Mario and his new friends opened the door, unsure of what they would find. All the while, Merlee's words about finding the "other two heroes" rang in their minds. Were these other heroes somewhere in this new world? If not, where? Meanwhile, the creeping void grew larger in the skies above Flipside. The hopes of all worlds rested on the heroes finding the next Pure Heart...
The chapter narration reminding us about the Four Heroes in a rather timely mention, although I'm not sure who "new friends" is referring to. Peach, Boomer and Slim? That is stretching the definition of "new" and "friends".
Super Paper Mario has, thus far, remained... well, it's difficult to call anything Mario does "grounded", but the things you have seen have been consistent with Mario's internal logic, across the whole trilogy. Even Flipside, as a place "in another dimension", uses only as much handwaving as any other game set in a location somehow more exotic than the Mushroom Kingdom.
Buckle up.
World 3 is the land of pixels. Unlike 1-1, which was just sorta borrowing the style of the 1-1 aesthetic, this is a throwback to the real thing.
A little bold to have both, but this stops being 1-1 in a hurry.
Tippi flies forward as she has her line. This must be a character moment.
Unlike last time, where the possessor of the Pure Hearts has been at the end of a series of chapters, the Pure Heart seems to be a little bit closer this time...
So then, any chance that we can get that Pure Heart now and-
Occupational hazard of being a butterfly.
No, we haven't seen our attacker yet, although that conspicuous bush looks like a candidate for where he might appear.
Nope! Chameleon! I feel like this was an intentional "fakeout" of sorts.
At any rate, as promised, our villain of the week is not a monster, ancient guardian, or member of Team Bleck. He is, aside from being a chameleon, the stereotype of a terminally online nerd, complete with neckbeard.
Now, the stereotype of a "neckbeard" was a little different back in 2007, but that's mostly because being online is much, much more common, and there are a lot of new and interesting social phenomena that have either been invented or more fully studied. As a result, you will not see Francis threaten to dox anyone or do a livestream, but you will see him have "deviant" interests and toxic fandom opinions. Glad to know one of those is still around.
Francis is a popular character, half because his critique of internet culture always being fun to point and laugh at, but also because his gushing allows one to slip in plenty of references to both TTYD and the Mario franchise as a whole. He's not the only place we can get those, but it's always a good time when you can comment on how the old goes.
I'm not 100% sure if this show is meant to be Grodus going straight and writing his own series, or someone else writing a dramatisation of the X-Nauts role in TTYD. The game is surprisingly consistent that the plot involves the X-Nauts- although maybe I'm confusing it with another of Francis's favourite shows, "Starship X-Naut".
This entire sentence would have to be entirely rewritten for the modern nerd. "Tape" "this week's episode"? The entire culture this joke was written in has moved on.
This is Francis's favourite catchphrase, and I'm not 100% sure if it's a reference or just a thing. I wasn't on the internet back then- I was still under 13 at the time. No matter what the "correct" age for being online is, I was far too young.
And he... wanders off. However he goes about doing that. Presumably just walking, although as a neckbeard, I'm sure he has a method of travel that takes less physical exercise.
I think, if Mario is caught alone when a dialogue bubble for his mouth appears, you don't get any dialogue at all, but Mario will have a non-verbal emote to express the same emotion.
...That rainbow textbox can only mean one thing...
There is somebody hiding in the conspicuous bush! And he did nothing to help.
He doesn't seem to think too highly about the odds of success.
And he doesn't appear to have anything more to say before we are thrown into the Bitlands. The music around here is using the Super Mario Bros. theme, but it a much more minor key and is otherwise trying to be it's own theme, which helps it feel less like a nostalgia level and more of a level themed around nostalgia.
At any rate, before we go exploring for real, examining the bush allows us to spawn the Pixl that was hiding in it.
Since she's copying Mario, Peach also uses a lot more nonverbals, like a nod here.
This Pixl is going to continue his earlier thought about Francis some more.
Remember back when we lumped "nerdy" into one big box that we shoved every computer-using stay-at-home into? Geeking out over butterflies does not at all fit in with the media-loving nerd as a matter of course.
