Characters

Mario will convince quite a few different characters to join him in his journey, each of which will bring valuable combat and field abilities to the table. Although you’ll undoubtably find yourself using some characters more often than others, you’ll have to use each of your partners’ abilities to make it through the game, so it’s worth taking the time to get to know them!

One of the most important aspects of your characters is their ability to be upgraded. You can do this at Merlon’s shop, which is directly next door to Frankly’s house in Rogueport. In order to upgrade one of your partners, you’ll need three Shine Sprites, which are found across the game world. (Check the Miscellaneous chapter for a complete list of Shine Sprite locations.) After an upgrade, a character will gain a bit more health and attack power, as well as a new combat ability. Later in the game, you’ll be able to upgrade all of your characters a second time, giving them even more health and offensive capabilities, as well as a final combat move.

Mario

Ah, Mario. What can you say about a character that initiated so many of us into the world of video gaming? He’s had a remarkably lengthy career, what with all the defeatings of Bowser and the foilings of Wario, but, as Paper Mario proves, he’s still willing to drop everything and run off in the hopes of finding treasure, when the opportunity arises.

’Oh, Mario. When will you ever learn to read? Talking might be a skill you want to pick up at some point, as well.’

In Paper Mario, Mario is the core of your little adventuring party, and has a number of unique abilities, such as how he can use Badges and Special Powers and how he can use two different forms of attack during battle. He’ll also usually be the strongest of your party members, if only because he can earn extra health at each level-up, if you choose to allocate your points there. He’s the tank of the group, so know him and love him. And keep him alive; if Mario dies, it’s game over for you!

Mario cannot be upgraded at Merlon’s Shop; he earns extra HP, FP, and BP when he levels up. Levelling up is accomplished by gaining 100 Star Points, which you earn after every battle (think experience). In order to gain new combat abilities, Mario will have to find new equipment around the game world; he can improve his boots and hammer attacks in this manner.

Attacks And Abilities

Jump: Mario’s basic jumping attack can hit an opponent twice, if you manage to hit the A button just before it lands. Useful against air opponents and opponents in the rear lines.

Spin Jump (2 FP): After you get the Super Boots, you’ll be able to use the Spin Jump in battle. In most cases, this isn’t going to be worth the 2 FP, as it usually only adds one damage to your attack when compared to a normal Jump.

Spring Jump (4 FP): Mario’s Spring Jump ability is much harder to time correctly than either of the previous jumps, due to the way you take a few seconds to land on your target’s head. If you can time it properly, though, you can deal quite a bit of damage, and it appears to penetrate through your opponent’s defense, but don’t quote us on that.

Hammer: Hammering is Mario’s other basic attack. Although you don’t get the opportunity to hit twice, as you do with Jump, you should deal around the same amount of damage when you time the release of your analog stick properly (which is extremely easy to do). The default Hammer can also easily be made into a Stylish move by pressing A as soon as the hammer makes contact.

Super Hammer (2 FP): When you use Super Hammer, Mario will deal a large amount of damage to the enemy in the front lines of the opposing group, and then knock them backwards into each other ground enemy behind them. The rear enemies will only take light damage, though, so this generally isn’t worth spending your FP on.

Ultra Hammer (4 FP): Ultra Hammer is essentially a beefed-up version of Super Hammer, where the enemies in the rear take slightly more damage from the contact with their flying friend. Still, this isn’t quite as cost-effective as Koops’ Power Shell ability, so you’ll only want to use it in emergencies. Note also that enemies that are rooted in place, such as Chomps, won’t be knocked backwards by Super or Ultra hammer attacks.