Extinction Event: Paper Mario Vs Yuu Blog [9/11/2024 Revamp]
Paper Mario, the legendary unfolding Storybook Hero of… well… Paper Mario!
Yuu, Daughter of The Cruel King and The Great Hero of the Monster Kingdom!
Heroes, great adventurers who travel many lands to aid others. Human or Monster, no one is beyond their help. Whether it be helping people with their daily lives, to dealing with villains, or saving the world, with these two heroes, one thing always remains certain; even if all hope is lost, as long as they have their friends by their sides, they'll cling onto their courage to overcome even the most insurmountable of odds. Paper Mario and Yuu, like many other heroes, don't just appear, they're crafted! Now the question we've all been waiting for, when these two storybook heroes collide, who will end up torn to shreds? Will Paper Mario or Yuu make it to their final chapter? It's time to find out as we flip right into this DEATH BATTLE!
Connections
- Both characters are heroic protagonists of a turn-based RPG series that takes place across multiple storybooks. These storybooks are categorized into Chapter-based systems to add to the overall storybook theme.
- Both characters recruit various partners and allies throughout their journey, usually tending to be non-human species, but also includes friends, and sometimes family who are usually cheering them on from the sidelines (such as Mario’s brother Luigi and Yuu’s father the Dragon King). One such partner being a princess of a kingdom, that Mario and Yuu save respectively at times, (Flora and Peach) this Princess is always accompanied by an iconic Pink Parasol. All of these allies tend to be the strength of the main heroes, empowering Paper and Yuu with the hope and will to overcome any desperate situation.
- Both characters went through similar story arcs in their stories (keep in mind not all, but quite a few): Both defeated a reptile related Evil King (The Dragon/Demon King and Bowser), both defeated a self-proclaimed Royal Demon who was going to destroy a town and spread their reign / destruction across the world (The Dragon/Demon King and The Shadow Queen), both fought a main villains henchmen who turned out to be the true antagonists (Arthur and Dimentio) both of whom took the opportunity of the heroes defeating their boss in order to take control of one of the heroes family members (the Dragon King and Luigi) in order to gain ultimate power in unison with a power their bosses possessed (The Dark Hearts and Dragon King's Rage), both end up attending a sort of Star Festival event, and eventually both of these heroes seek an adventure outside their storybook (via the Cruel King comic run and M&L crossover). Disregarding Story Arcs they have also done a lot of the same things: they have both visited the afterlife (The Fountain World and Underwhere) in which they completed a trial to leave, both have fought a ton of similar enemies which range from Dragons, to Gods, and even Shadow variants of themselves and their family members in another dimension (The Fountain World and Flopside), both characters also have a knack for collecting badges.
- Both characters sport a variety of elemental attacks (Fire, Ice, Poison, etc.) and even the power to wish upon spirits (The Star Spirits and Fountain Spirit). Their main choice of attack is a wooden melee weapon (A Stick/Wooden Sword and Wooden Hammer respectively) that is upgraded over the course of the game into a stone and eventually stronger Metal variant. (The Spirit Sword and Ultra Hammer)
What will be Covered?
It's important to recognize that this is not merely a remake of a blog but rather an updated variant with significantly more detail, especially in the Q&A section. The blog now features more valid scaling chains, remixed background introductions, revamped and removed feats, and fixes many dead links, pictures, and text size inconsistencies. Essentially, it's a complete blog revamp/update. I highly recommend reviewing the new Q&A as it reflects my updated opinions on both characters (& differs from the original blog), their stats, and addresses general questions about both. Both characters have limited material and should be reasonably easy to cover; however, I'll distinguish what will and won't be included. Paper Mario will focus solely on his games (aka the Paper Mario Series with no outside sources) and his crossover with the M&L series; I will not consider Paper Mario and Mario as the same character (as we'll further discuss in the "Before the Verdict Q&A" section). As for Yuu, I'll cover her game, the canon comic run (which is said to be a prequel to her story on the official Cruel King website), the storybook tale published shortly after that functions as a semi-sequel to the game, and I’ll briefly cover Disgaea. Yuu will also be granted her Father's Spirit Sword for the fight. It was an integral part of her arsenal that she never really lost access to; she only parted with it at the end of her adventure, leaving it at her Father's grave, and it’s essentially associated with the character (so she’s getting it). Additionally, it's important to note that Paper Mario won't be getting abilities from any lost or deceased partners like Kersti, who granted him "paperization," since she's literally dead and he can’t do it without her. However, he will gain abilities from Tippi due to the Pixl copy of her he receives in Super Paper Mario after her death, Tiptron. On the topic of partners, while they could be included in the battle, it doesn't benefit either side aside from a numbers advantage. Partners like the Pixls, which Mario literally owns, will be included, but neither Paper Mario nor Yuu will have the companions they met throughout their journeys (y’know… the ones they don’t own lol; though for an debate feel free to use them).THOUGH just a disclaimer, there is an ongoing bug with Opera GX that seems to make some videos not load on Imgur, if you have this issue you may have to switch Browsers.
(ALSO I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU PLAY THE PAPER MARIO SERIES AND THE CRUEL KING & THE GREAT HERO BEFORE READING THIS BLOG; THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD, BUT WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I HOPE YOU ENJOY!)
Background
Paper Mario
Today, I'm going to tell the story of Star Spirits and Good Wishes. Way up above the clouds, beyond the sky, where you can see the most distant stars, you'll find Star Haven—the birthplace of all stars and the place where all wishes come true. It's where the most dedicated stars become Star Spirits, the sole guardians of the Star Rod, which helps grant all the wishes of the people in the Mushroom Kingdom. Without it, those wishes would never be granted—whoa, wait, is that Bowser?! He shouldn't be in this story!
Despite how fast he appeared, Bowser was prepared. In one swift moment, he imprisoned the Star Spirits inside cards and stole the Star Rod for himself. Since the Kingdom wouldn't give him what he wanted, he decided to wish for it and have it. Paper upon fighting this new Bowser lost horribly, leaving Paper to fall from the sky on death’s door; with only the sound of the Spirits praying for his safety to be heard, all of them praying for his eventual victory over Bowser. This was the very first story of Paper Mario—a set of tales based on the real Mario. While no one knows for sure if they're real, they're real to a lot of the people who read them, and definitely real to our resident Paper Plumber!
Given how much Paper Mario has done, it makes sense to go over the basics of all his stories, as he's gone on over six separate adventures! Paper Mario managed to get the Star Rod back from Bowser, sealed away the Shadow Queen, stopped the Void from consuming all dimensions, got back the Sticker Crowns, halted the production of Black Paint, prevented the world from being turned into Origami, and even had an adventure with the real-world Mario and Luigi, where they fought both worlds' enemies.
And Paper Mario didn't do it alone. Across all his adventures, he's made hordes of allies who respect him and have had their lives changed by him. Together, they all managed to pull through, becoming heroes who could save the world whenever it was counting on them—people like Goombario, Vivian, Tippi, Kersti, Huey, and Olivia. His adventures always end alongside his friends, who helped him get this far as they face impossible odds that they could never hope to defeat. Despite this, they still cling to courage and bask in the hope that they all share a desire to protect the world.
Mario's Paper adventures often show a side of him we don't get to see much—a person determined to help others in any way he can, someone doing whatever he can to show he cares, a hero who always brings constant joy to everyone's faces. While Paper Mario may not entirely be Mario, he is a version of Mario many people hold close to their hearts—a symbol of our childhood we can always return to at some point. Paper Mario's tales continue even to this day, and with each new installment, it becomes clearer that there's no better story based on everyone's favorite plumber!
Yuu
A long time ago, a kingdom in constant turmoil found itself under siege by the dreaded and fearsome Demon King. As a show of power, the Demon King sought to destroy all humans to make way for his grand kingdom. When humanity faced utter extinction, a great hero appeared to stop him. Against all odds, the hero managed to defeat the Demon King, though he was greatly wounded in the process. The Demon King had no regrets as the hero swung his sword, but to his surprise, the warrior didn’t kill him. Instead, the hero snapped off one of his horns, the source of the Demon King’s power, significantly weakening him. The hero didn't want to kill him and showed mercy, much to the Demon King's dismay, as the hero believed killing him was too extreme a punishment.
Over the next few years, the hero and the Demon King became good friends. The hero constantly checked on him and tended to his wounds long after they healed. This humbling experience made the Demon King realize that his enemy was his first real friend. However, this didn’t sit well with the monsters, who believed they shouldn’t live in peace with humans when they could take their land. One of the Demon King’s most trusted monsters, who became his greatest traitor, took advantage of this discontent felt commonly across the Monster species.
On the day the hero and his wife gave birth to a daughter, this traitorous minion delivered a devastating wound to the hero and a death blow to his wife. The hero, determined to save his child, made his way to the Demon King’s mountain den, carrying his newborn daughter in his arms. The Demon King was shocked to see the hero in such a state, but there was no time for treatment as the wounds were too severe. The hero asked the Demon King to take care of his daughter, and the Demon King agreed, allowing the hero to die in peace, knowing she would be in good hands.
The Demon King was consumed by guilt over his friend's death, but he found solace in caring for the hero's daughter. He renamed himself the Dragon King to avoid revealing his past to the child and named her Yuu, the daughter of the Dragon King and the original Hero. Yuu grew up with the Dragon King, who softened over time, but his grievances also grew. He told Yuu that she would become a Great Hero like her father and trained her every day to ensure that dream.
Throughout her adventure, Yuu encountered many people, places, and both friendly and hostile faces. She helped others wherever she could, befriending the fox cub Rocky, curing his family of a dreaded sickness & gaining the attention of a Wish-Granting Spirit in the process. She solved the Hunee Tribe problem by befriending the assassin bat Cybat, one of the few monsters left from the old days who missed the might of the Dragon King and blamed Yuu for its loss. She also helped Flora, the princess of the human kingdom, who feared for her people's safety and sought peace through the Fountain World. These experiences helped Yuu mature and understand the world, leading to a confrontation with the Dragon King.
The Dragon King revealed himself as the Demon King who fought her father and brought ruin to many villages. In the ensuing battle, Yuu was forced to stop him. After the fight, the Dragon King urged Yuu to kill him to ensure the safety of all humans, but before she could decide, Arthur, the spider who had killed her father, appeared. Arthur had kept the severed horn from when Yuu's father had snapped it off and wanted to reunite it with the Demon King to restore his power. After wounding Yuu deeply with her own sword, Arthur began the process of returning the Demon King's power, keeping him bound in webbing.
Flora took Yuu to the Fountain World to recover, but after all she'd been through, Yuu wasn't ready for what came next. Flora reassured Yuu that being a hero wasn't about how many monsters she had slain or how powerful she was, but about not giving up and helping those in need. Yuu realized that the one who needed saving was her father, the Dragon King. After braving the Dark Fountain trial and confronting her guilt-filled memories, Yuu, with the help of the spirit in her sword, returned to save her father.
Arthur had siphoned some of the Demon King's power for himself and made him even stronger than before, but Yuu, alongside her friends, fought them both in the King's old throne room. In the end, Yuu's determination allowed her to defeat them. The Demon King, regaining his senses, once again asked Yuu to kill him, but she refused. Instead, she followed her father's example and severed the King's horn, rendering him powerless. Tearfully, Yuu embraced the Dragon King, declaring that he was her father, no matter his past, and that she would not let him die.
With Arthur's defeat and the Dragon King working towards coexistence, Yuu, Flora, a majority of reformed Monsters, and the Dragon King brought about an era of peace. Despite how much Arthur wanted to disagree he saw it first hand, that people could change, if not the Dragon King; he even saw it in other people, when one day he was spared himself by lowly humans who carried Yuu's same message in their hearts. In the end… Yuu achieved all she had ever wanted: she had a loving father, she had the fulfillment of her adventure, and she had the role of a noble hero. Even when things look bleak, it goes to show that 'Yuu' should always hold onto hope when looking for a better future.
Experience & Skill
Paper Mario
Paper Mario has been adventuring for a very long time, a journey spanning at least seven different adventures, and multiple years, though despite this, given the start of most games and the lax attitude he displays, it's implied that Paper Mario spends a lot of his time relaxing with his brother as opposed to training that entire period. Disregarding this, he happens to be quite skilled at numerous things!
He's super smart; he's solved all 64 (pun intended) of Chuck Quizmo's trivia questions, which cover topics like people, enemies, and general geography. He's an excellent problem solver; he's done detective work involving a supposed murder in Shiver City and traversed through multiple complex dungeons, solving puzzles like those in Dry Dry Ruins. In terms of fighting, while Paper Mario doesn't have a typical "fighting style," he's incredibly skilled with Hammer and Jump attacks. He's a hoarder in the sense that he uses overwhelming pressure (via Magic, Stickers, Badges, etc.) to defeat enemies, along with some top-tier strategy. This is certainly helped by the extensive battle experience he's gained over the years; he's fought against the likes of Kings, Knights, clones of allies and himself, magicians, mages, demons, generals, wrestling champions, pirates, and even martial arts masters!
One such martial artist, ironically named "The Master," had been running his dojo for most of his life, and Mario was able to win a battle against him, with The Master even commenting on Mario's excellent fighting prowess. The Master wasn't just any old martial artist either; he was exceptionally advanced and had moves that not even Goombario (who is literally a living encyclopedia) had seen before. But that's not all—Paper Mario earned a Championship Title in the Glitz Pit Arena and is even said to be the fastest to ever climb the ranks from the bottom straight to the top, even faster than the Champ himself! These warriors in the Pit are said to be the greatest fighters around, having honed their skills in the ring; and Mario even fought the FIRST Champion who was known for having multiple fighting styles he could swap to on the fly.
Paper Mario is used to being on his own, but he's fought hordes and armies of enemies by himself (as seen in Origami King). He's beaten the Shadow Queen's soldiers, who had presumably been honing their skills for the 1,000 years they were locked behind the door, and he took on the Pit of 100 Trials, a nonstop endurance gauntlet where you fight 100 back-to-back battles, with one of the strongest enemies he's ever faced waiting for him at the end; which showcases his insane stamina! In his crossover, Paper Mario was seen as an overall equal to the mainline Mario, so who knows—given enough time, I'm sure this plumber can solve any problem and even shine on his own in his own spotlight.
Yuu
Yuu spent multiple years and seasons (which is reinstated multiple times) being trained in basic sword combat; she was constantly supervised by the Dragon King, who was presumably trying to get Yuu to emulate a similar style to her previous father; to accomplish that, she'd train tirelessly every day. Instead of slicing and dicing her opponents, she slams her sword into her enemies, treating it like a hammer. Yuu, despite not having much education, has been studying with the Human Kingdom's Princess and has learned to read and write (great job, Yuu!). She has achieved a lot for her age; she's done detective work in the Hunee Tribe, uncovering a secret assassin and solving a burglary mystery. She discovered the mythical Blooming Forest, previously considered a legend, along with the Fountain World, a previously unseen realm. Yuu also scaled the massive and confusingly structured Demon King Mountain; she has a knack for exploration (which happens when you're forced to run around a country like 50 times due to sidequests)!
Yuu has extensive experience using magic items (like Ice, Poison, and even Honey of all things). Initially unable to use magic herself, the Fountain Spirit granted her the ability to use Fire Magic, making it her preferred method for magic attacks. Yuu has fought against wild animals, trained assassins, knights, gods, nightmare inhabitants, clones, ghosts, armies (such as when she stopped the Antgobbler Attack), and even the Dragon King himself on her adventure! But perhaps most impressive is her stubborn determination; while on death's door, she recovered from a brutal injury and immediately afterward fought through the "Dark Fountain Trial," a trial so infamously difficult both mentally and physically that everyone who had previously attempted it was killed and spirited away. While her adventures are only just beginning, ‘Yuu’ can only imagine what she's capable of.
Equipment
Paper Mario
Boots
These are Mario’s goto pair of leather boots, they can be used to stomp on enemies multiple times, they can also be enhanced by Cards. Paper has multiple separate upgrades of them, allowing him to perform different techniques. The Super Boots allow him to perform a Ground Pound that can break through enforced flooring and crates. The Super Boots allow him to use the Spring Jump, to launch himself high in the air, and the Tornado Jump, to effectively become a Spinning Projectile breaking harder objects.
Hammers
Every Plumber needs a great Hammer and Mario has a vast amount of them. Mario uses his goto Hammers to smash through blocks and bash enemies, they can also be enhanced by Cards. The Super Hammer lets him smash through Stone Blocks and perform Spin-Attacks. And the Ultra-Hammer let's Mario use a stronger variant of the spin-technique, as well as break Metal Blocks with ease.
Items
Over the years Paper Mario has collected quite the assortment of items, anything from damaging ones, to heals, to weird effects, he has it all!Allow me to explain some various status effects in Paper Mario…
Allergic: This status prevents you from being affected by any of the statuses below, whether it be positive or negative… but does not remove ones you were already affected by.
Burn: This status causes continuous fire damage each turn due to a constant burn.
Confused: This status confuses enemies in a way that makes them randomly do unexpected things than what they wanted to.
Dizzy: This status makes the user immobile due to sheer dizziness for a few turns and open to attacks.
Dodgy: This status raises the chance of enemy attacks spontaneously missing, how it does this is a mystery, so it’s most likely sheer probability.
Electrified: This status surrounds the user with a protective barrier of electricity that will shock opponents whenever they physically attack.
Fast: This status reasonably makes you twice as fast, given due to sheer speed you can act twice in a single turn as opposed to one.
Frozen: This status makes the user get frozen temporarily in ice making them completely immobile till it melts.
Huge: This status makes the user way larger and greatly increases their strength.
Immobilized: This status freezes the user in time, keeping them immobilized until it wears off.
Invisible: This status makes you completely intangible and translucent, causing attacks to phase right through you.
Payback: This status causes all direct attacks aimed at the user to rebound half the damage they receive back at an enemy.
Poison: This status causes the enemy to be damaged continuously due to being poisoned.
Sleep: This status causes an enemy to fall asleep.
Slow: This status reasonably makes you twice as slow, given due to sheer slowness you can act once every other turn.
Soft: This status lowers defense by making the target super soft.
Tiny: This status makes the user way smaller and greatly decreases their strength.
Coconut: You can throw this Coconut at an enemy to deal 3 damage.
Dizzy Dial: Using this item makes all enemies dizzy, try concentrating when the world is spinning around you.
Egg Missile: Have you ever wanted to turn an Egg into a grenade? Well now’s your chance, throwing this at an enemy will cause a 6 damage explosion, or crash your game if you feel like speedrunning.
Fire Flower: Plant a Flower that creates torrents of fire to be shot towards your enemy.
Ice Flower: Mario absorbs the power of a Cold Flower which lets him shoot hordes of Ice Balls at enemies.
Fright Jar: Seemingly a terrifying spirit in the shape of Bowser inhabits the jar, instilling fear upon enemies who are in its presence, causing enemies to flee from battle.
Jelly Ultra: Restores 50 HP and 50 FP, it’s the pinnacle of healing items, jelly does wonders.
Life Shroom: This Mushroom is very special, it can resurrect Mario when he hits 0 HP, healing him to 10 HP, it’s quite a handy failsafe. It can also just be consumed to heal 10 HP.
1-UP Mushroom (Paper Verse Variant): Completely restores your HP and revives you upon your HP hitting zero. It can also be used to restore HP up to 10 turns if used normally.
Mistake: If you made this, you were not meant for the culinary world. This mash of ingredients heals 1 HP and 1 FP, take some notes from Breath of the Wild or something, and improve your cooking.
Mystery?: Everyone loves a good Mystery, this bag pops up a roulette wheel that gives Mario a random effect that’s instantly activated. (It can make him eat a mushroom, a dried shroom, super shroom, drink honey syrup, eat jammin’ jelly, eat a volt shroom, slow shroom, gradual syrup, stopwatch, shooting star, put on a stone cap, use a dizzy dial, use a fire flower, use a thunder rage, or just cause damage to Mario for no apparent reason.)
