Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door/Chapter 4: For Pigs the Bell Tolls

Dour times
Twilight Town:

''The people of Twilight Town are plagued with a curse that turns them into pigs. As tempting as it may be to enjoy the lifetime supply of free pork, that’s not quite befitting of a hero.''

Enemies: None

As soon as you enter, you’ll watch a scene. After knowing about the town’s curse, leave the mayor’s house and go right to the next screen. Hidden behind the barrels (look on the other side of the gate the barrels are on) is a star piece. Talk to the gatekeeper and go back to the mayor’s house. Watch the short scene and go back in his house. Go near the mayor (now a pig) to watch another scene. Check the bushes for another star piece. Go behind the left-most house for another star piece. Now, head back towards the gatekeeper, but make a detour into the Item Shop and talk to the girl. Inspect the locked door and leave. Make your way to the gatekeeper, which has been conveniently transformed into a pig. Now, open and go through the gate.

Twilight Trail:

The hyper enemies in this part as well as the not-so-rare Amazy Dayzee make this trail one of the most dangerous in the whole game. Always be careful when traveling here or you could find yourself using a Life Shroom, or worse...

Enemies:
 * Amazy Dayzee (sometimes appears in battle) - 20, HP, 20 ATK, 1 DEF
 * Crazee Dayzee - 7 HP, 2 ATK, 0 DEF
 * Hyper Cleft - 4 HP, 3 ATK, 3 DEF
 * Hyper Goomba - 8 HP, 2 ATK, 0 DEF
 * Hyper Paragoomba - 8 HP, 2 ATK, 0 DEF
 * Hyper Spiky Goomba - 8 HP, 3 ATK, 0 DEF

Go into the nearby shack and get the black key (you know what that means...) Continue going down the path, beating the hyper Goombas along the way (Jump while standing on the coin block for a Super Shroom). When you reach the fallen tree, use Koops to get the key behind it. Go all the way back to Twilight Town.

Twilight Town:

Go into the item shop and open the locked door. As well as find some items and a Defense Plus badge. You’ll see another black chest. Give him the key and get it over with. Leave after taking what you want. Rest at the inn if you took ANY damage. When you’re ready, go back to Twilight Trail.

The Dangerous Path to Creepy Steeple
Go forward, defeating enemies as usual. When you get back to the fallen tree, use your new tube mode (hold R and rotate the left control stick) to turn into a tube. When you’re past the tree, you’ll probably see a star piece at the far end of it. Get it and continue to the pile of straw. Use Flurrie to huff, puff, and blow it away. Grab the star piece behind it and go into the pipe and go deeper into the forest. The Crazee Dayzees (which are sometimes accompanied by Amazy Dayzees) can be tricky. Defeat them as fast as possible (especially if there is a Hyper Cleft with them) as their only attack is to put you to sleep (which also damages you in the process). The attack is also hard to guard against. Anyway, defeat the Crazee Dayzee and slip between the two trees. Get the earth quake in the item block and defeat the other Crayzee Dayzee. Continue on the next screen, which also contains a Crayzee Dayzee, until you see a tree that blocks your path. Use Flurrie to blow on the tree until a hole appears. Go through and continue deeper towards the creepy steeple. Continue until you see a darker spot on the ground. Have Flurrie blow on it and some wooden planks will appear. Have Mario spin jump through them and push the block in the background until it stops. Go back and continue. Jump through the next hole and defeat the Hyper Cleft that you see, and jump while behind the right-most tree to get a hidden shine sprite. Continue on and you will see the creepy steeple.

Mario’s Mansion (Well, not really)
Creepy Steeple:

A spooky mansion that contains many ghosts. It is said that the Crystal Star and the person (or thing) responsible for the curse of Twilight Town are both inside.

