Super Paper Mario

Super Paper Mario
For alternate box art, see the related gallery.
Developers	Intelligent Systems Nintendo SPD Group No.3
Publisher	Nintendo
Platforms	Wii, Wii U
Release dates	Original release: April 9, 2007 April 9, 2007 April 19, 2007 September 14, 2007 September 20, 2007 July 12, 2008 July 12, 2008 February 26, 2009 July 17, 2009 Nintendo Selects release: August 28, 2011 June 22, 2012 Wii U (digital download): June 16, 2016 August 3, 2016 August 11, 2016 August 13, 2016
Languages	English (United States) English (United Kingdom) Japanese French (Europe) German Italian Korean Spanish (Europe)
Genres	Platformer, RPG
Ratings	ESRB: - Everyone CERO: - All ages PEGI: - Three years and older USK: - All ages RARS: - All ages ClassInd: - General audience GRAC: - All ages ACB: - General FPB: - Parental guidance
Mode	Single-player
Format	Wii: Optical disc Wii U: Digital download
Input	Wii: Wii Remote (horizontal)
Serial codes	RVL-R8PE-USA RVL-R8PJ-JPN RVL-R8PK-KOR

“An interdimensional adventure!”

—Save data description

Super Paper Mario is a platformer role-playing game released in 2007 for the Wii, as well as the first game starring Mario for the console. Rather than employing a turn-based battle system typical of the Paper Mario series, Super Paper Mario focuses on level-based platforming gameplay while repurposing some side-scroller mechanics into RPG elements, such as using points as experience. The game fuses elements of 2D and 3D gameplay together, shifting back and forth between dimensions as a major mechanic, once being described as a 2.5D sidescroller by Nintendo Power magazine.

The story focuses on Mario, Princess Peach, Bowser, and Luigi journeying across various dimensions to stop a villain named Count Bleck from destroying all of existence. These four Heroes of Light are joined by fairy-like Pixls along the way, granting them extra abilities such as hammering objects or calling up a temporary shield. Their quest requires the collection of eight Pure Hearts, relics imbued with the power of love and key to neutralizing the prophesized end of all worlds.

Super Paper Mario has a distinct visual style among the Paper Mario games. While most characters, enemies and items returning from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door retain their visual and sound designs, this game utilizes very abstract, inorganic shapes and synthetic music to emphasize the unfamiliar territory. New characters are assembled from simple polygons, circles, and lines, and each dimension features equally abstract yet unique patterns, gradients, psychedelic colors and tessellation in their environments and backgrounds. Coupled with animations featuring computer pointers with selection boxes, outline-filling effects, and pixelation, this visual direction seems to be inspired by a mix of computer interfaces and digital media such as Microsoft Paint rather than strictly traditional art mediums.

The game was originally planned for a 2006 release on the Nintendo GameCube and the newer Wii console before being released exclusively to the latter one year later, with motion controls incorporated into certain gameplay features. Super Paper Mario had a short development cycle compared to other games in the Paper Mario series, being released on April 9, 2007 for North America, April 19, 2007 for Japan, and September 14, 2007 for Europe, and September 20, 2007 for Australia. The game was re-released for the Wii U eShop in North America on June 16, 2016, in Japan on August 3, 2016, in Europe on August 11, 2016, and in Australia on August 12, 2016; however, the digital re-release was eventually removed from the Wii U eShop after its discontinuation on March 27, 2023, making it no longer possible for players to purchase the game, although players who purchased the title before this date can still play it as long as it is on their Wii U device.

Story

The inter-dimensional wedding, where the Chaos Heart is created.

The story opens with Mario and Luigi being informed by Toad about Princess Peach's latest kidnapping. Believing Bowser to be the culprit once again, the brothers immediately head off to his castle, only to find him simply preparing to attack. A villain named Count Bleck then appears with his assistant, Nastasia and Princess Peach, who is his prisoner. He announces his plans to use Peach "to destroy all worlds", renders Mario unconscious with his dark powers, and kidnaps Bowser as well, with Luigi and Bowser's minions being sucked away too.

