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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/papermariothousandyeardoorjpraw.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Tagline}} An adventure a thousand years long.]]'']]
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-> ''"Indeed... This is the tale of the fabled treasure of Rogueport. Yes, this is where it begins, in the sea town of Rogueport. The tale of the quest for the legendary treasure... and the Thousand-Year Door... starts here."''
-->-- '''Intro'''

''Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door'' is the 2004 Platform/NintendoGameCube sequel to the original ''[[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Paper Mario]]'' and the second game in the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series. It starts like a lot of Mario games, with a letter from Princess Peach. She wants Mario to meet her at a distant town called [[NotSoSafeHarbor Rogueport]], to help her search for a legendary treasure indicated by [[TreasureMap the map]] she sent along with the letter. By the time Mario actually pulls into port, Peach is gone, and for once it's not Bowser who kidnapped her (and he's very, ''very'' peeved about that).

The mysterious secret society of X-Nauts and their leader, Sir Grodus, are the ones responsible this time. They're after the same treasure as Mario, and are hanging onto Peach for an unknown purpose related to this treasure hunt. Mario learns from the Goomba Professor Frankly and his young assistant Goombella that said treasure is locked behind the eponymous Thousand-Year Door beneath town, and that opening the massive door involves collecting the Crystal Stars scattered across the surrounding regions. As the game goes on, the nature of the treasure and why the X-Nauts are holding Peach comes to light, and let's just say said treasure is not a pile of gold coins.

The game retains the same paper aesthetic, TurnBasedCombat, {{Action Command}}s, and BetterThanABareBulb humor of the previous game, with some extra tweaks introduced. Action Commands are also needed for the LimitBreak moves that are attained with each Crystal Star. The previous game's damage-reducing button presses during enemy attacks are supplemented by a BlockingStopsAllDamage mechanic with a narrower window of accuracy. Each battle is fought in front of an audience that must be pleased by a good performance in order to increase the amount of Star Power recovered per turn. Your partners now have a health meter, and can be incapacitated if they run out (though the battle will still go on as long as Mario is alive). World exploration is aided by Mario gaining several paper-themed transformations like a paper airplane and a paper boat.

A remake of the game was announced during the September 2023 WebVideo/NintendoDirect, and is set to be released for the Platform/NintendoSwitch on May 23rd, 2024.
----
!!''Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door'' contains examples of:
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[[folder:#-B]]
* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:The third phase of the final boss grants you the power needed to harm the Shadow Queen in her current form.]]
* AbandonedArea: Despite having two present employees and being a refuel station for the Excess Express, the Riverside Station qualifies, particularly once you're forced to venture deeper inside in order to lower the draw bridge which has been raised under mysterious circumstances. While the exterior features fairly upbeat music and a beautiful view of the sunset as many note, the same cannot be said for the interior: It's shabby, run-down, desolate and occupied by late game enemies with the only ambience being the sound of wind blowing through empty corridors or in some rooms the steady, ceaseless movement of gears. It borders on being an outright BleakLevel.
* AbsentMindedProfessor: Professor Frankly. [[MrExposition He's clearly earned the title]], but he struggles to remember his former student Goombella, and isn't up-to-date on who's famous.
* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Unlike the original Paper Mario, the max level is 99, while the game will likely be beaten before you reach the 30s without a large amount of LevelGrinding.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Rogueport Sewers is very intricate with spacious rooms, several levels, and even has intact buildings that a few [=NPCs=] live in. {{Justified|Trope}} because it used to be a prospering town in ancient times that the modern Rogueport was built on top of.
* AccidentalMisnaming: Mario is referred to by various [=NPCs=] as Murphy, Marty-o, Gonzales (though this one is justified as it was his stage name in Chapter 3 and it's generally what the people who call him that know him from), and Luigi (said with green text), among other names.
* AccidentalUnfortunateGesture: Mario says hello with a salute that looks a little bit too much like he's actually trying to heil Hitler. Due to the resemblance, the gesture was removed in all European versions of the game.
* ActionCommands: Every attack has at least one button you need to press or a Control Stick input to maximize damage. Pulling off certain hidden commands will even refill your Star Power meter.
* ADogNamedDog: Retroactively. In Japanese, the name of the Doogan (literal dog people) species is the same as Rowf from the [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 previous game]].
* AirplaneArms: Ms. Mowz's arms are almost always in this position.
* AirVentPassageway: The Glitz Pit has a very large air vent connecting the Champion's quarters with the main office. Once Mario becomes champion, it's used to eavesdrop on ArcVillain [[spoiler:Grubba]].
* AlmostDeadGuy: [[spoiler:TEC. When you get to him as Mario, he is able to summon enough of his reserves to get Mario to safety, just before the moon base self-destructs.]]
* AlwaysNight: Played with in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Twilight Town]]. Just as its name indicates, it's never totally "night" per se, nor is it ever day; it's always twilight. However, it gets increasingly darker as you draw closer to Creepy Steeple.
* AndIMustScream: Played for laughs, as the first few of them sure act like they're inflicting this on Mario when they [[CursedWithAwesome "curse" you]]. [[spoiler:''Their'' situation is a darker and more straightforward take on the trope, given they're actually the four heroes that sealed away the Shadow Queen, resulting in them getting cursed and trapped inside the chests for a thousand years.]]
* AndTheAdventureContinues: Both in Gameplay and Story: Gameplay wise, you do stuff in Rogueport after the final battle. Story-wise, it ends with Peach coming to Mario's house and saying she's found a new treasure map in the castle and is waiting for Mario on the boat. The look on Mario's face and the music just fit at that moment of the utter surprise/despair of [[HereWeGoAgain having to go on another adventure so soon.]]
* AnimalStampede: Baby Yoshi can learn "Stampede", which has him summon an army of Yoshis that plow through all enemies on the stage.
* AntiFrustrationFeature:
** At one pivotal point in the FinalBoss fight, [[spoiler:the game rigs the slot machine to give you a much-needed Shine Sprite Bingo, which restores all your HP, FP, and Star Power]].
** If you miss the Tattle for any enemy there is a limited number of (such as bosses or mini-bosses), the Tattle Log entry will appear in Professor Frankly's wastebasket, meaning you can't accidentally lock yourself out of OneHundredPercentCompletion.
** Despite being listed under "attacks", tattling does ''not'' count as an attack in chapter 3. This is to ensure you are still able to fill out the enemy's tattle log entry even if Grubba gives you the "don't let your partner attack" stipulation.
* AntiGrinding: Leveling up will decrease the amount of experience enemies drop, eventually going down to yielding one point per encounter.
* AntWar: The Punis aren't exactly insects, but their war with the "rival tribe" of mosquito-like Jabbies plays out as this trope.
* ApocalypseAnarchy: Largely {{downplayed}}. Aside from the worldwide MassOhCrap that occurs when [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen rises again in the game's finale, causing the sky to go dark, the closest the game gets to this trope is people blowing all their money at the Pianta Parlor according to Don Pianta]].
* ArbitraryMissionRestriction: Matches in the Glitz Pit require that the player meet certain conditions in order to advance, rather than just defeat the enemy. These include things like "Appeal three times," "[[SheatheYourSword Don't attack for three rounds]]" or "Only let your partner attack." One of the NPC opponents also gets a condition: "Do a triple flip and meow."
* ArcVillain: A few Chapters have villains who are threats in their own right but are unconnected to Grodus' plans, with the notable exception being Lord Crump.
** Chapter 1 has Hooktail, a dragon who eats Koopa Troopas. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that [[FemaleMonsterSurprise she]] has two older siblings who are connected to the main plot, but she herself seems divorced from it]].
** Chapter 3 has [[spoiler:Grubba. He's simply using the Crystal Star to further his youth. He actually has no relation to the main plot outside the Chapter and doesn't appear again after being defeated, being replaced with Jolene who takes over the Glitz Pit]].
** Chapter 4 has Doopliss, who curses the people of Twilight Town to become pigs [[spoiler:and steals Mario's name and body. Although he later becomes connected to the main plot when he joins the Shadow Sirens.]]
** Chapter 5 has Cortez, who was a pirate captain when he was still alive and guards his treasure and island even in death. [[spoiler:Unlike the other examples, Cortez actually does a HeelFaceTurn and helps Mario defeat Lord Crump, who had disguised himself as a sailor.]]
** Smorg, the Chapter 6 boss, was originally supposed to be something that Beldam summoned to hinder Mario, but this was cut for some reason, leading to it just being [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere some random menace that showed up to stop the train at Riverside Station and hitched a ride while it was stuck there.]]
* ArabOilSheikh: Parodied. Lumpy is a green ratooey and asks Mario to invest in his expedition to Dry Dry Desert to find oil. If Mario pays him the maximum increments, he will discover a large amount of oil and will reward Mario with 999 coins.
* AreYouSureYouWantToDoThat: In Chapter 6, Mario has to retrieve a ghost's diary to help its owner pass on. If Mario attempts to read the book, three warnings stating that this is a bad idea appear. If the player insists on reading the diary, the ghost appears and causes a NonstandardGameOver.
* ArmoredButFrail: You can make Mario this with the famously GameBreaking Danger Mario build. This involves [[MaximumHPReduction lowering Mario's HP to 5]], in exchange for higher stats in other areas, then equipping him with a ton of badges which increase his Attack, Defense, and evasion while at 5 HP or less.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: Several enemies such as the Ruff Puff line and the Wizzerd line have the ability to cause this with certain attacks such as the Ruff Puff line's second attacks and the Wizzerd line's laser beams. Only Superguarding completely negates damage from these attacks.
* ArtEvolution: Thanks to the Gamecube being more graphically advanced than the Nintendo 64, [=TTYD=] was the first game in the ''Paper Mario'' series to feature the more polished and smoother character designs that the rest of the games would continue to use.
* TheArtifact: The Spaghetti and Koopasta recipes use the same HP Values as the previous game, resulting in them being less useful than the item you make them from in this game.
* ArtifactMook: [[TheGoomba Goombas]] are encountered during Chapter 6 in Riverside Station, despite the fact that they are far too weak to pose a threat by that point. The same applies to the regular X-Nauts in the X-Naut Fortress.
* AudienceParticipation: InUniverse. All battles take place on a stage, with certain factors causing audience members to come in and leave, cheer on the player (which gives them Star Power to recharge special moves; Mario can even show off to the crowd to gain even more Star Power) or even throw things at the player to help or hinder them. Some enemies will even attack the audience (such as Magnus von Grapple's machine gun that fires audience members).
* AutoRevive: Life Shrooms restore 10 HP if Mario is defeated during battle, but are not triggered if he falls to obstacles in the overworld.
* AutobotsRockOut: The fight music for Chapter 3's miniboss, Rawk Hawk, is made of this. Listen to it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1CDK_JnMa4 here]]. (The other battles in the Glitz Pit have the standard battle music.)
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** The Mega Rush badge raises attack by a whooping 5 when Mario has only 1 HP remaining. The game gives so many different items, partner skills and badges to avoid his demise in that state during battle that it's not even funny, but reducing his health to that single point and keeping it that way all the time can be impractical due to reasons such as a lack of abusable hazards for ScratchDamage in many areas or the LevelUpFillUp mechanic. Furthermore, just a single Power Rush badge combined with other attack boosts can get Mario to game-breaking levels of power anyway.
** The Happy Lucky Lottery has some pretty cool prizes, but due to the mechaniacs of how the lottery generates its winner numbers, you'll have to either wait a long time [[note]] Up to a year for the grand prize.[[/note]] or cheat the clock to win the top prizes. Since there's easier ways to obtain them, you're probably best off not bothering to play it.
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Prince Mush, Jolene's younger brother]] in Chapter 3 thanks to the magic of the Gold Star.
* {{Backtracking}}: Every Chapter except the last one involves doubling back at some point. Chapter 4 has you to travel from one end of the map to the other and back ''3 times''. This wouldn't be bad if the path weren't full of high-damaging [[ChargedAttack Hyper Goombas and Clefts,]] and the rest of the enemies are DemonicSpiders that can [[StatusEffects put you to sleep.]] Also, the second time you have to run through the area, [[SoloSequence you don't have any partners.]] [[RunOrDie You'd better get good at mashing the A button]], or just figure out how to avoid them. Chapter 7 is the worst offender. To reach the Moon, you have to find General White. The catch? He goes all over the world and leads you on a wild goose chase until you reach his hut again.
* BaddieFlattery:
** The boss of Chapter 3, [[spoiler:Grubba]] compliments Mario amid his trash-talking and seems to genuinely appreciate "The Great Gonzales", even [[spoiler:in his battle where he turns into Macho Grubba, he still compliments Mario for his showmanship and fighting abilities.]]
** Grodus briefly praises Mario for [[spoiler:finding all the Crystal Stars for him in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]], albeit in a much more threatening manner.
** Bowser will be impressed that Mario's managed to stay standing and land hits on him the two times he's fought. Granted, he's fought Mario dozens of times at this point, so he knows all about how hard it is to take him down.
* BaitAndSwitch:
** In Chapter 6, the snooty Bob-omb couple can be seen arguing about what to get their son Bub for his birthday. If you talk to him, he says that he only wants a signature from someone on the train that he looks up to. Given that Zip Toad, a celebrity ([[spoiler:which later turns out to be Doopliss in disguise]]), is also on the train, most players would go to him first -- except he will not sign autographs to anyone who is not a hot girl ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation and bringing out your female partners will not get you anything, not even a comment]]). However, by poking around on the train some more, you'll eventually discover that Bub actually wanted the ''train conductor's'' signature, because he looks up to his career of working on a train.
** Also seen in Chapter 3; Jolene shows the player the Champion's Room and the Major League Room, before bringing them to a run-down minor league room. Goombella even comments on this, should you use Tattle in the room.
* BalkingSummonedSpirit: Throughout the game, Mario finds four chests containing evil spirits that [[CursedWithAwesome "curse"]] him with a new power without which he cannot proceed past the level. When the player reaches the fourth chest, the spirit is disheartened to learn that Mario is actively seeking to be cursed again and grumbles that the evil speech he had been working on is now useless.
* BanditMook: In addition to the Bandits that can steal Mario's coins, there's also ones that can steal his items and his ''badges'', although the Badge Bandits are exclusive to the Pit of 100 Trials. They also appear as non-hostile [=NPCs=].
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Mario and his partner can wander on the surface of the Moon without any problem, despite being free of any oxygen tanks and helmets. Goombella even lampshades it:
-->'''Goombella:''' Yeah, now that you mention it, I guess we were fine out there with no air and all that. [{{beat}}] Yeah, I'd rather not think about that too much.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler:Vivian]] pulls a HeelFaceTurn and decided to join Mario because he showed her kindness.
* BeefGate: Gus, though he can be bribed as opposed to beaten up. You, with good timing, can have him be the very first enemy you beat in the game with perfect countering, meaning you won't take damage. It should be noted bribing only works until you come back, beating him up puts him out of the way for the rest of the game.
* BerserkButton:
** Implying (intentionally or unintentionally) that Rawk Hawk is weak is a bad move, as he'll either go to great lengths, even cheat, to prevent the accuser from commenting on it as a means of exacting revenge on the accuser, or directly attack the accuser (although the latter did not end so well for him as the person who accused him, Bowser, was more than entitled and justified for saying that).
** Lucky, the Bulky Bob-omb who runs the lottery, [[NoFairCheating gets very angry if anyone cheats]].
* BetterThanABareBulb: A good chunk of the humor involves LampshadeHanging things like [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth wall breaks]], [[HeroicMime Mario's less than verbose nature]], etc. Many of these jokes come from Goombella using her Tattle ability to provide you information, as she tends to throw in some snarky commentary to go alongside the {{info dump}}s.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Lucky gets really angry with cheaters. If you confess to cheating by messing with the Gamecube's clock, save the game, cheat again, and confess again, Lucky will actually end the game. [[FissionMailed Well, not really]], but he'll sap 500 of your coins as punishment.
* BigBad: Sir Grodus, the leader of the X-Nauts who plans to TakeOverTheWorld using the power of [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen. However, it's revealed that he was Beldam's pawn the whole time. Grodus believed the Shadow Queen was bound to serve the one who woke her, when that was just a rumor that Beldam spread in the name of resurrecting her. The game does a really good job setting up Grodus as the Big Bad, to the point where he's fought ''after'' Beldam, though the reveal invalidates all of it. In turn, Beldam's reason for reviving the Shadow Queen (mentioned throughout the game, first as the legendary treasure, then as "an ancient demon" who destroyed a city and would threaten the world again) is not to control her, as Grodus intended to do, but to serve her, making the Shadow Queen the ultimate antagonist of the game (in addition to being the final boss), though admittedly she wasn't directly involved in Beldam's plan.]]
* BigBallOfViolence: The opening has Mario and Goombella escaping a dogpile involving Lord Crump and an army of X-Nauts. By the time Crump realizes what happened, they're long gone.
* BigBoosHaunt: The Creepy Steeple is a (mostly) abandoned steeple found in the middle of the woods near Twilight Town. It's home of the Duplighost named [[spoiler:Doopliss]] and houses spooky enemies like Boos.
* BigBulkyBomb: The Bulky Bob-ombs and their Pit of 100 Trials [[UndergroundMonkey equivalent]] Bob-ulks, which are naturally much more dangerous than their normal Bob-omb counterparts. Notably their explosions are among the few things that cannot be Superguarded, making the Bob-ulk's explosion all the more dangerous.
* BigEater: Heff. T; he steals Chef Shimi's soup on the Excess Express and ends up not being able to leave because he can't fit through the door. He then lives on room service.
* BigOlEyebrows: Just ''[[http://www.mariowiki.com/images/6/65/Kroop.png look]]'' at Mayor Kroop. They're a minor RunningGag, too: he mistakes something Mario says for complimenting his eyebrows, and mentions that his wife used to comb his eyebrows before she passed on. Mayor Dour also has some massive 'brows.
* BigThinShortTrio: The Shadow Sirens fit this trope; Beldam (Short), Marilyn (Big) and Vivian (Thin).
* BilingualBonus: The X-Nauts' StrangeSalute is the same as the Japanese [[http://blog-imgs-24.fc2.com/s/o/u/soutayouchien/20090226002232.gif "wrong"/"no good" gesture]].
* BiteTheWaxTadpole: [[spoiler:Doopliss']] name can either make Polish gamers giggle or disgust them, as this word sounds like "Dupoliz", which in Polish language literally means "Ass-licker".
* BlackComedy: Every so often in the beginning of Chapter 4, a random villager of Twilight Town is transformed into a pig. When a mother becomes a swine, one of her starving children considers cooking her. The three travelling girls seen every so often can be found oinking nearby, still as merry as always. A gatekeeper requires the mayor's permission to open the way into the woods, but the old man is already cursed when you go talk to him. Naturally, when you come back to the gatekeeper he's doomed too and Mario's group can just move on.
* BlamedForBeingRailroaded: Zess T. tells you to stop moving because she lost a contact lens. Stand still as long as you want; she'll never find it. Move at all, in any direction, even slightly, and it will crunch under your boot (or hammer, if you chose to swing that.) There simply is no way to avoid smashing the darned thing. Even after you replace it, Zess T. will call you by insulting nicknames for the rest of the game.
* BlatantLies: Once Hooktail's HP is depleted, she will offer Mario 3 separate bribes so he spares her. While the first two are something a dragon might reasonably have (1,000 coins and a rare badge), the last one is the offer to sniff her feet. She claims that people pay money to do this, and that she's being completely honest about it.
* BlindIdiotTranslation:
** Sky-Blue Spinies that have curled up into balls are referred to by the game as "pipes". ''Paipo'' is the Japanese name for the Spiny Eggs, which may be where the confusion came from.
** What was supposed to be a reference to the Crystal Palace from the first ''Paper Mario'' got mangled into "Goomstar Temple". The translators mistook the "kuri" in "kuristaru" for the Goomba's Japanese name.
** In the ''Paper Mario 2'' demo, Courage Shells are called "Courage Cola". This is because the words for "shell" and "cola" are similar to each other in Japanese, and got mixed up during translation.
* BlockingStopsAllDamage: You can Superguard against pretty much anything that causes damage in battle, regardless of whether that means physical attacks, projectiles, lightning strikes, falling walls, fire or explosions, all with no harm done to Mario. The catch is that the timing for the Superguard is extremely strict, and failing the timing means you take full damage, so it's all or nothing.
* BonusDungeon: The Pit of 100 Trials, though it's a good idea to go to at least floor 50 for any playthrough, as a bigger item bag is always useful.
* BookEnds: It ends how it started, with Peach wanting to treasure hunt again.
* BoringButPractical:
** The popular "Danger Mario" build can be surprisingly simple to set up and mantain, with lots of resources on the core path that raise Mario's attack power and make him very hard to hit without even the need to learn the Superguard mechanic. This makes the plain old Power Bounce and Multibounce skills capable of trampling over most enemies and bosses by themselves, rendering all the flashy partner attacks and Special moves largely unnecessary.
** The very first Special Move unlocked, Sweet Treat, remains useful throughout the game as a way to refill HP & FP using an easily renewable resource.
** The second Special Move, Earth Tremor, is likely to remain the most-used offensive special even after more powerful moves like Art Attack are unlocked, thanks to its dirt-cheap SP cost.
* BossAlteringConsequence: The Attack FX R badge changes the sound effect of Mario's jumps and hammer to a cricket sound, which normally doesn't have any practical effect during battle, except against Hooktail. If you attack her with the badge equipped, it will lower her attack and defense as she hates the sound of crickets. The game hints at this by telling you in a letter that Hooktail fears something that starts with "cr" and ends with "ickets."
* BossBonanza: [[spoiler:The Palace of Shadow contains boss fights against Gloomtail, the Shadow Sirens (and Doopliss), Grodus, Bowser and Kammy together, and the Shadow Queen. Arguably also the two battles with the [[BossInMookClothing Dark Bones]], too, as they have HP on par with early-game bosses and are among the enemies whose Tattle entries can show up in Professor Frankly's wastebasket.]]
