PM Post-Chapter 2 Part 1: Failed a Spot Check

Now for a special transmission from Peach's Castle.

Bowser's come for another chat with Peach.

...And? How is that my problem?

(With that said, Peach's default sprite is smiling,so it's difficult to say what mood she was in when Bowser arrived. I don't think this is a question of graphics, just effort.)

"Some of whom have homes to go to!" Bowser's also holding off the cooking contest.

Back in 2000, his competition was Smithy. I'd honestly be tempted to give the win to Bowser in that comparison. Today, the Mushroom Kingdom has faced the Shroobs, Fawful, the Dark Star, and from a distance, Count Bleck. Bowser's gotten darker appearances, but he's small potatoes in comparison. Even if he's done it that many more times.

He's self-aware about how many times he's been at this business. "Before he showed up" is a long time ago.

Bowser recognises his equals, and expresses his solidarity with his fellow comic relief.

Bowser says this, but he doesn't ever seem to be responsible for which of the Star Spirit guardians I save next. I wonder if he knows what powers each one has- Tubba's Star Spirit might just be the best of them all, so maybe putting him in the protection of the most dangerous one was intentional. If he didn't turn around and "unleash" him on us now, our journey could've been that much harder.

Legitimately, I think Tubba Blubba might actually have the highest Atk power out of Bowser's boss picks. The Chapter 6 and 7 bosses might have him beat, but most of the later bosses really claim a higher difficulty due to the tricks they pull, rather than their strength.

Kammy has come to report some... bad news. It can only be good news for us, of course.

Bowser is... not taking this seriously.

Thanks for repeating for our benefit, Bowser! You're the greatest villain a princess could ask for.

With that said, from their perspective, is that a problem? Kammy might be more aware of Twink than Bowser is, but I don't think there's any evidence of that.

Bowser reckons she's got a point. Besides, who are they to host a vital enemy staff meeting in a prisoner's chambers?

With that said, "tell me the details over there" is a hilarious way of phrasing that.

Twink comes out of hiding in the dressing room. Whether or not Bowser and Kammy are on top of him, Peach and Twink are trying to keep him under wraps.

Some Star Spirit must've realised "hey, if we can give Mario a boost, maybe we can do other things on our own too". Impressive that he manages to get his whole card out of danger.

Since when has an invincible opponent ever been invincible? ...OK, Starman Mario and Star Rod Bowser, but those can be turned off.

Good call. That is, assuming any of Bowser's lackeys are any better informed.

It's a long shot, but the alternative is not doing anything.

Checking all the stuff in Peach's room is still an option, but it's been cut down to just heart-adorned descriptions.

And through the secret passage once more.

Bowser's diary has been moved somewhere more private.

We'll be going exploring this time.

The Koopatrols are out and about, and this time they have flashlights. This is a stealth mission.

We start, incidentally, in the west door- the non-locked one on-screen. That Koopatrol guarding the door in the top-right corner of the image is the one standing in front of our room, and he won't move. The other guards, though, will pace around. You're usually safe on the red carpet on the outside, but do be careful.

There's a guard in front of this top door. He doesn't have a flashlight, but he will spot you if you get too close. I think I'm just out of his range.

Moving back down. Peach hitches her dress up when going down stairs, an extra animation they really didn't need to add (and I don't think Mario has an equivalent animation), but is worth pointing out anyway. There's a similar animation unused in TTYD, and I don't think Peach ever walks down stairs in that game. I'm not sure if the angle of her head is right for that to be the use case, though.

Figured as much. So we only get three rooms to explore.

South-east is the dining room. Nothing in here.

East is a room with a mysterious glowing chest.

And... a Badge? Deep Focus (1 BP) increases the amount of Star Energy Mario gets out of Focus. I don't think it's quite "one whole point with one Focus", but it is a good boost. But why is it here?

Well, there's a perfectly good chest just lying around to put it in...

