I was talking this and Quest 64, and when you posted, I remembered Ogre Battle, but what’s the fourth?
Thanks for doing this LP, Mega64! I love faceguy and wogturt’s LP and look forward to yours.
Are you planning on getting 100% of the tattles?
Mario would never have been defeated if he knew about timed hits.
I’ll probably show off as much as I can, though the thought of doing so is…yikes.
But since it’s me the answer is “probably”.
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There are eight chapters in this game, plus this prologue. Make sure to keep listening to the music link for an extra bonus!
Mario’s out for the count. That was quite the fall, after all.
The above actually wasn’t intentional, which is all the sadder.
The Star Spirits from the intro suddenly appear from the aether.
Their text is quite special, as you’ll notice below.
But Bowser has the Star Rod! Now he’s mightier than Mario! It’s hopeless! All is lost!
Our fates are in Mario’s hands. We must try to revive him.
Mario… Please get up… Please…
FADE TO SILENCE
It really sounded like something fell somewhere around here… Oh… Who could that be?
It couldn’t be…could it? The real Mario?
Oh no! He won’t wake up!!!
Oh, oh, what am I gonna do!?
I’m Eldstar, a Star Spirit… I have something very important to tell you… It concerns the princess…and all of the Mushroom Kingdom… But sadly, I haven’t the strength to talk to you here…
Please… Mario… We Star Spirits will be waiting for you at the summit…
Seems we’ve got our goal now. In order to stop Bowser, we must first go to Shooting Star Summit and talk to the Star Spirits.
But maybe Mario should wake up first.
You haven’t opened your eyes for days and days! Everyone’s been worried sick!
This place? This is Goomba Village. It’s a tiny village that’s just west of Toad Town. The only residents are me and a single family of Goombas.
The Goombas in the family are just the nicest folks you’ll ever meet. They’re the ones who found you unconscious in the forest and carried you here to get better.
Huh…? A Star with a mustache? You’re saying a star told you to go to Shooting Star Summit?
No, I saw nothing like that. And I sure didn’t see anyone come in or out of this house. I wonder, Mario… Maybe you just had a dream?
Although maybe not… It could have been some sort of message from a Star Spirit. They live in Star Haven. Shooting Star Summit is the nearest place to Star Haven, so that would make sense…
Who knows? In any case, I’m glad to see you’ve recovered. I know the Goombas would be happy if you paid them a visit.
Good plot dump there, but all that’s important are Goombas and Stars.
A good nap will work wonders when you’re feeling weak.
This is a Toad House, which is Paper Mario’s version of inns. They’re all over and always free.
Entering and leaving buildings always gives a cool transition effect, though this one is sorta ruined by the other building to the right blocking the shot.
There’s two parent Goombas and two Goomba children outside here. Let’s talk to the closest one first.
You don’t know what this means for me to meet you! Seriously!
This is Goombario. He’s a good kid that kinda worships Mario, though the name probably helped influence that.
Each NPC here has more dialogue if you talk to them a second time.
And you always get the best of the bad guys. Every time! You’re the coolest! I wanna be just like you!
I wonder if Mario ever gets sick of people talking him up. Probably not, but he’s so good-natured he just takes it in stride.
I was really worried about you, because you were lying there in the forest and you didn’t open your eyes at all the whole time.
Second Time:
I was in the forest and I found you and then I called Daddy and Goompa and Goombario. And then they came and got you and I’m glad you’re better!
This is our savior, of course.
I’m so glad you woke up! I can’t tell you how worried I was when you were just lying there asleep for so long.
#2:
All he does the livelong day is train and tell people how he wants to be great like you. I tell him, “Goombario! It’s all well and good to train, but don’t you go getting into danger!”
This is Goomama. She’s the least-interesting of the Goomba family, so let’s move on.
Feel free to rest in our house.
This is Goompapa. He has a good line or two in a bit but that’s pretty much it.
