Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Fridge / SuperPaperMario

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%%
4%%This isn't Troper Tales or a forum. Refrain from first-person entries, speculation, and "replying" to entries. Administrivia/RepairDontRespond is in effect here as much as any other page.
5%%
6%%
7%%Fridge that demands an answer goes on the Headscratchers tab.
8%%If you want to add a fridge example that needs an answer, or see a fridge example you want to answer, move it over to Headscratchers.
9%%
10%%
11'''Beware [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked]] Spoilers'''
12
13[[folder:Fridge Brilliance]]
14* Mr. L.'s basic personality traits are sarcasm, greed, jealousy, and cockiness. These traits have appeared before as Luigi's '''faults'''... All Mr. L is is [[ShadowArchetype the personification of Luigi's personal flaws]], the traits that keep Luigi from being too powerful. As a result, he can never win, because he's just an exaggeration of someone's most negative qualities.
15* The Mushroom Shakes only appear in this game and no other games. Shigeru Miyamoto originally wanted ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' to be a Popeye Game. Popeye normally powers himself up with cans of spinach. Maybe it's actually a subtle Popeye reference!
16* The Primordial Fruit can be used to make a Town Special dish, and a Whacka Bump can be used to make a Roast Whacka Bump. However, both of these dishes actually heal less HP than their ingredients. This is representative of the Cragnon's wasteful nature, as both those dishes are said to be Cragnon-based.
17* The title screen. It shows all four of the heroes, but while Mario, Peach and Bowser are taking the front stage, Luigi is seen jumping way in the background. Luigi only joins you in Chapter 7, only to become a part of the TrueFinalBoss in the very next chapter. This makes him more of a GuestStarPartyMember and/or antagonist. Thus it makes sense for him to be in the background, as most supporting characters and villains do.
18* Guardians of the Yold Town bridges:
19** In the very first chapter, you cross two bridges on the way to the final checkpoint. The first is a simple wooden bridge, but the second is much more grandiose and overall better looking. So what's with the big discrepancy in quality? Well, try flipping dimensions around them. The simple bridge is fully functional whether you're in 2D or in 3D, but the pretty bridge is totally flat and can only work for people in 2D.
20** The fact that each of the two people who run these bridges is an {{Expy}} of Mario and Luigi (respectively) makes sense if you consider their characterization in previous ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games. The {{Expy}} of Mario, the always reliable HeroicMime, runs the simple bridge, and the {{Expy}} of Luigi, who is a less successful hero yet a bigger braggart, runs the flashier yet less efficient bridge.
21** Even more telling is the difference in abilities. Mario is the only character who can flip into 3D, and as such, he would need a bridge that works in both dimensions. Luigi cannot flip into 3D, and as such, has no need for a three-dimensional bridge. In addition, Red is the brother who spent some time in game in the third dimension: he has reason to want to add an extra dimension to his bridge.
22* Luvbi being [[MoePersonification a disguised Pure Heart]] can be hinted by her behavior. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment When first met, she is daydreaming of love in the form of a prince that will take her away]], she tends to be very impulsive and moody (since she is an emotion given sentience) and, of course, her ShipperOnDeck tendencies.
23* Dimentio is actually a {{Foil}} to TEC-XX from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''. Both secretly help the heroes throughout their respective games, before ultimately becoming outright traitors against their respective masters... But while TEC does so out of genuine compassion and against a HateSink like Sir Grodus, Dimentio only does so out of self-serving PragmaticVillainy and is actually far worse than an AntiVillain like Count Bleck. Both characters also end up dying for their actions; but while TEC invokes HeroicSacrifice to help the heroes one last time and is ultimately restored via ThePowerOfLove, Dimentio attempts TakingYouWithMe out of sheer spite toward his defeaters and ultimately remains KilledOffForReal because EvilCannotComprehendGood.
24* Why do Count Bleck and Nastasia recover from their injuries so quickly? Because they're in Dimension D, where they're 256 times more powerful!
25* Count Bleck/Blumiere claimed to have "searched and searched" through all dimensions while looking for Tippi/Timpani. So why didn't he come across her in Flipside? Merlon says in the beginning that Flipside isn't a world of its own — it's ''in between'' dimensions!
26* Pixls usually have names that indicate their functions. Looking back, the reason Timpani was given the name Tippi by Merlon when she became a Pixl might be because her role in the Light Prognosticus is to give tips to the heroes.
