Chapter 1: Castle and Dragon Walkthrough
Petal Meadows
When you arrive in Petal Meadows, you can get a Mushroom right away by whacking the tree behind the pipe you emerged from. You can then whack the tree to the left of this and find Star Piece #7. Head to the right and you will see an ominous cutscene where a dragon flies overhead to a castle off in the distance. Continue to the right on this screen, picking up another Mushroom from the block.
If you have been defeating most enemies you see up to this point, you will likely be approaching your first level up. As some general advice, while it may be tempting to upgrade your HP, it's generally a better idea to focus on FP and BP. If you are confident in your action command guards then most of the cons of having low HP can be offset by higher damage output with FP and versatile abilities with BP.
Continue to the right along the path and you'll find a red block containing the Close Call badge. We can't make use of the green pipe you see here, so just continue along the path to the right. In this next area, there is a green bush you can knock over that reveals a green pipe. Take that pipe to reach the hills in the background.
Head right along these hills and whack the blue switch to create a bridge over the river. Then continue to the right to pick up Star Piece #8. Across the bridge you can pick up some items by whacking the bushes and hitting the item block. Then continue to the right to find yourself in Petalburg.
Petalburg
When you arrive into town a friendly Koopa will welcome you and point you in the direction of the mayor. You can check out the inn or shop in town if you'd like, otherwise just continue to the right. Enter the pink house to find the mayor who will tell you about the secret pipe you need to find to get to Hooktail's Castle. He'll send you in the direction of Shhwonk Fortress to find the stones needed to use the pipe.
With the mayor's blessing, you'll be able to exit town via the gate to the right. A Koopa named Koops will briefly try to stop you and ask a question, but he chickens out and sends you on your way. You'll exit onto the path to Shhwonk Fortress.
The first thing to do is whack the bush between the two trees to find Star Piece #9. Continue along the path and you'll come across a mandatory battle against a Koopa Troopa where Goombella will introduce a couple more battle mechanics. Continue along the path to enter the fortress.
Shhwonk Fortress
Once inside Shhwonk Fortress you'll need to battle some new enemies called Bald Cleft. To start the battle, you'll need to whack them off the pillars with your hammer. They are immune to your normal attacks, but a POW Block will defeat them completely. This will unlock the gate and there will be an outdoor path to the next section of the fortress. Make sure to search the bushes at the end to find another POW Block.
In this section, you'll face some more new enemies called Bristle. You won't be able to damage them with any of your attacks except for POW Block. Once defeated, this gate will also be opened. In the next grassy path you can pick up an Inn Coupon from the grass. Before you enter the next opening, you can pay 5 coins to heal up, so do that if you need.
Make sure to use the save block and then approach the thwomp statue. What seems like a boss battle actually turns out to be a trivia contest. You'll receive up to seven questions and need to answer five correctly, and the game will end as soon as you do. Here are all the questions and answers:
Q: "What's hidden in Shhwonk Fortress"
A: "Sun and Moon Stones"
Q: "What do one Mushroom and one Fire Flower cost at the shop in Petalburg? Total!"
A: "12 coins"
Q: "What is the name of the mayor of Petalburg?"
A: "Kroop"
Q: "Where is the Crystal Star"
A: "Hooktail Castle"
Q: "How can one get from Rogueport to Petal Meadows?"
A: "Go through a Pipe"
Q: "Which of the following characters can be found in Petalburg?
A: "Koopa Troopas"
Q: "What number question is this?"
A: "Question Seven"
After winning the quiz you'll be able to take a pipe down to the Shhwonk Fortress Sublevel. Here you'll find a block containing the Multibounce badge. This is a pretty useful one to equip if you can spare the BP. Start out by heading to the left. In these corridors you will encounter a new enemy called a Fuzzy. These guys suck your HP to heal themselves. Defeat them and continue to the end of this hallway.
In this end room you will find the Moon Stone. When you pick it up, there will be a mandatory fight against 4 Fuzzies. It's smart to target the one that is holding a fire flower first to prevent him from using it. Once you have defeated them, make sure to pick up the Mushroom from the block in this room. Then head back to the right to the room we entered from.
We'll repeat this process but going right this time. There is another corridor with some Fuzzies and at the end you'll find the Sun Stone. You'll once again need to defeat a set of 4 Fuzzies. Pick up the Fire Flower afterward and then return to the starting room.
Back in this room, you'll find a Gold Fuzzy that is hungry for battle. It doesn't pack much of a punch on his own, but it will summon a horde of Fuzzies that will attack you several times per turn. When it does this, make sure to keep targeting the Gold Fuzzy with your attacks since the entire horde will leave as soon as you take it out. After the battle, you are free to exit the sublevel via the pipe.