…Oh, Shooting Star Summit. Something important, no doubt. Well, I believe that the summit is near Toad Town.
That earthquake the other day really did a job on it. Did you feel that quake? Shoot! I thought the sky was falling. Just relax and don’t worry. I’ll have this fixed in a jiffy.
Near Goompapa is a giant S block.
It’s this game’s save points.
There’s a gate blocking a northwest branch.
While the west branch just takes us to where Goombaria found us.
Only place left to explore is the Goomba House. I don’t know if you can really call two houses a town.
I’m a Goomba grandmother, so that’s where I got the name. Ho ho ho ho.
Do Goomba names constantly change as they age? You know, there’s not a lot really know about Goomba cultures and customs. Maybe one day I’ll read the Mario Wiki and learn everything there is to know about the life of a Goomba.
But probably not.
Especially little Goombaria. Why, she looks just like I did when I was young… Ho ho ho ho.
And if we talk to Gooma again, we get this rather delightful line.
A common theme in this game and the sequel (but significantly more so in the sequel) is most women crushing on Mario, regardless of species. It’s a wonderful combination of bizarre, endearing, disconcerting, and hilarious. Who am I to say what is sexy in the Mushroom Kingdom?
Finally, out in the veranda is the final member of the Goomba family.
So you’ve awakened at last! Good! Knew you’d pull through!
I’m sorry, but would you mind giving me the details later? I’m pretty busy fixing the veranda.
Yet we can talk to him again.
But little by little, Goompapa and I are fixing it all up. Folks are saying the center of the earthquake was right at Princess Peach’s Castle. Boy, I sure hope not.
That’s everyone. The plot will advance as soon as we leave the house.
So I guess now you can travel east to Toad Town and Shooting Star Summit, huh?
Looks like Mario’s ready to set out!
If you take this road straight ahead, you’ll eventually reach Toad Town, the home of Princess Peach’s Castle. I believe that Shooting Star Summit is just beyond there.
Best of luck, Mario.
It’s kind of a shame to leave here so soon, but at least now we’re finally ready to play the game!
…or not.
Mario… I can’t believe you’re on your feet after taking such a beating from King Bowser. You’re a hardy one, all right. I was smart to come here to check on you.
Weird? You rude little… I am a beautiful Koopa with a beautiful name: Kammy Koopa!
Mario! Hear this! It is useless for you to try to save Princess Peach. Ridiculous! Laughable! As you have seen, King Bowser is more powerful than even you can deal with this time.
Mario! You will kneel and weep when you see the wonderful changes King Bowser’s made!
…Welp. The path to Toad Town is now bl-
…Nope. Sorry. I can’t do it. It’d just be too painful, and Mario’s in far enough pain right now as it is.
Nobody say “gate” to me…
It didn’t sound good. I hope nothing’s happened to her…
Wha… Wha… What!? Bowser went and kidnapped Princess Peach?! Again?! Oh, unbelievable! And now you have to go to Shooting Star Summit and help save her, right?
Dad, we’ve just gotta do something, right? Mario’s gotta save the princess! Nobody else can do it!
Ummmmmmm… Oh, here’s an idea!
I think he’s using it now to fix the veranda. Go ask him for it, will you?
Most of the NPCs at this point will say some variation of “Go talk to Goompa and get the hammer.”
She’s way up in the ranks of the Koopa clan. Some people call her the brains behind Bowser. Boy, she sure looks like one mean Koopa, didn’t she?
Goombario, meanwhile, is more than happy to share his vast knowledge of the inner rankings of Bowser’s army. You may think Goombario’s a pretty sharp kid, in which case…you ain’t seen nothing yet.
At any rate, all we have to do now is talk to Goompa, grab the hammer, then break the block and move on to Shooting Star Summit. How difficult could it be?
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…somehow I never noticed the meaning behind this name before. Way to go me!
