| 1 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 2 | [[folder:Original]] |
| 3 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: |
| 4 | ** Lucky, the Bob-omb who runs the Happy Lucky Lottery. Given that his lottery is rigged internally,[[labelnote:Explanation]]How the lottery works is that when you buy a ticket, you are guaranteed ''not'' to win any prize from the lottery until a certain amount of realtime days have passed since the day you purchased the ticket. You cannot win fourth prize until at least 4 to 10 days have passed, third prize until 25 to 35 days have passed, second prize until 85 to 115 days have passed, and the grand prize until ''335 to 395 days'' have passed. Buying a new ticket will reset your day counter to zero, so you have to wait all over again until you have another shot at any of these prizes.[[/labelnote]] some players characterize him as a two-faced scam artist who sells tickets for a rigged lottery to trick people into spending 100 more coins for a new ticket, where he'll reset the win timer so that it takes you another year for a shot at the grand prize. Worse is that if you try to beat him at his own game by turning back the [=GameCube=] clock for another shot at a matching number, he guilt-trips you into confessing and when you do, [[{{Hypocrite}} he accuses you of being the cheater]], and forces you to pay 500 coins to "help restart the lottery". |
| 5 | ** Was Vivian really ever evil like her sisters, or did she just go along with them because they were all she had? On that note, did Beldam's abuse and Mario's kindness towards her convince her to have a change of heart, or was she always good and was just simply too afraid of Beldam to leave? |
| 6 | ** On the topic of Vivian, just how aware of Beldam's true plan and [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen]] was she? While it's implied she was just as in the dark as the rest of the heroes, having her out when Frankly reveals that the treasure in the Thousand Year Door is [[spoiler:a demon's soul]], Vivian's following line said in what appears to be a thoughtful tone, almost as if she knows ''something'', but not as much as she would like. |
| 7 | ** In regards to Marilyn, is she really as dumb and brutish as she looks, or is it just an act to prevent and/or cope with punishments from Beldam? Supporting the latter is the "Three Shadow Beauties" scene in chapter 2, where Marilyn actually speaks in coherent English during their introductions. However this is the only time in the game where she does so, and it gets no acknowledgement whatsoever due to Vivian angering Beldam in the moment. |
| 8 | * AntiClimaxBoss: |
| 9 | ** [[spoiler:Macho Grubba]] from Chapter 3. Despite having a whopping 60 HP, which is massive for this point in the game, considering that the last chapter boss only had 30 HP and the next one will only have 40 HP, he's still incredibly easy to beat with attacks that are easy to Superguard. He spends most of his turns getting temporary stat buffs instead of attacking, and is more vulnerable to status effects than most bosses. [[TropesAreTools Of course,]] the sheer CatharsisFactor of being able to dish out a well-deserved beat down to the guy more than makes up for the fights' low difficulty. |
| 10 | ** Grodus, who you finally right near the end of the final Chapter. While his attacks deal a lot of damage and come with annoying status effects, he has only 50 HP and 1 Defense, [[GlassCannon which isn't much for this late in the game]]. Additionally, the [[GoddamnedBats Grodus X]] minions he summons can draw out the fight, but they go down easily to pretty much any attack that hits all enemies. For a fight that was built up for virtually the entire game, it's not unheard of for it to be over in less than five turns. In fairness, Grodus is likely intentionally made relatively easy because of the [[ThatOneBoss very difficult fight with]] [[spoiler:Bowser and Kammy]] immediately afterwards, with no chance to heal beforehand. |
| 11 | * ArcFatigue: |
| 12 | ** Chapter 2 is a tedious escort mission through the Boggly Tree with a confusing layout and lots of backtracking, which is sometimes cited as [[SlowPacedBeginning a roadblock]] for players replaying the game. Thankfully, the epic fight against Magnus Von Grapple at the end makes up for it. |
| 13 | ** Chapter 4 requires you to go back and forth between Twilight Town and the Creepy Steeple multiple times on a narrow route filled with dangerous enemies. What makes this worse is that your partners are taken away before the first trip back to Twilight Town and you only get them back once the chapter is over. You do get Vivian once you do get back to Twilight Town, but this only makes things slightly more bearable (she doesn't have Fiery Jinx until she's upgraded, a move that would have decimating the enemies that constantly harass you much easier, and you have no means of getting back to Rogueport at that time). |
| 14 | ** Chapter 7 has you get permission from Goldbob, who lives in Poshley Heights, and bringing General White, first seen in Petalburg near the beginning of the game, to Fahr Outpost in order to use the Big bomb cannon than can launch Mario and his friends to the Moon. While getting permission for Goldbob is not as much of a big deal, General White makes you go on a wild goose chase around almost every area of the game (Petalburg, Keelahul Key, Glitzville, the Great Tree, and Twilight Town all in that order), only to find out that ''he went to Fahr Outpost on his own while you were looking for him'', fell asleep, and you have to hit him a couple of times in order for him to wake up and continue the story. To make things worse, there is a sidequest that involves looking for General White ''a second time''. |
| 15 | * AssPull: |
| 16 | ** During the final battle, [[spoiler:the Crystal Stars act as communicators for the people of the world to convey their support and encouragement to Mario and his friends, which ends up fully restoring their HP and nullifying the Shadow Queen's invincibility]]. While a heartwarming and inspiring moment and a recurring element in the series, there was no previous foreshadowing or hints that the Crystal Stars had the ability to do this, particularly compared to the [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Star Spirits]] or the [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario Pure Hearts]] doing the same thing in their respective games. |
| 17 | ** [[spoiler:TEC's return to life]] at the end of the game. Not even [[spoiler:TEC]] is sure how this is possible, though [[spoiler:he suspects Peach has something to do with it]]. |
| 18 | ** [[spoiler:Beldam, not Grodus, was the one behind everything. While the Shadow Queen turning on Grodus is to be expected of [[EvilIsNotAToy a demon as powerful and wicked as her]], the subsequent reveal that Beldam was using Grodus and knew this would happen comes completely out of left field, with the only evidence in support of it being that the Shadow Queen is also a LivingShadow.]] |
| 19 | ** [[spoiler:Grodus and the X-Nauts being reformed and forgiven at the end of the game.]] While you could ''maybe'' make the case that [[spoiler:Beldam was brainwashed to do the Shadow Queen's bidding to justify her sudden HeelFaceTurn, the X-Nauts have no such justification as they had no mentioned prior contact with the Shadow Queen. There's no indication that their plans for world conquest weren't conducted of their own choosing.]] |
| 20 | * [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Bosses]]: A major reason [[SacredCow the game is so beloved]] is the treasure trove of incredible boss fights, as the below list explains in detail: |
| 21 | ** The FinalBoss, [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen,]] stands out the most. After her introduction and the HopelessBossFight, followed by [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome one of the best moments in the entire game]], she proves to be a shockingly tough boss in an otherwise not-too-difficult game (depending on how you play it, of course) with a very varied moveset, [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic dark yet blood-pumping music]] and the fact that she's an all-out MarathonBoss with a whooping 150 HP, which is impressive considering that only one other enemy, the optional {{Superboss}} Bonetail, has HP going into triple digits. |
| 22 | ** Cortez, the fifth boss, definitely counts. He's a [[SequentialBoss Sequential]] FlunkyBoss that changes patterns entirely every time you "beat" him, with an interesting moveset that involves skill to counter, and also has [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic one of the best boss themes in the game]]. Not to mention that he's also [[ThatOneBoss one of the hardest bosses up to that point]]. |
| 23 | ** Magnus Von Grapple. Both versions, fought as the second and seventh chapter boss respectively, with [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic one of the best boss themes in the game]], also have quite interesting attacks with some hilarious dialogue. And even though the 2.0 version has [[ThatOneAttack one attack that's hard to avoid]], it doesn't change the fact that it's one hell of a fight. |
| 24 | ** Grodus. He's one of the last bosses of Chapter 8, and boy, does he put up a fight. He's a ShieldedCoreBoss with a variety of dangerous tricks, and he still manages to feel completely fair to fight against. Best of all, this is the same asshole who kidnapped Peach, threatened to rule the world and had been hunting you down for nearly the entire game, so [[CatharsisFactor beating him up is incredibly satisfying]]. |
| 25 | ** Both of the Bowser fights are, predictably, a lot of fun. Yeah, [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere he has almost zero reason to be there the second time he's fought,]] [[spoiler:except for accidentally saving Mario from Grodus,]] but he puts up one hell of a fight either way. |
