Star Power

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Not to be confused with Countdown Timer.

Star Power, or Star Energy as it is called in Paper Mario, often shortened to SP and SE respectively, is a special form of energy featured in the first two installments of the Paper Mario series. In both games, Star Power is used to fuel Special Moves, a set of unique combat techniques that require Mario to use a special power taught by an entity like a Star Spirit or a Crystal Star.

Breaking from the tradition of the series, Star Power no longer appears from Super Paper Mario onwards. The lack of Star Power in the subsequent games disables some of the features known from its predecessors, namely the possibility to perform Special Moves.

Appearances[edit]

Paper Mario[edit]

Star Power meter from Paper Mario.
Star Energy in Paper Mario

In Paper Mario, Mario receives the ability to gather Star Energy and perform Special Moves after he rescues Eldstar from the Koopa Bros. With each Star Spirit rescued, Mario will gain an additional unit of Star Energy as well as unlock new Special Moves to perform in battle. Mario's amount of Star Energy is represented by differently-colored bars at the top of the screen, which can be broken down into eights.

⅛ of the bar is restored during battle after each enemy turn. Mario can use the Focus action to refill half a bar, or even more if a Deep Focus badge is equipped. Mario's partners have the ability to use Focus if the Group Focus badge is equipped.

Star Energy can be recovered by:

Special Moves[edit]

Special Move Star Energy Description Requirement
Refresh.png Refresh 1 Restores 5 HP and FP to Mario. Battle icon for Eldstar's Refresh ability in Paper Mario. Eldstar
Lullaby.png Lullaby 1 Affects to put all enemies to sleep. The base status duration of this move is four turns. Battle icon for Mamar's Lullaby ability in Paper Mario. Mamar
Star Storm.png Star Storm 2 Deals 7 points of star-element damage to each enemy, piercing Defense Power. Battle icon for Skolar's Star Storm ability in Paper Mario. Skolar
Chill Out.png Chill Out 2 Decreases the Attack Power of all enemies by 3 points. Battle icon for Muskular's Chill Out ability in Paper Mario. Muskular
Smooch.png Smooch 3 Restores 20 HP to Mario. Battle icon for Misstar's Smooch ability in Paper Mario. Misstar
Time Out Time Out 2 Attempts to immobilize all enemies. The base status duration of this move is five turns. Battle icon for Klevar's Time Out ability in Paper Mario. Klevar
PM Up and Away.png Up & Away 2 Has a chance to instantly defeat any non-boss enemy in battle. Every eligible target's susceptibility is 95%. Battle icon for Kalmar's Up & Away ability in Paper Mario. Kalmar
Star Beam Star Beam 0 A technique that nullifies Bowser's invincibility bestowed upon him by the Star Rod, as well as positive status effects on enemies. However has no effect on Bowser in their final encounter. Battle icon for the Star Beam ability in Paper Mario. Learned in Star Haven
The Peach Beam being used on Bowser to make the Star Rod's power become weak enough so that Mario and his allies can attack him. Peach Beam 0 Has the same capabilities as Star Beam, however it affects Bowser on their final encounter. Battle icon for the Peach Beam ability in Paper Mario. Final battle only

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[edit]

In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the stat is known as Star Power. It is unlocked at the end of the prologue when Mario holds up the Magical Map in front of the Thousand-Year Door. With each Crystal Star obtained, Mario's Star Power increases and new Special Moves are unlocked. The Star Power gauge is composed of up to 8 dots, each representing one full unit of Star Power which can be further broken down to hundredths.

Star Power is accumulated from performing Hammer or Jump attacks, or from partners using their own attacks. Succeeding at action commands and performing Stylish moves will increase the rate of Star Power gained. Mario and his partner can also use the Appeal or Super Appeal actions to gain a boost in Star Power, provided there is at least 1 active, awake and non-incapacitated audience member.

