Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a video game for the GameCube, and a sequel to Paper Mario which was released four years prior to this game's release. In the game, you take the role of Mario in paper form. Like all Mario RPGs, the game is also has more of a storyline than most Mario games.

Gameplay
Mario's options when battling are jumping, using his hammer, to use special items, using special moves, etc. The partners also have their own unique abilities such as Yoshi being able to eat the opponents, Goombella's ability to give you information on every enemy, and Vivian's ability to hide Mario. You are only able to have one partner out during battle, but you can switch them.

When not battling, each partner also has special and unique abilities - Koops can use his shell to hit or acquire distant items and even hold in place while Mario gets into position, Yoshi will allow Mario to run faster and jump farther while being ridden, and Flurrie can blow a giant gust of air to reveal secret passageways.

Each chapter has a Crystal Star to find.After you finish a chapter, you are able to play as Princess Peach and then Bowser. First is the Princess's, where you travel through the mothership talking to TEC and sending messages to Mario. Bowser's is more of a platform based minigame where you go across Super Mario Bros. inspired levels as none other than Bowser himself.

Beginning
The beginning of the game takes place at Mario and Luigi's house. Luigi walks in with a letter from Princess Peach. In the letter Peach writes of a map she found in a town called Rogueport. She states that it is a treasure map and would like Mario to accompany her to find the treasure. Mario heads off to Rogueport on a boat. He wakes up on the boat and sees Rogueport off in the distance. As he gets off on the port he looks around. He eventually finds a Goomba named Goombella in trouble. She has been asking around about a treasure map(which Mario has). A suspicious character named Lord Crump asks her where the map is. She doesn't know. So Crump and his little army are about to attack her. She sees Mario and hides behind him. She says that Mario will protect her. This infuriates Crump and he attacks Mario. A battle begins and ends with Mario as the winner. Crump then orders all of his soldiers to attack Mario. Fortunately Mario and Goombella sneak away and into town. Mario and Goombella talk to each other. Goombella introduces herself as a student of the University of Goom. Mario introduces himself and says he is looking for Princess Peach. Goombella is amazed to meet Mario as he is a famous hero. Then Toadsworth greets Mario and they talk. Toadsworth states that the princess has gone missing. Mario explains to Goombella that Peach had sent him a treasure map and they were to meet in Rogueport to seek the treasure. Goombella asks to see the map, which Mario shows. She is amazed at the map as it is the map she was seeking. She asks Mario to follow her to see her old professor, Professor Frankly. As they visit him in his house Mario introduces himself and shows Frankly the treasure map. Frankly states that this an old map that leads to the Thousand Year Door at the bottom of Rogueport. He states that behind the Door is an old legendary treasure from 1,000 years ago. He also states that whoever uses the map at the Door the image of a Crystal Star will appear on the map. He also says the Crystal Stars are magical items used to open the Thousand Year Door. Each Crystal Star that is shown by putting the map to the Door and a Crystal Star will appear on the map. So they head in a pipe into Rogueport Sewers. After much travel down into the sewers and from the help from a Black Chest that gives Mario the ability to turn into a paper airplane, they reach the Thousand Year Door. Mario stands on a pedestal and takes out the treasure map. A light illuminates the pedestal and the map. The Diamond Star appears on the map in a castle in a meadow field. The party heads back to Frankly's house. There Professor Frankly states that the first Crystal Star is in a place called Petal Meadows. He says to get there they have to go through a pipe in Rogueport Sewers. Mario and Goombella go through the sewers and encounter a huge Blooper. They defeat it and head into a pipe leading to Petal Meadows. This then begins Chapter 1.

