Bethany Plays: PM Chapter 4 Part 1: Giving Back to the Community

Those guys are definitely Shy Guys. Although they don't look all that scary in silhouette. I'm sure they'll have something.

Welcome to the Toy Box. Prepare to this theme for a long time.

Right away, we see our first Star Panel. In this chapter, they're all pretty easy to come by, thankfully.

...You know, it's never explained why the train system has full infrastructure but no actual engine. Presumably, the Koopa Troop is somehow responsible, but this is never explained.

We'll have to find the train. And yes, they are called Blue, Green, Pink and Red Stations. Each Station has one major objective to complete.

There are two exits from this map, and this one is completely optional.

This is a Shy Guy. They're ne'er-do-wells. Big time rascals. No good... Max HP: 7, Attack Power: 2, Defense Power: 0. They occasionally do acrobatic attacks that have an attack power of 3. Who knows what lies in the hearts of these troublemakers? I guess they're dangerous, but they're pretty small time.

Shy Guys (Lv. 14) are the rank and file of Chapter 4, the basis from which all other enemies are made. They are pretty basic, as Goombario summarises, but there's an interesting note to make here. All regular enemies in this chapter have 7 HP, which is a very inconvenient number for most attacks we have available. There are multiple tactics you can use to make this number work for you, depending on your Badge setup or favourite attacks, and the game is going to expect you to figure one out. If a fight is going south, note that Star Storm does 7 damage.

Shy Guys can either run up and tap you for 2 damage, or run up and jump on you for 3 damage. If you have Damage Dodge, you can brush them off pretty easy.

Zap Tap is an easy choice for this chapter: many enemies do contact damage, and 6 is much easier to deal with- with Power Plus, that's one bounce.

Huh, Shy Guys are already giving one Star Point. Well, they are grunts.

He's a guard named Anti Guy. He's all by himself! And he looks totally weak! Although... you never know. Appearances can be deceptive. Just look at me! Hmm... Weak? Or really strong?

This black Shy Guy isn't a normal Shy Guy. He will guard this chest jealously, and won't attempt to fight you.

He also speaks entirely in wavy text with hearts at the end. I'm not entirely sure what they're trying to communicate with this choice and I kinda feel like I don't want to know.

Don't worry. I'm planning on fighting him. Just... I want an extra tool first.

This is a Groove Guy. Groove Guys wear weird clothes. They're probably stage clothes. Pssh... You know performers... Max HP: 7, Attack Power: 2, Defense Power: 0. They shake their booties to call in reinforcements. They also spin around in front of you and make you feel dizzy. These rock 'n' rollers are a drag, so let's ditch 'em as fast as we can.

You're starting to sound like Goompa there, Goombario. Groove Guy (Lv. 15) is a dancing Shy Guy, and their main trick is attempting to Dizzy you- this is what this one was trying, and although I didn't block it, Feeling Fine means I'm not Dizzy. The reinforcements they can call are Shy Guys, other Groove Guys, and a new enemy called Medi Guy.

Unless stated otherwise, all Shy Guy variants appear to be original to Paper Mario.

Here's a better shot of the guys.

Huh. Empty.

This room, called Shy Guy's Playground by some miscellaneous textboxes, is filled with Shy Guys carrying miscellaneous objects. There's one with a Mushroom, one with a Fire Flower, and two with this weird new item. That is Cake Mix, the most powerful cooking ingredient in the game, and this is the only place to get some. That's a big deal, because 15 of the 50 recipes require Cake Mix as one of the ingredients.

There's one more Shy Guy in the left here that's holding Rowf's Calculator. When convenient, we can return this to Rowf and Rhuff and restore the Badge stall to working order. It is not necessary to help Rowf to complete Chapter 4, and I'm not entirely sure whether beating Chapter 4 automatically restores any such services that you haven't directly helped. I imagine these ones, where items have been stolen, do not.

I know there are hidden blocks here...

Found this one, at least.

