History YMMV / PaperMario64

** Twink's name. While obviously derived from the word twinkle in context (he's a star) it has some [[TheTwink hilarious connotations]] [[HaveAGayOldTime Nintendo probably didn't intend back in the early 2000s]].

* MagnificentBitch: [[TokenEvilTeammate Bow]] is an aristocratic Boo. Inviting Mario to her mansion he arrives and climbs it while solving her puzzles along the way and once he reaches the top she reveals she was testing him to see if he lived up to his reputation. She also reveals she has kidnapped the Star Spirit Skolar then blackmails Mario into helping her defeat Tubba Blubba, [[TheDogBitesBack a bully victim turned devourer of the boos]], something the duo successfully do. With that done she remains [[TheUnapologetic unapologetic]], but promises to stop scaring Tubba Blubba, frees Skolar and then happily decides to join Mario full time having grown to love adventuring.

** Despite being the true boss of Chapter 3, Tubba Blubba's Heart honestly isn't much harder than the intentionally easy fight against Tubba Blubba himself. Pretty much the only attack the heart will use during the fight is the heavily telegraphed charge-up move, where all you need to do to avoid it entirely is use Bow's Outta Sight each time. He does have one other attack, dealing a hefty 6 damage, but he'll likely only use it once. You're unlikely to get hit more than once in the entire fight unless your FP is in the toilet, in which case you'd probably be in trouble anyway!

** The Dark Koopas are very annoying to fight as well, since they have a move that can put Mario into Dizzy-state, making him completely useless for two turns. The problem here is that, more often than not, you fight against multiple Dark Koopas at the same time, and they all like to use that Dizzyfying move on Mario, giving him absolutely no chance of recovering from it. If you don't have the Feeling Fine badge equipped[[note]]Wearing it prevents poisoning, sleepiness and dizziness.[[/note]] and you're out of FP when that happens, you might as well reload from your last saved point.

** The Bzapp! (exclamation mark included) you can find in Forever Forest has terrifying attack power at that point of the game. They're {{Glass Cannon}}s though, so it's all a matter of killing them before they kill you.

** Watt's basic attack ignores enemies' defense, which is really useful against later bosses. She can also attack flying enemies, but does not jump on them, avoiding damage from spiked enemies and providing a means to circumvent otherwise-tricky flying spiked enemies with shells. In the field, she also reveals hidden item blocks and locations, so you are likely to want her out all the time anyway.

** Despite being the true boss of Chapter 3, Tubba Blubba's Heart honestly isn't much harder than the intentionally easy fight against Tubba Blubba himself. Pretty much the only attack the heart will use during the fight is the heavily telegraphed charge-up move, where all you need to do to avoid it entirely is use Bow's Outta Sight each time. He does have one other attack, dealing a hefty 6 damage, but he'll likely only use it once. You're unlikely to get hit more than once in the entire fight.

** Since partners don't have HP, if they're hit, they'll be "injured" for a few turns. The thing is that, unlike Mario, there are no badges to prevent this, and Mario can't switch them out or use items to heal them back, which can be very annoying.

** Monstar has a very impressive effect where the stars that make up its body seem to "fall into" the center of its sprite... on original UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 hardware. Most emulators, including the Wii UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/2/28/Monstar.png wrongly show this as a cloud of stars surrounding Monstar's body.]] You can see what it's supposed to look like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcdW7xFbnsg in this video.]] The version on UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online ''almost'' fixes this, but the stars incorrectly extend to the outline.

* VindicatedByHistory: Fans were initially cold to the game due to both its late release in the N64's life cycle and its major differences from the ToughActToFollow ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' (not helped by how it started out as ''Super Mario RPG 2''). Critics were charmed by its unique gameplay and storybook aesthetic, but [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 newer]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube hardware]] and accompanying titles like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' overshadowed it. When ''Paper Mario'' received [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor a best-selling sequel]], however, many players revisited the original game and found it to be equally worthy of praise. Its resale prices stayed high up until its Virtual Console release, where it became one of the top sellers.