Pebble: A useless projectile you can deal 1 damage to an enemy or atleast annoy them.
POW Block: This block shakes the very environment around Mario, causing a small scale Earthquake that can hurt anyone attached to a surface for 2 HP.
Repel Gel: This Gel can not only make Mario invisible but temporarily intangible.
Shooting Star: It calls down a wave of shooting stars to hit your opponents, hey wait- I’ve seen these somewhere before-
Sleepy Sheep: Summon a wave of sheep that puts enemies to sleep by stampeding over them, how does that work? Don’t ask.
Snowman Doll: Summon a giant Snowman to crush your enemies and deal 4 damage, extremely powerful against Fire enemies.
Stone Cap: It turns Mario temporarily invulnerable, but at the cost of not being able to move or attack, he’s stuck completely still.
Stop Watch: Can be used to completely stop time for an opponent, freezing them in place.
Super Soda: This drink cures Shrinking and Poisoning while also restoring 5 FP.
Thunder Bolt: Summons a bolt of thunder that deals 5 HP to an enemy.
Thunder Rage: Summon a horde of thunder bolts that harm all enemies.
Volt Shroom: This electrifies Mario, making any enemies to touch him take damage from electrical currents.
Whacka’s Bump: You beat a Mole to death with a hammer, just to eat the Bumps that formed on his head, you cruel cruel Plumber. This heals 25 HP and 25 FP. Don’t worry he’s fine in the next game, where you can kill him again :(
Boo’s Sheet: This sheet when worn can make Mario invisible and intangible, even Ghosts can’t interact with you in this state.
Coconut Bomb: Taking inspiration from your glorious egg, you make this coconut into a pipe bomb. It deals 7 damage in a big explosion.
Courage Shell: Boosts Mario’s defense by 3 temporarily and can even half damage taken.
Earth Quake: Make a massive earthquake to hit all enemies.
Gradual Syrup: Restores your FP by 2 every turn in battle for 10 turns.
Hot Sauce: Raises the attack for Mario’s next attack.
HP Drain: Drains enemy vitality, dealing 1 damage, and restoring 5.
Ice Storm: Causes an ice Storm to freeze enemies.
Meteor Meal: Restores 7 HP and passively restores HP for 3 turns.
Mini Mr. Mini: Shrinks all enemies.
Mr Softener: Makes all enemies ‘Soft’
Point Swap: Swaps the HP and FP stat of the user.
Poison Shroom: You can uh- poison someone with it if you really wanted to.
Power Punch: Makes the user giant and increases their attack.
Repel Cape: Makes the user ‘Dodgy’ sometimes avoiding attacks due to waving back and forth.
Ruin Powder: Makes all enemies confused.
Slow Shroom: Raises max HP.
Spite Pouch: Counters direct attacks by dealing Half damage taken back to the attacker.
Fire Burst: Traps all enemies in boxes of searing hot fiery explosions.
Ghost Shroom: Summon a mushroom that attacks and bites enemies.
Shell Shock: Kick a massive shell towards your enemies.
Block Block: Temporarily makes Mario invincible.
Mighty Tonic: Temporarily doubles attack.
Mega Star: Turns Mario into a giant rendition of his 8-bit Glory Days, making him completely invincible.
Pal Pills: Makes smaller clones of the user that follow around and protect you, mimicking your movements.
Slow Flower: Temporarily makes everything go really slow, making your reactions better.
Speed Flower: Speeds everything up, doing the complete opposite-
Capture Card SP: Captures an enemies soul inside of a card, has a chance at failing, but if succeeded you get a nice little nick nack.
Return Pipe: A pipe that allows you to travel to Flipside, a gateway to all dimensions in existence. Great for getting around the Universe too!
Starman: Temporarily makes Mario completely invincible, covering him in an aura of energy that instantly defeats enemies weaker than him on contact.
Strange Sack: Increases inventory space from 8 to 20.
Megaflash Jump Sticker: A big, strong, shiny attack blessed with great power and solid crumpling ability. Tell me this thing doesn't look cool.
Megaflash Iron Jump Sticker: An extreme stomp attack that crushes any spiked enemy. This thing is almost not fair in battle.
Megaflash Hopslipper Sticker: A big shiny... slipper. Still, if you're good, stomps a single foe many times with a superstrong jump! You can land ten jumps, making it a MEAN slipper. So just lay off with the slipper hate.
Megaflash Line Jump Sticker: The strongest sticker in the Line Jump line. Enjoy the megapower as you stomp each enemy in a line up to three times!
Megaflash Clone Jump Sticker: An attack that unleashes the four strongest Cloned Marios and delivers a strong crumpling effect. Wow.
Megaflash Infinijump Sticker: An attack said to bring enlightenment if you make your mind blank and become one with your jump. You can jump on a single foe up to 100 times!
Megaflash Hammer Sticker: A hammer with ultimate attack power. The main target and its neighbors get seriously BONKED.
Megaflash Slaphammer Sticker: An attack whose mighty swing punishes opponents by striking single foes from the side, launching them dramatically and often making them dizzy.
Megaflash Eekhammer Sticker: A megasized attack that packs a serious wallop for a toy. Get in five strikes for perfection. It does gradually more damage to a single enemy with every whack.
Megaflash Hurlhammer Sticker: Hurls a huge hammer into the air that plunges down and strikes all foes with superstrong force. Also hits flying foes.
Megaflash Baahammer Sticker: Makes all foes super sleepy.
Megaflash Burnhammer Sticker: Looses a giant flame on impact, charbroiling most foes well done. Does not hit or affect all foes.
Megaflash Chillhammer Sticker: Releases a frigid blast, freezing most foes with an arctic chill. Does not hit or affect all foes.
Shiny Super Boot Sticker: Avoids enemy attacks with a jump. As a bonus, it slightly increases the attack power of subsequent jump-type stickers.
Shiny Tail Sticker: Strongly counters enemies attacks physically and can reflect projectiles if timed well.
Shiny Frog Suit Sticker: Dodges enemy attacks by jumping over them. As a bonus, it slightly increases the power of subsequent stickers.
Flashy Shiny Spike Helmet Sticker: Protects against and powerfully counters attacks from above the helmet's spike.
Flashy Shell Sticker: A flashy shell that delivers big damage. The damage on this attack nearly doubles with good timing.
Flashy Mushroom Sticker: A flashy mushroom that greatly restores HP with flashy mushroom goodness. You get a bonus HP for good timing.
Big Shiny Sandal Sticker: It’s a shiny sandal, you smack people with it.
Big Shiny 1UP Sticker: A shiny HP restorer effective over ten turns. Time it with Mario's hands in the air for extra restorative power. Does not revive Mario like a typical 1-UP Mushroom.
Flashy Fire Flower Sticker: Throws very hot fireballs at multiple foes. Does not hit or affect some foes.
Flashy Ice Flower Sticker: Throws pretty strong balls of ice at multiple foes. Does not hit or affect some foes.
Flashy POW Block Sticker: Deals serious damage to all foes when hit. Can also crumple foes. Does not damage flying enemies.
Poison Mushroom Sticker: Scary and poisonous, even to you- you can use it to poison enemies.
Leaf Sticker: When used, subsequent stickers will automatically score an Excellent, and all enemy attacks that turn will automatically be blocked. A helpful sticker that automatically makes every attack Excellent and every block successful.
Secret Door Sticker: A portable emergency exit that can help you escape most battles. It can also open the way to secret locations.
Snowball Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Snow Spikes. Launches a giant snowball that snares all ground-bound foes. Doesn't reach high-flying foes.
Spike Ball Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Spikes. Provides a spiked ball that can be thrown at a single foe. Doesn't reach high-flying foes.
Barrel Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Broozers. Provides a Barrel that can be hurled at a single foe.
Wrench Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Rocky Wrenches. Provides a wrench that can be chucked at a single foe.
Bone Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Dry Bones. Provides some kind of throwable bone that can hit a single foe.
Boomerang Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Boomerang Bros. Provides a boomerang that hits all foes in its flight path.
Bomb Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Bob-ombs. Calls forth a tossable bomb that can explode and hit multiple grounded foes.
Sombrero Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Sombrero Guys. Provides a throwable hat that can hit a single foe.
Throwing Star Sticker: Sometimes dropped by Ninjis. It spawns a throwing star that can hit a single foe.
Big Spin Jump Card: Stomps a single enemy—spiked or not—with a strong metal drill. Damages many enemies if executed well.
Huge KO Hammer Card: Whacks a single enemy from the side with a super-strong hammer. Damages multiple enemies if executed well.
Copy Block: Allows Paper Mario to create cloned copies of himself which can stack to increase his damage.
Gold Whacka Bump: A commemorative item for defeating the notorious blue mole, known as WHACKA! No…he cannot eat the literal Gold-Plated Sphere.
M&L Equipment + Items
Mario & Luigi Paper Jam gave Paper a variety of new Gear pieces & Items (which can be found here). Though given it’s a separate RPG we have to cover the new stat attributes Paper has; it’s basically all the same things you'd find in a basic RPG, though he did get a few extra attributes:HP: These are your Heart Points, they represent your vitality! So once it runs out you can expect yourself to faint on the spot.
BP / FP: This is the Mario verse equivalent to Mana, Bros. Points and Flower Points effectively serve the same purpose. As long as Paper has enough he can keep using skills.
Pow: This is your Power Stat which determines how hard you hit an opponent.
Def: This is your Defense Stat which determines how much damage each attack deals to the user.
Speed: This determines the speed of the User and how fast they can act, giving the opportunity to use your turn first in combat due to pure speed.
Stache: This is essentially a luck stat, raising your chances of hitting ‘Critical’ and ‘Lucky’ hits in combat. It raises your chances of winning at gambling and the lottery, increases your battering skills allowing you to sell for more profit, and causes shops to sell to you for much cheaper than normal.
Gear:
Bundling Boots DX: Increases your striking power as long as you possess the MAX. amount of copies.
Shocking Boots DX: Deals 150% damage to shiny paper enemies.
Comet Boots: Restores some HP whenever you deal damage.
Expert Boots: Increases the amount of jumps with the solo-jump attack by one!
Shocking Hammer DX: Deals 150% damage to shiny paper enemies.
Comet Hammer: Sometimes forces damaged enemies to end their turn.
Collector Hammer: Increases your striking power based on the amount of Battle Cards in your possession.
Expert Hammer: Lets you swing twice with the solo-hammer attack!
Energy Wear DX: Gives you Star Points whenever you take damage.
Counter Wear DX: Sometimes lets you deal equal damage to an enemy that damages you.
Comet Wear: Sometimes lets you deal equal damage to an enemy that damages you.
Collector Wear: Increases your DEF based on the amount of Battle Cards in your possession.
HP Gloves DX: Increases your max HP by 20%.
BP Gloves DX: Increases your max BP by 20%.
POW Gloves: Increases your max POW by 10%.
Stache Gloves: Increases your STACHE by 10%.
Knockout Draw Gloves: Draw a card each time you defeat an enemy.
Knockout Charge Gloves: Gives you Star Points each time you defeat an enemy.
Filler Gloves DX: Increases the Star Points you accumulate after attacks.
HP Scarf DX: Increases max HP by 20%.
BP Scarf DX: Increases max BP by 20%.
POW Scarf: Increases POW by 10%.
Stache Scarf: Increases STACHE by 10%.
Copy Bangle: Gives you one copy per turn.
Paper POW Bracelet: Temporarily gives you a POW Up status effect when you use the copy block.
Paper SPEED Bracelet: Temporarily gives you a SPEED Up status effect when you use the copy block.
Shiny Ring: Makes shiny enemies appear more often in battles.
Trio Ring: Reduces BP consumption by 50%.
Star Brooch DX: Gives you Star Points whenever you land a lucky hit.
Items:
Nut: Recovers 15 HP to everyone in your party.
1-Up DX: Revives the target with 100% HP.
1-Up Mushroom: Revives the target with 50% HP.
Boo Biscuit: Grants immunity against all damage.
Candy: Recovers a small amount of HP and BP!
Double 1-Up Mushroom: Revives two characters at once with some HP.
Max Candy: Recovers 100% of the targets HP & BP.
Max Mushroom: Restores 160 HP of the target.
Ultra Candy: Recovers a huge amount of HP and BP.
Ultra Mushroom: Recovers 100 HP of the target.
Ultra Nut: Recovers 50 HP for the entire party.
Ultrasyrup Jar: Recovers 60 BP for the target.
Max Nut: Recovers 80 HP for the entire party.
Refreshing Herb: Recovers the user from Status Ailments (such as Burns)!
Badges
All across the Mushroom Kingdom there are these magical badges that provide a numerous amount of different effects. Anything from stat increasing, to new techniques, to even new abilities, badges can do pretty much anything (a list of them can be found here)!
All or Nothing: Your damage increases for every successful hit, but lowers every time you miss.
Close Call: When on low-health makes enemies more likely to miss their attacks.
D-Down Jump: Hit enemies with a pounding jump that brings down their defense.
D-Down Pound: Gives you the ability to bring down enemy defenses with your hammer, it also negates defense.
Deep Focus: Increases the amount of Star Energy that you recharge by praying.
Super Appeal: Makes gathering Star Power even easier by appealing to the Crowd.
Dizzy Stomp: You can execute a stomp that makes your foes dizzy.
Triple Dip: Allows you to use three items simultaneously.
Feeling Fine: Protects you from being poisoned or dizzied.
Fire Shield: You can jump on Fire enemies without burning yourself and increase defense against Fire Attacks.
Hammer Throw: Allows you to throw a hammer at flying enemies.
Happy Flower: Slowly recharge FP overtime.
Happy Heart: Slowly recharge HP overtime.
Ice Power: You can jump on Fire enemies without burning yourself and increase power against them.
Jump Charge: Charge the damage of your next attack, reverts to normal after attacking, this can be stacked.
Last Stand: When on low Health, the power of enemy attacks are halved.
Lucky Day: Can be stacked with Close Call to increase the chances of enemies missing even more.
Mega Rush: Increases attack by four when one health.
Peekaboo: Allows you to see an enemy's HP without Goombario's Tattle.
Pretty Lucky: Stack this with Lucky Day and Close Call to INCREASE CHANGES EVEN MORE of an enemy missing.
Shrink Stomp: Jump on enemies to shrink them and decrease their attack power by half.
Sleep Stomp: Jump on enemies to make them fall asleep.
Spike Shield: Jump on Spiked enemies without taking damage!
Zap Tap: Electricity will always be pulsing through your body passively, harming all enemies that hurt you.
Lucky Start: Luck smiles upon you, start with a positive status effect when entering battle.
Piercing Blow: Pierce right through enemy defenses to deal consistent damage.
Return Postage: Direct physical attackers will have half the damage they dealt to you reflected back as damage to them.
Soft Stomp: Makes enemies soft, aka lowers their defenses.
Things
Mario just for no apparent reason seems to carry random assortments of ‘Things,’ everyday items that can all warp reality in some way. All hail the 3D objects, RUBBER DUCKY SWEEP! Anyways, any object activated by Paper Mario will suddenly become massive, and then proceed to unleash a large-scale effect. (Though I’m just naming the Important ones; the rest can be found here)
Fire Extinguisher: Blows a massive amount of cold foam capable of putting out a city-wide fire.
Fan: Summon a Fan with enough range to affect the ENTIRE planet, blowing away anything in its path.
Baseball Bat: Hit enemies to the Horizon with this weapon.
Bed: Plays a lullaby that puts all enemies to sleep.
Boom Box: Doubles Mario’s attack power.
Cake: Fully restores your HP upon being summoned. (He doesn’t even have to eat it o.o)
Car Battery: This battery summons a massive electrical storm that shoots lightning at enemies.
Instant Camera: Snap a photo of Mario that will take damage for you like a shield.
Fish Hook: Get a random Sticker that’s caught on the Hook.
Hair Dryer: Summon a massive wave of heat that burns enemies to dust.
Hair Shears: Summon a collection of Scissors that slices reality to shreds.
Pocket Watch: Can stop enemies and time and is said to potentially be able to reverse time… though Mario has never used it that way.
Rubber Ducky: Summon a Rubber Ducky, which not only Floods the surrounding area, but summons waves of rubber ducks to attack enemies.
Water Gun: Shoot opponents with a Water Gun, yeah lol
Stapler: Can staple reality in place, holding opponents still for a few turns.
Guitar: Attack an opponent with high intensity music.
Turkey: Summon a break-dancing Turkey that attacks enemies.
Vacuum: Create a large suction that sucks up all enemies, dealing damage to anyone inside.
Bone: Throw a bone that summons a Chain Chomp to roll over enemies.
Balloons: Summon Birdo who will blow a kiss to enemies causing them to Spontaneously attach to balloons and shoot off into the sky as a form of BFR.
Compass: Summons a UFO shaped like a compass that points in a random direction, if it points towards Mario it allows him to run away from a battle with no consequences.
Lightbulb: Make all enemies dizzy by blinding them with a dazzling light.
Washing Machine: Roll up reality and throw it into a washing machine! It’ll make it squeaky clean!
Whistle: Summon a tornado that throws enemies around.
Disco Ball: Mario breaks out some spectacular dance moves that gets everyone grooving, anyone in his presence is forced to helplessly dance for a few turns.
Magnifying Glass: Magnifies Mario, making him much larger than before, allowing him to stampede over anyone in his way during this attack.
Star Spirits
When Mario is in a real bind, he can pray to the Wish-Granting Spirits in Star Haven, summoning them to use their unique abilities. As long as Mario has enough ‘Focus’ (which recovers passively), whether it be to fully restore his Health and Energy, or to use magic, they will always heed his call.
Focus: Through deep ‘Focus’, Mario can pray and build his Star Energy, giving him a way to indefinitely summon the Star Spirits given time.
Eldstar: This Spirit can restore Mario’s HP and FP by 5 as well as cure poison.
Mamar: She can sing a lullaby that causes all enemies on the field to fall asleep.
Skolar: Skolar can summon falling Falling Stars to rain down on his enemies (my personal favorite attack when I played N64 Paper Mario).
Muskular: He can decrease all enemy attack power by 3.
Misstar: She can give Mario a healing kiss that restores 20 HP.
Klevar: Klevar Spirit can stop time completely for a short time on all enemies.
Kalmar: This might be one of Mario’s most devastating Spirits, it sends out a wave of Energy that can transform enemies into Stars. The Spirit then proceeds to launch them into Space- it’s unclear if this has a time limit, but it’s most likely indefinite.
Star Beam: Can negate the Wish Magic of others by firing a combined laser onto an enemy. It can also remove any buffs from enemies they’re currently benefiting from.
Peach Beam: The stronger variant of the Star Beam, when Bowser became completely immune to the effects of the Star Beam, this amplified beam was able to turn off his Wish Powers no problem. This attack explicitly needed prayers from the entire Mushroom Kingdom as well as Twink to assist in its creation. Though despite this, it’s said to be an upgraded version of the Star Beam; they explicitly empowered Mario himself in order to create it, so he should still be able to do this. Given this is an amplified version of the Star Beam it should also be able to remove buffs from enemies.
Crystal Stars
The Crystal Stars are legendary artifacts created by a Demon named the ‘Shadow Queen’. They were eventually used to seal her away, despite originally being her source of power & the ‘heavens’ (she literally created her own kryptonite is she dumb)- Mario on his quest to finally defeat her for good, collected all seven of them! Mario can summon them to his person from just about anywhere as long as he has Star Power available (which recovers passively the same as before).
Appeal: Mario appeals to the Crowd drawing power from their sheer positivity and excitement this adds to the Star Energy counter. (Why is there a crowd in the middle of a death match? The world may never know)
Sweet Treat: Restore HP and FP and cure Poison.
Earth Tremor: Shakes the ground via high intensity earthquakes formed by the sheer force of bouncing atop the Giant Star (I LOVE TREMOR).
Clock Out: Creates a literal ‘time bomb’ that freezes enemies in time for a few turns.