Even if Peach doesn't entirely know what it does.

That sounds nifty.

Although that puts a bit of a damper on its potential.

This treasure chest has a match in Merluvlee's room in Shooting Star Summit, and any items Peach collects can be placed in it for Mario to gather at his leisure. There are five items Peach can gather while exploring Peach's Castle- three Badges and two inventory items- and if Peach picks up anything and doesn't put it in this chest before finishing the post-Chapter 6 intermission, it is lost forever. If, however, you don't pick up the Badges, Mario can gather them when he climbs up here to fight Bowser. (The inventory items can only be acquired as Peach.)

Our destination is the south-west room, the one we started nearest. I don't think there's anything pointing you in the correct direction through the Peach intermissions but trial and error.

The library has a smattering of guards (three total, actually), and since this room is well-lit, there are no helpful flashlights to follow.

They can only really look left to right, honestly. This one should spot me, but he doesn't. Probably because he's made of paper. You dart past this shelf when the Koopatrol is inspecting the back shelves on the right. And questioning why he's patrolling that corner of the library.

This guy does a full lap of this table without stopping. He'll "turn around" halfway along the table's short edges, so as long as you have a reasonable-ish distance when he does, he won't spot you if you follow him. I suspect the books on the table are being used as a visual barrier, but these guys may just have bad peripheral vision in general because of those helmets.

This last guy patrols four columns, and our goal is the very last one. We will have to duck into one to let him pass the other direction. He never looks into these columns.

The far one has a Power Rush Badge (1 BP), increasing Mario's Atk power by 2. This Badge is, of course, a keystone of the Danger Mario strategy- for 1 BP, you get the Atk power a normal Mario gets in 12. I don't like the risks. Besides, in this game, you have to deal with getting this Badge down to Mario at some point, or use it only against the final Bowser fights.

This Badge has the letter "P" on it. Presumably, the Paper Mario devs thought that meant "Power", as in "Power Rush", but the TTYD devs interpreted it differently: They thought it meant "Pinch", as in "the JP word for the Danger status", and added assets to make the Badge have a D on it in English, as well as K, A, and C for non-English INT versions (I don't know which letters each language needs).

Whoops, that's me caught. This was an intentional gambit: I was prepared to finish the intermission, but then I remembered next chapter's intermission doesn't give me a chance to deposit Power Rush in the chest. I didn't plan on using it, but I didn't want to keep it on Peach for that long.

So hey, why not show off Peach's animations for being captured.

These guards get worse and worse at their jobs the more I look at them.

Koopatrols: Throw her into the carpet face first.
Twink: "Did they hurt you?"

Peach answers the question with "Yes, I'm fine", which implies she was hurt, but not permanently. Probably fits, for the extent that she got hurt.

They're doing a lot of berating the player for failing a stealth section in a game that has never had any stealth in it so far. I could blame them less if the thing that got me wasn't a Koopatrol coming in from off-screen with no clear indicator of vision (in their defence, a Koopatrol I knew was there).

If you fail the stealth section, they skip the tunnel and entering the fireplace dumps you right back here.

I didn't plan on using it

I was wrong. We're going to look back on this moment and laugh.

Anyway, enough messing around, let's eavesdrop on these two slackers. That Life Mushroom up there can only be accessed by Mario himself.

"Eating ghosts", I hear you scoff, but a) this is part Mario logic and b) the game kinda agrees with you. Rest assured that, when Tubba Blubba eats a ghost, they don't come back out on their own.

The Koopatrol is none too fond of ghosts himself.

This is... incorrect. Not only is it incorrect, but in JP, the game will actually expect you to understand that it's wrong later. The point of this line is to point the player in the direction of Forever Forest, since we must first visit the place to access Tubba Blubba to begin with.

The Hammer Bro. correctly identifies his home as Gusty Gulch, a place just beyond Forever Forest famous for Boos.

"Of course the ghost-eater lives near where the ghosts live, that just makes sense."

