Paper Mario RPG - Strategy Guide (Page 03)

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You enter a huge chamber with Hooktail right on top of you. After deciding how 
he'll eat you, the dragon attacks!

BOSS: HOOKTAIL

Appearance: A massive red and white dragon. You can only see its head.
HP: 20
Attack: 5/3
Defense: 1/0
Location: Hooktail Castle
Hooktail is the youngest of the dragon siblings, and is the only one to have a 
castle named after him. He is a fearsome and powerful foe, but hates crickets 
after an...unpleasant childhood experience. Wearing the Attack FX R Badge 
weakens him, giving him the stats after the slashes above. After that Hooktail 
shouldn't be too tough. He has a claw slam that damages your front party 
member, and fire breath that damages both. Also, when you defeat him, Hooktail 
will offer a variety of rewards for your forgiveness. Don't accept any of them, 
or he'll attack you! After that, he heals half his HP by eating some of your 
audience! Use your strongest moves to beat him for good!

After beating Hooktail, you start looking for the Diamond Star. Suddenly, 
Hooktail coughs up a middle-aged Koopa. It's Koops' dad! He had been trapped in 
the dragon's stomach for 10 years. (Amazing that he made it out with his sense 
of smell) When you mention you're looking for the Diamond Star, Koops' father 
tells you he found it in the dragon's stomach and gladly hands it over. You 
win!!! (And learn a new Star Power, Earth Tremor!!!)

END OF CHAPTER 1

After the End of Chapter scene disappears, you're asked if you want to save. 
After that, the screen fills and empties with Mario faces.

???

A cutscene starts in a high-tech chamber. Several of the wierdos you defeated 
in Rogueport Harbor lead Princess Peach into the room; they must have kidnapped 
her! They confirm this to their apparent leader, a large, robed figure with a 
huge computer for a brain. Obviously this guy (called Grodus by his minions) is 
the main villain of the game! He demands to know where the map is, but Peach 
denies knowing about it. As he threatens her, a minion reports that the Crystal 
Star guarded by Hooktail has been taken! When Peach reveals she knows you, 
Grodus has her sent to her room for questioning. He then tells Crump to guard 
the excavation of the next Crystal Star, in the Boggly Woods. Grodus seems to 
be smarter than he looks, however. (Or maybe not, considering that he looks 
like a genius with a computer on his head) He decides not to send only Crump 
and summons the Shadow Sirens. Wait, who? The 3 ghostly women rise out of the 
floor in front of Grodus, and the oldest one speaks. They decide to take the 
map from you and disappear.

The scene switches back to Princess Peach in her Spartan room. Just like in 
Paper Mario, you control Peach for a brief scene after each chapter. The right-
hand door is locked, and there are no secret passages behind fireplaces this 
time. Go through the left door.

Those wierdos seem to have thought of everything; Peach gets a large bathroom 
the size of her normal room. Take a shower in the bathtub (this must be a first 
in video gaming) and a set a new world record for a quick shower, then return 
to the bedroom. The door on the far wall opens on it's own; go through it to 
enter a high-tech hallway. There's a door about halfway down, but it's won't 
open. The far door opens as Peach approaches it, so go through.

This room is dominated by a massive computer. A voice speaks to Peach, and is 
revealed to be the computer itself. It's called TEC-XX, but lets Peach call it 
TEC. (I didn't know computers liked to have nicknames) It was created by Grodus 
and claims to be the perfect computer. (You'd think it should have mastered the 
caps lock key by now) When Peach asks why TEC has let her come here, it 
responds that it was investigating a strange feeling that occurred while it was 
watching Peach. Extremely confused, Peach reluctantly guesses that TEC may be 
in love with her. O_o (I hope that "glitch" didn't occur while Peach was 
showering...that dirty computer!) TEC, while claiming to be the perfect 
computer, doesn't understand love and becomes more confused as Peach tries to 
explain it. It promises to grant Peach a wish if she teaches it more about 
love. (This is sounding more and more like a B-movie plot) She asks TEC to let 
her send a message, which it does. After sending the E-mail, TEC sends Peach 
back to her room and the scene ends. You're once again asked if you want to 
save, then a pattern of Peach faces appears.

BOWSER'S CASTLE

The scene switches not back to Mario, but to Bowser's castle! The Koopa King 
bursts into a long hallway and demands to know why Kammy Koopa has summoned 
him. A flunky tells him to wait in the back of the room until she arrives. You 
then-get-ready-gain control of Bowser! Bwahahahahaha! Try out his fire breath, 
and have some hilarious conversations with some more flunkies! Once you reach 
the back of the room, Kammy arrives. She reports that Mario has been spotted in 
Rogueport on a treasure hunt for valuable Crystal Stars, which Bowser decides 
he must have. Out of the blue,  she changes the subject and...asks if he likes 
fried eggs. O_o Apparently, she had them for a picnic on her "surveillance 
mission" to Petal Meadows. Another flunky breaks the weird conversation up with 
news that Peach has been kidnapped...by someone else! Bowser is unemployed! He 
quickly hops into his weird helicopter vehicle and crashes through the back 
wall, flying off to re-kidnap the Princess with Kammy trying to keep up. Once 
again, you're given the option to save.