** Because of their identical places in the lore, it is commonly assumed that Star Haven and [[VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG Star Road]] are the same location. The name discrepancy is either attributed to it being renamed, or to Star Road being a division of Star Haven. On a similar vein, Geno is thought to be a grown up Star Kid, and the "higher authorities" he serves are the Star Spirits. The fact that ''Paper Mario'' was originally conceived as ''Super Mario RPG 2'' only lends credence to these theories.

** It is commonly assumed that Star Haven is the very same Star Road from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', just going by a different name, and the fact ''Paper Mario'' was originally conceived as ''Super Mario RPG 2'' only adds fuel to the fire. On a similar vein, Geno is thought to be a grown up Star Kid, and the "higher authority" he serves are the Star Spirits.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Jr. Troopa has just as many fans as he does detractors. Fans like him for his status as a GoldfishPoopGang with increasingly creative boss fights and admire his {{Determinator}} personality, whereas detractors find him to be an obnoxious roadblock who contributes little to the story and robs the players of a rematch against the [[EnsembleDarkHorse Koopa Bros.]]

** Huff N. Puff is widely considered to be one of the hardest fights in the game due to inflicting a lot of damage and being an AsteroidsMonster that can heal himself; the player has to kill the parts of him that break off to do any lasting damage. Though Lakilester, Parakarry and Sushie can use area attacks to dispose of his minions, not every player will think of this, and even for those who do, such attacks still hit him and cause him to spawn more. Also, if you get him on his last legs (or clouds), he will most likely give you a nasty surprise: A quake attack that deals more damage the more Tuff Puffs there are. If you have just dished out a powerful attack and generated a circle of Tuff Puffs and didn't dispatch them, you are going to be hurt for real.

** In the Nintendo Switch Online version, once you get access to the Playroom you won't need to worry about coins for the rest of the game. Just save a state right after starting the 9-block jump game and [[SaveScumming reload it]] while figuring out the block placements and you can get the best result and the bonus every time. This also applies to classic emulation like [=Project64=].

** Huff 'n' Puff is widely considered to be one of the hardest fights in the game due to inflicting a lot of damage and being an AsteroidsMonster that can heal himself; the player has to kill the parts of him that break off to do any lasting damage. Though Lakilester, Parakarry and Sushie can use area attacks to dispose of his minions, not every player will think of this, and even for those who do, such attacks still hit him and cause him to spawn more. Also, if you get him on his last legs (or clouds), he will most likely give you a nasty surprise: A quake attack that deals more damage the more Tuff Puffs there are. If you have just dished out a powerful attack and generated a circle of Tuff Puffs and didn't dispatch them, you are going to be hurt for real.

* BestLevelEver:

* BestBossEver:
** The Koopa Bros battle is fun for its [[StylisticSuck hilarious first phase]], awesome theme song, and seeing the four Koopa Bros team up against you. Once you knock their tower over, you have to rush to defeat them before they recover and stack up again.
** Chapter 4's boss is General Guy. First, you have to go through increasingly more difficult waves of Shy Guys, until you can fight General Guy directly. His tank has a lightbulb on the back that you can choose to destroy, or just continue damaging him. This fight also lets you use Watt to her full potential, as she pierces the tank's defenses.
** Despite his status as ThatOneBoss, Huff N. Puff gets credit for having a good theme song for his battle, and for being a highlight of the rather forgettable Chapter 6.
** The Crystal King is also agreed to be one of the most memorable bosses for the same reasons as Huff N. Puff; he's a fairly challenging boss that prioritizes strategizing and has a memorable battle theme that's a remix of the Crystal Palace's music.
** [[FinalBoss Bowser]]. His fight in this game is widely seen as one of his best boss battles, being a challenging but not overly difficult boss with [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic epic music]], several tactics and attacks, and more. It's especially satisfying to beat him after he wiped the floor with you back in the game's opening act.

%% NEEDS MORE CONTEXT ** The Lava Piranha's EvilLaugh starts with "[[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario BLECK]]."

