Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Boss guide by hunterzero0130 For getting through this guide quickly, copy the full name of the area you want to go to and click ctrl + F, then paste and search. 11/17/04: A lot of people emailed me with strategies for Bonetail, so I accepted the first most complete one. I also took out my email, since people have been signing me up for mailing lists and such. Not much you should have to email me about anyway. 10/18/04: Added some useful strategies for the final boss. I also classified some battles as mini-bosses. Keep in mind that some of this guide is what I recalled from memory, but I am on my second play-through the game to give you whatever I may have missed. 10/16/04: Made guide. All bosses, with HP, ATK, and DEF values. Contents: 1 - Warning and greeting 2 - Legal stuff 3 - Bosses 4 - Thanks to... ========================================================================== 1 - Warning and greeting -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a friendly warning, I am telling you now. This guide contains spoilers. To ensure you don't spoil anything you don't want to know, go to the boss section and slowly go down the list. I put the bosses in the list in the order that you meet them, so that you won't pass a boss you don't know about. Anyways, welcome to my first guide, which is a Boss guide for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. If you're stuck on a boss, or want to know what to expect, come take a look. ========================================================================== 2 - Legal stuff -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This guide may only be used on GameFAQs.com. You may print it out for your own personal use, but you may not distribute it or sell it. You also may not claim this guide as your own. If you have any questions, email me at *email taken out* ========================================================================== 3 - Bosses -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before I go into detail about the bosses in this game, here's the format that I'll be using: Boss #(Number of boss, or bosses) LOCATION NAME (Boss' name) HP: 20(Boss' HP) ATK: 5(How much the boss normally hits you) DEF: 1(How much damage the boss can block, unless you use an attack that ignores DEF) Description: (Description of the boss, the attacks it does, and some more strategies.) Now, for the first boss... Mini-Boss 1: Rogueport sewers Blooper HP: 12 ATK: 1 DEF: 0 Description: This guy's pretty simple. Attack his tenticles to make him fall, then use Power Hammer on his head. Don't expect battles to be as easy as this all the time. Mini-Boss 2: Schwonk Fortress Underground Attack of the fuzzies. (2) Golden Fuzzy HP: 10 ATK: 1 DEF: 0 Fuzzy Horde HP: 20 ATK: 1 DEF: 0 Description: Don't worry about your HP, the Golden Fuzzy doesn't absorb it. After you do some damage to him, he'll summon a horde of Fuzzies. Don't attack the horde and go straight for the Golden Fuzzy. When the Horde attacks, just hit A button to block it. It's easier then hitting B, and hitting B won't do any damage to the horde. Next comes the Golden Fuzzy. He hides in his mob and jumps out at you, so I would also recomend to not attempt to block him with B button. After the Golden Fuzzy dies, the rest will run away. Mini-Boss 3: Hooktail Castle Skeleton Mob (5) Red Bones HP: 5 ATK: 3 DEF: 1 Dull Bones (4) HP: 1 ATK: 2 DEF: 1 Description: Use Koop's Powershell, first thing. If you did the Action Command correctly, all the Dull Bones should be dead. Now, use Mario's Power Hammer until the Red Bones is dead. Boss 1: Hooktail Castle Hooktail HP: 20 ATK: 5 DEF: 1 Description: For where you are in the game now, 5 HP is quite a lot. If you want to take the easy way out, find the Attack FX R badge in the castle somewhere. You need to turn sideways (R) to get through the bars to reach the badge. Using this badge, which makes the sound of a Cricket, his attack power will drop and he wont attack as much. Once you get his HP whittled down, he'll try to dissuade you from beating him. Don't give in to his offers, or he'll bite you for 5 damage, regardless of whether you have the Attack FX R badge or not. After that, he'll eat half of your audience to regenerate half of his HP. Finish him off by attacking his head, and you're done! Mini-Boss 4: Boggly Woods Shadow Sirens (3) Vivian HP: 10 ATK: 1 DEF: 0 Marilyn HP: 12 ATK: 2 DEF: 0 Beldam HP: 9 ATK: 1 DEF: 0 Description: Marilyn deals out a lot of damage. Get her first. She's the fat one in the middle. Then get Beldam, she makes your attacks weaker and the Shadow Siren's attacks stronger. Get Vivian last, since she's not much of a threat. This battle is kind of tough, but you should be able to get past it easily. Start off with attacks that attack all 3 of the Sirens, then when you're out of FP, finish them off in the order I just described. Boss 2: Boggly Tree Magnus Von Grapple HP: 30 ATK: 2 DEF: 1 Description: This guy's kind of easy. Just whittle away his HP by attacking either his feet with ground attacks or his head with airborne attacks, it doesn't really matter which. At some points, he'll