Mimi delivers her failure report in absentia. Or is possibly present in the room, disguised as someone else. I think there isn't anybody else in the room, though.
Nastasia is the only one treating this situation with any sort of professionalism. The situation doesn't deserve any, but she tries.
Also, I'm not really sure losing to us was Mimi's fault. She failed to beat us, yes, but as far as I can tell, everything she did was the "correct" decision. She was just unsuccessful in managing to secure victory because we outplayed her.
Bleck's reaction is to comment on how Mimi's loss reflects on our strength- O'Chunks was testing us, but Mimi was going all out. Their next efforts must match this.
Oh hey, O'Chunks, we were just talking about you!
Considering what Cherbils look like, I'm fairly sure this is the game getting away with sneaking a rude joke past the censors.
This is what I mean when I say I feel O'Chunks is singled out by Team Bleck. He is the only character to lose to us who has to quantify his failures to his boss like this. Then again, I highly doubt Mimi would ever turn in such a report if assigned.
O'Chunks nervously admits that despite this bravado, he indeed still hasn't quite finished up.
...That is cruel and unusual punishment, Nastasia. Think of the carpal tunnel! Does he at least get a laptop?
Count Bleck has a different minion in mind. Presumably because even he knows if he's "sending one member at a time", the next chapter is obviously going to use the only member we haven't yet fought... directly, that is.
Dimentio turns up out of nowhere, and decides to show up right in front of Bleck rather than in his seat. Presumably, the idea is that they want us to keep O'Chunks out of mind (he'll have another appearance in the scene), but I like the fact that, while Mimi is a brat who refuses to listen to reason, Dimentio is a madman who'll refuse to listen to authority.
It's a miracle Team Bleck has accomplished anything. Nastasia, definitely.
Dimentio's job is to get in our way during Chapter 3 somewhere.
Dimentio is just fine with this.
Although he continues to act in a way that makes him seem very, very suspicious. It's just a vibe, though, can't really put my finger on it...
Remember O'Chunks being in this scene? Yeah, it's about time he went and did that thing he was asked to do.
Even if he would very much rather not do it.
Nastasia still hasn't done with the spring-cleaning of the Koopa Troop, although she's almost managed it.
And some nice villain taunting to round things out as he leaves the room.
...And then somebody pipes up with this. Since the room is empty, we can't rule out anybody who isn't Mimi, although the odds that it's supposed to be someone other than Bleck seem rather low. It doesn't feel like any of the characters who left the room were supposed to have lingered outside just to eavesdrop on Bleck and reply to this gloating.
With Peach in our party and showing no signs of leaving, the duties of the playable part of these intermissions fall to Luigi. Hey, he was supposed to be important, right? In the Darkness link again.
Again, I don't think that was your fault. I'm not sure what happened, but odds are you weren't doing anything.
So which members of the Koopa Troop are going to lend Luigi a hand?
Peach got the greatest Hammer Bro. we ever saw and a Koopa Troopa. Luigi gets two Goombas.
Like Peach, Luigi doesn't open with hostility, although he does still call them bad guys.
These two are going to mutter the whole time about how much they would really rather not be helping Luigi. Because even when he's playable, there is no respect for him.
...Is the "awkward" quote supposed to be in response to the muttering? Luigi never comments on any of it, although this does kinda feel like he can hear it. Even if not what words they're saying.
We know Peach isn't here anymore, but what about the Koopa King?
...Um, dude, the people he's worried about are your boss and his favourite person in the world. You are such a terrible minion.
He just woke up and doesn't have a clue what's going on. He only knows to panic because you've informed him of such.
As good a plan as any. Now, hopefully we can actually do that. Peach failed.
Luigi, not being aware Peach is already safe, wants to stay behind and make sure he gets Peach out. Apparently even people other than Mario are vulnerable to the need to make sure Peach is safe.
The Goombas heap on the praise, stroking Luigi's ego, to get him on their side. As much as I feel offended Luigi's falling for this, I do have to agree they have the smarter plan.
OK, it's not really his ego they're massaging, but this is something he's getting nowhere else: validation.
"My only fans!"
"(Man, this guy is lonely.)"
You two are the worst.
Here we go, leaping into the fray! Luigi has his trademark higher jump and slippery shoes over Mario, but otherwise has no special abilities. He can't even duck.
...Wrong way.
The muttering continues as they walk up to the door. And it continues to be amazing.
We're back in the mystery staircase room. I don't quite have the layout of this place memorised, and considering the aesthetic, I'm not sure any mortal mind should.
...It is a little weird we don't get enemies. I guess they don't want to give us Score and make things weird.
What's this? Another door?
...You leave my bro out of this!
This one's our final stop, and the Goombas acknowledge the other two on the way out. And continue to make me wish I could just bonk 'em.
Luigi is jumping over these ones.
Then walk faster. Walking is all you Goombas do.
Literally. It is the end of the line. Or, well, it goes up and then back over our heads, but it stops going left.
He says this, but we did walk down a pretty long hallway to get this far...
If somebody were to come up right behind us, we'd be right screwed.
I hardly knew ye. Now I can bonk him with impunity.
He had a name! More than can be said of most of the Koopa Troop. I love the random names they get.
