Paper Mario/Chapter 7: A Star Spirit on Ice

Meeting Merle
Since Peach wasn't able to find the location of the next Star Spirit, we'll need to do it ourselves. Fortunately, Mario knows a Fortune Teller who might be able to help. Go to the Merlin's hut to be introduced to Merle, who will tell you the final Star Spirit is being held captive near Shiver City. While no-one knows exactly how to get there, rumour has it there is a doorway underneath Toad Town.

Into The Sewers
Head down into the sewers, which can be accessed through a pipe in the section to the south of Merlin's hut.

Smash through the wooden panel in the floor, and head to the right. Use Sushi to swim across the water, and defeat the Blooper. Head right again, where you'll encounter a fork in the road, where you can either head up across the spikes, or down round the water. The door to Shiver City is through this lower route, but the only way to reach it is with the Ultra Boots.

Finding the Ultra Boots
Use Lakilester to fly over the spikes, and then head down the pipe. You'll need to fight your way through a bunch of spike-shell enemies, but a combination of the Power Quake badge and Watt's Electro Dash should make it easier. Follow the path around the water, and hammer the metal block to the next room. You'll see a bunch of blocks, but too high up to reach - ignore these for now, and we'll come back to them in a second.

Hammer the block to the next room, and use the spring to jump over the wall. In the chest, you will find the Ultra Boots, which increase Mario's jump attack, but also give you Tornado Jump. We can use this to smash those out-of-reach blocks, including the one holding the spring next to the chest. Head back the way you came, smashing the block as you go, and head back up the pipe and across the spikes to the fork in the path. Head down the bottom path and into the next area.

Optional: Back to Toad Town
Shiver City is through the Blue Door up above, but there is a shortcut back to Toad Town that might be of interest. Go down the pipe below the door, and blow out the wall with Bombette. Here you will meet a friendly, but possibly suspicious, salesman. It appears he will keep offering you items for 64 coins each. Some of the items you can get are:


 * 1) Star Piece
 * 2) Life Shroom
 * 3) Bump Attack Badge
 * 4) Repel Gel

Go through the pipe, and unlock the door with the Odd Key. You'll find yourself outside one of the houses in Toad Toad, near the sewer pipe, giving us a quick shortcut back to the Blue Door.

The Blue Door
Watt's special ability will reveal invisible boxes leading to the Blue Door. Hit them all using Tornado Jump - although note that you can't perform this while actually holding Watt. Use Parakarry to get across the boxes (remembering you can quit his flight early by jumping). Note that if you managed to avoid the conversation with Merle earlier, the Blue Door is locked, and it is impossible to reach Shiver City until you talk to him.

Go through the Blue Door and down the pipe. Immediately to the left of the frost tube you come out of is a party upgrade. It's a good idea to upgrade Kooper to second level if you haven't yet, as he learns Fire Shell, which can hit all enemies with fire damage. The enemies in this level are ice-based, so this will give use a nice advantage. Head through the pipe on the right to reach Shiver City, and finally start the chapter!

A Penguin Murder Mystery
Go to the Mayor's house first, which is the left-most house in the village. Here, you will discover the Mayor has been killed, and local author Herringway is the chief suspect. Herringway's house is by the lake (right of the entry pipe), but you find it empty.

Talk to the penguin next door, who will tell you he has lost the key to the warehouse. The key is at the bottom of the lake, which you can smash with Tornado Jump. Use Sushi to get the key and go to the roof of the warehouse. Here, you will be able to get onto the roof of Herringway's house, and down the chimney to discover his secret room.

Talk to Herringway, and then follow him back to the Mayor's house. Here, the solution to the Mystery will be revealed, and Mario will be allowed to leave the city.

The Mayor, and several penguins around the town, will warn Mario he needs to wrap up warm to reach Starborn Valley. This appears to just be flavour text - Mario doesn't need any additional items to continue.

Jr. Troopa Encounter
Make sure your good to go fighting condition before you head out the Gate. Jr. Troopa will be waiting for you on the path.


 * Jr. Troopa will have 50 Health
 * He will be using magic this time for his "Special move". Hitting for 8-9 a hit.

Just have full health, use an ability that hits for 9 every hit like power smash. And use a companion that hits for at least 4 and it will be over in 4 turns, maybe 3 if you know what your doing.

After defeating Jr, you may wish to go back to town and heal, since there'll be a few big fights coming up.