detatch the hands of the machine and make them float in mid air. It's a fancy magic trick, but if you don't take out the hands quickly, you'll lose a lot of HP. Mini-Boss 5: Glitz Pit Bowser HP: 30 ATK: 3 DEF: 2 Description: Once you're ranked 6 in the Glitz Pit, you'll get a cake from your fans. The first cake is good, the second will poison your partner. Eating the cake will heal your HP and FP, like sleeping in the bed would, but it will also heal your star power. Eat the cake and proceed into the arena. After the battle there, Bowser will jump onto the stage without giving you a chance to recover in between battles and challenge you. Use your strongest attacks and try to get Bowser down on the ground as early as possible. Use Stylish Moves to quickly heal your star power and use Sweet Treat whenever Bowser's bite poisons you. Mini-Boss 6: Glitz Pit Rawk Hawk HP: 30 ATK: 4 DEF: 1 Description: Get too close to the Hawk and you might get RAWKED! Well, maybe not. This guy's pretty easy. His attacks are slow, so you might be able to block it with B button. The only notable thing he does is hang from the ceiling and make stuff fall on you. Most of your attacks wont hit him, so come prepared with either a Quake Hammer Badge, Hammer Throw Badge, or Flurrie's Body Slam. Boss 3: Glitz Pit Macho Grubba HP: 60 ATK: 4 DEF: 0 Description: This guy likes to shout his own name. At the start of the battle, he'll cast some skill that lets him act twice per battle, for three turns. That, fortunatly, takes up his turn. He'll recast it every time it wears off. He uses the additional turn to buff himself, so be ready. If he uses a defense buff, use Charge (Assuming you have the badge to do so) or defend. I wouldn't recomend Yoshi for this fight, since without the buff Macho Grubba has no Defense. Optional Boss 1: (To start battle, spin your hammer around to whack the Boos in the lobby room of the Creepy Steeple.) Creepy Steeple Atomic Boo HP: 40 ATK: 4 DEF: 0 Description: This guy isn't hard at all. If you beat Macho Grubba, you can do this no problem. Just block his attacks and deliver some of your own. For beating this boss, you'll get a Lucky Start badge. Mini-Boss 7: Creepy Steeple ????? HP: 40 ATK: 4 DEF: 0 Description: This guy is EASY. He starts off with an easily dodged attack where he dives head first for you, really slowly. After half of his HP is depleted, he'll turn into Mario. You don't have much experience dodging your own attacks, but he'll die pretty fast, considering you've already dealed at least 20 damage to him. Mini-Boss 8: Twilight Town Woods Doppelganger Mario HP: ? ATK: ? DEF: ? (You don't have Goombella, so you can't tattle him.) Description: You can't beat him until you guess his name, and you wouldn't be able to get his name right the first time even if I told you, as the letter "P" is missing from the letter select menu. Just run away, and go to the creepy steeple. Boss 4: Creepy Steeple Doopliss HP: 40 ATK: 4 DEF: 0 Description: Don't attack your ex-partners. They'll just keep on getting harder, and the battle will end if you kill Doopliss anyway. As I said before, you're probably not going to be able to dodge your own attacks pretty easily, so use the Power Lift skill frequently. Vivian will join you in this battle, but not until 3 or 4 turns in. Boss 5: Pirate's Grotto Cortez HP: 20 ATK: 4 DEF: 1 Description: Don't let his 20 HP fool you. He has multiple forms. This guy took me two tries to beat him. His first form is easy to dodge, so don't give it much thought. Also, don't jump onto the pile of bones. They're pointy! His second form boosts his attack sometimes, so when this happens, I'd sugest using Vivian to hide to dodge the attack. His next form will be his head and four weapons. Woopee. Assuming you've upgraded Vivian, use her Fiery Jinx to take out all the weapons at once, then hurt his head. Eventually he'll eat your audience to heal some of his HP, but other then that, just keep getting rid of his weapons and attacking his head. (Wow, I wouldn't want to be in YOUR audience.) Mini-Boss 9: Keelhaul Key Lord Crump HP: 30 ATK: 3 DEF: 0 X-Naughts HP: Varies ATK: Varies DEF: 0 Description: I was wondering whether or not to include this guy. He's pretty easy, but there might be some troubles. He first starts off behind a barricade of minions, so that your regular hammer attack wont reach him. Just focus on attacking Lord Crump, and he'll eventually go backstage to recover. Then on, the X-Naught pile will get larger, and he'll make them form into some wheel so that he can run over you and your partner. I wouldn't recomend using B to block this attack, as it might be pretty hard to do so. Finish off Lord Crump and savor every moment. Bosses will now start to get tougher from now on. Boss 6: On top of the Excess Express: Day 3 Smorg HP: 50 ATK: 5 DEF: 1 Smorg Miasma HP: Varies ATK: Varies DEF: 1 Description: You can't hurt this guy until you get rid of any miasma it might have. I'd recomend using Vivian's Fiery Jinx to get rid of the Miasma so that you can pummel the body without any interferance, until it grows back. Also, ground based attacks wont hit the Miasma, so put