Torque (character)

“The only reason I lent him my rig was 'cause he got on his knees and begged. And what happens? He's in it for one second before he completely totals it! Idiot!”

—Torque, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Torque is a Spike Top that teams up with Luigi in his quest to assemble the Marvelous Compass during the events of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Before joining Luigi, Torque lived on Circuit Break Island, the home of extreme kart racing.

Instead of a spike on his shell, Torque has a wrench. Apparently, Torque has the ability to attach a variety of different tools to his shell, and as such, he became a mechanic of go-karts.

When Luigi arrived on Circuit Break Island, he discovered that the champion of the kart races would earn a trophy with a piece of the Marvelous Compass embedded in the plaque. Luigi claims that he entered the contest and was paired with Torque. Together, they won the race and earned the piece of the Marvelous Compass. In reality, however, at the beginning of the race, Luigi accidentally went in reverse, destroying all the karts in the competition (and thus winning the race). Torque decides to tag along with Luigi until the plumber can pay him back for all the damage he caused on the island. It is not known if he gets his money back.

Torque's name is a direct reference to the word torque, which is a rotating force that is often applied by real world wrenches.

Tattle Information

• That's Luigi's pal, Torque. I hear he's like, a totally excellent mechanic. According to Mechanics Weekly... that tool on his back can basically do anything. He seems ticked off, though. I wonder what happened?

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	トルク Toruku	Torque
German	Schraub	From "Schraube" (screw) or "schrauben" (to screw)
Italian	Bricolo	From "bricolage"
Spanish	Rante	Pun on "Carburante" (Carburant), and the name "Dante"