Power Lift: Increase Power and Defense simultaneously.
Art Attack: Gain the ability to trace around enemies with the Star, dealing damage to anyone inside the shapes you draw.
Sweet Feast: An enhanced version of Sweet Treat, able to increase HP and FP to an even greater degree, it even still cures poison.
Showstopper: Defeats enemies if successfully pulled off without having to deal damage, piercing holes in reality that destroys the enemy. (mfw man has automatic winning IG)
Supernova: Cut through reality itself to deal massive damage to all enemies around you.
Pixls
The souls of past beings from years past take shape in the mythical forms known as Pixl. They all have their own unique special abilities and excel in different aspects and Mario just sorta- carries them around, so they’re quite handy.
Tiptron: This is a clone of the butterfly known as Tippi and can use all of her abilities. It gives tips to Mario about enemies he’s fighting, as well as the surroundings, it should be able to teleport between dimensions, and can reveal invisible objects making them seeable.
Thoreau: This is a throwing Pixl, it can grab projectiles out of mid-air or objects off of the ground and chuck them back at enemies.
Boomer: A bomb that can be placed or thrown at enemies, capable of destroying structures, and it comes back after each use with no damage.
Slim: This Pixl can allow you to turn sideways making you completely untouchable by normal means.
Thudley: Allows you to perform heavy Ground Pounds to break surfaces and hurt enemies.
Carrie: This Pixl acts like a vehicle for Mario, turning into a fast-acting platform that Mario can ride on and control.
Fleep: Can flip objects between Spatial Dimensions! It can also flip enemies, though only temporarily, really good for finding hidden objects.
Cudge: It’s a hammer, no idea why he didn’t bring his own, but if you want to bash some people with a sentient being, sure here you go.
Dottie: This Pixl can shrink Mario to the size of a tiny dot, it’s great for maneuvering through small spaces, and makes you way harder to see or hit.
Barry: This Pixl can make spiked barriers around the User.
Dashell: This Pixl lets you run at a faster speed than before.
Piccolo: Plays music that cures status ailments from Cursyas. (Movement Slowing, Low-Grade Amnesia, Weight Manipulation, and Motor Function Reversal) Though Piccolo sadly can’t reverse the BFR of the Back Cursya.
Battle Cards
While journeying in the Real World, with the real Mario & Luigi, he gained access to Battle Cards! Cards that could give him temporary effects to assist him in battle, unlocked with Amiibo cards and generally unlocked via story progression. Realistically it’s not too controversial to give these and they do give quite a few abilities Paper doesn’t really have normally. They’re all categorized by characters (like Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi, Peach, & Toad; so no real Card names will be brought up), meaning it’s more so just a compilation of all the card abilities:While journeying in the Real World, with the real Mario & Luigi, he gained access to Battle Cards! Cards that could give him temporary effects to assist him in battle, unlocked with Amiibo cards and generally unlocked via story progression. Realistically it’s not too controversial to give these and they do give quite a few abilities Paper doesn’t really have normally. They’re all categorized by characters (like Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi, Peach, & Toad; so no real Card names will be brought up), meaning it’s more so just a compilation of all the card abilities:
Yuu
Weapons
Yuu's primary attacking tool is a sword—or rather, a stick! The Dragon King helped her find her first weapon, a stick reminiscent of a hero's sword. Initially, it wasn't very practical, but with the addition of six separate weapons, she could deal some serious damage!Stick
Broken Stick
This was Yuu's first and most reliable weapon, or well- it was reliable until it snapped on a boulder! It's just an ordinary twig, can’t say there’s a lot to talk about when it comes to it; it holds a special place in Yuu’s heart, even while broken she can still use it as a weapon (it’s also fireproof- Yuu can channel fire through it, it’s a fire proof stick, you heard that right).
Wooden Sword
This sword was crafted by a blacksmith after Yuu had broken her original sword, or well- her stick. This sword is made entirely out of a light, yet durable wood.
Stone Sword
Yuu found this abandoned weapon inside a chest, it’s a sword that was created completely out of stone, while it may be heavy, it deals devastating force, it’s Yuu’s goto weapon for training.
Mirage Sword
Yuu found this sword inside of a chest, it’s a sword that is as light as air, just like a mirage it’s believed to not be real, though clearly though claims are over exaggerated.
Spirit Sword
After completing the Fountain Trial, Yuu received the recompleted Spirit Sword, a sword that the original hero who defeated the Demon King wielded. The sword in its current form has absorbed the soul of the Fountain Spirit, the same Spirit who just so happens to be Yuu’s mother, don’t ask- it turned bright pink just like the water of the Fountain World. The Spirit Sword is Yuu’s most vital weapon, just having the sword lets Yuu draw from the spirit’s wishing magic, letting Yuu who originally was magicless, use fire magic of her own with no consequences. The blade itself is not sharp, in fact it’s a blunt weapon like a hammer.
Miasma Sword
Another chest found sword with the gimmick this time being that it deals insanely high damage to a dazed enemy, 10x your base damage, and it looks cool to boot!
Yuu’s Sword
A sword that Yuu received after completing the hardened Dark Fountain Trial, it was seemingly forged from the depths of Yuu’s heart, becoming her own ideal sword. It restores Yuu’s stamina continuously over time just by holding it.
Armors
Yuu's primary defense mechanism, surprisingly, is an ordinary cooking pot. Yuu aspired to become a hero, so her father gave her some "protective gear" reminiscent of a hero's armor. Initially, it wasn't very practical, but with the addition of nine separate pots, she managed to become fairly bulky and well-protected:
Dented Pot: An old pot found in the woods. It’s seen some better days!
Worn Pot: A pot that has definitely seen quite a bit of use over the years… this Pot allows Yuu to regenerate Yuu’s health overtime.
Light Robe: A rather loose robe that makes the User much lighter than normal, it’s very good for dodging attacks due to that fact.
Dented Pot: Yuu’s first piece of armor, something she grew quite attached to, being her first ‘helmet’ something that would let people recognize her as a hero.
Brand New Pot: A helmet that Yuu bought as a spiritual upgrade to her Dented Pot, it’s more defensive overall, and it’s super shiny!
Iron Pot: A pot that is entirely made out of Iron, being way sturdier than your average pot, and serves as a very strong pick for a defensive armor!
Wind Pot: Sturdy yet super light, any aspiring artisan ought to pick up this Pot, you’ll really find your creativity surging!
Crystal Robe: A more defensive set of Robes which makes the User way more bulky at the cost of their own attack and speed.
Royal Pot: A pot that is made out of gold, it could be worth a fortune, you could only imagine the price will continue to decline the more you use it, but it’s quite bulky.
Dark Pot: A pot that came from the Dark Fountain Trials, it oozes dread and makes you feel uneasy, it holds a dark power that makes it absurdly strong.
Home Pot: A pot that Yuu’s mother (the Fountain Spirit) had kept as a keepsake in the Fountain World; Yuu was given this Pot from one of the Spirits on her behalf, it makes Yuu feel Nostalgic when holding it.
Accessories
Given Yuu is an RPG character it’s only natural that she has a bunch of equipable accessories to aid herself in a number of ways. Allow me to explain the various status effects of The Cruel King:
Chilled: This status causes an enemy to sometimes be unable to move due to sheer cold.
Burned: This status causes burn damage to occur every single turn.
Poisoned: This status continually causes poison damage every turn.
Sticky: This status causes targets to take more damage and become slower.
Sealed: This status seals away your powers and special abilities for an entire battle.
Dazed: This status causes an enemy to be unable to move for a few turns due to dizziness.
Sleepy: This status causes enemies to fall asleep for a few turns.
Chilled Amulet: This amulet protects the user from being Chilled.
Small Amulet: An amulet that grants a slight resistance to status ailments.
Rebirth Charm: This charm automatically revives the user when fainting. Though it breaks after use.
Smart Glasses: These glasses make you feel really smart! It raises your critical chance slightly and makes you look like a nerd.
Recovery Ring: A ring that restores 5 stamina every turn.
Ice Amulet: Wearing this amulet reduces your ice damage taken by half.
Hunter’s Gauntlet: A mighty gauntlet that’s great for aspiring hunters, it increases damage against beast type monsters.
Chilled Overcoat: This coat is absolutely freezing, it can sometimes Chill enemies that attack you! Now that’s just ice cold-
Evasion Bracelet: This bracelet decreases your defense, but on the plus side it makes evading attacks much easier.
Hunee Charm: When you wear this Charm, any damage taken is halved when Sticky. Yep, getting covered in Honey is a viable method for defense.
Survival Gauntlet: This gauntlet is great for keeping energized, it restores an additional 2 energy while guarding.
Recovery Orb: This orb uses restoration magic to restore 10 stamina every turn.
Sealed Amulet: This amulet protects the user from having their magic Sealed away.
Arrow Feathers: These feathers increase your damage against flying monsters- they must be allergic or something.
Iron Plate: This heavy Iron Plate reduces damage taken while guarding even further, taking the brunt force of attacks.
Sticky Shoes: These goopy shoes make you Sticky at the start of the battle.
Light Overcoat: This Light Coat makes attacks a little easier to dodge.
Burned Overcoat: This Coat is sizzling, it sometimes burns enemies that attack you.
Grit Bracelet: A bracelet that benefits your attack and speed when under negative effects.
Heat Orb: A really hot orb that makes your attacks deal fire damage.
Heavy Shoes: A heavy pair of shoes that gives you an additional 20 defense at the cost of always acting last.
Hot Needle: This fiery hot needle increases damage against Chilled enemies.
Large Sickle: This sickle is so large that it lets you deal damage to all enemies on field simultaneously, but at the cost of reducing your attack in half.
Frenzy Gauntlet: This gauntlet increases attack, but due to going into a Frenzy you cannot choose your target.
Fire Amulet: This Amulet reduces fire damage taken by half.
Healing Gauntlet: These Gauntlets are a healer's best friend, with it normal attacks now heal. (Yuu wtf don’t heal your enemies)
Recovery Jewel: This Jewel is extremely handy for regenerating health and stamina. Max stamina + 50 and restores 20 stamina every turn.
Tiger Glasses: These glasses give you a 100% critical chance (from what I’ve seen), but lowers your accuracy chance.
Sweatband: This band charges your next attack, doubling your damage on your next turn after guarding.
Master’s Bracelet: This bracelet lowers energy consumption by 1, down to a minimum of 1 for attacks.
Needle of Pursuit: This needle helps you keep the pressure on dazed enemies, increasing damage against them.
Crest of Courage: This is the Crest of a true hero, your Courage allows your attack and defense to increase when your allies have fallen.
Wise Man’s Gloves: Effects of items are doubled during battle. This effect can stack and some items can get a much bigger boost of over 3x the turn duration they normally would.
Villain Mask: This mask increases attack, but removes your ability to use Special Skills. The boost is roughly 2x stronger.
Omni-Amulet: This charm prevents status ailments. (Yuu becomes immune to burning, freezing, power nullification, sleeping, and dazed)
Strong Gauntlet: This strong gauntlet, well- makes you stronger, at the cost of increasing your energy consumption.
Big Cup: This cup doubles your energy-pool, but increases consumption by 2. (What)
Spirit Bracelet: This bracelet restores 1 energy every turn.
Cold Orb: This Orb is freezing- all attacks deal ice damage while equipped.
Cold Needle: This freezing needle increases your damage against Burned enemies.
Items & ‘Temp Items’
Across Yuu’s journey she gathered tons of items & key items that can heal, damage, and allow her to defend herself at will. Allow me to explain some more fundamentals of The Cruel King:
Stamina: This is your vitality, it’s tied to your overall consciousness, once it hits zero Yuu will fall unconscious.
Energy: This is essentially what many games would consider a Mana source, as long as you have energy you can use skills indefinitely.
Attack: Pretty straight forward this determines how much damage you deal.
Defense: This reduces the amount of damage enemy attacks deal.
Speed: This determines how fast Yuu can act, giving her the opportunity to use her turn first in combat due to pure speed.
Hollow Bumpy Stone: It warms the user to their very core, keeping a person toasty even in strong blizzards.
Mysterious Twig: This other-worldly twig causes clouds to disappear when struck, especially helpful in the Fountain World- y’know, because everything is made of clouds…
Renewal Droplet: This liquid revives you from unconsciousness and restores half of a person’s stamina.
Hot Compress: A warm compress that removes the Chilled effect.
Panacea: The trademark fantasy RPG item, it removes all status effects.
Death Cap: A cap shaped like a giant poison mushroom, on contact it inflicts a poison effect to an enemy.
Strength Seed: Pretty self explanatory, it increases attack.
Endurance Seed: This seed increases defense.
Flight Feather: Having feathers apparently increases your speed and evasion.
Monsterbane: This is the very bane of Monsters, it repels monsters away and lessens the likeliness of encounters.
Flight Tailfeather: This giant feather greatly increases speed and evasion even more so than the Flight Feather.
Drift Ice: This creates a drifting ice wave that Inflicts a massive ice breeze of damage to all enemies.
Stardust: Stardust, calls down falling stars on all enemies in your way.
Magic Crumbs: An indefinitely usable item that teleports Yuu back to the Monster Village, it can warp a user Country spanning distances, and can warp you there from across dimensions (like the Fountain World).
Endurance Fruit: This fruit greatly increases defense.
Special Hunee: A dollop of hunee that refills a great deal of stamina.
Huneesuckle Whip: This whip deals damage while also decreasing an enemies attack by 3x; maybe your enemies like honey?
Dreamer Bubble: This bubble inflicts sleep onto an enemy.
Relearner: The Relearner removes the Sealed effect, undoing the effects of Power Nullification.
Stimulant: This Stimulant removes the Sleepy effect from a user.
Glass Statue: This statue functions in a very unique way and is magic in property. Regardless of the attack of an enemy, while active this statue will only allow Yuu to receive 1 damage for a turn. Let me elaborate, hitting Yuu will not disable it, it will eventually deactivate after a prolonged amount of time. When combined with the Wise-Man’s Gloves, Yuu can make this last 3x longer!
Strength Fruit: This fruit when consumed greatly increases attack.
Melty Clouds: These Clouds deal damage and melt right through the defense of an enemy, lowering it.
Snow Powder: This powdered snow deals ice damage and deals the Chilled effect on all enemies.
Ice Pack: Ice Packs remove the Burned effect.
Angel’s Elixir: An Elixir that refills a majority of your energy and stamina for all your allies. It’s an all purpose healing item for any adventurer!
Lava Pollen: This Pollen deals fire damage and burns all enemies.
Leaf of Life: This leaf revives an ally with all of their Stamina & amplifies all their stats.
Dreamer Perfume: A perfume that can put certain creatures to sleep, very effective on Ants Gobblers, and can be used unlimited times.
Magma Droplet: This droplet inflicts fire damage to all enemies.
Cursed Web: These webs ‘seal’ all enemies, nullifying all of their Special Attacks and abilities; it does not wear off and has to be manually cured.
Fruit Of Life: This fruit refills a lot of stamina.
Fairy Fruit: This fruit refills a lot of energy over the course of 5 turns.
Scent Box: A box that emanates a sweet scent, it calms your mind when you’re within its presence, even those of whom are enraged.
Badges: Tokens of Yuu’s journey, obtained through hard battles, side quests, and the ends of chapters. They are a reflection of her memories.Truly the best form of keepsake for a Great Hero.
Temp Items are a bit more ambiguous in nature and useability. Though realistically they’re fine to give as she only had them for a very short span of time. Given everything showcased here she has either CARRIED during her quest, has reasonable access to at any time, or has learned their recipes via watching someone make them; means that it should be fine enough to give (though it’s important to say this isn’t all Yuu’s Key Items, I’ve only included a handful as some aren’t versus applicable):
Oblivion Remedy: An elixir that can erase a person's memories on mass scale, it can remove an entire era of a person's life such as their entire childhood, and in bigger doses can erase a person's memories of their life all together. Yuu not only watched the Remedy getting crafted in front of her, but she knows the exact items, and has gathered them all before numerous times.
Rewind Powder: Sprinkling this powder onto something will reverse time for the object, though usually it’s used to restore the condition of a broken object. Yuu got this during a quest and has seen exactly how to make it, there’s no real reason it shouldn’t be viable for her.
Hunee Mead: A Liquor that’s smooth and rich in flavor. It’s said to be the tastiest Liquor in the Monster Kingdom. Yuu isn’t exactly old enough to drink- but it’s a fancy keepsake if you choose to hang onto it! Yuu personally knows the maker of the drink, but he probably wouldn’t be happy if Yuu held onto this- 😓
Fountain Spirit
The Fountain Spirit is the wish-granting guardian of the Fountain World, which serves as the afterlife. The Spirit is likely Yuu's deceased mother, given the imagery throughout the game. Though most importantly in Yuu’s final encounter with the Spirit, she absorbs the power of the Spirit and Fountain into her blade, granting her iconic fire magic. Through the Spirit’s favor, Yuu also gained access to various fountains connected to the Fountain World (a realm separate from the real world which is full of spirits, presumably acting as an afterlife for them given Yuu’s mom is here), which fully restore her HP and Stamina upon drawing near it or drinking from it. Yuu can teleport between these fountains, acting as fast travel points across dimensions. The Fountain Spirit can initiate trials within the Fountain World, making it impossible to leave, even through dimensional travel. The Spirit can also create Dark Fountains that lead to nightmare pocket dimensions, summoning nightmare clones from memory to attack opponents of allies, foes, and the individual themself; if they end up winning they ‘spirit you away’ leaving behind only your soul. Additionally, the Fountain Spirit granted Yuu access to the Fountain World itself, where she heals at an accelerated rate, capable of recovering from severe organ damage. Inside the Fountain World, Yuu becomes effectively immortal, as her body’s physical condition is frozen in time until she leaves.
