Glitz Pit

An angle view of the arena.

Mario and Goombella watch the match between Rawk Hawk and The Koopinator.

The Glitz Pit is an arena located in Glitzville in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and its Nintendo Switch remake. It is where Mario takes on the fighter name the "Great Gonzales" and fights his way through along with his partners in Chapter 3.

Storyline

There are many fighters encountered here, including Rawk Hawk, King K, Bandy Andy, the Armored Harriers, The Koopinator, Hamma, Bamma, and Flare, and even Bowser at one point, who barges into the ring and fights Mario and his teammates after they reach Rank 5. At first, Mario and his partners fight for the Champ's Belt which has the Gold Star on it, which later turns out to be fake. In the meanwhile, they gain a Yoshi partner and the Super Hammer, and begin to learn about the mysterious events happening around the arena.

Grubba, the promoter, used the Gold Star to power his machine that's hidden under the arena. Ever since Jolene's brother, Prince Mush found out about his machine, Prince Mush mysteriously disappeared, so Jolene went undercover and enlisted Mario and his friends' help to defeat Grubba. They eventually fight him as Macho Grubba, the true final boss of the Chapter, and thwart his plans.

After Chapter 3, Jolene takes over Grubba's duties and becomes the arena's manager. Mario and his partners can optionally return to the arena and resume fighting from the minor leagues. Several sidequests in the Trouble Center also require returning to the arena to interact with Jolene.

Description

The Glitz Pit can be accessed by either the first doorway in the main hall, or the second story door, up a flight of stairs. Mario can talk to the many spectators, but will not be able get through the dense crowd. The fighters change whenever Mario enters the arena, but will always fight by jumping onto and bumping into each other.

There are two sets of locker rooms: one blue and one red. The red major league and minor league locker rooms that Mario and his friends are assigned to are all on the left, while the blue ones are on the right. The blue ones are not accessible except for when Mario and Co. are temporarily trapped in the blue minor league room (and by extension the blue major league room) before their fight with Rawk Hawk.

Occasionally, a crowd of red and orange Toads and Lakitus appears at the entrance after Mario (as the Great Gonzales) defeats any challenger.

Seven Wonders of the Glitz Pit

According to Bandy Andy, the fighters within the Glitz Pit are said to pass stories of a set of mysteries that surround the arena, at least prior to Mario's interference. Bandy Andy himself sets out to study these mysteries, but is forcibly silenced by Grubba when he learns too much. Throughout the subplot, all seven wonders are encountered and explained.

• The Sealed Wall - The remains of fallen athletes are rumored to be stored behind a sealed wall in a minor-league locker room. The wall is actually a large yellow block breakable with Mario's new Super Hammer. The room behind it does not contain the remains of fallen fighters, but research about the Crystal Stars in the form of a Dubious Paper.
• The Man-Eating Toilet - A toilet in a major-league locker room is said to devour anyone that attempts to use it. Mario encounters this toilet while escaping from Rawk Hawk's trap, using the "man-eating" toilet to travel to the toilet in the other major-league locker room for the Championship Match.
• The Stairs of Mystery - An unknown room in the Glitz Pit has a second floor but no stairs, and groaning voices can be heard coming from above. This room is the Glitz Pit's storage room, which has a hidden switch to reveal the stairs. The groaning voices belong to the fighters that Grubba drained.
• The Haunted Boudoir - The champion's room is rumored to be haunted. People within the room claim that they hear voices whispering from nowhere, supposedly the voices of athletes who lost to the champion. The voices are actually voices from Grubba's office, which is connected to the Champion's room by an air vent.
• The Spooky Ring-Lights - Strange lights supposedly leak from under the ring doors when nobody is inside. This light is the light of Grubba's power-draining machine and/or the Gold Star. It is implied that Bandy Andy was caught investigating this secret.
• The Missing Ones - Sometimes fighters disappear for no reason and never return, including the first champion, Prince Mush. These athletes disappeared as the result of their power being drained by Grubba's machine, and the three known vanished fighters return after Macho Grubba is defeated.
• Grubba and Jolene - The first part of this wonder is that Grubba is muscular despite being past sixty-years old. This is explained mostly by his use of the power-draining machine. Secondly, Jolene has been known to suddenly vanish. This is explained by Jolene taking up an alternate identity (e-mailing Mario under the pseudonym of "X"), who can frequently be seen in the juice bar outside the arena.