PETALBURG

After the collage of Bowser heads, the scene switches back to Mario in 
Petalburg. Koops has decided to stay with Mario to become stronger, and says 
goodbye to his father and girlfriend. Before leaving the village, look in the 
side yard of Kroop's house. Use Paper Mode to slip through the fence and get 
the Mega Rush P Badge. Now, feel free to stock up on items if you want, then 
leave.

PETAL MEADOWS

After you leave Petalburg, Mario receives an E-mail on his Mailbox SP. (He must 
have entered the information age between games) It's the message Peach sent! 
She says she is safe, although she has no idea where she is or who it is that 
kidnapped her. She tells you they are also looking for the Crystal Stars and 
magic map, which you should protect at all costs. Now, continue back to 
Rogueport Sewers.

ROGUEPORT SEWERS

Note that you can now use Paper Mode to slip through some bars just outside the 
waterlogged room you fought the Blooper in. This gives you access to a pipe 
that leads to Merlee's house in the background. If you can spare the coins, her 
"curses" can be very helpful. (Do she and the demons in the black chests have 
weekly meetings or something?) Return to the Thousand-Year Door room to find 
the location of the next Crystal Star, but before standing on the pedestal 
again, slip through the bars behind you as you enter the room. Use the 
springboard to reach a Plane Panel and glide across the room to the opposite 
ledge. Use the springboard here to reach a ledge with a Shine Sprite, then drop 
back down. Slip back through the bars and go through the door to the left.

This dank, spear-lined room is the entrance to the Pit of 100 Trials, a 
diabolical endurance challenge. You won't get far if you try to enter it now, 
so just look behind the stairs you enter on for another Star Piece. Now, return 
to the pedestal in front of the Thousand-Year Door.

The cutscene plays as before when you use the Diamond Star to reveal the 
location of the next Crystal Star. The Emerald Star is apparently in a giant, 
black-and-white tree. The magic map is as confusing as ever, You're 
automatically taken back to Frankly's house to find out what to do.

ROGUEPORT

Frankly says that the Emerald Star is in the Great Tree, in Boggly Woods. She 
shows you what one of its inhabitants, a tiny creature appropriately named a 
Puni, looks like. Wait, haven't you seen these things before? You saw one 
scurry into a hole in the room where you found the Black Key, remember? Maybe 
you should return to where you saw it happen; if you remember, there were some 
bars you could slip through with Paper Mode there. First, however, explore 
Rogueport some more; quite a few new things are open to you. New Badges are on 
sale at the Lovely Howz, and a traveling salesman named Charlieton can be found 
selling 4 of his random wares in Rogueport Square. You can enter and exit 
Rogueport Sewers to reset them.

>>>>>>>>>>
CHARLIETON
<<<<<<<<<<
Attack FX C Badge-120 Coins
Boo's Sheet-24 Coins
Double Pain Badge-36 Coins
Dried Shroom-2 Coins'
Earth Quake-18 Coins
Hammerman Badge-180 Coins
Jammin' Jelly-120 Coins
Jumpman Badge-180 Coins
Mega Rush Badge-60 Coins
Repel Cape-18 Coins
Shooting Star-36 Coins
Slow Go Badge-12 Coins
Stop Watch-24 Coins
Timing Tutor Badge-120 Coins
W Emblem Badge-360 Coins

Also, if you were following my walkthrough, you should now have 3 Shine 
Sprites, enough to promote one of your partners! I'd recommend promoting 
Goombella first, since this gives her the potentially deadly Multibonk and lets 
her do 4 easy damage with Headbonk.

When you enter Rogueport Square again, you'll probably notice some weird guy in 
green standing next to some crates. It's Link, and he's come to help us!!! No, 
wait, it's your brother Luigi. What's that vegetable doing here? If you talk to 
him, he tells you a story of what he did since you left. He received a second 
letter soon after you left, a plea for help from the Waffle Kingdom. He soon 
embarked on his own adventure bizarrely familiar to his own. He's currently 
taking a break from saving Princess Eclair and gathering the 7 Compass 
Fragments. (each of which points to the next...any of this sound familiar?) 
Good luck to him.

Only one thing has changed in Rogueport Harbor. A rat introducing himself as 
Lumpy has set up business there and asks for multiples of 100 coins in 
investments. If you can spare the money, it'll be worth it; you'll be paid back 
triple what you gave him late in the game!

