==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==--~~==--= PAPER MARIO 2 For the Nintendo GameCube An FAQ/Walkthrough Copyright 2004 Richard Beast ==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==--~~==--= ****************** 1. Version History ****************** \---------/----------\/-------------------------------------------------------\ | v. 0.95 | 10/31/04 || Eh... sorry for the inconveniece yesterday. For some | /---------\----------/| reason, I lost part of what I did in the guide, and I | | had to put it back in the guide... anyway, Pit of 100 | | Trials was a bit delayed, but lots of enemy work done.| \-------------------------------------------------------/ \---------/----------\/-------------------------------------------------------\ | v. 0.90 | 10/30/04 || Now we can call this a complete guide! Chapter 8 has | /---------\----------/| come to a close, although sorry, I didn't manage to | | get the Pit of 100 Trials in there yet. =( Eh, I will | | soon enough. Expect major list work in short time. | \-------------------------------------------------------/ \---------/----------\/-------------------------------------------------------\ | v. 0.75 | 10/29/04 || Told you that you could trust me. Chapter 7 close to | /---------\----------/| being wrapped up, and Chapter 8 and the Pit of 100 | | Trials shall be done tomorrow, so that's good. After | | walkthrough, I'll finally finish the stupid lists. :\ | \-------------------------------------------------------/ \---------/----------\/-------------------------------------------------------\ | v. 0.50 | 10/28/04 || A lot more done this time around. Chapter 5 is nearly | /---------\----------/| done, and next time I update the guide, you can quite | | nearly expect Chapter 7 to be done, and from there, | | the guide will be finished very quickly. Don't worry. | \-------------------------------------------------------/ \---------/----------\/-------------------------------------------------------\ | v. 0.20 | 10/24/04 || See, I told you I'd do some work on it! Chapter 2 is | /---------\----------/| complete, and tomorrow, all of Chapter 3 shall be | | done. Expect a lot more work in the following days, | | unless the ball games get me going. | \-------------------------------------------------------/ \---------/----------\/-------------------------------------------------------\ | v. 0.05 | 10/21/04 || Chapter 1 is almost complete, and I did do a bit of | /---------\----------/| lists, just like I promised. I've been having a few | | computer problems, and I've been caught up watching a | | lot of baseball, but I'll get this junker worked on. | \-------------------------------------------------------/ \---------/----------\/-------------------------------------------------------\ | v. 0.03 | 10/20/04 || Hello. Well, the guide is extremely incomplete now so | /---------\----------/| obviously, it'll be a while. The guide's just out of | | Rougeport now, but it's going to grow as rapidly as I | | can make it, so stay tuned for some updates. | \-------------------------------------------------------/ ******************** 2. Table of Contents ******************** CHAPTER ONE: Typical Guide Stuff 1. Version History 2. Table of Contents 3. Introduction 4. Legal Disclaimer CHAPTER TWO: Characters CHAPTER THREE: Basics: Read Before Playing CHAPTER FOUR: Walkthrough a. Prologue: The Magical Map b. Chapter 1: Castle and Dragon c. Chapter 2: The Great Boggly Tree d. Chapter 3: Of Glitz and Glory e. Chapter 4: For Pigs the Bell Tolls f. Chapter 5: Key to Pirates g. Chapter 6: 3 Days of Excess h. Chapter 7: Mario Shoots the Moon i. Chapter 8: The Thousand-Year Door j. Chapter 9: Pit of 100 Trials CHAPTER FIVE: Abilities CHAPTER SIX: Lists 1. Stars 2. Badges 3. Shine Sprites 4. Recipes CHAPTER SEVEN: Shops CHAPTER EIGHT: Bestiary 1. Enemies 2. Bosses CHAPTER NINE: Secrets CHAPTER TEN: Outro / Credits ==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\ \\\ \\\ CHAPTER ONE: TYPICAL GUIDE STUFF /// /// ==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\ *************** 3. Introduction *************** Yes, I DID put the header in front of two sections inside. Really, do indeed sue me. Anyway, as for the game. I got it just a day or two ago, and already love it. A lot. Well, it's only natural I'll throw out the very best guide I can. Plus, I've written for very few Nintendo-made games (well, actually, none, but I've written for TimeSplitters 2 and Crash Nitro Kart on GameCube, even if neither are made by Nintendo), although I'm writing for Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask at the same time with this guide. So... well, I'm spare you my usual rambling. Just enjoy the guide. -- Richard "Gbness" Beast ******************* 4. Legal Disclaimer ******************* You are NOT permitted to put this FAQ on your site without my permission first. All you have to do is email me or IM me saying you want this FAQ on your site, then you can tell me your site and the chance is high that I'll let you. But if you put this FAQ on your site without my permission I swear you will regret it. If I let you, not ONE word should be changed from this FAQ! NOT ONE! Got it? Good. Also, make sure that no money is involved. If you want this FAQ to be sold on eBay, then just forget about it, man. And don't sell this guide either, or pay people to use it, or you'll be in such big trouble you don't want to think. Another little note is that I will not have this guide hosted on many other web sites besides GameNotOver, GameFAQs, IGN, and Neoseeker. You need full-on permission if it's not one of the four above sites. I am sick of people ripping me off (I have been ripped off three times in the past), so if I don't like your site, I won't let my guide be posted on it. I am sorry, but this is how it has to be. If you ask politely and I like your site, you will definitely have the luck of getting it up there. Thank you very much. E-mails are to be sent to richard_power1000@yahoo.com. Add "Paper Mario" or similar to the subject, and I'll read it. If you want to be on my closed AIM list, e-mail me and ask. The closed AIM name is rbeast288, however. If you do get on my list, however, do not stalk me and don't always IM me. I have so many people IMing me as soon as I sign on, I don't need anymore. So, just keep all that in mind, okay? ==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\ \\\ \\\ CHAPTER TWO: CHARACTERS /// /// ==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\ *** WARNING: There may be spoilers within this section. I'm not to be held responsible if it gets spoiled for you, so... read this section with risk, my friend. ~~~~~~~~ 1. Mario ~~~~~~~~ If you don't know this guy, I think you've been living under a rock for a very long time, and I'm serious. Mario is the main hero, the guy who's always got to save Peach, the damsel in distress, from the evil Bowser... well, I won't go further. ;) Anyway, Mario is the guy of damage. His hammer and jump attacks will hurt quite a bit, and the abilities he'll get with badges are really awesome. Overall, the real best character. Attacks: -------- Jump: Of course, Mario would have to come with the ability to jump, of course? You can jump twice by going over to the enemy and hitting A at the right time, and there are plenty of other jump attacks you can use with the proper badges equipped. Hammer: Mario's Hammer attacks usually tend to be slightly more powerful than his jump attacks, although only very, _very_ slightly. To use this, hold Left until a red star flashes up, and Mario will bring it down. You'll want to use badges to get more attacks, though. Sweet Treat: Requires 1 SP. You can use this move to shoot hearts (1 HP for Mario and his partner), flowers (1 FP for Mario and his partner) and poison mushrooms (stuns Mario while he tries to shoot!) as soon as you see the Thousand-Year Door for the first time. You'll use this skill a lot! Earth Tremor: Requires 2 SP. For 2 SP, this move is quite a steal! A bar will fill, with marks along the way that will light up when you need to hit them. The more you hit, the more damage it will do to all enemies. 5-6 damage is very easy, making this a great skill to the very end. Clock Out: Requires 2 SP. Nah, it's really not all that Earth Tremor was. It will freeze enemies, allowing you to do all the pounding. You'll have to push the button over an enemy to use this skill, and NOT the ones over Mario and his partner. Still, I almost never used this skill, except for one boss fight. Power Lift: Requires 3 SP. A similar skill to use to the previous one, this one increasing your attack and defense power. This skill is indeed useful, but the problem is that it costs 3 SP, whereas good old Earth Tremor, which is usually much better to use, is 2 SP. Art Attack: Requires 4 SP. This is just a plain AWESOME move, even if it is a bit high on the SP price. You can circle around enemies, using the Ruby Crystal Star. The more you draw around the enemies, the more damage you'll do. Which means, doing 9-10 damage to all enemies is not hard. Sweet Feast: Requires 5 SP. Nah... this move is sweeter (OMG I LIKE PUNS) than Sweet Treat in terms of healing, but it costs five times as much SP to use, and the healing (about 15 HP/FP back for everyone) compared to Sweet Treat's 7 HP/FP healing. Still, it's a bit faster and more fun to use... Showstopper: Requires 2 SP. A real steal for 2 SP, but it's pretty hard to use. What it does is instantly kill the enemies, but for that kind of result, you have to do the timing just right. You'll have to press random buttoms that appear on the screen REALLY fast to do this, so make sure you're ready. Supernova: Requires 6 SP. Oh. My. God. This attack can do perhaps 15-20 damage to all enemies; it's that powerful! All you have to do is tap A... really, really fast. Still, it's by far the strongest attack in the game, even if it pushes 6 SP out of you. ~~~~~~~~ 2. Peach ~~~~~~~~ As usual, Peach gets kidnapped a little bit into the game, and spends most of the game in a certain... somewhere, captured by X-Nauts. That makes her the center of a lot of attention, when everyone at her castle and Mario want to rescue her and the X-Nauts and Bowser's Koopa clan want to capture her. However, while she's captured, she makes friends with a traitorous (to the X-Nauts) computer named TEC, who wants to be taught the meaning of love. ~~~~~~~~~ 3. Bowser ~~~~~~~~~ The very... SLOW leader of many Koopas, Bowser is another person who cannot stand the X-Nauts and wants to kidnap Peach and find the Crystal Stars. He has a bit of a sense of humor, although he has a badass attitude and is very obviously evil. Mario will encounter him a few times during the course of the game, each time needing to fight him. Trust me, his servants call him names such as "Your Grumpiness" for a reason. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. Goombella ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mario beats Goombella in Rogueport, looking for the treasure there (and the Thousand Year Door). She's a cute little creature who is always able to tell you about anything that's going on, in and out of battle. She's not an excellent fighter, but Goombella is mostly good for her ability to scan enemies. Using that, you can see enemy HP and strategies for defeating them, as well as some Nintendo humor. Attacks: -------- Headbonk: Just like good old Goombario from the original Paper Mario, eh? This is just like Mario's Jump attack, if only slightly weaker. You can do this twice by hitting A before stomping the enemy, but the attack gets much better once Merlon powers Goombella up. Tattle: Now this is why you'd ever want to use Goombella in the early parts of the game, more so than any other character! You'll get enemy stats, such as HP, attack, and defense. And you'll get detailed information and some Nintendo humor, just like I mentioned earlier. Multibonk: Requires 3 FP. Pretty much the same ability as Power Bounce, except maybe slightly, slightly easier to do. Do this over and over, and you'll do up to about 10 damage a hit, so long as you get the hard timing right. Probably her best ability, Tattle excluded. Rally Wink: Requires 4 FP. Well... this move has its uses here and there. It's great if you're very low on HP and desperately need to heal, and the timing you need is a complete laugh, but you'll only get one extra turn, so it's kinda overpriced. Still, it's good in a few cases. ~~~~~~~~ 5. Koops ~~~~~~~~ Koops joins the group at Petalburg, wanting to defeat Hooktail so that he can avenge his dad, although he actually joins you after that because he sort of wants to go with you, I suppose. Koops attacks from within his shell, and can give Mario a bit of defense. His attacks come from his shell most of the time, however. He's good for damaging all enemies and will be used in nearly every battle... until you get Yoshi. ~~~~~~~~~~ 6. Flurrie ~~~~~~~~~~ Flurrie is a spirit living within the Boggly Woods, and although she has next to no clothes on whatsoever, she won't even let herself be shown without a necklace on. She's probably my least-used character though, since her physical power simply cannot contend with Yoshi's, or even Koops's or Goombella's. She can, however, blow enemies away with her breath, but that's not easy to time and costs 4 FP, which isn't exactly a plus. ~~~~~~~~ 7. Yoshi ~~~~~~~~ Yoshi gets hatched from Glitzville while Mario is being dubbed "Gonzales", so he calls Mario that for the rest of the game. Except, he isn't the Yoshi we all know. Yoshi's a great character for hitting enemies multiple times, and his Ground Pound attack, while being an extremely easy attack to do with no FP, will do 5 damage to an enemy, that's really nice! And on the field, you can ride him around, making him very frequently in my party. Ground Pound: An excellent first ability, being that Yoshi doesn't need any FP to use it. Although the damage is very weak, you can hit an enemy four to six times with this ability, depending on how much Merlon has powered Yoshi up. Overall, one of Yoshi's best abilities. Gulp: Requires 4 FP. One more extremely good ability, this one allowing Yoshi to eat anything that isn't too big, and then spit it out at another enemy. This will usually do about 4-6 damage to the enemies it'll hit, making this a steal for 4 FP, if you're built up enough. Mini-Egg: Requires 3 FP. Nah... really not the kind of attack I like to use. It'll deal out three eggs -- four once you get Stampede. Each one does 1 damage at the very most, and might shrink the enemies. Not really that great; I'd pass until Stampede. Stampede: Requires 6 FP. Slightly overpriced, and really hard to time at first, but it can do about 6 damage to all enemies on the ground; you simply have immense difficulty beating such a thing. The timing is very hard to get used to, but it's possible. Definitely Yoshi's strongest ability. ~~~~~~~~~ 8. Vivian ~~~~~~~~~ Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers! Good. Vivian is a member of the Shadow Sirens who work under the X-Nauts, and the Shadow Sirens are sisters. She betrays her sisters Marilyn and Beldam about 4/10 into the game, because they both treat her like dirt and just push her around. She makes a great character, though. She can set fires on enemies, gradually damaging them. Her Fiery Jinx attack is really good, and she can avoid damage and fool people by hiding in the shadows. ~~~~~~~~~~~ 9. Ms. Mowz ~~~~~~~~~~~ Ms. Mowz is INDEED a rodent... but a rather cute one, at that. She's actually a mouse thief, traveling the world looking for badges. She has a crush on Mario, which is really