Chapter 1: Castle and Dragon
Mario and Goombella arrive in Petal Meadows. Goombella compliments on how beautiful it looks. After a couple of steps they hear a loud roar and look up to see a huge, red dragon fly into a castle. Goombella is startled at the sight. Mario and Goombella walk through Petal Meadows and come into a town. A good Koopa greets them and says welcome to Petalburg. Mario and Goombella tell the Koopa of the dragon they saw. The Koopa is shocked and tells them that the dragon is a creature called Hooktail. Mario then asks the Koopa of the Crystal Star. He doesn't know anything about a Crystal Star and tells them to visit the mayor. Mario and Goombella greet the old Koopa. He tells Mario that Hooktail has something that looks like a star. The old Koopa goes on to say that the only way to get to Hooktail Castle is to get the Stone Keys from Schwonk's Fortress. Mario and Goombella head east outside of town to this fortress. They fight monsters in the ruins of it. Eventually they reach the main part of Schwonk's Fortress and sees a Thwomp statue. Immediately the statue comes alive. The Thwomp talks to Mario and welcomes him to the 37th Annual Quirk Quiz. Mario has to answer 5 out of 8 questions correct in order to proceed. Mario wins and the statue turns back to normal revealing a pipe. Mario and Goombella go down the pipe. There are two paths in the underground cavern. One left, and the other right. Both ways lead Mario to the Stone Keys and both with a battle with a Fuzzy. When Mario comes back into the room with the pipe after retrieving the Stone Keys a Gold Fuzzy is waiting. Mario and Goombella fight him and his friends and win the victory. After Mario and Goombella leave Petalburg a Koopa encounters them. The Koopa introduces himself and says his name is Koops. Koops pleads with Mario and asks if he can go with Mario to slay Hooktail. Koops explains that his father went to slay Hooktail for its bad deeds. But his father never returns. Mario and Goombella agree and he joins the party. His girlfriend Koopie Koo thinks otherwise and attacks them briefly. Mario and the party head west. They come up to two rocks with carvings in them. They place in the Stone Keys and writing appears on the middle stone. Two switches appear on each side. The switches have to be hit at the same time. Mario uses Koops' ability to spin in his shell and keeps him spinning in one spot. Mario releases Koops which hits one switch while Mario hits the other with his hammer, both at the same time. A pipe appears. They go into the pipe and enter Hooktail's Castle. After defeating and dodging many enemies like Dry Bones, and solve puzzles Mario and party reach a dungeon room. The room contains a Black Chest like from before. After much pleading the Chest finally convinces Mario to find the key. He does and releases the curse. Which gives Mario the ability to turn sideways like paper and slip through cage bars and jail bars. After much searching they finally reach a treasure room. Mario and party are greeted by a female mouse thief named Ms. Mowz. She tells Mario and the party that a badge somewhere in the castle gives the sound of a cricket, which Hooktail is afraid of. Mario and party later reach the top of the castle roof and climb a tower. They enter the tower door and meet Hooktail. Hooktail looks at Mario and party and says he will eat them. The battle begins. Hooktail will either stomp or breathe fire at Mario and party. If Mario finds the badge he can hit Hooktail with his hammer giving off the sound of a cricket. This makes Hooktail dizzy as she does not like crickets. After a while Hooktail asks Mario to stop and gives requests which Mario rejects all. Then Hooktail eats half of the crowd and regains some of her HP. But she is defeated. After, Koops is happy that they defeated Hooktail, but is still sad because of his dad. Unexpectedly, Hooktail spits out a blue shell from her mouth, and turns out to be Koops' dad. His dad goes to say that he was fighting Hooktail and when he was going to land the last hit, Hooktail tricked him and gobbled him up. He had been in Hooktail's stomach ever since. He then reveals that he found a diamond shaped star in Hooktail's stomach and gives it to Koops. Koops then gives it to Mario saying that it was what he was looking for. Chapter 1 ends and the first Crystal Star, the Diamond Star is found.

Intermission
Peach is shown to be held captive at an unknown hideout by a group of strangers. Their leader Sir Grodus asks Peach where is the map. Peach leeps saying she doesn't know. Grodus says that we X-Nauts are not kind. An X-naut soldier appears on a computer screen. He reports to Grodus that Hooktail did have a Crystal Star and is now in the hands of a man with a moustache and wearing overalls. Peach is suprised and accidentally says Mario's name. Grodus hears this and is supprised. Grodus goes on to say that this man might have the Map and his next destination might be The Great Tree, a place where the X-nauts are looking for a Crystal Star. Grodus then calls in the three Shadow Sirens. He tells them to ambush this moustached man. Peach is then taken back to a room. There she wonders if she will be free again. She then decides to take a shower. After she gets out she notices that a door opened by itself. Intrigued she goes out of it and walks down the hall. Another door opens. She wonders what is with the crazy doors. She walks in and sees a giant computer. Much to her surprise the computer talks to her. It says that its name is Tech XX and it is the strongholds main computer. Peach then talks back saying hi in a suprised voice. The computer calls Peach by name and says she is being held here under Grodus' orders. Peach says that big dome headed thing, he's awful. The computer tells her to call him Tech for short and tells her not to worry. Tech then questions her and says he saw an image of her and an error ocurred.l Peach is startled at this and thinks Tech loves her. Tech asks what is this "love". Peach is suprised that Tech does not know about love. Peach says that love is being with someone that you think about. Peach then asks if she is able to contact anybody since she can't escape. Tech lets her use its keyboard to send a message to Mario. She does and she is asked to go back to her room. She does thinking of a new friend she just made.

At Bowser's Castle Kammy Koopa calls Bowser for a meeting. She tells him that Mario is looking for strange objects called the Crystal Star. Bowser wants these as they are good "world conquering tools." She also tells him that Peach has been kidnapped by someone else. This infuriates Bowser and he sets off to find her and the Crystal Stars.

