Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam -- Part 5: Double Pokey Tower Power

The bros have to get past the Pokeys in Doop Doop Dunes Grotto. There are Paper Spinies wandering around down here. Walk to the south and you'll find some Pokey-shaped plants. Use the Trio Hammer to get rid of them. The trick for the taller ones is to knock away segments with Mario, then quickly unleash the Trio Hammer. Nearby, you'll find a pipe out of the grotto. Hit the switch to raise a platform so you can come back to the grotto. You'll also find Sandmaarghs, creatures that will dive into the sand, then surface to attack. Exit to the southwest.

Walk southwest to find more of the plants. Hit the one farther south into the north one to clear a path. Walk up that path to hit a switch, which raises a rock to the south. Walk across the rock to find another plant, with one on a moving platform to the north. Clear off the north plant and cross the gap on the yellow platform. Follow the path around to a high rock near another pipe. Step on the yellow platform. It will take you to a large yellow platform with a plant. Hit the plant into the plants on the nearby rocks. The timing can be a little tricky. One platform has an item block with a Steady Hammer. The other has a ! Block that will make a spring appear so you can reach the other yellow platform with a plant. Hit the two plants you pass to clear the way to the pipe. Hit the switch before you go through the pipe to raise the platform.

The pipe leads to an oasis in the dunes. A Paper Toad appears, asking the bros to help. Bowser's minions kidnapped his friends. All seven must be rescued within the time limit of 20 minutes. One is to the north. There are stone brick blocks near a Fly Guy with a Paper Toad. Destroy two block in the left and middle columns to reach it and engage it in battle. The time limit continues during battle. If you need to reset the blocks, hit the ! Block. Fly Guys will pass around a bomb. Defeat the one with the bomb to make it drop the bomb to hurt its allies. Approach the Paper Toad to save it. Walk south and you'll find another Fly Guy with a Paper Toad. Use the spring to reach it. After the battle, walk east. Walk to the right to the spring. Spring to the stone block, then spring again to a plant. Hit it at the Fly Guys. When you hit the Fly Guy with the Paper Toad, it will attack you. Walk to the left and you'll find Sandmaarghs and springs. Use the spring when the Fly Guy flies toward the bros to attack it. There are two Paper Toads in this situation. Go north and walk to the left. Dash into the orange spring platform to reach the top of the sand flow. Go down it to find a couple of Fly Guys. I finished with just under seven minutes to spare.

Afterwards, the bros will return to the Oasis, where there's a Lakitu Info Hut. Starlow asks the Paper Toads if they can build the bros something to make them jump really high. Lakitu says they need eight more Paper Toads to finish the project. Walk to the north to find a pipe. This will allow you to warp around the Mushroom Kingdom. Right now, you can go to Sunbeam Plains. To the left is a pensive Blue Toad that has a quiz.
1. During battles in Doop Doop Dunes, which of the following does Sandmaargh do? Attacks by gobbling you up.
2. What's the max number of times you can kick the shell in the 3D Red Shell Bros. Attack? Seven
3. Which of these is a surprised Starlow? The right silhouette
4. How many fingers does Bowser have on each hand? Three. Thumb doesn't count!
5. Which of the following is Princess Peach not wearing? A necklace
The bros win 3 Defense Beans for winning.

Go into the Lakitu Info Hut to save some Paper Toads. The first challenge is The Stone Prison. You must smash the stone blocks without squishing the Paper Toad encased in crystal. All the Paper Toads need to do is reach the ground. Stones will hang in the air if they're hooked over something. You'll save three Paper Toads this way. Safe by a Sandslide is next. Save all of the Paper Toads on the sand flow. Avoid the bombs and smash brick blocks with your hammer or Trio Hammer. Everything flows towards you, including coins. It's trickier than it looks. The five here are the last you need to get the thing to make you jump high. Soon after, you get a paper trampoline delivery. You also get Trio Kite, a new Trio Attack. Return through the pipe to the grotto.

Go east and go near the Heart Block. Mario will place the paper trampoline. Step on it and the bros will be launched above the clouds. Starlow is impressed. You'll land back in the grotto, near the Pokeys. Hit the Pokey segments with your hammer to knock them down to size. It's time to battle them. Paper Tower Power Pokey will roll itself into a wheel. Repeatedly hit it away with the hammer. Big Pokey will lie on its side and roll around repeatedly. Jump to dodge. The Fire Flower does critical damage to both. Paper Tower Power Pokey will hit Big Pokey's segments into the bros. Use the hammer to counter. The Pokeys will chase the bros. Use the Airplane Dodge. If both attack at the same time, use Airplane Dodge on the bro attacked by Big Pokey and have the other bro just jump. Starlow says the Pokeys will regenerate segments if one has more than the other, so the bros should attack them equally. If Big Pokey has 4 or fewer segments, it won't hit Paper Mario when it rolls around. Attacks like Trio Raquet and Fire Flower work best. Once they lose all other segments, you can jump on them. They'll be dazed for a few turns. If you defeat only one, the other one will get angry. Keep yourself healed and keep attacking to win.