Enemies:
 * Boo - 7 HP, 3 ATK, 0 DEF
 * Buzzy Beetle - HP 5, 3 ATK, 4 DEF
 * Spike Top - 5 HP, 3 ATK, 4 DEF
 * Swooper - 6 HP, 3 ATK, 0 DEF

Use the health block and the save block before continuing on. There’s a small hole to the right of the locked gate. Use your tube mode to roll under it. Open the gate form the other side and go left. There’s a star piece to the left of the gate. Now, go inside. You should see a small hole near where you enter (near the background). Inside, there will be a star piece behind the furniture, a cookbook (for use in a trouble later on) a shine sprite, and the Ice Smash badge. Go back out and push the star-shaped statue at the other side of the hallway. You’ll fall in a hole and end up in a small room. Have Flurrie blow down the different-shaded wall and go through. Turn right until you get to a different room with the Flower Saver badge. Go back and go into the door. As much as you don’t want to open the suspicious looking box, you’ll have to. So, do so and watch what happens. Answer 200 to the boo’s question to get an Ultra Shroom. Go back to the main hallway and talk to the boo there. Answer no and several boos will surround you. They won’t do anything unless you stand still, so run left to the door that’s towards the screen. Defeat the two swoopers and hit the switch once. Go in the nearby door and go up the stairs. Go along the upper hallway and use Koops or Yoshi to grab the Steeple Key at the end of the hallway. Jump down and now you have a decision to make. You can either fight an optional boss which is only as hard (if not easier) as the main boss here. Plus, you get the Lucky Start badge if you win. The only bad thing is that some of the boos will become regular enemies the next time you enter the steeple. If not, then skip this next mini-boss section (BTW, you can fight it later, but if you want to during this chapter, then now’s the best time to do so). If you want to fight the Atomic Boo, then stand-still while in the hallway and charge up your Super hammer attack. When there’s a few ghosts on you, let go. Do this two more times and the ghosts will get angry (And you won’t like them when they’re angry).

Secret Mini-Boss:
Atomic Boo

Goombella’s Tattle: ''That’s an Atomic Boo. It’s a giant Boo made up of a ton of smaller Boos. This thing will try to smoosh us. It can also split up and send hundreds of Boos at us. And, when we attack, we might get so scared that we get confused or can’t move. I sure wouldn’t want to see this thing standing behind me in the middle of the night... Creeeeeepy...''


 * HP: 40
 * ATK 4
 * DEF: 0
 * Attacks:
 * Smash
 * Hide
 * Atomic Scare
 * Split Up

It will use smash on you most often. If you use Power Lift at the beginning of battle and hit it with your strongest moves afterward, it won’t be able to do any more dangerous attacks. When it cowers, it’s charging up for the atomic scare (sort of like a warning). Try to damage it as much as you can at that time. When you win, you’ll get the Lucky Start badge.

Either way, go into the door in the background and go right until you see another switch. Hit that twice and go in the nearby door. Go up the stairs and go across the upper hallway again. Save and unlock the door. Inside, use the health block and go up the stairs and use the spring. At the top watch the scene and you will finally fight the boss.

Boss Fight:
?????:

Goombella’s Tattle: ''...??? Wow, how totally bizarre... This thing isn’t here. here’s a monster in here that looks like this thing... But it doesn’t have a name. It’s apparently good at transforming itself and other things. Maybe it used that power to tun the villagers into pigs! This thing is a real jerk!''


 * HP: 40
 * ATK: 4
 * DEF: 0
 * Attacks:
 * Ghastly Head-butt
 * Copycat (changes into Shadow Mario for the rest of the battle)
 * Jump (occurs after Copycat)
 * Hammer (occurs after Copycat)

OK, so he’s not exactly monster-like, but come on. He did what he did, so he now has to pay for it. The head-butt is easily guarded so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. When half of his health is gone he’ll change into a shadow version of Mario. He’ll use your jump and hammer attacks (which you probably aren’t used to guarding against). But, other than that, he’s not that dangerous.

End of Chapter... or is it?