Rankings

Glitz Pit Fighters
Rank	Picture	Name	Secondary Name	Members	Storyline
Champ		Rawk Hawk	The Feral Nuclear Reactor	Rawk Hawk	Before the battle, Rawk Hawk tricks a security guard into locking Mario in a damp room. Mario and his partners make an escape through the toilet. Grubba orders Mario to use a Special Move at least once, but it is actually unnecessary for the storyline to progress. After Mario defeats Rawk Hawk, he receives the Champ's Belt. In the champ's room, Mario and his partners hear a voice in the air vent, and are told via e-mail to find it. In the air vent, they hear Grubba saying that he is going to eliminate Jolene and Gonzales (Mario). In Grubba's office, they find a paper about how the Gold Star powers a machine that sucks the power out of people, and that Grubba is running the arena in order to find strong people to drain like King K and Bandy Andy. When Grubba drops in, they confront him, and defeats him at the arena. Finally, Jolene comes and thanks Mario for defeating Grubba. She reveals that she has been instructing Mario via email under the name of X, and that she has become the helper of Grubba just to approach him and find out about her missing brother. In the meanwhile, her brother, Prince Mush, is released from the machine and reunites with Jolene. Jolene gratefully allows Mario to take the Crystal Star, marking a happy ending of Chapter 3.
1		The Koopinator	The Razor Blade Brigadier	Dark Koopatrol	Mario is told by Jolene via email to remove the Gonzales posters in the lobby. After he removes the one to the left of the second-floor door to the arena with Flurrie, he finds another Storage Key and is then told to go to the second floor of the storage room. There, he finds Bandy Andy and King K thrown under a big yellow block. It turns out that it is Jolene (under the name "X" in the email) who wants to show Mario what is going on.
2		Chomp Country	The Red Ore Fear Orbs	Two Red Chomps
3		Hamma, Bamma, and Flare	The Big Bad Brute Bros.	Hammer Bro, Fire Bro, Boomerang Bro	Mario receives a threatening email again from Grubba. After Mario makes a reservation, Jolene brings a cake from Rawk Hawk. The cake is poisoned, and if Mario chooses to eat it, Mario's partner proceeds to do so first and gets poisoned by the cake, becoming unavailable for the next battle. If Mario chooses not to eat it, Shellshock eats it instead while Mario and his partners go for the next battle and becomes poisoned himself.
4		Craw-Daddy	The Dark Gatekeeper	Dark Craw	Mario is told by Jolene via email to go to the telephone booth. Meeting Rawk Hawk on the way, Mario finds a Storage Key and told again to go to the storage room near Grubba's office. He meets Jolene by the door, who pretends to tell him to stay away (this happens earlier if Mario goes there before). Inside Mario finds Ms. Mowz stealing stuff again, who mentions the "poor souls" upstairs. Hinted by another email, Mario finds the hidden stairs in the room and reaches an air vent, where he hears Jolene and Grubba discussing fighters going missing.
5		The Magikoopa Masters	The Underworld Servants	Red Magikoopa, Green Magikoopa, White Magikoopa	After Mario and his partners win the battle, they are challenged by Bowser.
6		The Shellshockers	The Turtles of Hurtle	Two Shady Koopas & One Shady Paratroopa	Jolene leaves a cake from a fan to Mario. This cake is not poisoned. If Mario chooses not to eat it, Shellshock eats it instead while Mario and his partners go for the next battle.
7		The Fuzz	The Bottomless Vacuums	Fuzzy, Green Fuzzy*, Flower Fuzzy	After the Fuzz are defeated, the Armored Harriers challenges Mario's team again. Mario receives a threatening email after the battles.
8		The Poker Faces	The Ultimate Weapons	Two Bristles	Mario is told by X via email to go to the Fresh Juice Shop outside the Glitz Pit. After he receives the Super Hammer from Podler in the juice bar, he is told to smash the blockade in the minor-league locker room. Behind the blockade, he finds the Dubious Paper and reads it, but it is then confiscated by Jolene.
9		The Tiny Spinies	The Thorny Demons	Two Red Spike Tops
10		The Armored Harriers	The Iron Adonis Twins	Two Iron Clefts	After Mario gets the Yoshi Egg and fails the battle, it hatches, and the Yoshi asks Mario to name him. With the new Yoshi, Mario's team is able to defeat the Armored Harriers and move to the major-league locker room. They also receive 30 coins from Grubba. In the major-league locker room, Rawk Hawk drops in and Mario and his partners find that the Crystal Star on his belt is fake. Mario also receives an email from "X".
11		The Bob-omb Squad	The Big Bomb Boomers	Four Bob-ombs	Master Crash and Cleftor are talking about King K's leave, and Jolene teaches Sir Swoop how to use the terminal.
12		The Mind-Bogglers	The Gray Entanglers	Pale Piranha, Dark Puff, Pider	King K goes missing.
13		The Punk Rocks	The Green Torture Squad	Three Hyper Bald Clefts	King K tells Mario that he is going to retire.
14		The Hand-It-Overs	The Grim Death Burglars	Two Bandits & Two Big Bandits	King K mentions a "STUNNIN' babe" having a drink at the Fresh Juice Shop, which actually refers to Jolene.
15		Spike Storm	The Midnight Spike-Bombers	Two* Spinies & One Lakitu	King K mentions a new "menu item" at the Hot Dog Stand outside. Mario can go there and check the Yoshi Egg at any time, but the Yoshi from that egg is needed in the Armored Harriers battle.
16		The Dead Bones	The Bone-Rattling Rockers	Three* Dull Bones	Mario hears someone crying whose foot hurts in the corridor while King K chats with him.
17		The Pokey Triplets	The Spiked Terror Triplets	Three* Pokeys	Bandy Andy is caught by Jolene and sent back to the room. After a chat with King K, he sneaks out again.
18		The KP Koopas	The Shell Machines of Doom	Two KP Koopas & One KP Paratroopa
19		The Goomba Bros.	The Meteorite Hardheads; however, they are called the Hoppin' Hardheads the first time the player faces them	Five Goombas	A Goomba in the team strikes Mario first to initiate the battle. After the battle, King K introduces Mario to the other fighters in the locker room—Master Crash, Bandy Andy, and Cleftor. He talks to Mario often after the next few battles.
20		The Great Gonzales	The Merciless Executioner; known as the Superstar Sequel if Mario enters the Glitz Pit again after Chapter 3	Mario and his partners	First arriving at Glitzville, Mario and his partners spot Rawk Hawk showing his belt while battling The Koopinator in the arena. The belt has a (fake) Crystal Star on it, and Mario and his partners decide to sign up and fight to the top rank to earn it.