Going into the east exit starts a cutscene. Weirdly, there's a shadow already in place.

Kammy Koopa is preparing the crafty tricks seen in the Peach intermission!

...Well done, Kammy.

If you didn't pick Clubba, Kammy will notice something strange and comment on it.

But she won't actually do anything about it. Hey, if this blows up in her face, she knows who to blame, and it ain't her.

All the enemies have ? bubbles over their heads when Kammy spawns them. I wonder where they're taken from- it kinda feels like they were taken off whatever duties they were doing before without warning. Hopefully it wasn't too important.

This room introduces us to these weird blocks: If you Hammer or Ground Pound them, they will spring up like a jack-in-the-box and, if you happen to be standing on top of them, you will be launched into the air in a set pattern. Each box has its own trajectory, which will usually make sense considering the geometry of the room.

Including this cutesy spring. I'm sure Parakarry could cross that, but why not fly?

This is a Sky Guy. Sky Guys are master balloonists. Max HP: 7, Attack Power: 3, Defense Power: 0. We can attack the balloon, too. Once they fall, they're just like normal Shy Guys. I wish I had a balloon so I could float... That looks awesome!

Sky Guys (Lv. 14) are the flying Shy Guys of Paper Mario. They are wholly original to this game, with other games that want to have a flying Shy Guy (usually Yoshi) use Fly Guy instead- a Shy Guy with a propeller on his head. Those balloons can be attacked to drop the Sky Guys to the ground and turn them into regular Shy Guys- which is good, because I hate dealing with those slingshots, but bad, because you don't get to do damage to the Sky Guys like you do with Paragoombas.

I still can't really guard this.

The balloons pop if you attack them, but they fly away if you kill the Sky Guy while still airborne.

By the way, you should pop them at least once.

Because the animation of the Sky Guy falling down is amazing.

Star Piece behind this block over here.

And then a skyscraper to climb. The staircase is inside and then outside, and that was probably the best way to communicate how this climbing process will happen. I certainly wouldn't want to climb a staircase entirely inside without some camerawork.

Star Piece back here, too.

And on this side, too, another Parakarry flight for an item. I think you can make this with normal jumps, if you're precise, but Parakarry makes it so much easier.

It's a Thunder Bolt. ~~Worth it?~~

This one's just a coin. Not even a hidden block you have to spawn to use as a platform. I... this is kind of weird, now I see it. Let's move on.

We have finally made it to the treasure chest, and the Goomba has finally been made aware of what his job is.

You cannot say the Goomba is not trying to do the job that has been dumped in his lap.

He has not been prepared at all, but he tries.

Oh, it's Mario!! See this fine club I have? I'm gonna introduce you to it. Club... meet Mario!!!

The Clubba is honestly equally hilarious. You can't go wrong either way. You get two Clubbas, to be an actually threatening fight (or at least one where you're probably going to take a hit to your HP and/or your FP/SP).

The Goomba is a punchline. Or a slapline. Or a bootline. Or whatever -line you want to use. Bombette would be hilarious.

This chest has one of the Shy Guy's trophies- the key to Harry's storeroom. So, we need something to help us progress...

Let's have a look at that.

Well, first, we can turn this in.

I'd joke a replacement Calculator is probably like ten coins, but Rowf cannot calculate funds with round numbers involved if this is such a genuine roadblock to his business. I'm sorry, Rowf, but prove me wrong.

I Spy (1 BP) has the essential job of helping you find the Star Panels. It will give a loud chime and a speech bubble with a Star Piece icon appears over Mario's head when it wants to tell you a Star Panel is nearby. This chime happens when you enter a map with a Star Panel in it- there is only ever one Star Panel per map, but where is it? Well, basically anywhere there's flat ground for it! It's technically helpful, but really, if you're going to bother, just grab a guide.

Your father is only in business because he has some cool Badges for sale.

Yeah, yeah, I get it, let me reload the map...