Elsewhere, Peach regains consciousness to find that she and Bowser are dressed in wedding outfits and standing at an altar, with Count Bleck officiating. While Bowser says "yes", Nastasia uses mind control powers to force Peach to say "I do", and the marriage between them calls forth the Chaos Heart. Luigi awakens in the Koopa crowd watching the ceremony and attempts to intervene, but he is too late as Bleck uses the Chaos Heart to open a dimensional rift known as The Void, fulfilling a prophecy he read in an ancient book known as the Dark Prognosticus, in which all worlds are destroyed.

Mario in Chapter 1-1, flipped to the 3-D dimension.

Back at Bowser's Castle, Mario is awakened by a Pixl named Tippi, who brings him to the town of Flipside and introduces him to Merlon. He owns the benevolent counterpart of Bleck's book, the Light Prognosticus, which indicates that a hero fitting Mario's description can stop the Void, which is visible in the sky above Flipside and slowly growing. Merlon gives Mario the first of eight Pure Hearts that he needs to counteract the Chaos Heart. Upon receiving the first Pure Heart, Mario has to place it into the first Heart Pillar to cause a door to appear on the top of Flipside Tower leading straight to Lineland, where the next Pure Heart is. Merlon also tells Mario that he must also learn the "dimensional technique" from his friend Bestovius there in order to find the rest of the Pure Hearts.

Meanwhile, in Castle Bleck, the Count and Nastasia meet with the other three minions, Dimentio, O'Chunks, and the shape-shifting Mimi. Count Bleck promises to replace the destroyed worlds with a perfect world where all his minions' dreams will come true, and when Nastasia mentions that the hero of prophecy may be active, O'Chunks volunteers to take care of him, with Dimentio tagging along to watch the show.

Chapter 1: Lineland

Mario proceeding in Lineland.

In Lineland, Mario first seeks out Bestovius and gains the ability to flip into the third dimension, allowing him to progress through the world. After climbing Mount Lineland, Mario and Tippi reach Yold Town, where they find another Pixl named Thoreau, who assists them as they cross the puzzle-filled Yold Desert and are forced to fight O'Chunks before reaching Yold Ruins. The next Pure Heart is guarded by the robotic dragon, Fracktail, but while he recognizes Mario as the legendary hero, before he can let the plumber pass, Dimentio appears and causes the dragon to malfunction, making him attack. Mario is forced to defeat him before proceeding inside the sanctum of the ruins, where he is given a Pure Heart by Merlumina, one of the ancients who wrote the Light Prognosticus and lingered after death to await the hero.

Interlude

Meanwhile, O'Chunks reports back to Castle Bleck in shame, so the Count sends Mimi to deal with the hero, while Nastasia goes to look for any "goons" in the castle who still are not under Bleck's control.

Soon after, Peach (now in her usual pink dress) wakes up in Castle Bleck and joins a Hammer Bro and a Koopa Troopa in search of an exit, but they are soon cornered by Nastasia, who brainwashes Bowser's minions. Peach, however, is teleported away before she can be hypnotized.

Far away, Mario returns to Flipside to bring the Pure Heart to Merlon, and the group learns from a panicking citizen that a girl has fallen from the sky. They then go to investigate, and discover that the girl is Peach, whom they revive with Spicy Soup. Feeling responsible for the opening of the Void, Peach insists on joining Mario in his quest and helps him reach the next Heart Pillar, and Merlon sends them through the new orange door to the next world, Gloam Valley.

Chapter 2: Gloam Valley

Peach traveling in Gloam Valley.

