Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: All Playable Characters - Best Party Members

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on GameCube and Nintendo Switch is home to some of the most beloved partners in the entire Super Mario series. You’ll encounter more than a few of them along your adventure, and several of them will offer to join your party and bring you benefits in battle.

It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with each partner and the abilities they bring to the table, so we’ve put together a big list of playable characters and their roles in battle. Let’s-a-go!

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: All Party Members

Mario

As you might expect, you’ll be playing as Mario for the duration of the game. Unlike his fellow partners, Mario is an extremely versatile fighter and can fit any role — which is a good thing because you can't ever remove him from your party.

You can use BP and Badges to change the attacks he can perform – this is especially important earlier in the game where your partner selection is more limited. His standard moves include Jump and Hammer attacks – these will be upgraded several times throughout the game to deal more damage to enemies.

Goombella

Goombella is your first official party member and partner! You’ll meet her soon after you arrive at Rogueport at the beginning of the game. In the overworld, you can press the 'X' button to ask Goombella about your surroundings. She’ll comment on the location you’re in, often offering helpful hints and information.

Gombella's moves

Headbonk

A standard jump attack that smacks an enemy.

Tattle

Provides information on an enemy, including their HP number.

Multibonk

A headbonk attack that strikes several times.

Rally Wink

Sacrifices Goombella’s turn to let Mario act a second time.

Koops

Koops joins you during the game’s Petal Meadows arc, and he’s one of the most helpful partners in the game. In the overworld, he can launch his shell to retrieve distant items and hit switches. Holding the button freezes him in place, and releasing it lets him snap back and travel even further!

Koops' moves

Shell Toss

A standard shell attack. It doesn’t deal much damage, but Koops can use it to deal damage on fiery or spiked enemies without being harmed.

Power Shell

Attacks every enemy, as long as they’re not flying or hovering. Great for taking out a row of opponents all at once.

Shell Shield

Summons a shield that protects Mario from incoming attacks for a while.

Shell Slam

This is essentially an upgraded version of Power Shell that deals more damage. It retains its immunity to fire and spikes.

Madame Flurrie

Madame Flurrie joins you after you recover her necklace in the Boggly Woods area. In the overworld, she can create gusts of wind that blow away nearby objects – most often, you’ll be using this power to blow away posters or giant sheets of paper.

Madame Flurrie's moves

Body Slam

Line up the reticle and Flurrie will perform a body slam on an opponent. This is considered a jump attack, so don’t use it against spiked enemies!

Gale Force

Summons a big gust of wind to blow opponents away. If there’s fog on the battlefield, Gale Force will make it disappear.

Lip Lock

Drains an enemy’s HP, which Flurrie then uses to heal herself for an equivalent amount. It doesn’t work against spiked enemies, so be careful with this one.

Dodgy Fog

Surrounds Mario with localized fog that increases his evasion.

Yoshi

You’ll meet this Yoshi in Chapter 3 during your battles at the Glitz Pit. Unlike other partners, you can name this Yoshi whatever you like and his color is often different between playthroughs and depends how much time passes between getting the egg and it hatching. In the overworld, you can hop on Yoshi to increase your movement speed and perform Flutter Jumps that let you cross wide gaps.

Yoshi's moves

Ground Pound

A strong jump attack that strikes enemies multiple times.

Gulp

Eats the nearest enemy and spits it out at another one. If the target is too large, Yoshi might not be able to successfully use this move.

Mini-Egg

Tosses a series of eggs at enemies, each of which deals minor damage and has a chance to shrink the enemy it hits.

Stampede

Summons a stampede of Yoshis to charge into every enemy on-screen.

Vivian

Vivian, one of the Three Shadows, joins your party after you make your way through the Creepy Steeple. In the overworld, Vivian can pull Mario into the shadows to hide. This lets the duo pass moving obstacles and listen in on private conversations. Vivian is extremely useful in battle too, not just for damage purposes.

Vivian's moves

Shade Fist

Input the correct button and Vivian will punch an enemy. This often leaves the target burned, which means they’ll take damage at the end of each turn.

Veil

Grabs Mario and pulls him into the shadows, which makes both of them immune to enemy attacks for a single turn.