* BossRemix: Lord Crump, Sir Grodus, and Bowser all get this treatment, having remixes of their respective themes as their battle musics.
* {{Bowdlerization}}:
** The Boos employed by the Pianta Syndicate had bunny ears in the original Japanese version; essentially, resembling that of the PlayboyBunny. They were changed into cat ears in all other versions of the game; possibly just to remove a reference to an adult magazine, or perhaps to avoid legal problems, since the Playboy Bunny logo is trademarked.
** In the Japanese version, the home of the bandit that steals your coins in the prologue had a ChalkOutline of a Toad surrounded by ''dried blood'' on the floor, implying that a Toad had entered the house and suffered a terrible fate.
** Mario's "hello" gesture was removed in the European localizations of the game, evidently and most likely due to an unfortunate resemblance to the infamous Nazi salute.
** Any hint of Vivian being transgender was removed from the English and German localizations.
** During Chapter 5, Bobbery asks you to find him a bottle of wine in the Japanese version. In the English version, it's a bottle of [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Chuckola Cola]] instead.
** In the English version, one of the answers for Question #1 in Shhwonk Fortress is the "Pickle Stone". In all other languages, the answer is "Luigi's underpants".
** Before the final boss battle, Mario can choose to surrender and this causes a NonstandardGameOver. In the Japanese version, he becomes a BrainwashedAndCrazy minion slouched over with a vacant and wide gaze. In the overseas version, Mario remains on his defiant pose even though the flashing effect for the DemonicPossession remains.
* BreakingOutTheBoss: [[spoiler:The Shadow Sirens, led by Beldam, were responsible for the events of the whole game. Their boss, The Shadow Queen, was trapped in a tomb deep beneath Rogueport, essentially making her a SealedEvilInACan. Beldam spread word of a great treasure hunt and tricked Princess Peach into getting kidnapped by Grodus and the X-Nauts. Grodus himself believed he would harness the power of The Shadow Queen by using Peach as a vessel, using the Shadow Sirens as henchmen. However, Beldam was the one using him and his army for her own ends of releasing the Shadow Queen.]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall:
** "You out there in front of the TV!" If Goombella is your partner when Professor Frankly says this, she'll lampshade it with "Why do we always have to break through the fourth wall?"
** Doopliss steals the lowercase letter P from the player's keyboard so his name can't be entered (using uppercase P won’t work). The player must find it in a chest in order to regain access to it.
** When asked to describe Stewart in Glitzville, Goombella will mention that Cheep-Cheeps have been around since the first Mario game, and then say "I just broke through the fourth wall there, didn't I?". If you get her to describe the gatekeeper in Twilight Town, she'll mention that the game would be too easy without him, before flustering and saying 'What? I didn't say anything!'
** If you defeat Gus in Rogueport, he will exclaim, "You dumb video-game heroes ALWAYS do this!"
** After Bowser goes through Rawk Hawk's secret training facility, Rawk Hawk will point at the camera and presumably ask the player if they forgot about him.
** An NPC in Petalburg mentions wanting a game called "Paper Luigi". Later, he says that he's playing a new game... called ''Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door''. Oh, and he also finishes it before you do. He also mentions ''VideoGame/{{Fire Emblem|TheBlazingBlade}}'', another game by Intelligent Systems. And at the end of the game? [[spoiler:He's playing ''Super Paper Mario''!]]
** When you are in the Keelhaul Key chapter, at one point, the pirate "Four-Eyes" ([[PaperThinDisguise a.k.a. Lord Crump]]) looks at the TV and tells the audience not to tell Mario who he obviously is. Weirdly, if your partner is Goombella at this point she will have just broken the fourth wall in Chapter Four and then acts confused when someone else breaks the fourth wall in Chapter Five.
** When [[spoiler:Koops is reunited with his father after the first dungeon]], he says "Everyone thought your game was over!" This may have been an example at the time, but [[{{Retcon}} it no longer remains so.]] In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', the common term for death InUniverse is GameOver (although there are some instances in which characters bluntly talk about death).
** In the ''Paper Mario 2'' demo, Goombella will say that she normally would have a "witty and insightful tip" to give out when using Tattle, but she's holding off until the final version.
* BreatherEpisode: Chapter 6 sets itself up as one. After an adventure in a pirate cave and being stranded on an island, a three-day train ride seems much more relaxing. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope It's not,]] when Doopliss (now a Shadow Siren) sneaks aboard the train and attempts to sabotage Mario's adventure, the train stops to a raised bridge at Riverside Station which forces Mario to enter the abandoned station and lower the bridge, and finally a giant monster attacks the train at the end.]]
* BrickJoke: During Chapter 2, Petuni reveals she was going to give her brother a mushroom to eat, only for it to dry out and turn into a Dried Shroom due to the amount of time she and other Punis spent locked in a cage. ''Much'' later on during the postgame, Professor Frankly reveals he found a treasure chest in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon containing [[spoiler:a Dried Shroom, because the original mushroom had dried out from sitting in the chest for over 1000 years.]]
* ButThouMust:
** A comedic example. When Kroop asks you if you're going to go defeat Hooktail, Mario has the option of saying "What? Hold on now!" If you select this, Kroop takes this as a "yes". Then when Kroop claims that he hears Mario deny a reward for defeating Hooktail, Mario has the option to say "I never said that!" Selecting this option still has Kroop mistaking it for another no to the reward.
** After catching the Yoshi egg in Glitzville, Mario is given an option to, instead of free him, say "Let there be hot dogs!" Of course, picking this option will simply result in Mario's partner yelling at him and overriding his decision.
** Immediately afterward, Mario is given [[BlatantLies an option]] to bring the egg with him or not. If he says no, his partner immediately changes his mind.
** Essentially any point in the game where dialogue options seemingly give Mario a chance to refuse a possible plot-relevant action or to help someone in need. In most of these cases, his partner will either correct him or outright ignore his refusal and make the decision for him. [[spoiler:The biggest {{aversion}} to this occurs when the Shadow Queen offers Mario a chance to be her servant. He can actually accept, which leads to a NonStandardGameOver.]]
** The player must open the chest in Creepy Steeple to proceed any further, as Boos will block the doorways.
** A much straighter example occurs when the Pianta Syndicate goons ask Mario to find Francesca and bring her home to visit her sick-with-loneliness father. He can refuse them once, but they will ask again, with a much more threatening tone. The only options this time are "I'll do it!" and "I understand!"
* ButtMonkey:
** [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou The audience,]] whose torture ranges from being scared out of their wits and munched by Hooktail to [[spoiler:getting dragged off to Hell by the Shadow Queen]].
** Doopliss, too, when he joins the Shadow Sirens--he starts taking the punishments that Vivian had been, though unlike Vivian he decides not to leave. Goombella lampshades his ButtMonkey status in one of her Tattles: "Hey, how do you think he became one of the Shadow Sirens? Isn't that... weird? How do you think he stands Beldam's abuse? You think he's all right in the head?"
** Poor Bowser is always at least one step behind the plot, often falls into blunders.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C-D]]
* CallBack: Quite a few to the first game:
** Chapter 1 for both games are about getting to a fortress/castle where the PlotCoupon is held, with the help of a Koopa partner you meet in a town of Koopas on the way to said stronghold.
** Chapter 4 is a call back to Chapter 3 in the first game. Both introduce the Hyper enemies who can charge their attacks to deal massive damage. Both are about an unbeatable enemy with a secret that makes them beatable, and that you need the help of a partner whose ability is to make you disappear to get through it. Both also take place in a BigBoosHaunt setting. Boos are foes in this game, though.
** Chapter 5 for both games is about finding another PlotCoupon within a tropical island, though in this case Cortez later helps Mario beat the X-Naut army.
** In both games, the BigBad's base is located in the cosmos, and only reachable with the help of [=NPCs=]. [[spoiler:In this game, though, the Big Bad's base isn't the last chapter.]]
** The boss of Chapter 3 is a giant Spike for both games. And both of them have a secret that you spend most of the chapter investigating. [[spoiler:But for this game, you don't know that the Spike in question is behind everything until the very end.]]
** The first part of Chapter 6, in which Mario becomes the assistant to a Bumpty detective, refers back to the murder mystery segment from Chapter 7 of the first game.
* CasanovaWannabe: Dupree. Always flirting with someone nearby, never successful.
* CatchingSomeZs: When characters fall asleep in the game, these appear above them.
* CentralTheme: The game has the classic Light vs. Darkness in many forms. Practically everything in the game, from the locations to the boss battles, has a duality of light and darkness, even if one side is hidden from sight.
* CerebusSyndrome: Last game, Mario and company were just putting the stomp on Bowser, standard Mario heroics. For this go-round, Mario gets to [[spoiler:prevent the end of the world.]]
* ChalkOutline: In the prologue, a bandit steals Mario's coins and he can track him to his house to take them back. In the English version, the bandit's house is full of random garbage, bugs, and squalor. In the Japanese version, there's an outline of a Toad on the floor surrounded by dried blood.
* CharacterCustomization: You can equip many power up Badges on Mario and prioritize the growth of the BP stat required for them. There are combat skills for several situations, stat boosters and other passive effects, and even minor things like changing the color of Mario's costume or the sounds that his attacks make. Notably, the game's mechanics particularly encourage savvy players into raising Mario's attack stat as high as possible while in critical status.
* CheckPointStarvation: The [[BonusDungeon Pit Of]] [[MarathonLevel 100 Trials]] is the epitome of this. Depending on the player's level dungeon takes hours to complete, and you can't save your progress at all, though one can keep whatever badges they obtain and whatever star points they receive if they leave the dungeon and go save outside. Since you can't flee from the final trial, you can't even escape the pit and keep your level-ups if you can't do it. It does reward you with the most powerful badge ever if you manage to beat it though.
* ChekhovsGag: The pipe leading to Twilight Town during Chapter 4 rejects Mario's entry because he has nothing on him that identifies who he is. You easily get the problem fixed by talking to a Twilight Town resident in Rogueport that writes Mario's name on his overalls. [[spoiler:After Doopliss steals Mario's name and identity, trying to leave Twilight Town will have the pipe spit Mario back out since he doesn't have a name anymore.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: When you first visited the Rogueport Sewers, you notice a small creature who runs away in a hole whenever you approach him. He becomes prominent in Chapter 2 when [[spoiler:he's revealed to be Punio, a Puni who was trying to seek help as the X-Nauts invaded his home. He follows you around for that Chapter]].
* ChickMagnet: Every female party member kisses Mario when they join, and either openly flirt or develop a crush on him. Even ''[[{{Jerkass}} Beldam]]'' thinks he's handsome. They must dig the 'stache.
* ChimneyEntry: When Bobbery doesn't want to be disturbed and locks himself inside his home, Mario naturally has to climb up on the roof and roll up into a tube so that he fits in the chimney.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The Mario series in general is notorious for this trope. Ever wonder what happened to the X-Nauts? The entire ensemble of party members? How about the species only seen in this game, which were introduced as "Ratooeys", "Doogans", "Punis", and "Jabbis"? What about the name-stealing fiend, [[spoiler:Doopliss]]? Where have they gone? Sure, some of these guys have been referred to in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' and the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series in trophy form, but they never appeared again after this game.
* TheCityNarrows: East Rogueport. The place is filthy, run-down, and crime-ridden, and anyone walking through there can honestly expect to get robbed or jumped.
* ClarkKenting:
** Ms. Mowz, who is also the owner of Rogueport's Lovely Howz of Badges.
** Also the [[spoiler:mysterious lady in the Glitzville juice stand, who is very heavily hinted to be Jolene.]]
* ClassyCatBurglar: Ms. Mowz. Hard to get more stylish than a fancy red mask and high heels.
* CleverCrows: The crows in Twilight Town discuss such things as renewable energy sources and Internet start-up companies.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: ''All'' of the Koopas, with the possible exceptions of Koops and Koopie Koo. Mario also runs into a few Shiver City penguins/Bumpties, all of whom are just as spacy and excitable as they were in the last game. [[TheDragon Lord Crump]] is another one. Grodus even comments that Crump is "out there" at one point.
* CluelessDetective: Pennington, though it's revealed at the end of the Chapter that he's not a real detective anyway.
* CompanyCreditCardAbuse: A NPC is seen in various places proudly declaring that he is putting various things on his expense account.
* CognizantLimbs: Smorg, Cortez and [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen]] have separate health-bars for their limbs. In the case of Smorg, it's necessary to "kill" its arms in order to do any damage to the main part of the monster.
* CollectionSidequest: The Star Pieces. Hidden here and there throughout the game, they can be collected and traded for awesome badges. Shine Sprites too, which can be traded in 3 at a time to power up Mario's companions.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The Shadow Sirens' hats are indicative of their elemental powers. Vivian's is red (fire), Beldam's is blue (ice), and Marilyn's is yellow (lightning).
* ColorCodedStones: The Crystal Stars which must be collected throughout this game are colored as such. The Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire and Garnet stars are white, green, red, blue and reddish-orange, respectively. Another star is palette swapped for gold and referred to as the "Gold Star", despite it being obvious that the star is a crystal not a metal. Perhaps a slight inversion as the last star is an iridescent white, yet it is the "Crystal Star" not diamond.
* CombinedEnergyAttack: [[spoiler:Used against the final boss; the prayers of all of Mario's friends from around the world weaken the Shadow Queen, allowing Mario to finish her off.]]
* CompanyCrossReferences:
** After Peach drinks an invisibility potion and sneaks into Grodus's office to upload sensitive data from a data disk into the desktop computer, the monitor displays an animation of the Famicom Disk System BIOS and plays its startup music.
** A Toad in Petalburg talks about ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'', another series made by Intelligent Systems.
* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: The instructions for the special skill "Sweet Feast" read "Hold [the Control Stick] left to try to hit hearts and flowers". This is because, unlike its predecessor "Sweet Treat", holding the stick will autofire. However, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQquPIJ-ljI as shown by Milesluigi]], you're probably better off [[ButtonMashing spam-flicking]] the stick; "Sweet Feast" also removes the OneBulletAtATime limitation, and most people can repeatedly flick the stick substantially faster than the autofire rate.
* ConditionedToBeWeak: Implied with Vivian, as when the player first fights the Shadow Sirens, Vivian is easily the weakest member of the group and goes down quickly. Once she joins the party, if the player upgrades her stats, she can be as strong as her BigSisterBully Beldam by the end of the game, giving the implication that Beldam was doing her best to keep Vivian down and weak via bullying.
* ContinuityNod:
** At the beginning of the game, Parakarry from ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'' game delivers a letter to the Mario Bros. In the [[PlayableEpilogue post-game]], you can meet another of your party members from ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', Bow. There would've been more than just the two, but they were DummiedOut. Jr. Troopa can also be seen in the background of a picture attached to e-mail sent to Mario by Zip Toad. Also, in Hooktail's castle, the note written by a dead Koopa is addressed to his son Kolorado, an NPC in the first game.
** A Hammer Bro in the Glitz Pit mentions his grandfather (who he inherited his hammer from) being from ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 World 7-1]]''.
** Podley and Podler's race is never specified, but they're almost unmistakably Beanish, in a reference to ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga''.
** In Keelhaul Key, Bobbery asks you to get him Chuckola Cola[[note]]Translation-only, as whereas the original was always just that, this was originally a type of wine called Vintage Red.[[/note]] he was saving for arrival at the island. This is a reference to the soda of the same name from ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga''.
* CouldSayItBut: TEC is forbidden from telling Princess Peach anything about Grodus's plans. He gets around the restriction by giving Peach a multiple-choice quiz... with critical information as the correct answers.
* CounterAttack: The Superguard mechanic allows players to fully negate incoming damage while also dealing a minor hit to physical attackers. It uses the B button instead of A and has a much more strict timing at 3 frames, requiring 2 Simplifier badges to raise that a bit. Not every attack can be parried, and the Japanese version makes several more of them unparriable.
* CowardlyLion: Koops, who suffers from a lack of confidence at the beginning of the game, but proves to be a valuable partner.
* CreditsMontage: A recap of what has happened to your allies plays during the credits.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Somewhat literally played with the Hammerman and Jumpman badges--each grants 1 extra damage for either Hammer or Jump attacks in exchange for being incapable of using the other. Their low BP cost (2, compared to 6 for a Power Plus) makes them attractive for boosting some builds, and they are ''really'' useful in those Glitz Pit fights where you're asked to not use one or the other type of weapon.
* CripplingTheCompetition: During Chapter 3 (the BoxingEpisode of the game), Mario will receive cakes at two points--if the player chooses to skip them, Shellshock will eat it instead. The first is after defeating The Fuzz, which restores all stats if Mario eats it (HP, FP, and Star Power) or has Shellshock boast how great it tastes. Just before your fight against Chomp Country (notable for having high Attack and Defense), another cake arrives. If you eat the second one thinking it's safe, you're forced to fight the next battle alone, without any of your partners. If ignored, Shellshock takes the poison instead. The poisoned cake turns out to be the work of [[spoiler:the champion, Rawk Hawk, in response to a perceived slight against him by Mario and his team]].
* CriticalAnnoyance: There will be a beeping alert during battles when Mario's HP is equal to or below 5. Thankfully, it won't trigger at 5 if you reduced his max amount to that value to make the Power Rush badge always active.
* CriticalStatusBuff: Several badges -- such as Close Call -- will power up Mario or his partners when they're at low HP. Depending on the badge equipped, they can get an Attack buff, a Defense buff, or cause enemies to sometimes miss with their attacks.
* CrosshairAware: Magnus Von Grapple 2.0 sucks up audience members and uses a crosshair to aim them at Mario. It's just for show, though.
* {{Cumulonemesis}}: The Ruff Puffs return from the [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 previous game]] and are just as ''shocking'' as ever. New variants are introduced as well: the Dark Puffs, the Poison Puffs, which can poison Mario, and the Ice Puffs, which can freeze him.
* CursedWithAwesome: The Black Chest Demons curse you... with the paper abilities you'll need to explore the next area/dungeon. One of the few instances where this is played for laughs. It's also justified by the fact that the [[spoiler:"demons" are former heroes]].
* CuteBruiser:
** Goombella is an adorable young Goomba, but don't be fooled, she's much tougher than she looks.
** The nameable, color-customizable Yoshi partner found in Glitzville. For someone fresh out of his egg, he can hold his own in a fight damn well.
* CuteWitch: Vivian, the youngest of the Shadow Sirens, is also undeniably the cutest one of them. Even Goombella thinks so in her Tattle entries on her.
* DamselInDistress:
** Peach, but like in the first game, she does a little more than just sit around and wait to be rescued. At the end of the chapters, you get to play as Peach sneaking around the X-Naut Fortress, looking for information to help Mario. [[spoiler:This time the kidnapper isn't kidnapping Peach simply because he's an AbhorrentAdmirer.]]
** Luigi gets his own in the form of Princess Eclair, though it turns out that her kidnapper [[spoiler:wasn't actually the main villain, at least according to the Super Luigi book series.]]
* DancingWithMyself: During one of the interludes, Princess Peach waltzes with a hologram of herself provided by TEC.
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''The Thousand-Year Door'' is ''definitely'' darker and edgier than its predecessor. The [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 previous game]] was a charming RPG adventure through the bright and colorful Mushroom Kingdom to save Peach from Bowser like Mario usually does [[OnceAnEpisode every other week]]. [[WellThisIsNotThatTrope Not here.]] This game starts with the opening shot of the Prologue looking right at a ''gallows'' in the middle of town. The aptly named Rogueport is a textbook example of a WretchedHive, predominantly inhabited by cutthroats and miscreants (including a parody of the {{Main/Yakuza}}/{{Main/The Mafia}}), and even they are terrified of what lurks behind the Thousand-Year Door. Many of the areas in the game -- notably Twilight Town and its surrounding areas, Riverside Station, the Pit of 100 Trials, and the final dungeon itself -- have a creepy atmosphere by any standards, let alone those of the famously family-friendly ''Mario'' franchise. There is a dark undertone that permeates throughout the entire game, and as the plot begins to unfold, players come to the realization that [[spoiler:the ultimate motive of the X-Nauts and the Shadow Sirens is far more sinister than anyone could have initially imagined, with potentially world-ending repercussions]].
* DarkIsNotEvil:
** There's Twilight Town, and even [[spoiler:your own party member, Vivian. Also, the Black Chests and the "demons" within]]. Discussed post-game when the single Twilight Town resident in Rogueport comments that the Shadow Queen's darkness was more of a creepy, sinister kind-of-dark as opposed to the one he prefers.
** [[spoiler:The Dark Bones mini-boss in the Palace of Shadow. His sole line of dialogue implies that he's trying to prevent the Shadow Queen from being awoken.]]
* DeadlyDoctor: X-Naut [=PhDs=], who attack by throwing potions that have various effects on Mario and his partner.
* DeadManWriting:
** Mario gets to deliver one of these letters in a quest. [[spoiler:It's from Bobbery's wife, Scarlette, which perks him up to help Mario and co. travel to Keelhaul Key.]]
** Koops finds and reads one of these found amongst his father's bones. [[spoiler:(Well, ''[[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Kolorado's]]'' father's bones, really).]]
* DealWithTheDevil:
** Mario has to sign a contract that Grubba gives Mario to participate in the ring while advising him not to read all of it, and in fact, sign without reading it. Some of the lines in the contract include Mario not being able to leave the Glitz Pit until Grubba releases him. Oddly enough, Mario can leave Glitzville via blimp after signing the contract without any repercussions. (Although this could mean "don't leave our employ" rather than "don't leave the area".)
** [[spoiler:You can agree to the join the final boss to rule the world, though this results in a game over.]]
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: The Yoshi partner specializes in doing lots of damage in 1-point increments, though he can't hurt enemies with any Defense Power. Any sort of attack boost will cause the little guy to do ridiculous amounts of damage, though.
* DegradedBoss: Upon arrival to the X-Naut Fortress, you'll immediately be attacked by a pair of EliteMooks aptly called the Elite X-Nauts in a mini-boss battle. After defeating them, in the very next room you will encounter the Elite X-Nauts again as regular enemies.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The foliage in Boggly Woods, for the most part, has no color. It's somewhat similar to Forever Forest from the previous game.
