History VideoGame / MarioAndLuigiPaperJam

* BodySled: The Mega Thwonk has Mario do this if all the commands are done and an Excellent is earned; after Mega Luigi slams the enemy across the battlefield with his hammer, Mario (who was riding on the hammer) jumps into the air and stomps on the enemy four times, forcing them onto the floor with the final stomp, then continues to stand on them as they slide across the floor and take several hits in the process.

* BossRush: Aside from the normal one of these in the Battle Ring, the Koopalings get one at the end of the game. Before the final Papercraft battle against Bowser, other Papercraft bosses are in the way.

* NoGearLevel: an unusual variant in the Twinsy Tropics Dungeon where the Hammer Bros guards have [[InterfaceScrew confiscated the heroes' command blocks]], hampering their effectiveness in battle.

* RecurringLocation: If one counts [[spoiler: [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Neo Bowser Castle]] being the same as [[DiscOneFinalDungeon Bowser's Castle]]]], then ''Paper Jam'' is the only entry in the franchise where every area has to be visited at least twice during the adventure, each time with new paths and areas unlocked. The most clear example is, surprisingly, Sunbeam Plains, the game's GreenHillZone, which the trio has to navigate thrice: one at the beginning, other during the halfway mark, and one last time near the end of the game.

* RemixedLevel: Combined with RecurringLocation above, every area becomes this thanks to the paper terrain creating new paths and areas for the trio to explore when revisiting them. The best example is [[spoiler: the game's TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, Neo Bowser Castle, whose layout is identical to Bowser's Castle from earlier but with the lava pits replaced with patches of sky and new puzzles and enemies being incorporated.]]

** Paper Mario's BigDamnHeroes seems to bring ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' to mind (small fry take out the main bros. in one hit somehow, then the guest Mario saves the day).

** An artwork of the Bros carrying Baby Mario and Baby Luigi (from ''Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time''), appears on one of Luigi's amiibo Battle Cards.

*** The 3D Shell (now exclusive to Mario) only has [[{{Nerf}} six]] prompts to execute instead of ten.

* DeathOfAThousandCuts: Paper Mario's attacks don't deal that much damage, but he compensates for this by [[MesACrowd creating copies of himself]] to attack in rapid succession.
* DeathOrGloryAttack: The Koopalings. When their partner is knocked out, Wendy, Larry and Ludwig will cast a massive EnergyBall on the heroes that when successfully deflected, deal huge damage. For Lemmy, Iggy and Morton Jr., they use chase scenes that also stun them if they fail, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.

** Expert Challenges make a return. In addition to returning challenges like "get an Excellent with a Bros. or Trio attack" and "dodge moves from this type of enemy multiple times in a row", there's several new ones like "use Battle Cards", "get a large number of First Strikes", "defeat Paper enemies with fire", and "get an Excellent with a Bros. or Trio attack multiple times in a row". Additionally, the Attackathon and Battle Ring minigames, rather than awarding their own prizes, now have Expert Challenges tied to getting high ranks in them. Additionally, instead of the rewards being given to you as loot drops when you reach the required number of points, you exchange the points at any gear shop for your rewards.

** Expert Challenges make a return. You earn points for completing tasks like getting an excellent rating on attacks and dodging enemies, and canp redeem those points for exclusive equipment.

** Besides the usual Bob-Omb mooks, King Bob-Omb appears as a late-game boss, blowing himself up for huge damage after a countdown (Which can be delayed by countering a certain attack or using a particular battle card). You can actually beat him by using damage-canceling cards and waiting him out, although you get no rewards that way.

** Scenes can be fast-forwarded instead of keeping players from re-watching the ones leading to a boss fight they had lost before.

** For the first time in the series, the game introduces a SprintShoes mechanic to allow for speedier movement. This and the Trio jump allows for faster and easier navigation in the overworld.

* BerserkButton: If the bosses find that they're fighting a losing battle, they'll get angry and will start doing more damage with their attacks. In some occasions, this will also allow the bosses to use their strongest attacks. Both Ludwig and Larry and King Bob-Omb lampshade it when they get mad.

** The first few notes of Sunbeam Plains' theme are similar to a part of the end of ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'''s battle theme.

** At the final dungeon, two specific areas are suddenly swarmed by groups of enemies: some of those enemies give you a chance to serious level grind, and some others help to accumulate Star points to use experience multiplier cards. The only downside is that you have to beat some other enemies outside those areas to make them respawn.

* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Mount Brr, if not obvious by the name. It is home to one of Bowser's 'villas' and the base for King Bob-Omb to shoot paper on the world. It includes puzzles based around FrictionlessIce and the [[DishingOutDirt Trio Drill]].

* StylisticSuck: King Bob-Omb retains the muffled, low-quality VoiceGrunting he had in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''.

** King Bob-Omb will self-destruct with lethal force once his timer expires, which is set to actual time instead of a turn limit. Have fun racing against the clock.
** The Paper Bob-Ombs will also attempt this once they're defeated by charging into the Mario Bros. But their kamikaze charge can take out their allies if it's countered.

** For a character that was originally just a StarterVillain in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64,'' King Bob-Omb turned into a very intimidating villain that's in charge of a mountain operation [[spoiler:that involves raining paper terrain and paper enemies]]. His boss battle is even a timed battle as well, and he's much more powerful to boot.

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* DeathOrGloryAttack: The Koopalings. Usually when their partner is knocked out, Wendy, Larry and Ludwig will cast a massive EnergyBall on the heroes that when successfully deflected, would instantly kill them. For Lemmy, Iggy and Roy they use chase scenes that also stuns them if they fail, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.

** Roy and Wendy have a special variation of this during their boss battles; they get in their shells, start spinning, and then Roy knocks Wendy at the Bros. This seems to be based on Bowser's Koopa Corps attacks from ''Inside Story''.

** Roy and Wendy have a special variation of this during their boss battles; they get in their shells, start spinning, and then Roy knocks Wendy at the Bros. This seems to be based on one of Bowswr's attacks in ''Inside Story''.

** Roy and Wendy have a special variation of this during their boss battles; they get in their shells, start spinning, and then Roy knocks Wendy at the Bros.

** Mt. Brrr is a mixture of DeathMountain and SlippySlideyIceWorld.

* KillItWithFire: One of the fastest ways to deal with the paper enemies is to use a Bros. Attack that deals fire damage, like the Fire Flower or Bomb Derby, which will cause about 30% more damage due to the LogicalWeakness of paper.

** The location names in the Japanese version, as well as the Korean and some European translations, are themed after terms for splitting images (Pair Plains, 50-50 Desert, Look-alike Mountain). This follows up on the laughter-theme in ''Superstar Saga'', the anatomical and sickness-related theme in ''Bowser's Inside Story'' and the sleeping theme in ''Dream Team''. However, in the English versions, this is forgone in favor of more traditional location names (Sunbeam Plains, Doop Doop Dunes, Mount Brrr). Strangely, the only English location name that seems to follow this theme is the only Japanese one that doesn't seem to (Twinsy Tropics and Niterude Archipelago, respectively).

* BigThinShortTrio: How Morton, Iggy, and Lemmy are fought are reminiscent to this kind of trio.

** Ironically [[spoiler:Paper Luigi can appear should you beat the game and play the Music Player Mode...[[SubvertedTrope and be relaxing on a beach listening to music, apparently on vacation.]]]]

* ProductionForeshadowing: In this game, the 3D Koopalings ask about their paper counterparts, with Wendy speculating they were busy. Paper Koopalings show up in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash''.

** On the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' side, meanwhile, if a character wasn't in ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar Sticker Star]]'', they're not in this game. Even among those characters, Paper Wiggler[[note]]although normal Wiggler has a similar personality and role to him[[/note]], Gooper Blooper, and [[spoiler:Mizzter Blizzard]] are absent. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Kersti too]]. Most importantly, [[spoiler:Paper Luigi]] is absent until [[spoiler:the Music Player is unlocked, where he makes TheCameo]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: A mere Scaredy Rat is the reason behind Luigi knocking over the book containing the "Paper" universe. And that's despite the fact it, along with others of tis kind, are part of Bowser's Koopa Troop.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The reason the "Paper" characters and enemies escaped into the "real world" is because Luigi accidentally knocked over the book containing their universe.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: A mere Scaredy Rat is the reason behind Luigi knocking over the book containing the "Paper" universe.

* FinalExamBoss: The penultimate bsttle before the Bowsers themselves are against Morton, Iggy and Lemmy. Hopefully you have mastered the airplane, boomerang and trampoline sequences, since that is the only way to fight in this battle.