Wings of Night

Destructors

In addition, after the disappearance of Bandy Andy and King K, their team, the Hand-It-Overs and the KP Koopas, are temporarily removed from the roster and replaced with two new teams:

• Wings of Night (Four Swoopers) (a.k.a. the Sleepy Stealth Scythe)
• The Destructors (Two Spinias & Two Spanias) (a.k.a. the Flying Bullets)

* = Enemies that can duplicate themselves.

As Mario rises through the ranks, the rankings between other contenders may shuffle. The only fighters whose positions stay the same are The Goomba Bros., The KP Koopas, The Pokey Triplets, The Dead Bones, The Armored Harriers, The Shellshockers, The Koopinator, and Rawk Hawk.

Battle conditions

To progress in the Glitz Pit, Grubba (or Jolene once Chapter 3 is completed) will impose a special condition on Mario during his battles. The condition must be fulfilled for a victory to be counted and to move up the rankings. There are several possible conditions and usually it is randomly chosen, though some battles in Chapter 3 have fixed conditions. For Mario's first battle the order will always be to appeal to the crowd at least once. For the championship match against Rawk Hawk, Mario will always be instructed to use a special move, though uniquely it is not actually required to be performed. Evidently, other fighters are given conditions that Mario will never be instructed to perform, as at one point Grubba instructs Sir Swoop to "do a triple flip and meow."

The condition Mario is given will be displayed briefly at the start of a battle in the Glitz Pit. In the Nintendo Switch version, the condition will also be displayed for the full duration of battle in the lower-left corner of the screen. Additionally, it will be highlighted in green and marked with a green checkmark when it is successfully fulfilled.

• Appeal to the crowd at least once.
• Appeal to the crowd at least three times!
• Don't attack in the first three turns!
• Don't ever let your partner attack!
• Only let your partner attack!
• Don't change partners!
• Don't use your jump!
• Don't use your hammer!
• Don't use your FP!/Don't use any FP!
• Don't use items!/Don't use any items!
• Defeat your opponent in five turns or less!
• Take damage from your opponent three times!
• Take damage from your opponent at least five times!
• Use a special move at least once.
• Don't use special moves!
• Win after your HP drops to 5!
• Win before taking 20 HP of damage!

