Shy Guy's Toy Box

Shy Guy's Toy Box is the home of the Shy Guys and the location of the fourth Star Spirit, Muskular in Paper Mario. It is found in an empty house in southwestern Toad Town. It is the base for General Guy's army. After Chapter 3 is cleared, Mario finds Shy Guys causing mayhem in Toad Town, and is hinted by Twink to search it for his next Star Spirit. To find the toy box, the player must use Lady Bow in the empty house to become invisible, and then a Shy Guy will uncover a secret wall, revealing the entrance to Mario. Shy Guy's Toy Box makes up most of Chapter 4, where Mario shuttles between the Toy Box and Toad Town, solving puzzles and making progress. Watt lives here and after Mario, Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, Parakarry and Lady Bow defeat the Big Lantern Ghost, she joins their team. The Toy Box consists of several miniature areas linked by a circular railroad. Characters shrink upon entering the toy box and return to normal upon exit. It is, however, possible to throw a Toy Train into the miniature box, which will then become a normal-sized, functioning train for the characters inside it.

Areas
Shy Guy's Toy Box consists of four areas that link to each other via train stations. Each station is associated with a color (blue, pink, green, red in the order they're visited) and has a Save Block and a map signboard. Hidden blocks can be found all over the toy box. A Save Blocks and a Toad workers can be found at each train station. There is no train initially.

Blue Station area
The area with the Blue Station serves as the entrance/exit of the Toy Box. When Mario enters the Toy Box via the Springboard outside it, he will become small and land on the Springboard in the clearing in front of the Blue Station. Mario can use the latter springboard to get out of the toy box and return to normal size.

To the left of the Blue Station is a hallway to a playground. A yellow Shy Guy and a Groove Guy can be found on the hallway, as well as an Anti Guy guarding a chest containing one of the Power Plus badges available in the game. Mario can fight the Anti Guy or bribe him with a Lemon Candy to get the badge. The playground on the far left is inhabited by Shy Guys of various colors that hold items including the Calculator, Cake Mixes, Mushrooms and Fire Flowers. They will drop the item they hold after defeated by Mario.

To the right of the Blue Station is a hallway with Jack-in-the-Boxes to get over large objects. Then comes some buildings to climb to get over a wall. At the end of the hallway is a treasure chest containing the Storeroom Key and guarded by either a Goomba, a Clubba or "guarded" by a Mushroom item depending on Princess Peach's choice at the end of Chapter 3. By returning the Storeroom Key to Harry T., Mario will be able to get the Toy Train in his storeroom, which can bring the train system to life when thrown straight into the toy box for a relative large size.

Pink Station area
After the Toy Train is put to work, Mario can only stop at the Pink Station in Chapter 4. A treasure chest holding the Mailbag can be found near the station; Mario can optionally return the Mailbag to the Toad Town Post Office for a reward.

The area to the left of the Pink Station is blocked by Gourmet Guy, so Mario can only go right at first. There are treasure chests containing the Defend Plus and the Ice Power badges on the way, and Mario has to use Jack-in-the-boxes and the rotatable doors to proceed. At the end of the area is a treasure chest containing the Frying Pan, guarded by either a Fuzzy, a Hammer Bro or "guarded" by a Thunder Rage item. After Mario returns the pan to Tayce T. of Toad Town, the cook will make a Cake for Mario, which is Gourmet Guy's favorite food. (Additional Cakes can be made from Cake Mixes held by Shy Guys in the blue area playground, after the pan is returned.)

After Gourmet Guy is given a cake, he will drop a Cookbook and go away, allowing Mario to go to the back side of the area to the left of the station. By going back in the same direction, Mario can find a pull and use it to fix the train track. This allows Mario to go to the Green Station.

Green Station area
The Green Station area can be cleared by hitting the four boxes near the station in the correct order. The player can go to the area to the right of the station to learn it, or if they know the sequence they can do it directly. The area to the right has some conveyor belt and nets which Mario must use Lady Bow's Outta Sight to pass through. One of the enemies in this area, a yellow Shy Guy, holds the Mystery Note and Russ T. of Toad Town can decipher it. However, his Dictionary is stolen. Mario must get the Dictionary from the treasure chest at the end of this area, which is guarded by either a Pokey, a Koopatrol or a Super Soda item.

Russ T., equipped with the Dictionary, will translate the note which reveals the order yellow, green, red, and blue. Hitting the boxes near the train station in this order (2nd, 1st, 3rd, 4th from left to right) causes the boxes to explode and the train track fixed, which allows Mario to get to the final area: the Red Station.

There is a slot machine in the area to the right of the Green Station, which Mario can play for free. It has three slots which can be a coin, a star (denoting Mushrooms) or a Shy Guy panel. Getting all three slots the same gives Mario 10 Coins, 10 Mushrooms or 5 Shy Guys depending on the panel type. Getting two the same gives Mario 1 coin, 1 Mushroom or 2 Shy Guys. Getting all the three different gives Mario nothing. There is no area to the left of the station.

