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. Goombario will often make comments about the enemy unrelated to battle, adding flair to the tattle.

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.

Some targets cannot be tattled on in battle, including General Guy's light bulb, the slot machine in Shy Guy's Toy Box, and the Fuzzipede, since the scenery becomes too dark for Goombario to use Tattle on him. 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. She reads information about enemies from the Tattle Log. This version of Tattle is similar to Goombario's. Oddly, Goombella uses the Tattle Log in battle, and recites from memory outside battle.

Goombella's version of Tattle adds an Action Command and a Stylish move. To complete the Action Command, the player must press when the cross goes into the circle, whereas the Stylish move is performed upon pressing  again right away. Additionally, the Tattle Log will automatically update its data if an enemy becomes stronger (as some recurring bosses do). It is also possible to fail tattling in battle if the player fails to stop the cross in the circle.

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) who are not tattled on after the last possible opportunity to tattle them will have their tattle information appear in Professor Frankly's wastebasket, where Mario can retrieve it and add it to the Tattle Log. In this game, Goombella does not need to tattle an enemy for Mario to view its HP and remaining HP; if he has the Peekaboo badge equipped, this effect will always appear for every enemy.

Super Paper Mario
In Super Paper Mario, tattling works differently to accommodate the heavier focus on platforming and lack of turn-based battles. 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. In this game, the tattle ability can also reveal invisible objects and, in some cases, make them visible.

The only bosses that cannot be scanned by Tippi are 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. No form of tattling exists during battle, however.

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.

Names in other languages
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