Mario and Peach cross Gloam Valley to reach Merlee's Mansion, meeting an explosive Pixl named Boomer on the way. At the mansion, Mimi is waiting in disguise as Merlee's maid and uses various tricks and traps to try and stop Mario and Peach from getting deeper into the building, including forcing them to work in the mansion's power plant to work off a phony debt she levied on them for the apparent breaking of a vase. With help from another new Pixl, Slim, the heroes outwit Mimi and enter the mansion's basement, where a spectral Merlee appears and warns them to be careful as they search for her. Mimi shape-shifts into Merlee to try and trick Mario and Peach once more but when the truth is discovered she reverts to her true spider-like form and chases them around the basement as they seek out the real Merlee, who had hidden in a bathroom. After more attempted trickery, Mimi fights the heroes, but Merlee weakens her with magical chanting and she is defeated and forced to flee. Merlee then gives the third Pure Heart to Mario and Peach and informs them that there are a total of four heroes needed to stop the Void.

Interlude

With Mimi defeated, Count Bleck decides to send Dimentio to go after the hero of prophecy, while Nastasia resumes her search for non-hypnotized stragglers around the castle.

Meanwhile, Luigi wakes up and is manipulated by two Goombas into helping them find a way out, but they run into Nastasia. One of the Goombas is hypnotized and the other Goomba willingly joins Nastasia's side, and they restrain Luigi so that Nastasia can brainwash him as well.

The Void grows over Flipside when Mario, Peach, and their Pixl friends return. After finding the third Heart Pillar, a yellow door to The Bitlands appears on the tower.

Chapter 3: The Bitlands

The Bitlands.

Upon the heroes' arrival in the pixelated Bitlands, Tippi is kidnapped by the geeky, butterfly-collecting chameleon, Francis. Another Pixl named Barry witnessed the scene from behind a bush and tells the heroes how to reach Fort Francis. After passing through an underground area just like World 1-2 in Super Mario Bros., Mario and Peach come across some castles occupied by Koopas, Hammer Bros., Bullet Bills and Bowser himself, who proceeds to lose a one-on-one fight with Mario. Bowser explains that he was locked up in Bleck's Castle and does not know how he appeared in the Bitlands, and with some persuasion, agrees to join Peach and Mario on their journey. The three swim across the Tile Pool, where they meet a new Pixl, Thudley, and use him to defeat a monstrous Big Blooper. Beyond the pool, the heroes climb the Dotwood Tree in order to use the winds blowing at the top to float over a gorge and reach Fort Francis. Along the way, they run into Dimentio, who transports them to Dimension D and fights them. He is defeated, brushing it off as a mere amusement, and monologues to himself that he was in fact using it to gauge the heroes' strength in order to ensure they can defeat Count Bleck when the time comes. Unaware of Dimentio's plotting, Mario, Peach and Bowser continue on to Fort Francis, where they find another trapped Pixl named Carrie and navigate their way through a sea of puzzles, Meowmaid robots, and nerdy memorabilia. When they reach Francis, he immediately develops a crush on Peach and attempts to flirt with her using an electronic chat interface that he created, called Swoon.exe. She rebuffs him and he is defeated in battle, and the surge of trust and happiness from the newly-freed Tippi calls forth the next Pure Heart from the castle.

Interlude

Back at Castle Bleck, Dimentio muses that the heroes might be able to defy the prophecy, but Bleck is confident in his plan and calls for an unnamed new minion to take care of his foes. Nastasia lingers after the other minions leave and tries to get Bleck to reconsider, but while he does not give up after coming as far as he has, he gives her a chance to leave with his blessing, which she declines out of loyalty and love for Bleck. Unbeknownst to both of them, Dimentio eavesdropped on the entire exchange, but decides not to worry about it, since he has his own "projects" to attend to.

When the heroes return to Flipside, Merlon explains that the castle once belonged to the Tribe of Ancients, and the Pure Heart summoned by Tippi was originally sealed there by them. He also acknowledges Bowser as the third hero of the prophecy. The heroes can then open the new green door to continue on their quest. At this point, the player has the option to return to the Bitlands to collect Barry, who will say he is impressed that they managed to save Tippi. Barry is the first optional Pixl.

Chapter 4: Outer Space

Mario, Tippi, and Squirps check out something unusual.