* DemBones: The various Dry Bones species, Cortez, and [[spoiler:Bonetail]].
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:Peach gets possessed by the Shadow Queen.]]
* DemotedToExtra: While Bowser was the BigBad in the first game, he (and by extension Kammy Koopa) only plays a minor role in this game, being always one step behind Mario. However, he does have his own interludes (in some of which he's PromotedToPlayable in parodies of the original ''Super Mario Bros.''), and [[spoiler:accidentally stops Grodus from killing Mario in the nick of time]].
* DescendingCeiling: A spike trap in Hooktail's Castle does this.
* DetectiveAnimal: Pennington the penguin.
* DetectiveDrama: Chapter 6 is a spoof of this. The self-styled detective [[CluelessDetective is useless]], and it's Mario who has to do the investigation.
* DevelopersForesight:
** The first fight with Lord Crump in the Prologue is explicitly made to be impossible to lose. Even if you lower Mario's HP to 1 by intentionally jumping into the water repeatedly, he'll automatically by healed to 5 HP when encountering Crump. And since Mario goes first in battle, you'll end up winning with 1 HP even if you fail every action command and block, since Crump has 5 HP and only deals 1 damage.
** When you enter East Rogueport for the first time, a Bandit will steal all of your coins, which you can retrieve later by finding his hiding place and talking to him. If you have no coins at all when he robs you (only possible by deliberately buying items at the shop in Central Rogueport until you run out), the sequence will play as normal, but confronting him will have unique dialogue expressing his annoyance that you had nothing to steal.
** Normally when speaking to Luigi for the first time, he'll tell Mario he's in town due to his adventure in the Waffle Kingdom and offer to tell the story if Mario accepts. If you wait all the way until after Chapter 7 to speak to him, he'll instead tell Mario that he's in town to relax at the inn since his adventure has already concluded by that point in the game.
** You can access the Pianta syndicate headquarters as soon as you complete Chapter 1 if you know the secret code before Ishnail tells you. [[https://smallmariofindings.tumblr.com/post/661705788790800384/in-paper-mario-the-thousand-year-door-during-the All the Piantas there have unique dialogue, and Francesca and Frankie are present before they elope.]]
** Piercing Blow is a badge that's available to purchase from the shop in Rougeport that allows Mario's hammer to pierce through an enemy's defense. However, the iron clefts in Chapter 3 have infinite defense, so even this badge will have no effect on them. This is to ensure you do not skip getting the Yoshi partner, as his gulp is the only thing capable of hurting them.
** During Chapter 3, two new fighters join the Glitz Pit to replace Bandy Andy and King K. At this point, you're too high-ranked to fight either one. But if you fall down the ranks by losing, you can fall down far enough to fight them.
** Even though there's no possible way to see it (due to Yoshi's gulp being the only thing capable of harming the iron clefts, and the following cutscenes preventing you from switching partners), Goombella, Koops, and Flurrie all have different dialogue for checking Rawk Hawk's belt and realizing it has a fake Crystal Star on it.
** Leading up to Chapter 4, Professor Frankly will tell Mario and his party to look for a warp pipe below west Rogueport to reach Twilight Town, the chapter's setting. Once Mario reaches the pipe and jumps in, the pipe will reject him, at which point Mario must go back to Frankly to learn a workaround. However, the pipe can be encountered earlier if Mario takes the Yoshi partner he recruited in the middle of Chapter 3 exploring in that area, which requires the Yoshi's flutter jump ability to reach. If Mario tries and fails to enter the pipe ''before'' dictated by the plot, Mario's active partner will remember this when Frankly instructs Mario on where to go, allowing the player to skip ahead to the workaround.
** There are two bosses (the first [[spoiler:Doopliss]] fight and the first form of [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen]]) that have plot-important events take place during the fight, but could be brought to 0 HP with certain setups before said events happen. If you do that, they'll inexplicably heal a certain amount and the event will begin.
** When you recruit [[OptionalPartyMember Ms. Mowz]], she gives you a badge. However, if you happen to have the maximum amount of badges you can carry, then [[https://www.suppermariobroth.com/post/666949336759926784/an-extremely-obscure-cutscene-exists-in-paper there will be a quick cutscene where she leaves the badge in front of the badge store for you to pick up.]] Note that the maximum amount of badges you can have is 200 and there are only 85 unique badges, so in order for this to happen, the player would have to go ''waaaaaaaaay'' out of their way to grind for them.
** During the interlude between Chapters 5 and 6, after you get a ticket for the train, Beldam will pop up for a cutscene. While Goombella, Koops, and [[spoiler:Vivian]] will recognize her, Flurrie, Yoshi, Bobbery, and Mz. Mowz will not (as none of them was part of your party the last time you fought her), and wonder who she is.
** If you happen to do some glitching around and enter [[spoiler:Gloomtail's room after defeating Bowser for the final time]] (the room is inaccessible through normal means), there's a hole in the back area [[spoiler:which was used when Bowser jumped down]].
** One Trouble involves rescuing Pine T. Sr., who's gotten himself lost and injured inside the Pit of 100 Trials. He can be found on Floor 18, and if you help him and make it to a floor with an exit pipe (which is every number that is a multiple of 10) he'll automatically head straight to the exit pipe and leave. If you somehow meet enough Movers to skip every exit pipe floor and make it to [[{{Superboss}} Bonetail]] along with Pine T. Sr.,[[note]]which requires at least ''8'' Movers to be found on specific floors, each with a 5.1% chance of appearing to begin with[[/note]] the pre-fight cutscene will include him [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThoWzCUKjrE hiding behind a nearby pillar and shaking in fear just before you fight the boss, and heading to the nearby pipe on his own after you defeat it.]]
** Like the first game, Goombella will have tattles for every single area and character that are able to be interacted with. Characters that are only around for a limited time such as ones that only appear during trouble center requests, random passengers on the Excess Express, and [[spoiler:bosses such as Grubba and Bowser outside of battle]] all have unique tattle dialogue associated with them.
*** Additionally, some characters will have different tattle dialogue depending on current story progress. For example, Goombella will have something new to say about Pennington when first meeting him, after he introduces himself and makes Mario his apprentice, after Zip Toad/[[spoiler:Doopliss]] runs away at Riverside Station, and after [[spoiler:Pennington reveals he's the curator of Poshley Sanctum]]. Like the above, these only appear during certain windows of time, so you would only see them if you went out of your way to use Goombella at every possible opportunity.
** During Chapter 7, Mario needs to get permission from Goldbob to use the cannon in Fahr Outpost. In order to do this, the player, as Mario, must agree to give Goldbob all of the coins they currently have, then go through a bunch of "are you sures?" before Goldbob reveals he was joking and returns your coins along with his permission... unless you don't actually ''have'' any coins, in which case Goldbob will make an exasperated comment lampshading it before sending you away. This pretty much has to be deliberate due to how late in the game this event occurs in, as well as the fact that in order to get ''zero'' coins, you need to spend ''exactly'' enough at shops to get down to that amount (since Mario can't buy anything if he doesn't have enough coins to purchase it).
** When confronting Grodus in Chapter 8, Mario's partner will come to the realization that they are finally meeting the leader of the X-nauts face-to-face, and address him as such before Grodus introduces himself. [[spoiler:Except Vivian, who's already seen Grodus before and already knows exactly who he is]].
* DiagonalSpeedBoost: An unusual example. Because the game was built around an odd perspective, Mario has more x-axis speed than z-axis speed. However, speed is still calculated as a function of inputs in both directions, so provided there's a wall to restrict your movement in the z-direction, it's marginally faster to run at a slight forward diagonal than simply left or right.
* DidYouActuallyBelieve: Hooktail, when you fall for one of her schemes before she's defeated. She'll offer you a rare badge, 1,000 coins, and last but not least, to smell her feet.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Mario defeats [[spoiler:the demonic Final Boss]] by jumping on it and hitting it with a hammer after [[spoiler:being powered up by the Crystal Stars]], admittedly.
* DifficultButAwesome: The Superguard requires better timing than the standard guard, but nullifies all damage and deals damage to some attackers. The Simplifier badge lessens the strictness of the timing though.
* DifficultyByRegion: Several enemy attacks cannot be superguarded in the Japanese version of the game.
* DisappearedDad:
** Koops' father, Koopley, left for Hooktail Castle ten years before the start of the game to slay Hooktail. It doesn't end well, which gives Koops the motivation to join Mario to avenge his dad. [[spoiler:When they defeat Hooktail, though, the dragon spits up Koopley, who survived in her stomach for ten years.]]
** Kolorado's father suffered the same fate Koops thought of his father.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Rawk Hawk goes to great lengths to prevent Mario from fighting him or from advancing. Why? Simply out of revenge for Mario and his partners allegedly calling his champion's belt fake and thus inadvertently implying that he was a bad fighter (and they weren't even talking about the belt itself, but the Crystal Star on him). Similarly, the Armored Adonis Twins in the same Chapter wanted to beat Mario to a complete pulp, and later attempted to ambush Mario right after Mario defeated another group after losing to them in a rematch because Mario allegedly talked trash about [[YourMom their mom]] (something he didn't even do, but Grubba did while pinning the blame on Mario).
* DistaffCounterpart: Goombella serves pretty much the same purpose as Goombario from ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''; meanwhile, Bobbery is a SpearCounterpart for Bombette.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Mario, uh... mounts and rides... a Yoshi in a very unfortunate-looking fashion, especially considering Mario's at least twice as big.
* TheDon: Don Pianta, also known as the Don of Untimely Death.
-->'''Don Pianta:''' What's wid you, wise guy? I ain't too jolly today ... If you got a beef, spit it out quick or dis is gonna hurt!
* DownerEnding: This happens if you decide to [[spoiler:become the Shadow Queen's servant, as the game says "The Shadow Queen engulfs the world with her foul magic. For Mario, Peach and the world it was... [[NonstandardGameOver GAME OVER]] .]]
* {{Dracolich}}: At the bottom of [[spoiler:The Pit of 100 Trials lurks Bonetail, Hooktail's and Gloomtail's undead, skeletal sibling. He is by far the toughest enemy in the game, even harder that the Shadow Queen. Mercifully, he is an optional {{superboss}}.]]
* TheDragon: Lord Crump. Beldam also counts, [[spoiler:though she is TheDragon to the Shadow Queen and is actually the Big Bad of the game due to her manipulation of Grodus]].
* TheDreaded:
** By far, [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen, who is arguably one of the most heartless, evil Mario villains to ever have been onscreen. Her legend had stood strong during the events of the game, with people still talking about the four heroes who sealed her away. Her power is immense, shown when she severely cripples Grodus with a single lightning bolt, drags the audience to ''Hell'' to heal herself during the second phase of her fight, and attacks with all sorts of crazy moves that would leave you hurting badly.]]
** Cortez, the pirate ghost king. Not only is he in control of thousands of malevolent pirate spirits, it goes without saying that he's the leader for a reason. Subverted after [[spoiler:he helps Mario and the other stranded islanders defeat "Four-Eyes" (Lord Crump) and gets them safely back to Rogueport after Chapter 5.]]
** Doopliss had his moment during the beginning of Chapter 4 where all of Twilight Town were being turned into pigs due to him making the bell ring throughout the land, leaving the remaining residents terrified as their loved ones became swine. Without a doubt, the suspense building up to who you would battle once you reached the steeple would be nerve-racking your first time.
** Despite being DemotedToExtra, Bowser. He might not be the BigBad this time, but he's still the Koopa King. Most [=NPCs=] flee screaming from his presence. Only the very brave (Or just goofy) keep calm when he's around.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: Peach dons an X-Naut uniform at one point. Theoretically she could have used the costume in order to escape, though TEC only informs her that she needs to leave once he uncovers what Grodus and the Shadow Sirens have planned.
* DualBoss: [[spoiler:Doopliss and [[FightingYourFriend one of your allies]]]] at the end of Chapter 4, and [[spoiler:Bowser and Kammy Koopa]] late in the final Chapter.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E-F]]
* EasterEgg:
** There's a place in the X-Naut Fortress where Mario [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 can be 8-bit]] [[VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG again]].
** Stay at an inn 50 times and you'll get a special cutscene and a 200-coin gift.
* EatingTheEnemy: Hooktail, the evil dragon that haunts Petalburg Meadows, was infamous for tricking enemies on the verge of defeating her then gobbling them up when their guard is down. And when that doesn't work, she eats the audience instead.
* EggMcGuffin: In Glitzville, Mario and party save an egg from being [[EatenTheMacGuffin made into a hot dog]]. The egg hatches into the Yoshi that joins your party, and you need him to beat the mini-bosses of Chapter 3.
* EliteMooks: Koopatrols (which have their own elite version, Dark Koopatrols), Elite X-Nauts, Elite Wizzerds, Red Bones, Dark Bones, etc..
** Elite Wizzerds deserve their own subsection, as the ''weakest'' of the three types of Wizzerd, the Dark Wizzerd, is an endgame mook with both regular Wizzerds and Elite Wizzerds being exclusive to the Pit of 100 Trials. Elite Wizzerds have a defense of '''''5''''', tied with Chain Chomps and Moon Clefts for the highest save for the Iron Clefts (who have an ''infinite'' defense and are only there as a SkillGate for the arrival of a partner with an ArmorPiercingAttack), and due to their ability to float, they're immune to a number of your "attack everyone and pierce through defense" skills such as the Super and Ultra Hammers. (Well, the front one still gets hit, but it doesn't hit anyone else). They also have a base attack of 8, tied for third-highest in the game behind [[MetalSlime Amayzee Dayzees]] and Piranha Plants, 12 HP (fairly high, especially given that monstrous defense), access to a number of {{Status Buff}}s...and can come in groups of up to ''five'', which even for the [[BonusDungeon Pit of 100 Trials]] is a WolfpackBoss [[BossInMookClothing In Mook Clothing]]. Even worse, said groups of five commonly carry stopwatches, which can [[OhCrap immobilize Mario and his partner]]...
* {{Elopement}}: One subplot involves the daughter of a Pianta mafia don eloping with one of his underlings. The first time you meet, he agrees to secure you a ride to the place where the next PlotCoupon is if you bring them back. On finding them, they return of their own accord and he tells them to get lost but gives them his blessing in a roundabout way. They settle on a tropical island a few Chapters later. [[spoiler:Just before Chapter 6, you need a ride once again, so you return and find him sick (literally) with worry about them. One subquest later and you have [[NotRareOverThere your ticket]], the couple and the Don reconcile and everyone's happy.]]
* EndlessDaytime: Twilight Town, as the name suggests, is in a stage of perpetual twilight.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: A "great cataclysm" happened in the past. Mario must prevent a second coming.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: InUniverse, Luigi and his "character" were the most popular out of the entire play he was in during his quest. For context, his character was ''grass''. Just grass. Lucky for Luigi, the audience happened to be plant people.
* EpicFail: When asked about Luigi's adventures his "[[BeleagueredAssistant sidekicks]]" tell Mario that they're pretty much an exaggerated series of this. Except [[BunnyEarsLawyer Hayzee.]] But she's a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} from a village full of more {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Crazee Dayzees [[ItMakesSenseInContext who LOVED his "role" of grass.]]
* EscapeBattleTechnique: The game featured a "Run Away" option outside of most scripted fights, though it had a good chance of failing and cost coins (albeit coins that could be picked up afterward).
** The upside is that mashing A quickly enough gets you a 100% success rate & the coins you lose land on the ground so you can get 'em back although you'll need to to avoid the enemy while you do it & they don't stay long.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: For the whole setting, there are a few at the start that come in rapid succession to enforce that you're not in the fun-loving Mushroom Kingdom. The player's first clue that this game will be DarkerAndEdgier than the Mario norm? That would be the ''gallows'' in the center square. Then you see some toughs threatening someone in the background. Then a pickpocket [[NotSoAboveItAll robs Mario himself]] of half his coins.
** [[spoiler:When the Shadow Queen is finally released from her crypt and possesses Princess Peach, it quickly becomes apparent that she will not listen to Grodus as he had thought. After severely crippling and sending him away, she then offers Mario a DealWithTheDevil.]]
* EvilChancellor:
** In the "Super Luigi" book series, [[spoiler:Minister Crepe, who called for help, turns out to have been behind the kidnapping all along.]]
** [[spoiler:Jolene is an inversion: Although it seems like she was the one who was making the fighters disappear, it was actually her boss, Grubba, who did the deed. And while she was trying to betray him, it was actually due to the fact that she wanted to stop him knowing how much of a scumbag he really was.]]
* EvilCostumeSwitch:
** At the end of the game, [[spoiler:Peach gets a dark version of her usual dress]].
** You could also count [[spoiler:Mario in his Wario outfit or his Waluigi, depending on whether he equips both the W and L emblem or just the W emblem.]]
* EvilGloating: Grodus to Mario, but little does he know...
* EvilIsNotAToy: [[spoiler:Grodus believes that the Shadow Queen was bound to serve the one who released her. Boy, is he wrong]].
* EvilLaugh: Grodus, Lord Crump, the Cursed Chest Demons, Beldam, and [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen]] all have one.
* EvilLivingFlames: Embers and Lava Bubbles return, with the former playing a major role in Chapter 5. Cortez summons an army of them to attack Flavio's ship, and later Lord Crump's ship. This game also introduces Phantom Embers, undead green fireballs found in the Palace of Shadow and the Pit of 100 Trials.
* EvilSorcerer: Grodus, though he's more of an Evil TechnoWizard.
* ExactEavesdropping:
** PlayedWith in Twilight Town with [[spoiler:the crows. Mario and Vivian learn by eavesdropping on the crows how to learn the name of the monster who [[GrandTheftMe stole his body]]. Of course, they have to listen to the ''right'' crows, or they get nothing but random philosophy or gossip.]]
** In Chapter 3, while in the vent, the person you're spying on basically goes over his entire diabolical plan to himself. Just to grab your attention, he more or less says "And since I'm talking out loud here, I'll just put this extremely important piece of paper in this desk drawer here and leave. Ah, there we go. Right there in the drawer, [[TemptingFate nobody's gonna steal it at all]]."
* ExactlyExtyYearsAgo: It's been a thousand years since the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Thousand-Year Door]] was last opened, and ten years since Koops' father, Koopley, left for Hooktail Castle.
* {{Expy}}: Many of the partners fill similar roles to the partners from the original ''Paper Mario'', but one notable minor character is Grifty. Grifty's a green rodent who covers almost all of his body except his face and will share information on local history with you if you can find him at the end of the secret rooftop route in the easternmost section of town -- ''exactly'' like Moustafa from the original.
* ExtraTurn: Gombella's Rally Wink gives Mario an extra action for the turn at the cost of her own. Mario is significantly more versatile than any of his partners, so it's worth the trade.
* FacelessGoons: Every X-Naut wears something over their face, and goggles. Much like Shy Guys, their true appearances are unknown.
* FakeLongevity:
** Chapter 4 would actually be the shortest Chapter in the game if it weren't for the fact that you're forced to go BackTracking through the Twilight Trail four times.
** Before Chapter 7, you have to find a Bob-omb named General White. This involves going to all the places you've already been to and finding out that's he's already long gone to somewhere else until he finally shows up at Fahr Outpost, the place from where you've set off.
* FakeUltimateHero: The ''Super Luigi'' books novelize Luigi's (mis)adventures in the Waffle Kingdom, but they also change a huge number of details to make Luigi look more heroic than he actually was. Among other things, they claim he played "a purifying earth spirit" in the Jazzafrazz Town play, when he was actually [[PlayingATree an inanimate patch of grass]] on the side of the road (but the town was full of Dayzees who idolized nature, and thus he was hailed by them). The end result is that the entire series is largely full of lies that is only loosely based on the truth [[spoiler:except for the ending]].
* FallenHero: The Black Chest Demons are actually [[spoiler:the four heroes who sealed away the Shadow Queen behind the Thousand-Year Door. Being trapped inside a small black box made them turn bitter and lead to them “cursing” Mario for merely helping them out. The only exception is the final Chest Demon who’s initially upset that Mario knows what will happen when he opens the chest and isn’t completely harsh to him unlike the others who savored his “suffering”.]]
* FalseInnocenceTrick: Every Black Chest Demon you encounter will try its damnedest to convince you that it's an innocent victim trapped in a chest only to reveal itself as an evil spirit and curse you. Of course, it becomes quickly apparent that Mario is being CursedWithAwesome, and [[LampshadeHanging the act has gone stale]] by the fourth chest, to the point that even Mario tells the Chest Demon to just shut up and curse him already. [[spoiler:Grifty's stories imply that the four Chest Demons are actually the four heroes of legend who originally sealed the Shadow Queen beneath Rogueport a thousand years ago]].
* FantasticRacism: The Bob-ombs of Fahr Outpost are inherently distrustful of anyone who isn't a Bob-omb. The only way Mario is able to get them to allow him use of their [[spoiler:giant cannon]] is to have Bobbery out to talk to them in his stead.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Lord Crump. "So sorry to surprise you... No, wait... [[LampshadeHanging No need for that fake politeness anymore...]]"
* FemaleMonsterSurprise: [[spoiler:Hooktail.]] A big girl's gotta eat after all. [[ShesAManInJapan This is absent in the Spanish localization, in which she is male]], but in turn [[spoiler:her eldest brother, Bonetail, is female, which also applies to the original Japanese and the German and Italian localizations]].
* FighterMageThief: Downplayed with the Shadow Sirens. Marilyn is the biggest and the strongest, making her the fighter. Beldam is the most magically adept, making her the mage. It's harder to spot with Vivian, but she's the only one who makes combat use of the Sirens' ability to disappear, casting her as the Thief.
* FireIceLightning: The Shadow Sirens' elemental powers (Vivian wields fire magic, Beldam wields ice magic, and Marilyn wields lightning magic); note the [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience appropriate hat colors]].
* FightWoosh: When a battle starts, a stage curtain drops down, then raises to reveal the battlefield on a literal stage.