Boos are all head. Not sure of he means anything special about this.

Eating ghosts is dark enough. We don't know what Boos were in life, but I don't think anyone wants to hear about the dead being disturbed.

Stronger? He can certainly hold invincibility longer. Well, OK, we can't disable the Star Rod until Star Beam, but still. Tubba Blubba has no such charging.

"Common sense", he says, but there need not be any guarantee. He probably wasn't born invincible, there's a chance his invincibility can be reversed.

And there might just be a path to exactly that.

"Didn't used to be strong", he says. But he's got a point, under that mangled grammar. There was a "before" Invincible Tubba Blubba.

...He can't fly. Although yeah, maybe don't badmouth him, he doesn't like that.

Well, that was a bust. We know there's something to know. We don't know what.

Well, that was a bright idea.

The Koopatrol manages to manifest a realistic fear. You probably expect to hear him be terrified of Tubba Blubba.

And of course, as soon as they investigate, they find us no issue. We didn't have a lot of room to hide.

Yes, every Peach intermission ends this way.

Anyway, we were just saving Mamar, second of the Star Spirits.

They could've gone places beyond "Star Spirit with a bow", but they didn't.

With each new Star Spirit, we get a new point in Star Energy: So even if you don't like the new powerup, you still benefit from being able to use the old ones longer without recharging.

Lullaby (1 SP) is a Sleepy Sheep in the form of a Star Power. I'm not sure if it has more favourable odds than Sleepy Sheep- I'd believe it, but I don't think that's how status resistances work in this game.

Lullaby is a good panic button.

Well enough.

So long! May your next friend be less generic than the last! (I mean, we already know he got out on his own...)

Showcase: Merlee cast a defensive charm when Pokey is summoning reinforcements.

The three maids have made it to Dry Dry Outpost after all.

It's probably cooler here, but not cool enough. Besides, the desert is off-limits, and what's the point of going on an adventure if you're not going into that?

That's the spirit! ...Know your limits, though. And pack some water.

Dry Dry Ruins is a tourist attraction now. Moustafa must be spinning in his... well, he's not dead yet.

What even is your job?

You are the greatest Dryite ever. Not 100% sure that the Ruins appearing is proof of the boss's legend, but it's certainly a hard argument to disagree with.

Pretty cool.

As mentioned, Moustafa is not aware of Tutankoopa's presence. It makes sense- it not like he visits the place on a regular basis, nor is it really possible to tell without doing what Mario did (which Moustafa doesn't seem interested in doing often/at all). But it does mean he's just inviting us in on good faith and nothing more.

I tend to do that.

Now don't ask where I got this ancient artifact from...

Then what is Kolorado paying you for?

No one has made any effort to investigate A3, nor do they express any inclination to investigate or even have a passing interest in the giant earthquake they clearly knew about.

...Another odd mouthful, huh. I wonder how it'll look to the next people that come looking for it if you don't manage to find it.

In all seriousness, while Kolorado is supposed to be incompetent, I... kinda feel like this is a bit much? Maybe if the ruins were implied to go back underground after we were done exploring them, although that would lock Badges and Star Pieces to permanent missables if done improperly. As it is, Kolorado is unable to see a gigantic building around six tiles away from his current position.

If you stole the Artifact from the ruins, like the thieving RPG protagonist you are, Kolorado would like to acquire it for his own ends. Kolorado is an archaeologist, and he is fascinated with "ancient artifacts" like real archaeologists are, but his buffoonish character obfuscates this somewhat. Real archaeologists like finding random things because they offer clues as to how ancient peoples lived, and Kolorado doesn't seem like the sort of guy who'd trace that sort of thing.

But no, he's happy to take anything ancient off your hands. Now, is he the one doing the historical analysis? Probably not, but it's not like we find out what museum he delivers it to.