Presumably, he found this one out the hard way.
Francis's claim to the title of "biggest nerd around" seems to be a very well-founded one: He has a broad range of interests, a deep collection, and his own castle. Even the biggest nerd I know of only has two of those.
Not having Tippi in the party means the script, almost literally, gets confused about what happens if our acting character needs to speak up. Peach non-verbals, like Mario would, only to then remember that she is allowed to speak and say the dialogue aloud.
The Pixl tells us that we'll find it if we just keep moving forward, in a tone of voice that more or less says "you can't miss it. It's a thonking massive castle."
...You know, legitimately, I wasn't until you mentioned it. It wasn't going to go undone, but like, I wasn't setting myself a long-term goal until I figured out what you had to say.
I'd probably rate it on the top 50 least consequential events in my life.
This affirmation is still non-verbal regardless. The Pixl is not so disillusioned of hope that he won't be helpful. Well, that or he is happy to say anything to get us away from here.
I think this is more of the former, because if he just wants us to get lost, he doesn't care about what happens after we're out of earshot.
How critical these are depends on what kind of player you are. I feel like you can condense the three into one big tip, but the tip itself can clue you in to otherwise not-obvous mechanics that only become obvious once the solution has been pointed out.
(By the way, talking to the Pixl and getting these hints is optional.)
Not the same castle as Fort Francis. Not the same jerks, not the same castle, and not even the same flavour of villainy.
Fortunately for us, their castle is significantly older, much smaller, and has a critical weak spot.
Peach takes note.
Can't go around it, either, then.
There's a giant monster in the water with a red flipper as its weakness. When you see the boss fight, I think you might understand why this is a good tip to have. You'll probably figure it out, but it's not obvious it's what you need to look for.
It must be huge, if we can just jump out of an ocean and expect to find a tree.
...OK, the odds that we jump out of an ocean and find A tree are pretty high.
Mario: "I take that as a challenge."
Peach: "I have the parasol."
The solution being described is really illogical, and also risky. Having a clue to do this is immensely helpful. I don't think the average player would need to talk to Barry to learn that all three chapters have a red-coloured clue at the end of each chapter -1 to -3, but they probably wouldn't realise the method to the madness if they solved each puzzle individually.
This chapter can actually be difficult. Glares at the tree.
This is also a mechanical clue, although it's less "you will need to do this to progress" and more "there's a secret here, don't forget me."
As we start getting moving, we can observe that these little mountains don't exist in 3D. This is a surprisingly 3D-less level: We are going back to the glory days of 2D, after all.
Ah, these guys. This is an important place to come back to.
Combo shell kick! But more importantly, Turtley Leaves only drop from Koopas, so if you ever have your eye on a recipe that uses one as an ingredient, this is the place to try to pick one up. It's right at the start of the level, it includes a nice number of easy Koopa kills (even at high levels, Koopas are annoying to kill because the shell-kick mechanic makes it impossible to kill one with a jump alone), and it's always a Return Pipe away.
This long pipe has a Flip Block to climb up. Just because there's little depth doesn't mean there won't still be secrets.
Secret door!
Ahaha, a rampage, then.
Look, purely mechanically speaking, this is a terrible idea. It's a less profitable method of killing enemies compared to jumping on their heads and going for Stylishes/Comboes, the process of watching the animation for forming a Mega Star is far too long, and it destroys interesting terrain to cross on the way back.
But dammit, I'm doing it every time. I never even played the original Super Mario Bros.!
Oh hey, a new enemy.
This is a Hammer Bro... They have an unhealthy hammer obsession... Max HP is 4. Attack is 1. Defense is 1. You could always try catching a hammer and throwing it back... Where does it keep all those hammers, anyway... It's a mystery...
Don't think the lack of Tippi (or the fact you couldn't even use her if you wanted in Mega Star form) discourage me from Tattling our enemies anyway. Hammer Bro. will jump around and throw hammers- they were a menace in the original SMB because they could throw them wildly and unpredictably while moving and jumping , but most 2D games since have limited their movements, often requiring Hammer Bro. to come to a stop while throwing- and they usually only have two in the air at a time. I'll be glad to eat those words in one area later, but if you're looking at one Hammer Bro., the odds of making it by are much higher.
