Tattle

Tattle is a move that is used in the Paper Mario series. It can be used in battle or on the field by a partner, and informs Mario about a specific enemy, character, or place that he is currently near. The partner who can use Tattle is always the first obtainable partner in the game.

Paper Mario
In Paper Mario, Goombario is able to use Tattle after joining Mario's party, listing information and statistics from memory. Tattling on the field will tell Mario about his surroundings, or a character if they are close to him.

Tattling in battle will list various characteristics and traits of an enemy, including HP, Attack Power, Defense Power, and sometimes battle strategies. Tattling an enemy will also make a health meter appear under the enemy, indicating how much HP it has left. The health meter will then appear from that point on whenever Mario encounters the same enemy. Goombario will often also make comments about the enemy unrelated to its battle abilities, adding flair to the Tattle. There is no Action Command associated with Goombario's Tattle move.

Some targets cannot be Tattled on in battle, including General Guy's light bulb and the Fuzzipede, since the scenery becomes too dark for Goombario to use Tattle for the latter. However, Gulpits' Rocks and the tree in the Goomba King battle can be Tattled on, despite being inanimate objects. Additionally, if a Duplighost (such as Lee) transforms into Goombario, it can then use Tattle on Mario.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Goombella can use Tattle after joining Mario's party. This version of Tattle is similar to Goombario's. During battle, she reads information about enemies from the Tattle Log but, oddly, recites the info from memory outside battle.

Goombella's version of Tattle adds an Action Command and a Stylish move. When using this move in battle, a circle appears on the targeted enemy and a crosshair moves toward the circle; to complete the Action Command, the player must press when the crosshair is inside the circle, and to perform the Stylish move, the player must press  again right away. If the player presses the button while the crosshair is outside the circle, the Tattle move fails. Additionally, the Tattle Log will automatically update its data if an enemy becomes stronger (as some recurring bosses do).

When an enemy becomes no longer able to be encountered, such as all bosses (with the exception of the Iron Clefts and Rawk Hawk, since they can be refought), Bald Clefts and X-Naut related enemies (with the exception of the Z-Yux), their Tattle Log page will appear in Professor Frankly's wastebasket, where Mario can retrieve it and add it to the Tattle Log.

Super Paper Mario
In Super Paper Mario, Tattling works differently due to the different game mechanics. Mario's main partner, Tippi, and her replica, Tiptron, can use Tattle. At any time, the player may point the Wii Remote at the screen. Tippi will turn into a large cursor, and the screen will freeze and darken. The player can move the cursor over an enemy or object by pointing the remote and press to see its Tattle information. Tippi's Tattle ability can also reveal invisible objects.

All enemies and bosses may be scanned using Tippi's Tattle, except Dimentio and the Underchomp. In Dimentio's first battle in Chapter 3, Tippi is still captured by Francis, and for his second battle in Castle Bleck, Mario and Tippi leave Luigi to fight him alone. It is unknown if this was an intentional choice or not, given Dimentio's significance to the overall plot. The Underchomp cannot be Tattled at all due to the turn-based nature of the fight. Despite this, it still has unused Tattle text. Big Blooper is the only enemy that cannot be Tattled during its fight, but can be Tattled later on. Bowser and Francis cannot be Tattled during their first fights, but can be Tattled during their second.

References in other games
While not referred to as Tattle by name, the on-the-field functionality of Tattling appears in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Paper Mario: Color Splash, and Paper Mario: The Origami King, used by Kersti, Huey, and Olivia, respectively, in the same fashion as Tippi. In Paper Mario: The Origami King, when Mario and Bob-omb are on The Princess Peach and Olivia is absent, pressing X will have him Tattle instead. No form of Tattling exists during battle, but in The Origami King, there are hint envelopes found in boss battles that give Mario information and tips about the specific boss, in a similar manner. Mario can also press X during standard battles to ask Olivia for a hint, which will prompt her to say information about certain enemies on the field.

In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mallow can perform a similar move called Psychopath.

In Luigi's Mansion, Luigi can obtain information in a similar manner using the Game Boy Horror.