Storybooks 
Yuu has the inexplicable ability to dimensionally travel to other storybooks. Once she has a storybook she enlarges it into a portal and can enter it, there doesn’t seem to be a limit to this ability, and she’s done it to multiple books. It even lets her enter separate continuities, like the Blind Prince continuity that’s supposed to be a completely separate universe in NIS canon, and let her meet famous VTuber sensation, Tsunomaki Watame? (Okay then)Abilities
Paper Mario
Paper Physiology
Paper Mario is entirely made out of paper, which grants him numerous base abilities. He can float through the air, fit through thin passages, roll into a tube for faster transportation, transform into an airplane or boat, act like a propeller, use himself like a baseball bat, turn into shurikens, and even seemingly turn invisible by lying down. He’s basically weightless which allows him to run on tightropes without weighing them down. Additionally, he can be crushed and crumpled with no ill effects, and other paper creatures like him can be cut into pieces and reattach themselves together. Mario can even stretch his arms with the 1000 Fold Arms to: hit, grab, shake, stretch, tear through, flip, and… play Rock Paper Scissors with enemies?Paint Manipulation
Now this may sound weird at first, but in the Paper Mario Series, Paint is much more than just- well… Paint. Paint is a numerous amount of things, it’s emotions, it’s your very sentience, and ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ may want to wash your hands after handling it. Mario cannot only drain and take Paint from the environment, but attacking enemies he can drain them of their paint entirely given time, essentially just straight up stealing their sentience, though this is EXPLICITLY not Durability Negation. The Paint that Mario steals is directly dependent on the amount of damage he does, meaning he’d have to kill you to even take your paint, and even then it’s more of a possibility as Mario himself has never drained the sentience out of someone before, we just know it CAN happen (luckily he does have the ability to summon ‘Slurp Guys’ as we’ll discuss later). Aside from all of that, Paper can also use Paint to restore colorless environments, affect the emotions of others, and enhance his attack power (by filling his cards with paint).Superguard (Attack Nullification)
This attack demands precise timing, enabling Paper to parry incoming enemy attacks effectively. By doing so, he completely nullifies the damage received and retaliates with his own counterstrike. While there are debates about whether this also negates status effects, it's clear that for status effects to take effect, the attack must actually damage the opponent. Hence, negating the attacks renders the status effects irrelevant because status effects only ever register after damage and with Superguard enemies are unable to deal damage to trigger these status in the first place (so he’s just blocking the attack rather than literally resisting the effect directly after).Flip
This ability grants Mario the power to shift between dimensions, becoming untouchable as he enters between the (2-D)imension & (3-D)imension. While enemies can still hit him if he aligns with their axis, he can strategically move to unreachable points where he can attack them while remaining inaccessible himself. Additionally, when he's off-axis, he becomes completely invisible & unnoticeable to his foes (a guy using the same ability describes as much). Initially, this ability had a time limit, but with the acquisition of the Mario Capture Card, he gained the ability to maintain this state indefinitely (notice the meter not draining).Summoning
Throughout his adventure in Paper Mario: Color Splash, Mario has the opportunity to collect Enemy Cards that summon enemies to aid him temporarily in battle; typically, they perform a single attack (& stay on the field as a meatshield until they take a few hits) before disappearing from the fight. There are over 72 summon cards available, providing Mario with substantial backup, even in the absence of traditional partners:
Fourth Wall Awareness / Fourth Wall Manipulation / Plot Manipulation
(This Ability however is strictly hypothetical and cannot be 100% proven without scaling the capabilities of these abilities to other characters; though we do know he at least has partial awareness of the audience)
Mario has showcased he can turn to address the audience directly, acknowledging their presence through appeal. Though while it has been said he lacks the spatial awareness to see the real world audience, other paper characters have showcased plenty of Fourth Wall Breaking feats that he too should be relatively capable of. Jr Troopa are aware of their health bar, Bowser interacts with the narrator & seemingly changes the story, and Lord Crump directly addresses the real-life audience. Even Princess Peach knows she is controlled by the player. And while he hasn't done so before, Paper Bowser's attempt to reopen the storybook suggests that Paper Mario could do the same and potentially exit his own Storybook with sufficient strength. (It’d honestly be pretty weird he lacked such an awareness when a majority of the cast has it)
N.P.I. (Non-Physical Interaction)
Paper Mario (the series) has a ton of Ghosts for Mario to fight, given he can physically interact with foes like Atomic Boo, it means that non-physical foes are a non-issue for Paper to hit.
Yuu
Special Skills 
Yuu on her journey didn’t start off using magic- AT LEAST AT FIRST, but through her experiences she learned how to use a Plethora of different techniques to aid her in battle; including some used by her original Father.
Flame Slash: While Yuu couldn’t previously use Fire Magic by herself, the power of the Fountain Spirit while on her person can let her use it freely. Yuu can charge her blade with Fire-Magic to make fiery eruptions by slamming the ground. Her fire is so hot that it can harm a Wild Fiery Lizzerd, a lizard that reduces anything near it to ash, and burns ten times hotter than MAGMA. (mf hotter than the surface of the sun)
Gale Slash: Yuu swiftly slices through the enemy, it’s likely to go first due to its sheer speed.
Jump Slash: Yuu creates a vertical slash projectile that slices through anyone standing in its way, it can hit multiple enemies.
Great Flame Slash: Yuu channels an even greater brand of fire-magic, making a giant flame that can harm groups of enemies at once.
Survey: Yuu looks closely at her enemies, learning their weaknesses, alongside stats and a basic description of her enemy; Yuu’s intuition is so good it almost seems as if she can read the target’s mind (which is signified by how the enemy has a thought bubble while ‘talking’ as opposed to normal fight conversations).
Guard: All damage is halved for a turn.
Critical Hits
Sometimes when landing a hit with a weapon, a character can achieve a Critical Hit. It pretty explicitly bypasses conventional durability, Exquisite Chests have an unfathomable defense stat of 99999, nearly 600 x stronger than Yuu normally… & no matter how hard you attack it; you’ll only ever do 1 damage to it, even with your STRONGEST equipment setups. Though if you MANAGE to get a CRITICAL HIT, you completely bypass that stat entirely and deal normal damage as seen here with Flora (you can similarly do this to all Treasure Chests with a Critical).Fourth Wall Awareness
Yuu at this point in time has blatant Fourth Wall Awareness. She’s read her own Storybooks / Artbooks (as seen above), left to go see other Storybooks outside her own, went to a Joint-Exhibit selling real life merchandise, watched a Stream about her Game, and seen outside of her Storybook in a lot of artwork. There’s even the fact that Yuu and other characters have even been seen outside the confines of their comic panels. Yuu is also a huge fan of Disgaea, which is a game in the Real World she shouldn’t really know about- heard the series is good though, Good Job Yuu!Experienced Musician
Is this a noteworthy ability for a Death Battle? No. Am I going to bring it up anyway? Yes. Yuu is just inexplicably great at Music. Yuu has experience conducting music, playing instruments (as seen above), and has sung with Watame- y’know the Vtuber we covered earlier.N.P.I. (Non-Physical Interaction)
Yuu has fought quite a few different creatures, though she has been shown capable of harming Ghosts like the Wyvernfly, meaning she can harm non-physical entities without phasing through them. If you want to take it a step forward, Yuu can also hurt ‘nightmare’ enemies which logically in terms of physiology should be ‘non-existent’ or abstract at the very least as they’re only a part of Yuu’s consciousness via dreams (they’re literally said to be NIGHTMARES). She’s even capable of carrying around the Fog Veil (which is described as being made of Mist), the Veil is made of Spirit Powder which are said to be made out of Spirits of the Fountain World.Resistances
Paper Mario
Sleep Manipulation - Feeling Fine makes him immune to this status effect.Paralysis / Time Stopping - Feeling Fine makes him immune to this status effect.
Confusion / Dizziness - Feeling Fine makes him immune to this status effect.
Burns - Refreshing Herbs can cure the effects of Burning.
Poison - Feeling Fine makes him immune to this status effect.
Shrinking & Growing (Size Manipulation, Attack Reduction) - Feeling Fine makes him immune to this status effect & Mario can eat the Red Apple in the ‘Overthere’ which makes you grow, with him not growing at all.
Stat Reduction / Stat Lowering (Attack, Defense, Speed) - Feeling Fine makes him immune to Attack and Defense lowering. Piccolo can undo the Slowing Effects of a Cursya & Refreshing Herbs cure all three stat lowering options.
OH-KO (One Hit Knockout) Abilities - Feeling Fine makes him immune to this status effect.
Partial Memory Erasure - Piccolo can undo the effects of Tech Cursyas. They cause you to temporarily forget your Flip ability, though it’s important to realize this isn’t really ‘Amnesia’ in the normal sense. Mario ONLY forgets how to use his Flip ability (meaning if he actually had his memories erased that are vital to him, he’d be boned as he’d forget about Piccolo).
Weight Manipulation - Piccolo can undo the effects of Heavy Cursyas which cause you to weigh more.
Motor Function Manipulation - Piccolo can undo the effects of Reversya Cursyas which cause your controls and senses to be mixed up.
Transmutation - Mario can eat ‘Overthere’ Apples without being affected (literally nothing happens regardless of apple), which includes being transmuted into a Peach, meaning he resists it- especially given it affects Peach.
Possible Corruption [Possession] - Paper Mario was unable to be influenced by the Black Paint even when completely enveloped in the substance; the only problem is during the fight as opposed to Mario absorbing it, it willingly returns to Bowser after every attack that splashes Mario (so we can’t really prove it was TRYING to corrupt him). This Black Paint took control of Bowser after he absorbed it, so it’s reasonable to say it possessed his body.
Yuu
Extreme Heat / Burns - Yuu resists burns from enemies who are as hot as the surface of the sun with the Omni-Amulet!Extreme Cold / Freezing / Radiation - Can fight Snowy enemies who create Blizzards & Snow Storms; plus can resist ‘chilled’ which initially freezes you & makes you too chilly to move (when these attacks ‘freeze’ Yuu, it kinda just explodes off her body somehow), Yuu has also resisted ‘radiated freezing’.
Poison / Acid - Can take hits from poison enemies capable of killing & stopping the growth of plants with their toxins via the Omni-Amulet & has resisted acid based attacks specifically designed to melt things.
Sleep Manipulation - Not affected by the music of a Dream Seapony (which specifically puts you to sleep) via using the Omni-Amulet.
Soul Manipulation / Soul Removal - Survived the Fountain Trial which is said to Spirit people away (inside the Fountain World you no longer are a Physical Body and most likely a Spirit given Souls are flying around and it’s the stand-in for the afterlife) and survived attacks from Death Gods which are said to steal Souls.
Power Null / Power Sealing - Enemies can normally null your magic with ‘Power Sealing’; the Relearner item undoes it and the Omni-Amulet equipment outright ignores it passively.
Mind Manipulation - Can temporarily fend off the mental corruption of a Nightmare Water Flea, but given enough time it will corrupt her mind.
Stat Reduction / Stat Lowering (Defense / Speed, Accuracy) - Omni-Amulet ignores the status effect of Sticky which makes you easier to harm (defense lower) and makes you slower, Yuu can also resist the Cotton Bugs ‘Cling’ attack which can make you less accurate.
Possible Dimensional BFR - Yuu isn’t warped away by touching Nightmare Heads which are said to pull you into another one on contact with roots; it’s just tough to say it was trying to currently when they fight.
Feats
Paper Mario
Overall
"You'd best be prepared for one page turning adventure!"
Has helped at least over 200 people over the course of his seven different adventures, in just a few days of service in Rogueport he helped over 30 people. Paper while on his adventures helped solve a murdercase in Shiver City, brought the sunlight back to Flower Fields, undid a curse turning people into Pigs in a Town covered in Twilight, revived the Queen of the Underwhere’s daughter, and more!
Conquered the Pit of 100 Trials in Rogueport, Flipside, and Flopside! A trial gauntlet where you have to fight over 100 different waves of enemies who escalate in strength.
Has defeated Bowser, the Shadow Queen, Dimentio, Count Bleck, Mr L, Doopliss, the Shadow Sirens, a dark version of himself, and King Olly.
Recovered in just a couple of days from being knocked unconscious by the power of the Star Rod and left to fall back to the Mushroom Kingdom from way up in Orbit. Paper is so resilient that he’s even come back from the Afterlife before.
Saved the Mushroom Kingdom seven consecutive times and even saved the Multiverse from destruction.
Once baked a Cake so delicious that it caused a Food Connoisseur to break the very laws of physics and spontaneously fly out of reality. (Bro Chuggaconroy so goated ☠️ thankfully his controversy got disproven recently LET’S GOOOO!!!)
Power
Survived falling from Space to the Mushroom Kingdom. (0.00268 Joules) [Below Average Human] What.
Tanked being blasted to the moon in seconds. (0.01 Tons of TNT) [Small Building] (GRAH WHY IS HE MADE OF PAPER)
Can shatter giant metal boxes with a single hammer strike. (2.068 Tons of TNT) [Large Building]
Mario can survive inside of a GIANT oven. (16.32 Tons of TNT) [City Block]
Mario can survive Bowser's Castle dropping on him and a bunch of enemies, plus can take hits from enemies who deal similar damage. (8.8 Kilotons of TNT) [Town]
Mario himself can make Thunder Storms that span to the horizon. (52.98 Megatons of TNT) [City]
Can deal damage from & survive a Fan that can spin a Planet that looks to be Earth, (7.162 Quettatons) [Dwarf Star]
Speed
Can move in tandem with sound waves from Beepboxers. (Mach 1.44) [Supersonic]
Can move in tandem with missiles from Ludwig’s Submarine. (Mach 12.67) [Hypersonic+]
Can move in tandem with a Camera Flash from Francis. (0.15 c) [Rela]
Can move in tandem with light from the Lantern Ghost. (7.08 c) [FTL]
Scaling
Enemies
Bowser who can make small ThunderStorms in seconds. (23.62 Tons of TNT) [City Block]
Huff N Puff can move in tandem with his own lightning bolts. (Mach 141.2 - Mach 634) [MHS]
Elite Wizzerd can move in tandem with their own laser beams. (0.34 c) [Rela]
King Olly was capable of altering a vague amount of Paper’s Reality by turning it into Origami.
Count Bleck was capable of destroying his ‘World’, though there is no supplemental material that proves it means his universe; y’know- given Super Paper also mentions Planets as Worlds a LOTTTTT in the same game… and if he could really blow up worlds like that it really dampens the need for the Void story wise since all he’d need is to use the Dark Prognosticus to span his power an infinite distance (since we know it’s capable of that) & there’s the mention of erasure in the feat which really makes it sound like hax. Edit: OKAY EVEN BETTER just got the confirmation he only destroyed the KINGDOM in the original translation! [Vaguely Island - Vaguely Country]
Mainline Mario Verse
Relative to Mario & Luigi via Paper Jam
Mario could fight & dodge the Millenium Star, a Star who fell from the center of the Universe to the Mushroom Kingdom in seconds; and Mario was capable of dodging literal falling Millenium Star shaped projectiles from it that fell the same way. (41.1 Trillion c) [MFTL+] (See Before the Verdict)
Mario should scale to Dribble’s Taxi via dodging attacks from people like Bowser who can tag superior vehicles physically like Rosalina’s Starship (as Dribble’s Taxi is literally just a random taxi LOL). His Taxi was capable of traveling to the ‘farthest reaches of space’ and even the ‘edge of space’ which would imply the edge or farthest distance in the Universe. (146.74 Quadrillion c) [MFTL+] (See Before the Verdict) (See Before the Verdict)
Mario can run in tandem with ‘cosmic energy’ clones & catch up to Comet Stars with Launch Stars, the Green Comet has been shown to travel across multiple universes and drop stars into distant universes far away. (Debatably 2.9 Quintillion c - 11.4 Quintillion c / Debatably Immeasurable) [MFTL+] (See Before the Verdict)
Relative to Wario (via Mario & Luigi)
Wario & the Warioware Cast were capable of beating the ‘Wario Bug’ while inside the Game World. An entity that was controlling entire games (I would normally say this is via hax, but he was directly overpowering the console as well in the real world). The bug was explicitly so powerful he short circuited the console powering and maintaining the Virtual Verse. To be clear this calculation is seeing how much the ‘electricity’ is worth when SCALED DOWN inside the game (since it’s obviously not impressive at normal size), though since it’d have to pass through the entire medium AT THAT SMALL SIZE it makes it an incredibly impressive feat (the console was literally sparking out electricity). (16.84 Million TeraFoe) [Multi-Solar System]
Yuu
Overall
Helped over 30 people in a few days of service. Yuu helped two fighting tribes reconcile, cured a fox family's sickness, saved a princess while she was in the after-life, befriended an assassin sent to kill her, cured someones amnesia, fulfilled an old man’s final wish before death, etc.
Conquered the Dark Fountain Trial, defeating the shadows of her past and overcoming the darkness in her heart.
Defeated a Dragonalike, Cybat, Shadow Flora, Arthur, a Nightmare Clone of herself, and even the Dragon King himself.
Yuu is so resilient that while on the verge of death, she recovered from her stomach being brutally cut into by the Hero’s Sword within just a few days.
Saved the Human and Monster Kingdom from destruction by defeating the Demon King.
Hosted the Year of the Dragon with the Dragon King in her story.
Power & Durability
Survived being pinched by a Magma Hand, their pincers can cut through steel and other alloys.
Can shatter boulders with a single sword swing. (0.035 Tons of TNT) [Small Building]
Can survive heat from a Wild Fiery Lizzerd, which has heat ten times hotter than normal fire. That would be hotter than the surface of the sun. (0.31 Tons of TNT) [Building]
Took a hit from the Demon King’s Roar of Rage which can make this giant pillar of fire. (1.7 Kilotons of TNT) [Small Town]
Can tank a ‘shooting star’ to the face. (2.8 Kilotons of TNT) [Small Town]
Speed
Can move in tandem with Tornadoes. (12.29 m/s) [Peak Human]
Moves in tandem with throwing knives and sound waves. (Mach 2.6) [Supersonic+]
Moves in tandem with ‘shooting stars’. (Mach 63.92 - Mach 379) [High Hypersonic+ - MHS]
Made it to the Moon in a vaguely short amount of time. [Vaguely MHS - Vaguely Rela]
Scaling
Friends & Enemies
Yuu has encountered a lot of enemies on her journey! She’s bested every single one of them, keeping up with their attacks, dodging them physically, hurting them, and taking hits from them magically and physically (including the Dragon King’s Awakened State)... so it’s pretty safe to say she just scales the verse as a whole.
Arthur covered a large chunk of Demon King Mountain in Webbing.
Relative to & can take hits from Sno Seapony who can create large snowstorms. (21.09 Megatons of TNT) [City]
The Dragon King’s resurrection made Earthquakes that spanned all the way to the Hunee Crystal Woods. (5.8 Megatons of TNT) [Small City]
The Dragon King was going to burn two Kingdoms to ash. (71.96 Gigatons of TNT) [Island] (See Before the Verdict Section)
The Dragon King’s Awakened Form can fly to cloud level in seconds. (Mach 10) [Hypersonic+]
Superior to Wildcat who can clear cloud formations by- singing… (463.61 Megatons of TNT) [Mountain]
Dream Seaponies can move in tandem with waves of light. (6.9 c) [FTL]
Rocky can move in tandem with Cybat’s light balls. (10.27 c) [FTL+]
Dream-Eating Tapir can eat dreams over-time by physically entering them; these dreams contain stars. (67933.1 FOE - 8044712.66 FOE / 10.65 Tredecillion c - 17.6 Quindecillion c) [Solar System / MFTL+] LOL I heard the concerns about the original speed calc and just fixed it with Rina!
Liar Princess / Disgaea Scaling
This is a pretty simple scaling chain, as you’ll see in the Before the Verdict Section; though Yuu has an official crossover with the Liar Princess & has been showcased to be stronger and faster than her in her Beast Form; the same Liar Princess who fought alongside Disgaea characters like Laharl in Makai Wars!
The Liar Princess can deal damage to the Forest Witch, an entity who can set an entire forest ablaze in seconds.
The Liar Princess herself can seemingly tie a ribbon on the moon (man that’s huge).
The Liar Princess is comparable to characters like Laharl who can keep up with Alexander in the Disgaea series. Alexander destroyed the Cosmos which is a realm that holds infinite Universes. (Multi+) (See Before the Verdict Section)
Relative to Liar Princess who scales to Disgaea characters like Laharl who can keep up with Alexander. Alexander was capable of traveling the Cosmos in finite time, a place that spans infinite universes. [Infinite] (See Before the Verdict Section)
Weaknesses
Paper Mario
"Mario... Please get up... Please..."
Paper Mario has a few flaws to mention. Firstly, the most obvious problem is that he’s made out of paper (figures), which has as many downsides as it does upsides. Being made of paper means he's vulnerable to being crumpled like any ordinary sheet of paper whenever he takes damage, which utterly paralyzes him in combat; being made of paper also means he's susceptible to the same burning effect that other paper creatures are weak to, with fire dealing critical damage to him even more than normal.
Though outside of his physiology, when it comes to Paper as an actual person, he tends to be a very straightforward type of individual. While he’s a great problem-solver, Paper is not the type to suspect traps, often falling into them. For example, he's eaten poison cake given to him by a sudden fan; he fell for a fake block trap designed by the Koopa Bros to trap him in jail; and while non-canon, the bad endings for TTYD and Super Paper Mario show that he's indeed capable of being persuaded by a more powerful, smooth-talking corruptor, with both Dimentio and the Shadow Queen taking control of him for their armies in these endings.
On the flipside- Paper can often be really stubborn in situations (blud literally lets the multiverse die here ☠️), being able to flip his personality on a dime when the situation calls for it; you almost get the feeling even he doesn’t know what he’s going to do next. Outside of that, he falls into the same problem that every RPG protagonist faces. While he can fight well in his own right, he has to rely on his partners for a majority of his adventures and has only recently been getting any solo work done in his most recent games. In fact, he usually spends his time lounging around with his brother instead of training. And while he has a lot of catching up to do, Paper Mario is always ready for a new challenge!