Identity Theft
Yep, that’s right. You actually beat the REAL Mario. This would explain why Mario’s stance was weird. And why he acted strangely after getting beaten. So, now you’re alone in the Creepy Steeple. Well, First off, GET OUT OF THERE! We got an identity crisis going on here! But be careful (especially on Twilight Trail)! I don’t recommend fighting these monsters alone, so try to avoid them.

Twilight Trail:

Just do your best to avoid fighting for now. When you get to the shack the thief will appear and have you try to guess his name. Because there’s a letter missing (p), which is obviously part of his name, you can't enter his name right now (capital P won't work), so just type in anything.

Boss Fight:
Mario'' (?????)


 * HP: 40
 * ATK: 0
 * DEF: Invincible

Just run. Don’t bother attacking him, he’s completely invincible right now (and he can’t damage you either), so it’s pointless to try.

Twilight Town:

You’ll run right back into twilight town. Go to the West Side of town and talk to Vivian and then inspect the far-left bush for the Superbomb. Go back to her and give her the bomb and, after a short conversation, she’ll join you. You can use her Veil ability to listen in on the crow’s conversations. Just press X when "..." appears when near a group of crows. If you’re wondering where your friends are, they’re at the mayor’s house with "Mario". They’ll all ignore you (except the mayor. He’ll just tell you to leave). Hide in the shadows while near the crows closest to the gate for some very important info. Head back to Creepy Steeple.

Twilight Trail:

You already know what’s going to happen.

Boss Fight:
Mario'' (?????)


 * HP: 40
 * ATK: 0
 * DEF: Invincible

Once again, just run off.

Now that you have someone in your party, going through the trail will be much safer. However, you should still be careful. Use Vivian’s Veil if a hyper enemy charges up.

Creepy Steeple:

Instead of using the front door, jump down the nearby well. Get the shine sprite and defeat the buzzy beetle. In the next room, you’ll have to defeat the seemingly endless supply of spike tops and buzzy beetles. Get the badge from the block, it contains Tornado Jump. After that, push the door-shaped barrier to the top of the incline. When you can’t push it any further use Vivian’s Veil ability to slip into the shadows. The door will slip past you and you can continue on. Get the shine sprite, save, and turn into a tube to go under the hole. Roll up the stairs and spin jump through the wooden panel. Go right, search between the two right-most windows for a star piece, then go left and roll into the next room. Get the items from the chests and the two boxes. Hide while next to the bird to find out that the bad guy’s name: Doopliss! Leave the Steeple.

Twilight Path:

Go all the way back to Twilight Town until Doopliss ambushes you again. Input "Doopliss" when prompted (the name is caps sensitive). He’ll run off. Go back to Twilight Town and stock up on items (and also sleep in the inn). When you’re ready, leave toward Creepy Steeple one last time.

Ready for Round 2?
Creepy Steeple:

Once you’re there, go through the front door. Go into the door in the background. Go back to the red switch and hit it once. Go through the nearby door and go up the stairs. Heal and save as you make your way back to Doopliss’s room. Once you’re there, watch the scene.

Boss Fight:
Doopliss w/partners:


 * HP: 40
 * ATK: 4
 * DEF: 0
 * Attacks:
 * Jump
 * Spin Jump
 * Hammer
 * partners use their primary attacks:
 * Headbonk
 * Shell Toss
 * Body Slam
 * Ground Pound

It doesn’t really start off good this time. You have to fight alone for the first few turns against Doopliss and your friends (starts off with Goombella). Start the Battle with Power Lift and focus your attacks on Doopliss. Forget about your partner, If you beat him/her, another partner will replace him/her (each one more dangerous than the last). Continue to attack Doopliss with your most powerful attacks until Vivian comes in to help you. Keep attacking until Doopliss falls.

Watch the scene and the chapter will REALLY end.

Interlude
Watch the short scene with the other 2 shadow sirens.