So now... how's Luigi getting out of this one?
...I'm sorta amazed the two recognise each other. This might be the most recognition Luigi's ever gotten.
I... strongly suggest you reword that.
Fortunately for us, we have an ace up our sleeve! Go, loyal Goomba! Prove yourself worthy of Luigi's respect-
As soon as I find Bowser, you are so fired.
A worringly large number of Bowser's minions are glad to switch sides to the villain of the week when they overpower him. Most of them get brainwashed, because Bowser gives good benefits, but there's always this cohort that makes me feel like Bowser's army teeters on the edge of implosion.
Nastasia isn't too fussed with brainwashing every single member of the Koopa Troop, if the ones she spares are happy to fall in line.
And the Goomba has mastered nothing if not ass-kissing.
Same.
Nastasia's learned from last time, and is going to make sure Luigi doesn't do whatever it was Peach did (she still doesn't know how that happened, by the way.)
Everyone charges in to pin Luigi down...
Nastasia's glasses glint... and the game cuts away.
They don't want to show what happens next to maintain the faintest veener that it will be a surprise, but I don't think anyone was even slightly fooled by the possibility Luigi might make the same miraculous escape Peach did. Well, that's going to be a problem...
We're going to go back to our tragic lovers flashbacks.
And in a single line, we get a pretty good idea of what the conflict is going to involve. Also, I didn't quite remember this one living in a castle.
And had his father held him up any longer, he might have put a damper on this entire arrangement.
Eventually we're going to have to ask the question "what is this person, and why is he so scared of human companionship?".
The leading lady doesn't seem fussed. She has the right idea, but she doesn't seem to be too curious how to persuade his father to change his mind. Or she has tried, been stonewalled, and decided not to bother. Either way, things are only going to get worse as long as this dad is in the way.
And with that, we get names for our two romantic protagonists. The names feel pretty familiar, don't they? The Japanese names of these characters do also have that recognition factor, although some European languages (most notably Italian) didn't translate it. It's going to be a while before we start unpacking why these names are relevant, although I do feel like knowing who they are early does help keep the intrigue up.
...Didn't get healed after Mimi?
So what's the need to meet us at the door this time, Merlon? Any more secrets?
...Tippi? What's the weird repetition and so on? Some of the moment-to-moment writing could really use some work. JRPG exposition is only boring if you write it that way.
Our capacity to act on this information is almost entirely "when we meet the heroes, we can mention it to sweeten the deal." We don't really need to linger on the thought that long.
Our thought process is interrupted by the sudden interruption of that most worrying of notices:
The Void's getting bigger. It'll do that sometimes, and it will affect every world- although the Void appears at different sizes in different worlds.
Merlon's going to spend his time worrying about the Void reading his favourite book again and hoping there's answers in there. Of his options, it's not... the worst of them.
I mean, it works sometimes.
Ah, this is an interesting thing for the story to bring up now, of all times. There is a character we haven't yet met who, at the climax of the story, is going to make a critical decision that will either bring about the end of the world, or its salvation. This character is not Count Bleck or Mario.
Nor is he named. However, I feel like we know exactly who it is. We're trusting the fate of the world to Luigi? There was a basis behind the decision in-universe, however: Remember the opening, when Luigi jumped on the Chaos Heart on his way to Peach and it ominously flashed? Whoops.
Hopefully Luigi made it away from Nastasia OK.
Merlon doesn't know Luigi is a character that exists, so he's going to act like this is a mystery he can solve by staying in his room. Mario is going to continue to not mention that he has a brother who wears green, so Merlon is never going to get any closer to figuring this out.
At any rate, there was something I wanted to check in 2-4, so let me go back really quick.
Yay, extra recipe ingredient! It cooks into a Fried Egg for 15 HP.
Although sadly, I think that Life Shroom might be more valuable...
All that just to double-check the bathroom stall Merlee was hiding in. Not even any graffiti for your troubles.
Savescumming back out of there. Bye bye, Big Egg. I can live without you, but that was irritating.
Now to heal up and make sure this doesn't happen again in a hurry. Every character actually has a yawning clip as they prepare to sleep, but we don't get the animation of them heading into the bed.
All refreshed!
This guy, Chap, appreciates how peaceful Flipside is, and then makes jokes about how he wishes whatever just happened to you would happen to him, as a running joke.
Yeah, debt is never a fun method of passing the time.
...Eh... I think the frustration with the world design would get worse backtracking all the way here.
Yeah, sure, the Heart Pillars get put in safety, while the Pure Hearts are scattered around and left to chance.
...Did you just call me babe? I think this is gender neutral, but it's kinda... not what I want from an NPC to either Mario or Peach.
...I'm... not 100% sure on that recommendation. The place is OK for all ages, since it serves milk, but I don't think I'd accept a half-hearted recommendation for a place like that.
...You should close that.
The wife of old Walter is... either getting on in years herself, or is in denail over how bad Walter's gotten...
...Well, if you count a coin as a cool thing sometimes.
Got this out of the Fresh Veggie from 2-1 I did get to keep.
Post-Chapter 2, the Dining Specialiser is now functional.
If you look at the top screen, you'll notice that it's an Intellido IS brand DS, in a nod to Intelligent Systems. That's their logo, but with a break introduced in the line to form the letters "i" and "S". Did you notice that's not on the normal logo?