I think I’m going to call him Goomba-Rio from now on, just to confuse people.
It took me a while to realize where Goombario’s name came from as well. But I fail to see how naming your child after Wario would be a good idea.
Maybe Goom-titles are just chosen to be expressed in Mushroom Kingdom common, and goombas have name names in goombese?
Now that’s an intriguing idea! Always interesting to discuss the intricacies of Goomba culture.
I have to say, I’ve always been a big fan of how pissy Goompapa looks when his gate gets smashed.
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“Wow Mario, my son, he idolizes you…
oh…how did I get this mustache? OH NOWHERE TOTALLY NOT FROM YOU RIGHT HAHA GULP”
[details=Click Here to open the update!]
March Ahead
Lest you forget this is Paper Mario, well.
Thankfully, Goompa seems to be alright.
I remember a great crashing noise and then the veranda collapsed and I fell. Did you fall, too? Just stepped out the door into thin air, did you? Well, we’re both OK. Problem is, we can’t get home because that block is in the way.
…Huh? A Hammer? Oh, of course! Um… Where did it go? I was using it to fix the veranda, so it’s likely around here somewhere…
Mario, we’d better look for it.
Nothing we can currently do in this screen, so let’s go west.
Look for bushes that might cover it up.
There’s a lot of opportunities in this game to interact with the environment. Think of this as a simple tutorial. There’s a lot of great stuff to be had just from exploring and trying stuff out!
The west-most bush holds the hammer.
Oh!! There we go! That’s it! That’s the Hammer! I’ll wager that if you use that Hammer, you can break the block that’s in our way.
A to Jump, B to Hammer. These will also be your two main moves in battle.
The Hammer is useful of course for hitting blocks such as this coin block. It works just like the coin blocks in the platformers, hit it as much as you can before it expires.
As Goompa said, you can hit trees with the hammer. Most have coins…
…but this has something different.
Oh! Well now! I believe that’s the dolly that Goombaria said she lost! She’ll no doubt be overjoyed if you give it back to her.
Yes, there are side quests in this game. A few are quite worth your while indeed. Probably, it’s been awhile since I’ve played but there’s plenty of good stuff to be had.
Nobody sets foot in here without my permission! Nobody!
This is Jr. Troopa. He’s kind of a jerk.
So let’s beat some sense into him!
This is kinda a tutorial battle, though it’s also incredibly straightforward.
He’s more bark than bite. You can beat him easily. Just boost yourself up and don’t take any lip!
Gee, thanks.
Right now, Mario has four options in battle, though that’ll grow during the game. Jump and Hammer are Mario’s basic attacks. There’s items, where we can use whatever items Mario finds and buys during the game.
The last is Strategies, which right now only has Run Away (which we can’t do for this fight) and Do Nothing (which you rarely want to do but may be your best option depending on the foe).
I start off with a Jump attack.
Mario is pleased.
Jr. Troopa only has one basic attack, though later on some enemies will have multiple moves.
Here’s the animation for the Hammer. Right now, Jumping and Hammering do the same damage.
So it’s just back and forth a few times. No real strategy, but this entire section is about easing you into the battle system. Once it gets developed, there’s actually a surprising amount of depth. But that’ll be awhile.
When down to his last hit point, Jr. Troopa powers up.
Now he does a whopping two damage. But again, he’s one hit away from defeat.
Like so.
You get Star Points every time you beat an enemy. Every time you save up 100 Star Points, you’ll go up a level. Always try hard to get points!
Star Points are this game’s EXP. The system for them is actually pretty clever, you always need 100 Star Points to get a level. As you gain levels though, enemies in your area give less and less Star Points, thus it discourages grinding since at some point it’s not worth the effort.
I’ll get to levels in a future update, possibly the next one.
With that, Mario has defeated his first of many enemies! And yeah, that won’t be the last we see of Jr. Troopa.
Back to where we fell, hitting this tree gives us our first item.