* DropTheHammer: As per usual for a ''Mario'' RPG. However, when initiating a Trio Attack, Paper Mario summons a giant papercraft hammer that he, Mario, and Luigi use to turn enemies into paper before attacking. [[[spoiler:The final boss can do the same thing, and will even counter Trio attacks with it as long as his helmet is intact.]]
* DualBoss: Most of the bosses in the game are these, whether it be [[spoiler:The Koopalings, the Paper and regular Kameks, the Paper and regular Bowser Jr., and the paper and regular Bowser -- even the first phase of the final boss is this. Notably, this is the first time that the Koopalings work together to fight Mario instead of fighting Mario solo.]]

** They're also working together because they're just lonely and [[IJustWantToHaveFriends want to have a friend]].

* The first battle isn't against a Boss (usually Bowser, although the last game had Antasma instead) but against a pair of Paper Goombas.

* MinigameZone: The Latiku Info Center, where most of the games' missions, that are like minigames, are accessed. There's even a second receptionist that allowd you to play some of these missions in a harder difficulty. Furthermore, after returning from twinsy Tropics, the second floor is unlocked, where the Attackathon, BossRush, and Papercraft rematches are available.

** The BigDamnHeroes moment mentioned above seems to bring ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' to mind (small fry take out the main bros. in one hit somehow, then the guest Mario saves the day).

* CardsOfPower: Replacing the badges, the Battle Cards which do a variety of things like increase your defence, deal a fixed amount of damage to spiky enemies, lower your enemies' speed, etc.

*** ''Dream Team's'' Fire Flower is a ChargedAttack [[note]]the bros have to hold their fireballs long enough to grow before hurling them at the targets[[/note]] while ''Paper Jam'' is a SpamAttack.

%%* EnemyMine: The last Nabbit-related quests involves him actually fighting back. As he sat on the wrong foot with Bowser's army, however, he'll temporary join forces with the Mario Bros in order to take them out.

* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: An early battle pits the bros against a mob of Paper Goombas, who roll into a ball to chase the bros down. Even if you manage to succeed in the chase, the Goombas pull a sneak attack afterwards that knocks them out anyway. [[spoiler:This prompts Paper Mario to make his grand entrance and rescue Mario and Luigi.]]

** The Spin Jump move is not present (likely because there's three characters) and is replaced by the Trio Grab.

* LogicalWeakness: Paper-based citizens take more damage to fire attacks dues to their natural flammability. This extends to both paper enemies and Paper Mario himself. It even applies to paper enemies who use fire themselves, such as Fire Bros. and Fire Piranha Plants.

* TheLostWoods: Gloomy Woods. When they are first encountered, it is to help Wiggler clean up the giant magic shapes that Paper Kamek created to impede their progress, ending in Wiggler becoming a Flutter and helping the trio to Mount Brrr. The second visit, however, turns it into BigBoosHaunt -- literally. Luigi has to work alone to rescue Mario and Paper Mario from King Boo and his army.

* MindScrew: Luigi knocks over a book about his brother in Peach's attic and everything in it spontaneously spills out into reality. Where the book came from, why it's in Peach's attic, and why the simple act of opening the thing caused such a dramatic event is never explained. Even by [[WidgetSeries the standards]] of the ''Mario'' franchise, this is bizarre.
* MinigameZone: Unlocked upon the 1st visit to Gloomy Woods and accessible from every Latiku Info Center. It is where the Attackathon, BossRush, and Papercraft rematches are available.

-->[[spoiler:'''Paper Bowser:''' First, we're gonna beat you! Next, we're going to trap you in this book! And then we're gonna throw the book in the garbage... AND LIGHT THE GARBAGE ON FIRE! BWAHAHA!]]

* ShellGame: On the return to Twinsy Tropics Dungeon, the Bowser Medal that you need to enter Bowser's Castle gets stolen. You have to find the one Fire Bros that stole it among dozens of others, using clues given by defeated Fire Bros to figure out where it is. The less Fire Bros you fight in this mission before finding the real one, the bigger the coin reward.

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: The bosses do this to the ''brothers'':
** As the battle starts, Paper Petey Piranha steals the Copy Block from Paper Mario and uses it [[DoppelgangerSpin to gain nigh-invulnerable copies for itself]] (he tosses it afterwards so Paper Mario can still use it), turning the boss fight into a bit of a PuzzleBoss as you crumple down every copy and try to strike the real one on the ground.
** Ludwig and Larry use Battle Cards, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard which they can use much faster because their evil Dark Star points refill quickly with successful attacks]].
** [[spoiler:Shiny [=RoboBowser=] has his own version of the Trio Hammer which he can use to paperize the Marios and Luigi and unleash his own special attack.]]