why she can join in the first place. However, she isn't exactly an amazing character. She CAN steal from enemies and has a few good abilities, but she has naturally low HP, which can definitely turn you down. And you NEVER need to use her field ability, and that's final. ~~~~~~~~~~~ 10. Bobbery ~~~~~~~~~~~ Bobbery's the seventh and final party member to join Mario, and he's definitely the party member built for pure aggression. He's basically just a pirate who lives in Rogueport. However, he never wants to go out to sea because once when he did, his wife succumbed to an illness because of it, and he finds it his fault. So I suppose you could say that he joins your group to atone. And he seems to have a fondness for blowing bombs up from behind him. ==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\ \\\ \\\ CHAPTER THREE: BASICS: READ BEFORE PLAYING /// /// ==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\ Paper Mario 2 is a pretty simple game, but might want to learn a bit from the boss before you get started, right? ;) +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+ Field Controls: +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+ Main Stick: Make Mario move Start/Pause: Go to menu Control Pad: Menu shortcut A: Make Mario jump/talk/examine B: Use Mario's hammer L: No use R: Use Mario's abilities X: Use partner's abilities Y: Use Mario's abilities Z: View Mario's stats More coming next update... +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~ Battle Controls: +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~ Main Stick: Move cursor Start/Pause: No use Control Pad: No use A: Take an action B: Previous/cancel L: No use R: No use X: Attack audience member Y: Switch attack order Z: No use ==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\ \\\ \\\ CHAPTER FOUR: WALKTHROUGH /// /// ==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\-+-+-+-+-+==\\==\\==\\ ** NOTE: This walkthrough is VERY incomplete at the moment. Repeat: it's very, very incomplete. I'll be updating it almost every day, however. So, just be patient and I'll get to it. |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| a. ~ PROLOGUE ~ |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| *********** 1. Prologue *********** The game opens as Luigi exits the house, opens the mailbox, and finds a letter addressed to Mario. Going back into the house, he'll read it to him, finding it was written by Princess Peach. He'll read Peach's story, saying that she left to go to Rogueport. She'll ask that Mario go over to Rogueport, and Luigi will pick up a TREASURE MAP from the letter. Press A at the title screen, and the boat will sail over to Rogueport. Once you arrive, the driver will allow you to stop. Head over to the left, and jump to the block marked "S" to save your game. I know we haven't done much, but it's annoying if someone knocks the power cord out of the wall, y'know? Head up the street, and you'll find some purple dude harrassing a little creature (or, shall we say, a Goomba) named Goombella. So... we might as well fight injustice when we find it, shouldn't we? Begin! +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: LORD CRUMP || HP: 5 || DIFFICULTY: * /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- This fight is so easy it really doesn't deserve to be called a boss fight, but anyway. All that Crump will do is jump to you and attack; that's certainly not something you should be worried about. Although Goombella is on screen, you can not control her, so stick with Mario. Use his Jump attack and RIGHT before he lands on Crump's head, press A. While it normally does 1 damage, it'll hit for 2 damage if you do it like this! Crump's attacks will do one point of damage per hit. Just continue jumping, and Crump will go down instantly. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- After that battle... Crump gets angry and calls a bunch of men just like the one behind him. After that... GEEZ! Mario and Goombella will escape the huge group of creatures that surround you, though. Head to the right, and go up the stairs and to the left. Laugh at those hundred of guys who missed you, and well, there you go. Once you've done that, watch a quick cutscene where Goombella gets all excited about Mario having the Treasure Map, and she'll join you. Now you can control her! ************ 2. Rogueport ************ After the chit-chat, head to the upper-left side. Goombella was right. This place is indeed full of idiots. This rat here will get all angry and yell at you not to move, because he's looking for his contact lens. He'll never find it, so just move and Mario will automatically break it, no matter where you move. And he won't let you pass unless you buy a replacement. Man, what a stingy guy. Let's not bother with that, though. Enter the store just to the right, and speak to the guy there. You can't buy a contact lens here, yet. Proceed to buy some Mushrooms, and you'll get a little explanation of how the shopping system works. Buy some mushrooms here, as well as a few other helpful things here and there. After that, leave the shop and head to the far right. Go through the gate on the right, and then suddenly... some creep just takes off with half of your coins! What nerve! Well, let's get those back, shall we? Head between the shop and the bar, and enter the house on the left there. This utter idiot gets really scared and hands back your coins. Well, that's good. Now head back to the last area, and go to the far right. Speak to the guard there, who won't let you pass unless you pay. If you don't pay, you have to fight. Who wants to pay? Fight! It'll give you 22 star points if you win! This is a more difficult fight than the last one, but still shouldn't be tough if you bought Mushrooms. Gus here has 20 HP, and you'll need to attack with Mario's Hammer skill. If you Jump, you'll fall on top of Gus's heavy spear. Goombella does not have any other skills except jumping, defending, and scanning Gus, so just have her defend and use a Mushroom on Mario now and then to replenish his health. Make sure to hold the main stick to the left and let it go when the red mark comes on screen, so you'll do 2 damage instead of 1. Each of Gus's attacks will do 3 damage. Use a Mushroom every now and then, and you won't have a problem. Now enter the house on the upper-right, and talk to Professor Frankly inside. After another pretty silly scene, he'll go outside and invite you to jump inside a pipe leading to Rogueport Sewers, where the Thousand Year Door is. Just hop in... ******************* 3. Rogueport Sewers ******************* Alright, now we're in here... head over to the right, and you'll be attacked by a group of Goombas. There are three types of Goomba in this fight (and isn't it a pity we can't control Frankly for this battle, or at all through this place?), the Goomba, Paragoomba, and Spiked Goomba. Mario can jump, or he can hammer, and Goombella can only jump. Goombas, you can jump or hammer. Paragoombas fly, so you have to jump them. However, jump a Spiked Goomba and you get damaged yourself! So hammer those. Follow the path once you beat those, defeating enemies along the way. Once you can, head up and to the left, upstairs. Jump to the platform when it moves toward you, and continue further to the left. Hop down the pipe there, like you usually would, and continue down the stairs. Go to the right and destroy the ? boxes to find a MUSHROOM and a FIRE FLOWER. Enter the next pipe at the far right, and marvel. I can understand Goombella, but HOW THE HELL CAN MARIO FIT THROUGH THOSE TINY THINGS? Sorry, I rambled. Anyway, next screen. You'll see a little rat crawl through a hole, but bah, just leave it alone. Step on the blue switch, and what do you know? A wall becomes stairs! Go over to the right, and head upstairs. Speak to the creature in the treasure chest, who will beg you to find a key and release it from the box. Right. Anyway, head down from there and head left beyond that staircase, and when you can, fall through the top end. Collect the BLACK KEY here, and drop to the floor, returning to the creature in the box. When you open it... it inflicts a curse on Mario, being something evil? Actually, no. It'll actually give you a new ability, to turn into a paper airplane when you reach a platform, by pressing Y. Shall we try out this new ability, right here and now? Go down the large flight of stairs, and press Y. Hold down and right... and we're a sailin'. Walk over to the large Thousand Year Door, and it'll explain where the first Crystal Star is, on the map. Also, light will engulf Mario and he'll learn the ability SWEET TREAT. Gather Star power, and you can use this to restore some health to Mario and his comrade. You will then automatically leave this place, and Professor Frankly will explain that the first Crystal Star is in Petal Meadows. My, that's a nice sounding place. However, Princess Peach might have already gone there... perhaps. However, to get to Pearl Meadows, you'll have to find a pipe somewhere in this place. Leave the house, and Frankly will give you a POWER SMASH BADGE. This will allow Mario to use 2 FP for a stronger hammer smash attack. Anyway, to proceed. Go back to the Rogueport Sewers, but don't worry, we won't spend much time in here! Head to the far right side, and you'll find a plane icon. Use Y, and sail to the very far end, fighting the Goomba on the way. Once at the end, hammer the tentacle there. Really. It will get angry, and you'll have to fight it. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: BLOOPER || HP: 12 || DIFFICULTY: * /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Hah, it's really not all that. The Blooper is comprised of two tentacles, and one squishy enemy. The tentacles have 3 HP, but do yourself a favor and start by throwing a Fire Flower. This will kill the tentacles, AND will damage the Blooper. This makes it even easier. Just use Mario's Power Smash attack; the Blooper's attacks aren't very powerful. Continue attacking; you likely won't have to use a Mushroom to cure yourself. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Once that battle's over (and you get Star Points, hehe), jump across the platforms along the way. Just hop into that pipe there, and we're on our way to Petal Meadows. |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\\ b. CHAPTER 1 /// |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| **************** 4. Petal Meadows **************** Oooh, nice looking place. And lots of stuff to get, for the time being. First of all, move up and smash the two trees to collect a MUSHROOM and a STAR PIECE. The more items the better! Move onward, and OMG WHAT IS THAT SCARY SHADOW?! Well, we don't know yet, but it's past. Continue and fight every battle on the way. I leveled up my FP first, and then my HP a little later, personally. There's a ? box just further; open it collect a MUSHROOM. And continue fighting Goombas. Really; they're not hard at all. Go out through the path on the right, and beat the Goomba groups there. Look off the edge of the pier and you'll get a CLOSE CALL badge! Equip that on Mario right away! Now go over to the bushes right to the upper-left of this point, and hammer them out of the way to find a pipe. Don't bother with the pipe just back; it's useless. Continue along these bushes, until you reach a blue switch... Have Mario stand on this, and a bridge will appear where we found the Close Call! But don't stop there; continue across the bushes. At the end of the path is a STAR PIECE. Alright, now it's a long way, but jump back into the pipe. Once back on normal ground, continue right and hit the ? box for a FIRE FLOWER and look through the bush on the far side. Collect the MYSTERY there, and exit through the right. ************ 5. Petalburg ************ A Koopa will stop and talk to you as you enter, speaking of Hooktail, a dragon that eats anything it finds, just about. Scary. Anyway, head to the right and enter the shop (with the yellow sign near it) as you pass, and buy some stuff from that shop. It sells stuff for slightly cheaper prices than the Rogueport shop, so that's an advantage. Stay at the inn and rest on the way, so that we are ready to go to the Shhwonk Fortress where necessary. ;) Go over to the next screen, and enter the pink house there. The Koopa elder will think that you're a thief, but will quickly realize you aren't. Just answer to him what you personally think would be nicer. =) He'll tell you that Hooktail has the Crystal Star, and that you'll need to find Stone Keys inside Shhwonk Fortress. It's time to get there, ya? Go out through the eastern side of Petalburg, and enter Petal Meadows again. You'll be stopped by a Koopa who thens run away, but we'll get to that later. **************** 6. Petal Meadows **************** Let's immediately check the upper bush right at the entrance for a STAR PIECE. Now that was a good way to start the second part of Petal Meadows! Anyway, this place will introduce Koopa Troopas, which are altogether new enemies. They have a bit more HP on them than the non-boss enemies we have yet fought, but they have hard shells with lots of defense. To get them down so that they're ripe to attack, first have Goombella or Mario jump them, and then hit them with anything you wish. Defeat all of the enemies along the way, and hit the ? box for a POW BLOCK. That is EXTREMELY important! After that, enter the building on the right, and examine the creatures on the pillar. OMG IT'S TEH UBER ATTACK OF TEH LARGE BALD CREATURES! You can't damage them with jumping, hammering, or flaming, so you have to use a POW Block. Just use the attack from below them, and they both go to the underworld. The next part is pretty simple. Just walk forward, while beating the Koopas on the way. Once in the next building, examine the pillars again, and this time you'll be attacked by Bristles. Just as easy as the last creatures; just use a POW Block and they're gone. Go to the next screen, beating the Koopas, and stay on the southern part of the grass to find an INN COUPON there. This will give you one free rest at an inn! Nice; now hit the ? box for a FIRE FLOWER. Also, there's an inn box here that will replenish all of your HP and FP, but requires coins. In the next building, save your game just in case, and speak to the stone. It'll change you to some question answering, so I hope you're ready! You have to answer five times right before three times wrong, so here are five right answers. 1Q: What's hidden in this places? 1A: Stone Keys 2Q: What does one Mr. Softener and one Fire Flower cost at the store? 2A: 16 Coins 3Q: What is the name of the mayor of Petalburg? 3A: Kroop 4Q: Tell me, now! Where is the Crystal Star? 4A: Hooktail Castle 5Q: How can one get from Petal Meadows to Rogueport? 