* FightingFromTheInside: [[spoiler:Peach to the Shadow Queen, thanks to the Crystal Stars.]]
* FightingYourFriend:
** [[spoiler:When Doopliss steals your identity, you very own friends, who assume you're Doopliss in his shadow-clone guise, fight alongside him. You don't have to kick their asses, but still.]]
** [[spoiler:There's also Peach getting possessed by the Shadow Queen at the end of the game.]]
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: [[spoiler:When Grodus awakens the ancient demon that's been sleeping behind the Thousand-Year Door, it's revealed that she's actually a LivingShadow like the Shadow Sirens are. Not two minutes later, you learn that Beldam had duped Grodus into opening the Door for her, and that she's been a loyal servant of this Shadow Queen the entire time.]]
* FissionMailed: If you use alter the Gamecube's clock to cheat the at the [[NeverWinTheLottery lottery]], Lucky the Bob-omb will become infuriated enough to do a sudden shutdown, only to quickly let the issue slide after being paid 500 coins for a new ticket.
* FlippingHelpless:
** Like the [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 previous game]], jumping on a Koopa or Buzzy Beetle will flip it on its back, rendering it helpless and negating its Defense Power (until it gets back up). However, the same can happen to your partner Koops.
** Simultaneously subverted and inverted with Shady Koopas, who have the same "flipped" animation and have their defense dropped, but will attack with a stronger attack while they're on their backs.
* FloatingContinent: Glitzville is kept afloat via rockets.
* ForcedTransformation: The residents of Twilight Town (as well as the Travelling Sisters Three and Dupree, who were unlucky enough to get there at the wrong time) transform into pigs whenever the Creepy Steeple's bell rings, because of [[spoiler:Doopliss]]' curse. [[NoOntologicalInertia They all turn back to normal when Mario kicks his ass.]]
* FoodPorn: Classic ''Paper Mario'' food cooking in all its glory. You'd be surprised how good cartoony 2D food can look.
* FooledByTheSound: When Mario is [[ExactEavesdropping spying on Grubba]], the latter hears a sound from the vents and the player must choose from three options a sound to imitate: a squeak, a meow or ''a belch.'' Fortunately for our heroes, if the last option is picked, [[BitchInSheepsClothing Grubba]] assumes it's just a belching beetle.
* ForcefulKiss: When Flurrie joins Mario's party, she decides to thank him for retrieving her lost necklace by "grabbing him and giving him a little sugar" even as he frantically shakes his head for her not to.
** Flurrie's Lip Lock ability also counts as this. She grabs the enemy and forces a kiss on them, [[KissOfDeath draining them of their HP]].
* ForegoneConclusion: Luigi's adventure. Before Luigi actually finishes his adventure, the book based on his adventure starts to release. The first volume of Super Luigi's first paragraph starts something like this: Have you ever tried your hardest to do something, fail, and then feel like you completely wasted your time. This is a story much like that. Now, this is a pretty accurate statement, [[AdaptationDecay considering]] [[UnreliableNarrator the source]]. Except for the fact that Luigi isn't done with his quest yet. He won't be for at least two more Chapters of Mario's adventure. How does the book know?
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** When TEC is cycling through his cameras during the first Peach segment, one of them shows the top floor of the base [[spoiler:with the surface of the moon visible through the windows]].
** In Twilight Town in Chapter 4, a villager makes a wish on the moon not to turn into a pig. When his wish is granted, he asks Mario who he thinks lives on the moon. The two answers are LittleGreenMen and Princess Peach. [[spoiler:While you don't know at this point in the narrative, the latter actually ''is'' true - Princess Peach is in the X-Naut Base, which is later revealed to be on the moon.]] The NPC's response to this answer is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial pregnant with foreshadowing]].
--->'''Twilighter:''' Ha ha ha! Too funny! You must be a dreamer... What an imagination!
** In the intro before the title screen, the hooded peddler who gives Peach the chest containing the map is short and hunched over. [[spoiler:Beldam fits the bill, and she confirms at the end of the game that she was the one who encountered her.]]
** You might not realize it until you actually get the item, but the reply when you are forced to [[spoiler:name Doopliss]] is missing one specific letter or kana.
** Despite having a Crystal Star on his belt, Rawk Hawk never actually harnesses its power. [[spoiler:This is a subtle clue that the star on his belt is actually a fake.]]
* FormerlyFriendlyFamily: Downplayed with [[QuirkyMiniBossSquad The Shadow Sirens]]. Beldam bullies both of her sisters but they work together and all start out as enemies to Mario, but after Beldam [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal mistreats]] Vivian one too many times, she gets fed up and [[HeelFaceTurn switches over to Mario's side]], where she stays for the rest of game, because [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe Mario treated her way better than she ever did]]. In the epilogue, they do make up.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Grodus. Clad in goggles, he's an EvilOverlord with no remorse for hurting anyone, and only cares about himself.
* FourIsDeath:
** Mario's quest for the fourth Crystal Star takes him to Creepy Steeple, where he must wrest the Star from Doopliss.
** The haunted [[spoiler:fourth cabin of the Excess Express.]]
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Combat in the game is presented as a stage production, with combatants as actors on a stage and an audience watching. This set-up provides several comic ways to break the fourth wall InUniverse.
** The stage equipment can malfunction, causing damage or other effects to befall Mario, his partner, or his enemies.
** The audience will cheer Mario on for executing his {{Special Attack}}s well--a good performance generates star power ([[StealthPun in multiple senses]]), which Mario needs to fuel his {{Limit Break}}s. Doing well will attract more audience members to the theatre, which can raise Mario's star power further in turn.
** Audience members can throw items at Mario, either helpful items from fans or harmful items from hecklers. Mario or his partner can punish anyone about to throw an item, but be careful not to hit a fan, or even more fans will leave with them. Some troublemakers will even leap on stage to run amok behind the scenes.
** During a {{Boss Battle}}, [[spoiler:many bosses will have some way to attack the audience directly--Hooktail, the first boss, introduces this mechanic by leaping off stage and devouring the audience to restore her health]].
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Mario is this to the X-nauts, as Grodus and co have no idea who he even is until he ends up on their radar due to possessing the map leading to the Crystal Stars. He then proceeds to foil Crump and the Shadow Sirens every time they throw something at him and secures six of the Crystal Stars, enraging Grodus. Grodus, however, flips this trope around near the end of the game by [[spoiler:manipulating Mario into collecting the final Crystal Star and opening the door for him, then ambushing Mario near the end of the Palace of Shadow so he can take all seven stars from him at once.]]
* FrothyMugsOfWater: In the English release, Bobbery refers to his final beverage as Chuckola Cola, and the icon had been turned purple. In the original Japanese version, the drink was literally ''Bintejireddo'', meaning ''Vintage Red'', a type of red wine.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
** On occasion while you're in the middle of cutscenes in Rogueport and other towns.
** Battles are presented as a stage production, requiring players to pay attention to vandals among the audience in the foreground and to the background props suddenly swaying and collapsing over Mario. Also, sometimes Luigi is among the crowd and every so often he does an AsideGlance towards the player.
* FunnyOctopus: Blooey the Blooper. Unlike Mario's partners, who followed Mario out of respect or another benevolent reason, Blooey, as well as the rest of Luigi's partners (excluding Hayzee), follows Luigi around out of a desire for revenge after Luigi accidentally threw him into lava.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G-J]]
* TheGadfly: Lord Crump has a lot of amusing insults he likes to throw at others.
-->'''Crump:''' Buh? Somebody there? Hey! What's the big idea, ''Turtle Boy''?
-->'''Crump:''' Whoa. What's your problem, Gramma? You got an ear hair tickling your brain, or what?
* GameBreakingBug: Shell Shield [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph7skQwi1ac can cause the game to hang endlessly]], if the partner in front is KO'd in the same move (but ''not'' simultaneously; the exact frame window depends on whether the fatal attack was guarded or not) as Mario's Shell Shield in the back gets broken. The game tries to play the "partner collapses", "Mario and partner trade places", and "Shell Shield breaks" animations all at once and somehow this exact timing causes them never to finish and the game never returns control to the player. Thankfully, this is a very specific circumstance.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** Chapter 1 takes place before the X-nauts and Shadow Sirens learn Mario has the Magical Map and is hunting the Crystal Stars. Likewise, Chapter 3 takes place in a location where neither party ever learns that a Crystal Star is there. As such, both chapters are the only ones in the game that have nothing to do with the BigBad's agenda, and neither the X-nauts or the Shadow Sirens appear to antagonize Mario at any point during either chapter.
** In Chapter 8, Mario's partner will deduce that Grodus is the leader of the X-nauts upon seeing him, but do not know his name until he reveals it, since this is the first time Grodus has confronted Mario and co. face-to-face. [[spoiler:Should you have Vivian out as your active partner, however, she is noticeably less surprised since she's seen Grodus before and already knows who he is.]]
* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** In Chapter 4, [[spoiler:after Doopliss steals Mario's identity, the shopkeeper in Twilight Town is still able to keep track of your previously acquired shop points, despite the fact that no else can or should be able to identify Mario.]]
** Rawk Hawk claims he's going to continue training, and he'll be stronger than ever before. Despite this, he has the exact same stats the first time you fought him if you go through the Glitz Pit again any point after Chapter 3.
* GangplankGalleon:
** Keelhaul Key and Pirates' Grotto.
** Rogueport, as it contains many pirates as well. It even has a gallows.
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: While [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen]] is directly as well as indirectly responsible for most of the game's events, [[spoiler:she]] seemingly exists just for the sake of the game having a twist; only vague hints of [[spoiler:her]] motives are seen in [[spoiler:the Riddle Tower's secret messages]].
* GetItOverWith: The Cursed Chest Demons. By the fourth Cursed Chest Demon, even Mario, mute as he is in these games, is getting tired of the whole rigmarole. The Demon ends up quite hurt by the whole thing.
* GhostPirate: Cortez is a skeletal ghost that remains bound to his ship until he re-obtains his former red skull treasure.
* GiantFlyer: Hooktail, who is first seen flying above Petal Meadows while returning to her castle.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere:
** The Smorgs during Chapter 6. While they get a brief bit of foreshadowing during the visit to Riverside Station, they are still completely unrelated to the plot and there's no reason give as to why they attacked. [[note]]A scene cut from the game showed that it was something sent by the Shadow Sirens. You were supposed to fight the Shadow Sirens in the basement of the train station, but this was all cut, so it's never explained where Smorg came from in the final version. Also, there's an NPC that pops up randomly on the Excess Express post-Chapter 6, a Goomba researcher, who heavily implies that there's more of them, wondering what the feeding habits of the wild Smorgs are, then asking you if you've seen one, which you must have by then.[[/note]]
** Luigi parodies this; [[spoiler:after beating the Chestnut King, what he vaguely describes as a huge nightmarish monster appeared that he took out. The Super Luigi books say the "monster" was actually Minister Crepe, who had been using Luigi all along.]]
* GimmickLevel: While fighting in the Glitz Pit, Grubba enforces certain restrictions on you during battles. Examples include not using any items, finishing in a certain amount of turns, or not allowing you to use the Crystal Stars.
* GladiatorSubquest: After becoming champion of the Glitz Pit in Chapter 3, you can return to fight your way back up the ranks and reclaim your title afterwards.
* GlassCannon: The game encourages players to play dangerously by stacking up attack multipliers when Mario is at low or critical health. Several items and skills can prevent Mario from being finished off to mantain this absurd power going for as long as possible, and a NPC can even respec Mario's stats so that he's always in Danger mode. Raising HP upon levelling up is outright called a lack of confidence by the interface.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: [[spoiler:The Shadow Queen is a demonic entity who wants to cover the world in darkness. She does a DemonicPossession of Princess Peach, transforming her into Shadow Queen Peach, complete with an EvilCostumeSwitch and having a cold, ruthless, and icy personality that is the total opposite of Peach herself.]].
* GoldfishPoopGang: Lord Crump, the Shadow Sirens [[spoiler:(and Doopliss once he joins the latter)]].
* GondorCallsForAid: When Mario and his allies are fighting [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen, the Crystal Stars react to her dark magic and fly around the world to tell its people what's happening. Every citizen answers the call with cries of encouragement and prayers for the group's success.]]
* GoodPrincessEvilQueen: The BigBad is the Shadow Queen. When she takes over the PrincessClassic heroine Princess Peach, they are referred to as "Shadow Queen Peach" and have a cold, icy personality contrasting Peach's kind one.
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Mario gets his body and name lifted by Doopliss in Chapter 4, which forces him to wander in shadow form to try and get it back]].
* GratuitousEnglish: At one point in the Japanese version, Rawk Hawk says:
-->"AI AMU NANBA WAN!! AI AMU CHANPION!!"[[note]]"I am number one! I am champion!" This was translated in the English versions as "YEAH! NUMBER ONE, BABY! RAWK HAWK IS THE CHAMP!".[[/note]]
* GratuitousSpanish: Cortez talks like this, amigo!
* GravityScrew: [[spoiler:The gravity on the Moon is much less, allowing for higher jumps and slower movement.]]
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Goombella has one that she uses for her Tattles. This even includes [[spoiler:Princess Peach after she is possessed by the final boss]].
* GreenHillZone: Petal Meadows is the very first area traveled to in Chapter 1 located outside of Petalburg.
* GroupieBrigade: The wrestling fans at the Glitz Pit. You even get your own once you become the champion. You can also [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential wail on them with your hammer]]. And if you get rid of all of Rawk Hawk's fans this way, he [[WhatTheHellPlayer chews you out for beating up his fans "just 'cause you ain't got none"]].
* GuideDangIt:
** The fog that appears during the battle that lasts two turns and reduces everyone's accuracy by 50% can be removed from the battle by either using an attack or item that triggers an explosion or by using Flurrie's Gale Force. The game never tells you that you can get rid of the fog.
** Finding the [[OptionalBoss Atomic Boo]]. [[spoiler:Remember the church full of Boos clinging to you and [[MookBouncer sending you back to the entrance]]? You can send them flying with a SpinAttack. Do so until the boss shows up. To the game's credit, it ''tries'' to give to you a clue -- notice how the Boos are ''spinning'' as they crowd you.]]
** Finding General White in Chapter 7. You need to backtrack to most major chapter locations out of order, talk to certain characters, and head back to Fahr Outpost. The townsperson you need to talk to can be either a major NPC (the bartender in Glitzville) or a minor one (a Twilight Towner in an innocuous corner), and their hints are designed with the idea you're ''expecting'' a run-around beforehand. The last hint doesn't even give you a location, just the hint "he said he was tired" which the player is supposed to read as "he returned to his home in Fahr Outpost." Notably, there's nothing in the game prior to this point to notify you the house he's in has anything to do with General White.
** Any time you need to use [[spoiler:Vivian's ability]] to get an unseen, hiding NPC to reveal themselves, most notably while finding Ghost T. in Chapter 6.
* HadTheSillyThingInReverse : During Luigi's quest he found out that one of the compass pieces can be received by winning a go-kart race. Having been in ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' so many times, Luigi thought this would be a snap. This is the one story that Luigi actually stays much closer to the truth; as he puts it the karts were much higher in power, and they were [[DrivingStick stickshifts]] (something that the karts in ''Mario Kart'' do not have). The end result is Luigi going in reverse right into the wall (thankfully not enough to make it undriveable, as he was able to finish the race). The total amount of damages for THAT little stunt was 50,000 coins.
* HavingABlast: With his special talent of blowing things up, this trope is embodied in Admiral Bobbery.
* HazardousWater: Falling into deep body of water in the game, innocuous-looking pools and fountains included, will cause plumber-eating giant fish to damage Mario for 1 HP and spit him back on the nearest surface. They can be useful for getting Mario to Peril Mode at will.
* AHeadAtEachEnd: According to Luigi, during his adventure, he battled Hizza, a giant snake that Plumpbelly Village had to sacrifice maidens to. Luigi notes that the snake had a second head on its tail.
* HealingBoss: The game has three scripted examples:
** After getting Hooktail's HP down to zero, she will attempt to trick you into coming closer to get a cheap shot in. Regardless of whether or not you fall for the tricks, she will then devour some of the audience to restore some of her health.
** After nearly depleting Cortez's HP to zero in his third phase, he will eat the souls of half the audience and fully restore his health.
** Upon dropping the Shadow Queen's HP to half, she will show her true form and become invincible. After a few turns she will use her powers to consume the entire audience and restore herself to full health.
* HeavySleeper: General White. "Sleeping like a 'stached baby." [[spoiler:And you need to wake him ''twice'']].
* TheHeckler: This is taken to the extreme with the audience watching all your battles, who often throw things at you. Also, Shy Guys may run up on the stage and cause mayhem, Boos can fly into things and make them transparent, big Bob-Ombs can explode half the audience away, etc.
* HeelFaceTurn:
** About halfway through the game, [[spoiler:Vivian decides that she's fed up with Beldam's abuse and leaves to join the mysterious shadowy person, even sticking around once he's revealed to be Mario]].
** TEC and [[spoiler:Cortez]]. Rawk Hawk definitely may qualify as a Face to all of his fans, but for the majority of Chapter 3, he's the biggest heel behind the scenes you could imagine. First, he's the one who poisoned one of the cakes left for Mario in the locker room. A real Jerkass moment. Then, he bribes a security guard to lock Mario in one of the unused locker rooms so he'd miss his title match, that being the championship title with him, Rawk Hawk. Eventually, it's subverted because he changes his attitude towards you after losing.
** At the end, [[spoiler:Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss give up their evil ways following the Shadow Queen's demise. Beldam even promises never to be mean to Vivian ever again, while Doopliss becomes an actor in a play about Mario's adventure. Also, according to a rumor Goombella heard, Grodus and Crump somehow survived and changed their ways as well, likely because Grodus was reduced to a head and can't do much mischief anymore.]]
* HelloInsertNameHere: The player can name the Yoshi partner, which is justified by Yoshi being a newborn.
* HenchmenRace: The "Yux" series, belonging to the X-Nauts, were created for the sole purpose of being guards and soldiers for the X-Naut society.
* HereWeGoAgain: The ending has Peach finding another treasure map and inviting Mario to come with her to search for the treasure.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Luigi goes on his own adventure to save a princess. He even gets a book series written about it... with a few details exaggerated a little bit.
* HeroicBystander: Exaggerated during the final battle, when [[spoiler:''every NPC in the whole damn world'' becomes one. Specifically, after the Shadow Queen [[DarkestHour assumes her true form and reaches maximum power]], the Crystal Stars react and fly around the world to the closest inhabited settlement to where each was found (Petalburg for the Diamond Star, the Boggly Tree for the Emerald Star, etc.). The people of those settlements gather around the Stars, realize that Mario and his allies are in danger, and begin to cheer for them, sending every bit of love and support that they can through the gems. This wave of positive energy empowers the heroes and weakens the Shadow Queen to the point of being vulnerable again.]]
* HeroicMime: Mario, almost. He speaks, but only as dialogue responses chosen by the player. Goombella lampshades this during Chapter 4 [[spoiler:after Doopliss has switched places with Mario]]. "Wow... You, like, NEVER talk!"
* HiddenInPlainSight: When Mario first meets Hooktail, she mentions that Grodus had previously visited to search for the Crystal Star but left after finding nothing. It is revealed to have been within Hooktail's body after her defeat.
* HisNameIs: Peach's last message to Mario is interrupted before she can tell him that [[spoiler:Grodus plans for the Shadow Queen to possess her body]].
* HitodamaLight: One chapter is searching for a pirate ghost's treasure. Balls of flame, representing the dead, play a prominent role; attacking the ship at the start and as common enemies throughout the island.
* HiveMind: Downplayed with the Smorg, which works and attacks as a well-organized mass.
* HopelessBossFight:
** You can't beat the [[NighInvulnerable Iron Clefts]] until you've obtained the baby Yoshi.
** [[spoiler:Your attempt at fighting a disguised Doopliss is hopeless for both sides because ''neither of you'' can damage the other.]]
** [[spoiler:The second phase of the final boss.]]
* HubLevel: Rogueport and its aforementioned sewers are the main interconnected hub to all the major areas.
* HugeRiderTinyMount: Mario and the baby Yoshi. Justified in that Yoshi is a newborn, fresh out of his egg.
* HumanCannonball: There is a giant cannon, powered by Bob-ombs, that can launch Mario to the moon.
* HumongousMecha: The Magnus von Grapple bot.
* HypercompetentSidekick: Kammy Koopa is the bigger threat during her boss battle along with Bowser. Goombella in fact recommends she goes down first.
* IdiosyncraticComboLevels: Nice, Good, Great, Wonderful, and Excellent.
* IdleAnimation: There's plenty. Mario's IdleAnimation in battle, for example, makes him look like he's teetering to the music.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Rogueport. Also the [[spoiler:Palace of Shadow]].
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy:
** TEC was willing to betray his master and even die to protect Peach.
** [[spoiler:Vivian and Goombella]] both decide to keep their crushes on Mario to themselves because they know Peach is his ImpliedLoveInterest.
* ISurrenderSuckers: Hooktail attempts this when she runs out of HP, and tries to bribe you with coins, badges, and smelling her feet. If you fall for it, she will attack you for massive damage. Regardless of whether you fall for it or not, she will eat members of the audience, and the battle will continue without an audience.
* IWillShowYouX: Flavio during Chapter 5 sings a song many times where he mentions a "Boom-Bassa Boom Festival!" Well, after spending so long in his company, apparently Four-Eyes (Crump) had quite enough of Flavio's annoyances and [[spoiler:when he attacks the island in his giant battleship, he makes fun of them all by shouting: "How's ''THAT'' for Boom-Bassa Boom?!"]]
* IWasQuiteALooker: Mayor Kroop, the Puni elder, and one of the women in Twilight Town.
* ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter: [[spoiler:The minor character Zip Toad turns out to have been Doopliss in disguise all along. The original Zip T. does not actually feature in the game besides a written e-mail from him.]]
