After the events of the Void crashing down around us, Tippi reflects on who exactly Count Bleck is.
At least somewhat ignoring the fact the rest of us have been dumped on the ground on Flipside Tower. We're OK, although clearly whatever got us out didn't work quite as well as the Return Pipe normally does.
Tippi is going to continue to do her own reflection, about her role in Count Bleck's story.
Although she recognises him as a person, she still doesn't realise who she is and when they met? At this point, you really are dragging that out.
Hey, Mario was just unconscious. Like, just got up.
I'm with Bowser here. What the hell are you talking about, and why are you talking about it now?
Tippi herself seems out of sorts, which still only somewhat explains her lack of tact.
I was not expecting to dislike Tippi on these grounds...
So what about the 101 Sammer Guys and their families? I don't see a pile of leather and folded steel on top of us.
...Hm... You suppose it survived that?
The doors are supposed to go to the Pure Heart, and the fact the door still works suggests that maybe the same is true of the Pure Heart.
Of course you're the one making this decision. It will be necessary, of course, but still.
Our character starts next to the Chapter 7 entrance, but that seems mostly so Tippi can force us off-screen while being in front of the Chapter 6 door.
So then... what does Chapter 6 look like now?
...Very...
empty.
I'm playing as Peach, but Bowser's reaction is just as good to show side by side. We've been spending the whole game fighting Bleck's goal, but this... this is what he wants. Doesn't seem as abstract when it's right in front of us.
The Pure Heart seems to still be here... somehow. What else could be?
Welcome to the World of Nothing.
A long... long trek down a single flat line.
With the occasional Sammer rubble to break up the monotony.
This one has actual collision, but mostly what little there's left to see is backgrounds.
But mostly, it's just moving right. Would you believe me if I told you this was the main reason I chose this point in the story to pick up Dashell?
Eventually, what is probably the full length of all 100 gates later, the Pure Heart finally makes its appearance.
...Albeit as a heart-shaped rock. Perhaps we should travel to the right some more? Or maybe check left?
Another survivor! Is it Laughing X-Naut?
Nope. It's Mr. L. Showing up after everything he could do to be a threat has already happened. Team Bleck really doesn't work as a team.
It's impressive it still exists at all. Since its sole purpose is to prevent an apocalypse, I'd hope some level of apocalypse-proofing would be built-in. Kinda disappointed it didn't, though.
Mr. L decides that you know what, he can kick us while we're down.
Mr. L: Hey there, gorgeous. Don't you know a chaos wasteland is no place for a stunner like you?
Peach: I demand that you take off that mask and show us who you really are! Hmmpf!
Mr. L: Hey there, butterball! Feeling a little pooped out? Too bad you sweated your way out here for nothing. Heh.
Bowser: HEY! I'm not fat! I just got a big shell.
He then turns and, like he did last time, personalises his taunt. A highly rude one for Bowser, it's almost kind of disgusting. Peach's retort sounds pretty good, but the fact she should be able to see through the disguise means it's just not as dramatic.
And right now, it sounds like the Count has some disagreements with the existence of everything- or rather, everything that isn't his lost Timpani.
Once again, the implication is made that there's somewhere to run. Bleck hates everything. That includes the Mushroom Kingdom.
Peach: Even a masked man like you wouldn't watch a world die without feeling anything. You must see that Count Bleck's plan is totally mad!
Bowser: You got a big mouth for a henchman. Minions need to learn respect!
Tippi, once again, failing the whole hero snark challenge. Peach does pretty decent for her part, while Bowser... uh, forgets that Mr. L is doing pretty decently for a minion. At least, as far as he knows. He doesn't know Mr. L is challenging us outside the Count's knowledge and without his permission.
We're going to mug you of that Pure Heart. And then weep.
Skipping the Mr. L fight to go straight to the Brobot this time.
He's made a few modifications. One, two... a dozen.
And yet surprisingly, he doesn't have lightning attacks.
Mr. L: Hey, Ms. Pink n' Frilly! Try not to get kidnapped before I defeat you! Have at you!
Mr. L: Hey, King Incompetent! I'm gonna hatch an evil plan on your FACE! Have at you!
You really need to learn how to give insults. What did they even teach you in evil minion school?
That's Brobot L-type. Mr. L pulled out all the stops to make this one... Max HP is 64. Attack is 5. Defense is 4. Defense against fire is 8. Most of its moves are the same, but it can now use its hands or tackle you... He seems to be weak to explosions, so try using Boomer on his feet... You remember that after setting a bomb, you can use the 1 Button again to set it off, right?
Brobot L-Type is a ground-based version of the Brobot fight we had in space- but without Squirps' laser, our options are a bit more limited. You want stuff like Boomer and Cudge, and I'd recommend against Bowser's fire.
Brobot L-Type's new theme adapts the Brobot's high-energy fight theme to the low-energy atmosphere of doing battle in a World of Nothing. It's still pretty suave, but it's not really as cool as the original- on account of the whole "switching from cool to dramatic". Mr. L really preferred "coolness".
Right, I really don't want to deal with you. Let's get this out of the way and...
