Chapter 1 - Castle and Dragon Walkthrough

Mario now knows just how important the Crystal Stars are, so now it is time to go find the rest of them. The first place to look is a fairy-tale familiar setting involving bravery, a castle, and a dragon.

This page acts as a comprehensive walkthrough of Chapter 1 within Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

Mario and his friend Goombella pop out of the warp pipe in the Petal Meadows. There is a save point next to the pipe, so remember to save your game. In this area you can hit the trees in the background with Mario's hammer to shake loose useful items. Hit the tree to the left to shake down a star piece. Hit the tree to the right to knock down a mushroom.

Continue on to the right and hit the question mark box for a feel-good mushroom. Cross the bridge and hit the question mark box to receive the Close Call badge. This will cause some enemies to miss attacks when Mario is in danger.

Continue on to a warp pipe that takes Mario up to see a heart that he cannot yet reach. Head back down and hit the coin box continuously. In the next area there are some spiky clumps of grass that Mario can search by hitting them with your hammer when he approaches them. The two clumps in the foreground contain coins. The larger one in the background hides a warp pipe that takes Mario to the round hills on the horizon.

Once he is back there, travel to the right and hit the blue question mark with his hammer to build a bridge over the gap. Then continue to the right to find a star piece. Hit the question mark box on the other side of the bridge to find a mystery item. Use these items to find out what they do.

Petalburg

In the first area of Petalburg there is a save point, an item shop, and an inn. Replenish Mario's resources and talk to the townspeople about Hooktail the dragon. In the next area walk up the steps of the first house and search the bushes in front to find a Turtley Leaf. This replenishes 3 FP.

Enter the house and speak to wise old Kroopa. He convinces Mario to dispose of Hooktail the dragon. In order to get there Mario will need to access a warp pipe with the stone keys, which are found in the Shhwonk Fortress just past the village.

Leave the mayor's house and head to the right. You should receive an email alert at this point (in the remake, you might receive this a little later). You can access your email by pressing start and looking under gear, and then checking important things. The mail is just the professor reminding Mario to check his mail often. Since you have spoken to the mayor, the koopa on the right side of town will let you pass through the gate into the Shhwonk Fortress.

Path to Shhwonk Fortress

Leave town on the right side. In the next area search the first crop of grass to find a star piece. The goombas in this area are joined by Koopa Troopas who have a defensive shell. Knock them onto their back by jumping on their heads and their defense drops to zero. When you reach the question mark block on the ground, search two trees back to find a coin and hit the block to receive a POW. Now enter the castle to the right.

Once inside the castle, search the skull on the pedestal to enter into a battle with two of them. These enemies are called bald clefts. They have a max HP of 2, so they aren't that much more difficult than goombas, however they can't be hurt by fire or normal attacks, so use a POW block to take them out.

Leave the castle and continue on, search the tree on the second rise to find another coin. Search the two shrubs before entering the next castle to find a POW and a coin. In this castle Mario comes in contact with a couple of Bristles. They are impervious to fire and close attacks. A POW is the best way to deal with these enemies.

After this castle walk forward until you come to a block with a question mark on it. Search in front of the block, but behind the brick wall to find an Inn Coupon. This lets Mario stay at an inn for free. Hit the block for a fire flower and search the next shrub after the block to find a coin.

The next floating block is a special type of item. It has a heart inside and a number of coins over the top. If you hit this box it will replenish all of Mario's HP and FP but will cost him the number of coins indicated over the box.

65th Trivia Quiz-Off - Thwomp Trivia

Inside the next doorway there is a save point. Save your game as you will now have to answer some trivia, hosted by a big spiny block. You will have to answer five trivia questions in order to past the test. If you fail questions, you'll get to question 6 and 7 -- but if you answer the first five correctly, the game ends after the fith one.

If you fail to answer the questions three times, you'll have to do battle instead -- which means you'll likely have to use another POW Block to defeat a pair of Clefts. There are no retries, so you'll have to reload from your last save if you want another shot at a clean, non-violent solution. Either way, the game continues the same way.