Hmmm… Hmmm… Are you quite sure? Oh, bother. Well, I can't force you. I'll just suffer…

Kolorado's dialogue if you show him the Artifact and then refuse to hand it over. So he feels burdened if you don't, then...

Good show. Splendiferous biscuits, old chap.

Where did you get that degree?

This is just for a Star Piece. But, you know, game keeps track of whether you found all 160...

I shall spend it on the finest Badges I can acquire.

Also figured I'd pick this one up, too.

As mentioned, Kolorado will move about from time to time, and depending on what part of the plot you give this to Kolorado, he will have different text to react to it.

...I've heard of "spot of tea", but never "spot of thanks".

Funnily, for some reason, this Star Piece comes from the other excavation he does if you deliver it after he starts it in Chapter 5. Makes more sense in the narrative, but does bring up the possibility of more Star Pieces than the 160 we get. Or maybe Quizmo sources one of his from the one Kolorado doesn't get.

Huh, Mt. Rugged is giving me zeroes. This might be the first time that's really been an issue.

Oh yeah, this was here, too. Just before the train, incidentally, can't miss it.

Super Block. I've talked a lot about the influence your chosen upgrades will make on your progress through Chapter 2 and less about how they work beyond it, and that is because there are four Super Blocks available to find before getting to Chapter 3. We'll generally progress such that we have no good reason not to have a Partner upgraded except for maybe the first few fights until Chapter 5. One partner can be upgraded as soon as she joins. If you wanted this mechanic to be about tough choices, it's kinda stopped. It gets a little interesting in Chapter 5, but it's just not the same.

If you're wondering, I picked up Dizzy Shell, mostly because I didn't see Power Bomb coming in handy.

Back to Toad Town!

Remote factoid, if you let this animation play out on the reverse trip, K64 will cross a bridge and travel across green scenery as it nears the end of its route. K64 starts in the desert-y Mt. Rugged terrain on the departing trip, so you'll only see this now.

Coming into town and starting chatting with the locals, our apprentice of Tayce T. tells us about a recipe- the Spicy Soup. A number of recipes are named in-game, but you're on your own on a wide swath of the rest of them. I couldn't actually tell you a number on how many the game tries to teach you, but I don't think you've got anything to go on but a guide for the ones it doesn't.

Just be grateful we don't actually have to cook to enjoy the benefits of the cooking mechanic.

Be careful. These overalls may not just be for show. Mario hasn't really been seen fixing leaks often, but something's gotta pay for the house away from civilisation.

Eh, varies from game to game. A lot of them were designed for kids to beat... well, beat through a computer screen a safe distance away.

Ghost mansion! Boos live in Ghost Houses, as of Super Mario World, and pretty much every game that gives the Boos a moment in the spotlight likes the old abandoned haunted house aesthetic. This game's version is special: It's not abandoned.

I will not hear another word against ghost princess! Although she doesn't exactly stand out from her fellow Boo to the untrained eye...

Neat. I didn't think this Boo came this far into town.

"A Boo Mansion". Technically the same thing as a Ghost House!

A nice, horrifying Forest of Illusions to get lost in. No wonder there are so many Boos.

Now that's a bit of a late tutorial...

Oh, backstory bomb, never mind. This guy reveals some surprising truths about kindly Tayce T. And, apparently, Goompa.

Gooma taught Tayce T. everything she knows. Goombario's family is impressive.

And just casually mentioning the Master and Tayce T. are siblings. I'm not sure what's funnier, Tayce T. doing martial arts, or the Master cooking.

Anyway, back in Toad Town Square, I'm ready to start having a look at Minh T.

I have multiple Magical Seeds to give her and a question about how these things work. Obviously, there are four empty plots in her garden, and she will plant these Seeds in each one.

If I give her the red Seed first, she plants it in the south-west plot.

Blue Seed first, and she goes to the north-west plot. That answer that question, then- it seems that no matter what, the garden always turns out the same.

