Punio

Punio
Species	Puni
First appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)

“Don't worry, Madame Flurrie! I'm sure Mario can find your necklace. Word is, he's super!”

—Punio, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Punio is a timid Puni who lives in the Great Tree located in Boggly Woods, with his sister Petuni, in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. He is the future leader of the Puni tribe.

While Punio was away in Rogueport, the X-Nauts attacked the Great Tree and imprisoned most of the Punies. Meanwhile, Punio met Mario in Rogueport. Mario proceeded to follow him to the entrance to Boggly Woods. Punio then took Mario to the Great Tree. When they arrived, they noticed a red door on the tree that was installed sometime while Punio was gone. Punio makes it very clear to Mario it had never been there before. Punio remembers a secret entrance that the Puni elder notified him about sometime in the past. However, he has trouble finding it. He decides he must seek the aid of Madame Flurrie. When they arrive, Madame Flurrie is beside herself. She is overcome with distraught over losing her Necklace. She is very taken by Punio's cuteness, however, but still refuses to help until they get her valuable jewelry back. After Mario defeats the Three Shadows, Punio, Mario and his party return her priceless necklace. She joins Mario's party and finds the secret entrance to the Great Tree. The secret entrance turns out to be just a small hole in the tree, which is obviously fit for a Puni. Punio enters the secret entrance and proceeds to open the red door, allowing access for Mario and his party. Upon their entrance, they find the Great Tree crawling with X-Nauts. None of the other Punies trust Mario, and believes Mario to be in league with the X-Nauts. Punio profusely and desperately plead with the other Punies to accept this "hairy old man", and they obstinately refuse to do so until the Puni elder comes and chews them out. Mario, Punio and Mario's partners drive the X-Nauts out. Punio rescues his beloved sister Petuni and the Puni elder and the Great Tree continue to live in harmony.

Tattle information

• (Rogueport Sewers) That's Punio, who lives in the Great Tree of Boggly Woods. And hey, he must be the one we saw earlier, right? Yeah, totally!
• (The Great Tree) That's Punio of the Punies. He sure is a hardworking little fella, huh? Don't you just wanna cheer him on? I always root for the underdog. Or whatever he is.

Gallery

Screenshots

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  Punio speaks with Madame Flurrie

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  Punio fainting as Mario is being kissed by Flurrie

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Miscellaneous

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  Punio in a 2005 Nintendo VIP 24:7 Star Catalog live wallpaper

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	プニオ Punio	From "Puni" and「お」(-o, Japanese masculine name ending)
Chinese (simplified)	普尼奥 Pǔníào	Transliteration of the Japanese name
Chinese (traditional)	普尼奧 Pǔníào	Transliteration of the Japanese name
Dutch	Pimini	From the name "Pim" and "mini" or Ini ("Puni")
French	Pounio	A mixture between "Mario" and Pouni ("Puni")
German	Bubulio	From Bubu ("Puni") and possibly the male name "Lio"
Italian	Fufo	From Fufini ("Puni") and the masculine name suffix "-o"
Korean	말랑군 Mallanggun	From "말랑" (Mallang, "Puni") and "~군" (-gun), the Korean translation of the honorific suffix「~くん」(-kun)
Spanish	Puniel	Portmanteau of "Puni" and the male name "Daniel"

Trivia

• In the Japanese version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Punio's textbox when he thinks about how to reveal the secret entrance does not pause.