One of the strengths ofPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is its endearing cast of companions. Just like with its predecessor, getting to know each of these characters and watching them grow as they travel with Mario is a big part of the fun, and that’s something that’s been sorely missed in the series ever since.
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Truly, there really is no ranking Mario’s companions in terms of their personalities, as they’re all fantastic. Utility is a different story, however. When upagainst stronger enemies, the choices narrow a bit, and, unfortunately, some companions turn out to be better than others.
7Goombella
Snitching and Headbonks Can Only Get You So Far
Entertaining though she is, Goombella is, unfortunately, quickly outclassed by all the other party members. Her Headbonk attack is definitely handy in the beginning of the game, but it just doesn’t keep up as the game progresses and enemies get stronger. This would be different if, say, her helmet protected her from spikes or fire, but it doesn’t. Her Multibonk special attack losing power with each hit makes her fairly useless against various enemy types too.
Tattle is convenient since it shows enemy health bars and gives hints towards their weaknesses, but it just doesn’t make up for her lack of combat ability.
Seriously, why doesn’t that helmet protect her? Also, why doesn’t Tattle give hints towards secrets in the field? It feels like a missed opportunity.
Ground Game and Nothing Else
Koops is good at one thing and one thing only: bowling over ground-based enemies. His basic attack hits once for low to moderate damage on low-defense enemies, and his specials can hit multiple enemies for low to high damage. His Shell Slam special move is particularly good since it ignores defense, but, again, he can only hit ground-based enemies.
Koops’ field ability is also only situationally useful. Players will mainly use it early on for solving some switch puzzles and scoring a few first strikes, but it very quickly becomes obsolete as more characters join Mario’s party.
Shell Slam can be devastating in the lower levels of the Pit of 100 Trials thanks to its ability to bypass defense. I definitely recommend it for power-buffing builds.
Best for Blowing Away Pests
Flurrie can hit hard, but her overall slowness makes her a bit situational. She can hit enemies on the ceiling, but only one per attack. She’s also an option against tankier foes thanks to the defense-piercing Lip Lock. When it comes to larger groups or even just individual spiked or fire-type enemies, though, that slow singular targeting limits her usefulness.
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If one doesn’t care about losing XP, then her Gale Force is great for ending fights early, but otherwise switching to a different party member is usually the better option. Her field ability also isn’t great, since enemies recover too quickly.
Flurrie doesn’t really make sense, if you think about it. She floats like she’s made of vapor, yet she’s affected by spikes and is also very heavy. How does that even work?
Every Party Needs a Good Thief
Combat-wise, Ms. Mowz is more or less in the same league as Flurrie. She can only attack one enemy at a time, but her Love Slap attack ignores defense, so she’s able to hurt most enemies she’s thrown at. Making large groups of enemies dizzy with Tease can also be useful at times, but her real star move is Kiss Thief.
Kiss Thief steals an enemy’s badge or item, giving Mario a great source of items and even coins should he take advantage of it. Ms. Mowz’s ability to sniff out star pieces is also invaluable to those looking to buy up all of Dazzle’s badges.
Item and badge-carrying enemies abound in the Pit of 100 Trials, so Ms. Mowz is a vital part of any item-oriented build.
He’s Got an Attitude, But He’ll Get You Where You Need To Go Fast
Yoshi is kind of a mixed-bag. His main attack, Ground Pound, and Stampede special are useless against any enemy with more than zero defense, but Gulp is one of the best moves in the game. It bypasses defense, ignores spikes and does high damage to two enemies at a time!
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It’s outside of battle where Yoshi really shines, though, as his ability to very quickly carry Mario around and even over gaps makes him practically indispensable during the game’s many backtracking segments. If his main attack were just a little better, he’d probably be the best companion in the game by far!
Yoshi’s color changes depending on how many minutes pass between getting his egg and the egg hatching. Zero to six is green, six to nine is red, nine to eleven is blue, eleven to fifteen is orange, fifteen to eighteen is pink, eighteen to nineteen is black and nineteen to twenty is white. The rotation starts again after twenty minutes. You can try again if you miss your desired color window.
2Admiral Bobbery
It Turns Out That a Walking High Explosive Can Really Put Out The Damage
At first, Admiral Bobbery has the same problem as Koops in that he can only hit ground-based enemies. However, he makes up for that with his Bomb attack dealing high damage by default. If you need an enemy deleted, Bobbery is usually the pick. Once he gets Bob-ombast, though, he becomes something really nasty.
With Bob-ombast, not only can he hit all enemies on screen for high damage, but he also grounds everything for an easy follow-up from Mario. In the field, his Bomb attack also makes for a great first strike once one gets the timing figured out.
Bobbery can’t bypass defense like Flurrie can, but his highly damaging attacks and ability to hit everything make up for that in most cases. If you really want to see him do work, put on some partner-buffing badges!
Always Coming In Clutch!
Vivian is probably the one character that should never be left on the bench for long. Her Shade Fist hits for moderate damage and leaves a lingering, defense-ignoring burn effect on most enemies. Her Fiery Jinx special hits even harder, bypasses defenses and leaves that same burn effect, and it hits all enemies on screen at that!
If that’s not enough, she can also use Veil to sacrifice a turn and make both herself and Mario immune to damage for the next round of enemy attacks, making it perfect against bulked-up baddies or charged attacks. She doesn’t do much outside of battle, but then perhaps she doesn’t need to.
There are more than a few times when Vivian’s Veil ability is basically mandatory for defeating a boss, including the final one. So, she could very well be the best of Mario’s companions from a lore perspective too.