Minh T. is on tenterhooks waiting to see what'll happen once we've found all four Seeds. Little bit to go, sadly.

New Badges available from Rowf! If you didn't purchase all of his Chapter 1 stock, you may find it still scattered about in here.

• Sleep Stomp (1 BP) will have Mario perform a normal Jump attack that attempts to apply the Sleep status at 2 FP. You might scoff at this Badge, considering we just got Lullaby, but there is a use case for the Badge over the Star Power later on. Outside that use case, though, definitely go with Lullaby.
• Double Dip (1 BP) will give Mario a brand new tactic in the Items tab: For 3 FP, he may use two items in a single turn. You're allowed to change your mind (although the FP won't be refunded) and although the tactical implications are great, your inventory space isn't. Sure, just use two Thunder Rages on everything... until five fights go by and you're out of Thunder Rages.
• Dodge Master (2 BP) will make the Action Commands for Mario's actions more forgiving, for both offense and defence. The game has caps on how much you're allowed to Power Bounce boss enemies- this also makes that cap err to a higher value. There is no downside to this, other than the opportunity cost of 2 BP.
  

I am, of course, filthy rich. And now Rowf is.

This is Russ T. he's talking about. That's not what they told me.

Another letter, duly delivered. A postman's job is never done.

Huh. I guess it makes sense- she lacks both the big building and the reliability of Merlon and Merluvlee.

I guess this is probably as good a hint as any as to how to find Merlee. Even if it comes a little on the later side.

Gotta appreciate people tipping the mailman.

Only one letter to our partners today.

Dear Miss Bombette,
We write this letter as a humble request to you, the most worthy and explosive of all Bob-ombs. It's still a long time off, but later this year we will be staging an opening event for a new Dry Dry Railroad route. We feel the event would be a gala bash if we could enlist your bomb-bursting help. Crowds love fireworks! Anyway, we'll get in touch with you after your adventure ends to confirm the dates.
Sincerely,
Dry Dry Railroad Transportation Department

The people who run K64 are pretty appreciative of Bombette's services. This never gets followed up upon (nor am I entirely sure on how Bob-ombs can make fireworks), but it sounds like a nice gig for Bombette.

Attention! Gala Radio Giveaway!
If you listen to the radio, you have a chance to win some fabulous prizes! You have three chances to win! C'mon! Tune in to the radio or these prizes'll tune you out! Listen to the Radio Information channel for more details.
DJ Toad-rock

This is in relation to the radio sidequest. If you keep changing the channel on the radio Koopa's radio (yes, he's just fine with that), you can start a giveaway rush. After hearing the announcement, you must get to the Toad at the specified location within a set amount of real time holding a specified item, and he'll trade it for something better. There's one after Chapter 1, one after Chapter 3 and one after Chapter 5.

...Hold on...

I don't know what I expected.

The guard of Forever Forest is terrified out of his mind, but requested his position so he could cease being such. An honourable goal, and considering the success rate of the average Toad, probably not compromising actual security.

This is not a compliment.

You get more and more pathetic every chapter.

He's trying his best.

And his wife is all for it.

The kids... well, in their own way...

Don't worry about Boos, they're harmless.

...In small numbers.

There's a place called Mt. Rugged. Trust me, there is. On this mountain, a very rare creature called Whacka lives. If you hit a Whacka, something called a Whacka's Bump will appear. It's very valuable. It's been said that if you eat one, you'll be instantly filled with energy. But... It's rather sad, actually... Even though Whackas are kind, people keep pummeling them to get the Whacka's Bumps. That's why the number of Whackas on Mt. Rugged has been declining. In fact, there's a rumor that there's only one left. The last Whacka... how tragic.

Weird it wouldn't give this one to me before Chapter 2. Whacka will be left to his own devices, don't you worry.