| 26 | ** Smorg. Yeah, it's a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, but the fight itself is very fun, and a great conclusion to Chapter 6. The blood-pumping music especially helps. |
| 27 | ** [[spoiler:Doopliss, one of the best examples of a MirrorBoss.]] It helps that he's fought after one of the more annoying parts of the game. |
| 28 | ** Rawk Hawk is a mid-boss, but his awesomeness is comparable to that of a major one. With [[AutobotsRockOut epic rocking music]], awesome build-up and a challenging but fair fight (especially in BP-only runs), it makes for a memorable fight. Even better, he can be refought as many times as needed. |
| 29 | ** The fight with Lord Crump after chapter 5. He has a squad of X-Nauts assisting him, which make multiple varied and interesting formations as the battle goes on. It has a cool atmosphere and isn't too hard or long. |
| 30 | ** The fight against [[{{Superboss}} Bonetail]] is the ultimate test of the player's abilities, and then some. It's also an excellent way to wrap up [[ThatOneSidequest The Pit of 100 Trials]]. |
| 31 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: See AwesomeMusic.PaperMario. |
| 32 | * [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Awesome Video Game Levels]]: Needless to say, the game has ''plenty'' of these: |
| 33 | ** The Glitz Pit in Chapter 3. It's primarily battle-focused with no two enemies being the same, the plot is interesting, and even Bowser pops up at the most appropriate time. |
| 34 | ** Chapter 6's train ride is an incredibly varied and interesting chapter. It focuses on Mario riding a train across the country, and has elements of mystery. You visit a number of different and varied locales, and the boss of the chapter is challenging but fair and looks awesome. |
| 35 | ** While the first half of Chapter 7 is typically seen as the low point of the game due to [[{{Padding}} the unnecesary long search for General White]], many will agree that the second half more than makes up for it with the X-Naut Fortress. Finally raiding the enemy's headquarters is already cool as-is, but you do it while faced with with tough enemies, fun puzzles, and incredibly catchy music. |
| 36 | ** Chapter 8, since it's the final chapter, is awesome as well, being packed with interesting puzzles, several bosses, the fight against the BigBad (followed by a good case of a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere) and of course, [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames the grand finale]]. |
| 37 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: |
| 38 | ** Beldam. Some love her for [[spoiler:turning out to be the one really pulling the strings, with her plot to revive the Shadow Queen]] and being fun to fight in the Shadow Siren boss fights. Others hate her for her total verbal abuse toward Vivian and Doopliss, two of the most popular characters in the game. There's also debate as to whether it was right for her to be EasilyForgiven at the end of the story [[KarmaHoudini despite everything she caused]]. |
| 39 | ** The Punies as a whole. Many people consider Chapter 2 as their least favorite of the game because of the Puni mechanic, which made people dislike them and find them annoying. Others find them to be quite charming in dialogue (especially the funny Puni Elder) and don't factor in the chapter's mechanics when judging them as characters. |
| 40 | ** Pennington--is his [[CluelessDetective incompetence]] funny or annoying? |
| 41 | ** Flurrie. Some players consider her moveset of single-hit, single-target attacks and support moves to be gimmicky and unreliable, while others think that she's worth experimenting with due to her ability to damage-tank (with Lip Lock) and dodge-tank (with Dodgy Fog), and Gale Force being useful in removing boss add-ons and most dangerous late-game enemies, [[CommonKnowledge and contrary to popular belief]], using it does not prevent the player from getting experience points. |
| 42 | * BigLippedAlligatorMoment: |
| 43 | ** The Smorgs, the boss of Chapter 6. They just show up to block the switch to lower the drawbridge at Riverside Station, then the next morning, they attack the train, kidnap the passengers, get a beatdown from Mario, and are never seen again. WordOfGod says there was going to be a scene establishing that Beldam had summoned them, but it got cut out. |
| 44 | ** Bowser has the foresight to ambush you in the Glitz Pit, but only for it to be a fight you can completely skip by running away and that has zero effect on the plot. Made especially strange in that a little later in the game, Bowser's subplot involves him travelling backwards into the Great Tree before attempting (and [[EpicFail failing]]) to return to Glitzville on his Clown Ship. |
| 45 | * BreatherBoss: [[spoiler:Doopliss]] does not have many fancy attacks and he has less HP and attack than the previous boss. He also comes between [[spoiler:Macho Grubba]], who can attack twice in a turn and up his attack and defense, and Cortez with powerful attacks. Even in his second battle which is harder [[spoiler:the real threat comes from your partners who fight alongside him]]. |
| 46 | * BreatherLevel: The Excess Express in Chapter 6. It's more puzzle-oriented than battle-oriented, but it does have a "dungeon" portion with some fairly tough enemies, including the hard-to-counter Spiky Parabuzzy. Professor Frankly even lampshades just how easy a three-day train ride will be compared to the backbreaking work of the other chapters (while you still have work to do, of course). The chapter boss, Smorg, is a big jump in difficulty, but not enough to be unmanageable. |
| 47 | * BrokenBase: The overall quality of Chapter 4 is heavily contested. While almost no one will defend the gameplay part, with all its back-and-forth between Twilight Town and the Creepy Steeple, there's the argument of whether or not everything ''else'' in the chapter makes up for it. People who like Chapter 4 point to the atmosphere and visuals being some of the best in the game (particularly Twilight Trail), [[spoiler:Doopliss]] being a great villain who provides lots of laughs while also coming dangerously close to ending Mario's adventure, this being the part where the [[EnsembleDarkhorse much-lauded]] Vivian joins your party, and the "end of chapter" twist being an effective PlayerPunch. On the other hand, detractors are quick to point out how a good story arc doesn't mean anything if the act of playing through it all isn't fun or engaging. All in all, while it's agreed the chapter excels at everything ''besides'' the gameplay, whether you think it's good or bad depends on what you consider more important to the experience. |
| 48 | * CatharsisFactor: |
| 49 | ** Beating up [[spoiler:Grubba after finding out [[MoralEventHorizon what he did to King K and Bandy Andy, as well as numerous other fighters like Prince Mush]],]] feels ''very'' good. |
| 50 | ** After all the abuse Beldam put Vivian through, letting Vivian get back at her in Chapter 8 is ''immensely'' satisfying. |
| 51 | ** Putting the hurt on [[spoiler:Doopliss and taking back Mario's identity]], feels ''great'' after he nearly ruined Mario's life. |
| 52 | ** The fight against Grodus near the end is probably the biggest example[[spoiler:, as well as [[BigBad the Shadow Queen]] blasting most of his body clean off]]. After [[MoralEventHorizon shutting down TEC and]] [[spoiler:''[[MoralEventHorizon allowing Peach to be possessed by a demon]]'']], to say that his final fate is well-deserved is a MASSIVE understatement. |
| 53 | * CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Madame Flurrie was widely hated at first. Not only was her design [[NonStandardCharacterDesign very unusual]] for the ''Mario'' series, being a humanlike cloud spirit with giant boobs and GagLips, but she was also derided as weak compared to the game's other partners. Her two attack skills, Body Slam and Lip Lock, were both single-target, and Gale Force was seen as a UselessUsefulSpell that many players assumed would instantly KO enemies at the cost of not receiving experience, since that's how OneHitKO skills worked in the first game. However, as the years went on, it became better known that not only does Gale Force award experience for each enemy KO'd with it, making it more worth using, it has a high success rate against aerial enemies--including some of the most challenging foes in the BonusDungeon. In addition, her defense-piercing, self-healing Lip Lock skill is more recognized for its ability to help her tank powerful blows. Now she's more of a BaseBreakingCharacter: some fans still hate her design or find her moves too gimmicky for their taste, but her ability to easily defeat difficult foes in a single attack and stand on her own against tough bosses is more recognized. |
| 54 | * CommonKnowledge: |
| 55 | ** Many players claim that using Flurrie's Gale Force to remove enemies in-battle does not grant any experience points, which is not true at all. This confusion probably arises from the fact that Gale Force is mostly used to remove boss and enemy add-ons, which do not grant any experience points when defeated. Also, similar moves in [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 the previous game]] (like Bow's Spook or Parakarry's Air Lift) ''did'' make you lose out on experience, which may have caused players of both games to assume that Gale Force worked the same way. |
| 56 | ** Only the X-Yux's X is pronounced "cross", not the X-Nauts themselves. Koops' "Tissues to the extreme" joke wouldn't make sense otherwise, and the X-Naut [=PhD=] tattle entry refers to one as "an" X-Naut, which would be grammatically incorrect if it were pronounced "cross". |
| 57 | ** Beldam and the X-Nauts were interrupted by "a strange old man" when they were about to interrogate Peach over where she sent the Magical Map. The "old man" is often assumed to be Toadsworth, but it was actually Wonky according to his "The Incident I Saw" story. |