5A: Go Through a Pipe Now, the stone will reveal a tube leading into Shhwonk Fortress. We can now enter! ******************* 7. Shhwonk Fortress ******************* This is a short, simple place, for the most part. When we start, enter the room on the left, beating the Fuzzies along the way. They will suck your HP, 1 HP a turn. Try to stop them by hitting A just a second after they start trying to get off, and they won't drain but an HP. Beat them like normal, and enter the room on the far left to find a MOON STONE. A Fuzzy will drop on you after you take it, though. Just beat it using the combined power of Mario and Goombella, and there'll be no problem. After you've gotten that, head right, all the way back to the main room. Now take the door to the right, beating off the Fuzzies on the way. Find the MULTIBOUNCE BADGE along the way, however. When you're in the room at the right, collect the SUN STONE there, and take a left all the way back to the first room once you've defeated the Fuzzy that drops on you. Annoying things, those creatures. I especially like Goombella's Tattling them. ;) Back in the first room, a higher-place Fuzzy will see you, and get angry. And thus begins a fight, but I'm not going to call this one a boss fight. Pound on this Gold Fuzzy successively, and quickly. That's Mario's Power Smash, and a constant attack from Goombella once you Tattle it. After you deal some damage, a huge band of Fuzzies will appear and attack, doing about 4-5 HP of damage every turn! Go for those first, with everything you've got. After the Fuzzies are gone, the Gold Fuzzy should be nothing to your attacks. Once you've done that battle, it's time to return to Petalburg. Leave from the door right behind where the Gold Fuzzy attacked, and go to the far left, past the Petal Meadows. ************ 8. Petalburg ************ Once you're back here, enter the pink house at the side of this place, the house of the elder. Speak to him about owning the two Stone Keys, and now... we need to find a way to Hooktail Castle. Easy. Head west to the first Petal Meadows area, and you'll be stopped by the Koopa who spoke to you before you left for Shhwonk Fortress. His name is Koops, and he wants his dad back and wants to defeat Hooktail. So let him come with you! Koops is a great fighter for ground-based enemies. His skills will go for enemies on the ground, so when you're faced with more than one enemy, use the attack that requires FP. Otherwise, his normal move. The timing is all pretty easy, so no need to worry. Also, Koops can remain in one location, you can let go of X, and then he'll charge forward. I'd switch him out for Goombella, personally. After he joins, head west to the first screen of where you first entered this place. There are two stones on the left and right, with holes to place something. Put the Moon Key in the left and the Sun Key in the right, and then they'll become switches. Hit them... but they don't do anything? Yep, you have to hit them both at the same time. Simple enough. Go over to the one on the left, leaning against it but FACING LEFT. That's important. Do that, and hold down X. Move over to the one on the right, and then let go of X and immediately hit the switch. And then the middle stone becomes a pipe... jump in, and head right to the scary... ****************** 9. Hooktail Castle ****************** Yep, Hooktail's castle. This is by far the longest dungeon so far, so I hope you are prepared. Once inside, jump on the bouncy spring to go to the path above. Pay 6 coins to heal your HP and FP completely at the box on the left, if you wish. Otherwise, just head right to see yourself above great heights. My my, you wouldn't want to fall off, would you? Press Y at this platform, and fly over to the ledge on the right, and there we are inside the actual castle. Go over to the right, gawk at the skeletons, and ambush the Paratroopas along the way. They are just flying Koopas that become Koopa Troopas after you jump them, but then you have to jump them again! Argh. Anyway, after you beat them, collect the POWER BOUNCE BADGE from behind. Equip this on Mario right this second! This is a badge that allows an amazing new ability for Mario, which allows him to jump on an enemy over and over until you make a mistake hitting A. It gets really hard pretty early, though. Anyway, enter the room on the right, and Koops will find whom he thinks to be his dead father. However, he reads a note and realizes that he isn't. However, there is an unusual skeleton to the right. Examine it, and it gets angry and sics... OH MY FREAKING GOD! Hundreds and hundreds of skeletons! Run? No, fight them off! Hammer, hammer, hammer your way to the red skeleton, and speak to him to start a boss fight. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: RED BONES || HP: 5 || DIFFICULTY: ** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- The Red Bones and not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Dull Bones are a little stronger than the other two bosses we've fought yet, but it's still not really too bad. Beat up on the Dull Bones, FIRST. If you have a POW Block, Fire Flower, or any other item like such, you'll instantly eliminate all except Red Bones. Take the little guys out as quickly as possible, because their attacks will add up quickly, and they'll even rebuild their friends! If the Red Bones does this, immediately take it out. Once he's alone, defeat him very quickly or you'll regret it. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Well, that wasn't too bad. Enter the next room, and you'll find it's full of skeletons as usual. The problem is, these ones move. Fight off the two moving skeletons in this room, which are really just normal Dull Bones. And very, very important... get. The. SHINE SPRITE. Along. The. Way. I cannot stress that enough for you. Anyway, since I've stressed it, head right to the end of this room. Here we're faced with a bit of a puzzle. First of all, hit the purple box, and a purple platform will appear at the upper-right part of the room. Now go to the right side of the purple box, and face right while using Koops's Hold ability. Return to the purple box, stand on it, and let go of X to go to the top of this room. From here, just head onward to the balcony, and collect the STAR PIECE there. See, aren't you glad you listened to me? Return to the bottom level, and make sure the purple box is there and at the bottom level. Hit the yellow box at the bottom, and then jump on top of the purple box, up to the block, to the left, and use Koops to hit the red switch and move the stairs over to the left. Drop back to the bottom level, and then hit the next switch to obtain a CASTLE KEY. Good, good. Hit that red switch again, and return to normal floor. Go over to the right, head upstairs, and use the Castle Key at the door there. There's a save block over here, so you might as well use it! That's what I always say! Defeat all the Koopas in this room, and then go to the room on the right, after using Koops's ability to hit the red switch near the door. This is a rather large room, and rather quiet and suspicious... anyway, open the chest in the middle, to get the good BLACK KEY... but what's the catch? Of course! Spikes rise all over the room and a spike trap is now falling down to the floor! You gotta run, but there's only one path out! Head over to the far right, and then up. Go left, and then head up, left, and then down to the bottom and to the left, to the door. Whoo! That was close. Anyway, head upstairs and enter the room there, and you'll find another treasure chest. Open it with the Black Key, and of course. It'll curse you with another ability, this one being the ability to become thin as paper with R. Well, this helps you out. Go to the left, downstairs, and press R to go through the cell on the left. Pick up the ATTACK FX R BADGE over there, which is rather important for the battle against Hooktail. Now head out, another room back, and to where you fought that Red Bones. Look to the bars, until you find an object behind one of them. That's what we're looking for. Slide over there, and collect the CASTLE KEY there. Now return to the final room, with the green switch and platform. Rise to the top, and then head upstairs and open the door there. You just GOT to love keys, man. Now, in this room... head over to the left, hitting the blue switches along the way to create paths forward. Repeat this once more, until you reach a gap without a switch. Hmmm... ah yes, very easy. Jump through the window, head right for a STAR PIECE, then go left, and then jump back out and continue over to the left. See, was that hard? In the next room, beat the Dull Bones along the way. Not very varied, are the things? Now use Koops's Hold ability to get to the upper part, the same way you always do. And of course, typically, more Dull Bones. Drop off through the left, and use Mario's paper ability to go through the bars. Collect the LIFE SHROOM there, and... typically, we have to go all the way back up. Oh well, I guess that is no real big deal. Anyway, once you're back up there, head over to the left, and talk to Ms. Mowz in here, some crackpot female mouse who seems to be hunting for badges. Take the three treasure chests that for some reason she did not open, those are a CASTLE KEY, a MUSHROOM, and a HONEY SYRUP. Not bad, any of the stuff. And also collect the SHINE SPRITE. Now we're cookin'. Just cross the path and unlock the door on the right with your Castle Key, and that's good. As usual, beat the Koopas and get to the top of the room. Now this place is a bit... narrow. Just walk over to the left (man, I feel like Luke Skywalker) and go to the left side of the bars. Slide through them, and use the airplane panel to get to the door on the right. First of all, head down the stairs, give the yellow block a smack, and use Koops to grab the CASTLE KEY. Be careful doing this, however, or you could end up going all the way back up here. But anyway, once you've got it, ascend the stairs to the top of the room. Unlock this door, and now you'll know that we're near Hooktail! Just go up the stairs, fighting off the enemies along the way. Continue to the upper-left once you're at the top of the stairs, and make sure to heal yourself and save, just in case you lose. Enter the room on the right and then... that's... one... big... dragon. And it acts just like you'd think it would. However, its name is Hooktail and it's the one who has the Crystal Star. Which means... +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: HOOKTAIL || HP: 30 || DIFFICULTY: ** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- He's not really that hard, but his attacks can give you a run for your money. I really, really recommend the Power Bounce Badge (3 BP) and the Attack FX R Badge (0 BP) to be on Mario; that'll make this a cakewalk of a fight. Mario's Power Bounce attack will do about 6-7 damage, while the Attack FX R Badge will make Mario's hammer sound annoy Hooktail, and his attacks will grow much weaker. He can stomp (really powerful), he can chomp (really powerful), and he can breathe fire (4 damage to both Koops and Mario), so his attacks aren't exactly weak. Keep at it, with Mario jumping on Hooktail's head as much as possible. If you end up low on HP, Sweet Treat is the best way to go. Koops should just stay back, heal when necessary, and occasionally use a normal roll attack. Once Hooktail has lost 20 HP, he'll start begging for mercy. Ignore all of his orders! Could you really spare a creature like this? Although, after you ignore his orders he'll eat the entire crowd. Grrr. Well, he's only got 10 HP left. Pound him like a nut, healing only when necessary, and he'll die no problem. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- After Hooktail passes away, Koops's father will jump out of his mouth, giving the party that Crystal Star that Hooktail had hidden away inside his belly (ewww!). Mario was also learn the Special ability Earth Tremor, which has the potential to be an EXTREMELY powerful attack with the right timing. And it'll hit everyone, although it requires 2 SP. That ends Chapter 1 for Mario, but for Peach...? **************** 10. Unknown Area **************** Princess Peach has been kidnapped. AGAIN. Can you believe it? Well, at least it isn't Bowser that's kidnapped her. It's some freak of nature named Grodus, the boss of Lord Crump, whom we fought in Rogueport. After a small talk and Grodus learning about the location of the map, which belongs in Mario's hands, Grodus makes three female goons caled the Shadow Sirens, those are a thin purple girl named Vivian, one fat purple one named Marilyn, and one tiny little one named Beldam, go after Mario. Anyway, as for Peach, who will be locked away. Enter the room on the left, and decide to take a shower there. SHOW SHOW SHOW. Nah, it won't. After Peach gets out "feeling like a new princess", enter the room to the right of the one you were thrown in, to speak to a "perfect computer". It spied on Peach in the shower, and when Peach gets angry and thinks the computer is in love with her, and then this computer wants Peach to teach it true love. And with that, she sends an e-mail to Peach. Enter Bowser, now. He's grumpy and storming around being deemed the title of "Your Grumpiness", as usual. Walk over to the right, and speak to the old hag there. Thus ensues a very funny scene. She tells him while he's already angry that the X-Nauts have kidnapped Peach, and then Bowser gets angry because "NO ONE BUT ME SHALL KIDNAP THE PRINCESS!". And thus, he breaks a hole through the window and leaves. Gotta love. ******************** 11. Rogueport Sewers ******************** Here we go; back as Mario, in Petalburg! Anyways, go near Koops's house, except to the fence near it. Press R to become thin, and slide through it for a MEGA RUSH P BADGE. Now prepare to leave Petalburg and go back through Petal Meadows, when you're stopped by getting Peach's e-mail. Well, we know what that says, anyway. Go all the way back to the beginning of Petal Meadows, and from there, hop into Rogueport Sewers. Now go back across the drifting platforms, and back to the main area. In this room, slide through the bars on the right, and from there, go over to the left, and into the room there. Merlee, Merlon's sister, is in here! Trust me, buy the Special. You surely have enough coins, and believe me it's worth it. After that, go back to the pipe, head left, and instead of the previous business of using the floating platform, head left and slide through the bars instead. Once in here, slide the leftmost bars to immediately drop to the floor. Aren't we cheap? After that, jump into the pipe at the upper side, and once you're down there, continue to the right and then upstairs and to the left to find an airplane panel. Use this panel to reach the platform over at the left, where the Thousand-Year-Door is. However, there's stuff to get! Slide through the bars, hop up with the trampoline, and collect a SHINE SPRITE. And also, go under the stairs to find a STAR PIECE. Now that that's done! Stand at the center and use the Crystal Star there, and you'll learn of the location of the second Crystal Star: Boggly Woods. Mario will decide there's nothing better to do than ask Professor Frankly, so that's where you're taken. He'll tell you that there's a secret pipe leading to the Boggly Woods, and once again, it's in the Rogueport Sewers. However, first of all, talk to Luigi. He'll give you a rather... lengthy version of your adventure, describing his own one. Bah. Just go back into the sewers, through the bars again, and all the way back to the room with the giant staircase and yellow block to the left. You'll see that rat crawl through a hole again, but this time it's important. Slide through the bars to the right of the hole and go to the left, where you'll trap it. You would think you'd fight it, but it turns out to be a friendly creature. Knowing you want to find the next Crystal Star, it'll show you a passage into the woods. Just head right, and up the stairs once the creature (it's of the race of Puni, and it's name is, quite frankly, Punio) opens the secret passage. Head to the right, past the wall, and then just slide through the pipe that Punio will offer you. And this marks the end of Chapter 1 and the beginning of miniscule little Chapter 2. |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\\ c. CHAPTER 2 /// |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| **************** 