• Question 1: What's hidden in Shhwonk Fortress?
  • Answer: Sun and Moon Stones
• Question 2: What do one Mushroom and one Fire Flower Cost at the shop in Petalburg? Total!
  • Answer: 12
• Question 3: What is the name of the Mayor of Petalburg?
  • Answer: Kroop
• Question 4: Where is the Crystal Star?
  • Answer: Hooktail Castle
• Question 5: How can one get from Petal Meadows to Rogueport?
  • Answer: Go through a pipe.
• Question 6: Which of the following characters can be found in Petalburg?
  • Answer: Koopa Troopas
• Question 7: What number question is this?
  • Answer: Question Seven

Answer these questions and a pipe will appear. Travel downward into a room with a door on both sides and a question box. In the box is the badge Multibounce, which lets Mario jump on all foes in a row by tapping the A button at the right time. Take a left to find some fuzzies. These enemies will drain your health and use it for themselves if you let them, so practice up on hitting that action button. Two rooms later Mario will come across the moon stone. After picking up this item you will battle against four fuzzies. The multibounce, or a fireflower if very useful here.

Now travel to the right and and head through some rooms to find a sun stone. You will have to battle another four fuzzies and when you return to the center room, a gold fuzzy will block your path.

This enemy has more hit points than a normal fuzzy and will call upon a fuzzy hoard after taking the first round of damage. The horde attacks multiple times, although you can use the action button to block every one of these hits. The Horde has 20 hit points and can be frustrating. Instead focus on the gold fuzzy, as once his hit points are gone the battle ends.

Now that you have both the Sun and the Moon stone, return to town and speak to the elderly mayor. He informs Mario that he now has to find the secret warp pipe to the castle. Leave town to the left and you will run into Koops, the cowardly Koopa Troopa. He will beg to join Mario on his quest to defeat Hooktail.

Koops

This Koopa can be a valuable ally while wandering through the world. Press X to fire him at enemies. If you hold X down, Koops will continue spinning in place until you release the button. With Koops' help, Mario now has the ability to hit the large blue question marks, switches, and pick up items that are too far to reach.

Koops will automatically replace Goombella, but team members can always be switched from the menu screen.

Continue left until Mario reaches the warp pipe that takes him up to a heart badge. Use Koops' shell attack in the direction of the happy heart badge and he will pick it up for Mario.

Continue left until Mario reaches the area where Hooktail Castle is visible in the background. There are two bushes with odd shaped holes in them. Press the action buttons at these bushes to place the stones in them and reveal two blue exclamation mark boxes.

In order to open the warp pipe, both of these boxes must be his at the same time. The trick to this puzzle is to fire Koops in front of the first box and hold down X. Then walk over to the other box and hit it with Mario's hammer, while at the same time releasing X so that Koops hits his box. This opens the pipe and Mario can enter the castle.

Hooktail Castle

In the first room of Hooktail Castle there is a door on the ground floor that leads to a busted bridge. Walk towards the foreground on the grass right before the bridge, this will lead to a path under the bridge. Jump on the platforms and use Koops to grab the HP Plus.

Back inside the first room, there is also a yellow spring that boosts Mario up to the second floor. Up here there is a Heart Box that will replenish your stats for a mere 6 coins. To the right there is a paper airplane square that can take Mario over the moat. Use this to float over to the other side and enter the castle.

In the next room, there is a stair case that leads to an airplane square that will take you back to the castle entrance. There are also a number of Koopas guarding this area. Get the jump on them with Koops shell attack. You will also face some Paratroopas who must be knocked out of the air before they can be knocked on their back. In the question mark box in this room there is a Power Bounce. This allows Mario to keep jumping on an enemy until he misses an action command.

Continue to the right into the next room. Here Koops will find the skeleton that holds a note alluding to Hooktail's weakness having to do with a F ROG. There is also a pile of bones that blocks the door to the next room. Searching this skeleton will cause the room to be filled with a crowd of the bone koopas who will try to throw Mario out of the castle. Fight against the current by whacking them with your hammer and walking to the right. After a bit a battle will start against five Dull Bones. Koops shell attack and Mario's multi jump is very useful against this row of baddies. You can also use the power bounce inflict some heavy damage on this crew.

In the next room there are a number of Dull Bones. There is also a box containing a shine sprite. These can be traded in Rogueport for ally power-ups. In the next area there is a puzzle involving different colored boxes.

First hit the blue box in the foreground with your hammer. This will bring another blue box in the back ground. Jump on the blue box in the background to reach the large yellow block. Smash this block with your hammer and the large yellow box with the triangle is now free to move up. Hit the yellow box in the foreground to raise the large yellow box. Walk to where the large yellow box used to sit and use Koops to hit the red box with the exclamation point on it. This will flip the staircase and allow Mario to use Koops again, and grab the castle key.

Secret Area

Before continuing on to the next area there is a secret area that can be reached from this point. Hold X while using Koops shell attack in front of the boxes that raise and lower the blue and yellow boxes. Then get on top of these boxes with Mario before releasing Koops. The blue box will take you to a doorway that leads to a star piece. Bring the blue box back down and do the same thing with the large yellow box, ride it up to find another star piece.?