Group Focus (2 BP) will allow the Partner to use Focus. They do not get to benefit from Deep Focus, but this does expand your options in terms of, say, Focusing and then using a Star Power on the same turn. I usually don't find room for it, and the partners have excellent offensive moves worth using instead, especially by now.
Spin Smash (1 BP) will allow Mario to perform the Spin Smash Hammer technique for 2 FP. A Spin Smash will deal the Hammer's expected damage to the enemy it hits, and will send them flying into all enemies behind them, dealing 1 damage. It also has two major utility purposes, neither of which I was aware of until it was too late to demonstrate them.
Jump Charge (1 BP) will allow Mario to perform a Jump Charge for 1 FP. Similarly to Hammer Charge, this lets Mario do more damage with his next Jump. Since a boost in attack power for a Jump is doubled (since Mario hits the enemy twice), Jump Charge is superior to the equivalent Hammer Charge, although it still raises the question of "do you want to be doing this damage now or later". I usually prefer "now".

Anyway, you have two choices to use the Storeroom Key. You can either give it to Harry, or unlock the storeroom door for him.

If you give it back to him, he'll be incredibly grateful for your altruism.

And then he'll go unlock his storeroom and invite you to take whatever's inside.

Ahem... Uh, Mario? Please don't open the storeroom without my permission, all right? Huh?! Hey! You got back my Storeroom Key! Oh, thank you, thank you! You saved my business!!

If you unlock the Storeroom door yourself, Harry will get mildly irritated at your presumptuousness, but will be grateful enough that you found the key at all that he'll still let you claim the items.

We get... a Dizzy Dial, a Volt Shroom and a Snowman Doll. Those are decent inventory items, at least. I think I know exactly why they gave you a Snowman Doll right now.

Oh yeah, and this unusual item, too. A Toy Train that actually works? I don't know what it's doing in Harry's Storeroom (maybe a Shy Guy put it there? I usually got the impression that this train isn't the one that usually runs in the Toy Box, but that just raises the question of where the old one went), but we can use this to get out of Blue Station.

Worry no longer, friend!

Here you go!

...

Somehow that didn't occur to me. Hey, we shrunk down on the way in, it was bigger when I found it.

The Toad gives a very useful hint about what to do, if you went straight to give this to him instead of noticing the problem. To be fair, the player is unlikely to notice the solution on their own.

While I'm down here, I look over my Badges, and make a setup for something. Power Rush? This is the point where putting that Power Rush in the chest is going to pay off. Remember, Peach didn't get to explore the castle last intermission, we did have to do that before Tubba Blubba.

Fight me, Guy.

This is an Anti Guy. His attacks are so intense that he's also called Deadly Guy. Max HP: 50, Attack Power: 10, Defense Power: 0. His attack power is 12 when he does an acrobatic attack, so dodge it! This guy is for real, so we'd better take him seriously.

Anti Guy (Lv. 42) is a completely optional superboss. You don't even need to fight him if you want to open the treasure chest. His gimmick? He hits really hard. Even the Master had a fairly manageable amount of damage. Without powerful cooked items the likes of which we wouldn't have even if Tayce T. could cook for us, we're not keeping up with that damage output by healing.

Anti Guy is quite possibly the first appearance of a grounded black Shy Guy. Flying ones appeared in Yoshi's Story, and artwork suggests the foot variety was supposed to appear, but this did not transpire as planned. Black Shy Guys, in Yoshi's Story and Paper Mario: Colour Splash, do indeed have more power than other varieties, but in those games, it manifests defensively- Yoshi doesn't like the taste of them in Story, and they'll dodge your attacks in Colour Splash.

I tried Harry's Dizzy Dial. No luck. All status ailments but one we don't have access to yet (but will by the end of the chapter) have a 50% chance of working with -1 turn timer. Progressing through the Toy Box gives you so many tools for this guy.

That was an acrobatic attack. Yeah, he takes one damage, but I'm still down 10. If he did three normal attacks and I blocked them all, I could take three hits.

Six damage a bounce. Nine jumps without partners.