Now, for some other business. You've probably grown much stronger since the 
Prologue, so it's time to take on Gus, the Craw guarding the eastern side of 
East Rogueport. Use Koops as you partner (After Tattling on him with Goombella, 
of course) and hammer him with Power Smashes (literally) until he's defeated. 
Use items if necessary. After defeating Gus, you can access the area behind him 
whenever you want. Only one building is of use right now: the Trouble Center. 
(The middle one) As usual after beating a chapter, 3 new Troubles are available 
at the Trouble Center, as well as 6 that were available from the start. Do them 
all to snag some phat lewt.

Now, head back to the Toad Bros. Bazaar. The contact lens you ordered for Zess 
T. has arrived! Buy it for about 8 coins (I think) and hand it over. Zess moves 
out of the way, granting you access to West Rogueport, and enters her house. If 
you have any items you want to cook, talk to her again. (She never gets over 
your clumsy mistake, unfortunately) Make sure to cook all your Mushrooms and 
Honey Syrups. Now, check out West Rogueport.

You'll probably notice the western side of Rogueport is more respectable and 
wealthy than the other parts. It has a shop selling advanced items near the 
western end of it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
WESTSIDE GOODS
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Dizzy Dial-12 Coins(!)
Dried Shroom-2 Coins(!)
Life Shroom-50 Coins
Super Shroom-20 Coins
Thunder Bolt-10 Coins(!)
Volt Shroom-10 Coins(!)

These items are a little expensive, but very powerful if you can afford them. 
Going east from that is the Pianta Parlor. This casino offers a variety of 
minigames and prizes. You can buy Piantas from the weird, Pianta-shaped machine 
next to the counter for 3 coins each. There are 2 slot machines to play next to 
that, although that isn't recommended. It's best to just buy your Piantas. At 
the counter, you can buy prizes or play minigames that emphasize your paper 
abilities. The selection of both increases as you get more special cards like 
the one from the Try to Find Me! trouble. The giant Game Boy is for viewing 
your scores in these minigames. Outside, there is also Lucky, an enormously fat 
Bob-omb that runs the lottery. Since you'll probably never win and the prizes 
aren't too good, it's best to avoid this psychopath. There are some houses and 
a garden on the east side of the area, but nothing major.

The alleyway to the north leads to a combination train/blimp station, but you 
can't do anything there yet except use the Save Block. For now, just find the 3 
Star Pieces in this area. They're found behind the trash can to the extreme 
left, the tall warp pipe in the garden, and the wall next to the east exit. 
There's also one other thing of interest in this area: a passage to a new area 
of Rogueport Sewers. It's cleverly hidden, but in plain sight. Hint: you need 
one of your paper abilities to get at it. Still can't find it? !elddim eht ni 
etarg eht hguorht pils ot edoM repaP esU

ROGUEPORT SEWERS

In this area, you drop onto a tall pillar. You can't do anything to the left 
right now, so drop down behind the platform and look around for a Star Piece. 
Defeat the easy Spunias and Spanias, then go down the warp pipe on the ground.

You emerge in an area that's a mirror of one you're already been through under 
the east side of Rogueport. You'll fight more easy enemies here. You can hit 
the blocks for a Slow Shroom and Gradual Syrup. There isn't really anything 
else to do here right now, so return to the first area.

Simply enter the nearby horizontal pipe to emerge atop the tall pipe in the 
garden.

ROGUEPORT

Use the secret sewer entrance again here.

ROGUEPORT SEWERS

This time, jump across the platforms to the right. They rise and sink like a 
balance when you're on them, so be quick. The doorway to the right takes you to 
a large underground plaza, the same area as you find Dazzle in but on the other 
side of the fallen pillar.

Just like on the opposite side, look behind the short pillar as you enter for a 
Star Piece. The first building, the one right across from Merluvlee's house, is 
locked from the inside. You won’t be getting inside until much, much later. 
Now, go around the central fountain and down some steps. Behind a broken pillar 
to the right, in front of Merluvlee's house is another Star Piece. In a chest 
to the left in the water is a chest containing the useful Soft Stomp Badge. Now 
use the left behind the fountain and check out the two central buildings. The 
right-hand one is actually a shop selling some exotic items you won't find 
anywhere else.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
UNDERGROUND SHOP
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Gold Bar-110 Coins(!)
Gold Bar x3-350 Coins(!)
Gradual Syrup-15 Coins(!)
Jammin' Jelly-200 Coins(!)
Slow Shroom-15 Coins(!)
Ultra Shroom-200 Coins(!)