27* Note how Count Bleck personally treats his henchpeople. He's giving them their greatest desires. O'Chunks wants glory in battle. Mimi wants to live the fantasies she dreamed up during her likely origin story — being locked away in the dark (the dark becoming her greatest fear) with only her fantasies for company. Dimentio wants... that which Dimentio wants (which even Count Bleck doesn't know). And Nastasia wants to serve Count Bleck in any way she can. And what's one of the biggest jobs she does for him? ''Being directly cruel to people.'' Count Bleck can't bring himself to do it personally!
28* Also, the Chaos Heart was created by marrying two people who were never meant to be together (Bowser and Peach) in a forced, formal marriage; a perversion of an act of love and commitment. It was destroyed by reuniting two people never meant to be apart (Blumiere and Timpani) in a spontaneous, heartfelt reciting of vows, the truest expression of love for each other even in the [[HeroicSacrifice face of death]].
29* During the game, Count Bleck would seem to switch from referring to himself in the third person to doing so in the first person for no apparent reason. However, Bleck's third-person speech could be him reading from the Dark Prognosticus. Remember this important plot point: Blumiere became Count Bleck after reading from the Dark Prognosticus, and it is heavily implied he was possessed by it. Think about it: Count Bleck has split personalities! Whenever he refers to himself as Count Bleck, it's the will of the Prognosticus bent on destroying the multi-verse. When referring to himself in the first-person, it's Blumiere who's speaking. In fact, whenever he ends a sentence with something like "...said Count Bleck," it's actually the Prognosticus narrating ''itself'' through him. This turned what was a bizarre yet funny VerbalTic into a disturbing example of Count Bleck's insanity.
30* Mr. L often refers to himself as the "Green Thunder". On one hand, it's common to see thunder and lightning used in an over-the-top title ([[VideoGame/JakandDaxter Orange Lightning]], anyone?), but later, during a playthrough of ''Superstar Saga'', it clicked; the hand power Luigi had in that game was ([[LargeHam rather ham-tastically]]) referred to as "Thunder!"
31* The final boss of ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' seems like a pushover. Then you remember that he fused with Luigi. To add to this, the most vulnerable part of that boss is the Luigi head.
32* It’s mentioned that Dimension D makes people 256 times stronger. Back in the 8-bit days, 255 was the general {{Cap}} on numerical values, with 256 causing digit overflow and resetting to 1, fitting in with the fact that Dimension D ends up having no actual effect.
33* Queen Jaydes being able to repower the Pure Heart Mario brought to her is attributed to her influence over life and death, but it also makes symbolic sense if we look at the origins of the violet Pure Heart. It was said to have been brought to Sammer's Kingdom by an Ancient tribeswoman, who ended up falling in love with the King Sammer of her time. If we assume that the Pure Heart was representative of their romance, Jaydes being able to restore it could trace back to the similar romance between her and Grambi, who are also HappilyMarried.
34* Bowser is very slow and clumsy to control in gameplay, even having a hard time turning around in mid-air, and cannot climb ladders. Everything Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach can do easily. This is because Bowser himself never really ''platformed'' before. He was always the boss creating the challenges set ahead of Mario and his friends for years. Just because you are the BigBad who set the platform challenges and traps, doesn't mean you are competent of doing it yourself.
35* It makes sense that Brobot L-type, a HumongousMecha with outlandish weaponry like a RocketPunch and a boomerang moustache, would be the boss of the World of Nothing, which was created from a destroyed [[{{Wutai}} Sammer Kingdom]]; after all, Japan is famous for creating the SuperRobot genre.
36* Mimi seems to have been the most EasilyForgiven of Bleck's minions in the epilogue -- first when Peach tries in vain to save her inside Castle Bleck, and then when Merlee offers her the job of maidservant that she ''pretended'' to have during Chapter 2. Of course, Mimi is also the most childish and immature of Bleck's minions. Peach and Merlee probably reason that she wasn't mentally or emotionally capable of grasping the full extent of what she was doing, and thus that for her, showing forgiveness and reconciliation is a better move than harsh punishment.
37* It seems a bit odd at first that the Void is purple and black yet a world that is consumed by it is pure white instead of black, until you realize that white is the most common color of a blank sheet of paper.
38* Bonechill is infamously an AntiClimaxBoss, being seen as [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter a waste of an interesting character]] who would be a SatanicArchetype in the famously bright and cheery world of ''Mario''. However, it makes sense. Bonechill mainly draws from the depiction of the Devil in ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Dante's Inferno]]''. There, it was made clear that despite his intimidating nature, Lucifer [[TheDevilIsALoser is actually a pitiful fool]].