Recipe data is governed by finding six Cooking Disks scattered throughout the world. Four of them are here in the hub, the other two are actually out in the Chapters (5 and 7 respectively). We can actually pick one of them up now!
These are the recipes we start off with. Well, most of them...
On double-checking, it turns out that, by scrolling up to Mistake, I actually chopped three from the bottom.
They have the item's description, and then a tip on how to acquire one,
- Electro Pop: Made from a Thunder Rage. This is the only one-item recipe.
- Snow Cone: Made from an Ice Storm. Also other items plus Ice Storm.
- Sky Juice: Made from a Blue Apple. It also works with Red, Yellow and Pink Apples, but it is impossible to acquire any of these until Chapter 7. No idea why it's in the first list.
- Koopa Tea: Made from a Turtley Leaf. Also other items plus Turtley Leaf.
- Fried Shroom Plate: Made from a Shroom Shake. Also a Long-Last or a Volt Shroom, but Shake might be the best one.
- Roast Shroom Dish: Made from a Super Shroom Shake. Also the Life Shroom, and purely on a monetary basis, I think that might actually be more cost-effective, if you buy as cheap as possible. Not that we'll be able to buy Super Shroom Shakes for a while.
- Healthy Salad: Made from a Fresh Veggie. Also other items plus Fresh Veggie.
- Roast Horsetail: Made from a Horsetail. Also other items plus Horsetail.
- Spicy Soup: Made from a Fire Burst. This one's your only option.
- Inky Soup: Made from an Inky Sauce. Also other things plus Inky Sauce.
- Mistake: This is what you get for straying from the recipe... Honestly, it may be harder to figure out a recipe that won't work. Just keep cooking the same item over and over and you'll find it. There's also some other chances to grab one without specifically going for it.
- Shroom Shake: Buy them in Flipside. They're 19 coins cheaper in Yold Town.
- Long-Last Shake: Buy them in Flipside. They're 15 coins cheaper in Yold Town.
- Life Shroom: Buy them in Flipside. They're 50 coins cheaper in Yold Town.
- Volt Shroom: Buy them in Yold Town. They're also in another shop, but at a higher price.
- Turtley Leaf: Dropped by Koopas. Probably the most annoying drop-only item.
- Inky Sauce: Dropped by Bloopers. We'll find these next Chapter.
...I'd say I don't know if there's a souffle in the list, but it occurs to me I don't even know what counts as a souffle.
I'm gaining on you! I... think I have less than that.
Cake Mix doesn't cook into cakes by default anymore, for some reason. We can get Cake Mixes from drops by Goomba, but if you want to buy them reliably, you have to wait until after Chapter 5.
Well, cake mix is usually just a mystery bag of all the essential staples, and cookies usually wind up using a ton of those too. I'm not that surprised it's possible, but it seems a bit of a waste.
Right, let's take a peek what's back here.
We do have to go through 3D.
That's Betsy... She's an innocent little girl who always asks innocent questions... She innocently believes that a long life is always a happy one...
First up is another pair of cute NPCs, the adorable granddaughter and the wise grandmother. Betsy loves hearing all sorts of wonderful advice.
That's Pearl... She's Betsy's super-sweet grandmother... She has a dark past here... It's hard to believe she was once called "Razor Pearl"... She has many, many stories... but most she cannot tell...
And despite this backstory, Pearl's advice is pretty standard.
No, the real joke is that Betsy feels she's doing just fine, while missing the point entirely. I love this joke, and they figure out a ton of ways to do it.
Between these two houses is a mystery rift in the fabric of space. Not our problem.
In the right house, we have this guy, who's got one hell of a nose.
"I used to be an adventurer like you... but I got bored and retired." Most video game files probably meet the same fate.
That's Heronicus... He was once an explorer... He knows much about other lands... He's since retired from exploration, but certain smells bring back memories...
Heronicus will sniff you and comment on the smells you bring with. Nothing ever really comes out of it.
We finally have access to Flimm. I kinda feel weird we don't get him sooner, but he is in an inconvenient place, so maybe that weren't expecting you to find him that useful.
That's Patch... He's a window-shopper who goes shop to shop "just looking"... He goes to every shop in town just to stare at the goods... Shopkeepers shudder to hear him coming since he takes up space real buyers could use...
...If window shoppers are that big a problem, that's a you problem.
Over here, we've got another uniquely designed NPC that does nothing
He's just going to sit around complaining about how bad a job he has writing. Which, I mean, same, but...
That's Helvetica... He's a struggling novelist who made his debut 30 years ago... He's good at what he does, but he writes slow, so his books are never released... He's poor and cooks for himself, but his fare is so good, it makes chefs jealous.
Now that is variety in reputation. I wonder if the cooking is his backup plan.
This plaque is the puzzle solution for something we'll do after Chapter 4. As an interesting side note, it's not even the only solution, but it's definitely the only intended one.
I'm not sure what I was looking at, but now I'm looking at how the front half of the houses are literally 2D. 3D mode plays fast and loose with physics.
That's Hoodin, the card-shop owner... Boys descend on this place after school... They can get pretty pushy and grabby, but Hoodin never gets mad at them...