Yuu
Despite how Yuu excels in many things socially and in combat, she has actively shown significant gaps in knowledge due to her upbringing. She was secluded from human civilization for the majority of her life; for that reason, she was never taught basics like reading and needed assistance to read in general. Many conflicts could have been avoided if she could read; for example, her dad has a statue that calls him the Demon King, which she never realized because she can’t read (which would have solved a lot of problems). 😭
As a child, she couldn’t grasp concepts such as money (though she obviously understands now). She’s also started being taught by her friend Flora daily to learn how to read and write; Yuu has just been a bit out of the loop, so she has some catching up to do. Yuu is prone to being tricked due to her kindness in certain situations; she almost got assassinated by Cybat because of it.
Another weakness Yuu has is somewhat unusual—she has an infatuation with fluffy animals and would happily dive into a pile of them, throwing all caution to the wind. They even cause her to fall asleep if she is in contact with them long enough.
When it comes to weaknesses in combat, while she is fairly experienced with fighting, she does not particularly go for death blows. She is a very emotional person who can’t stomach the idea of killing someone, typically aiming to knock out or incapacitate her opponents (great heroes can’t go around murdering people). This approach means her opponents tend to have less to worry about regarding the repercussions of a long-lasting fight.
Lastly, while Yuu has fought alone before, she tends to rely more on allies than engage in one-on-one brawls; aside from all the training she did alone, she has been with others ever since. In summary, it is evident that she’s a kid, and she’ll continue to learn as her life goes on. For her age, she is quite mature and capable—one can only believe in what ‘Yuu’ is capable of (I’m very punny).
Before the Verdict
The Dragon King’s Multi-Kingdom Burning Statement
This one is a little weird, given the context of The Cruel King and the Great Hero, there’s a lot of hyperbole given it takes place in a Storybook (curse you FLOWERY LANGUAGE!!!) Though there seems to be a lot backing up this one, at least in terms of statements. First off I want to state that for the calc, I used Specific Heat, and the temperature of a Wild Lizzerd- (which is said to turn anything near it to ashes and be 10x hotter than normal fire); the primary reason this should be valid is that the King created them with his awakening. Now in terms of actual legitimacy it’s stated that the Dragon King’s full might when used against the Human Kingdom would ‘reduce everything to rubble’, which is likely literal given supporting text. The Awoken Dragon King’s fire when it destroyed a town in the Monster Village was specifically stated to ‘varnish’ (which in the context of Fire most likely means Incinerate) it did this with such extreme force that the smoke never dissipated his power still lingering within the debris (from years in the past all the way to the PRESENT DAY), meaning it’s very likely that it’d do the same thing to the Kingdom considering how consistently it completely burns things to a crisp. Arthur himself who awoke the Demon King’s power had thought the Humans would all be burnt to ashes. So while it may be a little bit harder to buy than her other feats, it has enough going for it to the point that it’s valid to use.
Legitimacy of Dream World Feats in Cruel King
Yuu's most significant feat in terms of speed and power relies on the assumption that the World of Nightmares is SS-MSS (Solar System to Multi-Solar System) in size; given they’re replica worlds. Several reasons support this belief: Firstly, the Fountain World (and thus the Land of Nightmares inside of it) is a realm separate from the Monster Realm (given it makes the distinction), this Realm creates worlds that are replica memories manifested from Yuu's heart, remaining the exact places she visited throughout her journey, though devoid of color. The visibility of the Sun's light on the Nightmare Overworld should be an outright confirmation of this that Celestial Bodies like the Sun are present in the World of Nightmares. Additionally, a diagram showcases various elements like Stars, Clouds, Rocks, Grass, and the Moon before entering these worlds, which given this is also a part of that ‘manifestation of Yuu’s heart’ should further support its size (as we’re delving into these manifestations)- there’s also the fact that the Official Booklet Guide for the game shows ACTUAL stars inside it. Regarding Yuu's scaling, she demonstrates both her ability to inflict and endure damage from Dream Eating Tapir, creatures capable of devouring entire dreams over time. As they "eat" dreams, it implies they consume every inch of a dream, making it a significantly faster feat than if they just traveled from one side to the other (volume >>> diameter), as well as a great strength feat for Yuu to scale (due to energy conversion of absorbing this mass). The feat itself is probably more impressive, because eating a dream from its ‘end’ to its ‘middle’ implies that the Tapir consumed multiple instances of the dream, rather than assuming it literally means only eating half… this seems to be the case as it specifies it’s why dreams are cut off half way. (So while the end we’re using is an extreme low-end, it’s still a REASONABLE end…) Though there are a few other things to note, first off; if you want to argue towards using ‘infinite sized dreams’ for Mario, then you’d have to give equal leeway to Yuu’s ‘endless’ sized dreams- as it should be equally valid (if not more so due to being an actual quest line). Corvo upon given a chance to reobtain his memories, was whisked into a dream that showed his memories to himself; he was put on a road where WHILE HE WAS making distance, in the scope of the dream he was literally going nowhere- if we take this at complete face value that would imply the Dream is infinite in size (aka while making distance, you could never reach the end). Meaning at bare minimum the realm Yuu is scaling is SS-MSS, though could get as high as High Uni or Uni+.
General Discussion on Badges
Let's talk about Badges – they're the major game-changer in Paper's toolkit. It's practically a running joke how ridiculously stacked he becomes with all those separate abilities from Badges (‘DANGER’ MARIO INCOMING). A common problem that might be raised is the issue of 'Badge Points.' In Paper Mario 64 and TTYD, he's restricted by how many badges he can use due to the Point System. But in the context of a ‘debate,’ it’s a little different: the most likely reasonable thing to do is give Paper every single one of his badges all at once (given FP is just a game mechanic for balancing purposes). This might seem a bit unusual, but it's probably the best way to get a solid grasp of his abilities. I mean, seriously, what do you do when you increase Badge Points? Does his shirt grow more room to put on a badge? (lol) It's not a huge stretch either – he's literally carrying all those badges around, he's just limited by how many he can activate due to the system; and it’s not an ‘equipment slot’ it’s literally just passives (meaning at his peak he should REASONABLY have access to all of them at once).
Are Paper Mario and Mario the Same Person?
It’s very complicated, there’s so much debate on it; that I think the best way to do it, is to tackle all the points head-on and compare them to each other (to see if anything contradicts & which side has MORE evidence).
Arguments for Paper Being The Same Person:
Characters, Items, & Locations from the Marioverse appear in Paper Mario & Paper Mario characters appear in the Mainline series (Bowser’s Castle in Super Circuit, Star Hill in PIT & Super Mario RPG, Chuckola Cola in TTYD & Superstar Saga, Dark Boos in PIT & TTYD, etc.)
Previous Games are mentioned and brought up in both Mainline & Paper Mario (Goombario/Goombella Tattles & Luigi’s Diary, Huey talking about Mario Bros 3, History Museum in Superstar Saga which are blocks from Mainline Mario’s past, Pal Pills referencing his 8 bit Era, literally just all the names and statements of the Sammer Guys).
WOG statements like PIT (Partners in Time) magazines mentioning it’s his newest adventure since he was paper, the conception statements of it being a sequel to Super Mario RPG, Nintendo mainline history shows Paper Mario footage, & Commercials imply Paper was a past/new Mario Adventure (or atleast conceived to be as such).
Mario being said to have ‘no-canon’ & all be the same Mario.
Arguments for Paper Being A Separate Person:
Paper Mario 64, TTYD, & Super Paper- all make it very clear that this is a set of Storybook tales, meaning we can’t prove these events are canon.
Herringway (the shut-in Novelist in Shiver City) is the person who ‘wrote’ Paper Mario (Mario Story is the Japanese Name)- and he never notified Mario of this- one of his subordinates had to, meaning the story is likely non-accurate (he was not there for 90% of it and HAD TO have made up shit). It doesn’t help that Mario is legitimately mute in the first game & can only answer with yes or no LOL that’s not even a joke, it’s literally all he does in 64) he had no way to get reasonably accurate info or at the very least we have no way to prove he did.
The World is suddenly made of Paper with no explanations or even notions of what could have possibly happened (we know this is not just a visual effect as the Museum LITERALLY says the blocks are plush material). The only real way to argue against this is with headcanon, games like the Yoshi’s Island have explanations for how their stories became like that (and it was an isolated portion of the world, not the entire verse like in Paper Mario) making it much more excusable… though Paper Mario has literally NO explanation or attention brought to it. This Paper theme is a part of EVERY aspect of Paper Mario’s world, Crumple Statuses, Curses (even if you argue against it PLAYS into the Paper theme for no explicit reason), Mario swirling in pipes like a sheet of paper, floating as opposed to falling, etc. They really go in HARD on this concept after Super Paper- and given all the new games are interconnected with the old ones via Origami King you can’t really separate them.
Characters in Mainline from the Paper Mario series who show up never mention any events from Paper Mario (literally not even once). Goomboss does not count even if you say he's the Goomba King (he literally only says that you're the enemy of Goombas, that is not a reference to ANYTHING; of course Mario is the enemy of Goombas he murders them all the time- we need an outright mention of EVENTS in Paper's story- which Mainline does not give us).
Characters in Mainline from the Paper Mario series who show up have either completely different names or completely different jobs & motivations from what is pre established in Paper Mario (like the Star Spirits becoming the Star Guards who instead of protecting Star Haven are now in charge of protecting Dream Depot, which like- in the context of the game Mario had never been there before).
Characters in Paper Mario (like Ludwig) do not remember past events from the Mainline series (Ludwig says Color Splash is the FIRST time ever fighting him) despite having supposedly ‘lived out’ games FURTHER than where they should have had those memories in the Mainline Timeline.
Literally the entire point of Paper Jam is to crossover with a separate version of himself (there would outright be no point to the crossover if he was meeting himself, who was the exact same person, with the exact same experiences). It made a clear effort to show us that the world’s are separate, there’s not really anything you can do to debunk that without Headcanon. Not to mention the numerous inconsistencies like the Sticker Star being present, we know for a fact Paper wasn’t ‘interrupted’ during his adventure, the Comet Crowns are literally just around for no reason.
Having ‘No Canon’ does not exclude games from being ‘Non-Canon’ to a material such as Mainline; treating this like another 'Mario Game' obviously has a lot more problems and contentions around it than the other mainline stuff (due to the nature of all Mario media being partially connected & how content outright contradicts what we see in Mainline it makes Paper contentious to use; the 'everything is canon' statement in general is just a generalization of his character (so no one has to think every Mario game is a different Mario), though in this case we cannot use something that is very clearly 'trying to be connected' yet at the same time be so different alongside having so many fallacies (other 'everything is canon statements' for other series like for a character such as Epic Mickey at the very least showcases that he LIVED OUT ALL the events of Mickey's life and doesn't contradict anything so there's no room for discussion- this on the other hand... has a LOT to bring up).
While there is a lot of proof for both, I think that the amount of inconsistencies (there’s way too many to cement them as the same) makes it really weird to consider the two the same. A lot of the evidence for them being the same is- just references... just a lot of references, even if you buy the Adventures happening in Mainline; there's way too much going against them to actually prove that the events WE RECALLED in Paper Mario are the same events that MARIO recalled in Mainline; there's never been any attempt to connect the two outside of the references and WOG statements (rather than actual confirmations like mentions of what happened IN THESE STORIES) not to mention WOG statements should be taken with a grain of salt as they are completely outside the story and their plots (and stuff like the conception of Paper being a followup to Super Mario RPG & how it was interpreted by the END of production & beyond obviously not provable). Not to mention that Nintendo has outright been making pushes to try and disassociate the characters (like with Paper Jam), it'd defeat the point of the crossover to consider the same (like this really feels like how people tried to scale Game Sonic to Archie via references); though BEYOND THAT… it completely defeats the point of Paper Mario in versus if they were the exact same character with the exact same moves (you'd be outright destroying one of the coolest variant's of Marios chances of ever getting a cool fight when Mainline already has much better arsenal & hax… y’know like infinite 1-ups). Anywhoozle my final verdict is that they’re different, there’s too much going against it, and nothing has really changed or come up to change my perspective on that.
Discussion on Paper Jam: Items, Equips, and 1-UPs
This part will discuss why Paper is acquiring crossover gear, which might not be clear to most casual people. In the crossover Mario & Luigi Paper Jam, Paper Mario gains his own unique and diverse sets of gear, along with access to some Real World Bros. items. It's reasonable to include everything he has in this crossover, as it doesn't really deviate from the norm or directly contradict anything. Also, most items that are considered normally 'standard' in Paper's toolkit have only appeared once anyway, so getting a bunch of new gear has zero issues. So normal helpful items like the Max Candy and Refreshing Herb are a given, but it also grants Paper access to the most important item in the Real World Arsenal, 1-UPs. In the Versus community, there's an ongoing debate about their revival abilities and whether 1-UPs are part of the canon. But by now, there's a ton of evidence pointing towards their canon status, especially since they're treated like regular items in the RPG games and main-line. For instance, Peach gives you 1-UPs in letters in Galaxy 1 and Galaxy 2, Pinatas reward you with 1-UPs for helping them, 1-UPs can be found in brick blocks and question mark block enemies as a normal item, and you can straight up buy them from shopkeepers in the Mario & Luigi RPG series (plus it’s literally on the shop sign). It's kind of surprising that some people deny their existence, but more importantly, what they can do is pretty astounding. 1-UPs can explicitly bring you back from death itself, even if your body is completely destroyed BY DARK MATTER (the stuff that can alter our own Universe spatially). Mario just survives being subatomically obliterated and comes back as if nothing happened, which is a really neat trick for staying in a fight. Lastly we’ll disregard the Trio Hammer as it’s literally unusable without Mario and Luigi helping him out- & he can transmute enemies on his own regardless, not much reason to give him the Trio Hammer.
Does Yuu Scale To Disgaea & How Strong Is Disgaea?
Art by @yutoridesi on Twitter.
The main point of the scaling is via scaling from the Liar Princess to the Makai War Games, so first off; it’s very well established that all of the NIS worlds are interconnected, at least loosely. Disgaea has always been a crossover heavy franchise, the Liar Princess continuity crosses over with characters like Laharl from Disgaea all the time and she even fought alongside him & against him in the Makai Wars games (Mobile Game scaling OF COURSE). TCK (The Cruel King) & TLP (The Liar Princess) are both games made by NIS and the comics where they crossover not only are both made by Nagabe, but interconnect back into their own stories as a prequel and sequel respectively. There is a bit of an odd inconsistency with the Blind Prince, who remains blind despite his game's ending supposedly curing his blindness. Though this inconsistency appears intentional, as post-game art consistently depicts him with his iconic blind look (like literally all of them, because it’s his most well-known appearance). Additionally, it's unclear at what stage Yuu met them during the game, leaving room for alternative explanations), such as the meeting taking place at some point within the game's timeline or way after where he could have potentially been blind again (just a small nitpick, but I thought I’d bring it up). In terms of actual scaling though- while Yuu and the Liar Princess have never fought directly, the Princess fears Yuu’s combat capabilities and they fight the exact same enemies across canon, in fact Yuu one shots the same enemies that the Princess can’t, and it’s EXPLICITLY the same enemy (like literally the enemies kinda just travel between storybooks to spice it up), so Yuu can scale that way pretty handily. Disgaea characters are actually really impressive when it comes to stats, so given I didn’t get to cover it in-depth the last time I made a Paper-Yuu blog; I’mma do that now! Disgaea is a vast cosmology in which most of it is made-up by the ‘Cosmos’, this Cosmos is a place that contains ‘infinite worlds’ (which is obviously in reference to universes/timelines); a majority of the Disgaea cast are capable of fighting Zetta & Alexander (Zetta being Alexanders direct equal and appearing in multiple games), Alexander has enough power to literally travel and destroy this infinite multiverse of the Cosmos (by the end of it the Cosmos was LITERALLY just an empty void); Mao does the exact same thing in a bad ending of Disgaea 3. Now obviously given Alexander was capable of traveling infinity as well as capable of destroying infinite Universes, that’d mean that Yuu scales to Multi+ and Inf Speed through the Liar Princess (since as mentioned before Nipponverse games crossover all the time and there’s a lot of proof to interconnect them, including literal appearances in Makai Wars); Disgaea is a very (everyone scales) kinda franchise, which means Yuu gets omega buffed to Multi+ and Inf Speed! (ALSO SPECIAL THANKS TO ADAMPRIMUS FROM THE DBJ [Death Battle Judgement Server] FOR HELP WITH DISGAEA STATS)
Are the Pure Hearts viable in a Versus Setting?
The Pure Hearts, the very basis of Super Paper Mario’s Story. They symbolize an undying love, one that stays strong and faithful even in memory. In short, these Hearts were created as a balance to the Chaos Heart, a relic that could spell the end to all of creation. The Pure Hearts themselves in a battle context, aren’t really all that useful, their only use was to counter and nullify the Chaos Heart- and in canon has never been given any other significant purpose. We don’t even know if they can be used to attack, they don’t amp Mario in any explicit way (it’s pretty clear Mario & the Gang could only deal damage to Super Dimentio due to the nullification of the Chaos Heart; the Hearts healing the gang is not an ‘amp’ and does not increase their stats whatsoever in game). Tippi does say the Hearts ‘gave them power’, but this is very clearly in reference to how the shield being down means they can damage them, Tippi’s just doing a rally cry...AGAIN- it does not increase their stats whatsoever in the battle… it just lowers Super Dimentio’s shield; I would understand this argument a lot better if we saw any kind of indication of their actual stats being increased- you deal the same consistent damage you normally do to enemies & you can literally pull up your 'stat' screen post battle and it's unchanged (aka right after the void goes away, even if FOR SOME REASON you buy it amped him... it was temporary and he doesn't have that power anymore)- but EVEN THEN- that makes no sense...items which aren't even CONNECTED to the party's new physicality (as IF YOU BUY IT, it only amped them physically), deal the same amount of damage as they can normally; it literally makes no sense to assume they were amped to Void levels of power by them (and either way as said before, this is the only Relic that Mario PERMANENTLY parted ways with, he can summon every other relic to his side, just not this one. I'd understand giving them to him if this was his final adventure- but it's not.). Anywhoozle, when it comes to other important abilities the Hearts do showcase like healing and power-nullification, the Star Spirits already do much more reliably and layered for that matter. Not only that, but unlike literally every other Relic that Mario collects, he can’t summon them to his person. Mario just kind of just carries them for a few hours, then parts ways just like that. There’s no reasonable point why he should even get these, they benefit him in zero ways, and are objectively outright useless in a versus setting.
Does Either Side Have Canon Saving?
Well, it's a bit of an odd question, but let's dive in. In Cruel King, we do get an explanation about how saving works, at least to some extent. Yuu's memories are stored like bookmarks in the Storybook. When she dies, these bookmarks can be loaded. The catch is that we're not sure if Yuu can reload them on her own or if there's some kind of player-like character involved. We don't have much context beyond Word of God info, so it's kinda shaky to rely on. And that's assuming this player-like character, if they exist, would consistently assist Yuu; though EVEN if we did give this to Yuu- that means we’d have to give equal leniency to Mario. On the Mario side of things, pretty similar things happen (though a bit opposite). We don't really have solid confirmation about saving (unlike Bookmarks for example which have an in-universe explanation- saving in Paper is just it asking to save your game), but we do know the Player at the very least probably exists. There are numerous instances where characters mention the Player’s existence or speak directly to them through the fourth wall, like with Crump (there’s a lot of examples but there’s just two). So, while this Player-like character is acknowledged, I'd say it's not as valuable as it might seem. We don't know what the Player is particularly capable of, just that they exist- hell Mario is said to be incapable of even seeing or interacting with them. And when we start heading into assumption territory for characters and their capabilities, I’d say it's probably better to just acknowledge them briefly and move on, rather than stretching it into a new ability. Believe me ‘Saving’ is the last thing you want to give either character, it’ll just make the debate more needlessly convoluted; it really muddles the debate if anything given it’d be a stalemate until the IRL players dox eachother & box tbh (I’d pay to see that).