* ImpossibleThief: The Duplighost that is terrorizing Twilight Town was somehow able to steal a letter from the player's keyboard, preventing his name from being completed until it's physically retrieved from the Creepy Steeple basement.
* IncidentalVillain: Although [[spoiler:Grubba isn't a saint by any means, had he not got caught up in all the fame and glory of being a famous athlete, he wouldn't have had to use the crystal star's power to keep himself young and strong by draining his employees. He even goes as far as to compliment Mario's abilities many times, even during their final battle.]]
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Bowser. He spends the entire game following just behind Mario, losing out on every single Crystal Star and just generally accomplishing nothing he attempts to. Unlike the first game, he's little more than ComicRelief and the occasional battle in the grand scheme of the plot.
* InevitableTournament: The Glitz Pit. Upon seeing the Crystal Star strapped on the champion belt, Mario signs up to obtain it.
* InGameNovel: The Super Luigi books, a novelization of Luigi's tales from that game.
* InTheHood: In the introduction, Peach meets a hooded peddler who gives her the chest containing the magical map. The identity of the peddler is [[spoiler:Beldam]].
* InterfaceScrew: The reason why you have to [[spoiler:go all the way to Creepy Steeple, get the letter "p", and go all the way back is because Doopliss stole it. Yes, he stole the letter "p" from the keyboard.]]
* InterfaceSpoiler:
** [[spoiler:Each time you finally get your hands on a Crystal Star, the game will tell you about its special powers in battle and what they do. So when you get the Ruby Star in Chapter 4 only to move on without learning about its abilities, you know something's up]].
*** [[spoiler:Should Mario have the W Emblem equipped, he will go back to wearing his usual red clothes in the cutscene after defeating the Duplighost. This is a clue that it's not really Mario.]]
** A more minor example is that whenever Goombella uses Tattle on an enemy, their place of origin, so to speak, is mentioned in their entry. Because certain enemies can be encountered before then (most notably in the Glitz Pit and the Pit of 100 Trials), this can lead to you finding out about a particular place before you actually get there.
** On the flip side, ''not'' using Tattle on most enemies with limited encounter windows causes their entries to appear in Frankly's trash can. So if you fail to use Tattle on the Shadow Sirens, you may wonder [[spoiler:why you get [[HeelFaceTurn Vivian's]] entry from the trash can, but not Beldam's or Marilyn's.]]
** Courtesy of a minor glitch, if you hire the secret character [[spoiler:Ms. Mowz]] at first opportunity, make someone else the active party member, and select to use an item outside of battle, you'll have the option to use it on someone who hasn't actually joined your party yet ([[spoiler:Bobbery]]).
** Even though the Magical Map is supposed to progressively change throughout the story, if you look carefully as early as before Chapter 1 starts, you can clearly see that the Map is complete. When the camera zooms closer in on it, you can see every location [[spoiler:including Glitzville, the Great Boggly Tree, and the X-Naut Fortress on the Moon]].
** Goombella's Tattles in the overworld has her tell you what's in the area. In the final dungeon, there's a set of corridors that are seemingly spacious and empty at first, and yet Goombella's dialogue tells you to make good use of Mario and his partner abilities, indicating that there's more to these rooms than appears at first glance.
* InterspeciesRomance:
** All of the female members of Mario's party have feelings for him, despite that none of them are human like he is.
** The supercomputer TEC's romantic feelings for Princess Peach count as well.
** One of the troubles from the Trouble Center revolves around one. A woman in Twilight Town asks Mario to get into contact with her old lover, the bartender of the Chuckola Cola bar in Rogueport, who is Beanish.
* InvincibleMinorMinion: TheSpiny can roll itself up into a completely invincible ball, and it can't be attacked until the next turn. Its stronger variant, the Sky-Blue Spiny, uses this method to power itself up.
** The Iron Clefts have a special defense that prevents even [[ArmorPiercingAttack defense-piercing attacks]] [[NoSell from hurting them]], and the only attack that can hurt them is Yoshi's Gulp.
* InvisibleStreaker: The invisibility potion Peach brews doesn't work on her clothes, so she has to traverse the X-Naut base in the nude.
* {{Irony}}:
** The Duplighost boss does not want you to know his name. But by the time [[spoiler:he joins up with Beldam]], he's practically begging to be called by name, rather than "freak-in-a-sheet". Poor [[spoiler:Doopliss]].
** The Piantas threw Mario in the slammer in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' after falsely accusing him of being a criminal. The Piantas in this game ''[[TheMafia are criminals]]''.
** In Chapter 2, Punio states the secret entrance to the Great Boggly Tree won't be labelled "Secret Entrance", [[CaptainObvious or else it wouldn't be a secret entrance.]] When you get [[WhiteDwarfStarlet Flurrie]] and have to use [[BlowYouAway her power]] to reveal the entrance, it turns out it WAS labelled "Secret Entrance", complete with flashing lights. Punio, surprisingly, [[FailedASpotCheck doesn't realize the]] irony.
** Mr. Hoggle is a Hot Dog vendor. Pork is one of the traditional meats used in making Hot Dogs.
* ItAmusedMe: [[spoiler:Doopliss]] placed a curse on Twilight Town that turns someone in the town into a pig every time the bell of the Creepy Steeple rings just because he thought it would be a funny prank.
* {{Jerkass}}:
** Beldam treats Vivian very harshly and blames her for everything, [[NeverMyFault even if was actually Beldam's fault in the first place]].
** [[spoiler:Grubba]] drains the energy of King K, Bandy Andy, and Prince Mush because they discovered the power-draining machine energized by the Gold Star.
** [[spoiler:Doopliss]] turns the entirety of Twilight Town into pigs [[ItAmusedMe because he could]].
** Mario himself, depending on [[DialogueTree what choices]] you make for answers.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Characters like Rawk Hawk and [[spoiler:Cortez]] start off abrasive and antagonistic, but ultimately warm up to Mario and co. and decide to help them out in the end. Petuniper is rather abrasive and slow to trust Mario, but ultimately cooperates with him to help save the rest of his people.
%%* JiveTurkey: The Glitz Pit's King K.
* JokeItem: Several of the badges are situational at best and useless at worst. In particular, the SFX badges aside from Attack FX R do nothing but add sounds to your attacks. The Slow Go badge prevents Mario from running, and the Double Pain badge is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pretty obvious.]]
* JumpScare: There are several points where a loud jarring sound will play when the player discovers something unpleasant. A more prominent one being Ghost T. when he asks you a favour. His dialogue suddenly bursts onto the screen accompanied by the screen shaking profusely with a loud sound playing.
--->'''Ghost T:''' All I need is... [[spoiler:'''YOUUURRR LIIIIIFE!!!!'''... Just kidding.]]
* JustAddWater: Zess T. can only cook with one item at a time until and unless you retrieve a cookbook; it's easy enough to get to, but it's not like it practically falls into your normal path the way the one in the previous game did.
* JustAMachine: TEC calls himself this word for word [[spoiler:during his final moments, to convince Mario and co. to forget about him and to go save Peach.]]
* JustEatHim: Hooktail gets hungry after her first phase and decides to gobble up the audience.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:K-M]]
* KaizoTrap: Very rarely if you're unlucky. At the end of a battle, some of the final attacks can cause the stage background to fall after the enemies are dead, but before the victory dance. In the off chance that you have only 1 HP and forget to defend, you will die.
* KarmaHoudini:
** The unnamed guard at Glitzville who escorted Mario to lock him in a minor league room after being paid off by Rawk Hawk gets no punishment. Even as Mario is furious at him when he tries to explain what he had done, the guard pretends to feign innocence.
** [[spoiler:Beldam and the Shadow Sirens. Despite loyally serving and nearly unleashing an unspeakable horror upon the earth, they get off with a few apologies and promises. Doopliss even goes on to be an actor with Flurrie]].
** Cortez never gets called out on the fact that he [[spoiler:devoured the souls of several members of the audience to restore his HP]]. It is never brought up again afterwards and does not serve as an obstacle to his [[spoiler:DefeatEqualsFriendship with Mario and co.]]
* KeepTheReward: You can either play this trope straight or comedically double-subvert it depending on Mario's response to Kroops supposedly hearing him reject a reward for defeating Hooktail.
* KillAndReplace: [[spoiler:Doopliss does an attempt at this with Mario. Funnily enough, [[NighInvulnerability they can't actually hurt each other while Mario doesn't know Doopliss's name,]] so [[DidntThinkThisThrough Doopliss can't even attempt the "kill" part of this trope until he's fought as the chapter boss.]]]]
* KillEnemiesToOpen: In the Pit of 100 Trials, Mario and his companions face off 100 rooms, each with enemies that must all be beaten before a pipe to the next lower level appears.
* KingMook: Generally much less, with a number of more unique bosses, but some still crop up here and there.
** [[spoiler:Doopliss]] is basically a [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Duplighost]] with a white sheet and some party attire. [[spoiler:He also successfully advances his Duplighost powers by switching Mario's identity with his cheap, shadowy doppelgänger]].
** [[spoiler:Macho Grubba]] is the second boss variation on the Spike family, after [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Tubba Blubba]].
** [[spoiler:The Shadow Queen is basically a PhysicalGod version of a Shadow Siren.]]
** Downplayed with the Red Bones and Dark Bones, which are each a PaletteSwap of a Dull Bones and Dry Bones respectively.
* KungFuProofMook: Bristles are immune to both jump and hammer attacks thanks to their spiky bodies. You have to use Crystal Star attacks, or items, to damage them.
* LanguageFluencyDenial: [[PollyWantsAMicrophone The birds will talk intelligently if you hide.]] But if you're not hiding, they don't and the parrot says the stock parrot phrases. The parrot drops the act after the end of the chapter, though.
* LargeHam: Rawk Hawk, champion of the InevitableTournament, and Bowser as usual.
* LaughablyEvil: Lord Crump goes out of his way to be the goofiest villain in the game with his OneLiner quotes, constant bumbling, and GoldfishPoopGang status, earning him plenty of endearment points.
* LethalJokeCharacter: The Danger Mario build requires Mario to become one. For most of the game, he'll need to have no HP upgrades, and he'll die in only 1-2 hits. The lethal part comes when you have enough badges to turn him into the massively-evasive GlassCannon he becomes near the end.
* LethalJokeItem:
** One of the Attack FX badges comes in handy when facing Hooktail. Who would've known that a [[WeaksauceWeakness cricket sound effect]] would be anathemic to a giant dragon?
** One of Zess T's recipes is Trial Stew, which the game only tells you has "amazing results." Using it ''drops Mario or his partner's HP to 1 and FP to 0'', which puts you in the perfect position for an enemy to finish you off. What keeps it from being a full on joke item however, is it also fully restores Mario's ''star power'', making it a convenient way to use special moves if you follow up with a powerful healing item such as a Jelly Ultra. It also happens to set you into the threshold for Mega Rush.
** The Double Pain badge is a pure JokeItem on the surface, doubling the damage Mario takes from everything in-game and costs 0 BP to equip like the other "joke" badges. That being said, it makes the Return Postage badge (which is your reward from completing the Pit of 100 Trials) much more effective, since the increased damage Mario will take ''also'' means the enemy will receive more damage in return. The best use of this strategy is in Glitzville, since there's a free bed available in between every single battle.
* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: At least during three instances:
** At one point, Bowser's music theme comes to a halt for this line:
--->'''Bowser:''' Now I look like the huge, mighty king of GUYS WHO TALK TO POSTERS!
** In the Chapter 4 Bowser interlude, his leitmotif dies out again when the Koopa Clown Car breaks down on his flight to Glitzville.
--->'''Bowser:''' Huh? That don't sound good... What's that warning light? [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Oh, don't tell me...]]
** Happens to the sad music in Chapter 5, once the gang realizes [[spoiler:that [[NotQuiteDead Bobbery's just sleeping]].]]
* LifeDrain: Flurrie's Lip Lock absorbs an enemy's HP equal to the damage it deals out. The HP Drain item also serves the same purpose.
* LilypadPlatform: At one point in the Great Boggly Tree, Mario must lead the Punies across a small pond of water by walking on monochrome lilypads.
* LimitBreak: The abilities bestowed on Mario by the Magical Map and the Crystal Star, which use a special gauge of Star Power. [[StealthPun Funnily enough]], Mario's Star Power is generated by audience enthusiasm.
* LivingShadow: The Shadow Sirens and the [[spoiler:Shadow Queen]] are the only members of an unnamed Shadow species seen in the game.
* LivingToys: The residents of Twilight Town appear to be living plush dolls, Mayor Dour even appears to have a small tear on his head where his stuffing is exposed.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfSidequests: The game has a decent number of side quests given by [=NPCs=]. Then there are the Star Pieces, Shine Sprites, Badges, Recipes to find/make, the Trouble Center, and [[MarathonLevel the Pit of 100 Trials]].
* LocomotiveLevel: Most of Chapter 6 takes place on the Excess Express, a luxurious passenger train that Mario and his friends ride on to get to Poshley Heights to get the Garnet Star.
* LongSongShortScene: "Escape the Falling Ceiling" plays once, during an event in Hooktail Castle in which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a spiked ceiling trap is descending upon you and you need to get out fast]]. The song lasts 56 seconds before looping, but your time limit is only 50, and you'll probably get out with a generous amount of time to spare, cutting off a huge portion of the song in its only appearance.
* LostInTranslation: The English localization flubs a lot of references to the original game.
** Some time after finding Koopook for his Trouble Center sidequest, he will send an e-mail saying he's hiding in a cold location. In the original Japanese and most translations, the location in question is the Crystal Palace from ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''. The English localization, however, renders as the completely made-up "Goomstar Temple", losing the ContinuityNod.
** The final RDM email in the original Japanese script and most translations of the games has a special hidden section found by scrolling down for a long time, which mentions Chuck Quizmo from the first game as well as a recipe. For whatever reason, the English translation removed this section entirely but left in the statement alluding to its existence ("May we meet again... sooner than you think *wink* *wink*"), confusing many players.
** In the Japanese script, the Chestnut King has the same name as the Goomba King, the boss of the first game's Prologue. If the two are intended to be the same indiviual, this would mean that Luigi is going on an epic quest to defeat the first game's WarmUpBoss.
** One of the crows in Twilight Town talks about a friend living in “Mushroom Town”, which is a literal translation of Toad Town’s name in Japanese. An answer for one of the quiz show questions in Shhwonk Fortess is “Mushville”, which is another mistranslation of Toad Town.
** After finishing Pine T. Jr.'s trouble, he sends Mario an e-mail about how his father found new work in Toad Town, where he takes care of a previously-unheard-of entity named "Bubu". The message was supposed to read that he takes care of Li'l Oinks, the pig-like creatures you could farm items from in the first game, but their Japanese name ''Būbū-san'' ended up being translated too literally this time around.
** An answer for one of the quiz questions is "Kooskoos", which is really meant to refer to Koopa Koot from the original game.
* LostWeddingRing: Francesca and Frankie both lose their wedding rings once each. Francesca loses hers on Keelhaul Key when [[spoiler:you go to fetch her and her husband after Don Pianta falls ill]] while Frankie loses his during some "business" in East Rogueport. While getting Francesca's ring is a mandatory part of the story, Frankie's lost ring is part of a SideQuest available through the Trouble Center.
* LowLevelAdvantage: The "Danger Mario" setup backfires at level 72, because your BP and SP will both be maxed at that point, so you will be forced to upgrade HP, breaking the setup. Actually getting one's level this high takes extreme amounts of LevelGrinding, however, since one will likely be around Level 20-30 by the end of the game.
* MacGuffinDeliveryService: When the heroes confront Magnus von Grapple 2.0; Crump announces that he plans to beat Mario & co. to take the six Crystal Stars they had; thus, the X-Nauts would have all seven (as he was guarding that one). [[SubvertedTrope Mario and his party defeat Crump and Magnus, and take the Crystal Star he was guarding]]. [[spoiler:Played straight shortly after, when the party is tricked into believing the villains had entered ahead of them thanks to the enchantment on the door weakening. Justified: the enchantment ''was'' weakening -- which is one reason Mario & co. had to gather the Crystal Stars; they would need them to ''re-seal'' the door should it open of its own accord.]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Variation; instead of actual missiles, Magnus Von Grapple 2.0 [[GrievousHarmWithABody sucks up your audience members and uses them as projectiles.]]
* TheMafia: One of the gangs running Rogueport is the mafia-esque Pianta Syndicate. [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything They never really do anything]], though, aside from the beating up some members of a rival gang (they may be selling "protection" to the Robbo Thieves on the east side) in the beginning and selling (scalping?) tickets for the Cheep Blimp and Excess Express.
* MagicMap: The game begins when Princess Peach is tricked into unlocking a chest with one of these inside. She gets kidnapped for her trouble, but she manages to send it to Mario with the promise of adventure just in time. While mostly blank at first, whenever it's presented to the Thousand-Year Door, new territory spontaneously appears on the parchment (even distinctly modern locations like the Glitz Pit and Poshley Heights) leading the way to a new Crystal Star. Of course, knowing where the Crystal Stars are is no guarantee that somebody else is already after them.
* MagicPants: One event forces Peach to become an InvisibleStreaker because the potion she drinks doesn't affect her clothes. But if she concocts a resizing potion by mistake then her clothes do change with her, as is the series' tradition.
* MalevolentMaskedMen:
** The X-Nauts wear bodysuits with goggles and hats that cover their real appearances, even their scientists wear the same uniforms but with a labcoat.
** The Shy Guys is a downplayed example in this installment. They aren't fought as enemies to be encountered, only appearing as a rare hindrance or assist during battles. They sometimes run backstage and cause something to fall on either Mario, his partner or one of the enemies.
* MaliciousMisnaming: [[spoiler:Doopliss]] is referred to as "freak-in-a-sheet" by Beldam after he joins the Shadow Sirens.
* ManaBurn: Flower Fuzzies can suck up your FP and use it as their own. Once they get 4 FP, they can unleash an electric wave attack that pierces defense and hits both Mario and his partner.
* ManlyFacialHair: Mario, Luigi, and Bobbery's mustaches are badass, as numerous characters point out during the game. General White fits this too; Goombella even states his mustache gives Mario's some competition. Also, Merlon with his gigantic 'stache that goes down below his waist.
* TheManInFrontOfTheMan: [[spoiler:Beldam is this, as Grodus appeared to be the Big Bad right up until he succeeded at summoning the Shadow Queen, only to get zapped into nothing but a head, and it was revealed that Beldam had been manipulating him all along.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: While Grodus is the antagonist for most of the game and actively hunts down the Crystal Stars [[spoiler:before deciding that it would be easier to have Mario open the Thousand-Year Door for him]], he ends up as a pawn to [[spoiler:Beldam. It was her who orchestrated Peach finding the map and alerting Mario to the existence of the treasure beneath Rogueport, allowing Beldam to capture Peach so that she may be used as a vessel for the Shadow Queen]].
* MarathonLevel: The Pit of 100 Trials is a gauntlet of 100 enemies with [[spoiler:Bonetail as the dungeon's final boss]]. The only way to recover from damage is either the few recovery moves available to your party, using what recovery items you brought with you, leveling up, or buying healing items from Charlieton at insane markups. While you can exit the Pit through a pipe in the resting areas, you can only try again from the very beginning.
* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler:When the Shadow Queen emerges from her tomb, the sky goes dark to herald her rebirth to the world. Even citizens who know nothing of the terror that slept beneath Rogueport cannot help but feel that something terrible has just been unleashed onto the world]].
* MassMonsterSlaughterSidequest: One of the troubles you can take on at the Trouble Center is "Roust These Cads!", in which you are expected to fight all the enemies in the Boggly Woods for a reward of 20 coins (plus drops and Star Points).
* MasterOfTheLevitatingBlades: The boss Cortez is a ghost pirate who fights with four different swords. In one of his phases, they fly in front of him and protect him.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent
** The Bowser interlude after Chapter 6 happens to take place riiiight in front of that huge chest in Rogueport that has been taunting you the whole game, but you might have forgotten about by now. This clues the player into the fact that you can ''finally'' get it now.
** The one time you catch the Pianta Syndicate [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything doing anything really bad]] is in the prologue, when Tony and Vinny ambush and beat up a passing pair of Robbo Gang members (Gus and Garf?), which lets you know that Rogueport isn't just rough around the edges, but actually dangerous.
* MeaningfulName:
** Beldam is a pun on "beldame", an old-fashioned English word for an ugly old woman. It's also a play on "bedlam" (chaos) with the two middle letters swapped around.
** TEC's full name is TEC-XX. The two Xs could be read as "double cross", appropriate given the character's role in the story.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: Marilyn of the Shadow Sirens. Although being the strongest, she doesn't have too big of a role compared to Beldam and Vivian. However, Vivian is usually the one that's abused/left out.
* MilesGloriosus: Subverted with Flavio. He is a DirtyCoward who [[FeetOfClay boasts about his "feats"]], but he is willing to put his life on the line when he has to [[spoiler:try and persuade Cortez to help them fight the X-Nauts.]]
* MirrorBoss: [[spoiler:Doopliss becomes one halfway through the first fight and assumes Mario's form for the rest of the chapter until he's defeated again]].
* MonsterCompendium: Goombella's Tattle Log holds abridged info on all the enemies she's tattled. Should you fail to tattle an enemy before it becomes [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]] (such as a boss), its entry will end up in Frankly's trash bin for you to pick up. Oddly, there are some enemies which have entries appear in Frankly's trash appear before the enemy is lost (the Red Bones and the standard Yux model).
* MoneyIsNotPower: Flavio spent his time pre-Chapter 5 bragging about being the richest man in Rogueport. After the events of Chapter 5, he admits he's now the '''second'''-richest man in Rogueport. That expedition cost money to set up and not having gained any treasure to make up for it (and also losing his fancy ship) obviously hurt his finances. Flavio doesn't seem to mind, having gained the adventure he sought in the first place.
* MonumentalTheft: [[spoiler:Doopliss successfully hid ''the letter "p"'' in a chest in the basement of Creepy Steeple.]]
