Attacking enemies[edit]
While Mario and his partners are battling enemies, they can attack enemies with extra power using the Action Command.
- Countdown: Tilt and hold the control stick left, then release when the red light flashes. Used with Hammer attacks.
- Tricky Timing: Press A just before landing on Mario's opponent. Used with Jump attacks.
- Aiming: Align the cursor in the center of the targeting reticule.
- Button Mania: Hold on to or repeatedly tap a button, or input an entire sequence of buttons.
Stylish Moves are extra commands to please the crowd more and gain more star power. Press 
at the right time to activate them.
Strategy[edit]
If an enemy can feasibly be jumped on or hammered, Mario can pick which attack to use. Jump attacks deal less damage multiple times, but they can flip most of the koopa clan over. Hammer attacks deal more damage at one blow. This is good when the enemy has defense and cannot be flipped with a Jump. If Mario has a Power Plus or P-up D-down badge on, jumping will deal more damage than hammering. If the enemies defense exceeds Mario's extra power, hammering will deal more damage. If Mario has the Super Boots or Ultra Boots but doesn't have the corresponding hammer, jumping will probably deal more damage.
Guarding[edit]
To perform a guard action command, press or 
when Mario's opponent is about to strike him. Guarding will reduce the damage he takes from enemy attacks and help the player resist status effects. Timing is critical to success.
Guard: Press to dodge enemy attacks. This reduces the damage they do by 1 and protects Mario from negative status effects. The player will have a 1/2 second to guard.
Superguard: Press to dodge enemy attacks. This negates the attack completely, damaging Mario's opponent if it is attacking directly. The player only has a 1/4 second to superguard, making it naturally harder than guard.
Leveling Up[edit]
Star Points[edit]
Every time Mario wins a battle, he'll earn Star Points. When Mario's Star Point Level gets up to 100, he'll get to choose whether to upgrade his Heart Points, Flower Points or Badge Points. Choosing HP and/or FP will raise Mario's HP or FP by 5 and choosing BP will raise Mario's BP by 3. By level 30, most enemies won't drop star points. Winning a battle will always give you at least one star point. Mario stops leveling up at 99; however, it is very hard to reach this level. If you do, the only way to change Mario's base stats is to pay Chet Rippo. (He can be found in the background behind the entrance pipe to the sewers.)
Shine Sprites[edit]
When Mario collects Shine Sprites, he can give 3 of them to Merlon, who will power up one of Mario's partners, increase their max HP, increase their attack power by 1, and teach them a new move. Getting the Up Arrow in Hooktail Castle will allow Mario to power up his partners a second time. Merlon will be able to teach Mario's partners ultra-rank moves.
Star Power and the Audience[edit]
In the Prologue, Mario will earn a new Special Move, and every time Mario collects a Crystal Star, he will learn a new Special Moves. Mario (but not his partners) can use a Special Move if he has enough Star Power. After using a Special Move, Mario can replenish his Star Power by appealing to the audience and/or thrilling the crowd with action commands and stylish moves.
The Audience (or Crowd) are minor characters that appear in every battle sequence in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door after Mario learns Sweet Treat. They can either be allies or enemies during the battles. They appear in the bottom of the screen, giving Mario stars after he attacks enemies. These stars refill Mario's Star Power.
There are also special crowd members; for example, a Crazee Dayzee may sing to put all audience members around her/him asleep. A Bulky Bob-omb may light its fuse and explode, killing the audience members around him/her. Bosses such as Hooktail may use the audience as a power source, restoring HP upon eating the audience members. The crowd may also throw objects at Mario. The thrown item may aid Mario or hurt him. The items that will aid him can range from one Coin to a Boo's Sheet. The items that will hurt him range from rocks to crushed soda cans. Mario or his partner can press 
to attack whoever has the item.
Luigi, Punis, and Toads often appear in the crowd. They will never do anything to hurt Mario or his Partners and will throw helpful items such as coins and mushrooms. The X-Nauts refuse to give Mario helpful items. Shy Guys will sometimes get on to the stage, go backstage, and drop something on the enemy, boss, or even Mario and his partners during battle. (The objects Shy Guys can drop fall on their own quite commonly.) These objects can cause or cure status effects as well as deal damage.
With the exception of Shy Guys, Audience members never appear until they have been encountered. For example, X-Nauts and Punis don't appear in the audience until Chapter 2.
Bingo![edit]
An icon will appear next to Mario's Star Power Gauge whenever the player nails an Action Command. If the player has two matching icons and executes an additional Action Command, Mario can take the Bingo! wheel for a spin. Press to try to match the third icon to the first two. Matching anything but poison mushrooms brings Mario's audience to max. 3 Poison Mushrooms will cut down all of Mario's current stats by half and deplete all of his audience (for example I have 20 HP and 10 FP. I get 3 Poison Mushrooms so my HP goes down to 10 and my FP goes down to 5.) 3 Mushrooms will fully recover Mario's Heart Points, 3 Flowers will fully recover his Flower Points, 3 Stars will refill Star Power, and 3 Shine Sprites will fully restore everything!