I believe you can catch hammers with Thoreau to use as ammunition in this game. It also works in later platformers on the Wii with Yoshi's tongue, but I don't think it was a thing beforehand.
Hey, it's less efficient, not zero.
Oh... we've been spawned in mid-air. No going back the way we came.
This Koopa, somewhat reasonably, decides he's no match for us and goes and runs off for reinforcements.
...Wait a second...
Yes, the Mega Star animation is still overly long and gratuitous on his side. Yes, we've already seen one in this level.
But goddammit, this is 100% just as awesome as it's trying to be.
That's a Mega Koopa... Enemies don't get any bigger or more pixelated than this... Max HP is 1, Attack is 2, and Defense is 1. It's probably best if you avoid it, unless you can match its size... How did a Koopa Troopa grow to be so big...?
Despite the fact this looks like a one-time event, it comes back if you reload the whole chapter (but not reloading the map). Mega Koopa looks like an unstoppable force of death that our attacks would just plink off, but it is actually still just an ordinary Koopa, and can be killed by anything we have that can kill one (for now, kicking a shell and Boomer). If we had a stepladder, we can also jump on it and kick its shell around.
But we all knew there was only one way we were killing this one. Little sad it's not a full kaiju battle, but quite frankly, the awesome factor of the Mega Star was kinda starting to wear thin, I think the joke has been told.
Over here is a clue: Much like those in 1-3 and 2-3, you do not need to have read it to solve the puzzle. Presumably, they didn't want to go to the effort of actually printing the text backwards, but you otherwise would read this sentence by looking at it in a mirror. Including the fact that the text actually reads right to left, even across new lines.
Ah, that's how we're getting out.
I checked both rooms as Mario. Most I found was this Goomba, I guess. Wonder if he noticed anything happened.
This is somewhat annoying without the Mega Star. Peach recommended.
Sliding over here, opposite the Mega Star, we have some more conventional levels.
Including me missing this throw and that spring having an interesting life assuming it doesn't think its leap through.
Just blow up the thing, it's more reliable.
Catch Card SP in the background. These things are much more reliable, possibly guaranteed (with the caveat that Catch Cards do not work at all on bosses, to the surprise of nobody), but also rarer and more expensive. We can't purchase them at all yet, so this is something to treasure.
The door is acting as a physical barrier of some description here.
The red pipes described by the note are literally right next to where that entire diversion came from. This is an easy beeline if you want to make it to the end of the level.
Somewhat humourously, it's also not the fastest.
This Magikoopa serves on Bowser's wizarding task force... Max HP is 6 and Attack is 3. Magikoopas ride on brooms and fling dangerous spells... They study for years to learn magic. Sadly, they take no classes on defense...
Magikoopa, otherwise a terrifying opponent, really can't do much in this game. He throws spells at you, from broomstick or otherwise, and these pass through all collision. In closed quarters, he can be a tricky opponent to deal with, but he has no buffing magic to make him or any other enemy on the screen more annoying. There's a reason the RPGs love this guy more than the platformers.
That's a Back Cursya. It is a vile monster that curses everything it touches... Max HP is 1 and Attack is 1. It will send you back to where you came from... In our case, one touch, and we would be sent straight back to Flipside...
That black little nugget of hatred is a Back Cursya, and despite all evidence to the contrary... the game never actually puts it anywhere annoying. There are only two in the whole game, both found in level X-1 (in this case, 3-1.) There is an unused variant of them that, if used, would have been deliciously cruel, but the devs were struck by a brief onset of sanity and decided not to include it.
...Still, there had to be one in a X-4 chapter somewhere, right? I'd go with Chapter 4, honestly, I think that's probably the chapter that would make the player hate you the least if it gets you.
The far right end of the screen is a warp pipe to the background.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, I don't think you can go down that pipe to the left. Too high.
That's a Blomeba. It clones itself constantly to annoy its enemies... Max HP is 5 and Attack is 2. If you defeat the main one, the clones will die... The primary one has slightly different moves and looks, so watch closely...