Chapter 2: The Great Boggly Tree
After Mario left Petalburg with the Diamond Star and new member Koops, Mario receives an email on his Mailbox SP. The letter is from Peach saying that she doe not know where she is but the people who are holding her captive are looking for the map and the Crystal Stars. She is okay. Mario and the group head to Rogueport Sewers for the Thousand Year Door. When they reach it Mario stands on the pedestal and pulls out the Diamond Star. The next Crystal Star, the Emerald Star, appears on the map in some woods inside a big tree. They go to Frankly's place for questions. The professor states that this Crysatl Star is located in the Boggly Woods inside the Great Tree. He says there is a pipe leading to the woods. He also states that strange caterpillarlike creatures called Punis live in the Great Tree. Mario and party head back into the sewers and encounter a Puni who goes into a room blocked by bars. Mario using his paper abilities gets through and walks toward the Puni. The Puni is scared of Mario and party but they assure him they mean no harm. Mario tells the Puni that they need to get to Boggly Woods and the Great Tree to find the Crystal Star. The Puni says that he lives in the Great Tree and that a group of strangers called X-nauts took over the tree and are searching for something. The Puni says his name is Punio and states he can help out. He opens a secret passage and enters a pipe along with Mario and party. In the Boggly Woods Mario and party encounter the Shadow Sirens. Beldam the leader, is complaning that her sister, Vivian lost a photo of Mario, whom they are supposed to capture. Vivian had found a necklace and it is taken by Beldam for being angry. Mario and the group walk past the three Sirens without confrontation. Eventually they reach the Great Tree. But the door is replaced by an electronic security door. Punio states that there is a secret entrance but is hidden by an invisible wall. He says that they need the help of Madame Flurrie, who lives at the edge of the woods and can blow a strong gust of wind from her mouth. They reach her house after a walk and enter. When Flurrie realizes someone is in her house, she guesses correctly that one is Punio. Flurrie says she would like to help Punio and Mario but has lost her favorite necklace and can't leave without it. Mario and party remember the Shadow Sirens having a necklace and head back to the entrance of the woods. When they arrive the Shadow Sirens know of Mario and attack. After a battle with the three witches, who are left unconscious, Mario and group head back to Madame Flurrie's house and gives back her necklace. She thanks Mario with a kiss and becomes the third member of Mario's party. They head back to the Great Tree and blow away the invisible wall. Punio then goes into the secret entrance and opens the security door on the other side. Punio realizes that most of his friends must have been captured, Some of the Punis evaded capture and are frightened by Mario and party. Punio states that Mario and the group are here to help. One of the Punis states that the invaders have already captured most of the Punis and are searching everywhere in the tree for something. Punio says that he and Mario can rescue the others and his sister. So the gang heads up to the top of the tree where they are being held. Mario and the group encounter an X-naut who wants to fight Mario for who he is, but Mario wins. They are greeted by Ms. Mowz a mouse thief who has stolen some badges. She gives Mario a kiss and leaves saying "What you and the others are looking for is at the very bottom of the tree." Mario then uses a key that he got from the X-naut soldier and uses it to unlock the Puni Elder. The Elder gathers the rest of the 10 remaining Punis to help Mario stating that he can help. The Elder states that the object Mario seeks is at the very bottom of the tree. The 10 Punis join Mario and they venture through the tree. Eventually they encounter the Jabbi Tribe, who also lives in the tree, and are aiding the X-nauts. A small battle takes place with the Punis and Jabbies, and the 10 Jabbies are defeated, and their hive destroyed. Inside is a key to the cell to unlock the rest of the Punis. Punio and his sister greet each other and are happy. The rest of the Punis join Mario and the count increased from 10 to 101 Punies helping Mario. They ventured through the big tree going down and down. Eventually they activate a platform which is a trap for them set by Lord Crump. Crump leaves Mario and the gang laughing, and goes searching for the Emerald Star. Mario uses his paper abilities along with the party and escapes the cage. After a look around Mario finds the Super Boots which helps him break the Punies out of the cell. Eventuall Mario and everyone reach the bottom of the tree while Crump hides. Mario and the Punis activate a platform that releases the Emerald Star. Crump suddenly steals the star and activates a bomb that will destroy the tree within a certain amount of time. Crump makes his way for the exit while Mario and gang are behind him trying to reach the exit before the bomb goes off. Crump is stopped by the Elder and then is cornered by Mario. Crump temporarily deactivates the bomb to fight. He gets in his big robot, Magnus von Grapple. Mario and his three friends fight Crump and engage in a tough battle. Fortunately Mario and part overpower Crump and destroy his robot leaving him unconscious. Mario then takes the Emerald Star and receives a new ability. Chapter 2 is over.

Intermission
At the X-Naut fortress Tec calls Peach again. He is still wondering about the concept of "love." He requests Peach to dance with him as he is curious about it. She states she can't because he is a computer. He then projects a hologram of Peach and requests to dance with it. After he thanks Peach and lets her use his keyboard. She sends a message to Mario and is requested to go back to her room.

Meanwhile Bowser travels through Petal Meadows in a Super Mario Bros. way. When he reaches Petalburg he notices a poster of Peach and thinks its her. He starts talking to it and says come back with me. A Koopa says keep away from my life size Princess Peach poster. Bowser is shocked that he was talking to a poster.