And considering I just missed Shell Shot (in my defence, Anti Guy is a tiny target), my margins aren't as big as I'd like.

Repel Gel to the rescue!

You know what would help? If I brought Bombette to the fray. That's another 6 damage, that's halving the time it'd take me to finish the job. With 36 HP left on him, I win in three turns.

And he cannot attack me, although this also deprives me of those points of Zap Tap. Eh, don't need 'em.

...So yeah, remember when I packed Power Rush? The fact he knocked me down to 5 HP has added 4 damage to Mario's attack.

Unfortunately, Repel Gel only lasts so long, and I will die on the next attack. But I'm so close...

This is literally just stalling for time. Thank goodness Bombette is helping.

Not blocking that attack was for the best. I'm back in Danger.

And now I can win the fight. I could only secure that victory with Power Rush- although I suppose the margins of error would be smaller if a) I didn't bother with the Tattle and b) I didn't miss that first Shell Shot like someone who doesn't use Parakarry often.

Yay.

A second Power Plus Badge. Excellent. 12/30 BP at max is a bit of a tall ask- that's 40% of your Badge Points all tied up in pure power. But that is power- and since our normal Jump does 2+2 damage, both Power Pluses means we can do 4+4 damage to a Shy Guy. Mario can oneshot Shy Guys now.

Anyway, now that we're done preparing a weapon against the rest of the Shy Guy Army, let's do as the conductor says and put the Toy Train into the Toy Box directly. You may not have checked to see if you get a prompt if you check the Toy Box- or perhaps you assumed all you'd get is another way in or a short, sarcastic description.

Imagine how much harder this quest would be if that had landed a few centimetres to the right.

The train is now running once again, although it's not perfect. You see that warped track to the left?

The Toads aren't questioning the process.

This is a... bit of a process. Not too complicated, but this is not public transport by any extent.

You either jump or hammer on the switch, and you will travel in the direction of the arrow to the station of your choosing. I can only guess it was easier than just having a "choose station" button, for reasons that might make more sense later, but very little.

One thing it does do is make sure this cutscene lasts as long as necessary. You can skip this cutscene immediately.

I think the other three stations have interesting facts in these lines. Pink Station doesn't. I don't think it has anything inherently valuable in it.

This is why we want to stop here. Tayce T., you'll be cooking with... do you cook with gas here?

Says the man providing services for them.

Star Piece here, too.

And a treasure chest containing the Mailbag, just out in the open. Because if you commit a federal crime, the best thing to do is put the evidence on a pedestal and do nothing with it. I guess, when the monarch is currently held against her will hundreds of miles in the sky, you're not exactly going to be on the hook for this.

...Is it a federal crime to not immediately return this?

Once again, there is a left exit and a right exit. The left one will take us to a switch, once we cross the rails at some point.

Also on the other side: That Shy Guy is ~~on fire~~ a motivated seller!

In the realm of "Shy Guys that are our problem", we have this camoflauged Shy Guy who does not look at all like the pastel colours of the Toy Box he inhabits.

This slingshot of his is a dangerous weapon, though.

This is a Spy Guy. Spy Guys look like they're ready for war in their spiffy camouflage gear! Max HP: 7, Attack Power: 2, Defense Power: 0. They change their weapons each time they're attacked. You'd best try to avoid their hammer attack! Every time you're hit by it, you'll lose one of your commands!

Spy Guy (Lv. 15) has two attacks: shoot you with a slingshot, or hit you with a hammer. Both have 2 Atk, and you can see which one he's planning on using next by which weapon he's holding. When Goombario says "you'll lose one of your commands", he's not kidding: If you fail to block the hammer attack, the Spy Guy will knock loose and kick away one of your Commands. You are able to lose Jump, Hammer and Items (yes, this includes any Badges that fall under those umbrellas). I believe you can only lose one at a time, although I will admit I'm not sure what happens if you try.