| 58 | * ComplacentGamingSyndrome: |
| 59 | ** Like with the first game, just about every experienced player only ever focuses on leveling up their Badge Points and never raises any other stat past 20. It's an even bigger case than before thanks to the addition of Superguarding, which negates all damage if pulled off, and the max BP cap being raised from 30 to 99. |
| 60 | ** For the exact same reasons as Goombario in the previous game, it's particularly easy to just stick to Goombella. She can display enemies' HP with Tattle (and Tattles are now kept in the Tattle Log, giving you more incentive to use it on everything), her Multibonk can deal great amounts of damage, and she has good, solid attack power overall. Even if she can't hurt an enemy, the Quick Change badge and Rally Wink allow her to avoid wasting turns. |
| 61 | ** Vivian and Bobbery are also regular choices for the late/endgame, due to their solid movesets and HP, ''especially'' in the latter's case. Vivian's ''Fiery Jinx'', in particular, can make a large amount of lategame battles much easier thanks to its defense-piercing attribute. |
| 62 | * CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen The Shadow Queen]] is an [[AncientEvil ancient demon]] who once decimated the town that would become Rogueport, reducing it to waste while spreading her evil worldwide. Unleashing her trio of dragon pets onto the world to end countless lives while using her Pit of 100 Trials to torture and kill anyone who defied her, the Shadow Queen was [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] by four heroes, but only after cursing each of them to be trapped and corrupted for centuries inside the black chests. Upon being revived by Sir Grodus, the Shadow Queen [[EvilIsNotAToy immediately repays Grodus by nearly killing him]], before [[DemonicPossession possessing]] Princess Peach and using her body in a new attempt to bring destruction onto the world and either turn Mario and his friends to her side, or kill them all.]] |
| 63 | * CrackPairing: Vivian and Doopliss are very often shipped together despite not having any notable interactions, mostly for both being important to Chapter 4 and [[spoiler:serving the same role in the Shadow Sirens]]. |
| 64 | * CriticalBacklash: Ironically, stemming from this game's HypeBacklash. Because of the games' detractors calling the game "Overrated", it causes new fans and old to champion that it deserves its sterling reputation as one of the [=GameCube=]'s best games. As you can imagine, due to the ''Paper Mario'' fanbase's infamously divided state, these two backlashes fuel each other. |
| 65 | * DemonicSpiders: |
| 66 | ** Amazy Dayzees. Their only attack deals twenty points of damage, and puts both of your characters to sleep. Normally this isn't an issue, as they usually run away and you'd only seek them out for their [[MetalSlime star points]]. However, they can rarely appear in enemy formations on the final floors of the Pit of 100 Trials, making it a coinflip as to whether they flee or hit you with a massive amount of damage on top of the rest of the attacks that turn. |
| 67 | ** Regular Crazee Dayzees are usually no big deal, but their singing attack can be annoying, as it can put Mario and/or his partner to sleep and is hard to block due to its animation. Worse, they are almost never alone, which means that if you're unlucky, you'll repeatedly get put to sleep by their attacks and take a lot more damage than you normally would, as you can't guard (and thus avoid falling asleep) while asleep. This is especially dangerous during Mario's brief time alone, as not only are all attacks obviously geared towards him (versus the enemies occasionally targeting the partner in normal battles), but the Dayzees are sometimes accompanied by hyper enemies or Amazy Dayzees; the former can boost themselves up to deal huge damage and the latter runs away most of the time, but if it doesn't, it can inflict ''20'' damage. The threat of a GameOver during this part is very real. |
| 68 | ** The X-Yux's HP isn't very high, but if it attacks, its beam will immobilize Mario unless he superguards it. While Mario's unable to act or defend, it will build up its mini-Yuxes until it has four, which shields it from damage and allows it to shoot ''five beams every turn''. On top of that, it's immune to status effects, so you can't use Clock Out to stop it from moving or Showstopper to just kill it before it can move. While it is a UniqueEnemy, failing the Thwomp quiz in the X-Naut Fortress forces you to fight two at once. |
| 69 | ** Some of the later monsters in the [[BonusDungeon Pit of 100 Trials]] can be brutal: |
| 70 | *** The [[BanditMook Badge Bandits]] who are found after the half-way point of the pit, whose attacks are hard to guard against and, as their name suggests, can steal your badges, though you get them back after defeating them. |
| 71 | *** The enemies on Floors 81-89 include Spunias, Piranha Plants, Arantulas, and Dark Bristles, which all have notable immunities, high health or defense, and very strong attacks. Thankfully, the Wizzerds from the previous set of floors are no longer present, and they don't have many ways of buffing themselves. |
| 72 | *** Floors 91-99 have even stronger enemies, though some of them have pretty notable flaws (Swampires can't hurt an electrified character, and Bob-ulks take a long time to ready their SuicideAttack). The aforementioned Amazy Dayzees can be deadly if they don't flee, while Poison Puffs lack any clear weak points and can charge up a powerful poison breath attack that surrounds them in an anti-contact cloud. The worst are Elite Wizzerds: 12 HP, 8 attack, 5 defense, and the ability to buff, heal, and DoppelgangerSpin, and they can appear in groups of four or five. |
| 73 | * DieForOurShip: |
| 74 | ** Princess Eclair can get this reaction for many fans who ship Luigi with [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand Princess Daisy]] due to Luigi developing a crush on her throughout his adventure. Thankfully for them not only is Princess Eclair only ever mentioned in this game, but [[spoiler:it's revealed that the Chestnut King is actually her ''fiancé'' turned into a mindless monster by [[EvilChancellor Minister Crepe]], the true antagonist in Luigi's adventure]]. |
| 75 | ** Koopie Koo gets quite a bit of this from those that ship Koops with Vivian, due to her being his official girlfriend in game. This is possibly fueled by Goombella's comments at the end of the game, stating that [[spoiler:she "keeps Koops wrapped around her little finger", which is sometimes interpreted as a dysfunctional relationship.]] |
| 76 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: |
| 77 | ** For a character that only plays a major role for a short time, Jolene is pretty popular with the fans for her SugarAndIcePersonality and being one of the more attractive Toads. |
| 78 | ** Rawk Hawk, to the point where he's one of only three ''Paper Mario'' characters to get a nod in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', along with Parakarry and Goombella. |
| 79 | ** [[spoiler:Doopliss]], for being the source of a lot of the game's funniest moments while also being a surprisingly effective and savvy villain. The Chapter 3 and 4 areas are chock full of darkhorses, it seems. |
| 80 | ** Flavio. Even though his crew hate him, the fans surprisingly adore him. Even more so after the discovery of a glitch that lets him stay in Mario's party permanently. |
| 81 | * EvenBetterSequel: Widely agreed to be a better game than its predecessor for multiple reasons. Namely an improved battle system, more unique locales, even more memorable characters, a far more original plot, epic boss fights and more. The result is a game that is often seen as the best of the ''Paper Mario'' series, among the best ''Mario'' [=RPGs=], and arguably one of the best ''Mario'' games '''ever made'''. |
| 82 | * EvilIsCool: [[spoiler:The Shadow Queen takes the design of the already unique Shadow Sirens up to eleven, with billowing hair, hands separate from her core spirit's frame which alternate between many tiny ones or two giant ones. This only carries further with her vast array of powers over shadow and status ailments and parasitic draining. Her ambient and battle themes just boost her status as one of Mario's most memorable {{Big Bad}}s.]] |
| 83 | * FanficFuel: Luigi's adventures in the Waffle Kingdom are a popular source of fan interpretations, especially in regards to envisioning what Princess Eclair and the Chestnut King look like. |
| 84 | * FanNickname: |
| 85 | ** [[spoiler:"Shadow Peach" for Peach while possessed by the Shadow Queen]]. |
| 86 | ** For the longest time, to help differentiate this game's Yoshi partner from the main series green Yoshi character, fans called him "Yoshi Kid." In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' he was finally given a (probably) official name: Mini-Yoshi. |
| 87 | ** "''Paper Luigi: The Marvelous Compass''" for a hypothetical game based on Luigi's adventure in the Waffle Kingdom. |
| 88 | * {{Fanon}}: |
| 89 | ** It's never stated in the game that the X-Nauts are aliens, but it's a common fan interpretation, given that their base is on the moon. |
| 90 | ** It is generally assumed that [[spoiler:The Shadow Queen]] is of the same species as the Shadow Sirens, but the game never explicitly gives them a species. |
| 91 | *** Hell, their species being "Shadow Siren" is this to begin with. The term is very clearly meant to refer exclusively to Beldam and her sisters, regardless of what they are, but fans treat it as if it were the species' actual nomenclature. |
| 92 | ** The unnamed Magikoopa who delivers a message to Kammy Koopa during the first Bowser interlude is commonly believed by fans to be Kamek. |