Chapter 3: Of Glitz and Glory
Mario and party say goodbye to the Punies and head back to Rogueport Sewers. On the way Mario receives another email from the princess. She says that she is being held by people called X-Nauts and they are searching for the Crystal Stars. Mario and the gang head to the Thousand Year Door. Mario pulls out the map at the door. The lights flash and the next Crystal Star, the Gold Star, is revealed. It is shown in a city floating in the sky. Mario and party head to the professor for details. Frankly says that the next Crystal Star is in Glitzville, a city floating in the sky by rocket engines. There is a large stadium there where warriors fight and people bet on who's the winner. Frankly also says that to get there you need to ride on the Cheep Blimp, and you need tickets. Mario and party head to the west side of Rogueport to find Don Pianta who is the head of the Pianta Syndicate and only one in town that has blimp tickets. Mario eventually finds him and his bodyguards. The Don says he will give Mario tickets if he does him a favor. Mario has to find the Don's daughter Francisca and her fiance Franky. Mario finds them at the pier. He brings them to the Don and after their argument Mario receives the tickets. Mario and the group ride into the sky on the Cheep Blimp and arrive in Glitzville. There are concession stands and shops but, the main attraction is the Glitz Pit, the fighting arena. Mario and the group head into the Glitz Pit. They go into the stands of the arena and watch the fight between Rawk Hawk and the Koopanator, which Rawk Hawk wins. He pulls out the Champion's Belt and it has the Gold Star on it. Mario and the group see this and decide to enter the fighting roster to reach the top and take the belt with the Crystal Star. Mario and party enter the owner of the Glitz Pit's office. The owner Grubba lets Mario in and is pleased that Mario wants to fight saying that Mario will be a star. He puts Mario on the roster and gives him the nickname " The Great Gonzales" saying that his real name doesn't sound interesting as a fighter. He asks Ms. Jolene to take Mario to the minor league locker room. She says to Mario that beginners start in the minor league and fight their way up to the major league. She shows him a screen where Mario can talk to Grubba asking for a fight or view his position on the roster and can work his way up. Mario and the group request fights against other opponents like four Goombas given the nickname "The Goomba Bros." Mario and the group fight their way through the minor leagues and eventually find a Yoshi egg at the hot dog stand which follows Mario and the party around. Mario and party reach the top of the minor leagues and face the Armored Harriers, who if defeated will raise Mario and the gang to the bottom of the major league. Mario and the gang lose the fight because the Harriers can't be hurt. After the loss of the fight the Yoshi egg finally hatches showing a young baby Yoshi wearing shorts. The Yoshi thanks "Gonzales" and asks if he can fight with him. He is the fourth member to join the group. Since he doesn't have a name Mario names him anything you choose. He helps you fight the Harriers by swallowing them and spitting one into the other eventually leading to their defeat. Mario and the group are then in the major leagues and now are staying in the major league locker room. Rawk Hawk come in wondering about the new hotshot. He sees Mario and laughs. This is where Mario and party realize that the Crystal Star on the belt is fake. Soon after they receive an email from someone named "X" about the Crystal Stars. After a couple of more fights in the major leagues Mario and party receive more of these emails that lead to certain clues with one being able to receive the Super Hammer. Bowser even appears after a fight and challenges Mario to one but loses. Mario even receives emails from someone else threatening him not to look for the Crystal Stars. One of the clues from "X" leads Mario into the attic and it is revealed by secretly listening to Grubba that more and more fighters are disappearing. Another mini-adventure from this "X" leads back into the attic finding two fighters drained of their energy. Mario and party eventually reach to the top of the major league and get a title shot. Mario and the group are watched by everyone as they defeat Rawk Hawk and Mario becomes the new Glitz Pit Champ. Mario is given the Champ's room to stay in. Another email from "X" says "find the ghost in the room." Mario eventually goes through the air vent using the new hammer. He listens as Grubba is talking about his secret file. When Grubba leaves Mario and the gang look at the paper and sees that it is a machine powered by a Crystal Star. Grubba comes in and runs away. Mario and the gang chase him into the fighting arena when no one is around. Grubba then pushes a button and a machine comes out from under the ring powered by the Gold Star. Grubba says that he has been using this machine to drain energy from other fighters to make himself stronger. He goes in the machine and transforms into Macho Grubba. Mario, party, engage in battle with Grubba powering up and using strong attacks. Strong as he is Mario and the group defeat Grubba turning him back to normal and tiring him out. Jolene appears and greets Mario. Mario and the gang are shocked to here Jolene say that she was "X" and she was helping them all along. She says she became an employee of the Glitz Pit to find out about the disappearance of her brother, Prince Mush, the first Champion. She then iterrogates Grubba about her missing brother. He says that Mush found using his machine and he had to get rid of him. Jolene cries missing her brother. Suddenly the Gold Star on the machine flashes and Mush appears out of nowhere. Jolene is happy to see her brother again. Mario is given the Gold Star and Chapter 3 is over.