Spy Guys are original to Paper Mario, although Yoshi's Island had Petal Guys that had many similar qualities. They wore flowers and were actually disguised.

This is a Medi Guy. Medi Guys are the emergency workers of the Shy Guy clan. Max HP: 7, Attack Power: 1, Defense Power: 0. They have the power to heal their wounded companions. Of course, they also attack. We'd better hurry up and take them out of the mix. It's a pain if they keep fixing all the damage we do.

Medi Guy (Lv. 14) only appear once a battle has started, you'll never see them on the overworld. They can heal one enemy for 4 HP at a time. Considering they are just as sturdy as any other Shy Guy, you may find it valuable to keep them around, since they have an easy attack to block and they won't do much healing if nobody's damaged on their turn.

Medi Guys are new to Paper Mario. As if any other Mario game needed a healing unit.

Medi Guy doesn't mean much if Mario oneshots Shy Guys.

Thanks to Zap Tap, the Medi Guy is only hurting himself. Despite, you know, being in a Clown Car.

For some reason, they tuck themselves into their clown car on defeat. This isn't a defensive strategy, nor do I expect it'd work as one.

At the end of the path is this Fat Guy (no, seriously, Fat Guys are a variety of Shy Guy from Yoshi's Island, they give Yoshi big Eggs to throw and have different AI patterns). Gourmet Guy is our roadblock for Pink Station.

He has a very "fat guy in a video game" problem of "I desperately need calories to get myself moving". I know the feeling of being too exhausted to move, but there are other ways of doing this roadblock. Hell, Pokemon's been doing "the offending roadblock is dozing" since 1996.

Anyway, here's some food.

...Not a fungus fan, are we? Somehow, I don't see you and Mario seeing eye to eye.

There is only one food item that works in a vanilla playthrough. Even Tayce T. recipe items you have pre-prepared don't work. I suspect they don't want you sequence breaking your way out of Tayce T.

That's Gourmet Guy. Woow! He's huuuuge! Does this guy ever stop eating? He looks like he'd eat until his stomach blew up!

I wish you'd realise that wouldn't look anywhere near as comical as you're imagining.

Anyway, back on the right-hand side, here's our second Kammy roadblock.

Mr. Hammer!

More spring blocks, but this one takes a very unusual path of up onto this balcony, instead of over the wall it's next to.

...Well, this is a fight.

I think that was about the best I could hope for. Thankfully, Feeling Fine exists.

Nice and conveniently, I can finish the fight by having Mario oneshot a Guy and Bow take this one out. This is the only way I two-rounded that fight.

Defend Plus (6 BP) does exactly what it says on the tin: Every attack in the game is -1 damage, for free. It's better to use Damage Dodge and be good at blocking, but this is fun for those attacks that are harder to manage.

Don't worry, this is a brief detour.

This bit here is a bit of a weird puzzle, made even weirder if you know the solution ahead of time.

A Shy Guy (who usually comes in a formation of one Shy Guy) will march along this path whenever you get close.

He then goes behind this blue wall...

And opens a path for you. You can't go through this wall without him- I assume they figured out how to make it a one way door.

Another Shy Guy showed up, since we got close. It's fodder.

This block is nothing. I don't know why it's here either. Maybe it's what's generating the Shy Guys, in terms of the game engine?

Ice Power (2 BP) increases Mario's power against "fiery" enemies by 2, and also allows him to do contact damage like Jump. This doesn't apply to the partners, though- the only partner we currently have who can hurt a fire enemy with their normal attack is Kooper.

It's Hammer Time! (I think that's a joke SMRPG made.)

!!!!!!!! Meeeoork! Mario! This'll be fun!

The Fuzzy fight pits you against four of them. Which, honestly, probably would be something I'd be afraid of if I didn't have Zap Tap.

These are the Hammer Bros. You've seen these punks before, haven't you? Max HP: 12, Attack Power: 5, Defense Power: 1. Be careful of that hammer! If it hits you, you'll get shrunk in a wink. When the Hammer Bros. get desperate, they'll hurl a ton of hammers, so watch it. These guys have been a pain for ages, so let's give 'em an old-fashioned whopping. As always, they're not to be underestimated.

