Glitz Pit

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The Glitz Pit arena during a match between Rawk Hawk and The Koopinator.

Located in Glitzville, the Glitz Pit is an arena that Mario and company must fight their way through in Chapter 3 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. There are many fighters here, including Rawk Hawk, KP Pete, Bandy Andy, the Armored Harriers, The Koopinator, Hamma, Bamma, & Flare, and even Bowser at one point, who barges into the ring and fights Mario and his teammates after they defeated the Magikoopa Masters. Grubba, the promoter, used the Gold Star to power his machine that's hidden under the arena. Ever since Jolene's brother, Prince Mush found out about his machine, Prince Mush mysteriously disappeared, so Jolene went undercover and enlisted Mario and his friends' help to defeat Grubba.

The Glitz Pit can be accessed by either the first doorway in the main hall, or the second story door, up a flight of stairs. Mario can talk to spectators but can't get through the dense crowd. The fighters change whenever Mario enters the arena. While watching them, all they do is bump into each other.

Oddly enough, on a poster in the foyer there is a Bob-omb and a Bulky Bob-omb although no Bulky Bob-ombs are fought in the Glitz Pit.

Seven Wonders of the Glitz Pit

According to Bandy Andy, the contestants within the Glitz Pit are said to pass stories of a set of mysteries that surround the Glitz Pit, at least prior to Mario's interference. Bandy Andy himself sets out to study these mysteries, but is forcibly silenced by Grubba when he learns too much. Throughout the Chapter 3 subplot, all seven wonders are encountered, and most of them are explained.

• The Sealed Wall - The remains of fallen athletes are rumored to be stored behind a sealed wall in a minor-league locker room. The wall is actually a large Yellow Block breakable with Mario's new Super Hammer. The room behind it does not contain the remains of fallen fighters, but rather Grubba's plans.
• The Man-Eating Toilet - A toilet in a major-league locker room is said to devour anyone that attempts to use it. Mario encounters this toilet while escaping from Rawk Hawk's trap, using the man-eating toilet to travel to the toilet in the other major-league locker room for the Championship Match. The true nature of the toilet is left unexplained, but it is possible that the toilet is some form of a Warp Pipe in disguise, given the similar transportation animation.
• The Stairs of Mystery - An unknown room in the Glitz Pit has a second floor but no stairs, and groaning voices can be heard coming from above. This room is the Glitz Pit's storage room, which has a hidden switch to reveal the stairs. The groaning voices belong to the fighters that Grubba drained.
• The Haunted Boudoir - The champion's room is rumored to be haunted. People within the room claim that they hear voices whispering from nowhere, supposedly the voices of athletes who lost to the champion. The voices are actually voices from Grubba's office, which is connected to the Champion's room by an air vent.
• The Spooky Ring-Lights - Strange lights supposedly leak from under the ring doors when nobody is inside. This light is the light of Grubba's power-draining machine and/or the Gold Star. It is implied that Bandy Andy was caught investigating this secret.
• The Missing Ones - Sometimes fighters disappear for no reason and never return, including the first champion, Prince Mush. These athletes disappeared as the result of their power being drained by Grubba's machine, and the three known vanished fighters return after Macho Grubba is defeated.
• Grubba and Jolene - The first part of this wonder is that Grubba is strangely toned despite being past sixty-years old. This is explained mostly by his use of the power-draining machine. Secondly, Jolene has been known to suddenly vanish. This is explained by Jolene taking up an alternate identity, who can frequently be seen in the juice bar outside the stadium.

The Rankings

Champ: Rawk Hawk (a.k.a. the Feral Nuclear Reactor)