Partner quotes

Mario's partner says something before Grubba (Jolene after Chapter 3) announces Mario's opponent(s) that the player is about to fight. If the player beats their opponent, they say something after Grubba or Jolene announces that Mario won.

Character	Before Battle	After Battle
Goombella	"We aren't gonna lose to scrubs like YOU!"/"C'mon, Mario! Let's get this over with!"	"See?!? No biggie!"/"What did you expect, huh? We rock!"
Koops	"I'll try not to get in your way, Mario..."/"Ummm... OK, we can do this!"	"We...won? Cool!"/"We did it, Mario! Wow!"
Flurrie	"Here we go, darling! Time to shine!"/"Mario, darling... Are you quite ready?"	"Why, that was no fuss whatsoever!"/"Anytime you care for another lesson, we'll be here! ♡ "
Mini-Yoshi	"Lemme at 'em! Yeah! Bring it! You ready for a beating?"/"You think you can take me and Gonzales? HA!"	"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! How'd that floor taste?"/"That all you got?"
Vivian	"You're about to have a really terrible experience!"	"Looks like we overdid it a little bit... Are they OK?"
Admiral Bobbery	"Leave it all to me, old boy! I shan't need help!"	"I suggest you try a bit harder against the likes of us, hm?"
Ms. Mowz	"You look a bit weak to be fighting us... Mmm hmm hmm!"	"Well, what did you expect?"

Enemies

For a detailed listing of enemy formations in the Glitz Pit, see List of enemy formations in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door § Glitzville.

Bolded enemies can only be fought in the Glitz Pit.

• Armored Harriers (Mid-Boss)
• Bandit
• Big Bandit
• Bob-omb
• Boomerang Bro
• Bowser (Boss, fought after defeating rank five fighter(s))
• Bristle
• Dark Craw
• Dark Puff
• Dark Koopatrol
• Dull Bones
• Fire Bro
• Flower Fuzzy
• Fuzzy
• Goomba
• Green Fuzzy
• Green Magikoopa
• Hammer Bro
• Hyper Bald Cleft
• KP Koopa
• KP Paratroopa
• Lakitu
• Macho Grubba (Chapter 3 Boss)
• Pale Piranha
• Pider
• Pokey
• Rawk Hawk (Boss, Championship Match)
• Red Chomp
• Red Magikoopa
• Red Spike Top
• Shady Koopa
• Shady Paratroopa
• Spania
• Spinia
• Spiny
• Swooper
• White Magikoopa

Characters

Promoters

• Grubba
• Jolene

Notable individual fighters

• Bandy Andy
• Cleftor
• Craw-Daddy
• Hamma Jamma
• Iron Adonis Twins
• King K
• The Koopinator
• Master Crash
• Rawk Hawk
• Shellshock
• Sir Swoop
• Spiky Joe

Misc.

• A red Toad who works part-time in the lobby
• An orange Toad girl in love with the red Toad worker
• A Lakitu cameraman. Goombella's tattle states, "That's a local cameraman. He seems a little flustered. I think he's new at this and makes lots of mistakes. Just a guess, though."
• A reporter who looks like a pineapple. Goombella's tattle states, "That's a local reporter. I'm pretty sure he covers the fight scene. He's such a veteran, he even directs the rookie cameraman next to him."
• A Toad father and son who are fans of Prince Mush
• Toodles
• A Lakitu freelancer who can be found on the second floor in the lobby. Goombella's tattle states, "That's a freelancer. He's always angling for the next big scoop. We'd better make sure this guy doesn't shoot us doing anything... incriminating."
• Glitz Pit Security
• Mini-Yoshi
• Ms. Mowz (during Chapter 3)

Items

Item	Icon	Location
Battle Trunks ×20		All in the storeroom during Jolene's trouble.
Champ's Belt		Won after defeating Rawk Hawk.
Charge P		In the first-floor storeroom, it can be found among the boxes in the northeast corner with Flurrie's help.
Dubious Paper		In the minor league locker room, it can be found on top of the shelf in the room to the left.
Gold Star		Given to Mario after he helps Jolene defeat Macho Grubba at the end of Chapter 3.
HP Plus P		In the second-floor storeroom, it can be found on top of the big box in the left.
Ice Storm		In the major-league room, it can be found in the northwest corner.
Last Stand		In the corridor of the Glitz Pit, it can be found in a blue box near the right entrance.
Shine Sprite		In the second-floor storeroom, it can be found by the north wall between the boxes.
Star Piece		In the lobby, one is under a panel in the wall corner to the northwest of the entrance.
		In the office, one is in the drawer near the computer.
		In the office, one is behind the plant in the southwest.
		In the first-floor storage room, one is under a panel on the floor.
		To the right of the second-floor storage room, one is among the rightmost boxes.
Storage Key		In the second-floor lobby, it can be found behind the leftmost poster during one of X's missions.
Wrestling Mag		In the office, it is held by Jolene and given to Mario during Toodles's trouble.