| 93 | ** A lot of fan material and fanworks, especially those that focus on Vivian, tend to exagerrate Beldam's transphobic insults, often times to the point of making it her entire character/main evil trait. Beldam only makes one such insult in the actual game [[spoiler:being midway through Chapter 4]], and puts Vivian down for a wide array of reasons, such as her kindness, clutzy behavior, cheerfulness, and tendancy to screw up the sirens' operations [[labelnote:Note]]the latter of which would also be directed towards Doopliss once he joined the group as Vivian's replacement[[/labelnote]]. It's also implied that Beldam is jealous of Vivian's beauty, and that some of those insults come from a place of insecurity over her own appearence and a need to assert dominance. |
| 94 | * FanPreferredCouple: Vivian[=/=]Koops has quite a big following, probably because of how shy both are. All of this despite [[OfficialCouple Koops already having a girlfriend]]. |
| 95 | * FranchiseOriginalSin: |
| 96 | ** ''Sticker Star'' was hated by fans for going overboard with the paper aesthetic, the characters commenting constantly on it, and extending into later games which used similar arts-and-crafts aesthetics. In ''The Thousand-Year Door'', the characters themselves never outright said that they were made of paper, but the game took advantage of the aesthetic with the [[CursedWithAwesome "curses"]] Mario gets throughout the game, which allowed him to roll up into a tube or become a paper plane or a boat. Unlike in ''Sticker Star'' though, the game is far less aggressive about the paper aesthetic, and the game treats the paper folding as more of an unnatural curse than a fact of the setting. |
| 97 | ** ''Sticker Star'''s [[ScrappyMechanic Thing weakness system]] was also one of the biggest criticisms the game had, but ''The Thousand-Year Door'' did something similar with the Hooktail battle, in which you could capitalize on her hatred of crickets by using a badge that made the sound of one with each of your attacks. That said, while the badge weakened Hooktail, you still had to deplete her health normally, avoid falling prey to her tricks and finish her off after she replenished her health. It also helps that this only happens once, and Hooktail is only the boss of Chapter 1. Not to mention, if you didn't use the badge, the battle was still winnable and could even be considered a [[SelfImposedChallenge fun challenge]]. In ''Sticker Star'', however, the major bosses are PurposelyOverpowered without the right Things, which themselves are also overpowered, often to the point of being the only real preparation you needed. |
| 98 | * GameBreaker: |
| 99 | ** The "Danger Mario" setup, the epitome of a GlassCannon. By setting Mario's max HP at 5 with Chet Rippo and equipping tons of Power Rush badges, which can easily be gotten at the casino, Mario can deal obscenely huge amounts of damage. Add in badges that let Mario take less damage or dodge attacks while in Danger and several Life Shrooms in case Mario dies, and you can kiss the difficulty good-bye. This is alleviated somewhat by the fact that you can only make the best use of it late in the game, as you need Bobbery to reach Chet Rippo and can only get there with him after you return from Keelhaul Key after finishing Chapter 5, but it still makes the rest of the game (as well as the Pit of 100 Trials, if you haven't cleared it already) a breeze. You can also use it earlier if you're good at keeping Mario's HP within the threshold for long periods of time. |
| 100 | ** Partners can also benefit from Danger/Peril setups. Leaving their HP low while using attack-raising badges, Power Lift, and Power/Mega Rush P let them deal massive damage while being at less risk than Danger Mario. This is especially great for Goombella and Yoshi, who can hit multiple times with their attacks. |
| 101 | ** All Crystal Star powers are useful, but three of them are considered especially great, and are received within the first half of the game: |
| 102 | *** Clock Out freezes all enemies on the battlefield for up to three turns, and they can't attack once the effect wears off. Immobilize does not suffer as much from ContractualBossImmunity and has a change of working on everything except Bill Blasters, Yuxes, and [[{{Superboss}} Bonetail]]. With the Emerald Star's power, you effectively have more than enough time to dish out incredible amounts of pain. |
| 103 | *** Power Lift gives Mario and his partner Attack and Defense buffs depending on the amount of arrows popped during the action command. These buffs can quickly stack up to incredible levels, sometimes to even +5 or +6, drastically increasing your entire party's damage output and resistance. Though the buff only lasts for three turns, that's more than enough to lay a real wallop on whatever stands before you. |
| 104 | *** Art Attack deals three damage for every circle you make around the enemy. It is an ArmorPiercingAttack, and if done correctly is able to do a surprisingly high, consistent amount of damage on one or more enemies. |
| 105 | * GoddamnedBats: |
| 106 | ** The Spiky Parabuzzies found in Chapter 6's Riverside Station, as well as the Pit of 100 Trials. They can't deal much damage, but they have both spikes and wings, making them immune to most of Mario's attacks unless he has Spike Shield (which is hidden much better than it was in the first game). The only partner who can hit them with a basic attack without being damaged themselves is Vivian, who can't burn them because of their immunity to fire. A group of them takes a long time to deal with unless you resort to an item or a Crystal Star move. |
| 107 | ** Also from Chapter 6 is Poison Pokeys, which have an annoying habit of carrying life shrooms that revive them upon defeat. Said life shrooms cannot be stolen by Ms. Mowz due to Poison Pokey's spiky bodies, essentially forcing you to defeat them twice. |
| 108 | * GoodBadBugs: |
| 109 | ** [[https://youtu.be/XyM-ivqF1RE?t=21m3s By doing some sequence breaking to get to Chapter 5 early, Flavio can "join" Mario permanently.]] This can lead to some hilarious cutscenes where he randomly warps in or flies off for no reason while the game tries to figure out what to do with him. |
| 110 | ** The "Hazard Respawn Glitch" allows players to sequence break into Chapters 5 and 6 as early as Chapter 2 when the Super Boots are obtained. This can lead to getting the Ultra Stone during Chapter 5, and even getting to West Rogueport during the Prologue, which helps prepare for Pre-Hooktail Pit runs. This can also be used to obtain Ms. Mowz early as a party member by skipping to a later EventFlag when her sidequest is available. She's even active during Chapter 4, where she doesn't leave Mario's team with the rest of the party, resulting in a party consisting of Mario, Vivian and Ms. Mowz. The only downside is that this glitch can only be performed in the English version. |
| 111 | * HarsherInHindsight: |
| 112 | ** In Chapter 6, Doopliss steals Nitro Honey Syrup, shell earrings and a gold ring to combine them into a bomb to destroy the train and kill Mario. Come 2006, there was a panic about terrorists making bombs right on the plane. |
| 113 | ** Admiral Bobbery's "sacrifice" in Chapter 5 where his final resting place just ends up being a literal place to rest becomes a bit more uncomfortable come ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'', when [[spoiler:another Bob-omb ally makes a HeroicSacrifice... [[KilledOffForReal and doesn't come back]]]]. |
| 114 | * HeartwarmingInHindsight: |
| 115 | ** In her Ultra Hammer tutorial, Toadette gets sad about not being able to see Mario anymore. Many years later, she's now a more prominent character in the mainline games, and in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU Deluxe'' she finally gets joins Mario on an adventure. |
| 116 | ** During the ending sequence, [[spoiler:Goombella asks Mario not to forget her and the other partners]], despite being ExiledFromContinuity from that point onwards, and the fact that the game never got a rerelease or remaster. During the September 2023 Nintendo Direct, a remaster of the game was announced to arrive in 2024, which was met with a lot of excitement from the fans. Looks like they weren't forgotten after all! |
| 117 | * HilariousInHindsight: |
| 118 | ** In the scene before you recruit him, Bobbery, having mistakenly come to think that he had just died, thinks that Mario has adventures [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario in the afterlife]]. |
| 119 | ** After beating the game, talking to the gamer Toad in Petal Meadows reveals that he's been playing the sequel to this game, noting that Luigi fans shouldn't miss out. [[spoiler:Sure enough, of the four playable characters in the next game, Luigi has the most plot importance and even makes up part of the final boss]]. |
| 120 | ** In one of Luigi's stories, he has to dress as a bride to get an audience with a two-headed snake. In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'', Mario is able to wear a wedding dress as one of the many unlockable costumes. |
| 121 | ** Well before it became a RunningGag on ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' to have M. Bison from the ''Film/StreetFighter'' movie yell "Of course!" whenever a villain wants to TakeOverTheWorld, we have this exchange between Peach and TEC: |
| 122 | --->'''Peach:''' TEC! You terrible machine! So your goal is to conquer the world, is it?\ |
| 123 | '''TEC:''' Of course. After all, I was built for that purpose. |
| 124 | ** Madame Flurrie is one of two characters in the game that isn't based on a specific ''Mario'' enemy. Five years later, ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'' gives us Foos, which are cloud creatures that blow wind. For bonus points, they also have large lips akin to Flurrie's. |
| 125 | ** The BigBad's plan in this game is [[spoiler:to revive a demon by having it possess the princess's body, so they can serve their master once again]]. A few years later, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks another Nintendo villain would have the exact same plan and motive.]] |