After you defeat the Pokeys, heal and jump on the paper trampoline again. Press (A) near the bridge to grab it. On the back wall, send Paper Mario into the gap a few times for some items. Go east and you'll find Bowser's Castle isn't far away. Approach the east exit and a Papercraft Kamek will appear. The two Kameks argue over the aesthetics. Paper Toads inform the bros that they made a new papercraft.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star -- 2-5 Drybake Stadium

It's very quiet here for a stadium. Not much to see besides a door drawn on the rock. The Secret Door leads to a room with a Flashy Eekhammer, Flashy Spike Helmet, and Flashy Hurlhammer. There's something green behind the wall to the right. At the top of the stairs, something large and square is missing. This is where the three tablet pieces go. It looks like the letter "U" or "V" when put together. The sky turns dark and clouds roll in. The tablet pieces glow. It then unfolds to reveal a tall tower. The marking on the tablet is the arch of the doorway.

Kersti mentions that only someone with the power of a Royal Sticker could remove such a tower. Inside are Egyptian-style hieroglyphics, with Toads. There are stickers on the wall and Spikes and Paratroopas in the hallways. We need to place two stickers on the back wall. We place two Worn-Out Hammers and they are rejected. There's a curious laugh coming from the other side. On the right and left walls, there's a Toad holding an item. So left panel shoe, right panel hammer. It words and we hear Toad say, "Yeah!" The door opens. Get the Shiny Hammer and Shiny Jump, then hop on the platform to raise it.

Upstairs, Koopas and Goombas are part of the hieroglyphics and there's quicksand and spikes. Go to the right and sink partway into the quicksand so you can go under the wall and find the Stone Entry, which goes into "Scraps". Once we go back, we notice the Goombas on the wall start moving, then jump off the wall and battle us. These are Mural Goombas. They each have 13 HP. Likewise, the Mural Koopas jump off the wall. They have 13 HP as well. There are Spikes on the other side of the quicksand throwing spike balls at you. On the other side is a spot where the Stone Entry is supposed to be. Beware of the Buzzy Beetle in the doorway.

Take the platform up to the next level. Same puzzle as the first floor. Right panel shoe, middle spike helmet, left hammer. The platform takes us to a room with Buzzy Beetles. We leave the room, walk to the left, and go outside. In one of the windows, we see what looks like the back of Luigi's head. I was wondering when he'd show up. Sombrero Guy is nearby. Paperize and Luigi will look through the window. Peel him out of the window and a tiny Luigi will run off. What just happened? Go back inside and go over the sand and through the hole in the wall. Go to the left to return to part of the hallway. There's a huge pile of sand in front of the door. Go outside again and take the green pipe to the first part. It's the pipe behind the wall. Go back through the pipe and walk around the corner. There's a door that's not quite right, so paperize, peel it off, and replace it. Sand flows out the door.

We can now go through the door. The elevator takes us to a floor with another sticker puzzle, with multiple sticker images, but only two slots. This is a tricky puzzle. Check out the Toad where you're supposed to put the stickers. Which way do the head and feet face? Find the other two Toads holding items whose head and feet face the same way that Toad does. This opens the door to a Save Block and a Heart Block.

The elevator takes us up to an arena, where Kersti notices another Royal Sticker. The mural pictures are the audience. Someone says, "SHEEBYDEEBY..." There's a rumble under the Royal Sticker. "SHEENY SHOOBY SHINY SHLOO... SHINE-A-ROONEY!" A sparkly Pokey appears. It looks possessed. I fail the Battle Spin. We are told to PLAY BALL. I probably should've made the Bat into a sticker. We're up against the Tower Power Pokey, with 300 HP. He can spin in front of us to do multiple attacks. I try again after getting the Bat and get two stickers in the Battle Spin. The Bat does 30 damage. Not nearly enough. He can summon green Pokeys and fall on top of you. Try to crumple him with POW Blocks, then hit him with Thing Stickers for extra damage. I got 70 damage out of the Bat and 26 out of the Fan this way. Shiny Hopslippers also work well. He'll periodically grow segments, which will increase his defense. If he takes enough damage, the segments will go away. Use Jump attacks as you can't get close enough to use the hammer when he has two or more segments. Periodically, he can sprout a flower from his head to heal 10 HP. Lots of shiny stickers will slowly chip away at him. Oddly enough, if you get poisoned from the Battle Spin and jump on him, the poison may transfer to him for a turn (you'll still have it, though). After a long and tedious battle, we defeat him. Kersti notes that we still used a lot of stickers. Am I supposed to use only Thing Stickers in boss battles? The defeated Pokey says, "SHUH... SHI...NY... OW?" and disappears, leaving only the orange Royal Sticker. Kersti is impressed with its power. I want to use it in the fight against Bowser.

The mini story says that the Pokey picked up the Royal Sticker and Kamek made the tower disappear. He probably also gave the Royal Sticker to the Pokey. A new page is added to the album. We have 28 stickers left after the battle. Not bad.