** Crazee Dayzees have a very difficult-to-guard lullaby attack that has a high chance of putting Mario to sleep, and because Mario can't guard himself while asleep, he can be put into a situation where he never gets to wake up unless his current partner can end the battle by themself. The worst part about those enemies, however, is that they're really ''slooooooooow'', taking forever to attack. Oh and the jerks can also run away from battle, denying you of their Exp. points. And their Amazy Dayzee variant, which is [[MetalSlime worth a lot of XP, but spawns rarely, has high defenses and tends to run away most of the time]] can hit ridiculously hard if they ''do'' stand and fight for a turn or two.

** While the game's {{Boss Battle}}s are great on their own, the bosses themselves have little presence in their chapters (save for the Koopa Bros. and Tubba Blubba) and are only there to be fought off, so you never get to see them personally threatening Mario or other [=NPCs=] in ways that, for example, ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' does.

* LowTierLetdown: Lakilester is probably the least useful partner in the game. He comes in during the climax of Chapter 6 so late in the game that practically any use he could have is already taken by Parakarry and Sushie, both which have superior screen clearing moves anyway. Spiny Surge hits all enemies, however it only does 4 damage at max which is outright weak for that point of the game, where partners and enemies do 5 and beyond. Spiny Flip is a mediocre attack that's outclassed by Watt's Electro Dash. Hurricane rewards no star points and once he can learn it, it's during the chapter you get "Up & Away", plus you already have Bow's Spook attack, making it completely useless. Lakilester's only uses are that he can transport Mario faster on the overworld, his Spiny Flip isn't a direct attack, and Cloud Nine stacks with the other evasion boosts on a Danger Mario build, but overall he's much less reliable than the others.

** Huff 'n' Puff is widely considered to be one of the hardest fights in the game due to inflicting a lot of damage and being an AsteroidsMonster that can heal himself; the player has to kill the parts of him that break off to do any lasting damage. Though Lakilester, Parakarry and Sushie can use area attacks to dispose of his minions, not every player will think of this, and even for those who do, such attacks still hit him and cause him to spawn more.

** The Stone Cap is another invincibility-giving Item, but without the TooAwesomeToUse rarity of the Repel Gel. Feel like cheesing an otherwise-insane BonusBoss (e.g., The Master #3 or the Anti Guys Unit)? Just stock-up on as many Caps as possible, put one on when Mario can act (the NecessaryDrawback makes Mario skip all his Turns until it wears off), and have your Partner handle all the offense while Mario himself sits back and relaxes in total safety.

** Last Stand is a badge that is often overlooked, but in conjunction with certain badges and partner abilities, it allows Mario to become a NighInvulnerable powerhouse. Last Stand halves the damage Mario takes when he's in Danger ''before'' defense buffs are calculated. This means that with debuffs like Chill Out, and defense buffs like Damage Dodge or Sushie's Water Block, most enemies in the game will be unable to even damage you. It's even possible to negate attacks from [[BonusBoss the Master]] if you equip this badge, use Chill Out and Water Block while in Danger status, and successfully block him.

* MemeticBadass: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y1kmpkPpFE Goompa]] is the best partner in the game, no doubt. The game itself implying that he trained [[BonusBoss the Master]] and was part of a group of intrepid explorers in his youth further fuels this.

* FirstInstallmentWins: A minor example. A small but pretty vocal portion of the fanbase finds this game to be the best game in the series, better than ''The Thousand-Year Door'', which is believed to be an EvenBetterSequel by other fans. On a larger scale, both games remain highly regarded to this day and are what most fans best remember the series for, with later games becoming heavily {{Contested Sequel}}s due to them shaking up the formula in ways that haven't gone well with fans that gravitated to their unique RPG formula and removing almost any trace of creativity. ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' gets this to a lesser extent as its story, characters and lore went on to become widely beloved by the fanbase.
** The game does, however, win in a very big way: it's the only game to be consistently re-released, having been ported to the Wii, [=WiiU=] and Nintendo Switch Online, while each of its successors bar ''Origami King'' and the remake of ''The Thousand Year Door'' have since fallen into KeepCirculatingTheTapes.