Intermission
Back at the X-Naut Fortress, Tec calls Peach again. She wonders what he requests next. She is shocked to hear that Tec wants her to retrieve information from Grodus. He guides Peach up an elevator dodging X-Naut soldiers, and into a dressing room. There she wears an X-Naut uniform and goes to talk to Grodus. She (disguised as an X-Naut soldier) questions Grodus why they need the Crystal Stars. Grodus answers to the "soldier" saying that they need the Stars to open the Thousand Year Door and use the treasure to take over the world. Peach hurries back to Tec to not cause suspicion. She questions this. Tec then again lets Peach use the keyboard to send a message to Mario. She then is requested to go back to her room.

Meanwhile Bowser is in Boggly Woods looking for the Crystal Star there. The Punies say that Mario has retrieved it. Bowser is behind again.

Chapter 4: For Pigs the Bell Tolls
After Mario gives back the Champ's belt he and the others hop on the Cheep Blimp back to Rogueport. When there Mario receives another email from Peach saying that the X-Nauts are planning to take over the world using the treasure behind the Thousand Year Door. Mario and party head to the Thousand Year Door and present the map to it. The next Crystal Star, the Ruby Star appears in the woods inside an old building. They head to Frankly for details. Frankly states that the next Crystal Star is in an old building called Creepy Steeple. Nearby is Twilight Town, a town that is in a fixed state of perpetual twilight from the moon. Frankly says that to get to Twilight Town there is a pipe in the sewers on the west side of Rogueport. When Mario and party attempt going through the pipe they come back up. Mario and party ask Frankly about this. He says they can ask Darkly, a resident of Twilight Town hanging out in the dark in the alley. Darkly says that to enter the pipe one must have something with their name written on it. He writes Mario's name on his overalls and his partner's name on his pants or any clothing. When they arrive the town is in chaos. Most of the town's citizens have been turned into pigs. The mayor of Twilight Town, Mayor Dower talks to Mario and the gang. He says that a curse has been put on the town. The monster in Creepy Steeple has changed the bell in the clock tower and when it rings a citizen in Twilight Town turns into a pig. Mario and party ask about the Crystal Star there. The mayor says there is a red star-shaped stone in the Steeple's bell tower. Mario and party can't get past the gatekeeper because later the mayor is turned into a pig. After a bit the gatekeeper is turned into a pig. With the help of the Black Chest in the item shop, that gives Mario the paper ability to roll into a funnel they can go through Twilight Trail. After going on the trail they finally reach the Creepy Steeple. Mario and party go through the door and move the star statue and release the boos. After going back up and moving the stairs in different ways via switches, they are able to reach the bell tower. Up there sits the monster, a dooplighost with an unknown name. He says that he enjoys watching the citizens of the town in peril. So Mario and party engage the ghost in a battle. After a couple of hits he transforms into a shadowy version of Mario but is defeated. Mario and party take the Ruby Star and leave. It turns out that the dooplighost turned into Mario's real form taking his name and turning the real Mario into a shadow. So Mario by himself in shadow form heads back to Twilight Town. Here he encounters the Dooplighost again who has taken Mario's real form. They engage in a battle but can't hurt each other. Mario runs and goes into Twilight Town. Meanwhile in the town the Shadow Sirens plan to attack Mario again with their new weapon the Superbombbomb, but Beldam lost it and blames Vivian. She demands that Vivian look for it while her and Marlyn go get some rest. Mario comes along and finds the weapon in the bushes. He greets her and she doesn't know who he is because of his shadow form. He tries to say his name but she can't hear him and she finds out that someone has stolen his name. She joins Mario (she can't recognize him) and helps him retrieve his identity. After hearing some birds they discover that there is someone in Creepy Steeple that knows the monster's name. They head into Creepy Steeple through the well and discover a parrot. Mario and Vivian discovers from the parrot that the ghost's name is Doopliss. Mario and Vivian head back to Twilight Town also with the missing letter "p" from a chest and tells the monster his name. He runs back to Creepy Steeple. Mario and Vivian battle Doopliss and Goombella and the rest of the party. Vivian discovers Mario's identity and walks away during mid-battle but comes back saying that Mario is the nicest person the her. They defeat Doopliss and the gang. Mario is turned back to normal and Doopliss in normal form runs away. The gang says they are sorry and Vivian is the new member. They take the Ruby Star and Chapter 4 is over.

Intermission
Tec calls Peach in again and at first is not responding. He then ask her to answers questions in a quiz. He says these are very important. After answering the questions Peach finds out from him that the treasure behind the Thousand Year Door is actually the soul of a 1,000 year old demon (the Shadow Queen). Tec then says that the Crystal Stars act as keys to lock or unlock the Thousand Year Door. Peach then emails this important information to Mario.

Meanwhile Bowser is on his way back to Glitzville, after losing to Mario in a battle their. He discovers there is a Crystal Star and uses his Clown Copter to ride their. But in the sky it runs out of gas and Bowser falls into the ocean. He swims through the water level and jumps back onto the pier in Rogueport. Kammy Koopa took the Cheep Blinp to Glitzville and made it. She finds Bowser, who is furious.

