Star Piece (Paper Mario series)

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Star Piece
A Star Piece, from Paper Mario. A sprite of a Star Piece. Icon of an item from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)
Paper Mario description It's a glowing Star Piece! Wait and see what this is for.
The Thousand-Year Door description A lovely piece of a star.
“Isn't it pretty, the way it glitters in the sun?”
Goombaria, Paper Mario

Star Pieces are collectible items in the Paper Mario series. They are found in hidden locations throughout the games, and some are even found underground, in which case a Spin Jump or Mario's Ultra Hammer is used to collect them. They are also used as rewards for sidequests. Star Pieces can be used to trade for various badges. There are 160 in Paper Mario and 100 in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In Paper Mario, they are used for trading with Merlow for badges. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, they are used for trading with Dazzle in Rogueport Underground. The fortune teller Merluvlee in both games can tell Mario where the star pieces are.

History[edit]

Paper Mario[edit]

Main article: List of Star Pieces in Paper Mario
Mario finding a Star Piece under a hidden panel near the Toad Town dock in Paper Mario
Screenshot from Paper Mario showing Mario revealing a Star Piece with his Ultra Hammer in Toad Town.

In Paper Mario, Star Pieces are scattered throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, collected by characters and used for trading. They are also used as thank-you gifts, usually for returning or giving an item wanted. Goombaria mentions that they are good-looking ("Look at the pretty glitter!"), which implies that characters collect them because they look good. Kolorado also mentions that when he found a Star Piece when searching Dry Dry Ruins he immediately picked it up. Mario can also collect them, but the only practical use in the game is to trade badges from Merlow. There are just enough collectible Star Pieces to buy all the badges Merlow offers. The player can check the numbers of Star Pieces collected so far on a board in Mario's House, and the number in possession on the pause menu.

In total, there are 160 Star Pieces collectible for Mario, among which:

Some of the overworld Star Pieces are under invisible panels on the ground. They can only be revealed with the Super Boots, Ultra Boots or Ultra Hammer. When Mario uses one of these equipments around the panel, it flips and the Star Piece pops out. However, if Mario or his partner is above the panel, it merely shakes without popping out the Star Piece. The existence of underground Star Pieces is mentioned by a Boo that appears immediately after Mario gets the Super Boots in Boo's Mansion. Such star pieces can be detected using the I Spy Badge.

Merluvlee, who lives in a house near Shooting Star Summit, can give predictions of the whereabouts of the Star Pieces. She can predict only the overworld 63.

If the player has not collected any Star Pieces yet, the menu description says, "Wondering what this is for? Secret!"

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[edit]

Main article: List of Star Pieces in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Screenshot of Mario collecting the Star Piece behind a crate in the east of Rogueport Square, from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Mario collecting a Star Piece behind a set of crates in Rogueport's plaza.

In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there are 100 collectible Star Pieces, among which 98 are overworld and two are owned by characters. Some of overworld ones are underground and require Super Boots to get. The difference is that in the sequel, the underground panels can no longer be flipped with the Ultra Hammer. The last two are owned by Chef Shimi and the Excess Express waitress, respectively, and will be given to Mario for fulfilling the corresponding requests. In the Nintendo Switch remake, all levels of Hammer can reveal hidden Star Piece panels, but the Super Boots are still required to flip them.

Mario can still use Star Pieces to trade for badges. All 100 Star Pieces are needed to get all of Dazzle's badges. Merluvlee can predict the locations of the Star Pieces for five coins, and Ms. Mowz can detect them for Mario using her field ability (by pressing X Button).

In the original game, the number of Star Pieces Mario has collected is displayed on a notice board near the entrance of the Pit of 100 Trials. In the remake, the map menu shows the percentage of Star Pieces collected in each area, and collecting all Star Pieces for each chapter locale unlocks concept artwork for that chapter.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning Notes
Japanese ほしのかけら[?]
Hoshi no Kakera
Star Fragment
Chinese 星之碎片[2]
Xīng zhī Suìpiàn
Star fragment
Dutch Sterrenstuk[?] Star piece; shared with Star Piece in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
French Morceau d'étoile[?] Star piece
German Sternsplitter[?] Star Splinter
Italian Pezzo di Stella[1] Star Piece Paper Mario
Scheggiastella[?] Star-shard; shared with Star Piece in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and its remake
Korean 별의 조각[?]
Byeol-ui Jogak
Piece of Star
Spanish Pieza Estrella
Pieza estrella
[?]
Star Piece
Star piece
The Thousand-Year Door remake

Trivia[edit]

  • At the end of Paper Mario, when Mario is going to attend Princess Peach's party, all of the facilities in Toad Town are closed, meaning the player may no longer acquire items from them. However, the Star Pieces in Toad Town are still available, meaning they are the only items Mario can collect at this time.

References[edit]

  1. ^ 2001. Paper Mario manual. Nintendo of Europe (Italian). Page 141.
  2. ^ 2004. 纸片马力欧 (Zhǐpiàn Mǎlì'ōu) instruction booklet. iQue (Simplified Chinese). Page 30.