The other building is home to Wonky, a bizarre know-it-all who will tell you 
random, interesting things for 5 coins each. If you want, you can save before 
talking to him, then restart to save your coins. Now, if you're ready, go back 
to the room where you saw the Puni to continue the storyline. (It's the one 
where you found the Black Key)

Sure enough, you find the Puni there again. When you confront him, the first 
thing he does is to ask if you're going to eat him. (Choose the second answer 
for hilarity) Your partner asks what the Puni is doing here instead of in the 
Boggly Woods. He says you must be an X-Naut if you know he's from the Boggly 
Woods. Wait, Grodus mentioned the X-Nauts during Peach's scene! He and Crump 
must be the ones making the Puni's lives miserable and searching for the 
Emerald Star! Your partner decides to go with the Puni to get the Emerald Star 
before the X-Nauts do. Relieved, the Puni introduces himself as Punio. (The 
first of a predictable naming pattern among Punis you'll soon see) He goes back 
into the hole he entered the first time; use Paper Mode to follow him. When you 
speak to him in this area, he goes into another hole and uses a secret switch 
to open a secret tunnel in the wall. Climb the stairs and enter it, then go 
right to an area containing a grey stone pipe. (If you go left first, you can 
reach a ledge with a Damage Dodge Badge) Punio says the pipe leads to his home 
and enters it. Follow him to commence chapter 2.
---
c. Chapter 2: The Great Boggly Tree (Chap2)

Enemies: Dark Puff, Pale Piranha, Cleft, Vivian, Marilyn, Beldam, X-Naut, 
Pider, Yux, Mini-Yux, Magnus von Grapple

Whoah, check it out! This wood is definitely mind-boggling! It's filled with 
black trees with white leaves, rainbow-colored ground, and white flowers! Talk 
about wierd. Anyway, you're finally in the second chapter. Let's get to work! 
Punio is now following you as a pacifistic partner, so follow his advice and 
proceed to the next area, saving is you want.

At the beginning of this area, you run into the minions of Grodus you saw in 
Peach's scene: the Shadow Sirens! This isn't good...or is it? The oldest sister 
(Beldam) addresses the youngest one (Vivian) about their task: to find you and 
steal your map. Beldam asks how Vivian got the necklace she's found, scolds her 
for wasting time on it, and tells her to get out the picture of you. Vivian 
doesn't have it; her older sister was supposed to. Before their fighting gets 
out of hand, they notice you, but ignore you; without the picture, they have no 
idea what Mario looks like! They get right back to the issue of the picture; 
for losing something she probably never even had, Beldam takes the necklace. 
With that kind of treatment, I almost feel sorry for poor Vivian... Anyway, you 
are free to talk to the sisters, but they don't have anything very interesting 
to say. (Especially the giant middle sister, Marilyn)

Anyway, keep going to the right. You'll soon encounter the Boggly Woods' unique 
enemies, which all match the wood's monochrome color scheme. The Dark Puff are 
fairly easy, unless they charge up with electricity while in the air. If they 
do, Earth Tremor or a Fire Flower are the only things that can beat them. Be 
careful not to jump on the spiked Pale Piranha, and use powerful attacks like 
Power Smash to defeat the Clefts. (Koops will work if you upgraded him) You can 
hit the leftmost tree in this first area for a Sleepy Sheep and search the 
rightmost ring of flowers for a Honey Syrup. Then continue to the next area.

As you go right, Punio points out the Great Tree in the background. Follow him 
down the pipe and over to the tree.

THE GREAT TREE

You find Punio waiting at the base of the massive tree, in front of an 
incongruously high-tech door. Punio doesn't know what the door is doing there, 
and he can't open it. He suddenly remembers something and climb up a root. 
Follow him and talk to him again. The Puni Elder told him about a secret 
entrance somewhere around here, but he can't find it. There's something hiding 
the entrance; you'll need the wind power of a woman named Madame Flurrie who 
lives nearby to find it. Set off for Flurrie's house and leave the area.

FLURRIE'S HOUSE

The scene switches to an extremely incongruous pink-covered mansion. A 
partially unseen figure is in the room; it must be Madame Flurrie. As she goes 
on with herself about how marvelous it is to live in the woods, it becomes 
obvious she's the aristocratic type. Apparently, she used to be a glamorous 
actress and is preparing for a comeback. However, she seems to be missing 
something important.

After this, the scene switches back to Mario. Go through the pipe in the 
background to the foreground and go the way Punio indicates. You can look 
around the back of the first patch of flowers you pass for a useless Inn 
Coupon.

The next area is in front of a lot of lined-up trees. There are some more mind-
boggling enemies in this area, but they should be fairly easy. You can enter 
the vertical pipe near the entrance, which takes you to a Plane Panel. The 
panel appears to be useless, however. Keep going right to a tall ledge. Try to 
walk into the sparkling part of the ledge nearest the camera; there is a small 
tunnel there! Go right and up to the walkway of tree stumps in the background. 
As you go left along the walkway, jump while standing between the 6th and 7th 
stumps from the right to make a P-Down, D-Up P Badge pop out of a cleverly 
hidden block. Now, keep going left to a ! switch you should hit. This raises 
the pipe and Plane Panel, making them high enough for you to glide onto the 
ledge! Drop from the walkway and do so, but first look to the left of the Plane 
Panel. Use Koops to get the Shine Sprite there, then glide to the ledge. Hit 
the red block for a Quake Hammer Badge and continue to the next area.