Already getting outclassed, huh? Blomeba is identical to Growmeba in all the ways that matter, with that extra HP stat not saving it from a glorious end.
Like this.
...OK, so 5 HP means it can survive a Thoreau. Big whoop. That just means more coins.
(Mario better be post-Thoreau follow through and not actually on low-health throes already. You're not even at half HP.)
I notice that Blomeba is not available by pickup, and figure "might as well". I don't like carrying things in the inventory, and it'll make things better next time, probably.
Now that the guy is no longer here, a pipe appears to continue.
This weird little guy can't stop copying itself. Try using an item to put them all out of their misery.
Why couldn't it have been a good card? There's a few enemies with pickup Cards around here to be wary of "wasting" this on.
Real cute. I was expecting to come out of some hilarious pipe somewhere for this. This is better than I expected.
Free Ice Storm back here. It's... a thing.
We can't float over there, nor is falling in between them a good idea.
These five coloured pillars with the Magikoopas past the red pipe, in 3D, are actually dancing figures, although I have never learned what dance they are performing. I think it's a jumping jack and then swinging your arms side to side.
...They're not doing The Mario, are they? I wouldn't put it past this game.
Anyway, this is a bit of a sequence break: There is a secret if you jump across these platforms after getting to higher ground through something we'll see later, but as it turns out, the blue guy's leg is just low enough that you can jump on it from the ground.
Max HP: 2, Attack: 1. This violent vine, lurks in pipes, waiting for a snack. You'd be surly too if you lived in a pipe.
Is this why Sidesteppers and Fighter Flies are so angry they never really come back?
Fortunately, they came sorta prepared for this sequence break, and kept the pipe you come out of out of reach on the way back.
Sorta.
Going down.
Now this area is an obvious 1-2 knockoff. Even though the backing track is more of a remix of 1-2 than the overland theme, it's still mostly original. And hey, it's not like we've already done 1-2 in this game. Just... the New games.
This is a Gloomba, a Goomba that lives its entire life underground... Max HP is 2 and Attack is 2. It doesn't see a lot of sun, so it's a little pale... But it is stronger than your average Goomba... and has a very dark personality... It must be hard to be a pale, friendless Goomba that lives underground...
Oh yeah, those guys. Gloombas have reprised their role as "the Goombas you find in 1-2", only appearing in here to continue the reference, and also apparently in some rooms in some of the areas that use loads of old enemies. Their extra point of HP and Atk might've been scary if we probably didn't get forced to get a level for Atk by now.
Peach guiding some mini-Marios through the level. They are not very good at 1-2.
Flipping into 3D is a better environment for them, even if 1-2 looks weird at this angle.
So long, tiny people. I'm not sure you would've survived this jump.
Secret pipe! I wonder if SMB1 speedrunners have found a way to clip into this pipe, should it happen to exist in the original game.
...I somehow missed it.
Even in SPM, you can't go down it unless you're in 3D.
It's just a bonus room for goodies.
Hey, it's just what I needed after that disastrous showing.
Hm...
No more ratchet scrolling for me! What's up here.
...Should've guessed.
Hey, on the way back, I found this Zombie Shroom in the block with a Starman in it in the original. I guess even the devs knew a third Mega Star was pushing it. Or maybe "haha, no Mega Star for you" is part of the joke.
Take that, you.
Coins behind this pipe.
And here's the exit.
This is a Toopa Striker. These Koopas display brilliant teamwork... Max HP is 8, Attack is 2, and Defense is 1. They always go for the assist... They spend all their time together just to build their team chemistry...
Toopa Strikers appear only out here, and despite the odd name hinting this is a recolour, yes, we are supposed to run into these before the first variant. Koopa Strikers kick soccer ball-coloured shells at you, and what Toopa Strikers do differently is they can perform team trick-shots like overhead lobbing, fakeouts, and just generally stopping Koopa Shells flying at them. They move around you a bit, but if you can take out one, the other loses some of its prowess. The name "Toopa" is supposed to be a pun on "two", with the JP name ツインシューター meaning "Twin Shooter".
...So hey, I think there's one massive secret I've just left unexplored. Might as well, while we're here...