Does Paper Mario scale to the Void?
I’ll be straight-forward, no, Paper Mario does not scale to the Void in any capacity. The first argument for scaling is that Bleck makes mini-voids with the Chaos Heart that Mario can outrun, there’s a lot of problems with this. Observing the Real Void's vast range suggests that it’s as huge as the Chapter 4 Universe (which is definitely the intent since it’s consuming all worlds), the Universe in Chapter 4 is described as infinite in size. If the Void can consume something of such magnitude, it implies it’s sucking in at infinite speed and at the very least ALSO infinite in size itself (as we pretty clearly see with the Mini Voids that it sucks in everything smaller than it; otherwise, it wouldn't stand a chance to consume it in the first place; unless it somehow exponentially managed to achieve infinite speed LOL), though it’s pretty clear it grows comparable to whatever is small enough to suck in. The consumption of that Universe by the Real Void suggests it must already be of a similar scale, infinitely massive. As for the mini-voids, they lack the ability to scale to even a fraction of the speed realistically, evident by their failure to suck in anything else in the room except Mario (heck even Bleck isn’t affected). And this isn’t even mentioning how the Chaos Heart no matter HOW YOU SLICE IT does not scale to the Void (in one go), it only made the starting Black Hole (sure), though the Void took DAYS of charging to even reach that level- there’s no reason to believe the Chaos Heart itself can output that much power at once. In terms of actual scaling though, the big one is that Mario and Co. appear to withstand the destruction of the Sammer's Kingdom while inside the dimension. However, there's significant issues: First off, Tippi demonstrates teleportation powers throughout the game that she has no control of (which conveniently saves them on a few occasions), they seem to just activate when needed. This suggests that Mario might not have even actually tanked the destruction, in fact everyone forgot how they even reached Flipside or what occurred. Moreover, even if he did tank it, the Void was destroying all dimensions over time, meaning he wouldn’t scale to the full output to begin with. In battles that give him potential scaling, like when the Chaos Heart is active, Mario becomes physically incapable of dealing any damage to Count Bleck or Dimentio. There's even a secret dialogue choice where the Void outright kills you, resulting in a game over; it’s literally circular scaling which obviously doesn’t work here- because he fucking dies a majority of the time. (That’s 3-1 odds in favor of Paper not scaling physically, when he actually could hurt Bleck or Dimentio he had to depower the Chaos Heart, which is a direct counter mind you-) While I do agree that the Void itself at least partially scales the cosmology, no one really scales it- (even Dimentio doesn’t scale given he never tanks the Void head-on or moves in tandem with it) so ultimately this doesn't make much sense to scale to anyone with all that brought up.
Talking About Galactic & Above Mario Feats
Mario has a ton of material to actually cover & I’ve been reflecting on a lot of his feats these past few months, now obviously there are mixed opinions on his feats in general; though I really do honestly have a lot of problems with his Galactic Stuff (not all of them mind you), we’ll start from low to highest addressing them all.
My Problems With A Majority of Feats
Black Hole Boogie: This minigame has Mario get consumed and spit out by a Black Hole & it also seems to move two galaxies in the background, seems simple, it’s Galaxy Mario, right? Well it’s not applicable for a few reasons: while traveling to the epicenter of a black hole, light becomes distorted in a process called spaghettification, meaning the galaxy in the background likely isn't actually being affected; it's just the distortion of light that makes it seem that way. As for things moving afterward, nothing proves that the cast is still upfacing after the experience, which would explain the reasoning for the background being angled in separate directions; so, the galaxy realistically wasn't affected and it’s just a weird perspective. On that note, it doesn't act like a black hole anyway, and we know black holes can be portals- which seems to be the intent since the loser after being swallowed INTO the black hole's epicenter; ends up somewhere random afterward. Moreover, even if we ignore all of that logic and STILL try to use the feat, the galaxy is being moved at MFTL+ speeds, E=MC^2 as a formula has never been addressed inside the verse & is inapplicable in this case, and it’s questionable to scale to, to begin with… due to y’know rocks inexplicably surviving the trip inside of it- LOL like at BARE MINIMUM that means the only things that were ‘destroyed’ were sucked into the Black Hole, so the Galaxy in a destructive capacity was never affected (To be clear I am not against E=MC^2 for situations where matter is very clearly destroyed on a subatomic level or energy VERY specifically is being affected or changed in some way; it's just nothing really implies THIS black hole would work for E=MC^2).
Power Stars make 'Black Holes': Assuming we take this seriously and use the shrinking platform levels to argue that Power Stars made these black holes, we can't confirm it. All that happens afterward is they pop out when it dissipates. This poses another question: wouldn’t it scale to the black hole's output by being inside? Well, no. It's very concrete in Mario that black holes are more like warp holes (with the only real difference being the ending of Galaxy 1). We see that black holes, which look just like the ones in Galaxy, are how Bowser warps people around in Mario Party Superstars, and even in Galaxy itself, there are levels where literal water is completely fine coming out of a black hole and into another black hole. Even if it has force, it's very clearly not on the level of a normal black hole and is more like a gravity well that warps things.
Paranormal Chaos / Scarescraper Shenanigans (Dark Moon): The basic gist behind this feat is that enough Paranormal Activity gathering in one place (ghosts in this case) is enough to collapse the dimension (universe), though the problem is this feat is not only over-time; but, it’s also a chain reaction feat making it unusable for AP as it’s not a direct result of strength but rather a byproduct of the Ghosts gathering in one place- like even if for some reason you considered it legitimate (how tf do you quantify that). For the Scarescraper side of things I’m just going to copy this snippet from my previous Blog: I’ll be straightforward, I gotta address it so no one thinks I skipped it. Let me set up the argument's foundation: there's this Online Mode in Dark Moon, featuring a dimension with an 'endless' scarescraper, and based on the context, could mean the dimension is infinitely sized. Now, what people are trying to argue is that because it looks kinda similar to King Boo's dimension, the characters should scale to it. But seriously, whoever made this point DIDN’T COOK, because there's absolutely NO evidence or connection suggesting anyone would scale to this dimension. (Like the dimensions aren’t even the same visual wise aside from color, it’s circles vs zig zags lol) We don't even know if anyone created it in the first place – it might have existed forever. But that's just the start of the issues. Secondly – it's a side Online mode that's only introduced with a bit of a Fourth Wall break. Sure, Gadd might mention it later, but it plays absolutely no role in the story and might as well be considered non-canon. Seriously, it's super obvious – there are FOUR Luigis for some reason when you enter (no explanation either lol). The size of the Scarescraper is all over the place too. Yeah, you can argue that since there’s an 'endless' setting, that would mean the dimension has to be infinite, but ‘endless’ has a very loose connotation. Think about it this way, ‘endless’ can mean perpetual which just means frequent and never changing which describes the scraper really well looking at it externally… you go from one floor to the next until you lose, realistically since you’ll never be able to win, you could just say whatever point you lost at is still technically ‘endless’ as you never reached the end of the gauntlet. (Since no matter how far you tried to go, it’s still technically without end if you always lose before winning) If you really wanted, you can just set it to have 5-20 floors, the iffy size just makes it even worse to me. And just to troll ScareScraper fans even harder – there's another place with the SAME name in Mansion 3 (that takes its place) & that's no longer ‘endless’ in size, taking over its role. Consider yourselves trolled, ScareScraper fans. So, to sum up this section in a nutshell: even if you IGNORE the size inconsistencies and agree with the ScareScraper potentially being infinitely sized, there's no clear way to stretch King Boo into somehow scaling, and it pretty much falls into the non-canon territory anyway.
Baby Bowser Turns the World into a Book (Yoshi’s Island): This one is kind of weird, Bowser turned Yoshi’s island into a storybook, which included stars in the sky, the big problem is that unlike the Raphael the Raven feat (which was achieved by hitting Raphael REALLY hard), this was literally caused by a transmutative spell (non-physical means) which made everything into a book; it’s more accurate to say that Bowser’s magic has MSS range rather than straight up AP; the incredible vagueness behind it to begin with also really hurts the feat, Bowser never uses it FOR combat regardless.
Mario Bros 3: The Angry Sun is a weird case. Mario doesn't really do anything to the sun. It's capable of moving on its own and is sentient. He doesn't destroy the sun, and when he hits it with a shell or Starman, all it does is fall straight down because it's defeated, rather than affecting it in any meaningful way. Despite being called a sun, it clearly is not producing gravity or inflicting environmental damage from being so close to Earth [also it’s really tiny, it isn’t getting any good values]. To say that this sun has GBE is strange, to begin with. It's probably a nothing feat, in my opinion (though given the Galaxy feats it definitely makes me question the sizes of Mario-verse Star sizes; as you’ll see later).
Mario 64: The painting worlds, while containing stars, moons, and other celestial bodies, are never stated to be physically created by Bowser or the Power Stars. They're implied to have always existed as Painting Worlds. Bowser simply wanted to move his new kingdom into these paintings. In the manual, there’s ONE theory mentioned involving manipulating the real world, but there’s MULTIPLE theories given and they're all conflicting with each other and often outright wrong (aka nothing can prove they’re accurate). So it's safe to say Bowser was not going to affect the real world or painting worlds. It’s also hard to scale to this part of the cosmology because it's isolated from the universe. Trying to do a universal wipe of the Marioverse would more likely just destroy the frames rather than the dimensions inside, for example; and there’s no real ‘cosmology’ wipes in the Mario-verse besides the Void which no one scales and was only affecting the FICTIONAL Paper Mario Universe.
Dream Depot & Dream Args in General: It was said Bowser was going to destroy the Depot under a VERY vague timeframe (The Dream Depot being a collection of Dream Worlds). So first off we when it comes to Speed we can’t really use Volume like we did for Yuu’s feat, as all that’s said is Bowser would fill / destroy the dream worlds by filling them with his dreams, (and eventually completely destroy the Depot realistically) which we don’t even know HOW he was even going to do that, apparently just negativity was gonna fuck it up (which isn’t even quantifiable). Basic things we’d need to know like if he’d even have to move around to do it for speed, if he was just going to do it with an AOE wave via magical means (which would only scale the diameter of the dimensions; surface area if it WAS applicable would get much higher), or really as to how he could have done it, he had VARIOUS different means making it a guessing game which makes it extremely unreliable and even less valid for Surface Area… but that’s not the worst part. First off the only dream with potential ‘Uni’ statements is FUTURE DREAM & that’s not even addressing that no one has provided a clear JP translation for it actually being universal in size. Though in general when it comes to the ‘scope’ of the Depot, people have tried to use a single one off statement in Super Paper Mario stating there’s infinite hopes and dreams (this statement is said in a completely different dimension from Mario’s mind you and is also inside a storybook which is FICTIONAL to the mario verse) and many have tried to apply that to the Depot. First off yeah this has the same problem that some of Yuu’s has, it’s like ALMOST certainly hyperbole and you can’t prove otherwise, secondly it’s a ONE-off statement from a completely RANDOM NPC in a COMPLETELY disconnected game that never gets addressed again, and finally we don’t even KNOW if it’s apply to the Dream Depot, it’s in a single different universe- Mario’s real world one, this statement is within a STORYBOOK that is completely disconnected from the Mario universe, and the Depot is never said to take dreams from any other dimensions, saying it contains ‘ALL DREAMS’ does not have to mean ALL DREAMS of the multiverse, it clearly means universe given the context that the Depot is in the same space. Like I don’t mean to talk down to the people that make these arguments, but when these games are very comedy oriented, INSIDE a storybook, and often uses flowery language, you should probably consider that there’s some hint of hyperbole in anything said. Disregarding the Depot, people have given a ton of other arguments; the first one being Pi'illo Island; there's a few problems with using the 'Dream Stone', first off it was depowered at the time when Bowser absorbed it (only pulling from the dreams of the Island inhabitants); though more importantly there's no reason to believe Future Dream was a part of those dreams to begin with, it's literally a bunch of randos we can't prove they were all dreaming of the LITERAL Universe at the time their dreams got yoinked. As for the ‘Infinite Chincous’ thing for Mario Odyssey (that people use to argue infinite dreams), it’s from a MF PRIMA GUIDE STATEMENT (REMEMBER? THE VERY INCONSISTENT GUIDE MATERIAL THAT NO ONE SHOULD USE BECAUSE THEY THEMSELVES SAY THEY AREN’T RESPONSIBLE FOR ACCURACY); but it’s also VERY clearly referring to how they INFINITELY respawn rather than there literally being INFINITE of them (respawns for enemies are very obviously canon Kamek has exploded into nothingness like 50 times throughout the entire series), so it makes sense- and either way it’s not useable due to being a very inconsistent Guidebook brand; STOP USING PRIMA GUIDES! As for the last argument, time and space are both present within dreams, so people think that absorbing them makes you Uni+. And like- while I get the idea behind this argument, it’s definitely a stretch; destroying our Universe for example does not automatically imply you’re overpowering time itself, only the space within it (unless you’re clearly specified to be affecting spacetime or specifically the temporal aspect of reality). In this case the argument is like equating absorbing a planet to Uni+ because Time runs through it, which makes no real sense, nothing implies Bowser is absorbing the ‘concept’ of time when he absorbs dreams with the Dream Stone; and ontop of that the Real World & Dreams are pretty clearly interconnected. Affecting Luigi in the real world changes time in the Dream World & so on, it’s much more likely that not only the Depot, but the Real World itself are acting as circulators for these concepts from outside the realms themselves, so regardless there’s no clear way to say anyone is affecting the SPACE or the TIME of a dream realm. Though ontop of all of this I realized something, a cosmology wipe regardless would kill everyone who is creating the dreams, thus erasing the dreams themselves. There's no real indication that a cosmology wipe would effect these dreams, they're a mental scape that is 'imaginary', Mario and his friends have very blatantly shown off NPI again and again; so there's no real reason to say this place is tangible. Even if a cosmology wipe did somehow destroy Mario's Universe all in one go on all sides, it'd reach EVERYTHING EXCEPT for the pocket dimensions inside the Depot; which in that case it'd be too late for the Cosmology wipe to even affect the dreams (even saying the space is big enough to hold these dreams isn't accurate as it's only holding the portals into them; and that'd only equate to destroying 'empty' space).
Paper Mario: Crystal Stars blowing up the universe would be good if it came from an actual developer or a WOG statement. However, it's a review in a guidebook, not gospel. There’s no mention of a universal explosion anywhere else in the game. The Void is blatantly multiversal, but no one can scale to it. First, it kills Mario and everyone else in an ending. Second, they couldn't hurt the Chaos Heart shield, which is just the starting point of the void before any charging or growing. Third, the one time they do hurt Dimentio, he’s explicitly countered and depowered of his shield. Lastly, Sammer's Kingdom is not an instance of tanking. They had no idea what happened; they just ended up in the hub. While you could argue it’s a tanking feat, that’s unlikely given that they're fodder to the void, and we know Tippy has teleporting powers (that and as discussed earlier in the other QNA ‘Does Paper Mario scale to the Void’, it’s circular scaling regardless). No sound or visual cue isn’t a valid counter to that. The screen goes white, and all we hear is the void, so not seeing anything is just to maintain suspense. Therefore, no void scaling.
Mario and Rabbids: The creators for Mario & Ubisoft themselves have said it’s a non-canon separate universe from Marios; while you could possibly argue it being canon for Rayman; Nintendo has never claimed the crossover is canon (and has only ever really said the opposite; NO the everything is ‘canon’ statement by Nintendo does not apply here, because both parties are expressly stating the Mario Rabbids series isn’t canon), so mainline Mario wouldn't scale. Even if he did, the Megabug feat was only going to eventually destroy the ‘world’ (it’s pretty consistently brought up; it’s also clarified in Japanese they mean Universe) by self-amping itself… The Universe was never actually destroyed by its might because it never reached that level. And since never reached the point of universal destruction and the fact that Mario and co. struggled to hurt him to begin with; AND there being a statement about how no ONE in the Kingdom would be able to stop him at his peak, makes the overall argument wacky as hell and hard in general to scale them. There’s also Cursya’s feat in the next game (same problem of being non canon), where she spread darkness across a galaxy (which could possibly be quantifiable) though even if we do use it; Cursya is sorta hard to scale to as there’s not really a way to quantify the energy of ‘darkness’ & Mario & Co. needed Rosalina’s help to even be put down for good.
Mario RPG: Culex is literally locked in a sealed-off 'time room.' Given his eccentric personality and demeanor, it's safe to say he's a little insane. The ‘I consume Time & Space’ stuff he spouts in the English version is a mistranslation (Nintendo really loves giving us the most random English Translations known to man); not only does he not mention ANYTHING about affecting the cosmology, but he shows no reality-warping feats during the battle. Taking this guy at face value regardless would be weird. Even his '3D' form has no feats; he just gets thicker. Pause.
Wario World: The Black Jewel destroys a dimension... people use a UK statement to prove that it's a universe and while it isn't mentioned in any JP or other translation, the site itself very specifically states it's a statement FROM the publishers of the game; though there’s an issue with that… the publishers aren’t the DEVELOPERS of the game, in this case it’d be Nintendo EU. This is a statement at its core is given to us by Nintendo EU (not Japan which is the OG developers) way past the conception of the game, and given the non-mention or even hint of it being a Universe in ANY OTHER TRANSLATION, makes this beyond the original intention of the game; it’s pretty safe to say that it’s not intentional or accurate to the original premise in that regard.
Smash Bros: It's not canon; they're toys lol.
Mario Kun: There's no issue. People just don't like Mario-Kun. Okay but if we’re being serious, the big issue is it’s not made by Nintendo officially- even if endorsed and going through all the games; it’s quite literally Mario’s Archie- (which does the exact same thing, but is obviously a separate canon) so we can’t use it for mainline.
Bomberman / FF Scaling: It works if you’re a fan of Cross Scaling I guess- at the very least it’s a two-way crossover making it more valid than a majority of crossover feats, but Wario fought Bomberman before his huge Universe Feat (if we buy Release Dates). Bomberman got canonically stronger right BEFORE the universe feat he scaled, which was AFTER his battle with Wario… so he scales to a Bomberman who didn’t scale at the time. Final Fantasy is different however, it’s not really canon at all, it’s not a twoway crossover and only a cameo in a sports game that has no real story; so… RIP!
Dimensional Tiering: This section is pretty straight forward, there are two things I DO think that the Mario Verse at least follows, that being lower dimensional life forms are FLAT, some sort of exiting of dimensions occurs, & Numbered Dimensions exist… however ASIDE FROM THAT; I don’t think it’s ANYWHERE close to being an actual Higher Dimensional cosmology. To start off with there’s the obvious element in the room we addressed in the last blog, ‘String-Theory Soup’ is a mistranslation which should say ‘Big-Bang Soup’ making it non valid to use for an argument. In general it should always be considered translations BY Nintendo America, are known for making inaccurate English translations, (aka Culex, LOZ translations, and in Super Paper Mario the mention of dimensions is primarily exclusive to the Japanese version / Guidebook set of statements-) English and Japanese versions when it comes to Nintendo are always different in at least some way. A big push towards DT for Mario in general is naming conventions & I’ve never been a fan of those types of arguments; as usually it’s either a play on words & in general is literally just a name that doesn’t HAVE to mean anything; this is most commonly seen in stuff like the Mario 64 Guidebook, King Boo’s statement, & a Matter Splatter Galaxy statement… and while these arguments certainly do exist, they just really aren’t backed up by anything; dimensional theories in themself are theoretical, so using a theoretical hyperspace terminology as one of the big arguments for the verse actually getting DT is just too strange for me to actually accept, aside from that I do want to point out that in Paper’s World specifically ‘Dimensionality’ is really strangely inconsistent. In Color Splash there is a literal 2 Dimensional World from mainline Mario’s old days, so you’d EXPECT it to be 2D once you enter it (because it literally is a 2D game); though very blatantly by changing ‘perspective’ this supposedly lower dimensional space has depth to it.
