Floro Caverns

"BROCCOLI!"

- O'Chunks

Floro Caverns is the setting of Chapter 5-3 and 5-4 in Super Paper Mario. It is best known for being the Floro Sapien capital on the Cragnons' un-named planet. It serves as a mine for the Floro Sapiens, where they collect gems and other shiny sediments for their king, who also resides in the caves. Mario meets the Pixl named Dottie here. It is interesting to note the use of picket fences (as if fencing in gardens) and many, many oddly placed street signs of random normal function (such as Stop Signs and Turn Left Signs) which, at least in the caves, seem to serve no purpose whatsoever.

Chapter 5-3: A Crag in the Dark
After chasing the Floro Sapiens through the hot sun in the Gap of Crag, Mario and his friends discovered the plant people's base of operations, the Floro Caverns. Shortly after entering the crystal-filled mine, Mario met Flint Cragley, a famous Cragnon explorer. Flint Cragley knew where Mario had to go, but sadly he had left the key with one of his crewmen; he and his crewmen were separated, and so of course Mario had to go and find them.

It wasn't long before Mario discovered a chilling fact: the Floro Sapiens were brainwashing the kidnapped Cragnons! The zombie-like Cragnons were not only hostile towards Mario, Princess Peach, Bowser, and Tippi, but defeating them deducted some points from the player's score! Apparently, the Floro Cragnons, as they were called, were being used to mine instead of the Floro Sapiens.

After a long and grueling trek through the caverns (which were full of hostile creatures such as Spike Tops and Putrid Piranhas, not to mention the Floro Sapien guards), Mario found both missing crew members. As it turned out, though, Flint had the key the entire time; he had just forgotten about it. Together with Flint Cragley and his crew, Mario and his party delved deeper into the Floro Caverns.

Enemies

 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Floro Cragnon
 * Floro Sapien
 * Piranha Plant
 * Putrid Piranha
 * Spike Top

Shrinking and Brainwashing
Using some well-practiced ventriloquist tricks, Flint Cragley manipulated Mario into going first into the inner lair of the Floro Sapiens. However, despite not wanting to go first, Flint and his crew went first anyway and weren't seen again until a long time later.

Deep within the Floro Sapien capital, Mario began encountering stranger and stranger things. Mixed with the earthen tunnels were steel, futuristic laboratories. There were also miniscule doors and pipes that Mario surely couldn't fit into.

The problem was soon solved. By solving a few puzzles, Mario met a free Cragnon and his best friend, Dottie. Dottie sent the Cragnon on his way shortly after meeting Mario, as she was destined to follow Mario on his quest. Indeed being a Pixl, Dottie had the ability to shrink Mario or his friends down to a size capable of using the miniature doors and pipes.

Eventually, Mario ran into O'Chunks again. O'Chunks was only free for a short while, however; Dimentio suddenly appeared and revealed that he had planted one of the mind-controlling devices used by the Floro Sapiens on his burly cohort. Warping everybody to Dimension D, Dimentio sat back as the brainwashed O'Chunks battled Mario once more. Of course, O'Chunks lost. Caught aback, Dimentio hurriedly left.

The defeat of O'Chunks was a cause for celebration; Mario obtained the plant that had been brainwashing O'Chunks, and by putting it on his head he could trick a security scanning device that had prevented him from entering a large set of doors near the entrance.

The King of Roses
Mario found himself in the palace of who he could assume was the leader of the Floro Sapiens, King Croacus IV. In a room guarded by many Floro Sapiens, Mario finally reunited with Flint Cragley. Mario found portraits of King Croacus I, Queen Croacus II, King Croacus III, and the current King Croacus IV. By flipping to 3-D and placing Boomer in front of the portraits, Mario could reveal hidden chambers beneath the floor, each with a switch. By changing the color of each switch to match the color of the Floro Sapien Ruler above him (in order, Grey, Beige, Blue , and Red ), Mario revealed a new set of doors.

Mario entered the new room cautiously. Suddenly, he was greeted by a floating flower head; it was none other than King Croacus IV in person. The flamboyant king screeched wildly at Mario before deciding to fight. Mario had a fierce battle with King Croacus; but with the help of Thoreau (as always), Mario emerged the victor once more.

King Croacus near falling unconscious, some Floro Sapiens rushed in. They scolded Mario for harming their king and revealed their intentions: the Cragnons had been polluting the waters of the Land of Cragnons, and in turn harming the environment. The Floro Sapiens were simply having their revenge. Flint Cragley nodded, and said that he'd give the ecological message to all Cragnons via his TV show. And with that, there became an alliance between the Cragnons and the Floro Sapiens.

Enemies

 * Floro Cragnon
 * Floro Sapien
 * King Croacus IV (Chapter 5 Boss)
 * O'Chunks (mini-boss)

Trivia

 * Some areas of the Floro Caverns somewhat resemble some of the levels found in the Vanilla Dome from Super Mario World
 * The name Floro Caverns derives from flora-, a prefix that denotes the involvement of plants, and cavern, a deep variant of a cave.
 * Though relatively unimportant to the game and truly only most noticeable in the Floro Caverns, the miniature doors in Chapter 5-4 highly resemble Digletts, mole Pokémon famous for being one of the smallest of them all (at least above ground). This isn't a first for the Marioverse; Whacka, which appears in Chapter 5-1 (in addition to other appearances in the Paper Mario series) is similar to a Diglett, and Digletts and Ravens have similar faces.