At any rate, the other building on this side is a store I'm also surprised we didn't get until now: The Catch Card store.
...I dunno why, I'm disproportionately fond of the angle I caught Peach's arm. It looks like it's resting on the counter here.
When we arrive, we have to flip through the tutorial on this store, which doesn't work like a normal store. We have one hell of a mechanic to add to this game.
Super Paper Mario's main facet of 100% completion, and completing the collection of Catch Cards you get as the majority of your prizes for exploration, is a gacha system. It makes it hard to care about trying.
Catch Cards work better the higher your score is, I think I heard, and I don't think this guy has explained it well at all.
He can also buy any excess Catch Cards. You must possess a card for it to count in your deck- if you've owned it before, its position is kept, but you don't get the benefits. For non-enemy Catch Cards, that's not much of a penalty.
I'm going to be buying a lot of Card Bags, so let's see what I get this time. For the most part, I'll be skimming this process.
When we buy a Card Bag, we are shown eight options and given a choice of a single bag. This option is massively fake: If you save state, you will find different cards in each bag... but you will also find different cards in the same bag, since it doesn't seem like your prize is generated until you open the bag, not when this list is generated.
Right, let's open up our first bag...
Max HP: 1, Attack: 2. It's a Zombie Shroom. They pop out of ? Blocks. It may look like a snack, but it'll snack on you!
And my first draw was actually kinda unlucky: You get a freebie Zombie Shroom in Chapter 7, and it's not even useful. With that said, though, this will sell back for some cash later.
If you get a silver or gold card from a bag, Hoodin will comment on it. I'm not sure if there actually harder odds on rarer cards, but that would only apply to Catch a Dream anyway.
So what else did I get?
There is nothing that's really done to prevent you from getting lategame Catch Cards early- this enemy will be found in Chapter 8. The only Catch Cards I know you can't get from the shop at all are the ultimate rewards from the Pit of 100 Trials, but otherwise, it looks like it's fair game. I think this spooks me into trying to get Catch Cards now, but I can basically leave this out anyway and fake the Cards I should be getting.
Chapter 1:
Sproing-Oings split into three when they get stomped. These little critters can throw off your timing, so watch it!
Potential WATCH IT! joke before you meet Watchitt, but probably not. You'll need a really early Catch Card drop.
Max HP: 1, Attack: 1. A Goomba that has been through airborne training. One stomp, and it's like it never went to flight school.
Not as funny a flight school joke as the free card.
Max HP: 5, Attack: 1. Count on a Jawbus to stick its neck out for you. Or at you.
Two completely different outcomes, and we're just going "eh, same thing"? ...Eh.
Max HP: 5, Attack: 2. This odd floating beast strikes with sleeping gas. One whiff of that gas and it's sweet dreams...
This one didn't get that lucky.
Max HP: 1, Attack: 2. A Goomba with a spike strapped to its helmet. Head spikes: The ultimate in antistomping technology.
It's a cheap toy hat with a spike on it. Mario's shoes need reinforcements- how does he walk on volcanic rock and not get poked in the feet?
Max HP: 1, Attack: 1. This bot defends Fracktail from foreign invaders. In off-hours, it relaxes on Fracktail's back...
Frackle needs to be found in the Card Shop (although you can Catch Card one in the fight), but Fracktail himself has an easier method later.
Chapter 2:
Max HP: 2, Attack: 1. These odd fish hurl themselves out of the water. For a fish, it's not the safest hobby.
...I don't think Cheep Cheeps ever leap out of the water in Super Paper Mario. They do it plenty in the platformers, in the only time they're ever actually spotted acting as members of the Koopa Troop instead of just minding their own business.
Max HP: 2, Attack: 1. Growmebas copy themselves over and over and over. Just stomp the real one to make them all disappear.
Just because they can't all be winners...
Max HP: ??, Attack: 2. It's an eye. A big, juicy, unblinking, ever-watching eye. ...Gross.
There's a reason it didn't stick around.
Max HP: 10, Attack: 2. This gigantic Boo still hides when you look at it. Some say it's a gathering of many smaller Boos...
I find most gigantic Boos still are, but this one never proves it with any of its attacking animations. So, here in magical adjacent-to-Mario land, it is nothing but rumour.
Anyway, welcome to the basement. We come back here a lot considering how many elevators you have to use to get here. There's a slightly easier way down here... sorta?
That's Bizzy... He's a magazine editor who is always distracted... He has a staff writer, but he loses track of him constantly. The two have never spoken... He also enjoys fishing... His longest catch is a 10-inch boot...
Outside the bar is Helvetica's employer, and he's precisely as annoyed as you'd expect.
That's Chap... He's always thirsty... He comes here at noon and drinks milk all day... He always jokes that milk runs through his veins... But then he worried that it really did, and went to the doctor. That's a secret...
Meanwhile, inside the bar, we have this guy... whose name is also Chap. There was another Chap on 2-F, but he looked completely different. Like the two Muffies, they're different in JP, and PAL changed the one on 2F to Glim.
This Chap will just talk about various ways he enjoys drinking milk.
"The Underwhere" is a name used for another location in the game, giving this bar an interesting flavour in hindsight. It'll be a while until we see that place, though.