Area Tattles

• "This is the Glitz Pit lobby. It's pretty nice, actually! Sturdily built, nice decor. And what can you say about that luxurious chandelier except... FABULOUS!!!"
• "This is the Glitz Pit itself! That's the ring in the middle. That's where all the magic happens. And by "magic," I mean brutal beatdowns."
• "This is a backstage corridor. Compared to the Glitz Pit, this is so... businesslike. There's security all OVER, so you can't just wander around wherever you want."
• "This is a minor-league locker room. It's kind of, uh... Well, it's pretty disgusting. It's totally different from the first room they showed. The old bait-and-switch... You think they make it totally gross so fighters will try harder to advance?"
• "This is a major-league locker room. Everybody here dreams of reaching the top... You can almost feel the intensity of their ambition in the air... It's weird... Speaking of weirdness, there's ALWAYS someone in the bathroom. Creepy! Y'know, it's kinda necessary to have access to a bathroom now and then..."
• "This is a minor-league locker room. It's just as gnarly as the one we were in. If you check the lockers or behind the posters, I bet there are stains and graffiti."
• "This is another locker room for major-league competitors. It's opposite the other one. Why was there a hidden room behind the lockers, anyway? What would it be used for? Mysteries are totally everywhere in the Glitz Pit!"
• "This is the champ's room. Yeah... This has to be like, the WORST decorating ever! Like that tiger-print bed... I mean, COME ON! Think Rawk Hawk designed it? Or maybe Grubba? It couldn't be...Jolene?"
• "This is the Glitz Pit storeroom. They must keep props or something in here. There's a second floor, too. If you see anything odd, don't forget your partners..."
• "This is the storeroom. There are lots of wooden crates here, that's for sure. But it doesn't seem to be in use now, does it? I mean, it's COVERED in dust!"
• "This is the promoter's room. It's fitting... It has sort of a relaxed authority, y'know? This is where the pairings for each match get decided. Neat!"
• "We're in the ventilation duct. It's really cramped in here. And musty. And dank."

Gallery

• 

  Outside of the arena

• 

  The lobby

• 

  The ring

• 

  The hallway

• 

  Grubba's office

• 

  The Storage Room

• 

  The Minor-League locker room

• 

  Mario meeting the newly hatched Mini-Yoshi

• 

  The Mini-Yoshi naming screen

• 

  Mini-Yoshi joining the party

• 

  Mario and Mini-Yoshi

• 

  The Major-League locker room

• 

  The Champion's room

• 

  Mario and Mini-Yoshi vs. Bowser

• 

  Mario and Mini-Yoshi vs. Rawk Hawk

• 

  The ring in the Nintendo Switch remake

• 

  Grubba and Rawk Hawk in the Nintendo Switch remake

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	とうぎ場 Tōgi-jō	Arena
Dutch	Knokwijck-Arena	Glitzville Arena
French	Arènes de Yunnanville	Glitzville Arenas
German	Falkenheim-Arena	Glitzville Arena
Italian	Stadio di Oolong	Glitzville Stadium
Spanish	Arena Dojo El Coliseo	Dojo Arena The Coliseum

Trivia

• If the player chooses to return to the Glitz Pit after completing Chapter 3 and makes it to 1st place, during the Championship Match, the crowd chants "GONZALES! GONZALES!". One spectator will say "JUMPMAN!!! Wait, who?". This is a reference to Mario's alternate name for the classic arcade game Donkey Kong. Should the player also win the championship, there will be a crowd that goes after the champion once in the foyer.
• The Mario posters that are seen in the foyer do not reappear should Flurrie blow them out.
• There is a Bob-omb and a Bulky Bob-omb depicted on a poster in the foyer, even though no Bulky Bob-ombs are fought in the Glitz Pit.
• Glitz Blade, one of the Sammer Guys in Super Paper Mario, references the arena.