12. Boggly Woods **************** Picturing the area of the Boggly Tree, can you imagine any different look than this? I know I couldn't. But anyway, hear what Punio has to say, and then head east to the next screen. The Shadow Sirens! But hah, they lost the description of Mario, so they don't know who you are! Apparently, Vivian has found a necklace, and gave the description of Mario to Beldam, who's lost it. She'll get angry and take the necklace. And they just let you pass. ;) Hit the tree right to the left of Vivian, Marilyn, and Beldam, and a SLEEPY SHEEP will fall. Now proceed over to the right, beating up enemies on the way and collecting a HONEY SYRUP in the flowers. And on the next screen, you can see the Great Tree. However, let's do some item collection before that, m'kay? First of all, go over to the right to collect an INN COUPON, hop in the pipe, and go behind the small waterfall to find an FP PLUS BADGE. Now head east to the Great Tree! Inside, though, the door is locked. Climb up to the top of the tree, and Punio will tell you that there is a secret entrance somewhere, but it would take too long to find, so you should make Madame Flurrie, living deep inside the woods, do it instead. Fine; just leave the screen and then you'll see what she's up to. She's dressing herself up, that's cool, but when she realizes she's lost her necklace, she shrieks out loud and locks herself in the back door. Tough. But anyway, now's the time to take care of that. Head over to the left and jump into the pipe on the left to return to main ground. Just head all the way over to the right, but look out for the Pale Pirahna enemies, they're extremely annoying. Once you're on the next screen, beat the Dark Puffs along the way, and head to the far right of the screen. See a small opening in that tree? Maybe not, BUT I SURE DO! Press R to turn to paper thin mode, and squeeze through that opening. Head up, and to the path at the top, and go all the way over to the left. Hit the blue switch, and an airplane panel above will get much, much higher. However, it'll still be connected to the pipe, so it's all good! Collect the STAR PIECE behind the blue switch, and then return all the way back to ground. Head to the upper left, and through that pipe. Now switch to Koops if you don't have him here already, and aim him to the left for a SHINE SPRITE. After that, use the airplane panel to get to the side on the right. It really isn't too hard; just use right and up, just not constantly. Once you're on the next side, fight even more Dark Puffs, and smash every tree you see; one will drop a STAR PIECE. Continue to the right, until you find several little trees. Squeeze between them as paper Mario, heading right but staying against them... to find a VOLT SHROOM. Very nice! And also, at the bottom-left side is a STAR PIECE. :) Now just enter the pipe that leads into her house, and enter it. Is she here? Yeah, but she locked herself in the bathroom. Talk to her, and she'll explain the problem with the necklace. Silly, but we have to fix it. Return all the way back to the entrance; remember that as the place where we found the Shadow Sirens, who had it? Also, at the time you're talking to Flurrie, they realize that Mario passed them. Just return all the way, and obviously, it begins the fight! +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: VIVIAN || HP: 10 || DIFFICULTY: * /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: MARILYN || HP: 12 || DIFFICULTY: *** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: BELDAM || HP: 9 || DIFFICULTY: ** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Hah, I began this fight nicely. Start by using Earth Tremor, and with a good enough timing, you'll do 5 damage to all of them. However, DO NOT do Earth Tremor perfectly. Otherwise, Vivian will do some attack, 1 damage to everyone. But that's not all, Marilyn will do an electric attack for 4 damage to everyone. And it doesn't end there. Beldam will blow a cold wind upon you, for 4 damage. That's correct: once they reach half their HP, they get really angry. So it's best not to do that. Do 5 damage to all of them, and you'll be counterattacked with 5 damage to your two characters, of course. Now just heal your party up with Goombella/Koops, and wait for them to attack. You'll have to take Vivian out first, but after that, concentrate all power on Marilyn, and don't stop for anything. She can increase her fighting strength, and she WILL do so. She'll be doing lots of damage, so a Sleepy Sheep won't hurt. Continue ganging up on them, especially Marilyn. They will all go down eventually. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- After that, they'll all call a retreat and they drop Flurrie's necklace. Pick that up, and now return all the way back to Flurrie's house, and drop it by the bathroom door. She'll then come out, and... hah, she's completely naked anyway, even WITH those giant breasts. Alright, shut up now, Rich! She'll flatter Mario upon getting out of there, calling him the "cutest thing she's ever seen". And she'll even join your party. Flurrie's a bit of a "different" character. She can do a body slam attack by linking up two cursors, much like Goombella's Tattle ability. She can also blow enemies away with a gust attack, but that costs 4 FP, and it's kind of hard to get right. But anyway, now that we have Flurrie, return all the way back to the Great Tree. Now climb up the top of the tree branch, and blow the... invisible something off the secret passage, and then Punio will jump into it and unlock it from the inside. Now you can get in! ************** 13. Great Tree ************** Once inside, just move forward, and Punio will point you that everyone is gone. Just head a bit forward, and two X-Nauts will attack. Just hit them during the battle; they really couldn't be that much easier. Once they're gone, some Punis will come out from hiding, but only about a tenth of all the population; the others were captured by the X-Nauts. And obviously, the Punis don't trust Mario because he's "mean looking" and "giant". However, one will help if you can rescue the others. Anyway, heal yourself and save on the right if necessary, and then enter the green pipe nearby. On the next floor, ignore the machine there, even if it has a slot to insert something. There is no need to use that now. Enter the pipe on the right, and then examine the bush at the lower-right side of the area for a POWER PUNCH. Now just head onward, battling the X-Naut. Just continue forward from there; the path is very linear. Just stop when you see captured Punies. There's the elder in one red cage, and 90 Punies, including Punio's sister, trapped inside a blue cage on the left. However, to open them, you need keys. Anyway, just head to the left, and you'll run into Ms. Mowz. Remember her from Hooktail Castle? She'll speak pretty much the same stuff she did then, and then just go out, leaving you to get the chests. Fight the guard in here to collect a RED KEY, and open the chest that Ms. Mowz left for an ULTRA SHROOM. Man, Ms. Mowz leaves stuff! But now, just as long as we have the Red Key. Head all the way back to the room with the captured Punies, and use the Red Key to unlock the elder's cage. Hah! You thought she (yes, the elder is female) was a trap, right? No, she just speaks a plethora of nonsense. Ignore the senseless stuff she says, and return all the way back to the first screen, where the elder will stay and make all the other Punies go with you. You now have Mario, your partner, Punio, Puniper, and nine other Punies on screen. Talk about pressure. The elder will give you a PUNI ORB, which can be used to power stuff up in this cave, but be warned: will also draw the Punies' attention, not allowing them to take eyes off of it. So, just keep an eye close to that. Anyway, just go back up that pipe, and into the room with the strange machine. Put the Puni Orb there, and what do you know, the Punies won't move! However, a pipe appears. Take the Puni Orb as you go, and hop into that pipe to go down. You'll now be faced with a platform (the Punis cannot jump, period), and a cliff on each side. The one you're on has a switch you can pull. Just grab that, and you can take a shortcut between here and the entrance. And as we all know, shortcuts are always good. ;) Anyway, to get the Punis across. Put the Puni Orb on one side, and then use Flurrie to blow them off the edge. They will then be returned up as bubbles, only to fall again. But lo and behold, Flurrie can solve that problem. Once all 11 Punies are on the other side, go down and examine the bush there for a THUNDER RAGE, and just head right to find a SHINE SPRITE. Now return using the pipe, jump across the platforms, and make sure you have your Puni Orb with you. Allow the Punies to enter the pipe, and let's go on. Head west, and a Pider will drop down on you. These spiders are ugly as my feet, so the Punies will not continue until they're gone. So do yourself a favor and rid the Great Tree of them. After it's gone, head to the far left and jump in the pipe there. Once on the ground, just go over to the far right side. Hop in the pipe over there, and here we have yet another screen, with one path going left and one going right. Take the one on the right, and make sure Flurrie is in your party. Voila, a bunch of Jabbies attack from inside. Step in the middle of them and blow them around with Flurrie while the Punies attack, and that shouldn't be a problem. Following that, the Punies will enter the Jabbies' nest and destroy it. M'kay, now we can get past that. Walk across the pillars, and then jump down to the floor to find a BLUE KEY. You know what that's for! Return all the way to the place where the elder is. Don't worry if you leave some Punies; the elder can call them back. Now go over to the room where you freed the elder what seems like ages ago, and unlock that cage. Now, believe it or not, you are carrying 101 Punies around on your shoulders. Use the elder to call them back if you wish, and then go all the way back to the room where we went into the Jabi nest, and then head west. Be careful to kill the Piders along the way, because otherwise the Punies will not pass! Period! Anyway. Making sure all 101 Punies are behind you, and you have the Puni Orb. Allow them to follow into the next room... AND HOLY GEEZ, 101 JABBIES! Yes, you are in a room with 101 slug-like creatures, 101 insect-like creatures, a nest, yourself, a waterfall, and a nude ghost. Now that's just weird. But these are easy. Have Flurrie blow them over while the Punies walk all over them, and that's that. Punio will destroy the nest, just like before. So go on and enter, and then go into the next pipe. There's nothing to be gained by just standing near this machine. There is with the next one, though. Slide down the pipe, and look behind it for a STAR PIECE. Put the Puni Orb into the machine, and then none other than Lord Crump appears! Remember him? Ah yes, and did I mention that when you put the Puni Orb in there, a pipe opens and a cage falls on top of you and all 101 Punies? Yep, sorry 'bout that. Lord Crump will now wander off, searching for the Crystal Star while "you're out of the way". Mario can get out of the cage by sliding through the bars, but the Punies can't. So, we have to free them. Start by jumping into the pipe at the upper-right, and going down to the bottom floor. You'll find four strange pillars there, so what could those mean? :) Pretty simple. From here, return all the way back to the room where you got the Blue Key. There are four black switches in here which will change the figure on the pillars, but you want them in this order: Sun, Moon, Puni, Star. The pillars will then disappear into the floor, revealing a hole behind them. Enter that from for the SUPER BOOTS. Congratulations! You can now stomp, which is a nice new technique to use for battle. Soon you'll get a new hammer, which is also devastating. The Super Boots will allow you to stomp down on the floor, AND they allow for much stronger jump attacks in battle! Alright, enough senseless praise. Head outside, and break the metal floor there to fall onto a pillar. Hop one bit to the left, and use Koops to get a CHARGE BADGE. Also, you can jump across the pillars and get to the upper part of the screen for a SHINE SPRITE. We'll have to pay a visit to Merlon next time we get to Rogueport! Now just use the pipe to return up, and go over to the cage with the Punies. Break the hole in the floor, and then put the Puni Orb in the machine to make all of them gather near it. From there, just blow all 101 Punies into that hole. Yeah. Really. Once that's done, regroup your party until it says 101/101 at the bottom-left of the screen, and take the Punies up through the pipe on the left, and gather them all at the machine there. Now it has a point! Break the hole in the floor with your stomp attack, and blow all the Punies into the hole like you pretty normally would, and then follow them into the next pipe. Just continue, killing some very easy enemies that you'll meet along this path. Proceed along this path until you reach a giant lake. Argh. A puzzle. Anyway, use a pipe to go down to the bottom floor, where you'll find a room similar to the one through the locked door of the one with the Elder, with platforms to cross! Jump over to the one on the far right, and go up through the pipe. Now for the puzzle itself. Hop on the switch right ahead, which lowers another switch in the middle of the water, which we need to hit. However, this switch is blocking the way, and to lower it you'll lower the other one! To make things worse, you can't jump to the other one normally. Guess. If you said "Koops", you're right. Start by hugging the wall and standing on the switch, and then shooting Koops to the left and holding X. Now get off the switch and wait for the smaller one to appear in the water, and THEN guess what happens? The entire lake is drained right into the lower part with the platform, to create bubbles! Now go to where the lake was to collect a SHRINK STOMP BADGE. Nice ability. Now, collect all the Punies together and blow them across the platforms. Now that you've done that, go to the next screen, making sure you get the handy SHINE SPRITE. ;) Now through the pipe, place the Puni Orb on the machine, and... boom! The floor collapses! Yep, it was a secret passage. Laugh at Lord Crump, and go to the bush on the left to collect a MUSHROOM, and make sure ya save. Now head over to the right and put the Puni Orb into the machine, and the Crystal Star drops. The only problem is, Crump immediately appears and steals it! Following that, Crump sets a timer for five-minute detonation of the Great Tree. You've got to run! Head all the way back to the entrance, fighting the X-Nauts who get in the way. They're not really that bad, just hit 'em around a few turns and watch 'em fall. Getting back to the entrance shouldn't be hard. Once you're there, Crump has no choice but to stop the timer. Following that, Crump will run off and appear in a super robot, the Magnus. Which triggers a boss fight here, but too bad Lord Crump's too much of a wuss to fight himself. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: MAGNUS || HP: 30 || DIFFICULTY: ** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Lord Crump, as you might expect, is always more bark than bite. Magnus's stomp attacks aren't exactly that dangerous, and neither are the earthquake-like attacks, although they'll damage both of your characters. Just about the only thing to worry about is him punching his arms out, which may target you for quite a bit of damage. Take them out quick with a Multibounce, and then pulverize Magnus like he can't be pulverized; that's probably the best strategy. Koops and Mario is probably the best party here, although a Lv. 2 Goombella is even better, if you have her. If you happen to get 2 SP, use Earth Tremor. Do this right, and you'll do about 5-6 damage to Magnus, which is 1/6 or 1/5 of his HP, depending on how you do it. ;) Otherwise, just have Koops use his attacks every turn while Mario invariably uses Power Bounce. This attack will do 7-infinite damage to Magnus, as long as you do it correctly (although the chances of you doing more than 12 damage with Power Bounce are very slim, let alone infinite). Keep at it a bit with pure, solid aggression, and this robot will fall. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Crump then gets scared and calls a retreat, and he also drops the Emerald Crystal Star along the way! Yay, just take it and Mario will receive the new ability "Clock Out". Now, besides Peach's and Bowser's parts, Chapter 2 is complete. **************** 14. Unknown Area **************** Now what's Peach doing? Just take another shower on the left, and then the door to the right will open. That means TEC spied on her and wants to see her. >_< Just enter his room like you did in Chapter 1, and what do you know! TEC is developing a crush for Peach! He even asks her to dance with him! He'll make a hologram of Peach for her to dance with. Just press all the buttons (based on A, B, X, and Y) that will appear above Peach's head, and that was a success. Once you do that, you'll go over to Bowser, who has to get through Petal Meadows to try and find Peach and the Crystal Stars. By god, he's behind... we've already got the SECOND Crystal Star and he's searching for the FIRST? Anyway, you get to play a mini-game as Bowser in which you're playing the first level of Super Mario Bros. Just destroy all the blocks along the way and get the meat to grow bigger, just mushrooms would Mario in Super Mario Bros. And when Bowser finally gets to Petalburg, naturally all the Koopas run. He then calls out to none another than a poster of Peach. Thinking that Peach is just playing the silent treatment on him, he watches as a Koopa takes the poster and runs. Haha, what a hilarious turnout for poor Bowser. After that laughable scene, we'll return to what Mario is doing, after we leave the Great Tree. ************* 15. Rogueport ************* Exit from the Great Tree, and make your way all the way back to the Rogueport Sewers. From there, go to the Thousand-Year Door and put the Emerald Star there, and you'll find that the next Crystal Star is in a floating town in the sky. You'll automatically be taken back to Professor Frankly's house, where he'll tell you that there's a blimp in the west part of town that goes to Glitzville, but you need to speak to a stingy guy named Don Pianta to get there. Remember that female toad that blocked our way earlier, and we need to get her a new contact lens? We need to get past her to go to the west side of town. Start by going to the shop, and buy the CONTACT LENS there for 10 coins. Good, now that we have that, give it back to her. This is Zess T., and she'll cook for you from now on. Not a side quest I really bothered with that much, but it's worth taking a look into a bit later. As we come in here, hug the wall near where you enter, and you'll find a STAR PIECE there. Go near the pipe a little bit down, in the green garden with the blue flower. Check behind it for a STAR PIECE, and go over to the Pianta Parlor, but a little down. Start Spin Jumping, until a little piece of the ground starts coming out. Continue, continue... until it comes out, and a STAR PIECE falls. Now go behind the trash can on the left for another STAR PIECE. Now go to the shop, and buy a DRIED SHROOM, and then a DIZZY DIAL. In that order. And buy those two items. Period. The shopkeeper there will then ask you what color your mustache is, so reply "black". She then realizes that's the wrong answer, and asks you your favorite color. Say "yellow" and she'll let you out through the back, which is a secret passage to Don Pianta! Go through there, and then up the stairs to find Don inside the house. Obviously, he won't exactly hand you a blimp ticket and say "bon voyage". He'll give you one if you can find his daughter Francesca and her boyfriend Frankie, and bring them back to that place. Sounds simple enough. From here, go out to the central side of town, and then go south to the harbor. Go to the very bottom part to find the two there, but no matter what you say, they won't go back to Don Pianta. Now, go back to Don and tell him the situation, and then Francesca will appear herself. After an emotional scene, you get a BLIMP TICKET. Now just head to the northern part of the main western side of Rogueport, and talk to the person at the upper-right. Now we can go to Glitzville, the city in the sky. |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\\ d. CHAPTER 3 /// |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| ************** 16. Glitzville ************** Yay, now this chapter is fun, although it spans even less places than Chapter 2 did. Once you arrive in Glitzville, your first thought would be to enter that collossal building, no? Nah, let's do some item collection. There's a large star emblem in the middle. Spin Jump a little below it several times, until you get exactly the middle. That's a STAR PIECE. Now head left, behind the telephone booth there. There's a STAR PIECE behind it. Head to the upper-right of this area, to find a STAR PIECE there, in the bushes. And it's doesn't end. See the shadow under the glowing box above? Hit it, and a block will appear. Jump on it and then jump to the glowing box for a SHINE SPRITE. Now head into the bar on the right, and search behind the counter. There's a STAR PIECE hidden there. Now leave the bar, head to the lower-right side of it, and hit the switch there. Climb the stairs that will then appear, to find yourself on top of the juice bar. Use Koops to grab the STAR PIECE underneath the picture. Grab the POWER PLUS P BADGE, and then just get down from here; that airplane panel is useless for now. Now we can enter the main building, which is an area of battle. Find the picture of the bombs, and Spin Jump. You got a STAR PIECE! Now enter the door in the center, and you'll find two guys fighting; the yellow one, Rawk Hawk, who is supposedly the champion, will win. And on his champion belt is none other than the Crystal Star. Alright, now Mario and Koops agree to force their way to top place. Talk to the guard to the door on the left, and he'll allow you to talk to the main boss, Grubba. He'll then show you all over the place, and ask you to sign a contract. He won't accept "Mario" as a name, and will make you go under the alias of "The Great Gonzales". Har, now I like that. He'll take you to a minor league locker room, and allow the manager, Jolene, to teach you the rules. You're at Rank #20, and have to make your way up to the champion to go to the final battle with Rawk Hawk. This is where I'll guide you. Examine the Game Boy Advance on the left (looks very funny, doesn't it?) and Gonzales will give you a condition. You have to follow these if you want to proceed. Period. Hope it's something like "appeal once" as opposed to "don't use FP" or "don't attack, and just let your partner do it". Anyway, just reserve a match with the Game Boy Advance, and the first battle is against the Goomba Bros. ~ #19 ~ Enemy: Goomba Bros. Reward: 3 coins Difficulty: * This battle is so easy that I could puke. Just beat them around with a few attacks, and you'll win this one without a single problem. - - Grubba will give you a bit of an interview, and then you'll be taken back to the locker room. A guy there, King K. (stands for Koopa) will introduce you to a fairly rounded bunch. Himself, the brave, strong guy; one particularly adventurous and mischievious thief; one rude and plain mean guy; and a bomb with a very bad speech method, but who speaks wisdom. Anyway, just use the Game Boy Advance to play the next battle. ~ #18 ~ Enemy: KP Koopas Reward: 4 coins Difficulty: * Not really too bad. They're just a different version of regular Koopas, with different color. Beat 'em up by jumping them down to their shells, and then have Mario or Koops do the fighting. - - Just use the Game Boy Advance. ~ #17 ~ Enemy: Pokey Triplets Reward: 4 coins Difficulty: * These things can add up the damage if you allow them, but if you don't, they're all just minor pieces of cake. Hit 'em back and forth a bit with your hammer, for some fun. - - Nothing to do, so just examine the Game Boy Advance. ~ #16 ~ Enemy: Dead Bones Reward: 5 coins Difficulty: ** Remember these from Hooktail Castle? They're nothing but easy, what with their pathetic 1 HP. Hit 'em around with your hammer a bit, and try and finish them off as quickly as possible. - - Next. ~ #15 ~ Enemy: Spike Storm Reward: 5 coins Difficulty: * Do I really need to give a strategy? - - Buy some hot dogs if you want, although they're 10 coins. They restore 5 HP and 5 FP, which is nice. Save just in case, since these next guys can steal your stuff if you're caught off guard. ~ #14 ~ Enemy: Hand-it-Overs Reward: 6 coins Difficulty: ** Try and finish them off IMMEDIATELY. If you weren't given some handicap, then use Mario's Earth Tremor and Koops's Power Shell as soon as you possibly can. That will finish them all off, unless you really screwed up on Earth Tremor, which is really not that hard. They can steal your items and coins, so if they do, kill them immediately. - - Nothing to do, it's up to you, I've got nothing to say but it's okay, good morning, good morning... next battle, and full credit to the Beatles for that line. ~ #13 ~ Enemy: Mind-Bogglers Reward: 6 coins Difficulty: * Not exactly difficult, although it would be best to eliminate them quickly. Beat 'em up and boggle their minds a little bit, and then just go on to the next fight. - - Read the above sentence. ~ #12 ~ Enemy: Punk Rocks Reward: 7 coins Difficulty: ** They've got very high defense, even if they are small. Use Power Hammer right off the bat and Goombella's Tattle ability, if you wish. Just use Power Hammer twice, and you'll kill them. - - Alright, it starts getting a little more exciting and entertaining from here on. Just fight the next battle. ~ #11 ~ Enemy: Bob-Omb Squad Reward: 7 coins Difficulty: * These guys obviously aren't very smart, as two hits to any of them will detonate them. This can blow you up, but the strategy is simple, if it's allowed. Make Mario Multibounce them, and then have Koops use Power Shell. BOOM. All gone, and no damage taken. - - Alright, after that battle, don't immediately go to the next match. Instead, head outside to the hot dog stand. You'll see Jolene on the way, asking a guard about what's with all the noises coming from the locked storage room. Anyway, just ignore that for now and head out, and go to the hot dog stand and buy some if you want, but the problem is that their rare imported egg just started jumping around by itself! We can fix that. Just stand in one place, waiting for the egg to bounce into you. Then the egg will jump on top of the hot dog stand, where you can't reach it. To get it, head to the right and unlock the stairs if you haven't already. Then head up and use the trampoline to reach the airplane panel, and fly over to the stand. Capture the egg there, and it'll want to go with you. Fine by me. Just go to the Game Boy Advance and register for another match. ~ #10 ~ Enemy: Armored Harriers Reward: 1 coin Difficulty: ****** What's the problem with this match? YOU CANNOT DAMAGE THEM. I repeat: you can't hurt them in any way, but they can hurt you for 5 damage a hit. Just run away, because there's no use attempting to fight them. - - Well, the Armored Harriers won. But wait, what happened to your egg? It hatched into a Yoshi! This Yoshi knows what your problem is, and offers to help. Good, another party member! I'll call him "Yoshi" for the rest of the guide, since it's the easiest. Now, since you lost that fight, you went down a rank. Fight another battle, and then return to the Armored Harriers. Now this time, you can beat them. Just so long as you have Yoshi. ~ #10 ~ Enemy: Armored Harriers Rematch Reward: 7 coins Difficulty: * Yoshi can handle this without a problem. Just use Yoshi's Gulp ability twice, and you'll do 4 damage to both of them. They'll attack, but try to time their attacks so you can deflect them, and thus you'll hatch a win. Just make sure you have 8 FP handy. Mario can be a healer. - - Once you beat them, Jolene will talk you to Mr. Grubba's office, where you'll be taken to the Major League locker room and given 30 coins. However, the champion, Rawk Hawk, will barge in and insult you. He and Yoshi will have a cross-off with each other, and Mario will begin to think the Crystal Star on his belt is a fake. After that, you'll get an e-mail from a mysterious being known as "X" who orders you to follow his orders to find the Crystal Star. Well, that came out of nowhere. Just examine the Game Boy Advance. ~ #9 ~ Enemy: Tiny Spinies Reward: 11 coins Difficulty: ** NOT VERY HARD. Just use Mario's strongest attacks, since they have a little bit of defense on them. - - Nothing will happen, so... just examine the Game Boy Advance to start the next battle. ~ #8 ~ Enemy: Shell Shockers Reward: 12 coins Difficulty: ** ... - - After that fight, you'll get another e-mail from "X". He'll order you to go to a "watering hole" outside the Glitz Pit. He means the juice bar. Just leave this coliseum and go the bar on the right, and talk to the bartender. X seems to have left, but he left something for Mario: the Super Hammer! Now he can smash large objects. After you get it, Mario gets another e-mail saying to smash the block in the minor league room. Well, seems like X is our friend. Go back into the Glitz Pit, and head left and through the door. Head three doors to the left, including the door to the battle arena. Speak to the guard there to enter the minor league room, and then smash the yellow block to the left. Climb up the boxes to the right, and then use Yoshi to fly over to the left, and collect a paper on the Crystal Stars. Just leave this room, and Jolene will confiscate the paper and throw Mario out from the minor league room. Smells of suspicion, doesn't it... now go to the major league locker room and start the next fight. ~ #7 ~ Enemy: Poker Faces Reward: 12 coins Difficulty: ** I recommend using Earth Tremor and/or Koops for this fight, since if you get close to these buggers, they'll hit you in the face with spikes. And you can't jump them, obviously. Try and block their attacks, while having Mario and your partner Appeal over and over, until you can use Earth Tremor. - - The Iron Clefs will come back for another fight! Well, that was rude, but you can beat 'em just like you did before. Use Gulp twice, and then watch as they spin their eyes back and forth. Once you return, you'll receive a hate e-mail, saying that if you continue bothering with the Crystal Stars, you're dead meat. Hmmm... the plot thickens. Anyway, start the next battle. ~ #6 ~ Enemy: Magikoopa Masters Reward: 13 coins Difficulty: *** This is probably the most difficult battle yet, because the enemy party is such a variety. The R. Magikoopa will cast attack and defense magic, the W. Magikoopa will attack and when the party gets critical, cast healing spells and support spells, and the G. Magikoopa will electrify the Koopas and make them invisible. AND when they get critical, they'll make clones of themselves. I'd start by using Power Bounce and Gulp on the R. Magikoopa and wiping it out, then trying to block the W. Magikoopa's attacks, and repeating. Keep an eye on your health. - - After that battle, what do you know? Jolene sent you a piece of cake, apparently as a fan. Just eat it up, and all of your health will be replenished! Just use the Game Boy Advance again to start another battle. ~ #5 ~ Enemy: Fuzz Reward: 13 coins Difficulty: * Now this is a "cute", but easy battle. You've got a Fuzzy (little HP weakling creatures), a Green Fuzzy (high HP bloodsucking creature), and a Flower Fuzzy (high HP, FP sucking creature and one that casts magic). Concentrate on the Fuzzy first, since it has such tiny HP. Now use Earth Tremor, or ANYTHING that will take out the Green Fuzzy quickly, since it'll multiply. After that, hammer the Flower Fuzzy like crazy, since it'll cast strong magic. Not very hard. - - What happens after that fight? Bowser suddenly storms on stage and demands to fight with Mario! Well, anything that allows us to get a battle in with Bowser. Begin! +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: BOWSER || HP: 30 || DIFFICULTY: ** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- He's really not all that tough, but his attacks are. He'll breath fire, he'll stomp on you to decrease your abilities, and he'll pack a bit of defense on himself. Koops or Yoshi are definitely recommended for this fight, and you should definitely have some Mushrooms or Hot Dogs handy. Beat up on him with all of your power, and use Mario's Shrink Stomp ability, since Bowser won't be nearly as tough once shrunk. With low defense like that, even Goombella can hold her own, although Yoshi will do better, gulping and spitting. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Well, that was definitely out of nowhere. But anyway, that's all that is between the fifth and fourth ranked fights. ~ #4 ~ Enemy: Craw-Daddy Reward: 14 coins Difficulty: * He's basically just a slightly stronger version of Gus; that's surely not something I need to worry myself over. I'd use Mario and Yoshi for this fight, having Mario use his hammer (4 damage a hit) and Yoshi Gulp (4 damage a hit) several times, until the fight ends in your favor. - - "X" will send another e-mail, asking you to meet him in front of the telephone booth outside the Glitz Pit. Remember the telephone booth with a Star Piece behind it, right when we entered this place? Go all the way back over there, although you'll be stopped by Rawk Hawk along the way; he'll give you a quick threat and then leave you be. Once at the booth, look behind it to find a STORAGE KEY. X will e-mail you again, telling you to unlock the storage room near Mr. Grubba's office. Just go left of his office, and unlock it. When you're in here, you'll encounter none other than Ms. Mowz. She was the one causing noises, if you passed Jolene talking to the guard here, earlier. She'll then sneak away, allowing you to do whatever you want. Use Mario's hammer to destroy all the boxes in here, including the ones on the right so that you can collect a STAR PIECE. Now use Flurrie to blow the boxes on the left away, and hit the blue switch there to make a set of stairs appear. Head upstairs, grab the SHINE SPRITE, and jump on the box and use Yoshi to fly over to the right. Smash the boxes! Really, do it! Use Yoshi to get the HP PLUS P BADGE there, and then enter the vent on the right. Once you're up here, go to the right and peek through the hole, to find Jolene and Grubba talking to each other. Surprise Grubba by making a "squeak" sound so he thinks you're a mouse; that's the funniest result. Now just use paper Mario to slide through the bars on the bottom-left, and return to your locker room and start the third battle. ~ #3 ~ Enemy: Hamma, Bamma, and Flare Reward: 14 coins Difficulty: *** This is very likely the toughest battle in the Glitz Pit. Hamma is a plain strong fighter, and should definitely be taken out first. Bamma will use boomerangs, which will do 3 damage to everyone, but these attacks are not that hard to block. Flare will spit fire, which is a definite threat. They all have 7 HP, so they aren't particularly hard to beat. Use Earth Tremor if you have the SP, and then have Koops or Yoshi damage all of them. - - Remember that mysterious hate mail that you know believe Rawk Hawk sent? You'll get another piece of hate mail, warning Mario to stop looking for the Crystal Star, or end up like the other missing fighters. Use the Game Boy Advance again and Jolene will bring a cake in, but don't eat it yet. Just fight the next match, and... ~ #2 ~ Enemy: Chomp Country Reward: 15 coins Difficulty: ** This is an annoying battle, but just use Earth Tremor, Koops, and Mario's Hammer to easily damage the bunch of 'em. They're not really that hard, they can just get annoying. - - When you return, you'll find a Koopa lying on his shell on the ground, injured. Well, not really, but he ate the cake; it was poison. So someone wanted you out, eh... but anyway, just so long as you can fight, might as well go to the top seed, aside from Rawk Hawk. ~ #1 ~ Enemy: Koopinator Reward: 15 coins Difficulty: ** He's tough, but not in terms of difficulty. While he does have a great attack power on him and 25 HP, there's just one of him. Use Mario's strongest attack, that's probably Power Smash. 6 damage; Yoshi's Gulp will do 4 damage. Heal up if he gets you, since he can charge up his attacks and do a LOT of damage if you leave him be. - - After that battle, X will e-mail you again, telling you to peel the Great Gonzales posters off of the Glitz Pit walls. If you go back there, you'll find a hell of a lot of them. Anyway, use Flurrie to blow them off; start with the ones at the bottom, and scale the wall until they're gone. Then head upstairs and blow those two away, and the last one will drop a STORAGE KEY. Now take this down to the locked door we've already opened earlier, and take the staircase up. Go through the door on the right, to the second floor. Jump to the boxes on the left once you reach the next room, and use Yoshi's Float ability to get across the boxes on the right. Now go over to the far right and use Mario's Power Smash... and what?! King K. and your thief friend from the Minor League, both squashed and near dead! How could this have happened? Anyway, there's nothing you can do with them. Just try to leave this room, and then you'll see Jolene watching. Plot thickening even more, eh... Now go to the major league locker room, and reserve the match with Rawk Hawk. After that, the guard will come, but he won't lead you to the usual spot. You'll go in through a different entrance because this fight's special, supposedly. However, he'll take you to a minor league locker room. And meanwhile, Rawk Hawk steps into the arena and Grubba waits for Mario (or the Great Gonzales, if you wish to call him that). But anyway, you have to find a way out of here. Go over to the bottom-right side of this room, and blow the poster there away to reveal a hidden path. Now, I like that! Head to the right, past the small room there, and into the other major league locker room. Once again, head through from the upper-right, and you'll arrive in a bathroom. Flush yourself down the toilet (EWWW) and the pipe will take you to the major league locker room we're used to! Yay! From here, just go to the arena, and the RAWK begins. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: RAWK HAWK || HP: 40 || DIFFICULTY: ** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- He's not really that difficult, but he's certainly much tougher than all of the other monsters we've fought during this tournament. I'd recommend Mario and Yoshi for the first part of this battle, and then Flurrie when Rawk Hawk jumps to the ceiling. He'll be adding a bit of damage up on you, but remember he'll only get one turn to one from Mario AND Yoshi. Combine with a Power Bounce and a Gulp, and you'll be beating him up really bad. Use Sweet Treat to recover FP if necessary, and watch out when a thick fog appears, because Rawk Hawk will be quite a bit more accurate than you. Use mainly jump attacks, until Rawk Hawk jumps to the bars on the ceiling. He'll get quite a bit stronger here, dropping stuff on top of you. Now switch Yoshi out for Flurrie, and have her use Body Slam. Eventually, Rawk Hawk will fall off the bars and fall. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Well, Rawk Hawk did lock you into that minor league locker room and he did send you the poison cake, but he did not send the hate e-mail. You'll be taken to what used to be Rawk Hawk's room, and given the champion belt, but it's a fake Crystal Star. X will then e-mail you, telling you to find the "ghost" in the champ's room. First, rest in the bed, and then just jump on top of the boxes to the left, and switch to Yoshi to fly over to the vent on the right. Use Mario's Super Smash hammer move to break down the vent, and then enter. You'll hear none other than Grubba plotting to do evil things! Yep, the manager was the bad guy all along, not Jolene or Rawk Hawk. He'll leave his room, so just break down the vent to arrive in his room. Open the bottom drawer to find a STAR PIECE, and then the upper one to read a top secret paper. Grubba will then run away immediately. Head to the plant at the bottom-left side of the room to find a STAR PIECE, and then enter the arena, where Grubba awaits you. It turns out, he was using a machine powered by the Crystal Star to suck the energy out of fighters, so that's what's happened to the fighters, including the first champion of Prince Mush. Needing to keep his secrets, Grubba will then use the machine to become Macho Grubba. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: MACHO GRUBBA || HP: 60 || DIFFICULTY: *** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- There is one move that is an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY in this battle, and that is Mario's Special move Clock Out. Start the battle by using this spell, and make sure you press the button that appears near Grubba instead of the one near Mario and your partner! Seriously. Once Grubba is paralyzed, beat him like nuts with Power Bounce and Body Slam or Ground Pound, depending on whether you bring Flurrie or Yoshi, who are both good choices for this fight. Goombella's Multibonk is also nice. Grubba has a whooping 60 HP, which is a real lot. When he does regain his movement, he'll be pretty tough, I can assure you. He's slow, but really strong. What he'll do is cast a spell to give him two turns every time you and Yoshi/Flurrie get finished, and then increase his attack power by 2, and then do lots of damage by flipflopping all over you. However, you got such a head start on him, that this won't be a problem. If necessary, just use Sweet Treat or even Earth Tremor. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Grubba will then die here, allowing you to take the Gold Crystal Star. After that, Jolene will come in and tell you everything. She came from a poor family, and was the sister of Prince Mush. Hearing that Glitzville was opening a battle arena, Prince Mush became the champion of the Glitz Pit, only to have his fate with Grubba. Jolene knew this, and was secretly trying to help Mario defeat him. And she was actually "X", which would explain why a mysterious being like X gave you all this help and a new weapon. Anyway, Prince Mush and the other missing fighters will be back, and Jolene will give you the Gold Crystal Star. That pretty much wraps up Chapter 3, once Mario gains the new skill "Power Lift". **************** 17. Unknown Area **************** Anyway, Lord Grodus is once again taking out anger of Mario upon his servants, this time upon Beldam. Although, Vivian, Marilyn, and Beldam are planning some secret weapon to use again Mario. Now, for Peach. Enter the room, and TEC will want her to interrogate Grodus, about his plans. To do this, go to the previous room and enter the elevator, and then head right to the room with a green lamp above it. Once you're inside, open the lockers on the left to find a uniform, and then change in the stalls to the right side of the room, to be dressed like an X-Naut. Once you regain control, leave this room and enter the door at the far right side; this is Grodus's throne room. Talk to him; he'll tell you a little bit about the plan, but he will not tell you why he wants Peach. Return to the room where you changed, and then to TEC, and that concludes that. Now for Bowser. He's inside the Great Tree, and once again we get a pretty amusing scene. He'll ask for the Crystal Star from the Puni elder, whose excuse is that she "gave it to some mustached fellow named Marty-o who wants to save someone named Princess Pinch". Believe it or not, Bowser actually knows whom she's talking about. After that, Kammy Koopa and the Puni Elder will have a fight with words, and that's that with that slow guy. ************* 18. Rogueport ************* We'll start off where we stopped, Glitzville. Head to the first screen of the town, and get back on the blimp to head for Rogueport. Once you get here, leave this screen and go all the way back to the entrance we first used to go into the Rogueport Sewers, and make your way over to the large yellow block, in front of the Thousand-Year Door room. Destroy it with Mario's hammer, and then use the trampoline it was on top of to get to that room. Inside that room, you'll find that the fourth Crystal Star, the Ruby Crystal Star, is hidden in Twilight Town. Anyway, you'll automatically be taken to Professor Frankly's room. He'll tell you that there's a pipe somewhere in Rogueport leading into Twilight Town, so I guess you just have to look... oh wait, you have me, so that settles that problem. Go to the western side of Rogueport, and become paper Mario. Slide through the sewer bars in the middle, and here'll you be inside the Rogueport Sewers (duh). Call Yoshi over, and ride him over to the platform on the left. Enter the room at the left, and enter the pipe... but what the hell? The pipe rejected you! Man, now that was cheesy. To get forward, though, you have to speak to Professor Frankly. Return to ground, and use the rightmost pipe to return to ground. Go to Frankly's house, and tell him about the situation. He'll tell you that a citizen named Darkly, living inside Rogueport, knows the secret. Alright, he's easy enough to find. Head to mid Clock Town, between a screen and Merlon's house. Speaking of that, you may want to build Yoshi up there. That way, he can use Mini-Egg and Ground Pound five times instead of four. Oh, and his attacks and HP are better. Enter the alley between the two by hugging against the wall, and then talking to the shady looking guy there. He'll tell you the secret: you have to have your name written down. So, he'll write "Mario" behind your back. Alright, now that was strange. Anyway, just return to the sewers through the holes in west Rogueport, and using Yoshi to get across the gap. Enter through the door, and go through the pipe to arrive in Twilight Town. |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\\ e. CHAPTER 4 /// |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| ***************** 19. Twilight Town ***************** The first thing you'll notice is that this is a sullen, gloomy town. And really dark and depressing. As soon as you arrive, a villager comes in and tells you to leave, but then a bell rings, and he turns into a pig! Scary. After that, the mayor Dour will arrive, and invite you into his house. First of all, look at the grass around the tree next to his house (at the north) for