Chapter 5: Key to Pirates
Mario and party head back to Rogueport. On the way Mario recieves another email from Peach. The email says that the treasure behind the Thousand Year Door is the soul of a 1,000 year old demon and the Crystal Stars act as keys to lock or unlock the door. Mario and party go to the Thousand Year Door and show the Ruby Star and the next Crystal Star, the Sapphire Star, appears on the map on an island in the ocean. Mario and party head for Frankly for details. He reads in his books that the 1,000 year old demon created the Crystal Stars to help take over the world. Four heroes rose and defeated the demon and locked her in a maze and the exit, the Door, was sealed with the Crystal Stars. He also says that the seal on the Door only lasts for 1,000 years. He says that the next Crystal Star is on Keelhaul Key, an island inhabited by ghosts. Mario heads to the juice bar and talks to a man named Flavio. The man says he has a boat and wants to go to this island to look for the treasure of the ghost pirate king Cortez. He appoints Mario as captain and makes him look for a navigator. Mario looks for Admiral Bobbery and old Bob-omb that has experience on the sea. They find him in his house but he refuses to go for some reason. Mario and party head for the juice bar and talk to the owner. He says that Bobbery used to sail the seas all the time. But one day when he was out at sea his wife Scarlette, died. When Bobbery came back and found out, he became grief stricken blaming himself and vowed never to go back onto the water. The juice shop owner gives Mario a letter and tells him it was Scarlette's last words. Mario and party goes back to Bobbeery's house. They give him the letter and he reads it. In the letter Scarlette says that she is passing away and does not want Bobbery to be sad and wants him to sail the seas again. With this driving him Bobbert agrees to become the navigator of the S.S. Flavio and heads to the port. Everyone on the ship going gets on and sets sail. An X-Naut soldier speaks to his superiors on headphones saying that one of their soldiers is on the ship. The S.S. Flavio is on the water sailing for three days and Flavio records things that happen in his diary. One night on the sea a ghostly Ember appears and spooks one of the crew members. Then a whole group of Embers appear. A ghostly voice says to turn back. Then the large group of Embers sink the S.S. Flavio and the passengers with it. After, they swim to Keelhaul Key and build a small town. Three days pass and some crew members have gone missing. Two Embers appear and attack Flavio. Mario and party jump in and save him. Flavio then asks Mario to go throughout the island and find the missing crew members. After a little exploring a little Mario and party find, Bobbery, Four Eyes and some Toads being attacked by Embers. Bobbery tells them to run while he holds them off. When they get away Four Eyes heads back to the outpost after he says "Hey you there in the TV you better not tell who I am." Mario and party head back to help Bobbery and defeat the Embers. He then requests for Chocola Cola as he says he is going to die. Afyer going back and getting the cola from Flavio, Bobbery drinks it and falls asleep thinking he died. Mario and party wake him up. He thanks Mario for all his help and becomes the new member of the party. As they head forward they notice a strange skull rock that needs a key. They get the Skull Gem from Flavio and then Bobbery blows up the rock through a door leading to Pirate's Grotto. Mario and party head through the pirate hideout avoiding many traps and enemies ignoring the creepy voice of Cortez. Eventually Mario and party find another Black Chest and receives the paper ability to turn into a boat. Eventually they come across a boat full of missing people two of which are Franky and Francisca. They save them band head into Cotez's ship. They head into a room filled with treasure and there sits the Sapphire Star. Cortez appears as a ghostly floating skull and fights Mario and party. Cortez uses many attacks on the gang, including using many swords but he defeated. He really doesn't get hurt since he is a ghost. Mario then says they are not here to take his treasure. They came here for the Sapphire Star. Cortez gives it to them saying he doesn't really like it anyway. Mario and party then head back into the cavern and withe help of Bobbery, blow a hole into the wall to thr outside. Everyone in the cave goes outside. Suddenly cannons start blasting. In the water an X-Naut battleship is doing it. On top of the cannon is Four Eyes, who reveals himself to be Lord Crump. Flavio and Mario and party head back to Cortez to borrow his ship. Flavio hands over his Skull Gem, that really belongs to Cortez, and the Gem is the power to make Cortez's ship move. Cortez gathers a large group of Embers onto the ship with the rest of the people to battle the X-Nauts. A huge battle takes place between the two ships. Mario fights Crump who wants the Crystal Star. Even having X-Naut soldiers to help him out Crump and his soldiers lose and retreat. After Cortez lets Mario and party ride on his ship anytime. Everyone gets onto his ship and head back to Rogueport. Chapter 5 is over.

Intermission
At the X-Naut Base Tec calls for Peach again. He tells her that he would like for her to sneak into Grodus' room to retrieve a disc. He guides her through an elevator to a lab room. He tells her she is going to make a potion that is going to make her invisible since only Grodus can enter his room. After mixing different formulas she drinks the potion and turns invisible. She walks past guards and into Grodus' room. She finds the disc and puts it into a nearby computer and the info is retrieved by Tec. Peach drinks a green potion making her visible again. Tec tells her it is going to be a while for him to unlock the data on the disc. She sends an email to Mario and goes back to her room.