Hammer Bros. (Lv. 27) are the elite enemy of the Mario world, first appearing in Super Mario Bros. and being a mainstay since- although they skipped Mario World and haven't entirely gotten that codification yet. Hammer Bros. are so named because they often appear in groups, but this poor guy forgot to bring a friend- probably for the best, since someone who isn't stacking Power Plus is probably going to have to tread carefully to take out one of him.

Hammer Bro. will either throw a single hammer, or a flurry of smaller Hammers. The flurry attack will only occur at "low health", and the Shrink chance (why do hammer throws have a shrink chance? No idea) is technically lower, although the fact it's harder to block and he gets more rolls means it feels a lot higher.

3 damage blocked is pretty remarkable. That also won't really change by endgame, although how I feel less scared of them by then is another matter. Higher HP values, mainly.

Anyway, I'm doing 6 damage to you. Despite the fact that it looks like a Koopa Troopa with a better uniform and gear, it is not considered "shelled", and won't flip on its back from a Jump. This is fairly intuitive if you're familiar with how Hammer Bros. work and look compared to Koopa Troopas in the platformers, although looking entirely at their designs, this is something I can expect someone starting Mario here (or perhaps someone brought in by World) to be caught out by.

That's a lot of EXP for one guy. He's way ahead of the level curve, of course: He's supposed to be fought by a Mario about 10 levels higher than we are now, so that's an extra five Star Points right there.

Peach's iconic weapon from SMRPG returns! We'll be using this one for its intended purpose. Well, I'd say that, but when was the last time you baked a cake on a frying pan?

Thankfully, the way back is a lot shorter.

Now comes the part of the Toy Box that really takes its time: After finding Toad Town's lost stuff, we have to go back to Blue Station, return to Toad Town, and do our good deeds before coming back to the Station we started at and doing what we need to do. Thankfully, this doesn't happen on Red Station, but it's still a very awkward process. And yet, it is only a precursor for what is to come...

...Is that actually in your motto? The original saying refers to hail as separate from snow. ~~Although Pokemon has proven the two aren't so different after all.~~

Anyway, another hundred letters, duly delivered. A postman's job is never done.

Literally, never. Can we keep our partner's mail, even if some of our partners (like Bombette and Parakarry) don't have home addresses?

Hooray. Now for the mail.

Two letters this time. Still nothing for Parakarry? My understanding of the first Parakarry letter is that you have to actively try and get it. I thought I met the requirements, but apparently I didn't.

Goombario's second letter is from grandpa.

Dear Goombario,
How goes the adventure with Mario? Is it fun? Are you being a brave Goomba? Remember to relish your time out in the wide world. Grow wise from your travels. I wish to the Stars that your adventure will prove to be a fruitful one. If you can, drop in on us old folks now and again. Gooma misses you terribly. I'm looking forward to seeing you as a grown-up.
Goompa

Goompa best grandpa. Your grandson is making you proud. When he's not complaining.

Huh, the Boos. I'm not entirely sure if there's a set order, rhyme, or reason to letters, but sure, let's go with that.

Dear Lady Bow,
Thank you for rescuing us from that horrible Tubba Blubba up on Gusty Gulch. We'd never dreamed we'd meet a Boo of your stature! The sight of you alone would have been enough to keep us going, but you went ahead and defeated Tubba Blubba too! We thought that our friends were done for when they were eaten, but they've all returned. Many thanks! When you're done with your quest, we're throwing you a party. Please come! Oh! And please say "Hi" to everyone at Boo's Mansion!
Boos in Gusty Gulch

Something's telling me Bow's going to be getting out a lot more, whether Bootler agrees or not. Bonk him on the head if he tells you no, Bow.

That seems to have perked her right up.