A Scary Monstar
Go past the snowmen and into the next screen, fighting through Frozen Piranhas and Gulpits. You can target the Gulpits rocks to stop them attacking, althgough that may not be quicker than just attacking them directly. Continue on and you'll encounter a Scary Monstar blocking the entrance to Starborn Valley, who will ask to fight you. It has 20HP, but only does 1 attack.

After defeating it, you'll discover it was just a bunch of Star babies playing a trick.

A Talk With Merle
Here, you will meet Merle (the actual Merle, not the messenger you spoke with earlier). He will reveal the final Star Spirit is being held captive in Crystal Palace, at the top of Shiver Mountain. However, no-one can remember how to reach Crystal Palace, except for the legend of items held for many generations. He will give you a Scarf, and tell you the second item is in Shiver City.

The Mayor's Gift
Go back to the Mayor's house in Shiver City, and tell him about the legend Merle told you. He will reveal his own item, a Bucket, although he doesn't know what it used for either.

Take the opportunity to heal up and buy items before leaving the city again. If you find yourself using a lot of Flower Power in the next section, you may wish to change your badges or buy items accordingly.

The Snowman Guards
Remember the snowmen just before Starborn Valley? The two items you've been given might look familiar. Place your scarf on the first snowman, and the bucket hat on the final snowman. The snowmen will move to reveal the gate to the North, and Shiver Mountain.

The Mountain Path
Just after the save block, fall into the hole and use Tornado Jump twice - once to smash the ice, and again to press the button. Keep heading through the room, and don't miss the Ultrashroom, in a hidden box above the visible brick one.

In the next room, head down the stair to grab a Pebble, then go back upstairs to use Kooper's shell ability to hit the button. You'll be met with a little cutscene with a Duplighost clone of Kooper, and asked to pick the right one. You'll encounter Duplighosts several times, and the real sidekick always seems to be the one standing in their usual place, immediately behind Mario. Hit the left-hand Kooper, who called Mario a moron, to end up in a fight with the Duplighosts.

Head up the stairs for another party upgrade before moving on. If you haven't upgraded Parakarry to Ultra rank, his Air Raid ability is helpful in the Crystal Palace, so he might be a good choice.

In the next area, you have three pillar containing high-powered attack items. Firstly, note that you won't be able to take any of these if your inventory is already full. Secondly, as soon as you take one, your path will be blocked, and you'll need to put a new item on the pillar to continue. Note that the Pebble in the previous area will respawn if you go back, so just use these to fill the three pillars.

The Star Stone
At the edge of the cliff you'll see a star shaped inlet for the Star Stone. To find it, you need to jump off the edge of the cliff, go across the ice, and use Bombette to blow up the crack in the wall. Here, you will find yourself in the Star Shrine. Here, you will need to remember Merle's words: "the walls tell lies". The wall at the right-hand 'edge' of this room is fake, and Mario can just walk through it. Here, you will meet a messenger from the Stars, who will give you the Star Stone.

Go back across the ice, and use Bombette to blow up the ice behind the stairs. Place the Star Stone in its place to unlock the stairway to the Crystal Palace. Don't miss the Power Stomp badge up the first level of stairs, and the save block at the second.

The Blue Key
To the far right of the first room, you'll find a switch that allows you to alternate between a Red Door and a Blue Door. Unfortunately, they are both locked, so we'll need to find the key first.

Go through the door in the middle of the room, and defeat the string of Swoopulas. These can be annoying, but Parakarry's Air Raid can be very helpful against them. Ignore the Red X on the floor - we'll come back to this shortly. Go to the end of this set of corridor's to find a chest containing the Blue Key.

Head back to the main room, and use Tornado Jump to rotate to the Blue Door. Use the Blue Key to unlock in and go through.

The Red Key
Use Bombette to blow up the wall, and go through to the next room. Keep hitting the brick block at the end to get a bunch of coins. However, notice something odd - the reflection of the block hasn't changed.

None of the walls in Crystal Palace are mirrors, but glass, revealing identical rooms on the other side. One panel halfway down isn't shimmering like the others, and allows Mario to get to the other side. Get the coins from the second block, and then use Bombette to blow up the opposite wall.

Here, you will encounter another set of Duplighosts - who were pretending to be your reflection when you were in the other half of that room a moment ago. Defeat them, and go through the 'reflected' Blue Door. In the main room, go through the 'reflected' door half way down.

In this corridor, you will see a wooden panel. Destroying this with Tornado Jump will let you access a lower level - but more importantly, it will also create a hole where the Red X is. The Red Key is underneath that Red X, but first we have the opportunity for some free items.

