Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door/Party Members

Overview
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario can meet and befriend several characters who will join his party. These are known as "Partners." Partners can be used in battle to attack enemies, and they also have abilities that can be used in the field to help explore or discover secrets.

Partners can "rank up" when Mario finds three Shine Sprites and takes them to Merlon, whose house is right next to Prof. Frankly. Every partner can increase their rank to Super Rank initially, but Mario must find a special item to allow Merlon to rank partners up to Ultra Rank.

The damage a partner can do is determined by their rank, and whether or not the player can successfully preform action commands. For example, Goombella's initial base power is 1 x2. This means if the action command is successful she preforms two attacks, each dealing 1 damage. Otherwise, she prefroms a single attack dealing 1 damage.

In contrast, Koops' base power is listed as 1/2, as he only ever preforms one attack. Depending on whether or not the action command is successful determines whether or not he deals 1 damage or 2.

Goombella


Goombella is Mario's first partner in the game. She is a sassy, intelligent, valley girl goomba who studied at the University of Goom to become an archaeologist. After asking around Rogueport about the Crystal Stars, she attracts the attention of Lord Crump who attempts to kidnap her to find out all she knows. After she is saved by Mario, the two of them finds her old professor who knows about the Crystal Stars and the Thousand-Year door.

Goombella can give you hints in the field. By pressing while next to a character or object Goombella will give you information on the person/object. Otherwise, pressing will have Goombella give you information about the area.

Goombella's action commands are based on hitting just before landing on an enemy.

Koops
Koops is a cowardly Koopa teen from Petal Meadows. His father went to defeat the dragon Hooktail ten years ago, and has not been heard from since. After hearing that Mario plans to take on Hooktail, Koops eventually works up the courage to ask Mario to help him avenge his father and gain more confidence in himself.

Koops is the only partner who has 1 defense without the use of buffs or badges. However, he has one of the lowest Max HP, with his ultra rank only having 25. Worse still, he can be flipped over like other koopas, which will drop his defense by 1. Preforming a defense action can prevent this, but otherwise you'll have to wait before Koops flips himself back up.

In the fields you can press to shoot Koops out in front of you to retrieve items and hit switches. If you hold, he will hold his position until you release it, and be able to hit things that were behind Mario when he was first launched. If he hits an enemy he will perform a first strike dealing his max damage.

Koops' action commands all involve a meter with a star on it. You must hold and release it when the star is lit up.

Madame Flurrie
Madame Flurrie is a cloud spirit who was once an actress, but after growing tired of the stage, she retired to Boggly Woods to be near the adorable Punies. After Mario finds her lost Necklace, she decides she wants to join Mario's party to help the Punies and add a little more excitement to her life.

Flurrie can blow sheets of paper off of the environment. She can also make enemies spin, preventing them from attacking Mario for a short period of time.

Unlike other characters, only half of Flurrie's action commands have a common theme tying them together. Her Gale Force and Lip Lock moves have gauges that can be filled up by holding but holding it too long will cause the gauge to decrease.

Yoshi


A Yoshi kid fully of energy and always looking for a good fight. Mario saves him from a hotdog vendor who wants to cook him while he's still an egg. After he hatches he decides to fight alongside Mario, aka The Great Gonzales!

Yoshi moves twice as fast as Mario. Press while riding him to flutter jump. This move enables you to cross big gaps. Press again or  to dismount.

Yoshi's color also changes depending on the time when you first get him and when he hatches (after running away from the Armored Harriers). The possible colors are green (0-6 minutes), red (6-9), blue (9-11), orange (11-15), pink (15-18), black (18-19) and white (19-20). After 20 minutes the cycle resets.

Most of Yoshi's action commands require you to tap or hold. The only exception is his third move that requires hitting when a star lights up.

Finally, Yoshi has special attack properties that will be referred to as "Power Drop." Any attack with Power Drop can hit multiple times and usually only hits for 1 damage. However, if his attack power is increased by a badge or buff, the attack power will slowly decline with each attack. For example, if Yoshi's attack power is 3 and he hits an enemy 4 times, the damage Yoshi does will be 3, 2, 1, and 1. If an enemy with defense is damaged by even one of these attacks, they will at least take 1 damage from every hit.


 * The in-game description for Stampede says it only hits ground enemies, but it actually hits all enemies.

Vivian


Vivian is the youngest of three sisters known as The Shadow Sirens, and is constantly abused by her eldest sister, Beldam. While initially an enemy of Mario, Vivian helps Mario, not knowing it's him, because he was the first person to show her kindness. She eventually joins the party even after learning that she's been helping Mario.

Vivian can drag Mario into a round shadow. In this state objects will pass over him (including enemies), they can eavesdrops on the conversations of certain people (mostly birds), and certain people will not release anyone is watching them. You cannot move in shadow state, but pressing again will return you to normal.

In combat Vivian can attack any enemy regardless of height or position. Both of her offensive attacks can inflict burn which will deal damage to enemies at the end of the next 3 rounds.

Vivian's action commands revolve around picking mystery buttons (befitting her nature as a shadow.) When the button is revealed, you must press it to preform a successful action.

Admiral Bobbery


Admiral Bobbery is a salty, old sailor with a tragic past. After his wife died while he was out at sea, he has not set foot on a ship and spends his time wasting away in grief. When Mario needs a navigator to guide him to Keelhaul Key, he seek out Bobbery, and while he initially turns him down, he eventually yields and helps Mario reach the island. After a near-death experience, Bobbery decides to join Mario as the final member of his party.

In the field you can press to pick Bobbery up, and release to throw him. He will walk a few steps forward and then set his fuse. You can set the fuse prematurely by pressing again, or you can hold. The explosion can break cracked walls and initiate a first strike.

While all of Bobbery's action commands are executed by pressing, they all require different methods of timing to preform them correctly. Bobbery can get rid of stage mist by using "Bomb," "Bob-ombast," or simply by Appealing.

Ms. Mowz


Ms. Mowz is a world traveling thief you is in search for the rarest and most valuable badges. She is very free-spirited character who enjoys flirting, particularly with Mario. She also runs a badge shop in Rogueport called "Lovely Howz of Badges."

Ms. Mowz is the only optional party member, and thus she is not required to win the game. You can unlock her any time after beating chapter 4 by going to the Trouble Center and selecting the trouble called "Elusive Badge" posted by the client "????". When you solve the trouble, Ms. Mowz will join your party.

She can tell you if any collectible objects are around. When you press, she will point in the direction of the object. Use this to help zero in on it. She will not tell you how to get the object.

Ms. Mowz's action commands will either require the player to alternate between pressing buttons or to make sure her action meter is near full, but not completely full. Ms. Mowz is the only character whose basic attack ignores defense, so she doesn't need Flower Points to get through an enemy's defense.