Jr. Troopa is a young Koopa Troopa still inside his little egg and the Tertiary Antagonist of Paper Mario, and is also the first enemy where Mario earns star points. He serves as a Mini-Boss in the Prologue Chapter, later on serves as the first boss for both Chapters 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 respectively, and is overall the third, seventh, tenth, twelfth and fourteenth/penultimate boss of the game
Summery[]
Jr. Troopa is a bully of the Goomba Village who first attacks Mario and Goompa. After getting beat up for the first time, Jr. Troopa swears to challenge Mario again. Jr. Troopa finds Mario again on Pleasant Path after he defeats the Koopa Bros. and rescues the first Star Spirit. During this battle, he encases himself in his egg and has more defense and power. Mario and his party members still beat him anyway. Later in the game (after getting lost in Forever Forest), Jr. Troopa once again fights Mario, this time with bat wings. He has a damage of five and is very hard to defeat. Despite his wings, Jr. Troopa still loses the battle and runs out the Forever Forest. The next time Jr. Troopa fights Mario is unfortunate for him. He has a spike on his head, wings, and immense power, but loses half of his health before the battle starts. Jr. Troopa narrow-mindedly swam to Lavalava Island and back, even though he could've used his wings. Had Jr. Troopa flown to the island, he might've beaten Mario at Toad Town Harbor. Once again....Jr. Troopa challenges Mario to a fight on the Shiver Field. Even though he has a large quantity of health, his only attack is firing magic blats at Mario. Mario and his friends manage to defeat him and Jr. Troopa is frozen in ice. (How he got out was never confirmed). The final time Mario confronts the adolescent bully is all the way on Bowser's castle in the sky. During this fight, Jr. Troopa changes into all the forms Mario has fought him once before. But none of it is enough to defeat Mario. Before running from the castle, he swears that the next time they meet, he won't be so lucky.
Jr. Troopa then appears at the parade during the end credits firing magic blasts at Kammy, tho their fun was cut short when they accidentally blast Bowser, resulting in them being burned by Bowser's Fire Breath.
Since then, Jr. Troopa has not been seen in the Paper Mario series (except for one minor appearance in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, where he appears in the background of Zip Toad's E-Mail).
Strategy[]
In all fights (mainly in Chapters 4, 6, 7 and 8), its recommended for the Player to have Mario equipped with either the D-Down Pound or D-Down Jump Badge, seeing as Jr. Troopa has 1 defense and will take less damage, in the third fight with Jr. Troopa when he has both his wings and spike on his head, Players should either have the Spike Shield Badge, or have the Hammer Throw Badge equipped, Watt (after she joins Mario after in Chapter 4) is the best Partner to use in both fights as her Electro Dash can pierce defenses, Jr. Troopa can do high damage, so it is best for Mario to equip defense-based Badges.
Personality[]
Jr. Troopa seems to be a stereotypical bully who takes whatever he wants, beats up anyone unfortunate enough to cross him or end up in his "territory", and is incredibly angry and short-tempered. According to Goombario, Jr. Troopa appears to be a blood knight, enjoying the thrill of a fight, and always trying to fight people stronger than himself, which Goombario considered an idiotic move. Upon first being beaten by the Mushroom Kingdom's hero Mario, Jr. Troopa became extremely angry and obsessed with getting revenge on the plumber and give him a massive beating that he will never forget.
His determination to defeat Mario is so great, that upon discovering where Mario was, he would immediately rush to the plumber's location regardless of the obstacles and pick a fight with him, not stopping until Mario admitted he was a weakling. This one-track mind of his leads to him making rather short-sighted decisions. After Mario went to the Toad Town Harbor on a whale, Jr. Troopa, instead of using his newly-acquired wings to fly over the ocean, instead swam all the way to the docks, with his exhaustion leading to him losing half of his HP, which he himself admitted was a terrible move. He additionally does not seem to care about the situation of the Mushroom Kingdom (Bowser had lifted Princess Peach's castle up into the sky) or what Mario is doing at the moment, nor gives Mario the time to explain.
Jr. Troopa's hobbies include working out and ordering things by mail.
Trivia[]
- Jr. Troopa can be optionally fought before going to battle against Tubba Blubba in Chapter 3. After Mario receives the Super Boots, he can decide to leave to the first area just outside of Boo's Mansion, and Jr. Troopa will appear. He can also be optionally fought right after Sushie joining the party in Chapter 5, he appears on Lavalava Island as soon as Mario leaves on the Whale once he obtains Sushie.
- This is likely due to the fact that, once Mario has those items, he can activate Warp Pipes in Toad Town Tunnels that connect with those areas, which would otherwise cause the Player to skip a Jr. Troopa battle, so for Story Reason, they were made so that the Player(s) can not avoid the Jr. Troopa battles.
- Counting the first battle agents Jr. Troopa in the Prologue, Chapters 1, 3 and 5 are the only 3 Chapters in which Jr. Troopa is not fought.
- Interestingly, the three Chapters that Jr. Troopa does not get fought are labeled in odds, with Chapter 7 being the only Chapter labeled in odds in which Jr. Troopa is fought, he's mostly fought in Chapters that are labeled in evens (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8).
- Jr. Troopa is the first (and so far only) boss in the Paper Mario series to first start off as a scripted mini-boss, before become a recurring boss of a game.
- Jr. Troopa is also the only Mini-Boss of Paper Mario to not have the stander Mini-Boss music.
- In Chapters 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8, Jr. Troopa is always the first boss of a Chapter, he is never after that Chapter boss.
- Jr. Troopa is one of the few bosses who keeps trying to defeat Mario over and over in almost every chapter.
- There's a possibility that Goombario might have taking a liking to Jr. Troopa as describe in some of his tattles.
- If combing Jr. Troopa's total HP(15, 40, 20, 50 and 60 respectively), then he would have 185 HP (tho he would've have 205 had his HP in the third fight not depleted), which is even more then Bowser, who if combine both battles (50 in the first fight, and 99 in the second/final fight) has 149 HP, but is still less then The Master, who if combine both battles(50 in the first fight, 75 in the second/penultimate fight and 99 in the third/final fight) has 224 HP.