That's Garson, the info guy... A bit of a rascal in his youth, he troubled everyone... To make up for it, he opened an information-exchange shop for everyone...
Garson here is going to be our substitute for Russ T. and Wonky.
What a way to advertise this new mechanic! By downplaying the potential usefulness.
The price has been upped from 5 to 10 coins compared to Wonky.
But also the economy means so much less in this game.
Stylish Moves:
So yeah, ever heard of stylish moves? They're cool poses for after stomping! After stomping an enemy, but before landing tilt the Wii Remote around and give it a shake. You'll pull off some cool tricks in midair! Those are called stylish moves. What? What's a Wii Remote? ...Don't worry. As long as the player gets it, we're fine. Doing stylish moves is not only cool, but it gives you lots of points. And if you hold down '2' after a jump, you'll bounce high, making it even easier. Just give it a shot!
This is the only explanation of Stylish Moves in the game. As a means of getting points, it's sorta good, but the real best way to get points is combos. Stylishes just don't add up fast enough, especially since they also need to be comboed to get some serious digits.
Garson says this at the end of every story, meaning you have to talk to him again to know if he's still got a story to share in the current batch.
The Pure Hearts:
So yeah, ever heard of the Pure Hearts? They're great treasures created by the ancients... Supposedly really powerful. Folks say that heroes will appear to collect them all and save the world. The source of power in these Pure Hearts? The power of love itself! The love of a parent... The love of the smitten... Great power, indeed. The Ancients researched this power, believing it to be the universe's only salvation. And these Pure Hearts were thus created... The shining embodiment of love itself. Their combined brilliance will negate the destruction born of the Chaos Heart... we hope.
This element of the Pure Hearts- that they are the coalescence of all forms of love, not just romance- is an element that the plot does keep in mind, but the first three are relatively terrible demonstrations of such. Merlon, Merlumina and Merlee's stories don't really reflect the love they're demonstrating, and while Merlumina does talk at length about her forays into passion and Merlon does have some love to show off later that he hasn't yet, the fact that we've got this far and haven't picked up on that is a bit of an issue.
The Dark Prognosticus:
So yeah, ever heard of the Dark Prognosticus? Everything that'll happen in the future is written down in this book. The author and the source of his knowledge are still a total mystery, though. Over the years, many have fought over it... Entire countries have fallen. And the fall of those countries was already predicted in the book... Imagine going through awful stuff to get the book, only to READ about it all after! Anyway, someone hid the book long ago, and now no one knows where it is. I wonder what sort of person has it now...
Garson doesn't really know that much more about the Prognosticii than anyone else, although he does point out that bit of horror I mentioned in the opening. You really don't want to read this thing. You think you do, but trust me, don't.
The Ancients:
So yeah, ever heard of an advanced civilization called the Tribe of Ancients? They were, like, a thousand times smarter than you or me. There were four austere sages among them. You know one of these as Merlumina. But when it came to love, these sages were unreserved... Their passion burned HOT. I've heard some pretty spicy legends about the love life of Merlumina, in particular... In fact, her love life threatened to destroy the world on a few occasions... I don't know if these stories are true or not. And I guess we'll never know.
It makes a lot of sense that people like this would've chosen "love" as their means of defence, although it'd be nice to see what shenanigans these other sages got into when talking of love. Why's Merlumina the only one getting in trouble?
Flipside Secrets:
So yeah, these were the words written in the book left behind by the Ancients... 'On the outskirts of town, third floor, look for the hidden platform to go up.' I don't know what this means, exactly... Maybe it's a way to find secret treasure? Maybe you ought to go check it out!
One of the few gameplay secrets in the bunch, we have a tip for how to get to the second part of Flipside 3F. All the stuff is hidden with Tippi's powers, in an otherwise useful room for a change. Only in Flipside...
Descendants of the Ancients:
So yeah, you meet Merlon and Merlee yet? They're descendants of the Ancients and distantly related to each other, I hear. The Ancients hid the Pure Hearts in various worlds to stop eventual destruction. Then the Ancients scattered to various world to pass the rest of their days. Most of them were wise and kind like Merlumina. And like Merlumina, many of them would totally lose their cool when they fell in love. But it was this very passion that let them build the vessels of love, the Pure Hearts...
...I don't... think any of the Ancients' descendants we meet during the story has this problem? I don't think any of them so much as fall in love, although Merlon does have non-romantic love to have.
The Pit of 100 Trials:
So yeah, you know about the Pit of 100 Trials? It's supposedly this 100-room labyrinth underneath this very town. Many have searched for the entrance, but it still remains hidden. The only clue we have is this saying from the Ancients: 'Pit seekers! Go to the town outskirts, the lowest floor, and seek the hidden platforms.' ...It sounds sort of like the clue I gave you earlier, doesn't it? What's all this stuff about hidden platforms, anyway? If you find out, let me know.
Garson describing the clue as being similar to the Flipside Secrets one is a clue that both require Tippi. I wonder how these puzzles would've been crafted on the Gamecube- and when they became puzzles.
If he's out of stories and you talk to him, you wind up getting a repeat for free. Again, you have to talk to him without necessarily knowing if he's got more to share.
