Paper Mario (franchise)/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • You can find Luigi in Rogueport with a new chapter of his own adventure (and a partner to prove it) every time you return with a crystal star. Then why can he sometimes be seen in the audience of your battles? Isn't he supposed to be off on his own adventure?
  • So... anyone remember that chest in the first game that Peach uses to transport stuff to Mario? What exactly stopped her from jumping into it? There was plenty of room!
    • Peach had no idea where the other chest was.
      • She knew it WASN'T in her/Bowser's castle. I blame the Mario/Peach/Bowser relationship to be honest. There all friends who just happen to play rough with each other. If Peach wanted to escape or for that matter fight Bowser off alone she likely could but that's not how the game is played.
      • Aside from that....bizarre theory, she might have not done it for fear that a living thing wouldn't be able to survive the transportation. Or maybe it was just because she had no idea if the other trunk was actually owned by anybody. For all she knew, the trunk was buried somewhere, or in some old, unused building. If it's the latter, the problem is that the other trunk might just be locked. It would probably be better to be held hostage than to be locked in a trunk god knows where, potentially suffocating or starving.
      • Problem one with that explanation: Then how does she know that the items she's sending are reaching Mario? Problem two: What's to stop her from leaping into the chest, then leaping back out into Bowser's castle if she ends up somewhere bad?
  • Why doesn't she just... jump off the balcony? Even in games where she isn't playable, she has the ability to float and fall at a safe speed. (She gracefully dropped from a similar height in Sunshine's ending.)
    • Remember, Bowser lifted the entire Castle into the sky, so they could be in the stratosphere for all we know. Magical floating powers or not, I wouldn't jump from that high with a parachute!
  • If the Crystal Star from the X-Naut Base was originally found in Rougeport, why did it go to Fahr Outpost in the final battle?
    • It (or rather, the game designers) didn't want the Bob-Ombs to feel left out, maybe?
    • They might have been going to all the nearby towns. Because Rougeport was literally right on top of where the battle was taking place, there might have been no need for a Crystal Star to stop there.
  • So... Is Peach still married to Bowser? I don't recall them getting a divorce or annulment from the end of Super Paper Mario.
    • I doubt that the wedding would be considered legitimate, even by Mario-verse standards. Both the bride and groom were kidnapped, physical force was administered to get both parties to agree to the vows, and I sincerely doubt that Count Bleck is a minister.
      • But the wedding was legitimate enough to bring about the apocalypse. Doesn't that count for anything?
      • The prophecy called for the two of them to say vows, but that doesn't mean that the vows were legitimate.
    • They aren't married anymore because it was "until our games be over", the video game equivalent of "til death do us part". Dimentio did kinda sorta kill them, which, although it didn't stick, is still probably enough to mean the marriage certificate is now expired.
  • Okay, so hurtling through space via cannon, then spending time walking on the moon is no problem, but if you're going to bob gently though space, you need a fishbowl at minimum. ...Huh?
  • So if Vivian joined Mario's party during the middle of the game, why didn't she tell them that her sisters were working for a demon that wanted to take over Peach's body? Also, the Shadow Queen seemed forgetful about Vivian's presence and made no mention of Doopliss taking her place.
    • Maybe Vivian (And maybe even Marilyn) were unaware of Beldam's plan to revive the Shadow Queen. Vivian (And as said, maybe Marilyn) probably thought that they were just working to serve Grodus.
    • Although their ages aren't clear, Beldam is statedly the oldest of the Sirens. It's entirely possible that Beldam was alive when the Queen was sealed 1000 years ago, but (at least) Vivian wasn't alive then, or was too young to be able to remember. Or maybe Beldam just never told Vivian about their real plans because she thought she was too stupid and would screw it up.
    • Also have to question why she didn't bother telling Mario and Co. that the X-Naut base and final Crystal Star was on the moon.
      • Or better yet, the secret teleporter.
      • Well the transporter was locked anyway, so it wouldn't have done good.
  • Why is Vivian burned by fire? I can get not being able to punch spikes, but you'd think a Fire Mage would have a Ring of Fire Protection or something...
    • Fire Mage or not, she's still made out paper.
  • How was Hooktail able to "write letters" to Gloomtail? First of all, Hooktail was in a castle while Gloomtail was locked in the Palace of Shadows. Plus, if any delivery service were to exchange letters, that'd be impossible because the Palace of Shadows was locked behind the Thousand Year Door.
  • One thing that has always confused me is how Count Bleck didn't see Dimentio's betrayal coming. It's stated that The Dark Prognosticus can see the end of wars that were fought over it... So we can either assume he was stark, raving mad or just didn't care. But his surprise at the end of the game seems to refute this.

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