Parakarry

"Another letter, duly delivered. A postman's job is never done."

- Parakarry

Parakarry is Mario's fourth party member in Paper Mario. He is a cyan-shelled Koopa Paratroopa wearing a flight helmet, brown shoes, and a mail bag, and is the Mushroom Kingdom's primary mail carrier, delivering Princess Peach's party invitation to Mario and Luigi, which begins the events of Paper Mario. He along with Corporal Paraplonk, Koops, and Holly Koopa are the only Koopas that have shoes that are a different color to their shells.

Parakarry works for the Toad Town Post Office; his boss is the postmaster. Parakarry tends to be quite clumsy and often loses the letters he is supposed to deliver, and it is also noted in-game that he is rather slow at delivering mail. As such, there are quite a few pieces of undelivered mail scattered across the kingdom. Parakarry's name is a portmanteau of "Paratroopa" (or perhaps the alternate "Para-Koopa", as his name features a "K") and the word "carry", as he is a mail carrier whose ability is being able to help carry Mario over large gaps he cannot jump over. His role is fulfilled by Yoshi in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

Parakarry is currently the only one of Mario's partners to appear in the most Paper Mario games, whether it be a direct appearance, a cameo, or a simple mention. Paper Mario: Color Splash and Paper Mario: The Origami King are the only installments to not reference him at all.

Paper Mario
Mario first meets Parakarry on Mt. Rugged (though Mario can optionally find him standing in the Post Office earlier in the game, before Chapter One to be specific). Parakarry explains to Mario that he has lost three Letters and asks Mario to retrieve them. After Mario recovers the Letters and returns them to Parakarry, the Paratroopa joins Mario's party seemingly out of both thanks and as a wish to assist Mario in finding all of his other lost Letters. Outside of battle, Parakarry can carry Mario for a short amount of time, flying over gaps Mario cannot Jump over. With Parakarry on his team, Mario can also deliver the Letters he finds by talking to their recipients with Parakarry out on the field. Parakarry has a Defense Power of 1 like Kooper, meaning he takes one less damage from attacks that happen to damage partners.

He also receives two letters at the Toad Town Post Office: one from Frost T. thanking him for delivering his letter, and one from Whacka who admires his ability of flying. At the end of Paper Mario, Parakarry leaves Mario as other partners do, but he forgets to take the undelivered letters (if there are any). This is implied by the existence of the remaining letters in the "Key Item" list on the pause menu.

Tattle
Goombario can use Tattle on Parakarry when Mario visits the Toad Town Post Office before leaving the town for Koopa Village and again at Mt. Rugged after Parakarry bumps into Mario but before he joins Mario's party.
 * Toad Town, Post Office
 * "His name is Parakarry. He's a Paratroopa who works for the post office. He's well known for being the slowest mailman around. A slow mailman? That can't be good."
 * Mt. Rugged
 * "He's Parakarry, a Paratroopa who delivers letters. He's got some problems. It must be nice to have wings. He can fly anywhere. All postmen should have wings. You know, some people say that if you help someone in trouble, good things will happen to you. You know, karma. What? You've never heard that?"

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Parakarry makes a cameo appearance in the beginning of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. As a callback to the previous game, Parakarry delivers a letter to Mario from Peach.

Super Paper Mario
In Super Paper Mario, Peach does not send a letter to Mario to begin the story, so Parakarry does not appear at the beginning scene of that game. Toad takes his place by just alerting the Mario Bros. that Princess Peach was kidnapped. However, he does appear on a portrait with all of Mario's partners in Mario's house, as well as on a Catch Card found on the fiftieth level of the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials. There is also sprite data for him inside the game, but it is never used.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Parakarry is mentioned in Paper Mario: Sticker Star in World 5-1, Shy Guy Jungle. A letter from him can be found in the trash-covered area. It reads, "Thank you for your letter. Sorry I'm not here to receive it, but I will get back to you shortly. Thanks. - Parakarry"

Super Mario-Kun
Parakarry appears in a short chapter in volume 26 of Super Mario-Kun. After deliveries to a Whacka, a Lava Bubble, and a giant fish, Parakarry interrupts Mario, Goombario, and Kooper's adventure by delivering mail sent by Goompa to Goombario. Soon, a sign reveals itself to be a Paragoomba that steals Parakarry's mailbag, annoying Parakarry. Then, a group of Paragoombas attack Parakarry. Kooper attempts to help by throwing Mario from a slingshot, but fails. Parakarry then loses his wings. Goombario has Parakarry eat the item that Goompa sent. The Paragoombas then kick the mailbag, letting loose the mail. Parakarry gets angry and has his wings suddenly reappear. Parakarry, powered from the item, dive bombs into the Paragoombas, defeating them. Soon, Parakarry happily flies away, forgetting his mailbag, but Mario reminds him of this fact, and because of this, Parakarry comically falls.

Super Mario Odyssey
In 2023, a Parakarry Nintendo Switch user icon, based on his appearance in Paper Mario, was made available exclusively for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers. As a result, if a player uses this icon, it will appear on balloons placed within Balloon World in Super Mario Odyssey.

Catch Card
Card Type: Rare Card Description: Parakarry earned his fame from the original Paper Mario. He's the most fearsome mail carrier of them all!

Paper Mario

 * Start Menu description: He's a mail-carrying Paratroopa who's looking for lost mail. Press to have him carry Mario for short distances. While he's carrying Mario, press  again to put him down. He can deliver letters to recipients all over the world. His specialty is attacking airborne enemies.
 * Official Nintendo Player's Guide bio: The hardest working mailman in the Mushroom Kingdom is a Parakoopa with a purpose. When you find a need to cross gaps that are too wide to jump, Parakarry will carry you to the other side. He can also carry some enemies away from the battle with his Super Rank Air Lift ability.

Trivia

 * In a demo movie after the title screen for Paper Mario (before pressing ), Mario and Parakarry are shown avoiding the Bullet Bills fired from the Bill Blasters, which only happens prior to the fight with the Koopa Bros. However, this cannot be done in-game, as Parakarry does not join Mario's party until after the Koopa Bros. have been defeated.
 * In Paper Mario, if Parakarry is Mario's partner when Mario obtains Yakkey from Tubba Blubba, his response to Yakkey is in "wavy" text, which usually indicates panic or fear. He is the only partner in which this occurs.