away your hammer. If Smorg releases a single Miasma that looks like a scorpion's tail, I'd suggest you take it out as soon as possible before it attacks, for major damage. Also, don't worry about the passengers trapped in the Miasma. They don't seem to mind when you jump on them. Boss 7: In the X-Naught's moon base Magnus Von Grapple 2.0 HP: 70 ATK: 6 DEF: 2 Description: This guy is harder then the earlier version, but should not post much as a threat. His main attack is where he drills into the ceiling and dives headfirst into you. It's pretty easy to avoid, but it hits Mario and his partner. As always, destroy the fists as soon as they detatch themselves. You can use Vivian's Fiery Jinx this time, though, so it's one burden off your back. At one point he'll suck up your audience to use them as machine gun ammo. If you just mash the gaurd button, you wont block anything, but then again, it's pretty hard to block this attack. Make sure your partner is in front, and that you have the Quick Change Badge on. That way, your partner will die and you can easily switch them out for someone else. If you need to return to Rogue Town for any reason, there's a teleporter on the 2B floor. Just press the red button to activate it. Note: Get the Feeling Fine and the Feeling Fine P badge before fighting this boss. You don't need to use it for Magnus Von Grapple 2.0, but it will come in handle really soon. Boss 8: Palace of Shadow Gloomtail HP: 80 ATK: 8 DEF: 2 Description: Remember that Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P badge I told you to get? Equip it. Gloomtail, Hooktail's older brother, attacks the same way as Hooktail, but with a few more attacks. One noticable one is when he spews poisonious breath from his mouth. This is hard to block, so just be glad I told you to equip the Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P badge. When he flies up, Press A as soon as he lands to block the attack. When he charges up his attack power, use Vivian to hide, as you don't want to get caught in his next attack. Don't bother using Super Nova or Power Lift, as you'll want all your star energy for Sweet Feast. Boss 9: Palace of Shadow, right of the fountain Shadow Sirens (And Doopliss!) (3) Doopliss HP: 40 ATK: 7 DEF: 0 Marilyn HP: 40 ATK: 7 DEF: 0 Beldam HP: 30 ATK: 5 DEF: 0 Description: Beldam can make her team big and your team small, like always, but she can also make you frozen with her ice breath. It shouldn't take long to get rid of her, as she has less HP than everyone else. If your partner gets frozen, switch them out with Mario and you'll do fine. Next, go after Marilyn. She's still the main damage dealer of this group, but she doesn't make you frozen or anything. If she starts to charge up her attack power, you might want to use Vavian's Viel to hide before you get attacked. Go after Doopliss last. He isn't much of a threat, but this time he transforms into Mario or your Partner and uses special attacks. He's not as dangerous as he sounds, however. Boss 10: Palace of Shadow Grodus HP: 50 ATK: 7 DEF: 1 Grodus X HP: 3 ATK: 4 DEF: 0 Description: TAKE HEED OF MY WARNING: You will not be able to rest in between this fight and the next fight! (Don't worry, the next fight isn't the last.) I would recomend having about 80 star points before you enter this fight, so that you level up and get max HP and FP. For each Grodus x, Grodus' defense will rise. If he has 4 of them around him, however, you will not be able to harm him. Multi- target attacks, like Fiery Jinx, are nice here. Always have your partner in front of you, as those little pesty Grodus Xs can deal a lot of damage in groups. If your partner gets low on HP, either heal it or use the Quick Change badge to switch it out. I'd recomend switching your partner out. Grodus' attacks can attack Mario and your partner at the same time, and freeze you, as well as stop time around you. Don't underestimate him, but don't overestimate him either. Don't use any Special attacks, as you'll want to save you star power for Sweet Feast if your HP or FP goes low. Boss 11: Palace of Shadow The Koopa King (2) Bowser HP: 70 ATK: 7 DEF: 2 Kammy Koopa HP: 50 ATK: 5 DEF: 0 Description: If you didn't level at the end of the last battle, then it would be a good idea to heal at the begining of this battle. Equip the Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P badges before Grodus, because Bowser can sometimes poison you with a bite. Better safe then swallowed. Bowser fights almost the same way as he did in the Glitz Pit, so don't worry much about him. Aim for Kammy Koopa first, because she can heal, as well as attack you, make herself Zap-Tap'd, or invisible. She can also raise her ATK and DEF. Go crazy with Sweet Feast, because you'll have time to recover between this battle and the final battle. After Kammy Koopa is down, Bowser should go down as easy as he did in the Glitz Pit. Final Boss: Palace of Shadow, Coffin room Shadow Queen HP: 150 ATK: 7 DEF: 0 Description: This is it. The final battle. To not make a mistake that I made on my first time, don't use any special attack other then Sweet Feast, no matter how desperate you are for a