's former self) when his father banishes her to wander across dimensions until she dies, which causes Bleck to go mad from grief and try to exact revenge on the entire multiverse by completely wiping out everything.]] Mario and co. even get front row seats to watch the end of a dimension, and Dimentio shows up afterwards and [[spoiler:kills them, except not really, leading them to a journey through the afterlife, where they witness the daughter of the rulers of the afterlife transform into a Pure Heart.]] Finally, in the end, [[spoiler:Tippi and Count Bleck [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves]] to stop the apocalypse.]] Even just the beginning, where Peach is forcibly married to Bowser (and the union is so unhappy that it creates ''the tool of the apocalypse''), establishes that the game is going to be fairly different. ''Super Paper Mario'' may well be the single darkest game in the entire ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' franchise, let alone the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' spin-off series.

** Francis thinks that Wiki/TVTropes is hi-technicaaaaaaaaaaal, NERR!

* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Bowser and Peach. Peach is [[MindControl literally forced]] into saying "I do". [[HellYesMoment Bowser obviously doesn't have to be forced to say the same.]]

*** Chapter 5: King Croacus IV, who had the Cragnons kidnapped and enslaved [[spoiler:for polluting the water he and his subjects drank]].

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Luigi gets brainwashed by Nastasia into working under Count Bleck as Mr. L.
** O'Chunks, or rather, [[HypnoTrinket O'Cabbage]] qualifies.

* FinalDungeonPreview: After the first and second chapters, there are short segments featuring Peach and Luigi waking up at Castle Bleck, trying to escape, only to be tracked down and hypnotized by Bleck's assistant Nastasia. It is not till the final chapter where you actually travel to Castle Bleck for the final battle with Count Bleck [[spoiler:and Dimentio]].

* FoulFlower: The Floro Sapiens are a race of sentient walking flowers who brainwash and enslave the caveman-like Cragnons. [[spoiler:Subverted when it is revealed that they only turned evil because the Cragnons polluted their water. Once the problem is solved, every Floro makes a HeelFaceTurn. ]]

* KillAndReplace: [[spoiler:Shadoo explicitly attempts this with the heroes after they make it to the bottom of the Flopside Pits of 100 Trials, making clones of the heroes to try and kill them off in an attempt to steal their Pixls so that he can take revenge on the Ancients.]]

* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: The game opens with Count Bleck forcibly taking Peach, Luigi, Bowser and his army into AnotherDimension, then mind-controlling Bowser and Peach into marrying each other (well, actually just Peach. Bowser was more than happy to become Peach's husband), causing an interdimensional rip that will destroy all universes if left unchecked. (ItMakesSenseInContext.) Though Mario initially thinks Peach going missing is Bowser's work, he realizes what happened when the two meet in The Bitlands, and the two join forces (among others) to take Count Bleck down. Count Bleck would then be usurped by an even ''more'' recent villain, [[spoiler:Dimentio, who waits until Mario defeats Bleck, then takes the power of the Dark Prognosticus for himself and fuses with Luigi to become Super Dimentio.]]

* NotMeThisTime: Peach is kidnapped at the beginning. Immediately, Mario and Luigi go to Bowser's castle to rescue her. However, it turns out that Bowser was in the middle of a rallying speech in preparation for invading Peach's castle and did not actually ''do'' anything yet.

** In the Pits of 100 Trials, you receive 5 minutes per room to get the key from a random enemy and enter the next room. Any longer and you get an instant GameOver.