In Twilight Town Bowser is asking around about the Crystal Stars. He runs into Crump who is looking for the Superbombbomb. Bowser hears Crump talk about the Crystal Stars and demands answers. Crump responds by calling his X-Naut army. Bowser and Kammy Koopa then call the Koopa Troop. Crump throws the Superbombbomb at Bowser and it does nothing. Bowser laughs at this and blows fire at the Superbombbomb. The bomb explodes hurting everyone on both sides.

Chapter 6: Three Days of Excess
When Mario and party get off of Cortez's ship Mario recieves a new email from the princess. It says that Peach is okay and she made a new friend with Tec. Mario and party head to the Thousand Year Door. They present the Sapphire Star and the next Crystal Star appears on the map. It appears in a large building in a town. They head to Frankly for details. He says that the next Crystal Star is in the Poshley Sanctum. The sanctum is a shrine to the Stars and is located in Poshley Sanctum, a town where rich people live. He also says that there are no monsters to worry about. He also says that they get to ride the Excess Express a ritzy train and Don Pianta has tickets. Mario and party head to the west side of Rogueport to see him. They find that he is depressed about his daughter Francisca. So Mario and party head back to Cortez's ship and go back to Keelhaul Key. They find Franky and Francisca and she lost her ring. After Mario looks through the woods and finds it the two decide to go back and help. Francisca apologizes for running off and Don forgives her. He thanks Mario and party and gives them tickets for the Excess Express. He then says he is going to retire and give the job of leadership to Franky. Mario and party get on the train and head off. While on the train Mario and party walk around. Eventually someone has stolen the stew pot from the chef. A trail of stew leads to the fat Toad's room. The pot is inside his drawer. Eventually things come missing from the passengers such as seashell earrings, a gold ring, and Nitro Honey. Mario finds a note saying an explosion will occur. One of the passengers states that his missing Nitro Honey combined with the calcium of a seashell, and some gold could cause a sticky explosion. After investigating with Pennington they find that the troublemaker is Zip Toad. Pennington and some guards bring him off at the next stop at Riverside Station. It turns out that Zip Toad was actually Doopliss working for the Shadow Sirens, who escapes. Mario and party have to go through the station and flip the switch to the drawbridge. Down where the switch is, is a group of Smorgs, an experiment of the X-Nauts. After getting rid of them and hitting the switch, the drawbridge comes down and the train leaves. Mario and party head back on the train and sleep. The next day the whole train is empty with no one around. When talking to the train engineer a Smorg appears on the window. Eventually the whole train is covered in Smorgs. Mario and party head to the caboose of the train and find out that the Smorgs through the luggage hole. Mario and party save the maid and engineer and head out the back and onto the top of the train. There the Smorgs all group together and form an octopus like monster with the rest of the passengers inside it. After a tough battle with the monster Mario and party defeat it causing all the Smorgs to fall off the train. Later the Excess Express arrives in Poshley Heights. Mario and party travel to the other end of town to the Poshley Sactum. The door is locked. Pennington walks up and unlocks the door saying that he lives in the Sactum and takes care of it and that being a detective is just a hobby. Inside the two Shadow Sirens and Doopliss steal the Ember Star off the pedestal and run. Pennington tells Mario and party that the Star they stole is a fake and that the real one is hidden in the Sanctum. Pennington won't tell where its at because he doesn't know. After searching using the Super Boots a pipe is found. Going into the pipe leads into the painting on the wall and into the open door. In the back is the real Ember Star sitting on a pedestal. Mario and party head out of the pipe and for the door saying goodbye to Pennington. Chapter 6 is over.

Intermission
X-Naut soldiers tell Grodus of Mario having six of the Crystal Stars. Meanwhile Peach is called in by Tech again. He tells her why she is needed by Grodus, (player finds out later in the game). She is shocked at what she hears. Tec says that they are on the moon and he can help her escape. The conversation is cut short by Grodus and two X-Naut soldiers appearing. Grodus is angry with Tec for betraying him and tells the two soldiers to push two buttons to shut down Tec. Grodus then takes Peach with her. However, before Grodus appeared Peach sent one last email to Mario using the keyboard before being taken by Grodus.

Meanwhile Bowser is walking through Rogueport dissapointed that he could not find a Crystal Star. Kammy Koopa appears and tells him that the troops have found a secret underground room. Bowser goes through the underground in a Super Mario Bros theme. He arrives in a room with the Glitz Pit Champ's Belt hanging on the wall. Bowser shouts in joy as he finally found a Crystal Star. Rawk Hawk appears and attacks Bowser keeping Bowser from taking the belt. However Bowser squashes Rawk and the earthquake causes the Star to fall off the belt and break. Bowser and Kammy realize it is a fake and are mad again.