Head through the door on your right and you will find a save point. There is also a moving block which can be used to elevate Mario to a locked door and a badge that he cannot yet reach. So enter the next door on the right to find a room with some prison cells in it and a red switch. This switch will open the jail cell door, but only for a short time, so hold Koops' shell attack while Mario gets in position in front of the door. The release the attack and stroll on through. There is a hole in the wall in the cell which leads to a room with another mysterious black chest. You will need to find a black key to open this up, so go through the door to your right.

Search the chest in the center of this room to find a black key. Once you find the black key in the chest, spikes will come up from the floor and the ceiling. You have to get out of the room within 30 seconds or be crushed by the spikes. Mario can see where the spikes come out of the floor before searching the chest so if you have trouble finding your way out, memorize the pattern on the floor before the spikes pop out.

Return to the black chest and open to receive the curse of turning Mario sideways by holding ZR. Exit through the door on the left and walk out of the prison cell by turning Mario sideways and walking through the bars. You can also walk through the first cell on the left to receive the Attack FX R badge. (Which helps with this act's boss)

Back track all the way to the room where the hoard of Dull Bones attacked Mario. He can now slip through one of the cells in the background and find the castle key that opens the door in the room to the right with the large elevator block. Use the key to open the door and enter an area that has a replenishing heart block that charges 6 coins. To cross the next gaps, hit the first switch with your hammer and hit the next switch on the other side of the gap with Koops.

The third gap is seemingly impossible to cross, but notice that on the wall behind Mario one of the windows is open. Jump out the window and first head to the right to find a star piece. Then walk to the left to cross behind the gap and go through the door. In the next area use Koops delayed shell attack to raise the block with Mario on top of it. On the left, during the short block ride, there is a life mushroom. Time Koops shell just right to get this item. There are some baddies to take care of at the top of this elevator, and then head through the door on your left.

Mario and Koops run into a mouser with a heart shaped tail in this room. She has been robbing the castle and informs the group that somewhere in the castle there is a badge that can be used to defeat the dragon. In this room there are a number of chests which contain a ?mushroom, a castle key, and honey syrup. There is also a box containing a shine sprite.

Go through the door to your right, and use the castle key to enter the door on the other side of this room. Mario enters a long room with another elevator block at the end of it. Use Koops delayed shell attack to hit the switch with Mario on the block and it will rise up to the ceiling. Walk to the left along the thin gray ledge until you reach a paper airplane square. Walk sideways through the bars and across this block. Then get on the thin gray ledge on the other side and walk all the way to the right of the area to find a star piece.

Now walk back to the airplane square and turn into a paper plane to reach the door to the right. In the next area there is a stair case heading up and one going down. Go down the stairs and hit the switch to drop the elevator block down. Use Koops to grab the castle key and then fall down the hole onto the elevator block and walk to the right to find The?Last Stand P badge. This badge drops the damage your ally takes when you are in danger by a half.

Head back through the castle back to the stairway you dropped from and this time go up the steps. At the top there is a locked door and a box containing a shine sprite. Use the castle key at the door and head outside the castle onto the roof. There are some enemies along the way, mostly koopas and goombas, nothing scary. Walk up the winding tower until you reach a large door with a save point and heart box outside of it. Save your game and restock Mario's health and enter the door.

Fighting Hooktail

Inside you must battle Hooktail the dragon. There are two places you can attack the dragon, his nose and his foot. He has 20 HP and will break fire and stomp on Mario. The badge that makes him weaker is the sound effect badge that Mario found in the prison cell earlier in the castle.

When Mario does his hammer attack the sound resembles frogs and makes Hooktail woozy. After his HP gets low, Hooktail will offer Mario a number of gifts to stop hurting him. Do not accept these offers and Hooktail will attack the audience and regain some health. He should only take a few hits now, so put the nail in the coffin with some special attacks.

After Hooktail has been defeated a Koopa emerges from his mouth and gives Mario and Koops the crystal star. We then join princess peach where she has been captured by the X-Nauts. You take control of the princess in her cell. Direct her to the left and search the bath to take a shower. The doors on the right will now open automatically and lead her to the main computer where she convinces it to let her send an email to Mario.

In the next scene you take control of Lord Bowser who is informed by his servants that Mario is after the crystal stars. He also learns that Princess Peach has been kidnapped and heads of to Rogueport to kidnap her back.