Fiery Jinx

A great multi-target move that deals lots of damage and leaves enemies burned. It costs a lot of FP to use, though.

Infatuate

Targets all enemies with a kiss attack, which has a chance to confuse them.

Ms. Mowz

Ms. Mowz is the only optional party member in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. If you’d like to recruit her for yourself, check out our guide on how to get Ms. Mowz. In the overworld, she can sniff out and identify nearby treasures and hidden blocks.

Ms. Mowz's moves

Love Slap

A rather weak slap attack that targets a single opponent.

Kiss Thief

Has a chance of stealing an enemy’s item, if they’re holding one.

Tease

Has a chance of inflicting dizziness on every enemy.

Smooch

Has a chance of healing Mario’s health.

Admiral Bobbery

Admiral Bobbery is the last partner in the game – you’ll recruit him during Chapter 5. In the overworld, Mario can light his fuse. From there, Bobbery will walk forward and explode, cracking any walls nearby. There are often secrets and hidden paths behind cracked walls, which makes this a particularly helpful ability.

Admiral Bobbery's moves

Bomb

A standard explosion attack that targets a single enemy.

Bomb Squad

Launches three small bombs that will explode and harm nearby enemies after a turn passes.

Hold Fast

Creates a counter stance. When Bobbery is attacked, Hold Fast will reflect the damage back at their attacker.

Bob-ombast

Launches an explosion attack that hits all enemies on the field.

How To Upgrade Partners

Each of Mario’s partners can be upgraded with the use of Shine Sprites, which you’ll find in boxes throughout Rogueport and its surrounding areas. Each upgrade costs three Shine Sprites, so you’ll want to check out our Shine Sprite location guide if you’re a few Shine Sprites short. At first, you can only upgrade a partner once, which will unlock the character's third attack on the above lists.

After clearing Chapter 5, Merlon will prompt you to solve a mystery. To do this, return to Hooktail Castle and navigate to the room with the inactive spike maze. On the edge of the rightmost wall, there’s a crack that you can blow up using Admiral Bobbery. Do so, and you’ll receive an Up Arrow that you can bring back to Merlon. This unlocks the ability to upgrade each partner a second time. When the second upgrade is complete, the partner in question will gain access to the fourth move on each of the lists shown above

Additional playable characters

Mario and his partners aren't the only playable characters in TTYD. At various points during the story, you'll have a chance to play as a couple of other Mario series staples. Below, we'll talk about who they are and what you'll be able to do with them.

Peach

At the end of each of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door’s chapters, you’ll get to play as Peach during a brief intermission. She doesn’t fight, but she does find herself sneaking around and disguising herself just like in the original Paper Mario on Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Switch Online.

Essentially, when you find yourself playing as Peach, you’re sort of taking a break from all the action and adventure that goes on when you play as Mario.

Bowser

Just like with Peach, Bowser is often present in his own intermission sections that take place at the end of each chapter. Bowser doesn’t really fight either, but what he does do is arguably a lot cooler.

You’ll be able to play as him in side-scrolling sections exclusive to these intermissions. Fortunately, if you fall down a bottomless pit and lose a life, you’ll find that Bowser has an infinite number of lives. Given how many games he’s the main antagonist of, this definitely makes sense!

Who is the best party member in TTYD?

Picking a single best party member and partner for Mario in The Thousand-Year Door is impossible, but some companions are certainly better than others in combat.

For us, the three stand-out characters are Goombella, Yoshi, and Vivian. Goombella, once she gets Rally Wink, is an excellent partner for Mario, allowing him to attack twice in one round. Yoshi has extremely high-damage single and multi-target moves, while Vivian has one of the best multi-target spells in the game. Bobbery is also good, though is FP cost is very high/

Flurrie and Koops can be useful in multiple situations too — Koops can shield Mario from damage while Flurrie can absorb HP. Ms. Mowz, however, is perhaps the weakest party member, but she can come in handy against foes with a high defense.

Ultimately, though, you want to swap your party members around as often as you can using Quick Change. Every single character will come in handy at some point.

For more hints, tips, and walkthroughs, check out our full Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door guide.