If you flip into 3D in the bar, you can find a secret passage to a pipe. I'm not sure what's telling you this one exists, although I'm sure something has to.
Welcome to the Arcade!
There are three games of skill on display, with high scores to chase, but thankfully we don't have to get high scores to show off to any NPCs.
As much as I hate it, he can keep his high scores.
That's Hort, the iron man of games... He plays like a professional... He's back in the arcade again today, looking for a worthy adversary... He's a master of games... Just not the game of love...
It turns out this guy is actually the boyfriend of that romantic back on 1F. I never wound up coming back to these two Flipside Folk, same as the ones in the Parlor in TTYD. What can I say, I think of the locations more as mechanics than settings.
That's Mort, a game lover... He's here before the arcade opens and stays until closing... He's lost a lot more than just coins to this place... He needs video-game restraint...
As mentioned, the minigames available in the Arcade are games of skill. If he's not making his money back, he must suck at the minigames, and I doubt he would find them this addicting if he was losing that badly over and over. Then again, I know that feeling of stubbornness...
All right, so what joys await us in the arcade?
That's The InterChet... This arcade owner's face is square, but his personality is round. I don't know exactly what he really is... His whole being is a mystery... He's literally a black box...
The InterChet, as distinct from the InterNed that hosted That's My Merlee, is another NPC type that raises more questions than it answers. Really, trying to comprehend the world of Flipside is a rabbit hole I'm happy not to dive into.
The InterChet does have this line, implying he's a conman in some way, although again, these are games of skill. Perhaps it would've been games of chance on the Gamecube?
As opposed to the rest of this video game, which is a place for gamers to gush about story and feel not so enthused about the gameplay.
It costs Flipside Tokens to start a minigame, which can be purchased for Coins, but the games reward you Flipside Tokens and getting a reasonable score will let you match your investment.
This is sorta how Mort went broke, but again, you can make your Tokens back and not need to invest any more coins.
...Maybe he's been recklessly splurging on the token prizes.
Heh... so about that...
Oh yes, there will be prizes. Some good ones...
Yes, yes, whatcha got?
That's a consistent price of 1 token for 3 coins.
And here are the prizes.
- Mystery Box (15 coins): The Mystery item will turn into a Shroom Shake, Super Shroom Shake, Shell Shock, Sleepy Sheel, Ghost Shroom, Catch Card, POW Block or Mighty Tonic, although I'm not sure if it gives you the item or immediately uses its effect. They're available for 3 coins in a later shop.
- Catch Card (30 coins): Catch Cards cost 20 coins in Catch a Dream. It would be nice if these were Catch Card SPs, but guess not.
- Shooting Star (225 coins): Not sellable anywhere. Shooting Stars can be cooked and sold for a tidy profit, but that selling price is less than the asking price here with Coins alone. At this point, though, you're probably making some of the earnings through the games.
- Ultra Shroom Shake (450 coins): They're sold for 300 in a later shop. Depends on how you want to grind for that money.
- Whacka's Bump (900 coins): Heals for 30 HP in this game. Presumably, we've found the sick, twisted bastard that hunted down all the Whackas for Bumps. We will need a Whacka Bump to finish a recipe, and our choices are this guy or sourcing a fresh Bump from this game's single Whacka. How do you sleep at night...
- Amazy Dayzee Catch Card (1500 coins): You can get this through Catch a Dream or using a Catch Card on an Amazy Dayzee, but this feels like the expected method. These sell for 300 coins a pop, and 100% speedrunners do know a consistent way to get them from Catch Cards. Which makes this method a bit of a bust (perhaps thankfully).
- HP Plus and Power Plus (7500 coins): These are consumable items that boost your HP or your Atk by one level up stage, not interfering with what level up you should be getting. It's probably easier and more fun to just get extra stats through playing the game, although your stats can go higher than the score can count, so this is how you "max" those stats.
I'll take 10 tokens to show off the place, but I'm not going to be getting any prizes for now.
When you leave the conversation, the InterChet actually turns into a bowing man. This is cute.
Right, so what, exactly, is lying in wait for us?
Motion controls. All of these minigames require using the Wiimote as it was intended instead of the game's standard NES-style grip (although Tilt Island is still played horizontally), and I suspect that the vague casino flavour the game as currently presented has is a remnant of what games you originally played on the Gamecube. Then again, many do consider motion controls to be spiritually similar to casino randomness.
Forget-me-not is a match pair game, where you are shown a set of cards with pairs of faces, they flip over, and you are tasked with matching the pairs. Successfully matching a pair gives you 6000 points. Failing gives you a Strike- three Strikes and you're out.
Sometimes, when you flip over a card, you get an item, and collecting it awards you 3000 points. Mushrooms will remove a Strike, if you have one.
Collecting a Star, on the other hand, will cause all Cards to flip over, permitting you to have another look before they flip back down and the game continues.
Oh, huh, I forgot Merlon and Merluvlee were possible faces, too. I wonder how many choices you can get- I think there's Mario, Peach, Bowser, Luigi, O'Chunks, Mimi (in her yellow dress), Dimentio, Nastasia, Count Bleck, Merlon, Merluvlee, and almost certainly Merlee somewhere, but after that... how deep in the bucket are we drawing?