WELCOME TO WARP ZONE! I am not aware of any way to access the Minus World, that leftmost pipe behaves as intended.
If you remember SMB1, the pipes are ordered from right to left 2-3-4. Let's start with 2.
We get a small little room with little of note.
Although it does have this in the back. Magikoopa didn't appear until SMW, was somebody workshopping it this early?
Max HP: 6, Attack: 3. This elite Koopa is an expert hexologist. It also has questionable taste in eyewear.
Hey, you take that back about Kamek's specs!
The World 3 pipe leads us to this pipe I pointed out earlier. It is one-way, although you can return to the rest of the level with the normal exit. If you use this one, you can skip the Toopa Strikers entirely.
The World 4 pipe is how you get back out here.
...So it really is the "Minus" pipe, huh?
It's a Koopa Striker. It takes good shell control to make the Koopa Striker team... Max HP is 8. Attack is 2. Defense is 1. It can kick shells all day... It's very proud of its strong and accurate kicks... and its shiny shell! "An eye for an eye, a shell for a shell!" Try to trap its shell and send it back...
Koopa Strikers will stand in one place and kick soccer shells at you repeatedly, making them function as a variant of Hammer Bro. These ones are cleverly positioned, despite the whole "hit them from the underside and you can disable them immediately" occupational hazard of standing on ? blocks. Would you believe me if I told you that these guys stop working so well in literally every other appearance? I've heard of enemies getting easier to deal with as you progress, but these guys are ridiculous.
Despite looking like a perfectly normal, if unusual, Mario enemy, Koopa Strikers and their variants are only found in Super Paper Mario.
I will warn you about one thing: It may be easy to disable them, but it is much harder to kill them. These tiny platforms are hard to land on without kicking the shell with them inside (also potentially the other shell they had almost kicked), and once that shell's gone, it is gone. There is a lot of flat terrain for that shell to go, and good luck hitting it once it's on there, because it is zooming.
Looks like we've found those "jerks" and their "castle". Of course, can't have a Super Mario Bros. nostalgia level without those castles you go into after dropping the flagpole. No flagpole jokes in this game, though.
...
Bowser's here?
"Geekin' up the place" implies he regularly gets visits from Francis, which I can only imagine and want to see more of.
Being... Bowser's men, they are not particularly pleased to see us, although they haven't necessarily got a confirmed visual on their new invaders. This fun tune has been playing while he's been speaking, and we are not leaving this place without a fight.
He whistles in some backup.
...Some pretty wimpy backup. Hey, remember that distinction we got between Koopas that serve Bowser and Koopas that serve Bleck? This is the only appearance of hostile Bowser Koopas. They are statistically, and even internally, identical, but it's cool they kept the distinction.
Right. Peach adjusts gloves.
What fools.
Need that. Put in pocket.
...I have the odd feeling I drop one at some point before I notice the "this is only a drop" thing.
This cannon is called a Bill Blaster. They shoot Bullet Bills at you... Max HP is 5, Attack is 2, Defense is 3. They are also immune to flames... Don't approach them straight on, or you'll get shot. Attack from above...
That's a Bullet Bill. They get shot out of Bill Blasters... Max HP is 1 and Attack is 2. They just fly straight... You can defeat them, but the Blaster will just keep shooting them at you...
Appearing literally only here, Bullet Bills and Bill Blasters perform their essential duties on loop: Shoot. They are annoying only in that we probably have 3 Atk at this stage in the game and can't bop the Blasters with normal attacks. As in, literally this exact moment, since we'll have a solution to that before we leave 3-1.
For now, Boomer it is.
...So hey, remember what Barry said about a suspicious red X?
Turns out Boomer solves a lot of problems.
...We got money and score for that? I'm not sure, someone check my stats.
(I do. Looks like 1200 points and 7 coins.)
Bowser slumps to the ground, well and truly humiliated.
I have bad news and I have bad news.
Bowser is disoriented enough that he doesn't actually recognise his nemesis on sight.
Not disoriented enough to figure it out after a few blinks. Takes more than that to put a good rivalry down.
He looks past his rivalry for long enough to acknowledge his favourite person and newly minted wife.