Near Toad Town Station, there's supposed to be a Playroom. But it's apparently closed to non-members, which seems pretty rude, if you ask me. On top of that, even if you find the place, you still need a membership card to play the games in there! I like to play games as much as the next Toad! But I have no idea how to get a membership card. Hmm... You know... I've heard that Koopa Koot of Koopa Village is a member of the Playroom... That old Koopa Koot might know something more about it.

Hint for how to get your hands on the Credits needed to play Playroom games. We've already got ours. Seems to be a weird business model, but I think the Playroom Toads might be able to kick you out if you win too much- I got them to do it to me, admittedly on a randomiser run.

I once read that a so-called Mysterious Treasure Chest lies in Princess Peach's Castle. Apparently it's one of a pair. When you put something in one of the treasure chests, someone can take it out of the other one. That's a pretty exceptional treasure chest, isn't it? A long, long time ago, this chest was given to one of Princess Peach's ancestors by the Star Spirits. According to the book I read, there's only one treasure chest in Princess Peach's Castle. Where in the world could the other one be?

Russ T. doesn't tell you where the other one is, but he does point you in the direction of the Stars. It's on the Summit, although whether Merluvlee is related to the Star Spirits is a question on its own.

You do, of course, know that Forever Forest is east of town. It's a bit of a weird place. I've heard that ghosts have been known to haunt it, so you may want to steer clear. If you do want to go through the forest for whatever reason, it's vital that you find the correct path. To find the right one, look for scenery that differs a bit from the other scenery in the area and follow the path nearby. According to a rumor I heard, there's sometimes a hidden path in addition to the right one.

The clue for how to progress through the forest also comes from Oaklie, but there's another clue here: there are two branching paths to find within Forever Forest, and both have Badges to find. There are clues to follow, at least.

Luigi's not standing outside the house, but music notes are coming from the basement. Good to know. Guess we won't be bothering him today.

Just reading Mario's mail.

Dear, Mario,
Thank you so much for taking care of our Fuzzy problem. We, the Koopa Troopas in the village, really appreciate what you've done for us. We must apologize for not rewarding you with anything. We are but simple Koopas... Please drop by the village whenever you like. Anytime. It'd be our honor. Best of luck from all of us!
Sincerely,
Koopa Troopas at Koopa Village

...Well, that was nice and simple.

Oh, how that number is about to go up...

This Toad would like us to go back to Forever Forest, like we're supposed to. No thanks.

Wow, you kids are really getting into it.

...As best they can.

I suppose that's reasonable. You're never quite sure what you want until you find yourself without it.

If you're wondering, the punchline is next chapter.

Let me guess, the mansion's going to disappear and although we're correct, you'll feel vindicated? Jerk.

You boys are cruel.

Let him deal with it on his terms.

I have no idea. I'm also not 100% sure what you're singing about, although I think I'm not supposed to.

This Toad's been everywhere, man.

He's even gone and met Moustafa himself.

Not that it'd be that exclusive a task. Moustafa values kindness, and being a mysterious hermit is at odds with that.

This Toad knows something we don't. And we will never find out what that thing is. I have my secrets, he has his. I'm not explaining stealing the relic.

Just as long as you don't drift so long you drown.

Now that I have left the map and come back, Simon has figured out the song he would like Pop Diva to sing.

And makes sure to jot his song down.

You certainly seem to be composing as you speak.

I believe this is a tempo thing- she can sing the Lyrics at any pace she'd like, but music would set a pace appropriate for the song. Not everyone can go freestyle.

There's such a thing as too much showing off, you know.

Simon gets to the heart of the matter eventually: We need to find the man who can actually compose music to sing to.

I respect the fact you two have different talents, but you don't know each other ahead of time?

Anyway, before we move on, I decide I need one of Merlow's Badges ahead of time. I also stop and pick up these while I'm moving. You're allowed to grab everything, just one at a time.

Zap Tap was what I was looking for. I'm looking at this for one of its unusual use cases, but we're going to fight a boss where that use case is highly valuable.

...Next time.