At the end of the top corridor, you can earn yourself a Shooting Star (which is quite handy for defeating Swoopulas). At the end of the bottom level, you'll find a chest with a D-Up-P-Down Badge. If head head back to the main room and out of the 'reflected' main door, you can access a 'reflected' cave containing a star piece.

Go to the location of the Red X and down the new hole. Use Bombette to blow up the door, only to discover a whole host of Duplighosts pretending to be Bombette. The imposters are the ones with extra symbols after their speech - stars, hearts, exclamation marks, and ellipses.

Go through the gap to find the Red Key in the chest. Head back to the main room, saving on your way past - you're not going to get another chance for a while. Use Tornado Jump to change the switch to the Red Door, and go through it.

Deeper Into The Palace
Go through the lower (i.e. 'unreflected') door, and defeat the three sets of Clubbas. If you still have the Shooting Star and Thunder Rage from earlier, they may come in handy here. However, each set is harder than the last, so save the good items for the third group.

Defeating the Clubbas will have cleared the 'reflected' pathway, so go back to the previous room, through the glass panel, and across the 'reflected' chasm.

In the next section, you'll see a switch the rotates the central platform. However, in order to get to the other side, you need to be standing on the platform at the same moment you press the switch. This is where Bombette's fuse comes in useful. Set Bombette going towards the switch, and quickly jump on the platform. When she explodes, you'll get through to the other side.

Go through the door, defeating yet more Clubbas. In the next room, follow the hint from the Duplighosts in the mirror, and send Kooper through the little hole. However, what you get back is a tonne of Duplighosts dressed as various characters from throughout your adventure. The real Kooper here is very obvious - the only one that actually looks like Kooper.

The Palace Key
Go through the hole and through the door to the right. This time, the mirror really is a mirror. Line up so that Kooper's reflection hits the button, and go across the pathway. In the next room, ignore the locked door, but go through the glass wall and start going back on yourself, over the reflected chasm.

Head through the northern door, and use Watt's ability to find a block with a Jammin Jelly. Go to the back of the dinosaur staue and push it to the left, revealing a hole. At the end of the lower corridor is a D-up-P-down Badge.

Go all the way back round to the 'unreflected' version of the dinosaur room. Here, you'll find the large statue has also moved, allowing access to the lower level. At the end of this lower section, you'll find the Palace Key. Head back to the locked door, and use the key to get through it.

The Dinosaur's Puzzle
Here, you will find two recesses in the floor. The lower one contains three dinosaurs, and the upper one contains three statues. Note that there is not a mirror between the two halfs of the room. If you leave the room, the dinos will reset.

You need to place a statue on each square on the floor. The statues can be pushed, but only in the direction they are facing. The dinos will rotate to face you when you start speaking with them, and the corresponding statue will turn to face the opposite way. Use the dinos the rotate the statues to where you want to go, and then push them so that they end up on the squares. Note that for two of the statues, you also need to move them in the vertical direction, but being behind/in front of the dino before speaking to them.

Completing the puzzle will reveal a door, behind which is - at long last - a save block and a heal block. Get ready, because it's finally time for the boss battle.

The Crystal King
The battle with the Crystal King can be fairly tricky. He has 70 HP and 2 defence, so taking down his health takes some work. He will generate little Crystal Bits, which each have 1 health, but these are what he uses to attack. Whenever he can, he will use a frost attack to make Mario miss several goes.

Badges that affect lots of ground enemies, like Power Quake, are useless here. Better to switch them out for something that does lots of damage to one enemy, go give yourself a HP/FP boost.

One reasonable strategy here is to use the Quick Change badge. Use Lakilester's Cloud Nine to keep Mario hidden from attacks for a few turns. Whenever the Crystal King generates more Crystal Bits, use Lakilester's Spiny Surge to kill them all at once. On the other turns, switch to Watt and use Electro Dash to get through his high defence. Mario can keep using his hammer, items, or Star Power as appropriate.

The Crystal King appears to be impervious to some status-changing attacks (e.g. Time Out/Power Shock), so don't spend a lot of time experimenting with these.

Once the Crystal King get's below 20 health, he'll slit into three, but only the real one can be damaged. Fortunately, you only need to do a any damage (after getting through a defence of 2) to reveal the real King. A fully-charged Spiny Surge is a fairly cheap way to hit all enemies for 3.

The first two times you reveal the Crystal King, he will then heal himself for 20. Keep up the same cycle of attacks, and with some careful health management, you should be able to wear him down.

PEACH: Mario Is Coming!
Peach's scene is only a cut-scene, so there is nothing to do.