There’s also a little tutorial about items, but items are pretty simple. There’s a lot of different items, including healing, attack, and status effects. However, Mario has limited inventory space so make sure you actually use your items!
There’s also a quick menu option by pressing the C-Left button to quickly access your items.
Speaking of the menu, let’s check it out!
Stats are, well, stats. I’ll go into Flower Points and Badge Points later. I’ll go into Star Pieces much later.
Items is pretty simple, though you can also check Key Items like the Dolly we found.
More on Spirits later.
Goombario’s family lives here, and there’s a Toad House, too.
Finally, a world map with little bios of each place.
OK let’s move on.
Free healing is always nice.
There’s this spring that propels us to a new item. Attack Power simply means it does 3 damage before defenses are taken into account. Right now, we’re not going to face anything with defense (which is good because otherwise Mario would do 0 damage). This thing is real great for groups of enemies and things vulnerable to fire.
On to the next area…
If they see you, they’ll attack you without hesitation. If you can successfully attack an enemy in the field with a Jump or Hammer, you’ll get the First Strike when you enter the battle. Striking first really helps when it comes to battling.
Enemies show up on the field. No random encounters here!
Most enemies will chase Mario when they spot him.
Attack the enemy with a Jump or Hammer action to get a First Strike, netting you a free attack before battle. Very useful, especially early on!
First off, this is the regular battle theme. Worth a listen, I’m a big fan of it myself. Seems perfect for this game, really.
Goombas only have two HP, and since Mario always goes first in turn order, this means Mario can defeat this Goomba before it can even act. Nice!
Only worth two star points, though.
There’s another Goomba up ahead…
…but I get the drop on it.
uhhhhhh
Be careful not to jump on him. You’ll definitely get hurt.
This is where having two attack types matters. Spiked Goombas cannot be harmed by Jumps (and Mario will take damage attempting to!), so Mario must stick to Hammer attacks.
Most Goombas only do one damage when headbonking, but that spike is extra potent. Don’t mess around with these guys!
Worth a bit more, though.
Enemies will usually drop things after battle. Coins let you buy things, of course. The hearts recover 1HP a piece, handy. And finally, a free Mushroom item. Not a bad haul!
Last new enemy for today, the Paragoomba.
To attack airborne enemies, use a Jump attack. You can jump over one enemy to attack one behind it, too. This is good advice. Remember it!
Much like Jump can’t hurt spiked enemies, Hammer can’t hit airborne enemies. Also, as Goompa said, Jump lets you reach any enemy while Hammer only lets you hit the front-most enemy.
Hammer isn’t even available here!
Jumping on a Paragoomba removes its wings, rendering it an ordinary Goomba.
And Paragoombas attack by kicking.
Otherwise, only need two hits and they give three star points a piece.
If we take the upper path to the left, we obtain our first Star Piece! More on these later.
Heading right takes us right back to Goomba Village. Not too shabby for a tutorial.
I looked outside and…wow! Both you and the veranda were just plain gone!
Goompa, I was very, very worried about you! Really worried!
Sorry, kids, I apologize. I didn’t mean to make you fret. You just take it easy, now. I’m back safe and sound.
Before I forget, I’ve decided to give you something, Mario. Wait here a minute.
I can’t be mean to a Goomba child. Sure.
I’m so happy… My sweet dolly! Don’t you ever get lost again!
Another Star Piece!
…Alright, then.
I study self-defense by reading books by the masters and listening to Dad and Goompa. And, I also exercise every day so I can be strong like you! It’s starting to show, too! I’m getting big muscles!
Yeah, Goombario’s head is hard as a rock now! Tee hee!
Oh, be quiet, Goombaria! You’re embarrassing me! Of course, it IS true…
It’s OK, Goompa! We’re just rapping with Mario…
…So that’s the term you’re going with, huh.
This is called a Badge. If you wear this, you’ll be able to do a Power Jump, which means you’ll be able to do a lot more damage with your Jump attack.