Oh. Look at that moustache whirligig over there and realise that may legitimately be his only fired attack.
Because he's just about to drop on a second bomb.
Atk Up items are overkill.
In redoing this fight for checking Mr. L's Bowser quotes, I got this other attack where him coming down is accompanied by a massive slamming shockwave. The fact I'm seeing new attacks on the rematch says plenty.
You want to know the secret to victory? Shoot those more often.
Mr. L drops to the ground, and drops the Pure Heart for us to claim.
Good question. Let's start by how you keep throwing massive targets that can be damaged everywhere- consider Mimi and Dimentio, tiny people you have to hit on the head.
Or we can call him weak instead. This is a Tippi-in-specific line, too- surprisingly, since it's such a Bowser line.
The one who laughs last laughs hardest. This feels like it's reflecting the way that Mr. L's entire existence is based on the thread of Luigi's resentment towards always being dismissed and laughed at- which might make me feel a little bad for pointing and laughing at him before remembering that Luigi always tried his best, while Mr. L can't seem to be bothered to try at all.
He jumps off into the distance, and Mario has a moment to wonder.
Excuse me, Tippi, we sit back and let you come to realisations about how the villains are secretly your loved ones, let us do our thing. We, the audience, care a lot more about Mario vs Luigi than we do you vs your boyfriend we still only sorta know anything about.
Peach: I can't shake the feeling that I've met that masked man before...
Bowser: That Mr. L freak is a total insano. I feel like I know him from somewhere.
Peach and Bowser, because they continue to only sorta remember the brother of the most important people in their respective lives, continue to not see through it. This is a moment where Mario's muteness plays into his favour: There's a non-zero argument that Mario has come to realise Mr. L is, in fact, his missing brother Luigi. Paper Mario would probably be just as happy to be as oblivious as Peach and Bowser are, but the real Mario values his brother highly. He'd know if something was up, probably before Luigi himself did. It's interesting to think about, at least.
...OK, I've made this joke enough I'm starting to look at it again and yeah... Tippi has gone peak "hard to like" right at the point in the game where we really need to start liking Tippi for the plot to work.
At least this whole "look at this obvious thing you already noticed but I haven't" dovetails into the in-universe characters asking the questions the audience already was.
Peach: It looks like a rock. There's no sparkle left...
Bowser: Oh, yeah! Sure glad we went through all that for a stupid heart-shaped rock.
Bowser brightening things up as usual.
We get a partial rendition of the END OF CHAPTER! theme, but with no Pixl dance. I think the musical cues don't sound quite as downhearted as the tone is.
The destruction of an entire world was a great and terrible tragedy. But Mario and his allies had survived the cataclysm and found another Pure Heart. The end of that world had dulled the shine of the Pure Heart they had found. Was the Pure Heart's power lost forever? The heroes set out for Flipside to find out...
If the Pure Heart is lost forever, then the Purity Heart cannot counteract the Chaos Heart, and that's us dead.
The end-of-chapter music kinda fades out for this scene- this isn't after the save prompt, it's before, and thus it isn't strictly part of the Team Bleck intermission.
Mr. L may be pompous and have bravado to spare for us, but inside, he really is anxious about the fact his victory score seems to be 2-nil with no signs of turning around.
Which is something somebody else seems all too happy to needle him about.
Yep, a fitting reaction to hearing the Charming Magician has something to say.
"Who let them have big bombs and hammers?" Admittedly, part of his problem seems to be he can't get his weapons to focus fire on our tiny bodies. That's more a problem of most platforming bosses, though.
You went behind Count Bleck's back, attacked us while there was absolutely nothing for Bleck to gain, and failed to accomplish anything for it. Yeah, I think Nastasia would be well within her rights to flay you to an inch of your life for your lack of results.
Dimentio is entirely fine with this turn of events.
And attempts to enforce Mr. L's decision before he's properly made it.
Unlike other moments where something dramatic is happening, the game doesn't actually cut off the music for this reveal. Dimentio, Charming Magician is going to keep going even as this conversation continues.
Dimentio won't let Mr. L go back to Nastasia and the rest of Team Bleck. He's going to put an end to Mr. L right here and now.
The only person laughing at the clown. Although I don't hear any laughter.
Dimentio is getting ready to kill Mr. L, and is making it clear that he doesn't want the rest of Team Bleck to know it was him. As far as they know, either he died when the Void hit, or we finished him off for good.
Dimentio says his last goodbyes and prepares his "unavoidable" attack- the mime cube.
At around this point, Mr. L realises things have gotten a lot more serious than he already knew they were, and starts panicking. Because he's about to die.
That's what they all say. And I've not seen much proof of speaking from experience.
I'm sure you will, you clown.
As a reminder, he can do this attack in gameplay, we can just... walk away from the box before it seals around us. Mr. L didn't get that chance, and it turns out it's a mite more lethal in cutscenes.
Well, somebody doesn't seem to regret offing his own teammate. That's a farewell to Mr. L in particular- Dimentio didn't do this to O'Chunks, and we don't know if he'd do it to Mimi yet...
Next time: Now what?
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