a STAR PIECE, and just a bit left of it is another STAR PIECE. Now enter his house, and he'll explain that inside Creepy Steeple is a mysterious being who is ringing a bell to turn random villagers into pigs. Ouch, now that is just deadly. However, the Crystal Star is inside Creepy Steeple, giving you some incentive to go there. Anyway, head to the screen on the right, and lean against the fence to find a STAR PIECE. Talk to the guy guarding the path to Twilight Trail, and he'll tell you that you have to have the mayor's permission. Fine. Go to the previous screen, but then the bell rings. Who this time? Enter the northern house to find no mayor... but a pig! Ugh, the mayor was the one transformed. As you leave the house, the bell rings again. Return to the gate keeper, to find out he was the new one transformed! Well, kind of convenient, but I assume you want to put a stop to such evil. Continue into the Twilight Trail. ****************** 20. Twilight Trail ****************** When you start, enter the small beat down shack at the top to find a BLACK KEY inside. You know what that means... head over to the right, to find several new Goomba enemies. They're much, MUCH tougher than their predecessors from the Rogueport Sewers, since they'll raise their attack power a lot. Try to deflect their blows with B, that's really amusing. Anyway, hit all the brick boxes along the way, because one contains a SUPER SHROOM, and one does 10 coins. Once you reach the next screen, have Koops get you the STORAGE KEY. Now return to Twilight Town, and enter their shop. Their back room is locked, but the shopkeeper will let you take anything there so you can help her husband. Once you arrive, open all four chests for a DEFEND PLUS BADGE, a JAMMIN' JELLY, a BOO SHEET, and a LIFE SHROOM. All very nice items! Anyway, open the treasure chest with the Black Key... Come on, did you REALLLY think that this was a good chest? This one is the most evil of all of them, calling you an idiot the most times and speaking with as much cruelty as possible. Although as usual, you get a new helpful ability. Anyway, head all the way back to the final screen of Twilight Trail, where there is a log blocked the way. Press R and then rotate the left analog stick, and you'll become a small paper ball! Yep, what a curse. Roll under the log, and switch to Flurrie. Blow this tree out of the way with her wind blowing, and then look behind the pipe that is then revealed to find a STAR PIECE. Now enter the pipe that was just opened, and just head to the left to enter the real woods. This place is pretty linear, though. Beat the flowers along the way, and break the box beyond it for a nice 10 coins. Turn into paper Mario and squeeze through the grass, and then open the ? box for an EARTH QUAKE. Now just head left, and go to the next screen. Hit the ? box to find a HAMMER THROW BADGE (equip this right away!) and then continue past the tree by using Flurrie's wind, to go to a part at the back. Just go to the right, and go to the next screen. Continue along the path from here, and then use the wind to reveal a delicate spot! Just Spin Jump on the good delicate spot to reveal a hole. Enter, and you'll be at the far side. Head over to the right, and once a block BLOCKS the way, push it, effectively moving the other block at the other side away from a hole! Now jump back into the previous pipe to return to the real screen. Go into this next hole to jump out of another hole from the other side of the block, and... LOL. Now this is just hilarious, this. Good thing it's over, though. Keep jumping as you go right to find a SHINE SPRITE, and then you'll find Creepy Steeple. ****************** 21. Creepy Steeple ****************** As soon as you enter, you'll walk around the road and find the gate closed. Now, this is getting pretty realistic, eh? Head over to the right, and ignore the well there for now. We'll have to go down that well pretty soon, anyway. Once on the right, use Mario's paper roll ability to get under the fence, and then head to the left side of the gate for a STAR PIECE. Then enter this large, castle-like building for good. It's pretty quiet and deserted for now, however. Turn into a small piece of paper, and roll into the hole at the upper-left part of the room. Now, this room is addicting! Look behind the desk for a STAR PIECE, and collect a SHINE SPRITE, ICE SMASH BADGE, and COOK BOOK from the various chests in here. All nice gifts! Now return to the previous room, and push the star-shaped spangled banner... whoops, I mean... statue out of the way, and then jump into the hole that is revealed. From here, enter the hole in the wall. I wonder who broke that? Just head to the right to find a secret room with a FLOWER SAVER BADGE. Hard on your BP, but can be worth it. Now return to the previous room, and go through the door on the left, and open the chest... HOLY CRAP! LOOK AT ALL THESE GHOSTS! Yep, the whole bunch of 'em will fly off, and then one particularly rude one will challenge you, asking how many came out. Answer 200, and let him fly away after he hands you an ULTRA SHROOM. Very good healing item! Now return to the main room of the Creepy Steeple, and tell the Boos that you won't hurt 'em (although we will later). Now go through the door at the bottom, and head up the stairs fighting the enemies on your way. You'll see a red switch at the top of the stairs, and it's simplest to hit it twice, just in case. You'll hear big noises, that's for sure. In the room just ahead, it moves a staircase. Thing is, in this room, there are three passages. The bottom one leads to a key to the boss's room, the top one is the boss's room itself, and the middle one is a stupid passage that cannot be retracted, leading back to the room with the 200 Boos. So try not to take that one. Once inside the room with a staircase, keep Spin Jumping the middle of the floor for a STAR PIECE. Now take the staircase up, while having Yoshi ready. Board Yoshi and continue running until you face the gaps. Jump across them, and at the far side you'll find a STEEPLE KEY. Now we can go fight the boss soon! Return to the room with the staircase, and take the northern exit out. You'll find a red switch in this room; whack it twice so that the staircase will move to its proper position. Having done that, go back to the previous room and head upstairs. Once again, use Yoshi to get to the far side, where you'll find a locked door, nice! Just go in there, and make sure you save along the way... head to the top and in to the door there, and heal with the block there if necessary. Once inside, you'll be greeted by the creature. It turned all the villagers into pigs for fun, saying "they roll in gloom, it's so sickening, why not make 'em roll in mud?". How evil. Time to fight this monstrosity! +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: ???? || HP: 40 || DIFFICULTY: * /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Nope, it doesn't give a name for it, and you'll see why soon. Anyway, this fight is almost as easy as the one with Lord Crump at the beginning of the game, I'm serious. All he'll do is dive at you, doing a little damage every hit. Just beat him around with Mario's Power Bounce and Goombella's Multibonk, and then he'll get an opportunity to test out his copycatting ability! And thus, he turns into a dark version of Mario. He'll be a little stronger now because he'll be jumping and hammering at you, which may do a bit of damage, but he's still effortless with a puny 20 HP left. Beat him a little more, and watch as he drops to the floor just like normal Mario would. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Mario and Goombella (my partner at the time) will then leave, but...? What the hell? We're playing as Shadow Mario? Yes, the monster took your identity, and even though he turned into a clone of you, that's what he's made you, so now you're just a creature walking in darkness. Now that is truly something quite putrid, and what's worse is that when Mario got the Ruby Star, he became Shadow Mario and the dark one became Mario, so he still has the Crystal Star! And you're alone without any partners, since everyone believes the creature. Well, this sucks. As you leave, you'll find the Shadow Sirens plotting an evil threat to kill Mario, using some mean old item called the Superbombomb. Too bad, Vivian lost it! So in general, Marilyn and Beldam treat her like dirt and leave her behind. Poor Vivian. Oh well, head back on the way to Twilight Town, avoiding enemies because you don't have any partners. Eventually, at the end of Twilight Trail, the monster that took your name and body appears. He'll let you live if you guess his name, but note that the letter "P" is gone and talk to Vivian in southern Twilight Town normally. Not recognizing you, she won't do anything. Haha. But anyway, how's about we help her? Head over to the grass on the left, and shake it. A Superbombomb pops out; give it to Vivian, and she'll get all happy. She'll understand your problems, and then feel so sorry for you that she'll join you. But heh heh, she doesn't know that you're actually Mario, yet... Anyway, head to the upper-right tree of the second screen of Twilight Town, and use Vivian's Veil ability with X. The crows on the tree will then speak of a being living within Creepy Steeple who knows this creature's name, so that's where you'll need to head. First of all, pass Twilight Town again and Mario will attack you again. You'll have to run, because he has some spell that's he using that prevents you from damaging him. Continue beyond the creature, and head all the way back to Creepy Steeple like normal, except don't bother with the gate. Instead, enter the well at the right. You'll immediately see a SHINE SPRITE right near you. Just go right into the next room, and... HOLY CRAP! LOOK AT THESE THINGS! Too bad you have to beat them all, since they'll all charge at you quickly. Still, you'll get a nice chance to try out Vivian, even if she is a bit short of her best ability, Fiery Jinx... That will take awhile, but you'll finish it eventually. Collect the TORNADO JUMP BADGE from the red box, and then go over to the wall on the right. You can push it, even if it'll come down afterwards and you can't push it through the door. Can you guess what to do? Since your problem is being stuck on one side of the wall, push it as far as you can, and then use Vivian's Veil ability! It'll pass over you and you won't take one bit of hurt whatsoever! Get the SHINE SPRITE as soon as you come in, and save if you wish. Then turn into paper rolling Mario (so purple) and roll under the hole, and then smash the delicate point in the floor to continue. Just head forward from there, hugging the wall for a STAR PIECE. Now head left, and roll through the hole to find yourself in a room with a parrot. It won't tell you hardly anything, however. First of all, there are some chests to get. Grab the following items: a POWER PLUS BADGE, a MR. SOFTENER, a STEEPLE KEY, and THE LETTER P. What the BLAZING HECK?! THE LETTER "P"?! Yep, the parrot is stuck there guarding the letter "P" for Doopliss. Oh, speaking of Doopliss, hide in the shadows near the parrot, and he'll talk to himself about Doopliss; that's his boss, the imposter who took your name. Just use the Steeple Key here, and you can get out to the main path. Continue back down, and return to the Twilight Woods where Mario attacks you, and tell him that his name is Doopliss. Now he goes crazy and spins around, dashing off in a wild fury towards the room you fought him first in Creepy Steeple. Alright, just go all the way back there, save and heal on the way, and then you'll find him with Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, and Yoshi, whom all believe Doopliss. They'll speak of the name "Mario", which perfectly infuriates Vivian. So you're stuck fighting with only Shadow Mario... +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: DOOPLISS || HP: 40 || DIFFICULTY: ** /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- \\\ -- \\\ BOSS: GOOMBELLA || HP: 20 || DIFFICULTY: * /// -- /// +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Doopliss and Goombella! Yup, but don't bother fighting with Goombella, because Doopliss will just replace her for Koops, and then Flurrie, and then Yoshi... and Yoshi is a force you don't want to reckon. So focus all your strength upon just Doopliss. All he'll do is jump and hammer at you, which can be blocked with A or B. Goombella's a little more dangerous, but she still won't do anything that's too fatal. While Mario's Power Bounce is just that, fatal... After two turns, Vivian will jump in and join Mario because, "he's the only one who's ever been nice to her". Which is quite correct, actually. Anyway, the fight just gets easier! Doopliss's Mario form is still a bit tougher than the original Doopliss one, but this still isn't anything too bad. Use Sweet Treat and Power Bounce invariably, while Vivian just uses her fire attacks. Just try not to run out of FP, and you'll be fine. +++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++---===---+++--- Once the fake Mario disappears, his light passes on to the real Mario, shocking your companions. Doopliss will then become the shadow of Mario, but he can just as easily become his ghost form. And thus he gets away from Creepy Steeple, and joins those beeps, Marilyn and Beldam, who are looking for Vivian and discover that she joined Mario, will then see Doopliss running away and decide to help him. And by "beeps" I mean a word I shouldn't use here. ;) Vivian will join Mario for real, and hand him the Ruby Crystal Star. Mario will gain a psycho amazing new ability, Art Attack. Doopliss is still alive, but we won't deal with him for quite a while. Now it's time to see what Peach and Bowser are up to. **************** 22. Unknown Area **************** We start with Grodus and his X-Nauts; Lord Grodus hears from a minor X-Naut soldier that the Thousand-Year Door is weakening, in which Grodus finds quite favorable. That ends it for Grodus. And once again, Peach needs to go see TEC. Once she goes inside, TEC will again tell her stuff that she doesn't know. After a bit of a conversation, he'll change Peach to a quiz. Here are the answers to TEC's questions: 1Q: What will happen if you collect seven Crystal Stars? 1A: Thousand-Year Door opens. 2Q: What is the goal of Grodus, leader of the X-Nauts? 2A: To conquer the world. 3Q: What is the legendary treasure that waits behind the Thousand-Year Door? 3A: A 1000-year old demon's soul. 4Q: What does Sir Grodus wish to do with this ancient demon's soul? 4A: Bring the demon back to life. 5Q: What is required to seal up the demon again? 