The Main Dimensional Tiering Validity Checks are as follows & what the verse WOULD quantify for:
Is this space infinitely above the lower one ❌ (Literally never stated or proven)
Is it inaccessible to lower dimension life-forms ❌(Culex literally comes into Mario’s World & Paper goes into Marios)
Do the beings that live there perceive lower life-forms as flat ✅(Culex & Paper for example are flat)
Are they inherently superior to the lower beings ❌(Culex and Paper are literally showcased as the same level as the mainline cast despite being from a lower dimension)
Are they called "spatial dimensions"? Temporal dimensions isnt enough, but if its both, then thats even cooler and supplements it. ❌(No Spatial Dimensions are never mentioned outright)
Is there references to actual irl dimensional theories? ❌✅ (I would really prefer not to solely hone in on naming conventions in order to fulfill this requirement; but I will admit there’s at least some merit if you really want to use it)
Is it a named/numbered higher dimension? It has to be named 4D or above. Cuz Brane worlds are legit in dimensional theory but a 3D world is also a brane world. It has to be stated to be a numbered higher D, like the 11D spatial brane world in TTGL ✅ (At the very least Culex calls their world three dimensional)
At absolute BEST the Mario verse is meeting 3 of the 7 requirements; which as you can imagine is not very good and less than half of the requirements… So yeah , I can't say I’m exactly buying it anytime soon. And this is just a reminder, BEING BEYOND TIME AND SPACE… is not an actual argument for stats, unless actual DT is blatantly real- otherwise we’d have stupid stuff like 5D Goku Black 😭
Debatably Real
Mario Party 4 Stars: There is one feat I found in MP4 I can't really refute, like... the background literally gets entirely moved and then a constellation is made, but there's a few things to point out at the very least... First of this ‘constellation’ is happening INSIDE the Party Cube which could imply it's illusory in nature rather than straight up stars. And while we see these ‘stars’ fly inside of the Power Star; they are TINY in comparison to it…the same Star that was just comparable to the cast members like 1 second ago- to be clear I’m fine with the gist of the feat & scaling to it, it’s just I’m skeptical on the legitimacy and size of the star-
Mario Party 6 Brighton & Twila Spins Space & The Planet: I’m not really too opposed to this feat being ‘real’ persay, because they definitely have control over Space in some regard due to their powers; it’s just the story cinematic could be a bit exaggerated is all. If we take it at face value it could be a Large Planet - MSS feat.
Lumas Becoming 'Galaxies' / ‘Galaxy’ Explosion: (Now I’mma yap about my negatives before we get to the positives, most of the problem is with Galaxy 1) It’s important to clarify that while Lumas are stated to create galaxies by Rosalina, it's unclear how long that takes. It's even clearer in the game that they never perform on this level, only ever really creating small planetoids. The few times a galaxy is "created" by a hungry Luma, it's never specified as such; it's always said that a galaxy appeared, showing a wormhole/gateway for Mario to fly into. The intent seems to be that it's just a portal to a galaxy; while I don’t advise using Prima Guides (due to their literal statement here), even if you do there’s dozens of different interpretations and MOST call it a Gateway to a New Galaxy. Also, galaxies in Mario Galaxy are often portrayed as WORLDS in a new Galaxy (rather than an actual new galaxy to begin with), they consist of small planetoids and nothing bigger. This ties nicely with Rosalina’s statement. If they make enough stars, it would naturally create a galaxy. In terms of actual Universe size, Galaxy 1 and 2 show that every world we visit with stars is super small. Mario Bros 3 and Mario Maker 2 back this up with suns generally being Mario-sized (which REALLY lowers the plausibility of Lumas making galaxies in one go to begin with; because they normally just make small rock planetoids). As for Galaxy 2 however, it’s contradictory to 1 and there is a statement for Galaxies being born- simple as that can’t really refute it, just wanted to clarify 1’s reasoning isn’t the best. Though as for actually scaling, there aren't really any examples of Mario tanking this force- which really means we have no scaling chain besides maybe Grand Stars (by virtue of saying Grand Stars > Lumas which seems to be a bit of a stretch). There’s nothing really linking Luma to Grand Stars (though I agree at the very least Mario scales to Grand Stars; aside from the last feat in Galaxy 1. Mostly due to circular scaling, though even ignoring that- the Grand Star powering Bowser's 'Galaxy Reactor’ was more likely there to just stabilize the reactor rather than power it; meaning there’s no real way to prove that it could release as much energy as a Luma in one go as it’s a byproduct of Bowser’s Machine. Depowering the reactor should have just turned it off, but once it's removed, the reactor becomes unstable and forms a black hole. Based on that logic, and the fact that no one tanks the black hole (it’s implied the cast would have died without Rosalina; and it’d be circular scaling anyways cuz a Grand Star tier event would have fucking killed them), no one should scale; not even Bowser as he was very clearly saved too (and shows up right next to the gang post explosion). Galaxy 2's Galaxy Generator, while Mario isn't as threatened, doesn't have a clear power source. It more likely doesn’t use a Grand Star, as Bowser was already using one for his amp, meaning still no scaling. And if we’re being completely honest- Mario's galaxy or universe might not even be as impressive as it might seem; Galaxy 1, 2, and Mario Bros 3 all make an effort to show that the size of astral bodies in the Marioverse is extremely inconsistent, meaning there’s no way to prove the mass energy is equal to that of a normal galaxy (but I’m not going to be that mean). At bare minimum you could maybe argue Bowser at his peak has ‘Galaxy’ level tech, but no one has actually tanked the Black Hole’s epicenter directly (Rosa literally bails his ass out; and no… Mario does not scale to Rosalina, she never actually directly harms her barriers EVER; and it’d be inconsistent anyways because he was literally helpless and going to presumably die). Also I don’t really have anywhere to put this- but did you know the ‘Overthere’ is literally a part of Earth; you literally get launched into space in the chapter… I’ve seen people argue endless stuff for it but that’s clearly exaggerated.
Mario-verse Speed Feats
This can be a bit puzzling, because there's quite a bit of disagreement about using a lot of MFTL+ feats. Though for most of them I have no issues, meaning similar to AP we will be covering all of them (this is a lot more lenient in comparison).
Green Star Comet (Mario Galaxy): The main reason people have issues with the Comet is how we're looking at it – it's right up close to the screen. Due to the nature of perspective, that makes it seem like it's super far from the actual ‘Worlds.’ So, we reasonably can't really measure it like it traveled the diameter of those Worlds, like we usually do. I get that, but I believe it overlooks something about the Green Star Comet. Smaller comets are dropping off the Green Star Comet and falling into these ‘Worlds’ and they’re specifically described as entire universes. And all the while, the main Comet is moving past them. Now, unless these tiny comets are doing the wackiest, most unexpected twists and turns ever seen in fiction, it's pretty likely that the main Comet did pass through all those universes. This actually fits pretty well with other speed feats we've seen in the Galaxy series. It’s said the Green Star Comet is going all around the universe to begin with (which would include these other Universe sized ‘Worlds’ that make up the Mario Universe). Characters like Luigi are off traveling on adventures across the Universe presumably without any portals, and Rosalina herself is kind of just cruising through the Universe with her observatory! No really she literally travels from the ending universe all the way back to the Mushroom Kingdom in like a few minutes during the credits; her ship is the blue streak if you can’t tell. Enough stalling though, there are a few ways to look at the Green Star Comet. First, even if there are people who aren't fully convinced about the idea of the Comet traveling through lots of universes, we've got a simple notion to rely on that can’t really be bunked... At the very least, those Mini Stars Comets – those small, shiny comets that drop off the main one – they manage to reach the faraway universes we can spot on the World Map. So, no matter what you think about the overall feat, we've got a really fast universal crossing supplementary feat we can always count on. The real issue is scaling Mario TO the Comet as there’s not really many ways to actually do that. The most straightforward option is to potentially just scale the speed to Rosalina's ship. Both the Observatory and Comet were already sharing a pretty similar range of intergalactic universal feats & both were powered by 120 stars. Green Stars and Gold Stars are effectively the exact same thing, both count as a single star in power for her ship… and if you really want to troll the Mario Fandom, no amount of Stars moves up the class of the ship, only Grand Stars, so 120 Stars < 1 Grand Star. Bowser actually manages to hit Rosalina's ship twice – he does it in Galaxy 1 (mid motion) and Galaxy 2 (also arguably mid motion). Using the same logic Lubba’s ship also has a similar amount of energy powering its travel and Bowser can tag him with meteors. Though outside of that there’s simpler arguments like Mario has literally outran Cosmic Energy (which is fueled by the Green Star Comet) & Starbits are able to keep up with Mario mid-launch star + wiimote telekinesis can draw immobile ones at Mario FASTER than the launch (and Mario can dodge natural Starbits in motion & shot out ones, obviously he scales, they are slow asf); while that may not seem impressive, the Launch Star is so fast it can reach a planet before Comet Stars have a chance to pass it (so it should pretty handily scale); it’s the same classification as the Green Star Comet, is also said to be prankster comets similar to Galaxy 1, & is fueled by Stars as well- but like… there is the issue of it being a newly rebooted Prankster Comet presumably (assuming the Galaxy 1 Explosion reboot multiple Galaxies) & the fact that while they are both Prankster Comets they could have been set in motion by different means and be different speeds. While there are certainly a lot of ways TO scale to the actual feat, it’s just none are really that blatantly useful for a scaling chain. Though in the case that YOU DO buy Mario scaling to the Green Comet to begin with, that brings up a more interesting argument. In Mario Galaxy 2 when the Comet starts flying around, we pretty blatantly VISIBLY see it pass by all of the ‘Worlds’ the ones which are very clearly separated by both Time & Space; the Japanese Version clarifying each world is beyond each other's space and time… now that alone would qualify for Immeasurable- as it’s flying between separate space times through just speed, but even the Comets that fall OFF of the big one are capable of moving into these Space Times with no Portals (unlike Mario’s Ship which very clearly needed them to get around), by that logic the Comets are literally coming to the Universe via speed, without portals, from different points in space & time… but yeah- big issue is actually scaling to the Green Comet (while we do have ways, they’re not particularly solid) someone find a SOLID WAY I beg…
Millenium Star: This one is pretty straightforward to me, I’ve seen the counters to it; but I really just don’t vibe with them. The basic gist is that this Star was born in the center of the Universe and then suddenly it just fell at high speeds to Mario’s Planet. The only argument against him actually scaling is we don’t know how it accelerated that fast to begin with. Though obviously that’s sort of a NON-ISSUE, as obviously as we see NOTHING accelerated it, it was simply capable of moving that fast (which is backed up by how the only reason it fell is it was a newborn who didn’t have great control of their body), nothing proves otherwise and there’s no reason to assume it falling is trillions of x faster than it moving- that’s kinda stoopid tbh. Now obviously Mario doesn’t outright react to it falling (because he was literally looking the complete other direction relaxing; like idk what people are expecting here he had his guard down) but as for how Mario actually scales, it’s quite simple. You fight the Star, move in tandem with him, and dodge his attacks (including falling Millenium Stars-); so, there should be no real debate against this being usable. There’s literally no conceivable way the Millenium Star wouldn’t at minimum scale in movement speed or attack speed.
Wario Taxi: This is probably the most controversial feat out of Mario’s MFTL+ arguments… mostly due to the overall nature of the feat. We know the Taxi is very easily capable of going to the edge of the universe in seconds (farthest ‘reaches’ of outer space doesn’t really have any other meanings & under a similar timeframe it went to the EDGE of space so this checks out), it’s just given there’s constant text cuts that obscure the screen (so characters can talk), we can’t really see them dodging or reacting to anything- UNTIL we get to Warioware Gold. They are very capable of reacting to oncoming stuff while driving, the aliens they were following could react to their lasers while moving at these speeds, and the simplest option for scaling just to- y’know… scale to Rosalina’s ship. You may think this is a bit weird because there’s no scaling chains, in the grand scope of the Marioverse, this is just a RANDOM Taxi & Spaceship; versus the literal Goddess of the Cosmos’ vehicle powered by Grand Stars… it’s definitely not a stretch to say her ship at the very least scales. Which at that point, Bowser was capable of tagging her ship, so it should be completely fine to scale him in movement / attack speed (which makes Mario scale physically via dodging his attacks). Though the important part is I’m not arguing the lasers make the feat faster, scaling the lasers speed TO the Taxi to get a bigger feat would fall under calc stacking and just abusing one feat to get another higher- so I don’t really vibe with it; that being said, the base speed OF the Taxi still gets Quadrillions c.
Should Partners be allowed on both sides?
While having partners can be allowed, it’d be a very one-sided benefit. Paper Mario's versatility allows him to replicate almost every action his partners can perform, while he has WAY more partners, it’d minimize the added benefit they provide in abilities (aka only a numbers advantage). While in Yuu's case, she’d gain significant benefit, Rocky (the foxcub) can transform into Yuu and clone all of her equipped gear, essentially creating two Yuus for the price of one… which already makes this way harder for Paper due to the massive blitz. I would argue at least to some extent Rocky could maybe clone Paper, but this is an assumption as he’s never cloned enemies before- and it arguably wouldn't be a game-changer for Yuu either- given Paper has more experience with his own gear & has fought clones of himself before. Though what comes next probably would be EXTREMELY unfair to Paper… Yuu’s best friend Flora (the Princess of the Human Kingdom), Flora’s Star based attacks are ‘Wished to always hit the opponent’ giving Yuu an extremely reliable way to hit Paper with Critical Hits as long as she has Energy (which like 50 different gear types restore passively HE’D be at a pretty big disadvantage). It would really troll Paper as he’d have to deal with being hit with potentially infinite undodgeable attacks that ignore his durability from long range… (lol) Yuu also has her servant, Cybat… but he’s sort of a non factor really- he can do relatively simple stuff like manipulate wind, confuse enemies, & create tornadoes. Though Mario can already use wind and resists confusion. Ultimately, both sides have similar capabilities through their partners, it’s just not really fair towards Paper as he doesn’t get any added benefit towards his arsenal; the most decisive factor is always going to come down to which SOLO Party Leader falls first in the battle.
Bonus Artwork
Art by @Tyranniisaurus on Twitter (love this dude!!!)
It’s an entire sequence I made a few months ago, click here to see the rest. The Sprite Art Sequence by me, Stars!~
Banner by Soul from DBJ (Death Battle Judgement Server)
Verdict
Stats
When assessing these two Heroes, their stats are a super important aspect, and both possess impressive capabilities. Mario displays remarkable strength, capable of shattering Metal Boxes with a force equivalent to around 2.068 Tons of TNT. He's also matched Bowser, who can generate minor storms with a power range of approximately 23.62 Tons of TNT, and Mario himself can summon a Storm of incredible magnitude, worth 52.98 Megatons of TNT. On the other side, Yuu showcases strength in shattering boulders with a force of about 0.035 Tons of TNT. She's demonstrated the power to rival the Dragon King, who can create fire pillars worth at least 1.7 Kilotons of TNT, Yuu's combated Sno Seapony who can create large-scale snowstorms reaching around 21.09 Megatons of TNT, scales to Wildcat who can move cloud formations with a force of 463.61 Megatons and even contended with the Dragon King's overwhelming might, capable of burning two Kingdoms to mere ashes, a power estimated at 71.96 Gigatons of TNT.
If only those feats were considered, Yuu would hold a clear advantage in the strength category. However, in reality, both characters possess the potential for cosmic-level feats when given equal leeway. Paper Mario boasts an array of cosmic material, including summoning a fan with Dwarf Star-level power and scaling to the real deal Mario. This establishes a straightforward scaling chain for Paper Mario, Mario is capable of defeating Wario, who in turn bested the Wario Virus—a being capable of overpowering Wario’s Console which includes multiple Star Nebulas—thus granting Paper Mario Multi Solar System Attack Potency (16.84 Million TeraFoe).
Conversely, Yuu has faced Dream Tapirs, entities capable of consuming star-filled dimensions. Given the energy these Tapirs would have to absorb by consuming these celestial bodies, Yuu's potential extends anywhere from Large Star levels of power all the way to Solar System levels of power (67933.1 FOE - 8044712.66 FOE) — this would be her peak… WITHOUT Disgaea scaling. Using just this Mario's strength would be vastly superior, making it so he could just bulldoze through Yuu and kill her with a single blow, she'd be splattered on the pavement (lol) without the chance of ever inflicting Chip Damage.
And while no matter what Paper is obviously tanking that shit, walking through all her attacks if we disregarded Disgaea; though obviously, there’s no real reason to do this outside of feeling bad for Paper Mario. NOW IF WE DO USE THIS, I’m sorry to say but Paper is COOKED; as we discussed earlier, most of his end stats either don’t work or aren’t feats at all, he has no real way to match the Disgaea stuff even if we REALLY try hard to stretch some args. This would make it so Yuu scales to an Infinite Multiverse worth of power (Multi+), one good stab from her and Paper would be subatomically atomized! Which gives the Strength Advantage to Paper (on low-ends) & to Yuu (on high-ends)!
In terms of speed, they are closely matched when considering low-end feats. Paper Mario can synchronize with sound waves at Mach 1.44, while Yuu can align with sound waves at Mach 2.6. Yuu scales to the Dragon King, achieving cloud-level flight in mere seconds, achieving Mach 10 speeds. Meanwhile, Paper Mario's coordination with Ludwig's Submarine Missiles reaches Mach 12.67. He scales further, with ties to Huff N Puff, capable of synchronizing with genuine lightning bolts at speeds ranging from Mach 141.2 to Mach 634. Yuu's tandem movement with 'shooting stars' which should be comparable to Meteors, propels her at speeds ranging from Mach 63.92 to Mach 379. Her speed is also relative to Dream Seaponies, moving in sync with light waves at 6.9 x the speed of light, and scaling with Rocky, moving in tandem with Cybat's light balls likely near 10.27 times the speed of light. Mario can move alongside the Lantern Ghost's light at 7.08 times the speed of light. Pretty close, however, when Galactic Feats are introduced, things change drastically. Paper Mario's scaling extends to Dribble’s Taxi Feat, which yields speeds around 146.74 Quadrillion times faster than light—an impressive feat, but nowhere near Yuu's capabilities.
Dream Tapirs, with their ability to consume entire star-filled realms swiftly, blow that out of the water. What might initially appear less impressive is elevated by the fact that it’s WAY more thorough in comparison, traversing every inch of a volume surpasses traveling from just one point to another (diameter), like what the Taxi or Green Comet does. Given the timeframe most dreams occur within when considering scientific studies, the Dream Tapir feat at a minimum speed range between 10.65 Tredecillion times the speed of light - 17.6 Quindecillion times the speed of light (jesus christ), and this calculation is an extreme lowball to begin with. The calculation overlooks the Tapir statement's focus—it's not merely about consuming half a dream. Rather, it explains that the Tapir devours dreams by starting from the dream's ending state and progressing towards its middle. This suggests MULTIPLE instances of the dream are being consumed, not just the size of one instance. Though that leads to both their biggest feats, obviously the Green Star Comet is a bit contentious though even if we used it, it’d only be 2.9 Quintillion times the speed of light to 11.4 Quintillion times the speed of light (that’s literally like a nonillion x gap with Yuu’s feat if we only used finite speed). Though the Green Star Comet has a more impressive argument, as discussed before (the feat in itself IS immeasurable, there’s no questioning that, it’s just hard to scale Mario to it); though HYPOTHETICALLY if we did it’d mean that Mario physically matches Yuu’s high-ends in speed (both being Immeasurable), as Yuu would always have solid Disgaea scaling to fallback on (Mario’s debatable Immeasurable scaling would balance that out). Meaning Yuu takes speed finitely, while Yuu ties with Mario while using high-ends.