The realm beyond the green door turns out to be Outer Space, and the heroes are forced to return immediately to Flipside and procure a Goldfish Bowl to use as a helmet in order to breathe in space. They soon meet an alien named Squirps who serves them as both a guide and a living ray gun for attacking enemies. They made a pit stop on Planet Blobule so that Squirps could go to the bathroom, but the outhouse is occupied by the Pixl Fleep, who does not exit until the heroes find him some makeshift toilet paper. He then joins them and they all proceed through the Outer Limits to the warped, maze-like Whoa Zone. Here they are confronted by another one of Bleck's minions, Mr. L, who they think they know. They defeat him, and defeat him again in space using Squirps' lasers when he summons his massive Brobot robot for a rematch. Squirps then brings the gang to the Pure Heart and a statue of his mother, where he remains behind as they return to Flipside.

Interlude

Back at Castle Bleck, Nastasia introduces Mr. L to the other minions and after he leaves, Bleck identifies him as the "man in green" that is destined to bring destruction to all, although the other minions are unenthusiastic about the newcomer. After they leave as well, Nastasia voices her concerns that the heroes will come for Bleck and once again appeals to him to call off the plan. She reasons that he used to cherish the world and muses that if she had been "that girl", things would be different, but Bleck says the girl could not be replaced, especially by Nastasia, and leaves.

Upon returning to Flipside, Tippi faints and is left at Merlon's as the group finds their way across a three-dimensional bridge to Flopside, the mirror counterpart to Flipside. They find the next Heart Pillar and meet Merlon's counterpart, Nolrem, before returning to Flipside, collecting Tippi, and entering the next world.

Chapter 5: Land of the Cragnons

Mario runs from a raging Muth.

The heroes drop into the Land of the Cragnons and are tasked with saving Cragnon citizens who had been kidnapped by Floro Sapiens. In the Gap of Crag, they fight O'Chunks again, but even with Dimentio's help, he is defeated. The heroes then collect another Pixl, Cudge, and enter the Floro Caverns, where they meet up with the famous Cragnon journalist, Flint Cragley and his crew, and discover that the Floro Sapiens had been using Floro Sprouts to brainwash their captured Cragnons into doing manual labor for them. They meet yet another Pixl, Dottie, and fight O'Chunks once again, although this time he has been dumbed-down and powered-up by Dimentio through the use of a Floro Sprout. Upon O'Chunks' defeat, the Floro Sprout falls off dead, and the heroes use it to trick the Floro Sapiens into letting them gain access to their leader, King Croacus IV. They battle and defeat him too, and only then learn that pollution caused by the Cragnons had driven him mad and led to the kidnappings. Flint Cragley vows to spread the word and make his fellow Cragnons curtail their pollution in a first step towards peace between the two nations, and the three heroes are given the Pure Heart that had been in King Croacus' possession.

Interlude

Back at Castle Bleck, Nastasia punishes O'Chunks for his repeated failures while Mimi complains about being bored and Mr. L picks fights with the others. Dimentio appears and quietly coaxes Mimi and Mr. L to attack the heroes, and they steal away from the castle.

Meanwhile, the heroes use their two new Pixls to unlock the next door to the next world, Sammer's Kingdom, and are informed by Nolrem that the Void will destroy all soon.

Chapter 6: Sammer's Kingdom

The Sammer's Kingdom

In the Sammer's Kingdom, the Void is almost at full size. After defeating the first Sammer Guy, King Sammer arrives with 99 more combatants and explains that the heroes have to defeat all of them to get the next Pure Heart, as per the laws of the land. After the heroes defeat the next nineteen Sammer Guys, Count Bleck himself appears to inform them that Sammer's Kingdom is about to be destroyed, but when Tippi confronts him, he beats a hasty withdrawal. The next five Sammer Guys recognize the direness of the situation and let the heroes pass for free, at which point the King returns and appears to present them with the Pure Heart, but it is just a bomb in a treasure chest, and the King turns out to be Mimi in disguise. She fights them with a barrage of rubees and is defeated, but she had only intended to stall the heroes. They hurry, but are unable to get farther than the 30th gate before the world is demolished and they are forced to flee back to Flipside. The door to the Sammer Kingdom remains so they go through, but all they find is an endless expanse of whiteness, and a deadened Pure Heart, now turned to stone. Mr. L appears with Brobot L-type to try to stop the heroes from getting the dead Pure Heart, but loses the fight and the Heart.