Red Station area
The Red Station area is where two boss fights occur. There is a Heart Block near the Save Block by the station. The area to the left is where the Big Lantern Ghost is. Mario must first pass through a chunk with elevators and a Super Block. There is also a Deep Focus badge in a hidden block. Then there's a dark room where the Big Lantern Ghost is. After defeating the ghost, Mario frees Watt and she joins Mario's party. In the area to the right of the station, Mario must first use Bombette to blow up a toy wall, which causes a herd of Shy Guys to flee. After arriving at the lair of these Shy Guys, which is also dark, Mario uses Watt to light up the room, which causes the Shy Guys to break the wall to General Guy's room. Defeating General Guy sets the fourth Star Spirit Muskular free and ends Chapter 4. It is possible to go from the Red Station to the Blue Station, but Mario must pull another switch to make the whole track unobstructed.

? Blocks and hidden blocks containing items and coins can be found all over the toy box. There are 7 Star Pieces in total. Four are found underground in front of stations, two are found near buildings to the right of the blue station, and the other one is located under the final platform with the Dictionary in the Green Station.

Enemies found

 * For enemy formations in Shy Guy's Toy Box, see here.

Enemies assigned to guard Treasure Chests
They are available through Princess Peach's answers to Bowser's question in Chapter 3.

Items found
In addition, Mushrooms can be obtained from the slot machine in the green area, and the following items are available as Peach's choices:

Area Tattles

 * ''Say...are we actually inside the Toy Box right now? How could all this be inside that little box? Best not to think about it too much... Looks like this is Blue Station. It's a train station. I think if we use that jump pad we can get back to Toad Town whenever we want.
 * ''I wonder who made this Toy Box. I assume Shy Guys made it. They have such cool toys... I wish I could befriend 'em, but I guess they're too mischievous.
 * ''This seems to be a playroom for Shy Guys. They don't have to answer to anybody down here. I envy these guys...
 * ''Look at all the doodles on the walls! Did Shy Guys draw all these? They're kind of cute. I didn't know that Shy Guys had a cute side.
 * ''Pink Station! Pink Station! There's the switch to change the tracks. I have to admit, this Toy Box is a pretty cool place. If I told Goombaria about this, I'm sure she would be so jealous.
 * ''Over, around, up and back... It's like a maze in here. Still, since we're inside a Toy Box, I'm enjoying myself.
 * ''The walls here are so fancy and fun to look at. What a cool place!
 * ''Look! There are moving panels on the walls and even a railroad crossing. What a fun room! I wish I could play here!
 * ''Hey, it's Green Station! This train takes us to all the stations. Boy, if we could go anywhere by just pushing a button, traveling would be a dream, don't you think?
 * ''Somebody told me... Bow can easily avoid all kinds of enemy attacks. What a cool skill! I wish I had that kind of useful talent.
 * ''It's Red Station. First Blue, then Pink, then Green and finally Red. It's a pretty cute touch, naming stations after colors. By the looks of this place, I'd say that Shy Guys like cuteness. They even look like cute kids!
 * ''The walls here are made of gigantic colored blocks. Luckily, there also seem to be several elevators. What do you think we'll see if we ride them? I say we find out.
 * ''Uh... I do believe it's dark. Isn't there a light switch in this place? I can't see anything at all.
 * ''Wow! Just like a real toy box. Look! There are building blocks lying around everywhere.
 * ''It's really dark in here. I can't see a thing. I feel like somebody could be right next to me and I wouldn't even know it. Yikes!
 * ''This is quite an open space. It kind of resembles a toy arena, don't you think? Remember those Shy Guys we fought here? They were tough. Of course, they weren't as tough as us.

In-game description
The in-game map describes the Toy Box as: "There are Shy Guys inside. It's their hideout and base." After Chapter 4 is cleared, this is changed to "Shy Guys are inside the box. It's their hideout and base. A Star Spirit was held here by Bowser's General Guy."

Trivia

 * Shy Guy's Toy Box is unique as the players' answers (as Peach) affect which enemies (or items) are assigned by Bowser to guard the chests.
 * If enemies are chosen, there is a brief dialog between Mario and the chosen enemy before the battle starts.
 * Kammy Koopa briefly appears to place the items/enemies chosen by Peach, and her reaction to one of the first set (assigned to the Storeroom Key chest) depends on the item or enemy chosen.
 * The enemy Anti Guy is one of the game's optional bosses, as the fight with him can be avoided by either not bothering with the chest he guards (which contains a badge), or by giving him Lemon Candy (which can be made by Tayce T. after giving her the Cookbook obtained from Gourmet Guy).
 * There are drawings on the wall that resemble a child's drawing of a Star, Fire Flower, Flower Point and a Scarfy from the Kirby series.

Shy Guys Spielzeugkiste