Gettings Koops
When you exit the Fortress you'll get an email from Professor Frankly that just tells you about emails. Now head back to town and all the way through it to the west. When you leave town this way, you'll find that Koops finally built up the courage to speak to you again. He then asks to join your party so that he can prove himself and avenge his Dad against Hooktail.
When Koops joins your party, you'll get a lesson on how to use his special ability. It lets you send him spinning in his shell to damage enemies or collect items. He will automatically become your partner, but you can switch between any partners from the menu or in battle. After some protest from his girlfriend Koopie Koo, you'll both be on your way to face Hooktail.
Continue left a couple screens and you'll see that tall green pipe from earlier. Enter it and you can now use Koops's ability to grab the Happy Heart badge from the block to the left. Now continue left and place the stones in the pedestals here. Once you do, two blue switches will appear on either side. You'll need to hit them simultaneously. You can do this by using Koops's ability and holding it while you move mario to the other side and whack the switch with your hammer. Once the path is open you can go through the pipe and enter the castle.
Hooktail Castle
If you exit the first room when you arrive in the castle, you'll notice that the bridge to continue is out. You'll need to instead use the spring pad to reach the upper level where you'll find an airplane panel that will let you glide across. This next large room has some new flying Paratroopa enemies. If you ever need to return to the other side of the broken bridge, you can climb the stairs and use the airplane panel on this side.
Continue right in this large room and you'll find a red block containing the Power Bounce badge. Defeat the enemies here if you'd like and continue to the next room. Here Koops will tragically tell you that the bones on the ground must be his father's. He reads a letter next to the bones that give a hint about Hooktail's weakness: frog croaking. Although it turns out that these bones don't belong to Koops's father, but the father of a Koopa named Kolorado. Those who have played the first Paper Mario game should recognize that name.
At the end of this room is a Red Bones lying next to the door. When you approach it, he warns you that you will go no further and summons a huge horde of Dull Bones. You'll need to whack them with your hammer as you approach the Red Bones to fight it.
This battle will pit you against the Red Bones and four Dull Bones. You'll want to quickly take out the Dull Bones with Koops's Power Shell. Red Bones will then slowly build his army of Dull Bones back up, but you should have time to take him out before he can get very far. He has high defense, so make sure you are using shell attacks and your hammer. A Power Smash is recommended if you can spare the FP.
After the battle, continue to the next room where there are some more Dull Bones to fight. You can also find Shine Sprite #1 in a box in the middle of the room. On the right side of the room you'll find a yellow and purple switch that control nearby blocks by moving them up and down. Hit the purple switch once to lower the block. You'll then need to charge Koops's shell spin and have Mario jump on the purple block before having Koops hit the switch. This will lead Mario to a little balcony where you can find Star Piece #10.
You'll now want to lower both the purple and yellow blocks and break the block that blocks the yellow one from moving. You can then stand on the yellow block with Mario while Koops charges his spin attack on the yellow switch. This will allow you to reach a ledge where you'll find Star Piece #11.
With the yellow block raised, Mario can now stand in the spot where it was sitting and use Koops to hit the nearby switch with his shell. This will flip the direction that the staircase in this room faces. You can then use this staircase to reach the Castle Key (Red). You can then flip the direction of the stairs again and use this key on the locked door to the right.
There is a save block in this next room, so hit that before continuing right to the next room. In this jail room you'll see a red switch. You'll need to charge up a Koops spin and stand in front of the right jail cell with Mario. As soon as the switch is hit, you have a short period of time where you can enter the cell and continue to the right.
In this small room is a black chest that you can speak to. It seems eerily similar to the one that cursed us before, but it once again asks you to find a key and open it. Head into the next room where you'll find a chest containing this very Black Key. However, once you open the chest, spikes will raise from the floor and being slowly closing in from the ceiling. You'll have 45 seconds to navigate the spike maze and exit the room. This should be plenty of time if you don't get too turned around.
With the key in hand, go ahead and open the chest that is sure to curse you. As predicted, you are once again cursed, and it is once again a very helpful and necessary tool for you to use. This particular curse lets you hold ZR to turn sideways and since you are paper thin this will let you slide through small openings and cracks that you couldn't before.
Exit this room to the left and you'll immediately need to make use of your new ability to escape the jail cell. You can also use it to enter the jail cell on the left and pick up the Attack FX G badge. This is one badge in a series that only changes some sound effects so it doesn't cost any BP. This one turns your attack sounds into frog noises, which if you remember from a hint earlier is actually a weakness of Hooktail.