You’d better try it first. Putting Badges on and taking them off is a vital skill.
No.
No.
Badges are where the battle system gets a lot of its meat. There are a large variety of badges that do many things. The one we got simply does more damage, but there’s a large variety of moves available. There’s a badge that lets you hit any enemy with a hammer, or lets you jump on spiked enemies, or lets you hit multiple enemies, and so on. Some badges have passive effects, like those that boost HP or attack power. There are even some goofy ones that change the sound effects for things like Mario’s jump.
However, each badge uses up a certain number of Badge Points (some go up to 7 or so), and as we saw earlier Mario only has three right now. Thus you can only use so many badges and have to decide which badges to use, which can vary depending on where you’re adventuring. You can gain Badge Points only by leveling up.
And many techniques from your badges require Flower Points to use. Mario start with 5FP and can gain more through leveling or by equipping an FP Up Badge.
Goompa then takes three text boxes to explain that the boxes we saw that restore HP also restore FP. Which, yeah.
You’re taking it upon yourself to try to rescue the princess from Bowser’s clutches.
Oh yeah! Mario can beat Bowser with one hand tied behind his back!
Hush, now, Goombario. Mario, please take this Hammer. It should serve you well. If I were just a bit younger, I’d accompany you on your trip. I’d have done some damage! The years have started to weight on me, though. I tell you, this lower back pain…
Princess-rescuing is so cool! I really want to be an adventurer, too, someday!
Me too!!
Oh! Here’s an idea! Goombario… Perhaps the timing is perfect. You are no longer a child, and evil times are upon us.
What!? Really!? May I go, Goompa!? May I really go!?
Mario! You won’t regret this!
And thus Mario has his first partner!
When you’re interested, just ask him! Goombario is also helpful during battles!
I’ll go into partners and Goombario in particular next update, but Goombario is essentially a walking encyclopedia. The game undersells Goombario’s knowledge a bit, as Goombario has different flavor text for every single NPC and location in the game. Plus Tattle is a huge enough boon that chances are he’ll be your partner of choice for a majority of the time.
Mario, I know Goombario will prove to be a worthy companion.
Good-byes have a way of making this old Goomba get weepy.
And so we’re off to rescue Peach and defeat Bowser!
Maybe you ought to take a rest at the Toad House.
This update’s getting long anyway, so that sounds like a good plan.
Anytime you feel tired, a good rest will fix you right up.
Make yourself comfortable and enjoy your stay.
Your current partner disappears into Mario’s belongings…
…while Mario himself hits the hay. Good night![/details]
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Switched music hosting to LPix since Tindeck was having problems yet again. Let me know if there’s any issues!
I’ll go back and update the other two updates’ music links to LPix later.
Jr. Troopa: possibly the coolest of Koopas?
So, now that you have Goombario, a tattle log for the enemies is pretty cool, but are you also gonna do the flavor text for every location? 
My plan right now is to do 100% Tattle information for enemies, and only post flavor text for NPCs/locations that’s interesting since, holy crap that’s a lot of text.
Of course since it’s me it’ll still probably be the majority of it. I guess I’ll see how I want to tackle it in the next update and go from there.
Thanks for all your effort by the way. I love this game, but gosh does the early game drag a bit, thank god for twink
Don’t drive yourself crazy though 
Goombario’s one of my favorite helpers. He’s like a second Mario, but with a book instead of a hammer. Jr. Troopa’s also the best recurring boss. He always tries his hardest.
I really like the badge system as a way to customize Mario. I don’t remember all of the ones I used, but there are a few essential ones I used for the whole game once I found them. I’ll mention them when we see them in game.
I also never really thought about it before, but how is it that this goomba in a two building town the most informed person in all of the Mushroom Kingdom? I mean, he’s got something on every single resident in the whole place, and there isn’t even an internet connection there.