It seems that it’s actually quite difficult to reach an active volcano without being horribly burned. So just what is Mario to do? Well, since we can’t reach the Star Spirit just yet, we might as well help out a local problem: the sudden game of tag a bunch of kids are playing in the dangerous jungle. That seems important, and all the Yoshis are running around panicking so it’s not like they’re gonna get to it themselves!
Heeeeey, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Get in the Car, Loser!. But it’s back with its second DLC, The Fate of Another World. When we last left off, the group successfully defeated the Machine Devil! But today, a shooting star smashes everyone into another dimension that asks the question: “But what if the Machine Devil didn’t actually get KOed for another thousand years?” And as it turns out? Shit kinda sucks.
Look. Sometimes you start stream late, and then you go through a portion of the game and the only progress you make is “you got far enough to open up a shortcut.” These things happen.
Mario hot-foots it into the volcano to rescue the next Star Spirit! But just who could be guarding it? Other than the spiked-turtles, stinky plants, and living fire, anyway. Those are just enemies. We gotta worry about who the boss could be, and whether it could be a combination of those aforementioned enemies.
The road trip continues, and this time around we learn more about AU Sam. And as it turns out, both Sams have more in common than they thought.
Rhododendron finds the human… already in the grip of the enemy Revenant. On the bright side, the sudden appearance of a new monster solves that issue, even if it does create another. Actually, it probably would have been easier to fight the Revenant, now that I think about it. He’s far smaller, and as far as I can tell he doesn’t spout poison.
Another Star Spirit has been saved, which means it’s time for Peach to get bored and look for more information to help Mario with. So while she deals with the ensuing game show, Mario wanders the kingdom in order to clean up the various sidequests that crop up every time he leaves.
We tie up some loose conversational ends before we reach our destination.
As it turns out, it’s actually really easy to kill a butterfly when you have the power of two very large swords. So moving on with whatever our goal was, we reach a dried-up seabed. And today is the day Louis accidentally drops some thoughts while everyone is walking, and now we can just look at them at our leisure. As you do.
On today’s session of Paper Mario, we wrap up the intermission by taking out the two bosses we had on the docket. And with that done, we can check out Flower Fields. As it turns out, Flower Fields has been beset by an endless sea of grey clouds, which threaten to kill all the flora below. All in all, a pretty depressing scene.
Things continue to be dour in Flower Fields, but today Mario’s going to do something about it. Of course, actually getting the problem solved involves having to get these flowers to actually help each other, which is harder than you would hope it would be. Thankfully, a foe-turned-friend may be our key to solving these issues. Or at the very least, he can ferry us back and forth while we do.
On today’s vampiric journey, we wind up fighting a very large guy at the exact space I thought we’d fight someone. Turns out, the boss arena is in front of a dead end. We do meet a mysterious couple of people, though, so who knows where things’ll go from here.
With Huff N’ Puff defeated, Mario and pals can move on to greener pastures. Or less green pastures, considering they’re leaving Flower Fields. Either way, it’s time for intermission stuff, which of course means it’s time to take on the dojo one final time.
Misako and Kyoko’s boyfriends have been kidnapped! There’s only one thing to do in a situation like this: forget waiting for the police to do anything and rescuing the two boys themselves. Unfortunately, Misako’s school has one particular truancy policy, and that’s ‘kill on sight.’
We’ve got a bit of free time while we figure out where to go next, so let’s explore the Depths! The first three maps are mostly simple affairs, but there are a few surprises here and there. Like the dead-ends you can go to that summon mobs of guys who want to beat you to death.
Misako takes the lead this time, as we continue trying to figure out where to go! As it turns out, the problem was thinking an important NPC was a background NPC. Whoops! With that out of the way, we’re free to look for Yamada, and hopefully pinpoint where the boyfriends are with his help.
We return to the city ruins in search of our next blood spring. After breaking our legs (it’s fine) we find a lead to the next area. The next area which I should mention is called the “Howling Pit,” perhaps the best name any of these locations will have.
Today, Mario finishes up Koopa Koot’s requests, which means it’s time to move on to Shiver City to search for the final Star Spirit! But before we can investigate the wilds, we need to check in with the Mayor, and- oh Mayor Penguin was murdered.
Good news: Skullmageddon’s here!
Bad news: Hibari’s also here.
We catch up with Mia and her brother. Unfortunately, we arrive a bit late. Also unfortunate, there’s a fucked up edgy Hatsune Miku prowling the local puddles, and she’s got a license to execute. Via pole dancing.
This game’s got some out-there boss designs, I have to say.