This area has Madame Flurrie's house in the background. Whack the first tree 
you come across here for a Star Piece and keep going left. Use the Heart Block 
if you have to, then slip through the black fence with Paper Mode. Before 
entering the pipe, go left while keeping next to the fence to find a hidden 
Star Piece behind it. (There's a Volt Shroom behind the other side of the 
fence) Anyway, once you're in the background, enter Flurrie's house.

Puni calls to Madame Flurrie, but there's no response. When you try to open the 
door at the right side of the opulent room, she suddenly tells you not to come 
in. Puni tells Flurrie his problem, and although she'd love to help, she simply 
CAN'T be seen in public without her favorite necklace. (That must be what she's 
missing) Wait, didn't Vivian find a necklace? Hurry back and confront the 
Shadow Sirens again!

Conveniently enough, after you leave the house, the scene switches back to the 
ghostly trio. Vivian suddenly discovers she actually had the picture of you 
with her the entire time! (Does she have pockets or something?) Beldam 
instantly notices that the man in the picture just passed them by earlier, and 
decides to punish Vivian some more for messing up.

Anyway, make your way back through Boggly Woods. Make sure you've used the 
Heart Block and are at full health! When you reach the spot where you found the 
Shadow sirens, they seem to know you'd come back looking for the necklace and 
demand to have the map. Your partner *BOOM* demands to know who the sisters 
are, and they give a rehearsed group introduction. (Notably enough, this is the 
only time in the game Marilyn says anything other than "Guuuhhh!" Savor the 
moment. NOW.) After this, they engage you in battle.

MINIBOSSES: BELDAM, MARILYN, AND VIVIAN

Appearance: 3 strange purple ghost-like sisters. The front one has a red-
striped pointed hat and pink hair; the middle one is enormous with a yellow hat 
and yellow hair; the back one is tiny with a blue hat and an evil smile.
HP: 9/12/10
Attack: 1/2/1
Defense: 0

Each of the Shadow Sirens is tougher than any enemy you've seen so far, but 
they should still be easy. I hope you promoted Goombella; her Headbonk is great 
for doing heavy damage to the Sirens. With Mario, start off with an Earth 
tremor to reduce their HP, then focus your attacks on Marilyn. (The middle one) 
She has more HP and attack than the other sisters, so take her out first. Next 
get rid of Beldam (the back one) to stop her annoying ice and size-changing 
magic. Vivian (the front one) simply attacks with fire magic and doesn't have 
any special characteristics.

After you defeat the Shadow Sirens, Beldam once again blames the others and has 
them all flee. Conveniently enough, they also drop the necklace. Take it back 
to Flurrie's house. She has you leave it by the door, and after putting it on, 
converts the chandelier to a disco ball to make a flashy entrance. 0_0 I hope 
she wasn't this...massive during her acting career... She recognizes you as 
Mario and thanks you for returning her necklace with a huge kiss. (That's 3 so 
far...has Mario been working out of something?) While complimenting Mario's 
mustache (maybe that's what's changed), she decides to join Mario's search for 
the Crystal Stars. You just got yourself a new (albeit slightly disturbing) 
partner!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
FLURRIE'S ABILITIES: A PRIMER
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Flurrie is an aristocratic wind spirit, and former drama queen. She has set up 
an incongruous house in the Boggly Woods to rest, and is a friend to the Punies 
there. In battle, Flurrie has a wide variety of moves that can be potentially 
quite good, but have some very difficult action commands. She's also good at 
taking damage with her high HP. Her field skill is to send a powerful blast of 
wind forward as long as you hold X. The wind can stun enemies or blow certain 
objects away, which often reveals secret passages.

HP: 15/25/35

---Abilities---
Body Slam: 2/4/6 damage to any non-spiked/fire enemy, including ones on the 
ceiling
Action Command: Line up the two targeting cursors with the control stick
Style Command: Hit A right as Flurrie hits the ground after slamming the enemy
With this move, Flurrie uses her giant...stage presence to slam down on an 
enemy. It's a powerful move that can hit almost anything, including enemies 
clinging to the ceiling.