39* Bowser and Peach marrying being the catalyst for the creation of the Chaos Heart and thus the destruction of all worlds makes sense. Bowser kidnapping Peach in a misguided attempt to get Peach to fall in love with him and Mario rescuing her from Bowser is the basis of the entire Mario franchise. If Peach were to somehow actually marry Bowser willingly in an official and significant game, it would likely signal the end of the entire Mario franchise and thus everyone and everything in it.
40[[/folder]]
41
42[[folder:Fridge Horror]]
43* The World of Nothing is creepy enough as it is, with the entire world destroyed (or, more accurately, ''erased''), but then you go to the Underwhere and eventually the Overthere, which is the land of the dead. [[CessationOfExistence None of the people from Sammer's Kingdom are there.]] What is worse is that you can see the Void in the Underwhere and the Overthere and see that, yes, The Void exists there, too. Really underlines the fact there are no continues and no aftergame once you're wiped out.
44* There's a Whacka in this game, which just so happens to be the last of his kind. You can whack his head to gain bumps, which make for amazing healing items (and an important recipe ingredient). Whack him too many times, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you kill him]]. However, the Flipside Arcade has a lot more Whacka bumps for you to buy. Wait, that one Whacka was the last of his kind. Where did they get the bumps... [[InferredHolocaust oh]].
45* The Pixls are hilarious {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s, until you realize that they have been locked up in chests for thousands of years and {{Gone Mad from the Isolation}}.
46* Count Bleck's father and his actions are rife with this.
47** He displays clear signs of an emotional abuser: control[[note]]he refuses to let Blumiere leave the castle and doesn't let him lead his own life[[/note]], isolation, bunny boiling[[note]]he cursed Timpani, the person his son cherishes the most, to wander all dimensions until she dies so she can't marry his son[[/note]], withholding as punishment[[note]]he shows his son no affection when the latter broke the taboo against marriage outside of their tribe[[/note]], smearing[[note]]he tells his son a lie that his love was only deceiving him[[/note]], and victim-blaming[[note]]he accuses his son of disgracing him and their entire tribe[[/note]]. One can't help but wonder what kind of childhood did Blumiere have under such a strict authoritarian of a father.
48** He cursed Timpani to [[AndIMustScream wander all dimensions until she dies]]. Now, imagine [[DownerEnding how different the story would have been]] if Merlon hadn't found her and saved her life...
49*** Even worse: He [[TheFarmerAndTheViper thanked her for nursing his son back to health with a]] DisproportionateRetribution for her engagement to Blumiere.
50** According to Carson, the Tribe of Darkness forbade marriage outside of the group out of fear that foreign blood would dilute their magical powers. This means that he essentially ruined an innocent love, abused his son, and pushed him into the DespairEventHorizon just to enforce the rule to preserve the powers his tribe has.
51** His evil actions become much more vile when you think about the fact that his tribe is descended from the Tribe of Ancients, who cherishes love the most and believes in ThePowerOfLove.
52** Both fridge horror and kind of sad: The Pure Hearts restored the worlds that were destroyed but this partially goes into EsotericHappyEnding territory because he is going to find that his son had disappeared from their home dimension.
53* The fact that Count Bleck has been lying about his goal (even if it’s exposited by [[ManipulativeBastard Dimentio]]) becomes HarsherInHindsight when you find out O'Chunks' DarkAndTroubledPast, where he was nearly killed by his treacherous subordinate.
54* Squirps, the alien child who traveled with you through Chapter 4, is left to live on his own after the game is over. While he does aspire to rebuild his lost kingdom someday, there's no one there to look after him in the meantime. The only hopeful outlook is that the heroes continue to check in on him or try to set him up with someone from his dimension who can raise him, as he doesn't seem keen on leaving the Whoa Zone at all unless they're with him.
55* The Void briefly destroyed all dimensions before Bleck and Timpani's HeroicSacrifice, right? So... it obliterated the Mushroom Kingdom. And [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's Island]]. And [[Franchise/DonkeyKong DK Island.]] And [[VideoGame/WarioWare Diamond City]]. And probably more!
56* Right before the final battle, Luigi is brainwashed for the second time, but this time, Dimentio forced him to fuse with him and the Chaos Heart, creating Super Dimentio, which is pretty much a powered-up Dimentio with a giant Luigi head. Because of the fusion, does this mean that damaging him means hurting Luigi? If that is the case, Mario would have to deal with the risk of accidentally killing his own brother to save the multiverse. Sure, Luigi survives and is relatively unharmed, but would you imagine Mario losing him like this?

Top