Chapter 1 - Castle and Dragon

The Following is an in-depth guide for the first chapter for Paper Mario: TTYD.

Once you come out of the pipe, you are now in petal meadows. Make sure to whack the trees in the back to get a star piece and a mushroom. As you move right, you'll find a set of rock statues, one has a sun hole, one is in the shape of a pipe, and one has a moon hole. After that, hit the ? block to get another mushroom. After that, hit the red block to get the Close Call badge. This will cause enemies to occasionally miss attacks when Mario is under 5 HP. It's a pretty useful badge, and I recommend at least having one equipped for most of the game. If you continue to the right, you'll see a warp pipe that leads up, and a heart badge on top of a block that you can't reach from there. Keep this in mind and come back later. If you head right, you'll see several grass clumps. The largest of them has a hidden pipe that leads Mario into the background. head right and hit the blue block to build a bridge so you can keep moving. Continue right to get a star piece. If you continue right from the bridge, you'll reach Petalburg, a town inhabited by koopa troopas. In the first area of Petalburg, there's an inn and a shop. The shop has Courage Shells for five coins, Fire Flowers for eight coins, Honey Syrup for five coins, Mr. Softeners for eight coins, mushrooms for five coins and POW Blocks for four coins. Continue right to the next area. If you go up the first steps and check the bushes, you'll find a Turtley Leaf. It replenishes three HP. Go into the pink house to talk to Kroopa, the leader of Petalburg. He tells you to help the town get rid of Hooktail, the dragon that's been being a hinderance to the town. In order to do this, you need to access her castle, and to do that you need the sun and moon stones which are located in Shhwonk Fortress. Leave his house in go right and talk to the guard of the gate. He'll let you through to the Path to Shhwonk Fortress. Before you leave, buy some POW Blocks and Fire Flowers, you'll need them for later. In the next area search the first clumps of grass for a star piece. In The Path to Shhwonk Fortress, you'll find the normal goomba variants, as well as Koopa Troopas.

Max HP: 4

Attack: 2

Defense: 1

In order to beat Koopa Troopas, you have to jump on top of them once, so they go on their back and their defense drops to zero. If you deal with groups of them, hit each one once every turn to keep them all down. They will wiggle if you jump on their head again, and won't attack if you don't and they get back up. Back to the path, when you reach a ? block on the ground, hit it to get a POW block. Continue into the castle. Interact with the skulls on the pedestals to initiate a battle with two bald clefts.

Max HP: 2

Attack: 1

Defense: 2

Here, I recommend using your POW blocks to do enough damage to them, as POW blocks ignore defense. After that, continue past the castle. Before you reach the next castle, search the grass right before it. Here, you'll find a POW block for the next castle. Come into contact with the Bristles in the room to fight them.

Max HP: 2

Attack: 1

Defense: 4

Use your POW block you just got to get rid of these enemies. Continue past the castle. Continue until you reach a ? block. Hit it to get a fire flower and check behind the nearby wall to get an inn coupon. Inn coupons let you stay in an inn for free.  Before the next castle you'll see a floating box with a heart on it. This will fully recover HP and FP for you and your partner. Go inside the castle. interact with the Thwomp to start the Thwomp trivia. You need to answer five questions to pass Thwomp trivia, so here are all of the right answers.

• Question 1: What's hidden in Shhwonk Fortress?

  • Answer: Sun and Moon Stones

• Question 2: What do one Mushroom and one Fire Flower Cost at the shop in Petalburg? Total!

  • Answer: 12

• Question 3: What is the name of the Mayor of Petalburg?

  • Answer: Kroop

• Question 4: Where is the Crystal Star?

  • Answer: Hooktail Castle

• Question 5: How can one get from Petal Meadows to Rogueport?

  • Answer: Go through a pipe.

• Question 6: Which of the following characters can be found in Petalburg?

  • Answer: Koopa Troopas

• Question 7: What number question is this?

  • Answer: Question Seven

If you fail three questions, you'll have to fight two Clefts.

Max HP: 2

Attack: 2

Defense: 2

You'll need the POW blocks you bought from Petalburg if you end up fighting the clefts. After you win the trivia, go down the pipe where you end up in a room with two hallways on either side and a ? block in the middle. Hit the block to get the Multibounce badge. This badge lets Mario attack each enemy once with successful action commands. Go to the right hall and you'll find some fuzzies.

Max HP: 3

Attack: 1

Defense: 0

I recommend using your fire flowers you bought from Petalburg here, as these can be a pain. They drain your health, and you'll need to guard right as they release from Mario. You can also use multibounce here. Anyway, continue all the way right and pick up the sun stone. After you pick it up, you'll have to battle a group of four fuzzies. After that, go all the awy back to the room where you entered and now go left. There will be more fuzzies, but at the end there will be a moon stone. After you pick this one up, you'll have to fight another four fuzzies. Once you return to the center room again, a gold fuzzy will appear.