This is a free item. This game and TTYD both have the chef reward you with a cooked recipe as an inventory item in exchange for helping them. In both games, receiving this freebie doesn't count towards your recipe totals.

The Cake is a neat FP-healing item. Equal to the Hot Shroom, yeah, but I never felt the pinch for FP healing. I guess that's because I never feel like I should heal FP, even when I probably should. It can be made, of course, by baking a Cake Mix. You'd think you'd need something else, too, but Tayce T. probably has all those boring ingredients.

I think now might be a good time to keep any potential comparisons to Peach's iconic cakes to ourselves. Mario's tasted a lot of cake in his time.

Special enough that she'll bake it again if we bring her the Cake Mix.

Anybody?

On the way back to Gourmet Guy, I may have let a Spy Guy attack with his hammer.

I swear I wasn't trying to show that off, but it was very fortuitous all the same.

Now give me my boots back.

The freebie Cake (or any Cakes you make with Cake Mixes) are the only way to get past Gourmet Guy. In randomisers, you can also use some other varieties of cake you can make from other recipes, but it is impossible to acquire any of those in the vanilla game without feeding Gourmet Guy.

The textbox pauses on these shots as it zooms in. Yes, including with that weird "text still being drawn" effect on the end of the first ellipsis.

This shot is a rapid zoom-in-and-out.

Camera rotation...

And then he runs around the screen.

...Yeah, I'm sure Tayce T.'s husband did the same thing. Probably wound up landing in her arms.

Gourmet Guy rockets into the sky, to parts unknown.

And drops a neat reward for our troubles.

The Cookbook is one of the greatest prizes around. Give this to Tayce T., and you get the ability to put two ingredients in a single recipe. Honestly, I kinda feel like some of the recipes were designed as if you had the ability to cook two items at a time all along, but still, this is incredibly valuable for getting the sort of things that we'll be bringing to Bowser.

I'll cover them in more detail when we're not mid-chapter. If you want a good recipe to start you off, you can use any Dried Fruits you've still got from the desert together with Dried Pasta to make a Yummy Meal (20 HP and FP), but nothing else jumps out at me as being better than the Hot Shroom without sacrificing a Life Shroom. Yes, you can spend 50 coins on that, but...

Free Super Soda in the next room. So much for the one Kammy's supposed to give you. At least this was a Hidden Block.

This is a Pyro Guy. Pyro Guys are on fire, so any contact with them will cause damage. Max HP: 7, Attack Power: 4, Defense Power: 0. They're tough opponents, mainly because their attack power is so high. Any attacks that involve water or snow are our best bet because... well... you know.

Pyro Guys (Lv. 15) were somehow an enemy in Yoshi's Island. Yoshi could eat them just fine and get some fire breath, even. For us, they'll be far trickier foes. You need non-contact damage in any direction to avoid getting set on fire- Hammer and Kooper, obviously, alongside Shell Shot. In addition to water and snow (of which our only example is the Snowman Doll item), they are also apparently weak to Bombette's explosions. Bombette does 6 damage normally, so that extra damage would oneshot them.

I kinda forgot Ice Power. It gets far more useful in Chapter 5, so I forget they give it to you to deal with the randomly-on-fire Shy Guys in this hallway.

So let's show off our ability to wipe out any and all Shy Guys in a single go.

Right, now let's pack Ice Power.

Hidden Dizzy Dial in the middle here. This one was kinda set up...

Even if an enemy isn't on fire, or in any way benefits from Ice Power, you still get the ice effects and an icy sound cue on contact. Ice Power does nothing to an enemy that is not on fire, positive or negative. I think it should change how you fight icy enemies (not that we've met many yet, if at all), but I don't know what kind of change it would be.

Stop, drop and roll, guys.

That's better.

Funnily enough, Pyro Guy's tackle attack is weak to Zap Tap. Ice Power does not give any defensive bonuses against fiery attacks.

Yay?

This Hidden Block is pretty fiendish. I have no idea how you'd grab this one without knowing it's there- even knowing it's there, it's hard to find its square.