Hooktail Castle

Hooktail Castle is a location that is found during the events of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in Chapter 1. Although not explicitly stated, it is the first major dungeon in the game, as it takes place in a closed location. Like Koopa Bros. Fortress from Paper Mario, it features many traps and enemies, a boss at the top of the castle, four keys to unlock four doors, and a quest reward at the end. It is the castle where Hooktail, the dragon who is terrorizing Petalburg, is fought and resides. Mario, and his partners — Goombella and Koops — travel here to defeat Hooktail and collect the Diamond Star. The castle is full of many traps and enemies that Mario and his partners must avoid and defeat. The enormous rooms in the castle provide a resting place for some of the Koopas that have fallen victim to Hooktail's ways — however, not all of the skeletons found throughout the castle remain in an eternal rest.

The in-game map description reads, "A massive castle built to accommodate Hooktail's bulk. It's full of lethal traps."

Background
Though not much is known about the entire history of Hooktail Castle, some backstory was revealed throughout Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in stories and rumors talked about amongst the many creatures Mario meets along his travels. According to some stories told by Grifty, Hooktail Castle was built long ago in order to harbor one of the Crystal Stars. Despite Hooktail Castle being created to contain one of the Crystal Stars — which were scattered across the world in order to keep the Shadow Queen at rest — Hooktail was the guardian of the castle as well as one of the Shadow Queen's pets. It is unknown if the castle was originally created vacant, and then later taken over by Hooktail by purely coincidental means, if it was taken over by Hooktail purposely to guard the Crystal Star in hopes of somehow helping the long-dormant Shadow Queen, or if Hooktail was specifically put into the castle to guard the Crystal Star, although this seems the most likely as the Magical Map states the castle was built to "accommodate Hooktail's bulk".

It is presumable that Hooktail Castle was once inhabited by beings other than Hooktail quite some time ago, as the castle features some devices including the Rack, a flail, and a ball-and-chain. Many of the rooms are filled with the corpses of Koopas, but it is unknown as to how long they were there. There were also some prison cells found in the castle, similar to those found in castles from fourteenth-century Spain and Scotland; one of these prison cells has the skeletal remains of a Koopa residing behind it.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario and his partners can enter Hooktail Castle via a pipe that leads them into the background of the castle. The castle can also be accessed by placing the Sun and Moon Stones from Shhwonk Fortress in some slots located in Petal Meadows. At the start, there is a Recovery Block and a spring which leads to a plane panel, allowing Mario to fly across the ensuing moat in Plane Mode. A garden with a broken bridge appears under the plane panel. This garden hovers above a moat, and at the end of it, Mario can collect an HP Plus badge when using Koops. After soaring across the moat, Mario reaches a set of purple doors that lead to the center of the castle.

Inside the area, there are many Koopa Troopas and Koopa Paratroopas and a Power Bounce badge within a red ? block. In the next room, there are skeletons of Koopas and the skeleton of Kolorado's father, which clutches a note addressed to Kolorado containing a warning about Hooktail and her weaknesses and his last words. At the far end of the room, there is a Red Bones that guards the doorway to the next room. When it is awakened, the room becomes flooded with Dull Bones, and Mario and his partner are pushed away from the door, though the Red Bones battles Mario if it is hit by a hammer. After defeating the Red Bones, Mario can gain access to the next room.

In the next few rooms, there are more Dull Bones and a Shine Sprite in their path. A red Castle Key is needed to unlock a locked door after passing through the rooms. It is on a high platform that can be accessible from switches that cause arrow-imprinted blocks to go up and down. Mario can use Koops' Shell Toss ability to hit the switches while he jumps up blocks. The purple block leads to a square-shaped hole in a wall with a Star Piece on a ledge. By jumping on two Stone Blocks, Mario can reach a big black and yellow block that leads to a wall ledge and a Star Piece. With the black and yellow block up, Mario can use Koops to hit a red ! Switch to flip a nearby staircase to the other side, allowing Mario to grab the key via Koops' shell. After this, Mario and his partner can reach a Save Block and a large green block that goes up.

After some travel, they reach a room with a few Dull Bones and a Paragoomba and a cell, which can be raised by pressing a red ! Switch. The cell leads to a room with a black chest. After collecting the Black Key in a chest at the room to the right, spikes pop out of the ground of the room forming a maze. The ceiling is also covered in spikes and lowers towards the ground, which will crush Mario and his partner if they do not escape within 50 seconds. After unlocking the chest, a being inside the chest then curses Mario, allowing him to turn paper-thin and squeeze into narrow spaces. A red badge called Attack FX R appears in the left prison cell afterwards.