5A: Crystal Stars. TEC will then let Peach go; even if you get one wrong, TEC will just start the quiz over from the beginning. Now just let Peach use the communicator to tell Mario about what's going on, and we get to see how Bowser's doing. He and his old friend Kammy are in Rogueport, wanting to use the blimp to get to Glitzville (what? weren't they already there?). However, Bowser's rage destroys Kammy's broom, and then he gets in his ship and soars over to Glitzville, making Kammy do it the hard way. Of course, he neglects the low fuel in his ship, and then between Rogueport and Glitzville, his ship sinks right into the ocean. What a great fate. Yay, another Super Mario Bros. level, this one underwater! Just continue moving along, flaming every box along the way and trying to collect meat to become huge, invincible Bowser. Once you reach the end, he'll get to the surface and you'll reach the flag; he's in Rogueport. Kammy will arrive and talk about how much fun she had, and then Bowser will flame her in absolute anger, and tell her to go out and find Mario. Nice job, Bowser. ************* 23. Rogueport ************* And now we return to the Rogueport Sewers... anyway, once you arrive, head to the previous room, and ignore the enemies on the floor. Take the pipe up to the west Rogueport, and then head east, until you find the usual main pipe. Once inside, just head right, slide through the bars right off the bat, enter the pipe, slide down, enter the pipe, use the trampoline, head left, go to the Thousand-Year Door, and you'll find that the Sapphire Crystal Star is at an island called Keelhaul Key. Professor Frankly, quite frankly (I LOVE MY PUNS! :)) will freak out when he hears that behind the Thousand-Year Door is a demon. He'll tell you a little about Keelhaul Key, but you're stuck on your own trying to find a way over there. First of all, enter the bar and speak to the pirate in red over at the table to the right. He'll agree to go if you get the Crystal Star and he gets everything else, so follow him over to the harbor. He'll explain that you don't have a navigator, though. So you're stuck trying to find one. Someone will explain that a grumpy man named Admiral Bobbery will help, but he hasn't been around much. First of all, head to Professor Frankly's house and ask for directions, and then head east to find the next door house, Bobbery's, is locked! Alright, there's a secret way in. Use Yoshi, and then go south of Bobbery's house. Jump across the gap, and then get off of Yoshi, and walk up the crates to get on top of the roof. Spin Jump to collect a STAR PIECE, and then use Yoshi to fly to the next roof. Collect a SHINE SPRITE to the far right, and then head to the very top side of the roofs to find another SHINE SPRITE. Just head a bit right from there, and get between the roofs to find a STAR PIECE, and then go over to the house with the hole in the chimney, and roll inside. Well, that was a bang, to say the least. Speak to Admiral Bobbery inside, who refuses to help you and makes you leave. However, enter the bar and speak to the bartender at the counter, and he'll explain Bobbery's story. It's not as sad as he goes on about, but it's still pretty sad. Bobbery used to be madly in love with a woman named Scarlette, but he also loved to go out to sea, and Scarlette approved to that. However, once when he was on a long sea trip, Scarlette suddenly got ill and died. And thus, Bobbery considers it his fault. The bartender does, however, have a letter for Bobbery in which Scarlette had written before she died. Give it to Bobbery, and then his spirits will return to him! As an energetic old dog of the sea again, he'll go over to the harbor. Speak to Flavio on the boat, and then the group will sail away... as an X-Naut confirms that an agent named "X-Naut Black" has secretly boarded the vessel. C'mon, don't tell me you didn't know that fat guy with the glasses and dressed in blue wasn't an X-Naut... |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\\ f. CHAPTER 5 /// |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| **************** 24. Keelhaul Key **************** Like a journalist, eh? Flavio will be writing in a journal, talking about how the voyage has been going. Eventually, on the third day, almost up to the point where they find Keelhaul Key, the ship stops. A Bob-omb goes up to check what's wrong, and ARGH IT'S A GHOST RAID! A thousand blue spirits will appear all over the boat, and the way Flavio is shaking in complete and utter fear... SHIVER ME TIMBERS! Haha! You know you have to laugh. YOU DO! And anyway, the ship will sink to the bottom of the ocean. The secret X-Naut agent, some other guy, and Bobbery are missing. However, you landed on Keelhaul Key, so that's a bonus! Head east to find Flavio and a pirate fighting about absolute nonsense. Go figure. Following, a group of ghosts will immediately attack, so that's something you need to take care of. These Embers are easy, just don't hit them with Vivian's fire attacks, any of Mario's Jump attacks, or Goombella's Headbonk ability. Once they're gone, they'll leave you, Captain Mario, to do the investigation around here. First of all, head along the western path, and a mole will rise from the ground. C'mon, you know the famous act of whack-a-mole, right? Just smack it with your hammer, and it'll drop an awesome healing item called the WHACKA BUMP. This restores a whooping 25 HP AND 25 FP! Now you simply cannot beat that. Now that you're done doing that, buy something from the toad shop a little bit above the beach and where the Embers attacked, and head east along the path. Be sure to Spin Jump near the rock for a STAR PIECE, though! Now head near the water, and look around to find another STAR PIECE there. After that, go to the screen on the right. Look around the path and hug down to find a STAR PIECE before going to the next screen, though! Once here, search the first bush you see to find a STAR PIECE. Hit the red box along the way for a HEAD RATTLE BADGE, and then the one just near it for a COURAGE SHELL. Haha! The enemies here can be a bit of a nuisance, though. The Putrid Pirahnas, for an example, are just plain, well... putrid. Eliminate them as fast as possible, preferably with an Ice Storm. Check the bushes right beyond to find a MINI MR. MINI. More Putrid Piranhas! How completely infuriating! Beat them off, being careful not to fall into the water. And along the way, find a block and then jump into the air, which will reveal a block. We can't bother with that yet, though. Continue, hugging the vines to find a STAR PIECE along the path. Now continue to the very end, beating off the Fuzzies on the way. Enter the opening, and then head up the hill to the left. Still going behind the wall, NORMALLY jump across the gaps, while keeping Yoshi ready. Once you find that block we revealed earlier, fly over there as Yoshi, and then fly over to the next platform and head up. Now use Yoshi to get over to the left, and carefully! You don't no wanna go all da way back up here, doncha a shootin'? Alright, I'll shut up. Fly over there, and jump the box there to find a SHINE SPRITE. Continue across the path to the right, after having Yoshi fly you back, although you may miss. Collect the THUNDER RAGE along the way, and enter the next screen to find the crew being attacked by a group of Embers. And the X-Naut is there too! Bobbery will demand that he and the other crew member get you back while he fights off the Embers, though. And so that's what happens. The X-Naut carries you back, and then gives you a classic line. "You there, in front of the TV! Yeah, that means YOU! It's pretty obvious who I am, but no telling Mario!" Honestly, how much of a joke does Nintendo wanna pull here? Yoshi's right in thinking he's lost his marbles. Anyway, follow Bobbery across the path, and jump down to the platform below to collect another SHINE SPRITE behind the vines. After that, head to the left side of the bridge, and walk down the little stairs near the entrance. You'll spot them, if you look closely enough. Walk down, and then jump into the pipe. You'll now be on a small, classic, tropical little island esque. Head to the right, and whack the tree to get a COCONUT. Don't do anything with it yet, though. Now return to that bridge and let's see Bobbery out! He'll talk about "this being how an old man of the sea meets his end", but where the hell is he? Simple. Smack the tree, and then he comes down, followed by two Embers. Better beat 'em, eh? Thus follows a pretty sad scene. He mourns about the bad times of his life, thinking he's about to die. However, his last wish is that you bring him a Chuckola Cola, the last drink he had with Scarlette. To get it, return all the way to shore, and speak to Flavio there. Hand him the Coconut you picked up from the tree, and you'll get the CHUCKOLA COLA in return. Now, return all the way back... I know, it's annoying, but that's life. Hey, this isn't as bad as going to Creepy Steeple, fighting boss, going back, going to the steeple to find boss's name, going back to give the boss his name, and then going all the way back, making us go through the stupid long woods a grand total of five times. Anyway, when you find Bobbery, give him the Chuckola Cola and he dies near the tree... breathing and snoring, if you wanna call that dead. Hit him with your hammer real quick, and he'll wake up and join you, thinking he was gonna die. Another new party member, eh? Bobbery is the "pretty slow, one big hunk o' guts" type of character. He can blow himself up (WHAT THE FRIGGIN' HELL?!) to destroy cracks in walls, and he's a pretty useful character in battle. Anyway, go to the camp where you crashed, and speak to Flavio there. Knowing that there's a secret beyond where you gave Bobbery a whack, he'll join you... but not in battle! No! Temporary, and you can't use him! That's final! Make your party of Mario and Yoshi, and then go beyond where you gave Bobbery the Chuckola Cola, and then Flavio will wait as you try to figure out the puzzle. Listen to Flavio, and he'll sing out the answer in full-pitched melodies, however. =P First of all, examine the large gold skull, which has a place to put the Skull Gem, in which Flavio has. Ask him for it, and he'll give it you temporarily. Put it inside the eye of the gold skull. Ay?! The red and blue skulls come to a bit more life. To finish the rest of the puzzle, jump on the red mustached skull three times, and hammer the blue mustached skull four times, and you'll find a barred door on top of a platform, following that. Throw Bobbery up there, and he explodes himself along with the door! How Bobbery can live through this, I have no idea, but he can. Anyway, the gold skull is gone. Just enter, to find a pirate cave... ******************* 25. Pirate's Grotto ******************* Ugh. I absolutely loathe this place with a passion, but I suppose that's just me. After a bit of talk with Flavio, look behind the barrels right near the entrance to find a RUIN POWDER. Then save, and go to the next screen. Once here, jump to the ship in the water just ahead, and make your way to the top, where you'll find a SHINE SPRITE. Nice, nice! Now head down the ship, and jump over to the left and beat off a simple Ember. After it's gone, jump to the platform on the lower-right to find a STAR PIECE. They grow on trees, you hear me? Now continue up, to find a spike trap in front of you! There's one short, easy way (riding Yoshi) and one long, hard way (using Vivian's Veil ability) to get past them. Use whichever one you want; doesn't matter to me! On the other side, enter the door and across the long path, you'll find several Bullet Bills coming out. These are the easiest enemies in the game besides Goombas, just try to hit them first, since they blow themselves up to do 4 damage to you. One attack will finish them, though. Make sure you jump and get a head start on all of them you don't get a first strike upon you, though. When you finally reach the end of the path, fight the Bill Blasters there, trying to finish them off with a couple of strong attacks. Go beyond the cannons, and some stupid ghost will moan out to you, trying to scare you to leave. Totally ignore that, and jump down the ledges to the bottom of the room, and cross the path to the right. Use Yoshi to jump across the gap, fighting off that big Kirby in here. Wait, that's not Jigglypuff either, that's an easy Bulky Bob-omb, close enough. Beat it, and head right to yet another screen on the right, making sure that you collect the SHINE SPRITE along the way by jumping to it to form a block. Head up the long path, and head to the top. Jump over to the ledge on the left, and throw Bobbery to the ledge there, so that he'll bomb the switch there, opening a door at the bottom. Man, he should be named Bombery, that's close enough! Once again, the stupid ghost warns you. Nothing but annoying, just plain ignore it. When you enter, Spin Jump right near the entrance to find a STAR PIECE. Told you they're everywhere. Now continue along the left, where you'll find a room with a load of machinery. There's a machine here which will raise you up, but you have to hit the switch at the same time you're on it. First of all, hit the red switch at the bottom until the elevator to the right is down (the one at the right, that's important, not the one on the left!), and then lean against the switch, facing Koops in the opposite direction. Jump over to that elevator, and make Koops finish it off by raising you up. Once you rise to the top, hop over to the ledge on the right to find a GROTTO KEY there. Now we can unlock another door; too bad it doesn't lead to the boss. After you do that, switch to Koops and hit the switch a few times back and forth, and then jump on the platform when it goes down. It'll go up again, which is when you strike. Make Koops hit the switch, and then have Yoshi fly over to the crate which will rise to the left, so that you can collect a SHINE SPRITE. That was annoying enough. Now head back to the previous room, and all the way down the long hill that we used to reach the room where you hit the blue switch, and open the door there with the Grotto Key. Once you're inside, Spin Jump the middle of the room for yet ANOTHER STAR PIECE. Nice. Now, follow the path to the next room, simple as that. Once in the next screen, head right, and have Koops get ya the SHINE SPRITE. Now return, and take the path on the left. There's a long line of spikes here, but you need to use Vivian's Veil ability to get past it; Yoshi's running skill doesn't work, sorry. :( Once you complete that long task, you'll find a Shine Sprite a bit in the air. Just hammer the shadow of it, and then a block will form. Jump on top of it and then jump to the air to collect the SHINE SPRITE there, and head across the bridge, fighting the Ember along the way. And once again, continue left, until you enter a small ship there... Talk to the black chest there, but of course, Mario's not gonna fall for that trick again. The monster in the chest just wants to get out; even if he's disappointed that you won't fall for his trap. However, a ghost in this room has the key; it'll appear right off the bat. Beat it normally, and then you'll get the key to the chest. Well, this one is a lot nicer than the others, even if it does curse you to be able to turn into a paper boat! Time for some returning, now. Go to the room right before the one where you got a Grotto Key, but don't sail down the waterfall yet. Sail to the right, and then go through the waterfall there to find a DEFEND PLUS P BADGE. Nice; now return to the previous and sail down the waterfall. Head left, left, left... until you reach a place to dock the boat. Now get off of it, and jump to the boat on the left! You'll find a GATE HANDLE there; that's what we need. Jump off of the boat, and hop to the ledge where you got a Star Piece quite a while ago. Now jump over to the left, using Yoshi to cross the spikes. Once you reach the room across them, to the right, use the Gate Handle on the right, and you'll open a door leading into the very depths of the Pirate's Grotto... now, just hop over to the right, continue... until you reach the room where you first used the paper boat. You know, the room right before you got the Grotto Key. That one. Now just go down the waterfall, continuing right, until you see yourself in the water of the screen where you opened that gate. Yeah, that. Sail down the waterfall on the left, and then just sail over to the right once you reach the next screen, but be very careful to avoid the waves here, trust me.