For a second. A single second is all she gets. "Seeing red" is rather appropriate, given Mario's favourite getup.
The worst part is, even in 2007, there's a legitimate chance he's not exaggerating. Mario and Bowser have been at this for so long that they totally can throw a 100th castle-smashing party if they ever bothered to sit down and count. And argue over which adventures should be counted.
Bowser does a butt-stomp, sending Peach flying back.
And a wall appears behind him.
And us. Or, well, Mario.
Bowser's been fighting this battle for twenty two years, and he's not going to let a little world-ending catastrophe get in his way.
That's Bowser, the king of the Koopas and archenemy of Mario... Max HP is 20. Attack is 2. Defense is 1. He has spikes, so you can't stomp him. As you'd imagine, his fiery breath and stomp attack do a lot of damage. You'll need to use Pixls and items to win this battle...
Bowser will try to jump on our heads and breathe fire- this happens in a constant stream and has a limited range, and can be avoided by just not being in that range.
Bowser's boss battle plays his own personal theme, Bowser Battle (or "Showdown with Bowser" in JP if you want something cool). It's no Evil King Bowser from 64, but this remix of Dark Land's theme from Super Mario Bros. 3 is playing to be cool. It also helps that it adds an actual melody to bop to.
This is the range on Bowser's fire breath.
Now, there are two options at hand- Laying Boomer down over and over again until we deplete all 20 hit points (at 3 Atk, that's four hits), or we could try things a little more... reliably.
Shell Shock has two settings: Small shell or Big shell.
You just need to click on the Shell Shock once to get a big one. It does bounce around the screen like a shell, but...
This arena is narrow enough that he's absolutely shuttered by this.
The Shell Shock was able to take him out in the end. This is a really easy way to finish this guy off.
That takes down the barriers, and also lets Peach get a word in edgewise. Bowser's got all that steam out of his system, he's good.
Mario nods at Peach's question, and relaxes.
So yeah, remember that whole thing where Bowser and Peach got married at the start of the game? Bowser is the only character who remembers or cares.
Because Peach is actively trying to forget it.
...I'd say it was legal enough to count for the Chaos Heart, but who knows what that thing was even trying to register.
So, what's Bowser's deal and what is his plan?
He's just as lost as you are. Even I'm not sure what happened here. Was he ejected here after the wedding instead of the dimensional void Peach and Luigi were in, or was he also miraculously ejected by the same thing that saved Peach?
Bowser just... claimed the castle. He didn't even build it himself. Guess it was just shoddy because it was old.
...
Yeah, good question. About the only reason we have for him to take our side is the severity of the situation. A damn good reason, but like... this comes out of nowhere.
Although he is highly bothered by the fact that his wedding to Peach means jack and squat and is probably going to be righteously annulled at the first opportunity.
...It was probably going to be dissolved at the first opportunity anyway, but this makes it extra likely there's nothing he can do about it.
Ladies and gentlemen, the remorseless King of the Koopas. Compared to 64 and TTYD, Bowser is a heck of a lot less dorky, but he's still more defined by how he can't win the day than how he can keep trying. It's a small thing, but as a trend with IS's material, they do tend to not take him seriously.
He draws the line at Mario.
Oh dear, he totally is being a big baby. What a showing for the Koopa King.
The best final boss. Although he's backed this up with bluster more than he has with proof.
Peach is bringing out the puppy dog eyes. That's how you know this guy is a goofball.
Fortunately, Mario has a solution: point out the fact that, if Bleck hits his wincon, Bowser loses forever. He may not want to side with us, but there's no way he can afford not to side against him.
Peach catches on to the thought that this train of thought is going to be more effective, and piles on by guilt-tripping him about his minions.
Contrary to the earlier impression you might've got of Peach being amicable with the Koopa Troop, her tone here speaks of a well-earned distaste for them. Or maybe her fondness for the Koopa Troop is matched by the understanding that they dislike working for Bowser. The Mario & Luigi games, by contrast, typically show the Koopa Troop as happily working for Bowser, while Bowser reciprocates with fair working conditions, if a bit of a begrudging demeanor. Overall, I lean more towards "Bowser treats his men well", and it helps that Paper Mario's arguments to the contrary are fairly weak and typically come from Peach, who... well, she's the purest soul in the kingdom, but give it thirty years and she's going to be a little biased.