Continue backtracking to the left until you reach the other room with prison bars where we fought the Dull Bones horde before. You'll notice one of cell doors only has vertical bars, so you can use paper mode to slip through it and get the Castle Key (Green). You can then head back right two rooms. In here you can use Koops to whack the green switch while Mario stands on the large green block. This will take you up to the second floor where you can unlock the door using the green key.
There is a long balcony in this room and you can hit the two blue switches to reveal a path over the gaps. When you come to the third gap, there is no switch to hit. Instead you need to hop out the window and cross on the outside of the building. Before you do, head to the right instead and you can find Star Piece #12.
In the next room, use Koops to charge a shell attack and hit the switch while Mario is on the green block. Once you get to the top you can drop back down to the left to reach a ledge where you can pick up a Lifeshroom. You can then use the green block to reach the top again and go through the door on the left.
This is the treasure room of the castle, and in it you'll find the globe-trotting thief Ms. Mowz. She runs off with a badge that was in this room, but not without leaving Mario with a smooch and a hint on how to beat Hooktail. Open the rest of the chests in this room to find some goodies and the Castle Key (Yellow). You will also find Shine Sprite #2.
Head back to the right and use the yellow key on the locked door in the next room. In this large room head all the way to the right and use the yellow switch and a Koops charge to lift Mario with the large yellow block. Once on top, there is a narrow ledge to walk on to the left. When you get to the plane panel, you can use paper mode to cross through the bar. Carefully walk onto the other ledge and head all the way to the right to find Star Piece #13.
Go back to the center of the room and use the plane panel to fly to the right and go through the door. On the grand staircase head down the stairs and hit the yellow switch. You can then use Koops to pick up the Castle Key (Blue). Use the healing block if you need to and then head up the stairs and pick up Shine Sprite #3 before unlocking the final door.
There are a few enemies on this outdoor walkway you can take care of if you'd like. There is then a large spiral staircase to climb. There's one final enemy and staircase before you reach the boss door. Make sure to save and heal if you need to. Also make sure you've equipped the Attack FX G badge. It's a good idea to switch to Goombella before the fight so you can tattle first thing. Enter the door when you are ready.
Hooktail
Hooktail will make some rather nasty threats and the battle will begin. Make sure to start with a Tattle and then switch to have Koops at the front of your party. Make sure you are using Mario's hammer (Power Smash if you can), as the frog sound effect will make Hooktail sick and reduce the damage that she deals.
Once you deal 20 damage Hooktail will beg you to stop and try to strike a deal with you. Ignore her offers and she will eventually eat some audience members to regain health. She will now have a final 10 HP and you can continue the battle with the same strategy.
Once you defeat Hooktail she will cough up Koops's dad. It turns out he's just been living in his shell in Hooktail's belly for 10 years and conveniently also brought the Crystal Star with him. Once you collect it your star power will increase and you will learn the special move "Earth Tremor".
Princess Peach
After completing Mario's Chapter 1 adventure, you'll get to play from Princess Peach's perspective. She has been captured by the enemy group called the X-Nauts and is being questioned regarding the map she found and gave to Mario. During this initial cutscene, we'll be introduced to the X-Naut leader Grodus and get a hint that the next Crystal Star is in Boggly Woods. You'll also be introduced to the the Three Shadows, a group of ghost sisters apparently in alignment with the X-Nauts.
You'll now take control of Princess Peach in her chambers. If you shake the broom in the corner of the room, the door to the right will open. Continue to the right in this hallway and you'll step on a switch that opens the next door.
In this room Peach will meet the main computer of the lab, TEC. It turns out the sentient computer TEC lead Peach here because he is in love with her, even if he doesn't fully understand it. He says he will grant Peach any wish besides escaping, and she chooses to send out an email to explain her predicament. She then returns to her quarters for the night.
Bowser
We will now get to see the events from the perspective of Bowser, who seems to not be the central enemy in this game. His minions have called him on request of Kammy Koopa to hear some news. She updates Bowser on what Mario is up to, and while he doesn't care about Mario, he is interested in the Crystal Stars. He also learns that Princess Peach has been kidnapped by someone other than himself and he becomes quite jealous. He flys away to kidnap her back right away.
Rogueport
The perspective will now switch back to Mario, who is with Koops and some village members who send him off, as he has decided to permanently join you as a partner. While you're in town, you can pick up the badge Mega Rush P by using your new paper mode ability to get through the fence next to the Mayor's pink house.
Begin heading west back towards Rogueport and you will be stopped by an email from Peach updating Mario on the situation. Continue heading west to the gray pipe that brings you back to Rogueport Sewers. While in the sewers, as you can continue left you'll find a grate that you can slip through to reach a green pipe. This pipe will take you into the background where you can access Merlee the fortune teller.