| 126 | * HoYay: |
| 127 | ** When scanning Vivian during the first fight against the Shadow Sirens, Goombella will say the following: |
| 128 | --->'''Goombella:''' She doesn't seem all that noteworthy. Uh... She is kinda cute, I guess... She might even be cuter than I am... I guess... ...Uh... What am I thinking? |
| 129 | ** Some of the female party members have kissing-related moves (Flurrie's [[KissOfDeath Lip Lock]], Vivian's Infatuate, and Ms. Mowz's Kiss Thief), which can be used on female enemies like the Shadow Sirens, Kammy Koopa, and [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen]]. |
| 130 | ** The trouble center mission, "Looking for a Gal" involves having Goombella out in order to impress Goom Goom, the Goomba who initiates it, but he can comment on the other party members too, including the male ones. In particular he compliments Koops' shell and appreciates Yoshi's petite size, but still turns them down. Yoshi and Bobbery's responses have them tell Goom Goom that he is not their type either. |
| 131 | * HypeBacklash: Due to the large number of requests for the ''Paper Mario'' series to return to the style of this game by longtime fans and critics of everything post-''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', this has sprouted up in newer players who became fans of the series after the original trilogy. Said new fans often point out that ''The Thousand-Year Door'' has flaws just as the later games do (frequent {{Padding}} and linear area design are usually cited), but that nostalgia for this game causes these flaws to be played down while later games' are played up. |
| 132 | * IdiosyncraticShipNaming: The Vivian/Koops ship is called [=ShadowShell=], based on their respective species, with Vivian being a LivingShadow and Koops being a Koopa (a turtle like creature). |
| 133 | * ItWasHisSled: |
| 134 | ** It's hard to go into the game without knowing that Vivian pulls a HeelFaceTurn halfway through and joins Mario, given that it's part of why she's so popular. |
| 135 | * LauncherOfAThousandShips: Vivian has a decent amount of ships to her name. She has been shipped with Mario, Koops (who has a girlfriend), Goombella, Doopliss, [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Lady Bow]], [[VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG Geno]] and [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Larry Koopa]]. This isn't even getting into the dozens of {{Original Character}}s she's been shipped with as well. |
| 136 | * LGBTFanbase: Vivian has one, as in many translations of the game, she is implied to be transgender. She is also considered to be an extremely well written trans character, with this not being the only thing that makes her special. |
| 137 | * LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Was anybody actually worried over [[spoiler:Peach]]'s "death" after the final boss fight? |
| 138 | * LowTierLetdown: |
| 139 | ** Koops' options in battle are limited to attacking on the ground, and unlike Kooper from the first game, he doesn't get a fire move to help deal with ice-based enemies. While his innate Defense of 1 may seem appealing compared to every other partner having 0 Defense, he has the lowest HP of all partners (tied with Ms. Mowz) and can be flipped over just like enemy Koopa Troopas. Coupling that with his low attack, he'll almost never see use in the lategame. Shell Shield can protect Mario from any attack and absorb quite a lot of damage if executed right, though. |
| 140 | ** Ms. Mowz is seen as very cumbersome in combat. Her one helpful move is to steal badges and items from enemies, while all of her other moves are outclassed by something else. Love Slap pierces defense and costs no FP, but only deals four damage at Ultra Rank and can't hit enemies that aren't on the ground or have a way to repel contact damage. Tease gives enemies the "Dizzy" status, which doesn't affect everything and is pretty inconsistent as far as statuses go. Smooch uses 10 FP to recover 10 HP for Mario, when an item or special move could do the same for no FP cost. |
| 141 | ** However, [[DifficultButAwesome if you use the characters in just the right way]], they can mow down enemies like nothing. |
| 142 | *** For Koops, his Shell Slam ability slams through all ground enemies and pierces their defenses. If combined with the two Power Plus P badges, and an attack boost from Power Lift, he can kill every single ground enemy in one fell swoop with relatively little cost. |
| 143 | *** For Ms. Mowz, combining her natural attack power can be naturally upgraded to 6 with the Power Plus P badges. If combined with another attack buff, i.e. Power Lift or an item, she can easily kill high defense foes one by one without losing any FP. It's perfect when there are aerial and ground enemies, as she can handle the ground enemies while Mario takes care of the aerial ones. |
| 144 | * MagnificentBastard: |
| 145 | ** [[ClassyCatBurglar Ms. Mowz]] is a coy, flirtatious Badge thief who regularly breaks into places to steal Badges, then [[IntrepidMerchant sells them]] at her own store, the Lovely Howz of Badges. Running into Mario multiple times while infiltrating dangerous and heavily guarded locations, Ms. Mowz takes the time to [[TheTease steal kisses from him]] and give him advice before escaping each time. Posting an anonymous request at the Trouble Center, if Mario takes it she sends him to find a cleverly hidden Badge before revealing that she hid the Badge to test his abilities and decides to [[TokenEvilTeammate join his party]], using her item finding and thieving skills to help him in his adventures. |
| 146 | ** [[GhostPirate Pirate King Cortez]] is the scourge of the Pirate's Grotto, and keeper of the fifth [[MacGuffin Crystal Star]], attacking and shipwrecking all who come near Keelhaul Key with his Ember army, including several innocents. Cortez prepares traps in Pirate's Grotto to stop any intruders, complete with bone-chilling warnings. To even get into the Grotto Mario needs the jewel [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Flavio]]'s father stole from Cortez several years ago. Helping to stop the X-Nauts in an EnemyMine with Mario after he is defeated with his army, Cortez is a frightfully competent pirate king. |
| 147 | * MemeticBadass: In wake of the Flavio glitch, Flavio has been given the reputation of a god by the fandom for his tendency to teleport during cutscenes while offscreen, stand on water, phase through a pirate ship, and [[spoiler:stand in front of the moon]], among other things. |
| 148 | * {{Moe}}: Vivian is an [[TheCutie extremely kind]] MinionWithAnFInEvil with an adorable design who [[TheWoobie gets relentlessly bullied by her sisters]]. Naturally, it leads to an easy HeelFaceTurn when [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe Mario is actually nice to her]]. From here she’s an incredibly sweet and shy hero, making it easy for fans to love her and root for her. |
| 149 | * MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Grubba trapping King K and Bandy Andy under a box and leaving them to (presumably) die after draining their powers with the Crystal Star. And he's been doing this for ''years'', with Jolene's brother Mush being one of his victims.]] |
| 150 | * NightmareRetardant: |
| 151 | ** [[spoiler:Doopliss]] has abilities that remain terrifying throughout Chapter 4, but that doesn't change the fact that the one responsible for the town's curse is a BedsheetGhost in a party hat and bowtie who is sitting in an easy chair watching TV when you first meet him. Your partner even lampshades how ridiculous [[spoiler:Doopliss]] looks. |
| 152 | ** The black chests count as well. The first time you open one, the encounter is (at first) somewhat scary...until the spirit explains [[CursedWithAwesome the nature of the curse just put upon you]]. The second one is less scary because of the choice of words, and ''also'' because you end up getting CursedWithAwesome again. The third time, you already know how it's gonna go, and by the last one, Mario is clearly just letting the last spirit put on its act. |
| 153 | ** Deliberately [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] with the Palace of Shadow. All of Mario's party members comment on how eerie and unsettling the Palace of Shadow feels the moment you enter; while the music is suitably eerie, the design of the area doesn't quite give off that impression, thanks to its ornate magenta-and-gold décor and the rose motifs that show up everywhere. Many of the rooms are looming, not particularly well-lit, and filled with dangerous traps and enemies, but there's nothing about the palace itself that comes off as particularly disturbing at first glance. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Then you reach]] [[FinalBoss the Shadow Queen]], who is one giant barrel of NightmareFuel, and what Mario's party said at the beginning of Chapter 8 suddenly becomes '''way''' more appropriate.]] |
| 154 | * OneSceneWonder: [[spoiler:The Shadow Queen]] only appears in [[spoiler:the final room of the game as the [[FinalBoss final enemy]]]], but [[spoiler:she ''definitely'' makes the most of her short screentime, to the point that she became one of the most well-liked ''Mario'' villains]]. |
| 155 | * {{Padding}}: An unfortunately common complaint about the game is that the level layouts and chapter objectives often leave Mario either running back and forth across areas or dicking around in-between more engaging segments: |
| 156 | ** Chapter 4's events take place across Twilight Town, Twilight Trail, and Creepy Steeple. The first trip through Twilight Trail is fine, but after [[spoiler:the fake Chapter ending]], you have to return to town. Vivian joins you there, and you have to go back to the steeple to find Doopliss's name with her help. You then go back to Twilight Town to confront him, and he flees back to Creepy Steeple, making you go through Twilight Trail ''again'' to actually fight him. That's '''five''' trips through the area, with no changes past the initial visit. To make matters worse, the enemies respawn inbetween each trip, and likely won't be able to be insta-defeated via the First Attack badge unless you purposefully level grind. |