Interlude

After Mario, Peach and Bowser leave with the stone-like Pure Heart, Dimentio shows up and appears to destroy Mr. L.

Meanwhile, at Castle Bleck, Nastasia reports to Bleck about Mimi and Mr. L's disobedient hero-fighting and leaves Bleck to his ponderings about whether Tippi the Pixl was really Timpani, although he pushes the thought aside and reaffirms to himself that no one can stop the prophecy now anyway.

Back at Flipside, the heroes are despondent over the now-useless Pure Heart, when Dimentio shows up at Merlon's house and before anyone can stop him, he appears to destroy Mario, Peach and Bowser just as he had dispatched Mr. L. Mario wakes up to find himself alone in The Underwhere, the video-game Underworld. He wanders around the area, breezily meeting Luvbi before finding his way to her mother, Queen Jaydes, the queen of the underworld. She tasks him with collecting Luvbi for her, and in return, she agrees to revive the Pure Heart. Along the way back to Luvbi, Mario tracks down Luigi, who denies that he knows how he was sent to The Underwhere. After Luvbi is back with her mom and the Pure Heart is restored, Jaydes revives Mario and Luigi, sending them back to Flipside, where they meet up with Tippi again and open the next door.

Chapter 7: The Underwhere

Mario hanging around in some type of fountain that can refill his HP when touched.

The door takes them right back to The Underwhere, where Jaydes gives them a new task of escorting Luvbi to The Overthere, where Luvbi's father Grambi lives. They make their way past Underwhere Road, where they find Bowser, get past three Door Guardians (Dorguys the First, Second, and Third), and fight the three-headed Underchomp. They then ascend the Overthere Stair, finding Peach en-route, once more in need of revival, although this time it is because she took bite of a forbidden Golden Apple, and must eat another apple to recover. When they reach The Overthere, they find it already overrun with evil Skellobits, while their leader, Bonechill, had already frozen Grambi as part of his bid to take over The Overthere. He reveals that Luvbi is the final Pure Heart, having been given Nimbi form by Grambi, and intends to use her for his evil purposes, but the four heroes defeat him and his skeleton army falls to the Nimbis. After a fierce argument with her parents and a final, tearful goodbye, Luvbi transforms back to her Pure Heart form and is taken back to Flipside by Mario and the gang.

Interlude

Back at Castle Bleck, Dimentio lets the others know that the heroes are alive and the other minions scramble to get ready to fight them when they come to the castle. Before Dimentio leaves, he then asks Bleck if the name "Blumiere" rings a bell, saying Mario's Pixl mentioned the name. Nastasia once more tries to get Bleck to call off the prophecy, calling him Blumiere, but he denies his old name and identity and refuses to back down.

Chapter 8: Castle Bleck

The entrance to the castle.

After the heroes insert the final Pure Heart into the final Heart Pillar, the final door to Castle Bleck appears on Flopside Tower and Merlon and Nolrem see them off. The castle is large and filled with enemies, and the heroes are soon confronted by O'Chunks, whom Bowser battles and defeats on his own. After the fight, the roof collapses, but O'Chunks catches it and holds it aloft to let his worthy opponents pass. Bowser also stays behind, and after Mario, Luigi and Peach exit the room, they hear a crash and find that the door will not open up again.

Now one hero short, they carry on and are confronted by Mimi in the disguises of Merlon and Merlee, trying in vain to pry information on their weaknesses from them. She and Peach get in an argument and fight, with Mimi once more taking her "true" spider form, but still being defeated. The heroes turn to go, but Peach lingers to try and talk Mimi into leaving too; the floor then crumbles beneath the girl but Peach dives forward and tries to save her, only to fall in herself.