Gale Force (4 FP): Attempts to blow enemies out of battle
Action Command: Hold and release A with rhythm according to the meter
Style Command: Press A immediately after Flurrie stops blowing wind
Gale Force uses Flurrie's wind powers to blow enemies off the field. It you 
fill the meter enough (it takes practice to know when to hold and release it, 
and you aren't given time to completely fill the meter), this move could end 
the battle instantly. (I'm pretty sure that enemies blown away don't give Star 
Points)

Lip Lock (3 FP): 4/6 damage, heals 4/6 HP to Flurrie
Action Command: Hold A only when the Star is lit up
Style Command: Press A as soon as you hear the sound indicating how well you 
pulled the action command off
This disgusting move has Flurrie give an enemy a huge, wet kiss to both do 
damage and heal her own HP. If you use Flurrie to take damage (which is a good 
idea), this move is essential. The Action Command is very hard to do, however. 
(There is no rhythm as in Gale Force)

Dodgy Fog (4 FP): 
Action Command: Tilt the control stick in the directions shown with perfect 
timing as each icon lights up
Style Command: Press A after Flurrie raises her arms and creates the fog cloud
Flurrie's Ultra Ability surrounds Mario in a cloud of fog...Dodgy Fog. This 
gives him a chance of evading attacks for the next few turns, which can be good 
against a dangerous foe. The action command determines the duration of the 
move, but it's nearly impossible to do. The proper timing is to press the 
control stick a fraction of a second after you hear the beeping noise that each 
icon makes when it lights up. It takes a lot of practice.

After this, Punio asks her to help him find the secret entrance to the Great 
Tree. Return to the Tree and stand on the root Punio was on. Use Flurrie's 
field skill to the right to blow away some wallpaper over the rather 
ostentatious secret entrance. Punio eagerly jumps into it. While he's inside, 
Flurrie makes some small talk with you about her former acting career. Punio 
soon opens the door and invites you inside.

THE GREAT TREE

Don't expect this level to be simple like the giant tree in Paper Mario was. 
This giant tree is a huge and confusing level, so stay alert. Anyway, it's 
strangely empty in the first area; the Punies are usually everywhere. Suddenly, 
2 X-Nauts walk in. They quickly decide to "get you." How frightening indeed. =P 
The X-Nauts are slightly stronger than the Boggly Woods enemies, but they 
should still be fairly easy to defeat. After you do, they run away to tell Lord 
Crump what happened. After Punio thanks you, another Puni emerges from the 
statues in the background. Its first thoughts are whether or not you'll eat it. 
O_o More Punies emerge and Punio reassures them that you aren't a carnivore. A 
fat Puni, Puniper, emerges next and still distrusts you. He tells you the other 
Punis, including the elder and Punio's sister, have been imprisoned by the X-
Nauts. Most of the Punis join you to help free their friends, but Puniper 
remains skeptical and behind. Anyway, use the Heart and Save Blocks if you 
want. There's another door at the right end of this room, so take the pipe 
instead.

There's a strange wooden mechanism that seems to react to and count your 
Punies. You can't do anything with it yet, so just take them pipe.

You can find a Power Punch in the bush directly south of the pipe. Take the 
next pipe up to the top level of this room. You'll probably fight some enemies 
here, as well. There are no Dark Puffs or Clefts, but instead you'll find 
Piders. These enemies are suspended by strands of webbing and randomly lift off 
the ground. If they do, use a jump attack, Headbonk, or Flurrie's Body Slam to 
hit them. Their attack is fairly easy to block, luckily. Anyway, proceed to the 
next area.

Before you enter the next room, a short cutscene plays. As an X-Naut in a 
storeroom complains to himself about his job, a familiar mouse appears behind 
him and strikes. It must be Ms. Mowz!

This room contains red and blue jail cells. The red one has the Puni Elder, and 
the blue one contains 90 more Punies and Punio's sister. You can enter the 
cells with Paper Mode, but you can’t get the Punies out without the cell keys. 
For now, enter the room to the right.

This is the storeroom you saw in the cutscene, and sure enough, Ms. Mowz is 
waiting in it. After the usual flirting (and making Flurrie jealous is she's 
you're active partner) Ms. Mowz jumps to a window (in a tree?) and gives you a 
clue about the Crystal Star; it's in the lower part of the tree. Soon after she 
leaves, the X-Naut she knocked out wakes up. Thinking you were the one that hit 
him from behind, he attacks! Defeat the weakling and take the Red Key he drops. 
There's also an Ultra Shroom in one of the chests. (The right-hand one is 
empty)

Return to the jail cell room and unlock the Puni Elder's cell with the Red Key. 
Instead of being grateful, she gets mad at Punio. (And huge) The stubborn old 
woman thinks Punio just went off for no reason when his sister and everyone 
else was captured, and goes into a massive lecture about his mistake. After 
everyone finishes, return to the entry room.

Talk to Puniper; the jerk is surprised you managed to rescue the elder. 
Luckily, the elder herself is on your side and scolds him in her usual way. 
After some more motivational speech, the 10 Punies in the entry hall join you, 
giving you 11 total! Wait, where have you seen this before...? Your partner 
*BOOM* then asks about the Crystal Star. The elder responds that it's been 
passed down within the Puni generations in the depths of the tree. She also 
says that you need to unite the Punies to get the Star. The elder gives you the 
Puni Orb, which lets you make the Punies assemble at a pedestal where you place 
the orb. To make them follow you again, you must remove the orb. As you leave, 
the elder says on last thing. If you lose any Punies, you can return to her to 
call them back. Now, take the pipe back up from this room.