After reaching the second level of the castle by a big green block in the fourth room of the previous area, there is another locked door. The second key is located in a cell room with Kolorado's dead father in it and requires Paper Mode. After unlocking the door, there is a Recovery Block. There is also a switch that causes a bridge to appear. Mario can use Koops to hit the second switch and create another bridge, and they can use a window that does not have any bars on it to pass through the third gap, which is low enough to jump through, and a Star Piece can be found behind the windows at the start. Mario can also jump through the other window and enter the west door. Later, there is a room with many Dull Bones and another large green block on the ground. Mario can use Koops again and reach the third level. A Life Shroom can be seen on a ledge on the left wall and it can be collected if Mario drops down from the third level in front or behind the bars.

After meeting a mysterious thief named Ms. Mowz that came to the castle to steal rare badges in the treasure room, she leaves out the window after chatting with Mario and giving him a kiss. In this room, there is a Mushroom, a Honey Syrup, and a key in the chests. After unlocking a door, Mario progresses further up the castle. Mario and his partner can then enter a room with Dull Bones at the bottom, a plane panel at the top, and big black and yellow block that allows Mario to elevate up to the two ceiling ledges. On the ceiling, Mario can obtain a Star Piece at the east end. To obtain a key, Mario can hit a yellow block to move the large black and yellow block downward, then Koops can be shot at the key. If Mario goes down a gap in the room, he can obtain the Last Stand P badge.

After unlocking a locked door and collecting a Shine Sprite, Mario must go up two flights of stairs and travel across the outside ledge of another room. Mario and his partner then reach a long bridge with Koopas that leads up to a tower with a Spiky Goomba on duty. At the top of this tower, there is a Save Block, Recovery Block, and an enormous pair of purple doors. Through these doors, Mario and his partners encounter Hooktail, and after she is defeated, Koopley is spat out of her, and he gives Mario the Diamond Star.

Once Hooktail is defeated, Koopook will post a trouble at the Trouble Center asking participants to find him in Hooktail Castle. If Mario locates him on the ledge near the green elevator block, he will reward Mario with the Special Card. After Chapter 5, Merlon will tell Mario and his partners about a fortune he had received, which told of a room hidden in Hooktail Castle. If Mario and his partners return to the room with the spikes and blast a large crack in the right wall with Admiral Bobbery, they can find an Up Arrow.

Formations
For enemy formations in Hooktail Castle, see here.

Area Tattles

 * This is the entrance to Hooktail Castle. Not bad... There's a garden up ahead. There's a Save Block here, too, so we'd probably better use it, don'tcha think?
 * This is the Hooktail Castle garden. Looks like the bridge has been out for a while. Even so, this castle just seems so... majestic, y'know? It's so big, and... strange.
 * This is a corridor in Hooktail Castle. Can't say I'm a fan of the bone-pile decor. I don't really wanna have my bones end up here, Mario. How about we move on?
 * I guess that's a dungeon beyond us... Ick... There are bones scattered everywhere. Mmm... Mold and dust... Great. You could totally choke on the stench in this place. HAAAAAACK!
 * This must be the great hall of Hooktail Castle. I'd say it's the center of the castle. This place is so full of traps and dangers... It's kind of hard to get around, huh? If we could just walk to a window and look at the sky, that might clear our heads...
 * This is Hooktail Castle. You feel that upward-moving draft in here? Wow, sure is a big castle. Who do you think built it? So many questions!
 * These are the dungeons of Hooktail Castle. I don't think they're in use, but... yuck. Hey, y'know, I was meaning to ask... Have you mastered Koops's "Hold" move yet? When Koops is with you, just press and hold to make his shell stop ahead of you. You can even move around while it stays there!  Try it out in different areas!
 * What a totally weird room. There's just gotta be something hidden here. Then again, EVERY room in this castle is totally weird.
 * This is Hooktail Castle. There's an upward-moving draft in this room, too. Of course, tons of bones lying around, too. This place needs a decorator, STAT! You never know which bones are gonna attack, so careful where you walk, OK? Oh, and if you want to ride that green block, remember, Koops is the MAN!
 * This is Hooktail's treasure room. Ms. Mowz was looking for something here, but I don't think there's anything left.
 * This is Hooktail Castle. The door up on that platform to the right is hard to reach. I wonder if the switch on the right might control the block that could get us up there... Looks like a job for Koops...
 * Mario, take a look at this! It's like you could reach out and touch the sky, huh? Looking out from the heights makes my head go goomby... I mean... I mean goony!
 * This is Hooktail's lair. Yup, the highest chamber in the castle! Now, where's Hooktail, huh? Hmmm... Y'know, maybe we should be glad it's not around at the moment...
 * This is a hidden room in Hooktail Castle. Who knew there was a room in here? Well... I guess secret rooms are supposed to be secret...

Names in other languages
Lohgards Burg