| 157 | ** The first section of Chapter 5 takes place on Keelhaul Key, between the base camp and the entrance to Pirate's Grotto. After your first visit to the grotto, you meet Bobbery, who wants you to get Flavio's Chuckola Cola; he's back at the camp. Once you give it to him, he joins your party and you have to go back to get Flavio, then return to the entrance so Flavio can open it. And after you beat the Chapter, you still have to go to the entrance and back to get Frankie's wedding ring in order to get a train ticket for Chapter 6. |
| 158 | ** The search for General White is probably the worst instance of this trope in the game; it makes Chapter 7 much longer than it needs to be, and the order you visit past locations seems to be designed to take as long as possible, even with the warp pipe shortcuts. |
| 159 | ** [[OverlyLongGag The 100 "I love yous"]] Francesca makes Frankie say when they lose the ring on the island. It's unskippable and really feels like it drags on far too long for a quest that shouldn't even be that long. The only other gag even present is a counter for each "I love you" starting from 10. |
| 160 | ** The Trouble Center allows Mario to do short sidequests at certain locations. Most of these take place outside of Rogueport, forcing you to go back to those areas, hear what you're requested to do, and then finish the task; sometimes it also involves going to other places. The real problem is that you can only have one Trouble active at a time, which is inconvenient when two are located in the same area (The Great Boggly Tree has two in the same room, and the Pit of 100 Trials makes you go to floor 20 for one and floor 50 for another.) For example, in Jolene's trouble in Glitzville, she has you collecting dirty clothes in the locker room. You have to give these to a Goomba in Rogueport, then go back to Jolene, and then back to Rogueport to choose another trouble.[[note]]It's important to keep in mind that you ''must'' try to give the clothes to Jolene before going back to Rogueport and handing them off to the Goomba. If you try and skip past Jolene's understandable refusal to accept dirty gym shorts by returning to Rogueport immediately after collecting them all, it won't work. Furthermore, if you haven't yet re-registered in the Glitz Pit when you do this trouble, you have to go through a long cutscene before talking to Jolene the first time to make the shorts appear.[[/note]]Then Toodles' trouble involves getting back a book she lent to Jolene. Keep in mind that Toodles lives in Poshley Heights and you first have to go there, then go to Glitzville to get the book from Jolene, and then go back to Toodles' house. |
| 161 | ** Hooktail's Castle has two secrets you need to revisit it for, but they don't become available at the same time. Either you go through all of it again twice (once when Ms. Mowz's Trouble Center quest becomes available to recruit her, and once with Bobbery to get the Up Arrow and the ability to raise partners to Ultra Rank), or you wait to do both at once but unlock Ms. Mowz a whole chapter later. |
| 162 | * PlayerPunch: Several scenes throughout the game will DEFINITELY feel like a punch to the gut, which is part of why the writing is often praised. To wit: |
| 163 | ** [[spoiler:Sir Grodus shutting TEC-XX down, if you really felt for TEC.]] |
| 164 | ** [[spoiler:Seeing Doopliss possess Mario's body and running around pretending to be him, while the player is unable to do anything about it just yet or even return to Rogueport, can be a little jarring.]] |
| 165 | ** Watching Vivian get bullied by her sisters. Even when you first meet them, it's bound to make the player feel horrible for her, ESPECIALLY when she [[HeelFaceTurn finally joins Mario's party]]. |
| 166 | ** [[spoiler:Peach [[DemonicPossession being possessed by the]] [[FinalBoss Shadow Queen]] tops just about everything, though.]] Long-time ''Mario'' fans will undoubtedly feel their heart sink when this happens. |
| 167 | * RonTheDeathEater: Flurrie has endured no shortage of hatred and is outright reviled by a large portion of the fanbase, being regarded as a pompous, self-absorbed windbag even though her actual character couldn't be farther from that. She devotes herself to aiding the Punies out of a ''very'' skewed (in their favor) sense of BecauseYouWereNiceToMe, and she remains a down-to-earth ProperLady for almost the entirety of the game. Beyond the fact that she asks Mario to reclaim a lost necklace of hers before she helps him, the only thing about her to actually get hung up on is [[BigBeautifulWoman her design]]--and even that is meant to be a stylized take on her being some sort of cloud spirit. |
| 168 | * SacredCow: |
| 169 | ** In the eyes of many, this game is the gold standard for ''Mario'' spinoffs and even ''Mario'' games, period. The opinion that this game is anything less than the best in the series is very much a minority opinion, even with the excessive backtracking. The fact that not only this was stuck on the [=GameCube=] for the longest time, but also that subsequent games abandoned the traditional RPG style that this game perfected to mixed to negative reception make this game particularly coveted. |
| 170 | ** In the way of characters, criticizing Vivian in any fashion is the equivalent of a death wish to the fandom, as she's widely considered one of the best ''Mario'' characters of all time due to her [[TheWoobie sympathetic background]], being a ShrinkingViolet, being useful in battle, and being considered one of the best forms of [[LGBTRepresentationInMedia transgender representation]] in all of gaming. |
| 171 | * TheScrappy: |
| 172 | ** Francesca Pianta is hated for her selfish attitude as well as having a controlling {{Sickeningly Sweetheart|s}} attitude towards Frankie. When she hears that her father Don Pianta is sick and misses her, rather than be concerned for her father's health, she selfishly forces Frankie to [[OverlyLongGag say "I love you" 100 times]] which in and out of game just serves to waste the player's time. Also, Frankie's trouble in losing his ring implies she has a temper with regard to their love for each other. |
| 173 | ** Podley is generally disliked for not obeying Scarlette's LastRequest by not giving Bobbery her letter, essentially ruining his life. |
| 174 | * ScrappyMechanic: There's a number of annoying features ingrained in both the battle system and general gameplay. Some are worse than others: |
| 175 | ** A few of the elements injected by the audience/stage into battles are not well-regarded, mostly for being random events that can screw you over even in the Pit of 100 Trials: |
| 176 | *** Falling stage props. While the background scenery tipping over is slow and predictable to defend against, sometimes buckets or spotlights will fall from above at way too high a speed to properly react to, and some can inflict the Dizzy condition, which makes most attacks miss. |
| 177 | *** Random stage fog reduces everyone's accuracy to about a 50/50 chance. While this can potentially save your hide if an enemy misses you, it can also ruin you just the same. Bobbery's explosions and Flurrie's Gale Force can get rid of the fog, but it can still waste turns and the game [[GuideDangIt never tells you that you can get rid of the fog this way]]. |
| 178 | *** Once you reach higher ranks, the nozzles on the front of the stage will sometimes spew ice jets, fire, or explosions at the combatants. Unlike other stage elements, these all deal more than one damage, and the ice jets can potentially freeze you while the fire and explosion jets can make Bulky Bob-omb enemies explode instantly so that you either die from their explosions or get weakened enough that another attack can kill you. |
| 179 | *** Once you're at the highest stage rank, there's an '''extremely''' small chance that either a massive Bowser statue or a meteor will come and hit everyone. In terms of the Bowser statue, it will fall on either your team or the enemy team - which hits for 5 damage and causes confusion, and in terms of the meteor, it will hit ''everybody'' for 3 damage and cause dizziness. Since you're most likely tackling the Pit of 100 Trials at that point (unless if you attempted it much earlier or at a lower level), it's considerably painful when you're finishing off an annoying enemy team or Bonetail and all of a sudden, a Bowser Statue drops in on your team and screws you over. The chances of these hazards appearing are so low, many players aren't even aware of their existence (the meteor has even less of a chance appearing). |
| 180 | *** Boos can turn the heroes or the enemies invisible at random, Crazee Dayzees can sing a lullaby and put a huge chunk of the audience to sleep, causing you to get less star power as a result, Shy Guys can run to the backstage and make stage props fall on someone's head, Bulky Bob-ombs take up two chairs in the audience, thus reducing your maximum audience size, never throw any items onto the stage, and sometimes will light their fuse and explode, taking out a huge chunk of the audience. Dull Bones are probably the worst of them all, as they do not provide any Star Power to Mario and only ever throw damaging objects at him, being an effective waste of a seat. |
| 181 | *** The audience as a whole can be a horrendous distraction, as if you screw up the timing on your attacks or counter poorly, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere your audience starts to leave]], making you get less Star Power from the audience, which you need to pull off your special attacks. Things get even more complicated when they can mess with the stage or throw things at you, ranging from rocks that do damage to helpful items. |