multi-target attack. When the battle starts out, the Shadow Queen will mostly use a lightning bolt attack. It's pretty fast, and not easy to dodge. If you have a lot of Pretty Lucky Badges, wear those. You wont get attacked by the lightning as often. Since most of her attacks are hard to defend, this will last you a while. Also, you will not regret using your Feeling Fine and Feeling Fine P badges. Her other attacks will bring you down into the shadows for 3 unblockable strikes. And she can boost her ATK and DEF. (Big surprise there.) After half of her HP, she'll change into her original form. Here, she'll have two large hands that attack you, so that's 3 hits on you per turn. The hands will either slap you from above or suck out your HP. If Mario has a lot of Pretty Lucky Badges like I suggested, then you'll find that you dodge the attack where the hand absorbs your HP often. Use a multi-target attack such as Fiery Jinx from Vivian, or Koops' Shell Slam, to get rid of the hands. If they morph into the dead hands, you wont be able to get rid of its 8 HP by using a multi-target attack, so use a strong single target attack. Devote one character to destroying the hands and the other to damaging the Queen. She'll also have status affect attacks, so be ready. Continue attacking the Queen for 4 more turns and you'll trigger an insanely long and annoying cutscene where the Shadow Queen gets full HP. But fear not! After this long cutscene, your HP, FP, and star power will go set to the max! After this, you'll be starting the fight again, with you and the Queen at full health. I described all of her attacks in the paragraphs above this one, but this time she also gets all shiny and gets +7 ATK for a turn. If this happens, you should keep Vivian alive and use her Viel power to avoid the blow. The large blow of darkness she throws out after charging up does a lot of damage, and scares off some of your audience. Because of this, you wont want to have to rely on your star power a lot for this fight. Only use it for emergency Sweet Feasts. Also, if you don't want to waste a turn using Vivian's Veil, you can use Koop's Shell Shield to protect Mario, or put someone in front to use as a tank. (For example, but Bobbery in front so that he takes the damage, then switch him out next turn. This is useful with Bobbery because of his large max HP.) I'd recomend the Shell Sheild idea the most, but you could also use Flurrie, since she can recover her HP and attack at the same time with her Lip Lock attack. And if you're feeling really lucky, you can try using Flurrie's Dodgy Fog attack. Optional Boss 2: (To start battle, get to the bottem of the Pit of 100 Trials.) Pit of 100 Trials (Last floor) Bonetail HP: 200 ATK: 8 DEF: 2 Description: If you can beat Bonetail, there's nothing you can't do. The battle will begin as soon as you drop into the pipe for the 100th floor, so be ready. No pressure, but if you don't beat bonetail, you wasted maybe an hour and a half reaching him. I wish I could help you on this, but I've never beaten Bonetail. My advice would to bring lots of Boo's Sheets, and use lots of Pretty Luckys and Lucky Day. To make your long journey to Bonetail worthwhile, here is a list of goodies you can get in the Pit of 100 Trials: Floor Item Description 10 Sleepy Stomp Badge Puts foe to sleep. 20 Fire Drive Badge Burns ground enemies. 30 Zap Tap Badge Damage direct attackers. 40 Pity Flower Badge Get FP when you take damage, sometimes. 50 Strange Sack Doubles the amount of items you carry. 60 Double Dip Badge Allows you to use two items per turn. 70 Double Dip Badge P Your partner can use two items per turn. 80 Bump Attack Badge Touch weak foes to destroy them. 90 Lucky Day Badge Makes you dodge even more attacks! Yay. 100 Return Postage Badge Enemies take 1/2 the damage they give if direct New: I've gotten some advice from someone who beat Bonetail... as well as being told by several people that Bonetail is indeed, a female. Anyway, from some guy named Ozma: "I thought you did a really good job on the Boss FAQ. I'd like to help out on Bonetail a little. When I fought him he used 3 different colored breaths. I can't remember what color did what but unless you guarded well with the action command you'd either get frozen, put to sleep, or you would shrink for numerous turns. I got frozen for 2 to 3 turns, Put to sleep for 4 turns and shrank for 2 to 3. Also when he got down to 30 hp for me he healed 20 hp. Swapping out partners is a good idea. I suggest using Flurrie, Bobbery, and Koops as well as Vivian. The Powerlift SP attack worked well for me worked well too. I suggest the piercing blow, and power smash badges for when you're attacking." Used with permission, of course. I'd recomend equipping the Feeling Fine badges. ========================================================================== 4 - Thanks to... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to Nintendo for making a sequel to a great game, and thanks to Dabula and Chibi Soma for keeping me company while I was writing this. If you have any questions, comments, or you want to point out an error I've made, then email me at *email taken out*