* MoodWhiplash: Bobbery's "death". It seems pretty sad at first, especially since he was injured by the ghosts earlier. However, if you keep "talking" to him, [[DisneyDeath you'll realize that he was just tired]].
* MookBouncer: The Boos in Creepy Steeple will eject you from the building if they're able to overwhelm you. [[spoiler:If you fight and defeat the Atomic Boo]]; then they just become normal enemies.
* MosquitoMiscreants: Jabbies are mosquito-like insects that reside in the Great Tree alongside the Punies. The Jabbies partnered up with the X-Nauts to take the tree for themselves, and are fought on two sections blocking Mario's progress.
* MrExposition: Professor Frankly provides all the background detail and lore behind the Thousand-Year Door and the rest of the game's world.
* MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual: Poshley Sanctum. It consists of a large hallway leading to a Crystal Star, and holds a secret back room containing the real one that's filled with Dark Boos.
* MusicalNod:
** The music for Petal Meadows contains part of the main theme from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' and the music for [[spoiler:the Palace of Shadow]] is full of riffs from the Underground and Castle themes from the same game, as well as drips of the Castle theme from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''.
** Mario's Mailbox SP plays tunes from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' whenever he gets a new message.
* MythologyGag:
** When Mario ('Great Gonzales' to everyone at this point) walks into the arena of the Glitz Pit before his fight with Rawk Hawk, the camera makes a short pan over the entire crowd, who is unanimously shouting "Gonzales, Gonzales!" except for one person who quickly shouts "[[VideoGame/DonkeyKong Jumpman]]! Wait... what?"
** One of the badges you can buy from Charlieton is named "Jumpman". Its brother "Hammerman" riffs on the idea, but is valid in the same right (picking up the Hammer in ''Donkey Kong'' denied you the ability to jump).
** There's a handful of veiled references to the Nintendo 64, which was the console for the original Paper Mario. Ishnail of the Robbo Thieves will sell Mario information in exchange for a payment of 64 coins. Every Super Luigi book sells for a multiple of 64 coins, and Mario is challenged to 65th and 66th Annual Super Fun Quirk Quizzes, subtle references to the 64th Trivia Quiz-Off that Peach participated in during the previous game.
* MythPrologue: The opening scene begins with a book that tells the story of the ancient city in which the Thousand-Year Door resides. Long ago, a bustling and prosperous town stood tall, before in but a single night, [[ApocalypseHow an ominous cataclysm]] swept over the town and buried it beneath the earth -- in time, a small port town was built again over its remains, and though its inhabitants live normal lives in the [[WretchedHive shady town of Rogueport]], the legend that an ancient treasure lies in the underground city beneath is carried among whispers in present day. This is used to segue into Princess Peach visiting the town and encountering a merchant who seems to know a thing or two of said treasure, which leads into the events of the game. [[spoiler:This legend also omits several details of the story that are only uncovered across the course of the story: mainly that the cataclysm [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen was the work of a horrifyingly powerful demon sorceress who held a reign of darkness in its aftermath for long before Rogueport was built]], and that the titular door is the entrance to the vast palace [[SealedEvilInACan that was sealed alongside the great demon's spirit by the four heroes who bested her]].]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N-P]]
* NearVillainVictory: In the final area of the game, [[spoiler:Grodus nearly manages to achieve his plan of conquering the world... unfortunately for him, the Shadow Queen wasn't about to be bossed around, practically destroying him with a bolt of lightning.]]
* {{Nerf}}:
** Zig-zagged with the hammer upgrades. Stone blocks now require the Ultra Hammer to break, while metal blocks are completely indestructible, with the latter only appearing for a single puzzle in chapter 8. The ultra hammer also can no longer flip over spin jump panels for star pieces. In combat, however, they've been buffed, since they grant an attack which lets you knock an enemy into other enemies with no badges required.
** Feeling Fine (which makes Mario immune to status ailments) in the original game costs 3 BP and is available as soon as you have five star pieces to give to Merlow. Here, it costs 4 BP and isn't found until X-Naut Fortress, near the end of the game.
** Spike Shield costs 3 BP (up from 2) and doesn't become available until later in the game without abusing exploits or cheats.
** Quick Change (lets you switch out partners without using up a turn) goes from costing 4 BP to a whopping ''7 BP'', although it can be obtained earlier since you now trade star pieces for it.
** Also zig-zagged with Tattle. Goombario's version is automatic, while Goombella's requires an action command to work. On the other hand, Tattled enemies now have their HP displayed permanently instead of just for that battle only.
* NeverMyFault: Beldam constantly shifts blame to Vivian, and later to [[spoiler:Doopliss]]. Marilyn rarely gets blamed for anything, but she's not exactly ''respected'', either.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Happens when [[spoiler:Mario and co. are tricked by Doopliss (disguised as Professor Frankly) into opening the Thousand-Year Door so the villains can get through]]. However, [[spoiler:it's implied that this was for the best in the end, since the seal was weakening over time and would have eventually broken on its own.]]
** A more minor example, but Peach instinctively yelling out Mario's name during the chapter 1 interlude allows Grodus to figure out Mario is hunting for the Crystal Stars and deduces he has the magic map.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Near the very end of the game, [[spoiler:the ''only'' reason that Grodus doesn't manage to kill Mario is because of a timely, accidental interruption by Bowser.]]
* TheNicknamer: Zess T. absolutely refuses to use Mario's real name [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten after he accidentally destroys her contact lens]]. [[spoiler:She also refers to Toadsworth with the pet name ''"Toadle-toes"'']].
* NoFairCheating: By altering the Gamecube console's internal clock ahead for joining Rogueport's daily lottery multiple times, the event will be blocked until you talk to Lucky the Bob-omb to apologize by buying another lottery ticket for 500 coins.[[note]]Cheating at the Lucky Lottery twice ''does NOT'' induce a game over; it just has the same effects it does the first time.[[/note]]
* NoHeroDiscount: No matter what town you save, they'll still charge you money for everything. Even the recovery blocks require coins, the amount of which is marked on top.
* NonstandardGameOver:
** Failing to escape the Spike Room in Hooktail Castle in time will cause you to get impaled by the ceiling spikes.
** If you let the TimeBomb go off in the Great Boggly Tree, you (and everyone inside with you) will get blown up.
** If you [[TemptingFate read the diary a Toad ghost explicitly told you not to read]] during the Excess Express level, he'll show up and kill you.
** If the Dry Bones in the [[spoiler:Palace of Shadow]] pushes you out of the room, you'll get squished.
** Agreeing to join [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen's]] side before the final boss fight will cause a Game Over, despite the fact that you're still alive. It's a case of DubInducedPlotHole, as Mario is visibly possessed or brainwashed by the villain in the Japanese version when he gives up.
* NoPeekingRequest: Ghost T. will demand that you not look into his diary before returning it to him. Reading it will result in him giving Mario a NonstandardGameOver.
* NotInFrontOfTheParrot: Doopliss keeps his pet parrot locked underneath Creepy Steeple as it is the only one that knows his name and won't keep quiet about it.
* NotMeThisTime: Just before the fight with Rawk Hawk begins, it's revealed that he was responsible for locking Mario and his partner(s) in the second minor-league locker room, and also for the poisoned cake delivered just before one of the earlier fights. But when the partner accuses Rawk Hawk of sending the threatening messages regarding the Crystal Star, he doesn't know what they're talking about. (He's ''not'' responsible.) Also, while Princess Peach is kidnapped again, Bowser isn't behind it and he even gets angry about that.
* NotRareOverThere: After returning to a mafia Don who was part of a previous quest, you find him deathly ill and his bodyguards promise you the tickets for a trip on the Excess Express you need if you find his daughter and son-in-law (who he exiled at the end of said quest). Upon recovering when they return to his side, he's furious when he hears about said promise... until you state what you were promised; he bursts into laughter and asks how many you want.
* NoYou: The red Armored Harrier throws one at Mario when Grubba claims Mario called him a stinkwad. (Which he didn't.)
-->'''Armored Harrier:''' Only smelly stinkwads call other people stinkwads. [[HypocriticalHumor Understand, stinkwad]]?
* NPCRoadblock:
** Zess T. keeps you out of the west side of Rogueport after you accidentally break one of her contact lens. She doesn't budge until you buy her a new one.
** Gus guards the east side of Rogueport, and you can either pay a toll of 10 coins to pass each time, [[BeefGate or fight him]], and he can be fought right at the start of the game, provided you Guard or even Superguard well enough.
* OhCrap: When Bowser [[spoiler:accidentally ignites the Superbombomb when it didn't go off the first time]] during a showdown between the Koopa Troop and the X-Nauts, Lord Crump only has time to briefly brace himself for the huge kaboom to follow.
--> '''Lord Crump''': "[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Oh crud]]".
* OlderThanTheyLook: Grubba is 65 years old, yet he looks ridiculously young and is in great shape. [[spoiler:Justified as all of this is a result of using a machine powered by one of the Crystal Stars that sucks up the missing fighters' energy and vitality and gives it to Grubba]].
* OminousClouds: [[spoiler:After the Shadow Queen is awakened, clouds of darkness envelop the skies]].
* OminousSavePrompt: Near the end of Chapter 8, you end up in an eerily quiet hallway with ''very'' creepy ambience. Said hallway is completely empty other than a heart and save block at the end of it. This should clue you in that something big is about to occur in the next room.
* OneHitKill: The Showstopper special move.
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Zess T. always calls out Mario for stepping on her contact lens, even in the PlayableEpilogue after he's saved the world.
* OneStatToRuleThemAll: Badge Points. They allow for the most customization of your character and, due to HP and FP Plus badges being easily available at the parlor, were practically interchangeable with the other two as long as you were willing to spend some time playing minigames.
* OpenEndedBossBattle: Every fight in Chapter 3, except the Armored Harriers without the chapter's party member and [[spoiler:Macho Grubba, who wants to get rid of Mario.]]
* OptionalBoss: The Atomic Boo is a boss that can be fought in the Creepy Steeple after the Boos have been freed from their prison in the basement. However, actually engaging it is completely optional.
* OptionalPartyMember: Recruiting Ms. Mowz is optional, as it requires completing a {{sidequest}} found at the Trouble Center.
* OrganizedCrimeSidequest: The game has some LighterAndSofter examples, as the resident Pianta crime syndicate is TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily. The main quest involves a subplot involving tracking down the Don's former right-hand man, who's trying to elope with his daughter (which becomes a side plot throughout the game, [[spoiler:where the couple are exiled, move to a tropical island and ultimately decide to return when the Don regrets his decision]]). In addition, several quests on the "Trouble Board" involve some fairly dodgy business, including delivering a mysterious package for someone who doesn't want to be seen out.
* OverlyLongGag:
** In a rare case of one being able to ''harm you,'' near the climax of Chapter 2, a time bomb is set off in the Great Boggly Tree. When you reach the base of the tree, the Puni Elder confronts Lord Crump, resulting in her spending some time complaining about her back.
** At one point Mario needs to help out a pair of newly-wed Piantas with finding their wedding rings. This leads to a scene where the husband is forced to say "I love you" to his wife 100 times, and you have to sit through him saying it. After a while a counter even appears to tell you how many times it's been said.
* OverusedRunningGag: WHEE HEE! FOOOOOLS! It's made clear that Mario has gotten tired of this by the fourth chest. "Spare me the prologue and just [[CursedWithAwesome curse me already]]."
* PainPoweredLeap: Overworld hazards (water, spikes, fire) will cause Mario to leap into the air before falling to the ground.
* PaletteSwap: There are two badges you can collect to change Mario's outfit. One is the L Emblem, found in the Poshley Sanctum, which makes Mario's outfit have Luigi's green color scheme. The other can be bought from Charlieton, the W Emblem, which gives Mario Wario's yellow and purple color scheme. If you wear them at the same time, Mario's outfit gets Waluigi's purple and black color scheme.
* PapaWolf: Don Pianta. The tasks you do for him are related to his daughter and his former employee/son-in-law.
* PaperThinDisguise: Lord Crump's pirate disguise. He even breaks the fourth wall, acknowledging that his disguise is crap and asking the player not to tell Mario who he really is.
* ParentalBonus:
** Plenty, but perhaps the most obvious is Chapter 6, which centres on a [[Literature/HerculePoirot stout little man with a moustache]] [[Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress attempting to solve a mystery while on a three-day voyage aboard a luxury train.]]
** Then there's Fahr Outpost, a snowy region populated by bombs who wear bearskin hats. Their mayor speaks broken English peppered with 'da's and vehemently denies the existence of a superweapon on the base. The official Nintendo Player's Guide actually lampshaded this: "Considering most of the Bob-ombs speak with Russian accents, those of you who grew up in the '60s may feel a bit nervous when you see the enormous weapon rise from a silo. Resist the urge to hide under a desk and tuck your head between your legs."
* PassThePopcorn:
** All fights have an audience watching, no matter what situation they're in. And being in the audience can be hazardous during boss fights: Hooktail the dragon takes a bite out of the audience to restore HP, after which the battle spills into the stands; Cortez does the same, but with the souls of some of the viewers; Lord Crump fires audience members at you from a cannon, and [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen subsumes the ''entire'' audience to heal herself fully, putting you in a very sticky situation.]]
** The first battle against Magnus von Grapple has an interesting audience composition; the left side of the audience is full of Punies, while the right side is full of X-Nauts, as if the Punies are cheering on Mario and company, while the X-Nauts are cheering on their boss, Lord Crump.
* PauperPatches: The inhabitants of Twilight Town all sport raggedy, patched-up clothes to go with their "impoverished Eastern European villager" look and the general {{Uberwald}} atmosphere of Chapter 4.
* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: You can encounter [[MetalSlime Amazy Dayzees]] in the fourth chapter. After gaining the fourth chapter's Star Power, you can go to the area where they're found (preferably under the effects of the special spell that can sometimes double your experience), use said power to quickly defeat them, and bask in the levels.
* PermanentlyMissableContent:
** The Tattle Log averts this, as its missable entries can be picked up from Professor Frankly's trash can once the last opportunity to fight an enemy has passed. You still miss out on seeing Goombella's commentary on the foe.
** During Chapter 3, two Glitz Pit teams retire and are succeeded by newcomers; the KP Koopas are replaced by Wings of Night (four Swoopers) and the Hand-It-Overs are swapped for the Destructors (two Spinias and two Spanias). You can face them in a bout if you fall down the rankings, but it requires a lot of failures and doesn't achieve anything special. Once the chapter is over, the retired teams rejoin the Glitz Pit lineup if you choose to go through it again, making it impossible to fight the teams that replaced them.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The two groups of organized crime in Rogueport, the Robbo Gang and the Pianta Syndicate, are rarely seen participating in criminal activities (unless the gambling in the Pianta Parlor is considered illegal). The only actual scene displaying their turf war is in the very beginning of the game in the background where two Pianta guards and two Craws fight in town square. Don Pianta mentions some mafia-esque protection racketeering, but no one else ever brings it up, as the only shops in his turf are owned by him.
* PlatformActivatedAbility: Early in the game, Mario unlocks the ability to fold into a paper airplane on designated platforms, allowing him to glide across long distances. Much later, he gains the ability to use different platforms to fold into a paper boat.
* PlayableEpilogue: The first in the series, as ''Super Mario RPG'' and the original ''Paper Mario'' would only send you back to the last Save Block. Starting a cleared file will have Mario back at Rogueport, free to explore and finish any side materials.
* PlayingATree: Luigi performs in a play and gets the role of... grass. He's the only one who never got any lines, either. Subverted, however, in that he was playing to an audience of flowers. Grass is very important to them, so they absolutely adored him!
* PlotCouponThatDoesSomething: The Crystal Stars would've been mere plot coupons if they didn't give Mario new abilities.
* PlotIrrelevantVillain: Most of the end of chapter bosses are either independent antagonists or villains that are just tied to that area's plot.
** Hooktail, the boss of Chapter 1, is a feared, legendary dragon inhabiting a local castle. [[CoversAlwaysLie Even though she's prominently featured on the cover of the game]], Hooktail herself doesn't factor into the X-Nauts' plans, and even though she is [[spoiler:one of the pets of the Shadow Queen, Hooktail not even once alludes to this]].
** Grubba, the boss of Chapter 3, uses a Crystal Star to stay youthful, but is otherwise divorced from the main plot.
** Doopliss, the boss of Chapter 4, terrorizes the people of Twilight Town by turning everyone into pigs, [[spoiler:and he steals Mario's body]], but he's basically just a jerk and does his own thing. [[spoiler:He later does become a part of the plot by joining the Shadow Sirens, but it's a minor role, serving as just a mini boss and a nuisance to stall Mario in Chapter 6, and his actions in Twilight Town had nothing to do with Grodus]].
** Cortez, the boss of Chapter 5, is simply guarding his treasure after his death, and fights Mario thinking that he was after it. [[DefeatMeansFriendship After defeating Cortez]], he helps Mario against Lord Crump.
** Smorg, the boss of Chapter 6, is a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere that attacks the train during the last part of the trip, but there's no explanation as to what it is, and it has no connection to Grodus either. It was originally going to have a bigger role, being sent by Beldam, but this was cut during production.
** Bowser spends the entire game being one step behind Mario, moping about how someone else kidnapped Princess Peach this time and replaced him as the BigBad. He does have a few fights with Mario, but they have nothing to do with the plot, Bowser fights Mario [[ArchEnemy since they do have a history and all]]. The only plot relevant thing he really does is [[spoiler: accidentally saving Mario from Grodus when the latter was just about to finish him off]].
* PlotTwist: Especially for players familiar with ''Super Mario RPG'' and the original ''Paper Mario'', which also sent you on quests to recover seven stars. [[spoiler:This time, collecting all the goodies advances the villains' agenda -- NiceJobBreakingItHero. Although in fairness, the seal on the door was getting weaker over time and the heroes would have had to collect the Crystal Stars anyway if they wanted to reseal the door.]]
* PoorCommunicationKills: Cortez fights you to protect his treasure, but afterwards you explain that you only want the Crystal Star and he simply gives it to you because he doesn't care about it.
* PopQuiz:
** A Thwomp in the game's introduction area pops up to ask you some basic questions. Near the end of the game he returns for Round 2, this time in a cybernetic version.
** Due to his programing from simply telling her outright, TEC has to use one [[spoiler:to reveal to Peach the true extent of Grodus' plans for her]].
* PortalNetwork: The Mario franchise's signature pipes are required to get to most areas.
* PostFinalBoss: Unusual, smaller-scale example. Cortez is the "final boss" local to Chapter 5, and the end-of-chapter bells and whistles occur after his defeat, but then you have to have a miniboss battle against Lord Crump before everything is at peace for the chapter.
* PowerupMount: Yoshi, a baby BoisterousBruiser that can carry a plumber three times his size and still move twice as fast as his passenger. Bonus points in chapter 5, where he has to carry Flavio as well.
* PowersAsPrograms: You can equip various power up Badges on Mario that require different amounts of BP.
* PressXToDie: You can choose to read a ghost's diary after promising not to (although you have to dig through a bunch of "are you sure"s first) or, later, accept the BigBad's WeCanRuleTogether. Both result in a NonstandardGameOver.
* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: Parakarry in the prologue, [[spoiler:and Bow in the PlayableEpilogue]].
* ProductionForeshadowing: If you talk to the gamer Toad kid in Pedalburg, he talks about how he's playing the sequel to ''The Thousand Year Door'' and is "on the fence" about it, but also states that Luigi fans shouldn't miss out on it. In 2007, ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' would release and would [[AscendedExtra feature Luigi in a more prominent role in the story]], and its gameplay remains a point of contention among fans.
* ProWrestlingIsReal: The main appeal of the Glitz Pit. That said, under Grubba's proprietorship, every match is a WorkedShoot of some kind or another, since Grubba goes out of his way to earn Mario extra enmity whenever he {{Trash Talk}}s on the Great Gonzales' behalf. For extra drama, Grubba imposes some restriction to be observed during the match if the competitor wants a chance to advance, like forbidding Mario to use his hammer. As a treat to anyone who's made it to a championship match, the "restriction" is that the competitor use a LimitBreak [[RuleOfCool at least once]].
* ProductPlacement:
** Mario has a "Mailbox SP", which looks exactly like a [[ConsoleCameo Game Boy Advance SP]].
** There's a kid NPC in Petalburg who goes on about an awesome new video game he's playing. The title? ''Franchise/FireEmblem''.
** The monitor you use to reserve a fight in the Glitz Pit in TTYD is a Game Boy Advance.
** Pennington also "[[BatDeduction deduces]]" that what the young Bob-omb Bub wants for his birthday is a Game Boy Advance "because that's what all the kids want these days".
* PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime: "Hold the Magical Map aloft before the entrance to the Thousand-Year Door. Then the stars will light the way that leads to the stones of yesterday."
* PunchClockVillain: Most of the lesser X-Nauts. Implied for most of the game with their over-casual nature and general uncoordination in the area of Mookery, and confirmed if you examine the chem lab notes with Mario: "I have some stuff to do, so I'm not coming in to work tomorrow, and that's that." Also, they tend to appear as audience members.
* PunnyName: Most of the Toads have one, like the cook, Zess T., or the heavy eater, Heff T.
* PurposelyOverpowered: A GlassCannon strategy that overpowers even the final boss is feasible just by playing the game normally without any grinding or much sidequesting. Then you unlock the Power Rush badge for purchase at the casino and it gets ridiculous, but it's definitely intentional on the part of the developers given the sheer expansion of the BP cap from 30 to 99 between installments and how the game passive-aggressively calls raising HP a "lack of confidence".
* PuzzleBoss: Hooktail is one of the more powerful main-story bosses before the endgame epilogue. With a defense point and a whopping 5 damage with certain attacks, your survival at this point in the game, while not foregone, is slim. You can entirely beat Hooktail the hard way... but there is a way to make the fight much more reasonable, you just have to hurt her with something that starts with "Cr" and ends with "Icket". [[spoiler:Equip the right Sound FX badge and strike Hooktail, and her mighty 5 attack drops to 2, and her defense is removed.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:R-T]]
* RagsToRiches: A Rogueport resident named Lumpy will ask you for money to start an oil prospecting expedition to the Dry Dry Desert. He will strike it rich and come back as a wealthy entrepreneur to repay your investment threefold. (Give him 300 coins and you will receive 999 coins.)
