Summary
Every character has a normal attack in battle like a simple jump from Mario or an explosion from Admiral Bobbery inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Characters can also use Flower Points, or FP, to use special moves. Mario and his partners share their FP pool but their HP is separate.
Mario can collect and equipBadges inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorthat will grant him new abilities in battle while his partners can learn new moves through upgrading in Rogueport. There are a lot of useful moves in the game, so let’s rank the best ones out. Besides Flurrie, every character in the game has a top-notch ability attached to them.
8Kiss Thief
Steal Items
Kiss Thief is an attack from Ms. Mowz and it can steal items from enemies. She’s like theYuffie of the group fromFinal Fantasy 7and just as sly and flirty. Ms. Mowz is the only optional character in the game too, also like Yuffie, but recruiting Ms. Mowz for this skill alone is worth it. It would be wise to switch a partner out with her in battle if a rare item appears. Enemies can sometimes even have Badges and most Badges do allow players to stack effects. So, it is worth having multiples in some cases.
7Rally Wink
Gives Mario Her Turn
Rally Wink is the final move that Goombella can learn after upgrading her with Shine Sprites fromSuper Mario Sunshine. Goombella isn’t the strongestparty member inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorbut she is worth having around to use Tattle at the start of battle. Tattle will give players data on enemies like weaknesses and HP. Once Tattle is used, Goombella is worth keeping around because Rally Wink will essentially give her turn to Mario. Players can use any number of strategies with Mario with this ability in mind like combining a Special attack with using an item.
6Bomb Squad
Throw Three Bombs On A Timed Delay
Bomb Squad is a useful ability to use againstbosses mostly inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It’s an attack from Admiral Bobbery, the last recruitable party member in the game. With Bomb Squad, players can aim an arrow and then launch three bombs into the field.
These bombs will have a delayed activation, so players could potentially riddle the battlefield with traps to cause a chain reaction for quite literally an explosive scene. Explosive-based attacks won’t work on every boss though like armored robots.
5Fiery Jinx
Attack Enemies With Fire And Chance To Burn
Fiery Jinx is an ability Vivian can learn, she begins the game as an antagonist. Once she sees Mario will treat her better than her two sisters, she joins the party. This fire-based attack is tricky to get right. Players have to follow a set of button prompts onthe Switch controllerwhich changes in-between sessions. They are obscured from view too and there is a timer. Perfect executions will deal heavy fire damage to all enemies and there is a chance they will suffer burn damage that will accumulate over time too.
4Shell Slam
Attack All Ground Enemies And Ignore Defense
Shell Slam is the final move that Koops can learn in the game once his character gets enough Shine Sprites. One of his best starting moves, Power Shell is a lot like it since it targets ground enemies. The upgrade that Shell Slam provides will ignore defenses when launched. It’s a pretty easy move to execute as players just have to keep tilting the analog stick to fill a meter. It’s a good move to use against hard-to-manage enemies like anything with a shell.
3Stampede
Attack All Enemies On Screen
Players can hatch a Yoshi in the game and then name it whatever they want. There’s also anEaster Egg attached to the hatching process inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorwhich can change its colors including green, red, white, and so on. Stampede will be this young Yoshi’s final move and it will summon a literal stampede of standard-looking green Yoshi dinosaurs.
It’s an easy move to charge as players just have to slam on the ZR and ZL buttons. Even though the Yoshi dinosaurs run on the ground, the attack will hit every enemy for repeated damage which can make short work of even the thickest mobs of enemies.
2Quake Hammer
Damage All Ground And Ceiling Enemies
One of of Mario’s best early Badges inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Dooris also one of his best throughout the game. Quake Hammer can be found in the Boggly Woods during Chapter 2 and it will do damage to ground-based enemies and it will knock some off balance. Koopa Troopas, for example, can land on their backs which immobilizes them from taking turns. Their soft underbellies also take more damage once exposed. It’s a good Badge to keep attached to Mario as some enemies can only be damaged once they are flipped over.
1Multibounce
Jump On All Enemies
Last, but not least, Multibounce is another Badge-based attack for Mario. While the hammer and all hammer-related attacks are useful, players can get by putting a lot of energy into jumping abilities. Of the many, Multibounce rules because it targets all enemies onscreen. This doesn’t help when there is a spiked enemy around as they will halt the combo, but overall, Multibounce should fit at least 70% of most battle situations in the game. Multibounce can be found in the Shhwonk Fortress duringChapter 1 ofPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