You can pay Merlee to cast spells that will grant you buffs in battle. The More you pay them, the longer the spells will last. It's recommended to save your coins for now, but you can choose the cheap option if you just want to try it out. Continue to the left through the sewers to find the green pipe taking you back up to East Rogueport.
Back on the surface, you'll find your brother Luigi on this side of town. Apparently, Luigi is on his own adventure rescuing a princess from the Waffle Kingdom. You can hear the whole story behind if you want to read his letter. It seems that his adventure is quite similar to your own. You can check back in with Luigi throughout the game to hear updates on his adventure.
Still in East Rogueport, speak to Gus who is blocking the way to continue east. You can either pay him 10 coins to let you through each time, or you can battle him now and permanently get him out of the way. You should definitely battle him, he's not too difficult to take out. Make sure to get a tattle in and just keep pounding him with Power Smash (his spear will prevent jump attacks).
The first thing to do while you're here is use your paper mode ability to wedge between the two buildings. You'll find a new area behind them and if you check behind the barrel you can pick up Star Piece #14.
The main attraction on this side of town for now is the Trouble Center. Here you can find a list of quests given by various characters that award a prize upon completion. You can only accept one quest at a time, and once you do you need to either complete it or pay to drop it before accepting another. There were 6 quests available starting with the Prologue, and 3 more after completing Chapter 1. More will be available at the end of each chapter. These are entirely optional so feel free to skip the entire next section if you aren't interested in completing them all.
Trouble Center
Need a key!
You'll need to find a key for Garf, who is standing in front of his locked house to the east of the Trouble Center. Head to central Rogueport and go to the second floor of the Inn. Head through the door here to find the key on the ledge. Head back to Garf and return the key and you'll receive 30 coins as a prize.
Safe delivery...
You can find McGoomba on the right side of the alley behind Rogueport Plaza. He'll give you a box to deliver to Goomfrey, who is in front of Professor Frankly's house in Rogueport East. After doing so speak to McGoomba again and you'll get a reward of 30 coins.
Competitor research!
Arfur, who can be found standing in front of the Trouble Center after accepting the quest, needs to know the prices of Fire Flowers (10 coins), Sleepy Sheep (8 coins), and Tasty Tonics (3 coins) from the shop in Rogueport Plaza. After reporting the prices you'll get a reward of 30 coins.
Find this guy!
Goomther needs held locating the guy who committed credit card fraud against him. You can find Goomther on the west side of Rogueport Square. You can find the bandit (Larson) by going behind the fake wall as soon as you enter East Rogueport. When you confront him, he'll run off to Rogueport Harbor.
Head to the harbor and you'll find Larson hiding to the left of the staircase. Confront him again and he'll run off to the alley behind Rogueport Plaza. Go find him on the left side of the alley and he'll stay put long enough for Goomther to come over and give you your 30 coins as a reward. Goomther then delivers a beating for your enjoyment.
Hit me, please!
Mousimilian can be found in front of the shop in Rogueport Square. All you have to do in this quest is whack them with your hammer until they remember a slick money making trick. Your reward for this quest is the knowledge of that trick: you can buy Sleepy Sheep from Rogueport and sell them in Petalburg for a 2 coin profit.
I'm hungry!
You can find Bomberto in Rogueport Harbor near the docks. Speak to him and he'll ask for something to eat. You can feed him a Mushroom to satisfy the quest. He'll then reward you with 11 coins.
Try to find me!
Koopok is a hide-and-seek champion who wants you to find him somewhere in Hooktail Castle. Go there and navigate all the way to the room on the second floor with the large green block that serves as an elevator. Ride the green block up to the top and then you can drop down onto the ledge to the left to find Koopok. As a reward you'll get the Special Card.
Listen to me!
Mayor Kroop just wants someone to listen to him. Make your way over to Petalburg and speak to him in his pink house. He'll give you a rambling story about the youth of today and young love. You'll get a Turtley Leaf as a reward. While you are in Petalburg, it is strongly recommended that you buy 5 Courage Shells from the shop if you are planning on doing the next quest. This will save you a trip back to Petalburg.
Help me restock!
Visit the shop in Rogueport Square and speak to Plenn T. He requests you to bring him 5 Courage Shells. If you don't already have them, you'll need to go buy them from the shop in Petalburg. Once you deliver them you'll get a Ultra Shroom as a reward.