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits:
** A staple for the sub-series. This time, you have a ValleyGirl archaeologist, an [[ShrinkingViolet overly meek]] turtle, a wind spirit WhiteDwarfStarlet, a hyperactive, belligerent baby dinosaur, [[spoiler:a shadow creature with an inferiority complex who was part of the TerribleTrio]], an exploding sea captain, and [[spoiler:[[OptionalPartyMember maybe]] a mousy ClassyCatBurglar]].
** Luigi's team is even better. He's got a crispy floating squid, a living bomb that looks like a cherry, a disgruntled mechanic who builds roving death vehicles, a spacey director, and a mysterious ''thing'' that must deliver a package. All of them (save for the director, Hayzee) are with Luigi to keep him from doing/not doing something or other.
* RashomonStyle: In most cases, the story Luigi tells contrasts with the account given by the partner. Interestingly, only the ''second'' account[[note]]The first account has no partner to confirm or contradict the story Luigi tells[[/note]] is irreconcilably contradicted by that of Luigi's partner (Blooey in this case)--and it's also impossible to take Blooey's account as ''complete'' truth, as it fails to explain how Luigi secured that second compass piece. Mostly, the partners' conversations are used to reveal their ''real'' motivations for following Luigi around. There is also the author of the Super Luigi books, who plays him up even more than the man in green himself.
* RecognitionFailure: A RunningGag; whenever Mario meets a village elder, they're behind the times and don't recognize him (to the annoyance of their younger relatives).
* RecurringBoss:
** Lord Crump is fought four times: twice on foot, and twice in [[HumongousMecha Magnus von Grapple]].
** The Shadow Sirens are fought in Chapter 2 and again in Chapter 8, with the noticeable change in that, between fights, [[spoiler:Doopliss replaces Vivian]].
** Bowser engages Mario in a fight towards the end of Chapter 3, and then [[spoiler:becomes the penultimate boss of the game along with Kammy]].
** Mario gets in a fight with the Chapter 4 boss more than any other boss in the game. After beating him once, you're required to go through at least two {{Hopeless Boss Fight}}s where neither of you can beat each other, and then you rematch him [[spoiler:while he has your partners]] for the real final battle of the chapter. When that's said and done, there's still one last fight with him in Chapter 8 [[spoiler:along with Beldam and Marilyn]].
* RecurringExtra: The Toad Sisters and Dupree show up in the various locations you visit.
* RedHerring: In Chapter 3, [[spoiler:Jolene isn't responsible for the disappearances, and while Rawk Hawk ''is'' the one who sent you the poisoned cake, he ''isn't'' sending you the threatening emails and has no clue about what's happening behind the scenes]].
* RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear: Since Mario himself [[HeroicMime never speaks]] aside from a few stock lines of dialogue, the other characters have to talk for him.
* ReplacedWithReplica: The Crystal Star in Poshley Heights is displayed in plain sight and is the only one like that. Beldam and her sisters, who had spent the previous three days trailing Mario, nab it before Mario can get to it. [[spoiler:It turns out this one is a fake; Inspector Pennington, who runs the display, actually let them take it to get them away from there, then leads Mario to the real one.]]
* RetiredBadass: Bobbery is an elderly Bob-omb who used to be a tough sailor. Even after coming out of retirement and joining Mario, he's still a capable combatant.
* {{Retirony}}: In chapter 3, KP Pete (aka King K) announces his plans to retire from the Glitz Pit after his match with Mario. After the match, and his retirement, [[spoiler:he ends up stumbling on Grubba's use of the Gold Star, the real one to maintain his youth, and ends up silenced.]] A slight twist in that he doesn't end up killed, although he is certainly beaten to a huge pulp and barely even able to breathe.
* RichBoredom:
** There is a Koopa living in West Rogueport who is so rich, he [[IdleRich doesn't have to do anything.]] By the end of the game he decides to finally do things to entertain himself.
** Flavio is implied to be suffering from this, and his need for adventure (and more treasure) is why he takes you to Keelhaul Key.
* RidiculouslySmallWings: The dragon siblings (Hooktail, Gloomtail, and [[spoiler:Bonetail]]) all have extremely tiny wings that should in no way allow them to fly, yet Hooktail is seen flying perfectly fine. It is unknown if Gloomtail or [[spoiler:Bonetail]] can fly as well.
* {{Robinsonade}}: Chapter 5. While travelling to Keelhaul Key, Mario and his allies get shipwrecked and have to struggle to survive.
* RocketPunch: Both versions of Lord Crump's Magnus von Grapple robot has rocket powered fists as its main attack.
* RumpRoast:
** Touching the lava or a Fire Bar not only takes away one hit point, it also sends Mario back where he started. Also, if Mario is at one hit point left and he touches anything fiery, it's GameOver.
** As for Bowser, during the Chapter 6-7 interlude where he traverses a platformer castle level based on the castle levels of [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the very first Super Mario Bros. game]], touching the lava sends him back where he started, though he carries infinite life.
* RunningGag:
** There's a recurring NPC called Dupree that visits the same places that Mario does. Having Goombella use Tattle on him will yield different information (and some snark) depending on the location. The Travelling Sisters Three (a group of Toad triplets) will also pop up again and again.
** In every chapter, Mario is called by the wrong name at some point or another. Hard-of-hearing village elders tend to mishear his name, he is forced to use a stage name in the Glitz Pit, and is even mistaken for Luigi by a main character in Chapter 6 (although he eventually realizes his mistake and apologizes). In Chapter 4, [[spoiler:his name is ''stolen'']].
** There four black chests with "evil spirits" in them, with each one "cursing" Mario. By the fourth and last, the spirit actually requests that Mario and company let him do his thing like the others.
** There are a number of times where Goombella will either [[BreakingTheFourthWall break the fourth wall]] or potentially be present when somebody else breaks it. When this happens, she will respond by {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing it.
** Peach's offscreen nudity, much to her annoyance. One time she's in the shower, in another she has to change clothes to disguise herself as an X-naut and in the third instance she becomes an InvisibleStreaker to sneak around their base.
* SaveTheWorldClimax: What starts off as a treasure hunt to discover what's behind the Thousand-Year door, [[spoiler:Mario and co. learn the 'treasure' is the spirit of an ancient demon that Grodus seeks to unleash in his EvilPlan to TakeOverTheWorld]].
* SayMyName: With a twist at the end of Chapter 4. [[spoiler:Mario's allies say his name out of shock when he is "defeated" in battle by the "fake" Mario, but they quickly find out that the Mario they were with was just Doopliss in disguise while the other Mario is the real deal.]]
* SchizoTech: Grodus is a cyborg with a moon base. Lord Crump has a giant robot. Mario has a handheld device that receives email. Despite this, you ride to Keelhaul Key for Chapter 5 in an old-fashioned sailing vessel.
* SchmuckBait:
** When Hooktail's HP gets depleted, she will attempt to plea bargain with Mario 3 times in succession. Accepting any of the offers will cause Hooktail to attack Mario.
** Go ahead, ignore the repeated warnings and read the diary of the Toad ghost. You'll get a NonStandardGameOver for your troubles.
** In Chapter 3, there is [[spoiler:a cake delivered to the locker room ''just'' after you accept the 2nd seed battle]]. Fall for it [[spoiler:by eating it, and you won't have your partner for the next battle]]. Don't, and [[spoiler:Shellshocker, the Shady Koopa, will be on the floor, unable to move.]] Subverted with [[spoiler:a similar cake]] delivered earlier in the chapter; ''that'' one will actually [[spoiler:recharge your HP, FP, ''and'' '''Star Power'''.]]
** Right before the final boss, [[spoiler: The Shadow Queen]] offers to let you join [[spoiler: her]] in exchange for not harming you. Needless to say, accepting gets you a NonStandardGameOver.
* SchrodingersGun: Right after Zess T. tells you about her lost contact lens, no matter where you move, you will always end up stepping on it. She'll deny you passage to the west side of town until you replace it, which isn't possible until after completing the first chapter, even if you break it before leaving for Petalburg.
* SealedEvilInACan: Occurs so much in this game that it might as well be a ''motif''.
** Played with throughout the game, in which Mario encounters four black chests containing supposedly innocent beings only to reveal themselves as evil spirits upon being freed, which they follow up by cursing Mario... [[CursedWithAwesome with a]] SecondHourSuperpower.
** Exaggerated with the FinalBoss. [[spoiler:The Shadow Queen is sealed within a stone casket that can only be opened with a non-lethal human sacrifice. This casket is hidden in a crypt behind a secret door in the innermost depths of the Palace of Shadow, beyond its myriad monsters and mechanisms, which is sealed behind the humongous Thousand-Year Door, which is itself sealed by the power of the seven Crystal Stars. The Crystal Stars have been scattered across the country, and the Magical Map meant to lead the way to each of them was sealed away in a chest that could only be opened by the pure of heart]]. Didja get all that? Though to be totally fair to the architects, [[spoiler:if you couldn't destroy the sealed monster, you'd also want it stuck behind as many locks as possible]].
* SequenceBreaking: There are enough of these [[SequenceBreaking/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor for their own page.]] They result in over half the game becoming completely skippable and finishable in under three hours.
* SequentialBoss: Cortez only has 20 HP, but has three different forms you have to defeat before the battle finally ends.
* TheSevenMysteries: The Glitz Pit has its Seven Wonders that one of the [=NPCs=] tell you. It turns out that they are all true, and you must investigate them to advance the plot. Of course, in typical Mario fashion, these Seven Wonders have some humorous explanations and aren't all that mysterious given what Mario has seen in the past.
* ShaggyDogStory: All the Bowser segments. In the end, he and Kammy have failed to accomplish anything and are little more than [[spoiler: a surprise boss battle immediately after defeating Grodus, after which they are not seen again.]]
* ShallIRepeatThat: When you receive a new ability or item, you will be asked if you understand what you can now do. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up repeating the explanation due to the arrow automatically being on the “explain it to me again” option.
* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: {{Discussed}} briefly only once. When [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen takes over Peach's body for the final boss battle, Goombella tells you in her Tattle that no matter how much it looks like the Princess, you can't think of it that way and just have to fight the Shadow Queen]].
* SharkPool: Every deep body of water contains Chain Chomp-like fish (which Goombella calls "Nibbles") ready to chomp on Mario, even water fountains and swimming pools. At one point, Goombella even lampshades this in a place with a prominent fountain.
* ShesAManInJapan:
** Beldam insults Vivian by calling her a man in the Japanese, French, Italian and Spanish versions. Whether this means she is a transgender woman or if it was just an insult is frequently debated [[note]]Those who believe it was the latter point out that Beldam specifically called her an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otokonoko Otokonoko]] after Vivian introduced her sisters and her as the "Shadow Sisters" -- with the apparent idea being that Vivian was ugly enough to pass for a man[[/note]]. Mario and Goombella seem to believe the former judging from the tattle log, though whether this is a confirmation or part of the joke is ''also'' debated. The aformentioned European localizations generally take the Japanese script at face-value and consider her a transgender woman (the Italian localization actually states it outright, with Vivian's tattle log entry reading "She used to be a man but now she's a woman- and proud of it!").
** In lesser known examples, [[spoiler:[[FemaleMonsterSurprise Hooktail]]]] is male in the Spanish localization while her brother [[spoiler: Bonetail]] is female in the Japanese, German, Italian, and Spanish versions.
* ShooOutTheClowns:
** After the buffoonish Lord Crump's final defeat on the moon, the story starts to go down a path darker in comparison to past ''Mario'' titles.
** This trend toward the sinister and eerie is [[InvertedTrope briefly interrupted]] [[spoiler:when the LaughablyEvil Bowser and Kammy Koopa, who have spent the game two steps behind everyone else, make a surprise last-minute appearance as the PreFinalBoss]].
* ShootTheMageFirst: Goombella sometimes recommends this when you Tattle enemies, since caster enemies will inflict status effects or hit both Mario and his partner at once. This is especially true during the last Bowser fight, since Kammy has less HP and is more of a threat than Bowser.
* ShootTheMedicFirst: Another recommended practice, though usually any supporting enemies will be hiding in the back.
* ShoutOut:
** Luigi and the Crazy Cart Race is Kart Racing up to eleven, until you realize that it's VideoGame/TwistedMetal.
** [[spoiler:The Toad who fought the Shadow Queen with a Goomba, a Boo and a Koopa could be this to the Japanese fairy tale of Momotaro, who fought off a demon and its entourage with the help of a dog, a bird and a monkey.]]
** Do you really think that Rawk Hawk is an original character? [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Well, let me tell you something, brother!]] [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK!]][[note]]This doesn't apply to the Japanese release, where he's called "Gold Hawk" in that language.[[/note]]
** Chapter 2 has Mario leading a swarm of tiny creatures with flower-like stalks on their heads around to aid him. [[VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} Sound familiar?]]
** In Chapter 4, Mario needs to have Flurrie blow down three structures made of [[Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs straw, wood and brick]]. Chapter 4 is also full of pigs if you needed it to be any clearer.
** TEC-XX's dance with Peach is set to an excerpt from Music/FryderykChopin's Waltz in C♯ minor, Opus 64, No. 2, arranged in the game's soundfont.
* ShowerScene: The Peach segments allow the player to guide Peach to take a shower in the bathroom, though the shower curtain prevents the player from seeing her in all her paperrific glory.
* ShowsDamage: Both [[spoiler:Grubba]] and Grodus pant and show battle damage as they're about to be defeated.
* SiblingTeam: A villainous example with the Shadow Sirens. They are a trio of sisters with three different elemental powers who work together to fight Mario. It’s later reduced to Beldam and Marilyn due to Vivian leaving because of her sister’s abusive nature.
* SizableSnowflakes: The snow falling on the foreground in Fahr Outpost and its surroundings consists in very big and detailed single snowflakes.
* SnowySleighBells: [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Fahr Outpost]]'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKzxYGIVkbI theme]] features extremely prominent sleigh bells.
* SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb: In Chapter 2, Crump attempts to annihilate Mario by activating a time bomb in the Great Tree while trying to escape.
* SomethingNauts: The X-Nauts, the main baddies for most of the game.
* SoundCodedForYourConvenience: You can consistently win the slots at the Pianta Parlor by listening closely to the machine's looping sound and pressing A anytime you hear a specific part of it.
* SpaceZone: Mario goes to the Moon during Chapter 7 -- and he doesn't even need a helmet to traverse it.
* SpectatorCasualty: A few of the bosses attack the audience members. Mario can as well, though usually only when one of them threatens him.
* TheSpiny: Aside from the trope namer, of course (and its stronger counterpart, the Sky-Blue Spiny), there's a few other enemies that also fit in this category.
** Spiky Parabuzzies are a Spike Top and Parabuzzy hybrid, meaning they're immune to stomps and immune to ground-based attacks; being a Buzzy Beetle variant means they laugh off fire and explosions as well.
** Bristles are rock monsters with spikes all over themselves, hurting Mario if he tries to jump on them or hammer them without the Spike Shield badge equipped. Luckily, the regular variety has very low HP and can be taken out easily with an item, but the Dark Bristles are more durable.
* SpoiledBrat: Bub the Bob-Omb, at first. Around Chapter 6 he gets nicer because while he has plenty of ''things'', his desires have less to do with material objects.
* SpoilerCover: The game's boxart casually contains a picture of [[spoiler:the X-Nauts' base on the moon]], a location that you aren't supposed to know about until very late in the game.
* SquishyWizard: Played with. [[spoiler:As a Shadow Siren, Vivian's the least durable, with a mere 10 HitPoints. After she's been PromotedToPlayable, however, she can be improved like any other party member, and her HitPoints peak out at 30. Her magical powers improve, as well, and to fully subvert this trope, her default attack is [[TalkToTheFist punching enemies in the face.]]]]
* StealthBasedMission: Peach has a couple in her segments. One involves her DressingAsTheEnemy (don't ask how that uniform fits), the other involves turning invisible (and having to take her clothes off.)
* StealthPun:
** TEC-XX ends up [[HeelFaceTurn ''double crossing'' his boss.]].
** One of Luigi's companions is a red Bob-omb named Jerry, with his unique fuse only making him look more like a cherry bomb.
** If the rumor Goombella heard at the end is to be believed (supported by a brief scene in Poshley Heights), [[spoiler: Grodus gave up his evil plans after being reduced to a head. He quit while he was a head.]]
* StorybookOpening: The intro sequence is framed this way and seems to be told by Toadsworth.
* StrangeSalute: The X-Nauts have one where they cross their arms to resemble an X.
* StrongerSibling: [[spoiler:Gloomtail and Bonetail]] are ''far'' more powerful than [[spoiler:Hooktail]].
* SuddenSoundtrackStop: In Chapter 6 on the third day before arriving at Poshley Heights, the soundtrack stops entirely, accompanied by the fact all of the passengers have vanished, before it's discovered Smorgs have overtaken the train.
* SunglassesAtNight: The Dark Koopas, a variant of the usual Koopa Troopas, still wear their shades even through they're only encountered deep within the Pit of 100 Trials, ditto for the Shady Koopas that can be found down there as well. {{Lampshaded}} by Goombella when you Tattle one of them:
-->'''Goombella''': Why do you think it needs sunglasses down here, anyway? What's the point?
* {{Superboss}}: A powerful creature known as [[spoiler:Bonetail]] resides at the bottom of the Pit of 100 Trials. It's the strongest enemy in the game, and grants a BraggingRightsReward upon defeat.
* SupremeChef: Like the previous and succeeding games, you have a character who can cook you delish meals that can either replenish HP, FP, both HP and FP, can cure status effects, or items that can help you in battle. Zess T., an elderly Toad woman, can cook one item at a time at first. If you take her trouble at the Trouble Center, you can help her learn to cook two items at once.
* SurprisinglyCreepyMoment: [[spoiler:The game's true final boss, the eldritch Shadow Queen, is a pretty jarring development in a Mario-branded game and would set the bar for future ''Paper Mario'' titles]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Several of Mario's party members in this game are functionally identical to the ones in the first game. This is most obvious with party members that are the same species, such as Goombario and Goombella, Kooper and Koops, and Bombette and Bobbery. The Yoshi Kid is a combination of Parakarry and Lakilester, while Vivian is similar to Lady Bow.
* SwordOfPlotAdvancement:
** Every time the Magical Map is presented to the Thousand-Year Door, it provides Mario with directions to the next Crystal Star. It almost wouldn't qualify for this trope, except that it bestows the Sweet Treat ability on Mario.
** Downplayed with the Yoshi hatchling, who's the Sword of Plot Advancement specific to Chapter 3 -- gaining him allows you to finally beat the Glitz Pit's [[NighInvulnerable Armored Harriers]] and gain entrance to the Major Leagues, where the plot thickens considerably.
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: {{Averted|Trope}} during Chapter 2. The TimeBomb set up by Lord Crump to blow up the Great Boggly Tree will continue to count down even during the cutscene before the boss fight.
* TeamBasedTournament: The Glitz Pit is a colosseum that allows competitors to compete either alone or in teams. At one point in the story someone [[spoiler:Rawk Hawk]] sends Mario a cake, and if he decides to eat it, he won't be able to use his partner for one battle due to the cake being poisoned.
* TeleportersAndTransporters: A pair of teleporters connects two distant locations ([[spoiler:Rogueport and the Moon]]).
* TemptingFate: Princess Peach expresses interest in buying a small box that has a magic lock that will only open for a pure and noble heart. The box is the trigger to the whole story as it contains the magical map that leads to the Crystal Stars.
-->'''Peach:''' Um... all right... what's the harm?
* ThemeNaming: The three dragons you can fight in the game are named Hooktail, [[spoiler:Gloomtail, and Bonetail]].
* ThoroughlyMistakenIdentity: Pennington, who incorrectly deduces Mario's identity as ''Luigi''.
* ThrowTheDogABone: Bowser's cutscene after Chapter 6 takes great efforts to remind players that he is formidable even when he is failing at his goals repeatedly and existing largely as comic relief. He intimidates the townsfolk without even trying, he clears a lava-filled training course easily, and he defeats Rawk Hawk in one attack.
* TieredByName: The "Hyper" prefix is used for variants of enemies that charge their attacks. Some more traditionally upgraded foes get the "Elite" prefix.
* TimeKeepsOnTicking: At the end of the timed escape sequence from the Great Boggly Tree, the timer does not go off even during the unskippable dialogue sequence between Crump and the Puni elder. Fortunately, Crump shuts it off halfway through it, but if the player was a little slow to get back to the entrance, the precious seconds wasted during the cutscene can be ''fatal''.
* ToiletHumour: In Chapter 5:
-->'''Patch:''' Hey, Bobbery. You wanna know what really smells suspicious? ''[farts]'' Flavio's armpit!
* TotallyRadical: The Yoshi partner talks with slang and generally casual language, reflecting [[ReallyWasBornYesterday his age]] and wrestler attitude.
* TournamentArc: Chapter 3, where Mario must fight as "The Great Gonzales" in the Glitz Pit to obtain the Gold Star.
* TraintopBattle: Mario vs. the Smorg horde takes place on top of the Excess Express.
* TrashTalk: True to WWE wrestling that Chapter 3 heavily parodies, every opponent in the Glitz Pit will begin their match by taunting and insulting Mario. The Yoshi partner, and to a lesser degree Goombella, will insult them right back and even gloat when Mario inevitably [[CurbStompBattle thrashes them in the fight]].
* TreasureMap: The Magical Map, which shows where the Crystal Stars are.
* TreeTrunkTour: The bulk of Chapter 2 takes place inside the trunk of the Great Boggly Tree.
* TwinkleInTheSky: Crump gets this treatment after his robot Magnus von Grapple 2 explodes. Also, [[spoiler:Mario, of all people, suffers from this predicament after being launched to the Moon from the gigantic cannon in Fahr Outpost]].