Anyway, something I found out to my annoyance here is that my emulator's pointer settings didn't actually allow me to "point" any lower than this, and this isn't quite far enough down to select the card. Fortunately, I can fix this.
Ah, there's Tippi, too.
Made it to Round 8. Taking screenshots only gets you so far in this game: The fact that cards will randomly switch places mid-game aggravates it, especially since they do so in real time and not in response to your actions, so you have to work it into your active memory rather than being allowed to write it down in some way. It would be a lot easier if I was actually using a pointer.
Round 8 out of 30 wins us 17 tokens. Pretty decent haul, although clearly we had to get further for real profits.
Made it onto the high score board! Strangely, we get to keep our character's name instead of having a four letter initial like all the other characters have.
My sources tell me that the default board has Hort with 700,000 and Mort in second with the 500,000. Perhaps, as the game progresses, Mort gets better and starts competing with Hort. Sadly, Peach getting on the board means we won't get to know who has the high score beneath Walter if you don't push him out before that.
Incidentally, this is where the game sneaks Muffy's American name into PAL copies: The Ctrl+F they were using to find "Muff" missed Muffy's initials here, and the score continues to be set by MFFY despite no Flipside character having a similar name in that version.
Mansion Patrol is a pretty cool minigame, although one I can only sorta show off.
It's a shooting gallery, where you point and click on a Boo to shoot them down. A Boo gets you 400 points, but combo them and your score can go all the way up to 800 points. Saving a Toad gets you 3000 points and a helpful item. Shoot Toad, and you lose 1000.
The items are Mushroom, which gives you an extra life, Flower, which gives 10 seconds of Autofire (and still allows combos), and Star, which stuns all the ghosts on the screen.
You can also get Dark Boos, which don't give different scores. Later on, there are Big Boos that give 5000 to 10000 points.
Unfortunately, it's a little difficult to play this game when you move the pointer around by directional keyboard keys. Even if I was allowed a proper mouse, I could see myself having a harder time than if I was using the Wiimote itself.
Didn't even make my money back. Save States!
(The high scores I can see are for Hort, Heronicus, Mort, Fret and Otto, with Otto's at 300,000 points.)
And then comes Tilt Island. I think this was the minigame that was most convincing in my decision to not stick around.
To play Tilt Island, you tilt the Wiimote left and right. Your character (who will actually be the character you're playing as) will move in the direction of the tilt, although I'm not sure she will walk off of her own accord.
Now, see, "tilt the Wiimote left and right" are assigned to button keys on my emulator. And I was pressing them. But nothing happened. I can't even show off Tilt Island!
Desserts and enemies will drop from the top of the screen. You can get Peachy Peaches (4000 points), Mango Juices (5000 points) and Fruit Parfaits (7000 points). Collecting five desserts clears the stage, and if you collected only one type of dessert, you get a point bonus. The helpful item pickups are Mushrooms (extra lifes, you can go up to six total), Flowers (the character starts spinning and can knock away obstacles- Squigs give 1000 points, Spiny Eggs 1500 and Spiky Tromps 2000) and Stars (clears all enemies from the screen).
The high scores go to Hort, Mort, Muffy, Walter and Fret. Fret's score is 200,000.
To leave the Arcade, we will need to be Mario again.
There's a small little river to swim through here to get to some essential services on the other side. It... it gets old.
...Where is he?
That's Flimm, the salesman... His prices and his stock fluctuate day to day... Sometimes he carries rare items...
Ah, there he is. He wanders around from left to right, and he must've drifted all the way over right.
...You can be a licensed Sales Freak?
Slogans can be trademarked, although they do require a certain degree of specificity to count in Australia. Would this count? Maybe. I'm not going to try and file one.
Funnily enough, he does sell things that are impossible to acquire through most methods. I don't think you need to buy anything from him to 100% anything, but he's handy.
Everything available for sale is available for 75% of the asking price in any other location it can be sold, but he only sells you the item once. Golden Leaves cannot be found anywhere- their recurring drop is as a possible drop from Amazy Dayzees. The other three recipe items are sold in shops later. The Catch Cards Flimm can sell are "enemies" that you can't use Catch Cards on. He has six total, two of which refer to Chapter 3 enemies, and the rest are enemies we've seen:
Thwomp: This block-headed rocker really loves making pancakes. All that macho pounding must be a sign of insecurity.
Considering how fast it pounds in this game, I can see how you would draw that conclusion. Partners in Time implies that Thwomps have sexual dimorphism, with men having the more traditional design and females looking like Geodudes, although we never really see more than the one, so who knows if that's a thing even within PiT's logic.
Spiny Tromp: It's a massive, rolling pinwheel of doom. If it keeps rolling, maybe it'll aerate someone's lawn.
"Aerate" means "to supply with oxygen". I... well, yeah. It'll also ruin it.
Spiky Tromp: This bowling boulder rolls around in search of prey. Don't get caught under the spikes, or you'll be tenderized.
...I kinda feel like these should be switched, since the tenderising one is the smaller one.
Gnaw: This mean mutt snacks on trespassers and spits them out. Nobody fights for scraps with this big dog.
He's a good boy, unless you're the trespasser. ...Except this is the one that doesn't kick you out personally.