Star Power can be recovered by:

  • Sleeping in a bed at an inn, or in the champion's bed at the Glitz Pit.
  • Leveling up
  • Completing a chapter
  • Consuming Trial Stew will fully replenish SP and triple SP gain for several turns, in addition to lowering Mario and his partner's HP to 1 and FP to 0.
  • Getting a Star or Shine Sprite Bingo! result

Special Moves[edit]

All special moves that deal damage are piercing attacks, and bypass the Dodgy and Invisible status conditions.

Special Move Star Power Description Action Command Requirement
Image showing the Sweet Treat special move in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Sweet Treat Icon representing Star Power in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 1 Cures all negative status conditions. Mario shoots stars to capture Hearts and Flowers falling from the ceiling that can restores up to 8 FP, and 7 HP to both Mario and his partner. If Mario's partner is knocked out, the partner's hearts won't appear and Mario can instead restore up to 14 HP. Repeatedly press Control Stick to the left to shoot stars at Hearts and Flowers. Shooting a Poison Mushroom will briefly prevent Mario from shooting stars. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Magical Map
Image showing the Earth Tremor special move in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Earth Tremor Icon representing Star Power in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 2 Deals up to 6 damage to all enemies. The action commands must be succeeded 2 times to strike aerial enemies, and 4 times to hit enemies on the ceiling. Press A Button in time with the buttons appearing on the gauge bar. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Diamond Star
Image showing the Clock Out special move in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Clock Out Icon representing Star Power in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 2 Produces a huge bomb that is passed between Mario's side, the audience, and the enemy's side. When the bomb explodes it Immobilizes the targets. Succeeding at action commands will increase the size of the bomb, and the duration of the status condition. Press the button (either A Button, B Button, X Button, or Y Button) that appears over the side the bomb should be passed to. The buttons will periodically change to different ones. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Emerald Star
Image showing the Power Lift special move in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Power Lift Icon representing Star Power in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 3 A grid of panels appear, with red arrows, blue arrows, and Poison Mushrooms periodically appearing and disappearing. Bars representing Attack and Defense can be increased by shooting the arrows. Shooting Poison Mushrooms will slow down Mario's rate of fire. Mario and his partner will gain +1 Attack Up or Defense Up for every bar that is filled, up to a maximum of +5 for each stat. Use Control Stick to aim the crosshairs, and A Button to shoot at a panel. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Gold Star
Image showing the Art Attack special move in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Art Attack Icon representing Star Power in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 4 Summons a small cursor which allows the player can draw on the screen. Drawing a complete circle around an enemy will deal up to 3 points of damage per circle. Use Control Stick to move the cursor. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Ruby Star
Image showing the Sweet Feast special move in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Sweet Feast Icon representing Star Power in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 5 Cures all negative status conditions. Mario shoots stars to capture Hearts and Flowers falling from the ceiling that can restores up to 24 FP, and 24 HP to both Mario and his partner. If Mario's partner is knocked out, the partner's hearts won't appear and Mario can instead restore up to 48 HP. Shooting a Poison Mushroom will briefly prevent Mario from shooting stars. Hold Control Stick to the left to shoot stars at Hearts and Flowers. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Sapphire Star
Image showing the Showstopper special move in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Showstopper Icon representing Star Power in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 2 Five sequences of action commands appear, in which buttons must be pressed in the order they appear. Each completed sequence increases the chance of the moves success. When successful, enemies will be instantly defeated depending on their susceptibility to the One-hit Knockout (OHKO) condition. Press A Button, B Button, X Button, or Y Button in the order of the sequence presented. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Garnet Star
Image showing the Supernova special move in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Supernova Icon representing Star Power in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 6 A gauge appears that can be filled by pressing the A Button button. Each time a sequence is completed, stars will crisscross the screen. Once time runs out, enemies will receive damage based on the number of sequences completed, up to a maximum of 15 damage to each enemy. Rapidly press A Button to fill the gauge. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Crystal Star

Star Power calculation[edit]

The formula for Star Power gain when attacking is calculated as follows:

[1]

where:

