Catch Card

Catch Cards are cards that Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi can collect in Super Paper Mario. There are different types of Catch Cards, each with a character's picture, stats, and other information. There are a total of 256 Catch Cards in the game.

Description
Catch Cards exist for all of the enemies in the game, and display information on them such as their HP, Power, Defense, and other notable traits; the item description for blank Catch Cards states that it captures an enemy's soul.

Owning the Catch Card of an enemy increases all damage done to that enemy, starting at double damage for one card; this factor is increased by one for each card collected, e.g. owning two Squiglet cards multiplies damage done to Squiglets by three, while owning three multiplies it by four, etc. The maximum number of each Catch Card that can be held is 99, multiplying the damage done to that enemy by 100. Bowser is the only enemy with multiple Catch Cards: owning the first card from completing the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials twice and beating Shadoo doubles damage against him, while the other ones do not.

Important characters such as Merlon, Bestovius, the Pixls, and even Mario's partners from Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door have their own cards as well. If the player obtains Mario's card, the Flip Meter never depletes, allowing him to stay in 3-D indefinitely. Collecting the other character cards has no effect. These cards can be bought or found in the overworld.

There are two Card Shops in the game, one each on the first floor of Flipside and Flopside, where Catch Cards can be bought. These shops sell them in two forms: simple blank blue cards, which can be used to capture any enemy, and turns them into a collectible card if it succeeds; players can also buy Caught Cards, which already have enemies on them. While Caught Cards reduce the amount of exploration required to complete the collection, they are usually sold at random for a more expensive price than buying a blank Catch Card, depending on which Card Shop the Caught Card is bought from.

Flipside's shop, Catch a Dream, sells Catch Cards for 20 Coins each, as well as random Caught Cards for 10 Coins each. The player chooses one of eight Card Bags that each contain a card; the exact contents are a mystery until the money is paid. Flopside's shop, Fondest Hopes, sells Catch Card SPs, a red palette swap of the original Catch Card which almost always works (except on bosses), for 100 Coins each. Their selection of Caught Cards also changes frequently and allows the player to choose which card they wish to buy, as long as it is in stock. The cards are expensive, however, and often exceed 50 or even 100 Coins.

Rarity and value
Catch Cards are also valued based on their rarity. Normal enemy cards are bronze and have one star on the Card Collection screen. Most boss and character cards are considered Super Cards; these are silver and have two stars. Exceedingly rare cards, such as the Amazy Dayzee and the Pixls, are referred to as Special Cards; their design is gold and they boast three stars on the Card Collection screen. Typically the rarer the card, the more coins it is worth.

If the player desires, they can sell cards back to the shops, with each shop paying the same amount. Selling a card does not remove its entry, and the player always has the option of buying the card back, especially if the card was a rare card that had only one instance throughout the entire game; the price is twice the amount of coins they had received for selling the card in the first place.

A few Catch Cards, most notably the eight obtained through defeating Shadoo, cannot be bought at all and can only be obtained once. Four of them, each corresponding to the four heroes, are regarded as the most powerful of the Catch Cards due to the fact that they increase the damage dealt to all enemies rather than one or none.

Trivia

 * Despite being a Super Card, Mr. L's Catch Card is only worth 20 coins if bought at a card shop, and only 10 if sold.