| 182 | *** The BINGO system can be a major cause of frustration. First of all, just trying to get two icons to match is entirely dependent on luck, as whatever icons appear are completely random. Then, on the chance that you do get two matching icons, you have to play a slot machine minigame to match up three of them. Most of the time, you won't get a match when a heal would be beneficial, and when you do get a match, you have to sit through a tedious cutscene of Mario and his partner getting healed and the audience rushing into the stage, even if said BINGO is for a stat that you already had completely filled up and had no need for replenishing. Worse, one of the possible BINGO options is poison mushrooms, which, if gotten, ''cut your HP, FP, and SP in half, and cause the whole audience to leave'', which can really screw you over if it happens in the middle of a boss fight or the Pit of 100 Trials. This essentially means you can get screwed over in a battle entirely through bad luck and no fault of your own, and you have no way to prevent it other than intentionally missing action commands, which causes fights to drag out longer. |
| 183 | ** Enemies constantly pursue you in an attempt of initiating a fight, regardless of relative strength level, and their vision range is increased compared to the first ''Paper Mario'' game. This ''really'' becomes a problem in the more tedious parts of Chapters 4 and 7 as well as general backtracking for sidequests and exploration because there will always be at least one random enemy that only gives ''one'' experience point when defeated chasing you non-stop. This is why it's strongly reccomended to have a First Attack badge equipped as soon as possible. |
| 184 | ** First Attack and Bump Attack badges not working in the Pit of 100 Trials. Half the pain of the Pit is the super difficult lower levels, the other half is the tedious slog through the unchallenging higher ones. |
| 185 | ** Enemies can hold items and use them in battle. This gets particularly annoying with status-inflicting items like Dizzy Dials or Sleepy Sheep, or even ''healing'' items such as Super Shrooms and Life Shrooms. If you don't kill the enemy on the first turn, they are very likely to use the item, and if said item is a Life Shroom, the enemy ''will be revived upon defeat''. |
| 186 | ** Glitz Pit imposes fighting orders on each match that you must do to advance onto the next rank (with the exception of the fight against Rawk Hawk). Some of these are a bit simple, such as appealing to the crowd or using a special move at least once, but some get really bad, such as not attacking at all for 5 turns, forbidding the usage of FP, or taking so much damage throughout the course of the battle. A lot of these just draw out the battle, which can get really annoying on the higher tiers. What's worse is some of them forbid the usage of your partner, which can suck when you're trying to use Goombella to tattle on the enemies (since some of the enemies can technically be fought more than once despite being exclusive only to the Glitz Pit, they won't appear in Frankly's waste bin such as bosses) and the worst part - this condition can even appear in the Iron Cleft battle, where it's ''required'' to use your Yoshi's Gulp skill to beat them. Not following the orders will force you to fight them again (Rawk Hawk's fight will always order you to use a Special Move at least once, but you don't need to do so anyway, as there's no tournament opponent to fight afterwards). |
| 187 | * SelfFanservice: |
| 188 | ** Vivian gets a lot of this in particular. Often, she will be given [[BuxomBeautyStandard actual breasts]] and a more [[HumanityEnsues realistic humanoid figure]] instead of the wispy spirit look she has in game. She is also often given a penis, because of her being a trans woman in the Japanese, French, Italian, and Spanish versions. |
| 189 | ** Not even the ''[[EldritchAbomination Shadow Queen]]'' is safe from this. More specifically, the effect she has on people under her DemonicPossession. Many fan artists opt to make the possessed person's clothes (often Peach) skimpier after their EvilCostumeSwitch. |
| 190 | * SelfImposedChallenge: |
| 191 | ** Pre-Hooktail Pit, where you go through the Pit of 100 Trials and defeat Bonetail before you challenge Hooktail, the first chapter's boss. The closest the run gets to Hooktail is visiting her castle to obtain the Paper Mode technique, which is needed to enter the Pit itself. |
| 192 | ** A common challenge is to defeat Hooktail without using her weakness. It makes what is otherwise a pretty easy boss into a difficult one. |
| 193 | ** The Double Pain badge doubles the damage Mario takes from enemies and stage hazards, costs 0 BP to equip, and can be purchased as early as Chapter 2. It essentially just exists to make the game significantly more difficult for this exact reason and is a complete JokeItem otherwise. The Final Boss in particular is already ThatOneBoss on its own; trying to beat it with this badge equipped requires absolute perfection and careful strategy. |
| 194 | * SequelDifficultySpike: While the game isn't too much harder in comparison to the previous game, it can still be quite challenging at points; enemies have more health and strength than they did before, and they also tend to carry items that they can use against you. The game also has several kinds of NonStandardGameOver (some you can get around while others you'd have to jump into them on purpose) whereas the previous game didn't have any. Some bosses have attacks that can't be guarded or super guarded. |
| 195 | * ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Despite being in Mario's party together for half the game, the only actual ''interaction'' between Goombella and Vivian is Goombella's [[EnemyScan Tattle]]. The fact that she calls Vivian cute in this tattle (even though she also immediately backtracks) is enough for a dedicated shipping fanbase to run with. |
| 196 | * SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: Lampshaded by Lahla; any time you hang out in the Pianta Parlor, she points out that [[ContinueYourMissionDammit rescuing the Princess is important]], but also encourages you to have fun. |
| 197 | * SignatureScene: [[spoiler:The Shadow Queen's awakening and the world being plunged into darkness because of it, followed by her DemonicPossession of Peach]], thanks to how much build up there is to it, and how [[NightmareFuel disturbing]] and serious the whole scenario is for a ''Mario'' game. |
| 198 | * SpoiledByTheFormat: Did you really think [[spoiler:Chapter 4]] would be finished in about 15–20 minutes? |
| 199 | * ThatOneAttack: |
| 200 | ** X-Yux's primary attack can immobilize you, and it can only be neutralized with a well-timed Superguard. The more Mini X-Yuxes there are surrounding it, the more lasers it can shoot per turn. |
| 201 | ** The Crazee Dayzee's sing attack. It has an obscure timing for dodging and can put you to sleep if you fail to block it correctly. |
| 202 | ** Magnus Von Grapple 2.0 would be easy if it weren't for its [[GrievousHarmWithABody audience-machine-gun]] attack, which deals ten hits of three damage apiece and comes out very fast, on top of reducing your audience size. |
| 203 | * ThatOneBoss: |
| 204 | ** Cortez can be a major roadblock if you aren't careful, thanks to having [[SequentialBoss multiple phases]] and a high damage output for the point you fight him. The third phase where you fight his head [[FlunkyBoss and weapons]] is probably the most difficult, due to you being outnumbered and potentially low on resources without careful planning and decision-making. |
| 205 | ** [[spoiler:Bowser's appearance out of nowhere]] in the final chapter, primarily because [[spoiler:Mario is likely worn out from the preceding battle with Grodus. Bowser and Kammy both have quite a bit of health and hit hard, and you have no opportunity to heal in between.]] Due to this, most guides recommend you grind so that you level up on Grodus for a full heal to avoid getting beaten into the ground. |
| 206 | ** [[spoiler:The Shadow Queen]] is quite hard, even by FinalBoss standards. Despite having only 1 Defense and her Attack being outmatched by a boss from 10 minutes ago, she gets multiple attacks per round, as well as being ''very'' difficult to time for dodges. And all of said attacks ignore your defense, so the damage starts racking up very quickly. She also has an attack that will drain your HP to replenish her own, and at one point, restores her health completely at the expense of the audience. She also has more health than the two preceding bosses ''combined'', at 150. There's also a pair of very long unskippable cutscenes before the real fight starts, which you have to go through for every attempt. She was even harder in the Japanese version, where none of her attacks were Superguardable. |
| 207 | * ThatOneLevel: |
| 208 | ** A major part of Chapter 2 is an escort mission for the Punis, who number 101 in total. It's made very tedious by the confusing level layout, the Puni Orb mechanics slowing exploration down, the bubble and blowing mechanics having wonky hitboxes, and the fact that the Punis can get stuck on terrain, flee from any nearby enemies, and can drop out of the swarm seemingly at random, forcing you to go back and get them to move on. The TimedMission near the end doesn't help, especially since the timer keeps running in menus, battles, and cutscenes. |
| 209 | ** Chapter 4 is infamous for the amount of backtracking, requiring five trips on the Twilight Trail at the minimum. What makes it a pain is the enemies, who are capable of very strong attacks, and the fact that all your partners have left you for this segment. It gets a little better when Vivian joins you halfway through, but only a little. |
| 210 | ** Pirate's Grotto from the fifth chapter, particularly the part where Boat Mario has to get past some rolling waves. |