Chapter 7: Mario Shoots the Moon
Mario and party arrive in Rogueport from the Excess Express. Mario recieves another email from the princess saying that she is being held prisoner on the moon. She then says the reason for why she is being held but her connection was cut short. Mario and party then head to the Thousand Year Door. They present the Garnet Star and the next Star, the Crystal Star (not to be confused with the group name) appears on the map on a fortress on the moon. They head to Frankly for details. Frankly states that since the Crystal Star is on the moon and the princess states that she is on the moon then this is the X-Naut base. He aslo says that he knows one way to get to the moon. There is a bomb-omb base base called Fahr Outpost located in the snowy mountains and they have a giant cannon that can shoot anything to the moon.There is a pipe located under the west side of Rogueport that goes there. Mario and party need the Ultra Hammer to break the block. The hammer is in the main area of Rogueport in a large chest on a shelf. When Mario party go through the pipe they must go through the snowy region and into Fahr Outpost. Asking the mayor on the far side of the outpost about the cannon he will say nothing. But Bobbery will say that he saw the cannon before and they must use it. He convinces the mayor that the fate of the world is at stake. The mayor then says that they will need Goldbob's permission and General White to fire it. Heading to Poshley Heights Mario gets Goldbob's signature and heads to Petalburg to find General White. The Koopas there say he went somewhere else. After traveling to every land previously beaten Mario and party head back to Fahr Outpost. They tell the mayor that they could not find General White. However, General White walked into a nearby house and went to sleep. After numerous times of hitting him on the head he wakes up. He then says he has been looking everywhere for Mario. He then heads into a building near the entrance of the outpost and goes in. He pushes some buttons and a giant cannon appears out of the ground. Numerous Bob-ombs soldiers appear. Mario and party are told to hop into the cannon. The Bob-ombs then jump into a part of the cannon and the door closes. Genneral White then directs the big cannon onto the moon as the target. After a countdown the Bob-ombs inside the cannon explode at once causing the cannon to shoot Mario. The Bob-ombs fall out of the sky. The blast sends Mario and party through the sky and space landing them on the moon.Mario and party now walk around on the moon. Taking the path to the left they evetually see the X-Naut fortress. They break a rock and enter a pipe and go into the fortress. In the fortress they encounter two X-Naut soldiers. They defeat these X-Nauts and continue. Going through the base Mario and party must obtain elevator keys to take the elevator to other levels of the place. One challenge includes a robotic thwomp bust challenging you to a quiz. Mario and party answer five questions correctly and obtain an elevator key. Other challenges include going through rooms with tile on the floors and taking the wrong path gets Mario electrocuted. Another is obtaing an elevator key in Grodus' room. After going through the X-Naut base and fighting or dodging many X-Naut troops Mario and party use Card Keys to enter a room near the bottom of the fortress. In the room awaits Lord Crump (again). He laughs and says that he has been waiting for Mario. He says that Grodus has taken Peach somewhere else. He then jumps into his robot, Magnus von Grapple 2.0.The new robot is powered by the Crystal Star. The robot has old attacks and some new ones including the ability to suck in members from the audience and fire them at Mario. After an intense battle Mario and party are able to defeat Crump causing his robot to explode and sending him into outer space. Maerio and party then take the Crystal Star. They then head down to the bottom level of the fortress. There they meet Tec who is still running thanks to backup power. He tells them that Grodus has taken Peach to the Palace of Shadow which is inside the Thousand Year Door. He then pleads for Mario to save Peach and directs him and party to a teleporter sending them to Rogueport Sewers. Chapter 7 is over.

Trivia

 * A Toad in the game claims he loves playing Paper Mario, Paper Mario: the Thousand-Year Door (and even claims it has a cool ending), and Fire Emblem. In the end, he rumors of an upcoming game called Super Paper Mario.
 * This is one of the few instances where Yoshi actually speaks
 * During the battle with Rawk Hawk, Mario is sometimes referred to by a fan as Jumpman, his unofficial name in Donkey Kong.
 * There is also a badge known as Jumpman.
 * There are a few fourth wall breaks by Professor Frankly
 * The Bowser minigames are based on levels from Super Mario Bros.
 * Mario receives email on a device that resembles a Game Boy Advance SP,called a Mailbox SP
 * He also has two ringtones. One is the intro to Super Mario World and the other is the ice world from Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * The way the areas appear on the magical map, especially the first area, resembles how the scenery would change if certain levels were completed in Super Mario World.
 * The spin jump originated in Super Mario Word, but in this game is different from the original in that it is vertical instead of horizontal and results in a butt pound whereas the original was more for breaking multiple blocks and killing enemies.
 * A badge is in the game to make Mario able to wear Wario's clothes.
 * If one wears the W Emblem badge and the L Emblem badge, Mario will wear Waluigi's clothes. The L Emblem badge, respectively, will make Mario wear Luigi's clothes.
 * Many characters reference the original Paper Mario.
 * When Doopliss is battling as Mario, he refers to himself as Super Mario.
 * Upon entering the dressing room on the moon base via the ceiling grate, once you leave the dressing room, you and your partner will be in 8-bit accompanied by the original Super Mario Bros. music and sound effects. Mario, however, will be unable to use any special abilities or his hammer. You return to normal upon leaving the room.
 * A Game Boy Classic is used in the casino for displaying stats.
 * Mario is able to upgrade his hammer to the Ultra Hammer, which resembles the Golden Hammer from Wrecking Crew.