Conveniently enough, there's a pedestal for the Puni Orb in this room. Insert 
the orb; your group of Punies gathers on the floor tile and another machine 
counts them. Also, another pipe emerges from the ground nearby. Enter it to go 
to the next room. (Make sure to remove the Orb for the Punies follow you)

This room is on the other side of the door in the entry room. Use the control 
panel next to it to unlock it, then check this room out. There are more 
pedestals on both sides of a weird pillar, which sits on a pool of...bubble 
liquid? Hmmmm... Maybe you can use this to get your Punies across the pit? In 
fact you can! Use the Puni Orb on the left side, then stand just to the left of 
them and use Flurrie's field skill to blow them down into the goo. Keep blowing 
as they float back up in bubbles to blow them across. Remove the Puni Orb, then 
jump across and enter the pipe with them.

There are more enemies in this two-level room, but nothing very interesting, at 
least at first. Use Koops' field skill to attack the Pider on the top level 
before it scares the Punies off the ledge. Also, you can reveal a Plane Panel 
by blowing a black gourd off of it with Flurrie. Glide to another panel from 
it, then back to the left, to a platform with another Shine Sprite. After that, 
enter the warp pipe on the top-right side of the lower level.

This room also has two levels; the top one winds between two sides of the room 
with some Piders in the gaps. Once again, take them out by attacking with 
Koops, then pick up any Punies that fell off. The other thing of note on the 
top floor is a red ? block. It looks unreachable, but you can reveal a coin 
block under it with Koops’ field skill. Once the block is revealed, jump onto 
it and hit the red block to make a Damage Dodge P Badge pop out. Now, drop down 
to the lower floor. Search the leftmost bush for a Star Piece and save with the 
Save Block. There is another X-Naut door on the right-hand side, but it’s 
locked as usual. There’s also a hidden door on the left side that Flurrie can 
reveal. It leads to a handy shop selling many exclusive items.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
PUNGENT'S SHOP
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Honey Syrup-5 Coins
HP Drain-10 Coins(!)
Ice Storm-15 Coins
Mini Mr. Mini-8 Coins(!)
Mushroom-5 Coins(!)
Mystery-3 Coins(!)

Buy whatever items you want (the HP Drain and Ice Storm are especially good and 
can’t be bought anywhere else) and then return to the top level of the previous 
room.

Both of the doors on the top level lead to hives of the Jabbies, the Punies’ 
enemies. There are 100 Jabbies to the left, but only 10 to the right, enough 
for your Punies to take on.

After the Jabbi army enters and gets into ranks in the right-hand room, lead 
your Punies against them! (Is this starting to sound familiar?) For some 
reason, Mario and his partner *BOOM* can’t hurt the Jabbies, so it’s up to your 
Punies. All you can do is have Flurrie blow te Jabbies around, allowing your 
Punies to attack them more easily. Lead them right up to the Jabbies to make 
them start fighting. Try not to let the Jabbies separate your army and take 
them out one by one; use this tactic against them instead! If all your Punies 
are beaten, you’ll have to try again. After you win, your army infiltrates and 
destroys the hive (they’re little secret agents), allowing you to enter the 
door behind.

This room has an unusual formation of pillars in it. You can’t do anything with 
it yet, except open the chest to get the Blue Key! After a slightly touching 
scene with Punio’s sister, backtrack to the jail room to free your buddies!

In the jail room, use the key to open the blue cell and free the 90 Punies in 
it! Now Olima-I mean, Mario has 101 Dalm-I mean, Punies! And Punita gave her 
brother a nasty Mushroom she was saving! Yay! Now, return to the room before 
the 10-Jabbi room.

This time, go left, into a room with an army of 100 Jabbies!

This battle should go much like the first one only bigger; use the same tactics 
to win and gain entry to the next room.

There’s another pedestal for the Puni Orb in here. Use it to reveal a pipe 
leading downward.

As soon as you emerge, check behind the pipe you took for a Star Piece. Go 
around the large tree stump (there are trees inside the Great Tree?) and to the 
next room.

It’s another pedestal! Who knows what great thing will happen when you put the 
Puni Orb in this time? It’s another pipe! A cage lowers around Mario and the 
Punies! Lord Crump walks up and flaunts his easy victory over your, then 
leaves. Luckily, he’s even dumber than he thinks you are. Use Paper Mode to 
easily escape the cage and take the pipe that appeared.

This room has 4 pedestals in the back, much like in the room with the Blue Key. 
Check behind the entry pipe for another Star Piece and hit the ! block to 
trigger something. You probably know what this means; return to the Blue Key 
room. (Write down the pattern of images you see on the pillars in here)

Lo and behold, there are now 4 white switches in here! Hit them to switch the 
images on the large pillars to match those you saw earlier. The pillars recede 
and a door is revealed behind them.