Grabbing the stuff for cheap is always a good idea, if you have the room. Foreshadowing.
I legitimately don't know when Flimm resets. I feel like I should.
We're going to get to see those sweet cookies, at least. Thanks, Flimm!
He's so proud of his Catch Cards!
We absolutely needed to grab this. No idea why I didn't jump on it sooner.
I did wind up out of room on my person in the end.
He has the best quote for telling you "you can't buy any more from me".
Speaking of carrying around his entire house.
It's a tiny shop. There's no way we're getting inside it like this...
The house isn't actually his, it's a different shop. We can't buy anything yet.
In 3D, we can find a treasure chest back here.
The InterNed knows all... and also moonlights as a game-show host.
Nice Catch Card to add to the collection.
Right, some more cooking.
Cook a Horsetail. Meh, 10 HP is a little behind.
Cooking a Golden Leaf gets you a Gold Bar. Gold Bars cook into Golden Meals, which we need to do eventually, but it's hard to part with, since Golden Meals don't sell as well as Bars.
...That is, unless you check the full recipe list and notice you can also use Golden Leaf combo recipes to get one. Yeah... I wish I knew about this.
And we got ourselves that Sweet Cookie Snack. ...Another bit of an underwhelming one for the hype.
The Gold Bar is going in storage until I decide to cook it.
Won't need that, too.
Right, let's get exploring.
We needed Boomer to get over here.
So this is Flipside 3F, other side. We can't swap between sides the normal way.
This stone is oddly colored... And there's a picture drawn on it...
Despite looking like it, this block is not covering that elevator. That's the elevator between 3F and 2F over on the other side. This is covering a treasure chest.
There's a long climb up single blocks, all of which must be spawned with Tippi, to find this.
It's our first Cooking Disk of six!
Whee... I was hopeful.
Actually, I wanted to be on this side.
Another Boomer path down here.
This red block seems suspicious. Nothing for it now, though, it's just there to be in the way.
We need to use Slim in 3D to get this Heart Pillar.
What's behind the yellow door? A wondrous land filled with all sorts of nice goodies, no doubt!
We've got one more thing to go looking at down here, and that's the floor underneath the one we found the Heart Pillar on.
Nothing doing with this pile of blocks.
That one, though...
Tippi will show us a way up.
So what secrets could lie on this side?
...Looks like we found the Pit of 100 Trials.
Now then, in TTYD, you could enter the Pit of 100 Trials and test your mettle against the earlier floors to try and get rare and useful Badges or the Strange Sack. SPM has no such finesse. The intermediate rewards for each floor are Catch Cards, and as far as I can tell, not even helpful ones. To make matters worse, they're actually somewhat for characters we haven't met yet, and one of the characters we have has a spoilery description. If you want the rewards for the Pit of 100 Trials to exclusively be things you have seen before, complete it after Chapter 5. And do keep in mind all that score you'll get in there will make you more powerful for the main story.
I'll not be bothering until then myself.
If you're wondering, these are the same elevator. Now that the Pit of 100 Trials is open, we can head down here whenever.
Cooking Disk R installed. Which means another set of new recipes.
Too many for just two screenshots!
- Sweet Cookie Snack: Made from a Cake Mix. This is the only recipe.
- Honey Candy: Made from a Honey Jar. Also other items plus Honey Jar.
- Peach Juice: Made from a Peachy Peach. Also one combo recipe with a Peachy Peach.
- Herb Tea: Made from a Smelly Herb. Also other items plus Smelly Herb.
- Shroom Steak: Made from an Ultra Shroom Shake. Also other items plus Ultra Shroom Shake.
- Fried Egg: Made from a Big Egg. This is the only recipe.
- Hamburger: Made from a Power Steak. Also other items plus Power Steak.
- Spaghetti Plate: Made from a Fresh Pasta Bunch. Also other items plus Fresh Pasta Bunch.
- Golden Meal: Made from a Gold Bar. Please just wait until two item for Gold Leaf + Shroom Shake. Also Gold Bars/Gold Leafs plus other items.
- Block Meal: Made from a Block Block. Also other items plus Block Block.
- Meteor Meal: Made from a Shooting Star. Also other items plus Shooting Star.
- Megaton Dinner: Made from a POW Block. Also other items plus POW Block.
- Dangerous Delight: Made from a Poison Shroom. Also the Ghost Shroom (use the Ghost Shroom where possible, Poison Shrooms are very rare) and other items plus one of these two.
- Cake Mix: Itty Bits in Flipside. We can't get to this place until after Chapter 5.
- Big Egg: Itty Bits in Flipside.
- Honey Jar: Itty Bits in Flipside. Honey Jars in general seem to be a recipe substitute for Honey Syrup, where "Honey" was the keyword. We'll see more of this once we get them.
- Poison Shroom: Dropped by Cursyas. Do you really want to carry them around that much even if you can get one?
A lot of these recipes are stuff we can't get yet unless we get lucky with item drops. Honestly, that'll be a thing the whole way through until after Chapter 5: We get what items we're given for cooking ingredients and then work with those to get a halfway decent emergency ration inventory. Besides, the tiny inventory space means it's not worth bringing too much emergency rations anyway.
Now we can head to Chapter 3.
Next time: I'm geeking out, guys.
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