![The box art for the Nintendo Gamecube title, "Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door"](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/8b/b8/8bb8544034b240df51d41e6ecc7e2ffc.jpg?itok=6XgrKLSt "The box art for the Nintendo Gamecube title, "Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door"")
Welcome to the fifth episode of Easter Egg Sunday. This episode will explore the Nintendo Gamecube title “Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.” This game is an RPG staring Mario but, in lieu of a normal graphic style, the designers used a graphic style where all the characters and items (and some of the environments) adopt a paper thin graphic style. This graphic style allowed for some interesting gameplay mechanics that would only be possible (or rather, it would only make sense) with this style. The game combined a good story, interesting combat, and great graphics to make one of the best RPG’s available on the Gamecube.
Without further ado, the Easter Eggs for “Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door” can be found below. As always, some of these won’t actually be Easter Eggs, but will still be labeled as such. Also as always the method of finding the Easter Eggs will be separate from the Egg itself, so that players can see what the eggs are themselves if they choose to.
Easter Egg #1: This Easter Egg is found during Chapter 1 as part of the story. In Hooktail’s Castle, Koops will see the body of a deceased Koopa that he thinks is his father. The letter on the body contains the Easter Egg.
Easter Egg #2: This Easter Egg occurs during Chapter 3 of the main story. When fighting in the Glitz Pit, the crowd will randomly yell out things at either Mario or his opponent. One of the lines that the audience can say is an Easter Egg (well, it’s more of a reference or nod to a previous game).
Easter Egg #3: This Easter Egg is actually a secret boss. In Chapter 4, the player will eventually reach a mansion inhabited by a lot of Boos. These Boos will swarm Mario, and he has the option of simply leaving the room and continuing his journey, or hitting the Boos with his hammer. Hitting the Boos enough will trigger the secret boss.
Easter Egg #4: This one isn’t really an Easter Egg, but it is an important secret that should not be missed. Any time after Chapter 4, there will be a trouble on the request board (which is in one of the buildings to the right of Professor Frankly’s home). The trouble will be posted by “???” and will say “Elusive badge!” in the description. Take the request and then meet the client (who is on top of Zess T.’s house in Rogueport). How to do the quest and the reward from the quest will be listed below in the spoilers section.
Easter Egg #5: This Easter Egg can be initially found during Chapter 5. It is found in the first room of Keelhaul Key. If the player runs to the left instead of right after landing on the beach, they can find this Easter Egg.
Easter Egg #6: This one is another important secret that should not be missed. This one is unfortunately quite easy to miss unless the player has a good memory or is told about it. After Chapter 5, the player will have Bobbery as a permanent party member. This allows the player to blow up cracked walls to find secrets. One of the walls is located in Hooktail’s Castle, to the right of where the Black Key for the Black Chest was. Blow up this wall to find the secret.
Easter Egg #7: This Easter Egg occurs during Chapter 6. At some point, the player must get a diary for a ghost on the train. The ghost tells them not to read the diary, but the player has the option to do so. Read it for a rather funny/disturbing Easter Egg.
Easter Egg #8: This Easter Egg occurs after completing Chapter 6. After completing the chapter, the player should receive an e-mail from “The Real Zip Toad.” The picture at the bottom of the e-mail has this Easter Egg in it.
Easter Egg #9: This Easter Egg can be found during Chapter 7. In the X-naut base, the player needs to go down to Sublevel 2. Once there, go into the first door to the left of the elevator. The player should notice an open vent in the ceiling on the right side. The player can use a Super Jump to go into it. Once in the vent, the player needs to go to the right and fall through the crack in the vent on the far right side. After falling, the player will be behind a curtain. The Easter Egg occurs after opening the curtain.
Easter Egg #10: This Easter Egg occurs after completing the game and loading the save file after defeating the final boss. After loading the game back up, go to the Poshley Sanctum in Poshley Heights. Outside of the Sanctum is the Easter Egg.
======== Below this line are the secrets themselves, so there are spoilers ahead. ========
Easter Egg #1: The letter reveals that this is actually Kolorado’s father. Kolorado was an archaeologist/explorer from the first “Paper Mario” (and likely a reference to Indiana Jones).
Easter Egg #2: Occasionally, the audience will yell “Jumpman! I mean, who?” This is a reference to Mario’s original name from the original “Donkey Kong” game, which was Jumpman.
Easter Egg #3: If the player chooses to hit all the Boos with his hammer, the boos will transform into Atomic Boo, a very large Boo who is an optional boss. The boss isn’t too hard to defeat, especially if the player skips him during the first visit and returns later. Defeating him will award the player with the Lucky Start badge. It costs 4 BP to use and gives Mario a random bonus at the start of each fight.
Easter Egg #4: After reaching the client, the player will notice that she is Ms. Mowz, the character who has been appearing in random places in the game. She asks the player to get a badge. This badge is found in Hooktail’s room in her castle. In the center of the room, the player can use Flurrie to blow away an invisible sheet, which will reveal the badge. Return the badge and Ms. Mowz will join the party. She has the unique ability to steal items that enemies are holding in battle. This can be extremely useful when trying to get rare items and badges.
Easter Egg #5: At the far left side of the beach is a creature called a Whacka. This creature was found in the first “Paper Mario” and he serves the same purpose in this game. He can be hit on the head (hence the name Whacka) and he will drop a Whacka Bump, which heals Mario for 25 HP and 25 FP. This is of course quite cruel as they are very friendly creatures, but the item they drop is one of the better consumables in the game. After hitting him 8 times, he will leave permanently.
Easter Egg #6: After blowing up the wall, the player can enter and get an item called the “Up Arrow.” If the player takes this back to Merlon, the player can upgrade their partner characters a second time, giving them more health and unlocking their final abilities.
Easter Egg #7: Reading the diary will cause the ghost to appear and he will curse Mario. This will lead to an instant Game Over, forcing the player to restart from their most recent save.
Easter Egg #8: In the window in the picture, the player can see a strange character. This character is Jr. Troopa, a recurring mini-boss in the original “Paper Mario.”
Easter Egg #9: Upon opening the curtain, Mario will be transformed into an 8-bit version of himself. His partner will also be changed into an 8-bit form. The player can walk and jump around the room like normal. However, the effects will wear off after leaving the room. This Easter Egg can be repeated as many times as the player wishes.
Easter Egg #10: In front of the Poshley Sanctum will be two Boos. These two are characters from the original “Paper Mario.” The female, Bow, was one of the partner characters in that game. The other, Bootler, is her butler.
To learn more about “Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door,” visit the following website:
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