History VideoGame / PaperMarioStickerStar

** The enemies also have more HP compared to previous games, but special mention should go to the bosses, who all have at least 100 HP, [[spoiler:with the final boss having ''500!'']] For comparison, [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor the second game's]] BonusBoss had 200 HP. The damage you do is generally higher as well (the normal jump stickers found from the start of the game can do up to 11 damage). Coins are escalated as well; both the amount you make and the amount you need to buy things.

* GameBreakingBug: As documented by LetsPlay/{{Chuggaaconroy}} in Part 3 of his “Chugga Sticks It to Sticker Star” series, the game can potentially crash if the bowling ball is used against Gooper Blooper. It seems to only affect early copies of the game qnd was fixed in later revisions, since he wasn’t able to replicate the bug.

* GameBreakingBug: As documented by LetsPlay/{{Chuggaconroy}} in Part 3 of his “Chugga Sticks It to Sticker Star” series, the game can potentially crash if the bowling ball is used against Gooper Blooper. It seems to only affect early copies of the game qnd was fixed in later revisions, since he wasn’t able to replicate the bug.

* GameBreakingBug: As documented by LetsPlay/Chuggaconroy in Part 3 of his “Chugga Sticks It to Sticker Star” series, the game can potentially crash if the bowling ball is used against Gooper Blooper. It seems to only affect early copies of the game qnd was fixed in later revisions, since he wasn’t able to replicate the bug.

** There's a Big Shiny 1UP in Rumble Volcano that's easy to find, but once you get it, it disappears from the level. If you want more, you have to go into Ice Flow, get to the second frozen river, collect 100 coins, and then wait for it to come sliding down. ''Nothing'' in the game says you can do this.

** Outlook Point is mostly just a shop and another area outside of Decalberg to convert Things in to stickers. There are no enemies, and instead of getting a Comet Piece, Mario just has to talk to a Toad and the level is considered cleared.

* AbsurdlyShortLevel: Bowser's Sky Castle consists of three short hallways, one last encounter with RecurringBoss Kamek, and the final fight with the Koopa King himself. The developers wanted to add mini-games to the castle to lengthen the trek, but ran out of time (evidence of this can be seen in the second hallway, in which Mario must navigate a moving carpet over a pit of spikes while dodging small obstacles).

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Secret Doors. It's not really a secret if you can see one the instant you enter a level.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: One of the stages is called ''Holey Thicket''.

* ActuallyFourMooks: As in other Mario [=RPGs=]. Often, one enemy on the overworld will be joined by two or three others who leap in out of nowhere to battle alongside them once you enter combat.
* ADogNamedDog: New characters of old species are subject to this. Wiggler [[spoiler:in both his forms]], the Snifit host and the many Toads are among them. Taken to a head with a letter to Toad from Toad in 5-1's junkyard.

** The whole game seems to revert to the original's more story-book like presentation and combines it with VideoGame/SuperPaperMario's graphical fidelity and platforming.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Using an Infinijump Sticker on an enemy with 100 HP or less is a guaranteed kill. But do you really want to press the A Button 100 times?

** Also, [[spoiler:Kersti is brought back to life at the end of the game when Mario wishes on the Royal Stickers.]]
* BadassBystander: While the standard procedure Toads go through in most ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games is to run away from danger and cower in fear, the intro cutscene shows several Toads actually yanking Bowser back from the Royal Stickers by his tail the moment he shows up.

* BombWhistle: The drop hammer, the Square Can and the Basin make such a sound when they are falling on Mario's enemies.

* TheBusCameBack: The Ninjis from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' came back after their last appearance being in ''[[VideoGame/MarioParty Mario Party Advance]]''. Snow Spikes from ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' make a comeback, and Bony Beetles make a reappearance for the first time since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAdvance4SuperMarioBros3'' with a new design that would later be used from this game onwards.

** If you attempt to use one of the alternate exits to Wiggler's tree house after getting the scrap to place it but before getting the segment, Kersti will say something along the lines of looking through too many parts of the forest would get you lost, and Mario will automatically jump back.

-->'''Kersti:''' You know what? Forget you! Here--pick one of these answers so we can move on. (Your answer choices are "Yes" and "Yeah".)

** In the final battle, [[spoiler:one of Bowser's attacks is throwing a Chain Chomp at you by swinging it like a ball-and-chain, just like he did in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG''.]]

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'': Snifits, Ninjis and even green-colored Pokeys make an appearance. The main title theme is also a remix of the ''Super Mario Bros 2'' credits theme.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'': Gooper Blooper and Petey Piranha are bosses in the game. Bowser Jr also makes his Paper Mario debut as one of the CoDragons, and the whole "Peach is his mother" thing is referenced in Snifit or Whiffit.

* DemotedToExtra: [[spoiler:Luigi, who was a very important character in the previous Paper Mario, is only a background character in this one.]]

* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Using a Tail or Baseball Bat to knock the Chain Chomp at Bowser in the last phase of the first battle leads to it knocking him off a cliff]].