1. The Koopinator (Dark Koopatrol) (a.k.a. the Razor Blade Brigadier)
2. Chomp Country (2 Red Chomps) (a.k.a. the Red Ore Fear Orbs)
3. Hamma, Bamma, & Flare (Hammer Bro., Boomerang Bro. & Fire Bro.) (a.k.a. the Big Bad Brute Bros.)
4. Craw-Daddy (Dark Craw) (a.k.a. the Dark Gatekeeper)
5. The Magikoopa Masters (Red Magikoopa, Green Magikoopa, White Magikoopa ) (a.k.a. the Underworld Servants)
6. The Fuzz (Fuzzy, Green Fuzzy*, & Flower Fuzzy) (a.k.a. the Bottomless Vacuums)
7. The Shellshockers (2 Shady Koopas & 1 Shady Paratroopa) (a.k.a. the Turtles of Hurtle)
8. The Poker Faces (2 Bristles) (a.k.a. the Ultimate Weapons)
9. The Tiny Spinies (2 Red Spike Tops) (a.k.a. the Thorny Demons)
10. The Armored Harriers (2 Iron Clefts) (a.k.a. the Iron Adonis Twins)
11. The Bob-omb Squad (4 Bob-ombs) (a.k.a. the Big Bomb Boomers)
12. The Punk Rocks (3 Hyper Bald Clefts) (a.k.a. the Green Torture Squad)
13. The Mind-Bogglers (Pale Piranha, Dark Puff, & 1 Pider) (a.k.a. the Gray Entanglers)
14. The Hand-It-Overs (2 Bandits & 2 Big Bandits) (a.k.a. the Grim Death Burglars)
15. Spike Storm (2* Spinies & 1 Lakitu) (a.k.a. the Midnight Spike-Bombers)
16. The Dead Bones (3* Dull Bones) (a.k.a. the Bone-Rattling Rockers)
17. The Pokey Triplets (3* Pokeys) (a.k.a. the Spiked Terror Triplets)
18. The KP Koopas (2 KP Koopas & 1 KP Paratroopa) (a.k.a. the Shell Machines of Doom)
19. The Goomba Bros. (5 Goombas) (a.k.a. the Meteorite Hardheads; however, they are called the Hoppin' Hardheads the first time the player faces them)
20. The Great Gonzales (Mario & Co.) (a.k.a. the Merciless Executioner; known as the Superstar Sequel if Mario enters the Glitz Pit again after Chapter 3)

In addition, during Chapter 3 the Hand-It-Overs and the KP Koopas are removed from the roster and replaced with two new teams, which only appear during the events of the Chapter:

• Wings of Night (4 Swoopers) (a.k.a. the Sleepy Stealth Scythe)
• The Destructors (3 Spinias & 2 Spanias) (a.k.a. the Flying Bullets)

* = Enemies that can duplicate themselves.

Enemies

• Armored Harriers (boss)
• Bandit
• Big Bandit
• Bob-omb
• Boomerang Brother
• Bowser (Boss; fought after defeating rank five fighter(s)
• Bristle
• Dark Craw
• Dark Puff
• Dark Koopatrol
• Dull Bones
• Fire Brother
• Flower Fuzzy
• Fuzzy
• Goomba
• Green Fuzzy
• Hammer Brother
• Hyper Bald Cleft
• Iron Cleft
• KP Koopa
• Lakitu
• Macho Grubba (Chapter 3 Boss)
• Pale Piranha
• Pider
• Pokey
• Rawk Hawk (Boss; Championship Match)
• Red Chomp
• Red Spike Top (R.S. Buzzy)
• Shady Koopa
• Spania
• Spinia
• Spiny
• Swooper

Area Tattles

• This is the Glitz Pit lobby. It's pretty nice, actually! Sturdily built, nice decor. And what can you say about that luxurious chandelier except... FABULOUS!!!
• This is the Glitz Pit itself! That's the ring in the middle. That's where all the magic happens. And by "magic," I mean brutal beatdowns.
• This is a backstage corridor. Compared to the Glitz Pit, this is so... businesslike. There's security all OVER, so you can't just wander around wherever you want.
• This is a minor-league locker room. It's just as gnarly as the one we were in. If you check the lockers or behind the posters, I bet there are stains and graffiti.
• This is another locker room for major-league competitors. It's opposite the other one. Why was there a hidden room behind the lockers, anyway? What would it be used for? Mysteries are totally everywhere in the Glitz Pit!

Trivia

• If the player were to choose to return to the Glitz Pit and got back up to 1st place, during the Championship Match, the crowd will chant "GONZALES! GONZALES!". However, there is one who will say "JUMPMAN!!! Wait, who was it again?". This is oddly enough, a reference to Mario's original name in the classic arcade game Donkey Kong, as in the game, he was called Jumpman rather than Mario.