Bowser has no counterargument to that one. See, his "treats his workers well" bone still exists here.
With much, MUCH grumbling, Bowser is dragged, kicking and screaming, onto Team Hero.
Peach pushes her luck.
Bowser insists that, if he's going to be forced into being on the team, that he should at least be allowed to keep his well-nurtured and much-beloved ego.
Peach will not be humouring him on that point. She's seen his caring side.
Our third member of the team shall be Bowser, and oh boy what a team member he is.
...Hey wait, did we even mention that "four Heroes" bit to him? Bit of a weird plot point after all. (For some reason, it's not until way later in the game that we get number four.)
Bowser's special ability is listed as his fire breath, able to deal fire damage equal to his vanilla damage, repeatedly. Also, he can use it infinitely, although he is immobile and must be grounded to start. Usually, any enemy that takes a fire breath either can't take a second one or gets knocked out of range by the knockback.
And then it's right back to Bowser as a bad boss, with his remaining minions giving him all due respect (derogatory). Then again, Bowser's usually got a title like this even from characters who otherwise like him, like Kamek, Bowser Jr. and even Kammy Koopa back in the RPGs.
...What's left of it. Mechanically, this is expressed by the two castles we didn't blow up being restaffed by the usual enemies, so you can farm them for score, coins and Catch Cards as you would any other. This is the only place to find Toopa Strikers, Bullet Bills and Bill Blasters, so well founded.
Bowser will have absolutely no moral qualms whatsoever about attacking his own brainwashed men, nor does his army seem too fussed. What they're getting is no worse than what Mario normally gives them, so if they've survived more than one shift, they'll be just fine.
The game's given justification for why we'll not getting any Koopa Troop staff members mechanically assisting us. We don't really need 'em. They really would just be getting in the way.
On top of the standard reasons to hate Count Bleck, Bowser also has a streak as a high school bully, and will be happy to be mean to Bleck because he doesn't like his face. To be fair, anyone who wears a cape and a monocle in fiction is 100% being flagged by the writers as being punched in the face later.
I love these guys. The Koopa Troop gets awesome jokes in all the games.
Bowser did not hear that last part, or does not care.
Bowser is helping us. He is not pretending to understand or care what we are doing, he's just going to make sure we do it so he can go back to losing to us.
And we start off playing as him immediately. Compared to Peach, his introduction is much better and plays to some of his strengths (if in an unconventional way), although this really hammers home how slow Bowser is as he walks to the ending point.
...That wasn't mentioned in the brochure...
Yup. Bowser's Atk is double that of Mario and Peach's, and any Pixls he use that advertise double damage will be further doubled under his command. Bowser is to this game what Power Bounce was to the RPGs, although unlike Power Bounce, it is more reasonably balanced by Bowser's sluggish movement and gigantic hitbox. Like Power Bounce, I will be keeping my use of Bowser to a minimum. Bowser himself is OK in small, controlled doses, but a Pixl we'll get later completely breaks any semblance of difficulty this game never claimed to have and I will be banning any use of that combination of Hero and Pixl.
Bowser's flame breath is about as long as it was in the boss fight. Unless you start breathing fire while an enemy is right up on Bowser's mouth (at which point they're probably hitting you first), the first hit will probably knock them back out of range, and most enemies are smart enough to not plough right back in.
With Bowser in the party, the three heroes made a most unlikely trio. Peach attempted to explain the quest to Bowser, but it made him grunt in confusion. As Mario walked ahead, he spotted something that made him briefly stop and stare... "What is it, Mario?" asked Peach, as she turned to see the blue expanse ahead. The great, glittering waves of the Tile Pool stretched as far as she could see. Fort Francis was somewhere across the water...
They really don't give Bowser anything for intelligence, do they? Then again, this is a bit of a complicated one by Mario standards, Bowser's used to plots that involve bigger airships.
Next time: Swimming and climbing a tree.
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