Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – How to Level Up Your Party Members

The much-anticipated remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is here, and much like the Gamecube original, the game is bursting with puzzles, secrets, and some quirky mechanics that new players may find slightly perplexing. Don’t worry though, we’re here to cut The Thousand-Year Door’s more confusing aspects down to size.

Unlike most recent entries in the series, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a full-on RPG, with Mario gaining levels in a straightforward manner by earning Star Point XP by winning battles, but what about your various non-Mario party members? How do you improve their abilities? It isn’t immediately obvious and the game doesn’t do a great job of explaining it, but don’t worry, we’ve got you covered…

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The key to upgrading your support party members is collecting Shine Sprites, collectibles that look like the Shines from Super Mario Sunshine. These are 42 of these in total, spread around the world – usually slightly off the main path, with players often having to use one of their papery powers in order to collect them.

Once you’ve acquired some of these Shine Sprites, head back to the east side of Rogueport off the main plaza. You’re going to want to go into Merlon the fortune teller’s place – you can tell it by the Shine Sprite symbol outside the door. Trade in three Shine Sprites in order to upgrade your party member. This will increase their HP and give them a new ability.

Each party member can be upgraded twice, but you can only upgrade them the second time after you’ve completed Chapter 5. At that point, you’ll notice Merlon standing outside his shop. He’ll ask you to find the “Up Arrow” item in Hooktail Castle. Head to the easternmost room in Hooktail Castle with the spikes, and use Captain Bobbery to blow up a cracked wall and collect the Up Arrow from a chest. Bring this back to Merlon and you can now upgrade all your support characters a second