** Last Stand is a badge that is often overlooked, but in conjunction with certain badges it allows Mario to become a MightyGlacier and a LightningBruiser at the same time. Last Stand halves the damage Mario takes when he's in Danger ''before'' defense buffs are calculated. This means that with debuffs like Chill Out, and defense buffs like Damage Dodge or Sushie's Water Block, most enemies in the game will be unable to even damage you. It's even possible to negate attacks from [[BonusBoss the Master]] if you equip this badge, use Chill Out and Water Block while in Danger status, and successfully block him.

* LowTierLetdown:
** Kooper's performance in combat is rather subpar. While he sees use early game for his non contact moves and Dizzy Shell being a decent option, which puts his use above Lakilester, he still underperforms compared to everyone else. He has the worst boss range in the game, he's only useful against 6 bosses (two of which are optional) and because of this he's largely obsolete when it comes to important fights. Despite his usefulness in Chapter 7 where Ice Foes are weak to Fire Shell, the actual dungeon contains airborne foes and enemies with high HP, meaning it's best to just use Parakarry or Sushie to handle the enemy swarms anyway. While he can permanently end Dry Bones with Fire Shell, so can Bombette and she already has more use in power and utility. Due to his low power, he's largely just outclassed by Bombette and you're better off just sticking with her.
** Lakilester is probably the least useful partner in the game. He comes in during the climax of Chapter 6 so late in the game that practically any use he could have is already taken by Parakarry and Sushie, both which have superior screen clearing moves anyway. Spiny Surge hits all enemies, however it only does 4 damage at max which is outright weak for that point of the game, where partners and enemies do 5 and beyond. Spiny Flip is a mediocre attack that's outclassed by Watt's Electro Dash. Hurricane rewards no star points and once he can learn it, it's during the chapter you get "Up & Away", plus you already have Bow's Spook attack, making it completely useless. Lakilester's only uses are that he can transport Mario faster on the overworld, his Spiny Flip isn't a direct attack, and Cloud Nine stacks with the other evasion boosts on a Danger Mario build, but overall he's much less reliable than the others.

** While the FinalBoss (Bowser, obviously) isn't overwhelming, he will occasionally use the Star Rod to A) hit both you or your partner, [=KOing=] them for three turns if you don't block, and debuffing both or B) Restore 30 HP. Also, he can occasionally C) strike you to disable your Jump, Hammer, or Item for several rounds if it isn't blocked.
** Any move that can attack Mario's partners. Since, in this game, Mario's partners don't have their own HP, if they get hit by an enemy's move, then they're out for that many turns they are damaged for (such as an attack that deals 3 points of damage will result in them being out of the battle for 3 turns). This can be very problematic as Mario will have to go without his partner for that many turns and he is facing a horde of enemies or a boss. Thankfully, these attacks aren't that common in the game and only certain bosses such as [[WakeUpCallBoss Buzzar]], [[DamageSpongeBoss Kent C. Koopa]], and [[FinalBoss Bowser]] can use these moves.

** The game does, however, win in a very big way: it's the only game to be consistently re-released, having been ported to the Wii, [=WiiU=] and Nintendo Switch Online, while each of its successors bar ''Origami King'' have since fallen into KeepCirculatingTheTapes.

** Monstar has a very impressive effect where the stars that make up its body seem to "fall into" the center of its sprite... on original UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 hardware. Even Nintendo's official emulator is unable to reproduce that effect, [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/2/28/Monstar.png causing Monstar to have a circle of stars surrounding its body instead]]. You can see what it's supposed to look like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcdW7xFbnsg in this video.]] The version on UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online ''almost'' fixes this, but the stars incorrectly extend to the outline.
** Similarly, the original N64 release and the Nintendo Switch Online version had a rainbow effect in Star Haven that changes depending on the distance you're at, which the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole version was also unable to replicate, as seen [[https://twitter.com/MarioBrothBlog/status/1134589647550631942 here.]]