| 211 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[spoiler:Jolene's brother and the Glitz Pit's first champion, Prince Mush. After you beat Grubba and the Crystal Star releases him, he could have been a good {{Superboss}} along with Bonetail and the Atomic Boo. Instead, after the end of Chapter 3, you never see him again.]] |
| 212 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: |
| 213 | ** More than a few fans would have enjoyed a defictionalized version of [[HeroOfAnotherStory Luigi's adventure]]. That there's a Toad kid in Petalburg who was playing the ''Paper Mario'' games and speculates if they'll release a "Paper Luigi" doesn't help. |
| 214 | ** In spite of Vivian being [[spoiler:her]] former servant, [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen]] gets no special dialogue should Vivian be the partner during the battle with [[spoiler:her]]. Granted, it's shown that [[spoiler:Beldam kept Vivian LockedOutOfTheLoop in regards to her true intentions and Vivian herself doesn't seem to recognize the Shadow Queen, implying that she probably was too young to even remember what had happened or wasn't even born at that point]]. |
| 215 | ** Despite being Mario's arch enemy, Bowser doesn't have much of a role in this game, with a majority of his appearances just bumbling around and generally failing to accomplish anything. His only interaction with the BigBad X-nauts is a single intermission with Lord Crump that's quickly forgotten about right afterwards and is little more than comic relief. [[spoiler:Even after he ends up saving Mario near the end of the game, Bowser never realizes Grodus is in the room, and Grodus simply takes advantage of the distraction and flees rather than trying to figure out who Bowser even is]]. Bowser never even learns about the X-nauts or the true nature of the Crystal Stars either, and he simply vanishes from the game entirely after his final battle with Mario. |
| 216 | * ToughActToFollow: Every single ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' game that released after ''The Thousand-Year Door'' has drawn comparisons to it, as it is very frequently cited as the pinnacle of the series, if not ''Mario'' [=RPGs=] as a whole. Thanks to the drastic shifts in direction the series took in later games, the comparisons are seldom positive. |
| 217 | * UnderusedGameMechanic: |
| 218 | ** The informed main purpose of the Ultra Hammer, unlocked after Chapter 6, outside of battle is to smash stone blocks. However, these are much less common than expected. |
| 219 | ** After appearing early on in Hooktail Castle, elevator blocks don’t reappear until ''much'' later in Palace of Shadow, and even then in a much smaller role. |
| 220 | * UnpopularPopularCharacter: Despite being universally hated in-game, Flavio has a surprising fanbase thanks to his eccentric personality and association with a glitch. |
| 221 | * WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: Non-romantic example. During the game's epilogue, Goombella states that Vivian decided to return to her sisters and forgive their misdeeds, on the basis that [[ThickerThanWater they're family]]. Her decision to go back ended up baffling many fans, who believe that no one should accept a family as [[BigScrewedUpFamily abusive]] as the Shadow Sirens. |
| 222 | * TheWoobie: |
| 223 | ** Vivian is blamed for literally everything that goes wrong for the Shadow Sirens, has a necklace she found taken from her by Beldam, and gets repetitively [[KickTheDog kicked]] around by her sisters, and she's implied to be [[ShesAManInJapan transgender]], which Beldam isn't any kinder about in the versions where it's inferred. It's quite surprising that it took her that long to [[spoiler:finally be fed up with Beldam's abuse and join up with Mario]]. |
| 224 | %%ZCE ** Bobbery's backstory involving [[TheLostLenore Scarlette]] qualifies him as one. |
| 225 | ** Podley the bartender is difficult not to feel sorry for given his guilt in his connection to the aforementioned tale of Bobbery, even if it is warranted, as well as his mysterious past involving the character Eve in the sidequest involving said character. |
| 226 | ** [[spoiler:Jolene and Prince Mush. Their family was poor, Mush disappeared as a result of Grubba's machine, resulting in Jolene having to work for Grubba to find her brother and having to put on a brave face the whole time.]] |
| 227 | ** Even ''Mario'' qualifies. [[spoiler:Having your body and name stolen by a {{Jerkass}}, and no-one recognizing you with nothing but your jump, a hammer, some badges, and whatever items you had. While everyone talks about how great you are. Not to mention having your girlfriend transformed into the BigBad before your eyes.]] |
| 228 | ** Luigi is either this or an IronButtMonkey due to a certain request in Poshley Heights. Basically, [[spoiler:a fangirl of Luigi's wants to meet him, and in order to do that you need the L Emblem. When you show up, the real Luigi also shows up and she thinks Mario is the real one, practically crushing poor Luigi. That's right, if you want 100%, you have to be a dick to your own brother.]] |
| 229 | ** TEC-XX. He [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove knows nothing about love]], but he still cares for Peach, helping her get information to Mario and trying to cheer her up when she misses the Mushroom Ball. [[spoiler:But then he's [[MoralEventHorizon shut down]] by Grodus, only to use the last of his power to tell Mario where Peach is and activate the teleporter back to Rogueport. He gets better at the end of the game, but it's still distressing in the moment.]] |
| 230 | * {{Woolseyism}}: |
| 231 | ** In the English version, a Toad Kid in Petalburg talks about ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' the first time he's spoken to. But in all other langauges, he talks about ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' instead. ''Fire Emblem'' (Which was also developed by Creator/IntelligentSystems) was still fairly new outside of Japan at the time, so his dialogue was likely changed to hype it up. |
| 232 | ** Frankie and Franchesa are renamed Giuliano and Romoletta in the Italian version, referencing ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. |
| 233 | ** Rawk Hawk is renamed [[HoaxHogan Hawk Hogan]] in the Spanish version. He also expicitly mentions ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' instead of saying "video games" when he's introduced. |
| 234 | ** In the Japanese version, Hooktail hates the sounds of frogs. The sound effect used for the Attack FX R badge is the sound of a Japanese species of frog. It was likely changed to crickets because people outside of Japan wouldn't recongize the sound as a frog. |
| 235 | [[/folder]] |
| 236 | |
| 237 | [[folder:Remake Exclusive]] |
| 238 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The reveal trailer kicks off with a remix of the original game's opening theme, which is basically Nintendo's way of saying "Yes, classic ''Paper Mario'' is back." The rest of the trailer features the updated versions of Petal Meadows, the battle theme, Bowser's theme, and the title screen, which sound even better than before. |
| 239 | * IKnewIt: The announcement of the remake of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' showed that Nintendo was interested in reviving Mario's older role-playing adventures. This lead many to speculate that a remake of this game was in the cards due to its popularity. |
| 240 | * PanderingToTheBase: For many years, fans not only wanted an return to the style of the series that was abandoned after ''The Thousand-Year Door'', but also wanted to play said game, which most consider to be the best in the series, on a modern console like the Switch, since it was the only game in the series to not be easily accessible. During an interview for ''Color Splash'' in 2016, one of the lead developers said they would consider a remake of ''The Thousand-Year Door'' if there was enough fan outcry for it. Then, after years of straying away from the gameplay, graphics, designs, and the stories of the first two or three games which made them beloved by fans, and in spite of the higher sales numbers of most games after ''TTYD'', the remake was announced at the September 2023 Nintendo Direct, and anything the fans feared would be changed in a hypothetical remake ending up left nearly intact. The announcement was met with roaring acclaim by fans for what they saw as finally listening to them after the series had gone into an AudienceAlienatingEra with ''Sticker Star''. |
| 241 | * ShockingMoments: A remake of ''The Thousand-Year Door'' was considered the Holy Grail for ''Mario'' RPG fans, as the original game had been declared a [=GameCube=] classic by the community and thought of as a last hurrah of sorts before [[ExecutiveMeddling widely disliked changes and limitations were introduced]] to the ''Paper Mario'' series that started with ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar Sticker Star]]''. ''TTYD'' was never ported to eighth or ninth generation systems, and was thought to become eventually doomed to obscurity until the September 2023 Direct revealed the remake to the world, to massive acclaim. |
| 242 | * SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The implementation of the diorama-inspired style of the original ''TTYD'' onto the more paper-extensive post-''Color Splash'' art style makes for a drop-dead ''gorgeous'' visual style, with the entire world looking as if it was made of card stock. The animation of the characters is also even more fluid than in the original game, and far more expressive. [[https://youtu.be/6JOv3gxmwbA?si=lPTVfe5BCA8xQutT The remade intro]], for example, doubles down on the storytelling aspect by portraying it in an awe-inspiring paper puppet show featuring [[ApocalypseWow the destruction of the ancient city]] rather than sticking to static images. |
| 243 | [[/folder]] |
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