Star Pieces are items that are found in Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In both games, Star Pieces were used to trade for badges. In Paper Mario, Mario could trade Star Pieces with Merlow, a Shaman boy in Shooting Star Summit. Merlow has a Star Piece Collection and will trade badges to add to his collection, some rare badges found nowhere else. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario could trade Star Pieces with Dazzle. Dazzle was a character found in Rogueport Sewers outside of Merluvlee's house, who like Merlow had a Star Piece Collection and would trade rare badges for them. Some badges traded in both games were rare and some common. Also, in both games, there were many more Star Pieces that existed than was needed. There were no Star Pieces in Super Paper Mario because, in that game, there were no badges.
Star Pieces were obtained in a variety of ways, from finding them out in the open to secret platforms. Secret platforms looked like the normal setting, but if Mario ground pounded next to it, the platform would go flying and a Star Piece would emerge. The only way to tell if a secret platform was in that area was by using your partners Watt and Ms. Mowz or by using the I Spy badge. Merluvlee also helps Mario in both games by telling him where a Star Piece is for some cash. Other times, people gave Mario Star Pieces for doing them some sort of favor.
Paper Mario[]
In Paper Mario, there were 160 Star Pieces. There was a sign in Mario's Pad that kept track of how many Star Pieces Mario has obtained compared to 160.
- 70 Star Pieces were obtained by either finding them in the world or by people giving them to Mario.
- 64 Star Pieces were obtained by answering a Chuck Quizmo question correctly. If you answered a question incorrectly, you would try that question again later. Once you have answered all 64 questions correct and you have all 64 Star Pieces, Chuck Quizmo will call you the master and disappear.
- 15 Star Pieces were obtained by doing Koopa Koot favors. Some favors gave Mario none, one or three Star Pieces depending on the favor.
- 11 Star Pieces were obtained by delivering letters. There were 11 letters in the game that were meant for 11 different people. Once you returned the letter to the correct person, that person would give you a Star Piece.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[]
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there were 100 Star Pieces. There was a sign near the entrance to the Pit of 100 Trials that kept track of how many Star Pieces Mario had obtained compared to 100. Even though there were fewer Star Pieces, Ms. Mowz was an optional partner and there was no I Spy badge, making it somewhat harder to find the Star Pieces in this game compared to Paper Mario. Star Pieces were found in a variety of places like in Paper Mario, like under secret platforms and given by people. The Trouble Center gave Star Pieces as rewards sometimes for completing a favor if the helped person didn't.
Trivia[]
- Merluvlee is related to the Star Pieces in both games. In Paper Mario, she is the sister of the badge trader and can tell Mario where a random Star Piece is. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, she lives right next to the badge trader and can tell Mario where a random Star Piece is.
- The term "Star Pieces" also refers to the major collecting items in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
- Chuck Quizmo gives a total of 64 Star Pieces, 64 being a reference to the console Paper Mario is for, the Nintendo 64.
- Star Pieces were in a game for Mario Party 5, called Frozen Frenzy.
- The Rubees in Super Paper Mario look remarkably similar to Star Pieces.