Mario, Luigi and Tippi carry on, coming up against Dimentio, who forces them to chase him through portals to the various other worlds, before ending up back in the castle. Dimentio then tells them that he had actually been helping them all along, such as by saving Peach from Nastasia and by sending everyone to The Underwhere to undo Luigi's brainwashing and get the Pure Heart fixed. He explains that he wanted the four heroes to unite and defeat Bleck, claiming that the Count had no intention of creating a new world once the old one was destroyed, but that he did not have enough strength to stop him on his own. Tippi warns Mario and Luigi not to accept Dimentio's offer of an alliance, and when rejected, he proceeds to goad Luigi into a one-on-one fight. Mario, Tippi and the Pixls go on ahead while Luigi remains behind and defeats Dimentio, who responds by trapping them both in a force field in order to destroy himself and Luigi, rather than letting Bleck get his hands on the "man in green" from the prophecy.

Mario and Tippi confront Count Bleck and Nastasia.

Mario and Tippi hear the blast and fear the worst, but know they have no choice but to continue to the castle's inner sanctum, where they are greeted by Bleck and Nastasia. Tippi and Bleck acknowledge each other as the star-crossed lovers Timpani and Blumiere, but Bleck still holds fast to his plan to destroy all the worlds and Tippi knows she and Mario have no choice, but to defeat him. Bleck sends Nastasia away and Mario tries to fight him, but Bleck is completely shielded by the Chaos Heart. Fortunately, Bowser (who fell through the floor before the ceiling collapsed), Peach (who landed on Bowser), and Luigi (who was simply found unconscious by Peach and cannot remember what happened) arrive to help Mario, with the uniting of the four heroes summoning the Pure Hearts and shattering Bleck's shield and leading to his defeat in the subsequent battle. As Bleck pleads for death and Tippi pleads for Bleck to live, Dimentio emerges and tries to finish off the Count, but Nastasia dives in front of the blast to shield him.

Knowing it does not really matter if the Count is alive or dead, Dimentio simply takes control of the Chaos Heart himself, thanking the heroes for using their Pure Hearts to defeat Bleck and pave the way for his own evil plan. He activates a Floro Sprout he had implanted in Luigi's head earlier and brainwashes him, before fusing him and the Chaos Heart together into the monstrous Super Dimentio. After sending Bleck, Tippi, and Nastasia away to deal with later, he adds himself to Super Dimentio and attacks the remaining heroes, who are unable to damage their new foe. All hope seems lost until O'Chunks and Mimi rejoin Bleck and help Tippi convince him to not give up, with the love and hope shared between them all conjuring up a new set of Pure Hearts, which Tippi brings to the heroes. Breaking through Super Dimentio's defenses, they defeat the enemy, but while Luigi is released unharmed, Dimentio leaves a portion of his power behind to continue controlling the Chaos Heart fueling the Void. Bleck quickly brings the group to the altar from the start of the story and he and Tippi renew their vows of love and commitment to each other, creating another set of Pure Hearts which cancel out the Chaos Heart, make the Void disappear and restore all the destruction it had caused.

The four heroes and Bleck's minions, including Nastasia, all awaken on Flipside Tower and are greeted by Merlon, who tells them the world is saved and invites them to a celebratory dinner. They wonder what happened to Bleck and Tippi, but believe them to be alive, and at the end of the credits, two distant figures, implied to be Timpani and Blumiere, are seen on top of a tranquil grassy hill.

Gameplay

Mario navigating around a row of Thwomps by flipping into 3-D.