Max HP: 10

Attack: 1

Defense: 0

Max HP: 20

Attack: 1

Defense: 0

The Gold Fuzzy will call out a Fuzzy Hoard after turn one. The hoard is high HP with low damage, and you don't need to kill it to end the fight. Because of this, you should mainly deal damage to the Goldy Fuzzy in order to end the fight. Return all the way to Petalburg, and talk to the mayor of Petalburg. Go left to leave the town to head to where the sun and moon stones need to be placed, and when you leave, Koops will beg you to join your party. Koops will prove to be useful, with his moves attacking all ground enemies. If you press X, you'll kick him forward. If you Hold X, he will hover in place and then shoot back to right before his starting place was. Go back left to the pipe that leads up and use Koops to grab the heart badge on the brick block. This is Happy Heart, which has a chance to recover Mario's HP at the end of each turn. It's pretty useful, so if you have room for it, I'd recommend equipping it. Go back to the stones with the pipe shaped stone in the center. place the sun and moon stones in the holes which will reveal two blue blocks. You have to go to the one block, facing away from it, and press and hold X. Then go to the other block and hammer it right as you let go of X so Koops hits his and you hit yours at the same time. This will open the pipe in the middle. The pipe leads you to the background, and if you head right you get to Hooktail Castle. Go through the first castle part without touching the spring and you'll reach a broken bridge. go towards the camera on the grass part before the bridge to reveal platforms that lead under the bridge and across to an HP Plus badge. This will give you more HP, but you shouldn't need it as long as you are killing all of the enemies. Go back left and use the spring to bounce up. Go right to get to a Paper Airplane platform. Use it to cross over the moat and enter the castle. In the first room, the stairs lead to another paper airplane platform that'll lead back from where you came.  In this room you'll find a stretch of Koopa Troopas and Paratroopas.

Max HP: 4

Attack: 2

Defense: 1

These are similar to normal Koopa Troopa's except that they need to be knocked out of the sky before they can be knocked on their back.  There's a ? Block in this room that contains the badge Power Bounce. It lets Mario keep jumping on one enemy until he misses a command. Go to the next room. If you interact with the unique skeleton on the ground, his not will mention Hooktail's weakness having to do with a frog. There's a pile of bones that blocks the access of the next room. If you interact with it, a bunch of skeletons will fall from the ceiling. whack them with your hammer to walk towards the right of the room. Eventually you'll have a fight with four Dull bones and a Red Bones.

Max HP: 1

Attack: 2

Defense: 1

Max HP: 5

Attack: 3

Defense: 1

The strategy for this fight is using Koops and items to attack the hordes of enemies to get them all down. In the next room there are bunches of Dull Bones and a shine sprite. Shine sprites can be traded for partner upgrades at Merlon's house next to Professor Frankley's. The next area has a puzzle including different colored boxes. First, hammer the bluish-purple box with your hammer then hold X facing away from it to have Koops hover. then go and hop on the box in the back and release X. Walk into the doorway to find a star piece. Back in the other room. lower the purple box and hop across the stone blocks. Smash the yellow box with your hammer to access the moving yellow box. Do the same thing you did with the purple box to ride up the yellow one for another star piece. Use Koops to hit the red ! box to reverse the direction of the stairs. Go up and use Koops to grab the key. reverse the stairs again and go up to unlock the door.  Go right and then right again, and you'll reach a room with gates to the right and an ! Box. Use Koops to hover and hit the box at the right time right before you push against the far-right gate. This will open the gate and allow you to go through. In this room, you'll see a chest, similar to the one you saw in Rogueport Underground. Continue to the right. In this room, go straight towards the middle and open the chest to get the black key. this will make spikes come out of the ground and the ceiling. the pattern to get out is simple, take the path to go down right, go all the way up, all the way left, all the way down, left, and take the zig zag pattern to get out. It will be simpler once you actually do it. Open the chest and the spirit will "curse" you with the ability to turn paper-thin by holding ZR. It will allow you to pass through small spaces, usually gaps in walls or gates and fences. go back left and pass through the gate door using your new paper-thin ability. go to the first gate on the left and turn paper-thin to pass through and get the Attack FX G badge that will turn Mario's sounds into frog noises for 0 BP. You don't need to have it on now, but it is useful during the boss against Hooktail, as it decreases her Attack and Defense by one every time the sounds play, but don't go lower than one and zero respectively. Go all the way back to the room where you fought Red Bones and go through the part in the gate wall with less weaving. Go to the right to get the green key. Go back right to the room with the save block and the moving green blocks. Use koops to hit the block while you are standing on the moving part and go up.  Go right and unlock the green lock. Hit the first blue box to build a bridge. the second one is on the other side, but can be reached with Koops. For the third one you have to hop through the window with no gate and go left to the other window with no gate, but if you go right instead, you'll get a star piece. Go left to the next room. In this room, hit the green block with Koops and go up the block. You can get the life mushroom from the moving block with a well time kick from Koops. From here head into the left room. There's a Mouser in this room that tells you that there's a badge that can help you defeat Hooktail. This is obviously Attack FX G. In this room there's a mushroom, castle key and honey syrup. There's also a shine sprite. Head to the right and unlock the door. Go to the far right of this room, use Koops to only hit the block when you're standing on the moving one, and walk left across the gate. In the first platform, hold ZR and go through to the back platform and walk back right to get a star piece. Go back to the first platform, across to the skinny platform, and walk to the first platform.  Turn into paper airplane Mario and fly across the gap to the door. Go through the door and down the stairs. Hit the block to drop the yellow block and use Koops to get the blue key. Go up the steps to find a box with a shine sprite. Unlock the door and go through. go across the bridge, containing goombas and koopas, go up the winding staircase to reach a large door with a save block by it. You're about to fight Hooktail, so equip Attack FX G and Goombella. Go inside and start the fight with Hooktail.