* TwoGirlsAndAGuy: Following his defeat, Doopliss joins the Shadow Sirens and replaces Vivian as the new ButtMonkey.
* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:TEC caused the X-Nauts' base to self-destruct at the end of Chapter 8, but him and the base somehow return after you beat the game.]] [[LampshadeHanging Not even he has a clue on how it's possible.]]
* TheUnintelligible: Marilyn, who's only ever to say "Guh!", though her sisters seem to have [[IntelligibleUnintelligible no trouble understanding her.]]
* {{Unishment}}: The "[[CursedWithAwesome curses]]" that the Black Chest Demons give Mario are really just new abilities.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: The FinalBoss assumes Mario and his party "do not possess any power" and offers to spare them if they agree to serve under her. Naturally, she is proven to be wrong about Mario and co. not having power.
* UndergroundCity: Rogueport Sewers used to be the original Rogueport, buried and ruined by time. A small, somewhat intact section of sewers still houses a decent amount of inhabitants.
* TheUnReveal: Subverted. If you save a game clear file and go back to visit Frankly, [[spoiler:he'll reveal that the treasure was... a Dried Shroom, which is apparently an amazing discovery, as it reveals that people ate mushrooms one thousand years ago.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:U-Z]]
* UndeadCounterpart: Hooktail, [[spoiler:Gloomtail]], and then Bonetail at [[spoiler:the end of the Pit of 100 Trials]]. Though they're all bosses, they're incredibly similar; Bonetail's essentially a new skin (NoPunIntended) for Hooktail.
* UnintentionallyUnwinnable:
** During the time bomb sequence in chapter 2, hitting a save block with a few seconds left on the timer can trap you into an unavoidable game over, as Crump and the Puni Elder's conversation will outlast the timer, and can't be skipped or avoided due to it segueing into the chapter boss. The only way to get out of it is to start a new file.
** The tournament fights in Chapter 3 will assign you with a random condition that needs to be fulfilled in addition to winning the fight, such as never letting your partner attack at all, or not being able to use FP. It is in fact possible to get one of these two conditions against the Iron Clefts, which makes it completely impossible to defeat them since you need to use Yoshi's gulp to hurt them, and gulp costs 4 FP to use. While you can just ignore the fight condition, doing so will cause your rank to suffer and you'll have to fight the Iron Clefts again.
* UniqueEnemy:
** While regular Clefts are common enemies, Bald Clefts only appear in one room in Petal Meadows as a scripted tutorial battle, and they never respawn.
** There is exactly one X-Yux in the entire game, guarding the door to Grodus's office in Chapter 7. [[spoiler: Failing the Thwomp quiz will force you to fight two at once, however]].
** Many, many enemies in Glitzville. Examples include Red Spiky Buzzy Beetles, the Red, Green, and White Magikoopas, the Fire and Boomerang Bros, and KP Koopas. Some of them, such as Pokeys, Bomb-ombs, and Dark Koopatrols, also show up in the Pit of 100 Trials. Since all of the Glitz Pit exclusive enemies can technically be fought an unlimited amount of times, they won't appear in Professor Frankly's waste basket once you're done fighting them (meaning if you want to put them in your Tattle Log, you need to either Tattle them the first or second time you go through Glitz Pit - or as a worst case scenario - intentionally lose every match until you record all of the enemies you need).
* UniversalEyeglasses: Grumpy chef [[PunnyName Zess T.]] loses a contact lens and demands everyone stop moving while she looks for it. The game leaves Mario [[ButThouMust no choice]] but to move or jump, and he inevitably steps right on it. At this point Zess [[NPCRoadblock blocks the archway]] into west Rogueport until Mario buys her a replacement from a local bazaar — no prescription needed.
* UnreliableExpositor: According to his partners, Luigi makes himself out to be better than he is when recounting his off-screen adventure. It's not entirely clear who's telling the truth.
* UnwittingPawn:
** [[spoiler:Lord Crump became Grodus's around the time Mario and his friends obtain the Garnet Star. Grodus, who by this point has gotten increasingly fed up with his underling's failures, assigns Crump to defend the final Crystal Star. Grodus figures it a win-win scenario, either Mario & co. defeat Crump and open the Thousand-Year Door for him, or Crump emerges victorious and obtains all the Crystal Stars Mario had on him]].
** However by the game's climax, [[spoiler:Grodus gets this trope thrown right back at him by Beldam, who only used the X-Nauts as a means to an end to revive the Shadow Queen, her true master. She intentionally misleads Grodus by convincing him that the Queen would serve whoever resurrected her instead of vaporizing Grodus for daring to try to command her]].
* UselessUsefulSpell:
** Bobbery's Bomb Squad lets him fire out three bombs onto the enemy's side, which explode a turn later. Neat in concept, but it's mostly rendered obsolete by other group-damage moves (including Bobbery's own Bob-ombast). The turn delay means that you can usually finish a fight before the bombs explode, they only hit ground enemies, and they deal 3 non-piercing damage even at Bobbery's higher ranks. It's only notably useful in fights such as Lord Crump and the Shadow Sirens, groups of grounded enemies with no Defense Power.
** Bobbery's Hold Fast gives him the Payback status normally granted by Spite Pouches, which returns half of the damage he takes to the attacker. Theoretically useful in assisting his tanking capabilities, but it only affects contact damage, while plenty of enemies and nearly all bosses use ranged attacks.
** Vivian's Infatuate inflicts the confusion status on enemies, making them occassionally target the wrong thing with their moves. While it can be fun to use on enemies such as Magikoopas or Wizzerds, as they'll grant the party buffs they normally place on themselves, the move's execution requires stiff timing and the chance of it working is inconsistent. You're usually better off stopping an enemy from attacking altogether rather than making their attacks occasionally redirect themselves.
** Averted with Flurrie's Gale Force, which is functionally a multi-target OneHitKill attack. Unlike similar attacks in the previous game, it lets you earn Star Points, and nearly every flying or hovering enemy can be affected by it.
* ValleyGirl: Subverted with Goombella, as her speech patterns reflect this trope, but she's actually a very smart college student and somewhat tomboyish.
* VerbalTic:
** Cortez has a fondness for GratuitousSpanish, amigos!
** Fuzzies cap off their sentences with a strong '''MEEEOOORK!!!'''
** Master Crash, a Bob-omb in the minor leagues in the Glitz Pit, randomly sprinkles "BOMB" throughout his sentences.
** Cleftor, another Glitz Pit minor leaguer, often injects "Grack!" into his statements if Mario talks to him.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:Chapter 8 is set within the Palace of Shadow, which lies behind the Thousand-Year Door, which you've been trying to open for the entire game.]]
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
** During the final boss battle of Chapter 4, [[spoiler:Doopliss has the real Mario's first 4 partners fighting with him. You can wail on them and even K.O. them if you're heartless enough.]]
** You can also smash away all the fans in the foyer of the Glitz Pit. If you do this to Rawk Hawk's fans, [[WhatTheHellHero he'll chew you out for it]].
** Again, the Whacka, and you can whack him eight times until he disappears. Whether he died or simply fled is left ambiguous, though.
** Several dialogue options can be this, such as terrorizing Punio by saying you'll bully him, refusing to keep Francesca and Frankie's eloping a secret, and the "let there be hot dogs!" option in Glitzville. Needless to say, pretty much all of these will result in Mario's current partner [[WhatTheHellHero being appalled and yelling at him for his cruelty]].
* VileVillainLaughableLackey:
** Grodus is the scheming antagonist for most of the game and leads the X-Nauts without any tolerance for failure, while Lord Crump fails more or less every assignment he's given when it comes to the Crystal Stars.
** Bowser and Kammy definitely take the cake, too. Bowser, aside from being his usual menacing self, spends his playable segments trying to track down Mario and the Crystal Stars [[ButtMonkey only to get the short end of the stick pretty much every time]]. Kammy, meanwhile, alternates between getting caught up in Bowser's misfortune or having the time of her life while Bowser struggles.
* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: While most recurring bosses do get notable stronger during rematches, there are two exceptions:
** Rawk Hawk can be infinitely refought after Chapter 3 if you fight your way back to the top of the Glitz Pit. Despite recurring comments and emails from him that he keeps training, his stats and moves stay exactly the same, making an already simple fight even easier.
** Interestingly played with in regards to [[spoiler:Doopliss]]. In his first stint as a chapter boss, he has 40 HP, 4 Attack, and 0 Defense. You rematch him in the final dungeon, and despite a slight Attack Power increase that's necessary given that he mimics Mario, his only new trick is that he can mimic your partners now. The danger in the rematch comes more from the fact that [[spoiler:you're fighting Doopliss, Marilyn, and Beldam at once]].
* VillainNoLongerIdle: After Mario acquires the sixth Crystal Star, Grodus decides to interplant changes into his plan rather than waiting. [[spoiler:Grodus instead allows Mario to collect the last Star and have him open the door so that he could gain entrance]].
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:In the third phase of the final battle against the Shadow Queen, you drive her to one after you manage to hurt her. It slowly dawns on her that Mario and his friends are actually able to damage her after being empowered by the Crystal Stars and the last of Peach's energy, and she'll be locked away again so soon after being resurrected.]]
* VisualPun:
** One of Luigi's companions is a cherry Bob-omb.
** Gold leaf is a real-life ingredient, a flavorless thin strip of golden foil used for visual aesthetics. In this game, a Gold Leaf is a literal gold-colored leaf.
* TheVonTropeFamily: The name of Lord Crump's personal mecha is Magnus von Grapple.
* WakeUpCallBoss: If you don't equip the sound effect badge (either by not finding it or not realizing that it's supposed to be the sound of a cricket), then when you end up going against Hooktail, you'll be surprised by Hooktail's gargantuan Attack Power of 5 and Defense Power of 1, which means this early in the game you can basically be two-to-three shot depending on your health. This made astronomically worse by the fact that the second phase of the boss fight will be harder due to the lack of an audience, meaning you can't charge Sweet Treat for a free heal. Fought this way, she outperforms Magnus Von Grapple (the second boss) in damage, defense, and difficulty. You better get used to that Counter button. It may do no damage, but you won't take 4-5 damage every time she smacks you. Additionally, you had better get down all of the action commands, because most of your attacks will do 0 damage without it.
** This also means that if you face her this way, Goombella basically cannot be used, as Hooktail will shrug all of the damage right off with that 1 Defense Power.
* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: Continued from the original ''VideoGame/{{Paper Mario|64}}'', although unlike the first game, Mario's partners have their own HP and are no longer invincible. If Mario's partners bite the dust, you continue as normal. If Mario goes down, it's Game Over, even if your partner is healthy enough to finish off the enemy party. [[spoiler:[[ExploitedTrope This also applies to Doopliss when you fight him with Mario's partners against you.]] If Doopliss is beaten first, you win the fight automatically.]]
* WeaksauceWeakness: Hooktail gets nauseated from hearing crickets (frogs in the Japanese version) due to getting a stomachache from eating one in the past. Equipping the Attack FX R badge will lower her Attack and Defense Power every time Mario attacks, making the boss fight much easier.
* WealthsInAName: Goldbob, a richissime Bob-omb made out of gold. Goombella's Tattle indicates that he is the [=CEO=] of a very big company called Goldbobbington's and has buckets of ducats.
* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler:When the Shadow Queen asks you this, remember to say no, or else you score a NonstandardGameOver for your troubles.]]
* WelcomeToCorneria: Averted with the residents that reside within the various towns you visit during the game, who change their dialogue after every chapter.
* WhamLine: "Correct." [[spoiler:That is TEC's response when Peach is forced to guess the answer "A 1,000-year-old demon's soul" to the question "What is the legendary treasure that waits behind the Thousand-Year Door?". This is the first time in the game that the audience learns what awaits beyond the door, and the lack of ceremony about it only heightens the player's likely "Wait, what!?" reaction.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** We never do get to see what became of Bowser and Kammy at all during Goombella's travels when she tells Mario what everyone is up to. Heck, the last time they're ever seen in the game is [[spoiler:lying in defeat in the Palace of Shadow just before the final boss fight, and they disappear after you leave the room and aren't mentioned at all during the ending]]. However, this being the constant BigBad of Mario games, he's bound to return.
** Though Prince Mush says he's ready to get back into the ring following Chapter 3, nothing comes of this and he ends up vanishing from the game entirely.
** At the end of Chapter 3, [[spoiler: Grubba just disappears, with the only mention he gets being from Jolene who simply says that she will take over the Glitz Pit in his absence]].
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: TEC wants to know the answer to this question, and his interactions with Peach are motivated by this desire.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** There are several instances when Mario can choose between two things to say, and sometimes the second choice is less than morally sound to say the least. If he chooses that option, his partner will chew him out and, in a case of seeking the next course of action, [[ButThouMust insist on taking the first option]].
** Hilariously, there's exactly one piece of dialogue where the ''opposite'' is true: At the beginning of Chapter 3, Mario's partner will ask him what they should do after seeing the (fake) Crystal Star on Rawk Hawk's belt. The ''default'' option is "steal that thing!" which results in Mario's partner telling him off for suggesting it, while the ''second'' option ("fight our way to the top!", which requires selecting it) results in them agreeing with him.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Goombella sends a letter to Mario at the end, detailing what happened to his partners and several other important characters.
* WickedWitch: The Shadow Sirens are this by default due to working with the X-Nauts, though its mostly Beldam as [[spoiler: she's the one really pulling the strings and is trying to revive the Shadow Queen]]. Vivian, meanwhile, was always the CuteWitch of the trio, [[spoiler:and becomes good after ditching her sisters in Chapter 4.]]
* WildGooseChase: In Chapter 7, Mario travels around previously-visited areas to search for General White, only to find him already gone. When at a dead-end, General White had already returned to Fahr Outpost.
* WordSaladTitle: The play Luigi participates in, ''The Mystery of the Fiery Hat of Social Awareness''.
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: [[spoiler:Doopliss]]'s curse is broken by Mario saying his name.
* WorthlessTreasureTwist: The actual legendary treasure behind the Thousand-Year Door itself, which is [[spoiler:[[SealedEvilInACan the soul of a demon that once ruled the world before being sealed away]], making the treasure not so much "worthless" as "should never, ever be found in the first place". However, during the epilogue, Professor Frankly finds another treasure chest behind the titular Door — this chest contains [[EdibleTreasure a dried mushroom.]] This isn't entirely worthless to Frankly from an archaeological standpoint, because this proves that the people of the ancient city ate mushrooms a thousand years ago.]]
* WorthlessYellowRocks: Cortez gives you the Sapphire Crystal Star because he doesn't care about it and considers it insignificant among the rest of his riches.
* WretchedHive: Rogueport is a dirty, grimy town full of all kinds of criminals. While there is a nice part of town, it's run by the ''Mario'' equivalent of TheMafia.
* XanatosGambit: Grodus pulls one of these [[spoiler:by leaving the final Crystal Star with Lord Crump, so that his plan would work regardless of whether Crump lost to Mario or not.]]
* YinYangClash: The Iron Clefts' bodies can withstand any attack... and their spikes can pierce anything. You defeat them by knocking them into each other.
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Well, you ''can'' providing the villain isn't all that bright, but sadly Grodus is not so dim. [[spoiler:He only has one Crystal Star, and when he realizes Mario is going to get the other six before he does, he alters his plan. He gives his star to Lord Crump and sets him against Mario; if Crump wins then Grodus just waltzes through the Thousand-Year Door, and if Mario wins he has the Shadow Sirens trick Mario into opening the door ''for'' him.]]
* YouShouldntKnowThisAlready: In Chapter 4, there's a Duplighost that stole [[spoiler:Mario's body]] and asks you to figure out his name before Mario can get it back. Even if you already know, the letter [[spoiler:"p"]] is removed from the keyboard you're given whenever you're asked. You have to learn the Duplighost's name by venturing into Creepy Steeple and physically retrieve the missing letter before you can spell it out.
* YourCostumeNeedsWork: One sidequest requires Mario to dress up as Luigi. The real Luigi shows up and is mistaken for an impostor. This also [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on the fact that, until the release of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', Luigi was originally a [[PaletteSwap palette swapped]] version of Mario.
* YourMom: Grubba basically delivers some trash talking (which he attributes to Mario) to the Armored Harriers/Iron Adonis Twins, with one of the trash talks also revealed to be a veiled Yo' Mama joke, as he mentions that outie belly buttons run in the family, causing the Iron Clefts to get very angry at Mario, as their mother has an outie.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle:
** If not for [[spoiler:the second half of the chapter where Mario must reclaim his body from Doopliss]], Chapter 4 would've been pretty short.
** During their visit to the X-Naut Base, Mario and his team attempt to find Princess Peach after obtaining the seventh and final Crystal Star, [[spoiler:but TEC informs them that Grodus already took her to the Palace of Shadow]].
** After you've defeated Bowser and Kammy after beating Grodus, it must be over right? Not even close! Grodus survived that last battle and has taken Peach into a secret room! [[spoiler:That secret room is the crypt of the Shadow Queen, and Grodus is about to awaken her so she can possess Peach's body!]]
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Remake Exclusive Tropes]]
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%% Regarding the Switch remake: Speculative troping is not allowed on TV Tropes.
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%% We trope what DOES happen in works, not what MIGHT happen or is LIKELY to happen.
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%% For unreleased works where all we have to go on is advertising and other supplemental materials, we have some detailed guidelines, which can be found at Administrivia/CreatingAWorkPageForAnUpcomingWork.
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%% NOTE - these rules also mean that unreleased works should only have one page image, and that image should NOT be changed again until the work is released.
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%% Thank you.
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%% Note that the rules on an upcoming work only apply to the 2024 remake. Tropes found in the original Gamecube game can still be added without citation to the folders above this one, since that game was released in 2004.
%%

* AdaptationDeviation: The announcement revealed deviations from the original game would occur beyond the ArtEvolution.
** "To find the treasure of yore, take the seven Crystal Stars to the Thousand-Year Door." is said by Goombella in the original game, but the line is said by Professor Frankly in the remake's announcement.
** When Bowser gets frustrated with Kammy during his first playable segment, he yells "AIRHEAD!" in the original game while yelling "LUNKHEAD!" in the remake.
* ArtEvolution:
** The remake looks even better than before thanks to the Switch's hardware, stylisticly blending the charming designs and style of the original game (best seen with enemies like Goombas, Koopas, and Boos, who have all reverted back to their "classic" ''Paper Mario'' designs) with the papercraft aesthetic established with ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar''; most of the terrain, buildings, and objects are now paper and cardboard constructs, the characters' white outlines are heavily downplayed (now resembling thick pieces of construction paper), and everything now has a textured look to them.
** The speech bubbles now have a paper aesthetic that matches the rest of the remake and even have a sense of depth instead of being simply flat. The original had some variety among the speech bubbles depending on certain characters, but there is an extra speech bubble type introduced to reflect wrath. When Koopie Koo and Bowser scream in anger, the speech bubble turns from smooth and curvy to jagged and spiked accordingly. The letters also naturally appear much more quickly than in the original game (assuming you didn't press A to make it go faster or B to make it instant).
** Mario's partners now have back-facing sprites, and just about everyone has a broader range of expressions, allowing them to visibly react to events when they previously didn't in the original game. Case in point, the trailer shows the moment when Mario and a partner (Yoshi in the trailer) witness a Twilight Town resident turning into a pig. In the original game, Mario and the present partner would just have them with the SpeechBubble with an exclamation point with Mario doing a tiny jump and a vocal noise to indicate shock [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T-1yhCDEGA&t=930s as seen here]]. In the remake, both Mario and Yoshi are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ume5pSIcKE&t=110s much more visibly expressive]].
** The intro story is now fully animated as opposed to being static images.
* BaitAndSwitch: For those who forgot about the introduction of the game (or just haven't played/seen it in a while), it's ''very'' easy to assume that book[[note]]the accompanying music also only played for a few seconds[[/note]] was for something else Mario related and the first part of the reveal trailer footage could easily be mistaken for an outright remake of the first game (which also begins with Luigi handing over Mario a letter from Peach).
* TheBusCameBack: Kammy Koopa returns for her first non-cameo apperance after a twenty year absence. Toadsworth also appears for the first time after previously appearing in''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'', which was released eleven years prior.[[note]]Not counting previous remakes and cameos.[[/note]]
* ContinuityNod: A remixed version of the title theme from ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'' plays in the trailer. Mario has a photograph of his companions from said game in his house. There's also a map of the Mushroom Kingdom from the same game hanging on the wall. It also doubles as a CallForward, since that photo (along with one of the partners from this game) is in the same spot in the intro of ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''.
* LightningCanDoAnything: In contrast to the original game, where Black Chests cursing Mario are accompanied by three [[EpilepticFlashingLights seizure-inducing flashes]], the trailer shows that they now curse him by striking him with a bolt of lightning.
* RevisitingTheRoots: This game, alongside the remake of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', sees the return of the classic gameplay of Mario’s early role-playing adventures.
* SameContentDifferentRating: {{Downplayed}}. The European and Japanese versions have both been bumped up to a PEGI 7 and CERO B rating, both of which are no worse than the ESRB's E10+ rating. Notably, the North American version is still rated E for Everyone, with only "mild suggestive themes" added to its rating.
* TruerToTheText: TEC-XX's camera was red when the game was released in Japan. However, it was changed to blue for the [=GameCube=]'s American version, but was changed back to red for the remake.
* VideoGameRemake: This game is a full-on remake of the original, akin to '' VideoGame/MetroidPrime Remastered'', rather than just an enhanced port like ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} 1+2''.
* VoiceGrunting: As heard in the reveal trailer, all characters will speak this way in the remake. Each character has a unique sound to their "voice", which is something new to the remake. For example, Luigi's "voice" sounds just like Charles Martinet's portrayal of him, where Koops sounds like a Koopa.
[[/folder]]
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->''"[[RevisitingTheRoots Long time, no see, Mario]]! [[VideoGameRemake I'm totally glad I got to see you again]]! This is awesome! Everyone's ready! We heard you were coming, so we've been waiting here for you!"''
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