Super Paper Mario, while implementing RPG elements and a complex story, is designed mainly as a side-scrolling platforming game. The game borrows level formatting and concepts from Super Mario Bros. to denote its chapters, with eight worlds comprised of four levels each. Levels are typically completed by hitting a Star Block, while the chapter itself concludes once a Pure Heart is collected, similar to Goal Poles and Axes respectively. The towns of Flipside and Flopside serve as hub worlds for the player to engage in side-activities or access these worlds through the Dimensional Doors. Chapters are segmented into rooms connected by doors and designed with the ability to flip in mind, allowing for Mario to navigate various areas or discover hidden information by switching perspectives between a flat side-scrolling view and a high-angle 3-D view by pressing the button. To prevent Mario from abusing this technique, a ten-unit Flip Meter decrements for every two seconds he stays in 3-D and deals 1 damage once it depletes, slowly refilling while in 2-D. Mario is also joined by Peach, Bowser, and Luigi later in the story, who each have their own unique abilities helpful in combat and with navigating certain challenges.

Due to the lack of turn-based battles, elements such as Badges, Special Moves, Flower Points and Star Points do not return. Instead, leveling up is determined by the player's score, an element taken from Super Mario side-scrollers, and the reward for reaching score milestones will alternate between increasing Attack power by 1 or upgrading max health by 5 HP. Other puzzle and role-playing elements are maintained from the previous Paper Mario entries; Heart Points are used to represent the player's health, items can be collected and used at any time to attack enemies, apply status effects and solve puzzles, interludes featuring Count Bleck and his minions begin after each world is completed, and Pixls take on the role of party members and provide unique abilities of their own. Many characters also aide the player through conversation or by providing services.

In combat, enemies attack on the field when the player is within range or sight, with some using projectiles to damage the player from a distance. Neither the player nor enemies nor are restricted from attacking at a given moment, unless they are stunned or inflicted with a status which limits their abilities. Since the guard mechanic did not return in this game, the playable character will instead be knocked back and gain a period of invulnerability after being damaged, similar to other Super Mario platformers. Stylish moves are now performed by shaking the Wii Remote after stomping on an enemy, earning points from the Audience and suspending the player in midair the longer the controller is in motion. This helps to chain jumps off of multiple enemies which increases the score gained exponentially, as points earned from defeated enemies will be rewarded for every subsequent hit of a combo. Action Commands are used to influence the potency and duration of various items, ranging from tilting the controller to aiming at the sensor bar to circle a Mushroom. Bosses can appear during the story to impede the heroes' progress, with certain ones being defeated to obtain the Pure Hearts at the end of most chapters.

Controls

The game is mostly played with the Wii Remote held sideways, with the direction of inputs shifting based on whether the player is in 2-D or 3-D. To account for this, the game provides an indicator above characters and objects displaying which direction to hold the to interact with them. Motion controls and pointer controls are also incorporated during certain Action Commands, Tattling, and minigames, some of which require the player to change their grip so that the Wii Remote is held upright.

Action(s)	Input(s)
	2-D	3-D
Movement
Move		Press
Jump / Swim / Midair jump	on the ground or in water after becoming airborne from flipping between 2-D and 3-D
Stylish move	Shake or tilt left and right after jumping on an enemy
Interact / Enter doors		Hold towards the object or character
Enter Warp Pipe	Press on pipe entrance Hold towards horizontal pipe entrance touch ceiling pipe entrance	Hold on pipe entrance Hold towards horizontal pipe entrance touch ceiling pipe entrance
Climb	Hold while on or next to ladder as Mario, Peach, or Luigi
Flip between 2-D and 3-D	on the ground as Mario
Float with Parasol	Hold in the air as Peach	N/A
Duck / Slide on slope	Hold as Mario	N/A
Defend	Hold as Peach	N/A
Breathe fire	Hold as Bowser	N/A
Super Jump	Hold then release as Luigi	N/A
Menus and textboxes
Move cursor
View previous textbox
See controls
Pause menu
Change character / Swap Pixl / Use item	+ simultaneously
Advance Text / Confirm
Cancel option
Pixl and follower abilities
Use Tippi or Tiptron	Point and press
Grab / Throw	with Thoreau
Place Boomer	on the ground with Boomer
Detonate Boomer	/ Fire Breath with Bowser / wait 4 seconds
Slim / Unslim	on the ground with Slim
Turn intangible	Stand still while slimmed
Ground-pound