There’s a super-sized treasure chest in the small room you enter! Open it to 
receive...the Super Boots! You're taken to a tutorial screen much like with new 
partners. Somehow, a Toad girl named Toadette appears next to you and give you 
a tutorial on how to use the Super Boots. These new weapons increase the damage 
of Mario's jump and let him perform a Spin Jump. So do one, press A while in 
the air. The Spin Jump can do extra damage in battle and smash things out of 
battle. After you're ready, leave the room.

Wait, now that the pillars are lowered, you're trapped? Time to try out your 
new ability! Spin Jump the wooden boards in the middle of the room to smash 
them and drop to a sublevel. A pipe here leads back to the entrance, but first 
get the treasure of this room. Jump across the pillars to reach a Shine Sprite 
and a spot where you can have Koops retrieve a Charge Badge. After getting 
these things, use the pipe to get out and return to the cage where your Punies 
are trapped.

Slip back into the cage and smash the boards to the left of the center with a 
Spin Jump. Use the pipe to go back up and place the Puni Orb back in the 
Pedestal. Use Flurrie to blow the Punies down the hole you made. Once they're 
all down, get the Puni Orb and follow them through.

Before going further in the tree, you should use your Spin Jump for a few other 
things now that your Punies are together again. First, go to the room right 
above the entry hall.

In here, Spin Jump around the right-hand side of the room. (Use the pedestal to 
get the Punies out of the way if necessary) You should be able to see a panel 
"hop" off the floor when you do. Stand right next to it (but not on it) and so 
a Spin Jump to flip it, revealing a Star Piece! Now, go up and repeat this 
process in the blue Puni jail to get another Star Piece. Now, head back through 
the left-hand Jabbi room.

In the room where you used the pedestal to make the pipe appear, place the Puni 
Orb and Spin Jump the wooden boards. You'll land on a large tree stump with a 
pipe, but don't go in yet. First go back up and have Flurrie blow all the 
Punies down into the hole. Remove the Orb and follow them, then enter the pipe 
on the stump.

There isn't much of interest in this room, so go down the two pipes to the 
next.

There's a large pool of water here; go down the pipe to the lower level of the 
room. Lave the Punies behind and jump across the pillars, then enter the 
vertical pipe to reach the other side of the top level. You can hit the blue ! 
switch to drain the water, but when you get within Koopa range of it, you can't 
help but hit a floor panel that causes the switch to sink beneath the water. 
The solution: stand on the switch and hold X to make Koops hover over the ! 
switch. Step off the floor panel to raise the switch right onto Koops, 
triggering a big flush. After the water is gone, drop into the empty basin and 
open the chest for a Shrink Stomp Badge. (There's also a Dizzy Dial behind the 
stairs) After you get these things, climb the stairs and go back down the pipe 
to your Punies. The water from above has drained down here, creating a new pool 
You can now lead them across the pillars since some lily pads have floated up 
between them. Before entering the down pipe here, jump onto some lily pads at 
the top of the room and get the Shine Sprite in plain view. (Be careful not to 
fall into the water, which is, as usual, piranha-infested) Then go down the 
pipe.

There's another pedestal and a huge Puni platform here. Make sure you have 
every Puni and place the orb. The large platform lowers like an elevator to the 
room below. You must be nearing the end; Heart and Save Blocks can be found 
here. (As well as a Mushroom behind the left bush) When you're ready, enter the 
next room.

This room is large, octagonal, and lined with Puni statues. Stairs lead down to 
a Puni Orb pedestal and large platform in the middle. Obviously, this room is 
important. Make sure you have all 101 Punies and put the Orb onto the pedestal. 
This causes the Emerald Star to appear behind you; your quest is over...or is 
it? Before you can get the Star Lord Crump runs up and snatches it! After he 
gloats over his cunning victory, he begins a 5-minute timer counting down to 
the detonation of a bomb that will destroy the Great Tree! (Don't worry, if you 
hurry, this is more than enough time) Quick, follow him and get out of here! 
(Remember to remove the Puni Orb)

In this next room, quickly defeat some X-Nauts that attack you. (Stupidly 
enough, the timer keeps counting down even during battles and dialogue) Before 
unlocking the door and leaving, check the bottom-right bush for a Star Piece.

When you go through the door, you emerge on the lower level of the room with 
the winding path. Quickly take the pipe back up (and watch as the stupid timer 
never pauses) and leave the room the way you first entered.

Hurry back through this two-level room.

You're back in the bubble room; hurry and blow the Punies back across as you 
did before, then cross over yourself. Use the X-Naut door on the other side to 
get to the entry room.

The Puni Elder is blocking Lord Crump's escape as Mario and co. enter. Punio 
demands that Crump give the Crystal Star back and leave forever. Seeing that 
he's trapped, Crump ends the timer and attacks you in a giant red robot!