** Even though partners don't exist in this game, an enemy does help you out: [[spoiler:the Wiggler/Flutter flies you to Bowser's Castle.]]
* EverybodyLaughsEnding: [[spoiler:Even Bowser who tried to touch the Sticker Comet again!]]

* {{Expy}}: Due to enemies unique to the Paper Mario series being [[ExiledFromContinuity exiled from use in this game]], some enemies from the platformers take their general roles. Interestingly, some replacements even do this to enemies who were already expies of them, making this a recursive example.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Implied when Mario and Kersti [[spoiler:are riding Flutter to Bowser's Castle towards the end of the game. During the flight, Flutter reminisces about the adventures he had with Mario back when he was just a Wiggler.]] Kersti remarks that those adventures only happened "a little while ago".

* FinalBossPreview: At first, it looks like this will happen as with [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 the first game]], when Bowser wears the Royal Sticker and Mario jumps at him. [[SubvertedTrope Then the game flashes ahead to the aftermath]].

* FriendlyEnemy: Taken farther than usual with Bowser this time--while he's not a full-on EnemyMine like he was in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario,'' after his defeat, Peach still tells Mario after his defeat not to worry about him, and he'll probably be fine after the Royal Sticker is gone.
* GetBackHereBoss: [[spoiler:The first phase against Bowser involves four segments in which he uses different moves all the while backing away as he takes damage.]]

** For Gooper Blooper, you have to [[spoiler:equip the sponge before the boss uses his poison spit. The sponge will absorb the poison and then shoot it back for a lot of damage, in addition to blinding the boss, making all of his attacks miss.]]

** Gooper Blooper's poison also has this effect, effectively meaning that it damages you, seriously harms your aim and makes it hard to block other attacks.

** The most common complaint about this game is that figuring out what Things do what and where to find them isn't easy. (Missed the Lightbulb in Yoshi Sphinx? Or any plot-related Thing for that matter? ''God help you'' trying to even figure out what ''world'' the Thing is in.) The game discourages trial and error because of how much space Things take in your inventory, the fact that they go away once they're used, and the fact that it costs good money to be able to re-use them.
** It can be really hard to figure out where the fourth Wiggler segment is supposed to be before it's marked on the map, unless you find it from the get-go.
** How to get to the Comet Piece in Tree Branch Trail is fairly non-obvious.
** The "hint system" is all over the place, ranging from helpful to practically useless. For example, when you have three Wiggler segments and are looking for the fourth, Kersti will never say anything other than "[[CaptainObvious You should get the fourth Wiggler piece!]]"

* EverybodyLaughsEnding: [[spoiler:Even Bowser who tried to touch the Sticker Star again!]]

** A few of the minibosses are like this:
*** The Big Boo is weak to [[spoiler:the Vacuum]].
*** Bowser Jr., in his later fights--the second one lets you [[spoiler:knock his Bob-ombs out of his hands with Hurlhammers, making them blow up in his face]], while the final fight against him has him protected by a shield that reduces just about all damage to ScratchDamage [[spoiler:unless you bat his own attacks back at him with a Raccoon Tail, which will do 50 damage and destroy his shield.]]

** Speaking of Wiggler, guess just what wakes him up? Not the Faucet, not the Soda, not even the Jackhammer. [[spoiler:It's the Trumpet, and only the Trumpet. It helps a bit that the Museum refers to the trumpet as an alarm system, though.]]

* StarShapedCoupon: The eponymous Sticker Star.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Barring a few exceptions, the game attempts to teach by example, rather than explicit tutorials or throwaway text. Also, the solutions to some puzzles often lie in obscure non-Mario trivia & myths, such as [[spoiler:goats eating paper]]. However, the game also withholds even basic knowledge, such as bosses having timed weaknesses, the full scope of your jump and hammer field moves, and power-up blocks. This extreme overestimation of player knowledge is often the root of the game's GuideDangIt moments. It's thankfully toned down in ''Color Splash''.

* ATwinkleInTheSky: [[http://youtu.be/WPB6_YLv-as?t=58s If you get an Excellent with the Bat Thing.]]

** Scuttlebug to [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor Pider]]

* PuzzleBoss: Each boss has a weakness, and not using it will result in a very long if not impossible fight.

* AbsurdlyShortLevel: Bowser's Sky Castle consists of three short hallways and the final boss fight. The developers wanted to add mini-games to the castle to lengthen the trek, but ran out of time.

** In [[spoiler:Bowser Jr.'s Flotilla, one of the possible enemy configurations is four different varieties of Hammer Bros., who are in turn subspecies of Koopa Troopas. [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Now where have we seen a team of four turtles before in Paper Mario?]]]]

%%* FunPersonified: Wiggler.

%%* SpritePolygonMix

* OddBallInTheSeries: Perhaps the strangest of all five Paper Mario games, with notable mention being the ability to attack with Things like faucets and goats.