Arsenal and Abilities
The abilities category takes center stage for both sides, offering substantial strategies. Let's delve into Paper Mario's capabilities followed by Yuu's, and how they interact with each other. First off, Paper Mario has an extremely adaptive physiology. He can seamlessly reassemble himself after being sliced to ribbons, morph into multiple paper forms, stretch, bounce, and even become invisible, showcasing a versatile skill set (making his base self extremely unpredictable and versatile). In terms of offensive potential, his arsenal is vast: he wields control over fire, ice, and lightning, can poison and bewilder enemies, effect emotions, induce fright to make enemies run or slumber to make them sleep, drain vitality, trap souls inside cards, summon shooting stars, trigger earthquakes, create clones, debatably dimensional travel to outside the storybook medium, has the ability to revive himself, achieve invincibility, and summon Fans as big as Earth in size, resulting in an expansive AOE (area-of-effect) range.
Let’s switch focus to his wide array of impressive skills. He can manipulate probability causing enemies to occasionally miss attacks, become intangible with Boo’s Sheet or Dimensional Flipping, negate defenses through D-Down Pound, regenerate HP and FP via ‘Happy’ Badges, discern enemy health with Peekaboo, generate an electric field passively with Zap Tap, commence battles with positive status effects with Lucky Start, and reflect half of physical damage back to assailants with Return Postal. Additionally, his diverse arsenal includes the wish-granting Star Spirits! These Spirits bolster his prowess by reducing defenses, manipulating time, transmuting enemies, and nullifying wish magic. The Crystal Stars provide Mario with the ability to slice through and puncture reality, damaging or eliminating foes in a single blow.
Furthermore, Mario's alliance with Pixls enhances his capabilities. Notably, Tippytron grants the power to unveil hidden objects, gather information about enemies and surroundings, and even teleport dimensionally. Other Pixls aid in curing ailments, boosting speed, or forming barriers. Even something as minor as Battle Cards grant him the means to amplify statistics, nullify damage, and spontaneously harm adversaries. Paper Mario wields a wealth of abilities, making him a formidable opponent in combat, so it’s only natural to see how Yuu stacks up.
Yuu possesses many of the same abilities as Mario, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent (because she only has one game LOL). She can manipulate the elements of Fire and Ice, induce confusion and poison foes, use the Scent Box to soothe herself & others, revive herself, attack enemies using honey, summon shooting stars, decrease enemy attack and defense and can enhance both attributes to herself, ignore conventional durability with Critical Hits, passively regenerate health and stamina, recover from organ damage in the Fountain World, traverse between dimensions, exit the storybook medium, ‘Inspect’ to gather knowledge about people and her environment essentially reading minds, induce sleep in enemies, nullify damage, wield power nullification to seal away magic and special abilities, and utilize healing items for health and stamina.
Her arsenal also contains some unique items, like the Rewind Powder, capable of reversing time for intercepted objects, and the Oblivion Remedy, which can erase a person's memories entirely. Notably, Yuu possesses wish magic through the Fountain Spirit, enabling her to heal by simply approaching any of her fountains. Once in the Fountain World, Yuu attains a state of effective immortality, as her real body's condition remains frozen until she departs. Moreover, she can presumably cast Dark Fountains, generating clones from the memories of individuals within them, including the individual themself.
Now let's delve into how these two power sets would intersect. It’s pretty clear to me that DEFENSIVELY, Mario has a really big advantage. Badges like Zap Tap would prove to be an incredibly effective tool in keeping Yuu at a distance. Its ability to inflict damage at Mario's level creates a constant aura of danger around him that could oneshot Yuu (if we go by low-end stats). Moreover, Return Postal would direct half of any physical damage back to Yuu, guaranteeing that Paper would maintain a consistent vitality advantage (regardless of what you buy for Paper, it’d mean he has A WAY to at least hurt Yuu). However, what really sucks for Paper is that Yuu has a countermeasure in the form of the Glass Statue, which nullifies damage and offers her a degree of protection at all times (even if you buy her getting one shot, BADABOOM nullification).
It leans towards Yuu even harder when you consider her regeneration capabilities. With the presence of the Fountain Spirit, she’d enjoy continuous access to the healing attributes of the Fountain World, as well as the healing Fountains scattered across dimensions. Furthermore, Yuu possesses passive vitality restoration, similar to Paper Mario. Nevertheless while this would HELP Yuu (this category is to determine who has better abilities), Mario had BETTER regeneration via 1-Ups ensuring he’d never stay dead for long. And Mario possessed a lot more offensive capabilities that would be troublesome to deal with. Firstly Paper had a bigger Area of Effect range, one that she hasn't encountered before via the Fan & Reality Warping items. Paper actually has a lot of ways to end the fight ironically, he could spatially rip her apart with the Crystal Stars, turn her into a Star via Star Spirits, Stop Time, Negate her Durability, Staple her to keep her still, drain her Paint right out of her, or even just bully her with Battle Cards LOL (like making her drop items or using instant win cards). He had a ton of strategies he could implore to get her to keep still, which is not something you want in a fight to the death; he also had attacks she just COULDN’T dodge, like ‘damage’ from the Battle Cards which just makes enemies take damage. Though if we do use the hypothetical ‘low-end’ of Yuu’s this where Inspection comes into play, an ability shared by both. Yuu's Inspection allows her to acquire insight into Paper's statistics, capabilities, and even his thoughts (given her intuition is so good), providing her with a clear understanding of the pulsating death barrier enveloping him- (it does NOT take a genius to notice it, he is literally PULSATING) meaning she’d most likely activate the Glass Statue instantly.
However, certain things are beyond Yuu's control. If Mario activates his Flip ability, he could remain in that state indefinitely and has no real reason to leave, gaining the ability to attack Yuu from points in space she can't even perceive; which would leave her a sitting duck the whole fight. This battle really becomes a contest of endurance fast, with both sides capable of nullifying damage & resurrecting, it’s only natural this category would go to whoever can stall more. Mario's arsenal includes Probability Manipulation for dodging, nullification force fields, resurrection items like Life Shrooms & 1-Ups as said before, and the Starman, rendering him invincible temporarily. He was also way more capable of summoning out of the two; and he could realistically just summon hordes of enemies & clones of himself to aid him whenever he wanted to dogpile Yuu, this was always a much more consistent strategy than anything Yuu could try with the Dark Fountain Clones (like he had WAY too many summons he could phone in, in comparison to Yuu).
Although Yuu did have counters to some of his options, she could resist specific actions like Capture Card Soul Extraction and being dimensionally flipped (by just warping back to the dimension), though she ironically lacks a counter to Transmutation. Up&Away would be a viable option to eliminate her even if the fight moves to the Fountain World (where she’d technically be immortal). In a twist of irony, Paint Manipulation could also harm her there (via summons who can absorb Paint). Even though she may not be able to "die," in the Fountain World, she can still be damaged, meaning her sentience can still be taken, negating her potential revive options entirely. Balancing the defense for Paper Mario, Yuu possesses the ability to bypass durability the same way as him. Unlike Mario though, she can employ this technique indefinitely (with NORMAL attacks), allowing her a more effective way to one-shot despite the attack gap (she really has the Murasama on deck frfr). Any negative status effects Yuu survives would also empower her due to the Grit Bracelet (which buffs her via negative effects). Yuu also has the means to suppress a significant portion of Paper's arsenal and AOE abilities using the Cursed Webbing’s power nullification capabilities; ironically Paper has ZERO counters to power nullification, and Yuu’s lasted FOREVER (if she ever got this off AT ALL, he was COOKED).
Regardless, despite how many counters both had to each other that give them the edge in this category; given the stalling capabilities of Paper Mario, the outcome hinged on two things- the Fountain World & the Oblivion Memory. The Fountain Spirit has already showcased that she can create Fountains & Dark Fountains to warp people into, once inside, Mario was STUCK there until he got through the Dark Fountain Trial. Meaning Paper had to go through 3 entire gauntlets, clones of himself and allies, and make it back within an hour (despite it taking around that long for Yuu who was WAY faster than him); he could not just simply WARP out, as the Fountain Worlds turn off Dimensional Travel until their trials are completed. Though Yuu’s most powerful tool was the — Oblivion Remedy. This powerful tool could erase large portions of Mario's memories that date all the way back to his childhood. While Piccolo COULD counteract low-grade amnesia, the Remedy has the potential to obliterate entire lifetimes of memories if enough is exposed to him (something which Piccolo has never recovered from before). As we know, Paper Mario being made of Paper maintains its qualities, like Paper he absorbs liquid quite easily, which gives her a perfect opening to just chuck the liquid at him without having to get him to drink it (or could just pour it down his throat for that matter); she had a lot of ways to do this because his Physiology is LITERALLY cucking him here. If Yuu can utilize the Remedy effectively, she’d have an easy route to defeating Mario or if anything just be able to walk away given that advantage (since he’d be incapacitated). The only big issue being Mario has the ability to cause foes to spontaneously drop items (for every counter or hax Yuu had, Paper had just a big of a middle finger option as Yuu), this is honestly a big yikes situation, considering this is one of Yuu’s only ways to end the fight fast. Though she does have some solace given it seemingly only makes her drop random items from her inventory; it would be something like a 1/84 option of it even working on the right item, making it really inconsistent for stopping her. In terms of statuses both characters have ways to resist most of each other's status effects, making this aspect almost negligible. And given both their overall capabilities, while it’s close- Mario has a broader range of tactics for stalling and numerous methods to eliminate Yuu or at the very least has ways to keep her still; giving Mario a decent edge in the Arsenal/Abilities category!
Tertiary Factors
This segment is relatively straightforward to discuss. Paper Mario has faced more seasoned opponents than Yuu, yet Yuu possesses a more substantial foundation of actual training and experience. The extent of this experience gap needs closer examination.
To begin with, Mario has encountered a significantly broader array of adversaries throughout his journey. He has engaged in combat tournaments, confronted the Shadow Queen's formidable forces who likely underwent extensive training for over a millennium, and has even faced Martial Arts Masters. On the other hand, Yuu, while undoubtedly skilled in her own right, falls short of the exceptional skill level Mario has demonstrated. However, Yuu's advantage lies in her accumulated real-world experience. She has been training since childhood and has dedicated her life to honing her abilities. Moreover, she has undergone rigorous training for a minimum of one year, surpassing any estimations we might make for Mario's training.
Although Yuu boasts more training, Mario has tackled more complex and adept opponents. Once the battle commences, Paper Mario will swiftly recognize Yuu's reliance on items. In fact, he will swiftly discern her distinct gameplay style, considering she employs the same approach as he does. Additionally, Mario's seasoned familiarity with adapting to limitations in his arsenal and modifications to the battle system provides him an advantage in this aspect. While this assertion applies to Yuu as well, Mario has a plethora of crazy unexpected tactics up his sleeve that Yuu is unprepared for, unless she inspects Mario mid-battle, which they can both do and would benefit Mario more.
When it comes to endurance, it's a true toss-up between the two, at least considering base stamina. Both have endured fatal wounds and attacks that brought them to the brink of death, only to recover within roughly three days and carry on as if nothing happened. During their respective adventures, both have demonstrated the ability to persist for hours on end without succumbing to fatigue. Additionally, they both appear to find opportunities for rest within the timeframes of their journeys. Notably, even events spanning multiple days, such as the Excess Express journey, provided Mario with chances to sleep. Consequently, it's reasonably safe to assert that they are evenly matched in this aspect. While Mario may possess a heightened pain tolerance owing to his paper-based physiology, Yuu has methods to sustain her stamina indefinitely. This means that, at their peaks, they are closely matched in terms of endurance. However, Yuu's capacity to maintain her stamina indefinitely via equipment suggests that she could feasibly prolong a fight indefinitely with certain gear, or at least until her body sustains severe damage.
Regarding tertiary factors, there's a balanced division. While Yuu's training surpasses Paper Mario's in duration, the latter has encountered and fought against more skilled adversaries, giving him an edge in combat experience. Both have faced opponents similar to themselves in various ways, a factor that tilts the balance slightly towards Paper. Notably, Paper Mario possesses an enhanced pain tolerance due to his paper-based nature, while both share a similarly vast stamina pool, Yuu boasts one that she can recharge indefinitely with gear. So Yuu takes Stamina & Skill, but Paper takes Experience!
Conclusion
Paper Mario
Art by Jonathan de la Uz on Artstation
Advantages:
Massively Stronger (Without Disgaea).
Had massive AOE on a range Yuu has never dealt with before.
Yuu has never dealt with Reality Warping like the Washer or Showstopper abilities.
Extremely vaster arsenal due to way more games & material. (Duh)
Can create numerous clones to help him fight or stack on himself for more damage; in general had a consistently larger amount of summons to throw at Yuu.
Plenty of options to finish Yuu or keep her still: Time Stopping, Up & Away, Transmutation / Damage Battle Cards, or Stapler would all guarantee a win if pulled off.
Return Postal, Star Man, Forcefields, and Zap Tap completely stop Yuu from getting close, at least for a bit of time.
Fate / Probability Manipulation isn’t something Yuu can deal with without Partners (like Flora), though Close Call and similar badges only activate randomly… meaning Yuu could still get hits on him.
He is shown to have much more consistent showings of experienced overall.
Has numerous ways to become untouchable for the entire fight: Boo’s Sheet, Flipping, Battle Card Forcefields, Invincibility.
Tippytron and Red Pipe help keep up with Yuu’s dimensional travel, Mario can even leave the Storybook Medium just like Yuu…
Life Shrooms / One Ups are going to be a nightmare to get past; giving him a way more consistently accessible and applicable immortality.
Paint Manipulation would negate Yuu’s revives given time even in the Fountain World.
Certain Battle Cards can force Yuu to drop items she's carrying.
TTYD just got a remake!!!
Disadvantages:
Way slower to the point of realistically being frozen the entirety of the fight.
Absolutely zero counter to Oblivion Remedy, Piccolo has only ever helped Mario recover from low-grade amnesia (aka it only affected his knowledge on a single ability), the Remedy will erase Mario’s entire life in the blink of an eye. (He’d also have to y’know activate Piccolo, who he’d forget about)
Has no counters against Yuu’s Critical Hits, meaning she could negate his durability.
Has no way to get past the Glass Statue, which is ironically the biggest obstacle he’d have to overcome, since it’d nullify all his damage and give Yuu breathing room.
A majority of his status effects won’t do anything to Yuu due to the Omni-Amulet.
…Though this is just a hypothetical as Paper has never left the Storybook World before, plus if the Fountain Spirit was feeling especially mean could keep him in the Fountain World long enough to incap him.
While it would be lengthy, Yuu passively recharging stamina would ensure she could go through all of Paper’s revives given time; it also meant while they had similar stamina she’d ALWAYS have more (due to the recharge).
Was less skilled than Yuu in combat.
Franchise is never going to be an RPG again… 🙁
Yuu
Art by mug_nekonabe on Twitter
Advantages:
MUCH Stronger to the point of one-shotting with Disgaea.
Faster even without Disgaea.
Relatively more experienced at fighting alone & actual skill with a weapon.
Better Observation skills over Tippytron, plus has the added benefit of her intuition gauging what Paper was thinking in his mind.
Superior Regeneration (NOT IMMORTALITY): Passive Regeneration and Fountains will always be available to her to get full health and she’d be unkillable in the Fountain World.
Passively restores Stamina giving her an indefinite reserve that would outlast Paper.
Critical Hits would be nearly guaranteed on every strike with the Tiger Glasses, granting Yuu a near indefinite way to negate Paper’s durability with basic attacks.
Can erase Paper’s mind with the Oblivion Remedy to a degree Paper has never resisted before, even then- Paper needs to activate Piccolo which he’d forget about entirely (he’d literally forget who Piccolo is).
Any unresistable status effects will directly buff her stats via the Grit Bracelet.
Could power-nullify a majority of Mario’s arsenal with Cursed Webbing for the ENTIRE fight.
Resists having her soul being trapped in a SP card.
Yuu should be able to affect Mario with the scent-box similar to how paint affects him, limiting his arsenal. Yuu can also use the scent-box to resist Fear Manipulation and nullify the emotion effects of Mario’s Paint most likely (as it calms you down).
Has an Official Twitter dedicated to the game that is pretty active!
Disadvantages:
Outclassed in power without Disgaea scaling.
Way Smaller Arsenal.
While Yuu has more formal training, Paper has much greater showings of experience, and has battled even against people who have trained longer than Yuu.
Return Postal and Zap Tap are potential game-enders if Yuu isn’t careful… though can be negated with Glass Statue.
No counter to Time Stopping, Transmutation, or Stapler.
While reviving would never happen to begin with via low-ends- Paint Absorption TRIPLE makes sure Yuu can’t come back.
Item Drop Battle Cards could be really scary depending on what it forces Yuu to drop, though it doesn’t seem that Mario can choose (RNGesus my beloved).
No counter to Fate Manipulation without Partners, though in Paper’s case it only randomly activates meaning she could still hit him.
Life Shrooms and 1-Ups sure do make this even HARDER than it would be normally.
A majority of Yuu’s status effects are negated due to badges.
STILL hasn’t gotten a sequel.
Regardless of the perspective on the two of them or the stats used, while Mario boasts a broader range of abilities, superior skills, substantial stalling capabilities, and numerous choices to eliminate Yuu… the ultimate challenge lies in the fact that he would never have the opportunity to enact any of these strategies due to Yuu's overwhelmingly dominant speed. Meaning Paper’s only real option was to HOPE TO GOD that his badges somehow won him the fight, like Zap Tap or Return Postage. Now while this isn’t really a foolproof strat, it would give Yuu a lot of trouble, at least for some time- UNTIL… Yuu activates the Glass Statue and becomes untouchable the rest of the fight- or just turns off a majority of Paper’s abilities with Cursed Webbing (which he has no counters to). Both contenders exhibit exceptional combat proficiency and analytical thinking (because duh they’re RPG protagonists), and while there exists a chance that Yuu might impulsively strike first (giving Paper at least a chance, especially at low-end stats), several factors suggest she would likely avoid such a maneuver.
Foremost (regarding low-ends), as Yuu has never encountered Mario before, her initial approach would likely involve inspecting him to gauge his capabilities. This examination would reveal a monumental gap of strength in Paper's favor—roughly millions of times stronger. This realization of this stat gap would deter her from attempting a direct strike, as a single hit could spell her defeat. Instead, she would presumably opt to activate the Glass Statue to nullify damage, so that she doesn’t literally explode. Although dealing with Mario's extra lives would be time-consuming, she has INFINITE replenishing stamina and definitely could given enough Critical Hits; even without that she has the Oblivion Remedy. And if you don’t buy walking away as a valid strategy after that- the moment she erases his memories (or rather just abuses the blitz) he would be rendered helpless, allowing Yuu weed through all his extra lives, or just y’know confine him to the Fountain World- where he'd be stuck with no way to get back in time before it counted as a Incap.
Even worse for Paper in the unlikely event that no immediate physical clash occurs and the battle advances to the Fountain World, it becomes quite likely that Yuu could achieve near-invulnerability in that realm. Her primary body would persist in stasis, granting her chances for recovery (and basically mean she couldn’t be killed in one hit even with a stat gap, atleast without his hax moves). Both characters are exceptional storybook heroes, yet one was always going to have to give. Paper Mario just didn't have the Star Power to overcome Yuu, and ended up getting shredded.
The winner is Yuu.
Final Tally
(This Tally is from the Original Blog if you’re curious; as this is simply a blog update, nothing really changed)
Yuu (5) - Dazz, JJSliderman, LatrFeraligatr, RedHeadedElf, Stars
Paper Mario (0) - No one lol
Paper Luigi (1) - Oleggator
I don't really have a 'Next Time' prepared as this is a blog IN-BETWEEN research for another blog (AoSpooky), but with this blog revamp complete, I'll be getting right onto the Ao Oni Vs Spooky Research! We'll try to finish it by Halloween, though there is a LOT to cover, so who knows! In the meantime uh.... take a tier list!