Max HP: 20 (+10 upon revival)

Attack: 5

Defense: 1

To defeat her, focus on the foot with Mario, as you can use Power Smash, and focus on the nose or foot with Goombella. Hooktail will make several offers when her health gets low. Refuse all of these, and she'll heal for ten HP. Finish her off, maybe even using Items or special attacks. After you defeat her, a koopa will pop out and give you a crystal star. You now cut to a scene where you control Princess Peach, who was captured by the X-Nauts and put into a cell. To progress, go towards the room to the right and inspect it, walk back left and the door will open. This will cause the door to the right to open automatically for you now. Go through the hallway to the right and through the door to the right. This will start a cutscene with a computer that will let you send a message to Mario. Then, it cuts to a scene with bowser. He finds out that Mario is looking for the crystal stars and decides he wants them too. Back in Petalburg, Mario touches base with the mayor. After that, use Paper-Thin to go through the fence behind the mayor's house to get the Mega Rush P badge. It increases your attack by five when your partner's in peril. Head back to Rogueport, and Mario will recieve Princess Peach's email about her being captured. The new crystal star unlocks the Earth Tremor ability, which attacks all enemies with a max of six damage with good timing. It's a great ability. Go back to the Thousand Year Door, which marks the next star at Boggley woods. Then, in the room with the Thousand-Year Door, he can walk between some bars to reach a spring. This boosts him to an airplane square he can use to travel across the room to another spring and a door. The spring lifts him to a shine sprite, and the door leads to the Pit of 100 trials. Wait until Mario is more powerful to take this on. Mario will talk to Professor Frankley, and after, go to Merlon's House. Upgrade one of your partners. Goombella will get multibonk, and Koops will get shell shield. Go to the right to encounter Gus. You can either pay ten coins to pass, or fight him with the reward of star points.

Max HP: 20

Attack: 3

Defense: 0

Once you get past him, continue right to East Rogueport. Here, there's two buildings, the one is locked, and the other is the Trouble Center. This will have problems that people around the world will have Mario to solve in exchange for a reward. Go between the two houses by turning sideways and check in between the crates and barrels to find a star piece. In the shop, you can now buy the contact lens' for Zess T. deliver those, and the West Rogueport will be open, as well as Zess T. She can cook an item you give her to enhance its effects. There's a new merchant by the sign in rogueport square. he'll sell the Attack FX G badge, Boo Sheet, Shooting Star, and the W Emblem Badge. Go to the new area that Zess T. made available and go through the place to the left of the item shop. go behind the brick wall here to find a star piece. Also go behind the tall pipe in West Rogueport for another star piece. Search behind the brick wall on the very far right of this area for another star piece. There's a building with a large sign in this area, which is the Pianta Parlor. It's a Casino where you can buy tokens and trade in your winnings. The prizes available now are as follows.

• Cake Mix: 6 piantas

• Super Shroom: 10 piantas

• Super Appeal badge: 34 piantas

• Refund badge: 34 piantas

Drop down the sewer grate by turning sideways to reach the second area of Rogueport Sewers. In this area, you might find a couple Spainia.

Max HP: 3

Attack: 1

Defense: 0

Drop down off of your platform and search the right area to find a star piece. Go up and drop through the sewer again to reach the first platform. Jump across the moving platforms and go through the door to the right. Search behind the column in this area to find a star piece. Go all the way right in this room and search by a broken column to find another star piece. Go back down the warp pipe in front of Professor Frankley's home and go back to the area where the small creature that the professor mentioned disappears into the wall. There is a barred entrance. Turn Mario sideways and enter this door. Walk to the left in the next room to find Punio who asks Mario to help his people fight against the X-Nauts and save their sacred tree. Punio opens up a secret door at the top of the stairs in this room. Enter the door and travel to the left to find the Damage Dodge Badge. Go through the pipe to start Chapter 2.

 Previous: Prologue 

 Next: Chapter 2