Watch another scene and answer TEC’s questions as follows:


 * 1) What will happen if you collect seven Crystal Stars? - Thousand-Year Door opens.
 * 2) What is the goal of Grodus, leader of the X-Nauts? -To conquer the world.
 * 3) What is the legendary treasure that waits behind the Thousand-Year Door? - A 1,000-year-old demon’s soul.
 * 4) What does Sir Grodus wish to do with this ancient demon’s soul? - Bring the demon back to life.
 * 5) What is required to seal up the demon again? - Crystal Stars.

Watch the scene.

Watch the scene and you’ll be in another side-scrolling stage, only underwater this time! Just get to the end and watch another scene.

Intermission
Twilight Town:

Watch the scene and go back in the pipe.

Rogueport Sewers:

Make your way to the east part of the sewers (you can roll under the fallen pillars in the underground town to get to Dazzle). Go into the pipe behind the gate, to the right of the pipe that goes to Eastern Rogueport. Go to the next pipe, but go back right. Slip through the bars that have an entrance behind them. Go inside, and use Vivian to pull you into the shadows before the spikes come back up get out when they go back down and continue this until you get to the treasure chest. It contains The Spike Shield badge (a very useful badge when fighting enemies that have spikes on their head). Do the same thing to go back to the entrance and continue on to the thousand-year door. Step on the pedestal and watch the scenes.

Rogueport:

''Toad Bros. Bazaar announces new shipment of best-seller `Super Luigi’! Get your copy!''

Super Luigi is now available at the item shop. It's a different perspective of what Luigi's been doing during the game.

Now’s the time to upgrade partner, Vivian. Then, go to the trouble center.


 * Client: ??? (Rogueport)
 * Title: Elusive Badge!
 * Reward: Attack FX B and a new partner

Go out the back door in the second floor of the inn. Talk to Ms. Mowz on the roof of Zess T’s house. She’ll tell you to find a badge for her back in Hooktail Castle. So, go there and go to where you fought (and beat) Hooktail (there’s an underground star piece in the far-left cell in the room where you  fought the red bones). And use Flurrie while near the center (there should be an invisible wall there), you’ll get the Attack FX B badge. Bring it to her and she’ll give you the badge and join your party.


 * Client: Mayor Dour (Twilight Town)
 * Title: Newsletter...
 * Reward: 30 coins

Talk to the mayor in Twilight Town and take the Routing Slip to the Elder Puni in the Great Tree. Then go to Kroop in Petalburg. Finally, go back to Dour and get your reward.


 * Client: Zess T. (Rogueport)
 * Title: Seeking legendary book!
 * Reward: Honey Shroom

Go to Zess T. and give her the cookbook you found in Creepy Steeple (if you didn’t find it, it’s in the small hole near the entrance. You’ll have to turn into a tube to go through it). She’ll be able to cook two items and gives you a honey shroom.

Now, go to the inn at the plaza and talk to the guy singing by the skull gem (all the way to the right). Answer his questions anyway you want. After he leaves, go to the ship and talk to Flavio again. He’ll tell you to find Admiral Bobbery. Go to the East Side and switch to Yoshi. Float across the river so you’re south of the fence. Go on top of the roof and uncover the underground star piece. Slip through the thin space between the two crates to get a shine sprite. Go back on top of the roof and continue to go left until you see a shine sprite in the distance. Cross the roofs to get it. Go back to the chimney and use your tube mode to roll through the small hole. Talk to the Bob-omb inside and go into the door in the back. Grab another shine sprite and leave. You should have more than enough by now to upgrade Ms. Mowz, so do that, then return to the inn. Talk either to Podley (the old green guy behind the counter) or Frankley, and go back to the bob-omb that you talked to earlier. He’ll admit of being Admiral Bobbery, but still won’t join you. Go back to Podley and give the letter he gives you to Bobbery. Now, he’ll join you. Talk to Flavio on his ship and you’ll set sail.