  • is 1/100 of a Star Power unit
  • is the combined value of individual audience members. Each type of audience member has their own value, and sleeping audience members always have a value of 0.
Audience values
Type Value
Sprite of a Dull Bones from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Dull Bones 0
Sprite of a Boo from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Boo 1
Sprite of a Bulky Bob-omb from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Bulky Bob-omb
Sprite of a Crazee Dayzee from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Crazee Dayzee
Sprite of a Goomba from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Goomba
Sprite of a Hammer Bro from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Hammer Bro
Sprite of a Koopa Troopa from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Koopa Troopa
Sprite of Luigi from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Luigi
Sprite of a Piranha Plant from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Piranha Plant
Sprite of a Puni from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Puni
Sprite of a Shy Guy from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Shy Guy
Sprite of an X-Naut from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. X-Naut
Sprite of a Toad from the Audience, facing the viewer, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Toad 3
  • is determined by the success level of Action Command executed. The Simplifier badge will decrease this value by 1, while the Unsimplifier badge will increase it by 1.
    • Performing a Stylish move will further modify this value using the following formula:
The value for is 1 for all moves in international versions of the game, but in the original Japanese release, some moves provide a different value. Fire Drive, Quake Hammer, Multibonk, Power Shell, Lip Lock, Mini-Egg, Veil, Infatuate and Bob-ombast have a value of 2, and Tornado Jump, Shell Slam, and Tease have a value of 3.
  • Although certain moves have more than one opportunity for a Stylish move to be executed, only a single execution will affect this calculation. Successive Stylish moves will only affect audience gain. However, in the original Japanese release of the game, Tornado Jump, Quake Hammer, Hammer Throw, Multibonk, Shell Toss, Power Shell, and Shell Slam require all possible opportunities to be executed to be considered a successfully performed Stylish move.[2]
Action Command values
Tier Normal value Stylish value
Missed Action Command 0 1.0
Nice (T1) 0.50 3.0
Nice (T2) 0.75 3.5
Nice 1.0 4.0
Good 1.25 4.5
Great 1.50 5.0
Wonderful 1.75 5.5
Excellent 2.0 6.0
  • is a value determined by whether Mario or his partner are healthy, in Danger, or in Peril.
    • If a partner is knocked out, they are treated as being in Peril for the purposes of this calculation.
    • If Mario's max HP has been reduced to 5 by Chet Rippo, the game will not consider Mario to be in Danger for the purposes of this calculation.
Health status values
Character and status Health icon from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Health icon from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Health icon from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) Health icon from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Health icon from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Health icon from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
Partner
Healthy Danger Peril
Health icon from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
Mario
Healthy 1.0 1.5 2.0
Danger 2.0 3.0 4.0
Peril 3.0 4.5 6.0
  • is a value normally at 1, but will change when getting a successful Bingo! depending on the result.
Bingo! status values
Bingo! result Value Duration
Bingo! icon for Poison Mushroom in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Poison Mushroom in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Poison Mushroom in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 1 No change
Bingo! icon for Flower in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Flower in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Flower in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 2 4 turns
Bingo! icon for Mushroom in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Mushroom in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Mushroom in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
Bingo! icon for Star in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Star in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Star in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
Bingo! icon for Shine Sprite in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Shine Sprite in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)Bingo! icon for Shine Sprite in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) 3 6 turns

The formula for Star Power gain when using Appeal or Super Appeal is much simpler and is calculated as follows:

[1]

where:

  • is 1/100 of a Star Power unit
  • is the count of Super Appeal or Super Appeal P badges equipped to Mario or his partner, respectively
  • is the count of active, awake audience members

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japanese スターパワー
Sutā pawā
Star Power

Chinese (simplified) 星之能量[3]
Xīng zhī Néngliàng
Star Power

French Energie Etoile
Star Energy
German Sternenergie
Star Energy
Korean 스타파워
Seuta Pawo
Star Power

Spanish Energía Estrella (Paper Mario)
PE - Poder Estelar (The Thousand-Year Door)
Star Energy
SP - Star Power

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Jdaster64. January 19, 2013. [1]. Wordpress.com. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  2. ^ Jdaster64. April 20, 2022. [2]. Youtube. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  3. ^ iQue's Paper Mario instruction booklet, page 22.