The Thousand Year Door
Head back down into Rogueport Sewers and head to the room with the Thousand Year Door. Now that you can use the paper mode ability, you can take some small shortcuts to get to the pipes that take you there a bit faster. Once you are in the room you can use paper mode on the fence and use the spring to reach an airplane panel above. This can be used to reach another spring on the other side of the room that will take you up to Shine Sprite #4.
If you hop down and go through the fence you'll find a door that leads to a new room. Behind the staircase in this room you'll find Star Piece #15. This is the Pit of 100 Trials room. If you enter the pipe you'll begin a challenge to defeat increasingly difficult enemies on 100 different floors. It's recommended that you wait until much later in the game to attempt this challenge.
With all the goodies collected that we can up to this point, it's time to visit the Thousand Year Door in the adjacent room. When you do, Mario will deliver the Crystal Star and the location of the next Crystal Star will be added to your map. After this, you'll be taken to Professor Frankly who tells you that the next star is in a great tree in Boggly Woods.
West Rogueport
As soon as you leave the Professor's house, you should get an email that lets you know that your Contact Lens is ready to pick up from the shop. Before doing that, you could also take the opportunity to upgrade one of your partners at Merlon's, who is directly to the left of the professor's house. You can spend 3 Shine Sprites to give your partner an HP boost and teach them a new attack. Goombella is probably the best option right now, but there is no wrong choice.
Afteward, you can enter the shop in Rogueport Plaza and purchase the Contact Lens for 10 coins. You can then deliver it Zess T., who returns to her home nearby. She is actually a chef, so you can now bring her ingredients and she can cook them into something more powerful. More importantly, this opens up a new side of town.
Head left to enter West Rogueport. You can pick up Star Piece #16 right away by checking behind the brick wall. You can then walk a little to the left and check behind the tall green pipe to find Star Piece #17 as well. Head all the way to the left and you can also find Star Piece #18 behind the gray trash can in the same area.
There are a few houses and a shop on this side of town, as well as the train station to the north. One of the main attractions you should check out is the lottery board. Speak to the bomb here to get a ticket for 10 coins. You can then check the board every day using this same ticket and see if your numbers match for a chance to win a prize.
The other main attraction here is the Pianta Parlor, where you can play games to earn pianta tokens. You'll have to exchange some coins for tokens to get started, but afterward you can play the games to earn more. You can either play the easy or hard slot machines, or you can play the plane game if you got the Special Card from the "Try to find me!" trouble center quest. You can exchange the tokens you accumulate for prizes, including some exclusive badges.
Underground City
That's all we can do above ground for now, so it's time to access a new area of Rogueport Sewers. You can do so by using the paper mode ability above the grate in the center of West Rogueport. Once down here, you can jump down and check behind the platform you landed on to find Star Piece #19. Afterward, take the small green pipe here to Sublevel Two.
You can head to the left and down the stairs to get an item from the item box, but the main thing you'll want to do is use paper mode to get through the fence on the right side of the large yellow block. Pick up the item from the block here and then go to the right to find the warp pipe room.
Your map will activate when you enter and spawn a warp pipe to Petalburg. Each time you complete a chapter, you can return to this room to get a warp pipe to the area it took place in. If you hit the blue switch in this room, it will create a warp pipe to Rogueport Plaza, allowing for quick navigation to any explored area in the game. Go ahead and take the warp pipe back to the surface.
Head back to West Rogueport and go underground again. This time, jump across the platforms to the right and enter the next room. There is a small underground city here. Check behind the first pillar you see here to find Star Piece #20. Venture out into the shallow water and you'll find a chest containing the Soft Stomp badge.
If you take the rising pillar to the upper area here you can find a bar to the left. Inside you can speak to Wonky and pay him for information about what's going on around town. The building to the right is another shop where you can get some powerful but expensive items. You can see Dazzle to the right of this area, but we don't have a way of connecting the two places for now. That's all there is to do down here, so head back to the left and return to the surface.
That's everything we can do with the areas we have access to, so it's time to go start Chapter 2. You can kick this off by entering the sewers from the pipe in East Rogueport. If you do, you might notice that one of the small creatures that Professor Frankly mentioned before can be seen going down the green pipe to your right. Follow it down that pipe and you'll see it go down another pipe below you in the next room. Remember that you can use paper mode to slip between the fence and save some time.
It will go through a small crack in the wall in the next room, so follow it by slipping through the bars yourself. You can then corner it to the left in the next room. Here you'll learn that this is a Puni from the Boggly Woods, and the X-Nauts have taken over the great tree there. Punio will then lead you to his home by opening a secret entrance on the right side of the room. Enter it to begin Chapter 2.
Back to Prologue: A Rogue's Welcome | Continue to Chapter 2: The Great Boggly Tree
