Audience
- “If you can get the audience excited, you'll build up more Star Power.”
- —Professor Frankly, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
The audience (or crowd) is a group of minor characters that appear in the background of several games, primarily spinoffs. Audiences appear in a variety of sports games in stadiums or sidelines, but most of the time have no effect on gameplay beyond occasional crowd noises in certain games. Furthermore, some installments of the Super Mario series starting with New Super Mario Bros. Wii have an unseen audience that claps and cheers after certain goals are met. Audiences have their most important role in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Paper Mario: The Origami King, where they assist in a majority of the battles.
Early on, audiences were portrayed simply as flashing blobs of color, though as game technology improved, they became more often animated textures featuring recognizable Super Mario characters or even simple models for closer members. Some common audience members are Toads, Koopa Troopas, Shy Guys, Goombas, Piantas, and Boos.
History[edit]
Paper Mario series[edit]
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[edit]
- Main article: Stage (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and its remake, every battle is performed on a stage in front of the audience. They can either be allies or enemies during the battles. The audience appears in the bottom of the screen, giving Mario SP when he attacks enemies, except when they are made up of Dull Bones. SP is used to refill Mario's Star Power which he needs to use Crystal Star moves.
However, audience members are not only useful for restoring Star Power. Some interact with the combatants or other members. Additionally, the bosses Hooktail, Cortez, and the Shadow Queen can use the members as a power source, restoring HP upon eating or absorbing the members. Magnus von Grapple 2.0 uses audience members offensively, sucking up and launching them at Mario and his partners.
The audience may also throw objects at Mario, which can be helpful or harmful. The items that aid Mario can range from one coin to items such as the Boo's Sheet. Even powerful items such as Jammin' Jellies can be received, albeit rarely. In any case, if an item is thrown onstage and his inventory is full, the item simply falls on the stage and disappear. The items that hurt him range from rocks to crushed soda cans, never doing more than a few points of damage. In either case, a warning flashes before an audience member is about to throw something at Mario. The player has a few seconds to press 
to attack the offending member and have them temporarily flee the theater. Alternatively, the player can choose to do nothing to receive the item. The warning does not differentiate between good and bad items, so it is possible to attack an audience member offering a helpful item. When this happens, not only does this member flee, but several others do as well, but it is temporary. The player can also attack the audience member while the object has already been thrown. If the item is harmful, Mario can also switch places with his partner just before the item hits him, successfully dodging the item.
Getting a Shine Sprite "Bingo!" causes every seat in the audience to fill. Any other "Bingo!," with the exception of the Poison Mushroom, fills half the capacity of the crowd. If three Poison Mushrooms are matched, however, every audience member runs away and Mario and his current partners' HP, FP, and SP are cut in half (by a third in the remake). Players can always attract audience members again by doing well in the battle, and the next battle always has a new crowd with other characters and usually the same species of characters. Leveling up also fills every seat, except if the player levels up after defeating Hooktail, in which the audience remains completely empty.
The maximum capacity of the audience depends on Mario's level. The bigger the crowd, the more Star Power he and his party can restore each turn. Mario rises one rank every ten levels, beginning the game with the Rising Star level.
- Rising Star: 50
- B-List Star: 100
- A-List Star: 150
- Superstar: 200
During certain boss fights, the audience will have the same members every time.
- Red Bones: All Dull Bones.
- Hooktail: Eight Toads on the right side.
- Magnus von Grapple: Half Punies (left side) and half X-Nauts (right side).
- Atomic Boo: All Boos.
- Grodus: All X-Nauts.
- Prince Mush (remake only): All Toads.
Outside of battle, audiences only appear in the Glitz Pit, usually watching the battles. During two portions of Chapter 3, they swarm the lobby (for Rawk Hawk and Mario, respectively), which slows down Mario's ability to walk through it similar to the Dull Bones in Hooktail Castle. The battle audience is also shown in the ending as the audience of Flurrie's new play.
Super Paper Mario[edit]
In Super Paper Mario, an audience of sorts appears whenever Mario or another playable character attacks an enemy and does a stylish move, which is done by shaking the Wii Remote when stomping on an enemy. They appear along the edges of the screen as paper cutouts. This approval of the audience gives the player a higher score than if they have just jumped on an enemy. The crowd in this game only has a handful of species from the previous game, taking out most of the species.
Paper Mario: The Origami King[edit]
In Paper Mario: The Origami King, the audience plays a more active role. As Mario rescues Toads folded up throughout the world, more of them fill the stands in each battle. Mario can pay the audience up to 999 coins a turn for assistance. In regular battles, they can automatically solve puzzles, damage enemies, and provide items and healing. For boss battles, they can scatter items across the ring grid, show the path that Mario takes in the ring's current configuration, and provide items and healing. The more audience members that Mario has recruited and the more he pays them, the greater these effects are. The Toads also make comments on the enemies Mario is currently facing or on the attack Mario is currently using.
Mario & Luigi series[edit]
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time[edit]
In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, an audience of Shroobs appears during the battle against Shrooboid Brat in the Koopaseum. They direct the Shrooboid's attacks by holding up colored signs with an "M" or an "L" symbol on them, though sometimes the colors are reversed to trick the player. They are used to direct where it will shoot fireballs from Fire Flowers as well Mushrooms, and Poison Mushrooms that are passed across the crowd, as well as determine where it will throw its lollipop depending on which sign is held up more times in the audience.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story[edit]
In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, an audience appears during the fight against Midbus in Fawful Theater. They throw coins at a contender that pulls off a successful attack. They also sometimes throw food on the stage, which can be eaten by either party to restore HP.
Super Mario series[edit]
Super Mario Run[edit]
- Main article: Toad (species)
In the Toad Rally mode of Super Mario Run, players compete against the "ghost data" of other players. One of the objectives of the mode is to impress Toads by performing stylish moves. This causes the Toad to cheer for the player. The Toads are displayed at the bottom of the screen, in the foreground. At the end of a run, the Toads cheering for each player multiply the number of coins they collected. Thes coin totals are the final score. The Toads are described as a "crowd" in the screen before a run showing which color Toads can appear during that run.
Super Mario Maker 2[edit]
In Super Mario Maker 2, an audience resembling the one from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (but silhouetted) appears as one of the animations that can be placed with the Soundfrog. It is made up of Mario, Luigi, Toads, Yoshi and Princess Peach.
Characters in the audience[edit]
Donkey Kong 64[edit]
Paper Mario series[edit]
Paper Mario[edit]
In this game, an audience only makes a small appearance in Chuck Quizmo's stage.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[edit]
In this game, characters do not appear in the audience until the Chapter they are introduced in. For example, Punies do not appear until Chapter 2, Bulky Bob-ombs do not appear until Chapter 5 (with the exception of the Macho Grubba and second Doopliss fight in the GameCube version), and so on. The only exception is inside the Pit of 100 Trials, where all possible types of members can appear in the lower floors. Upon returning to previous areas, the battles there can still only have the types of audience members they originally had - for example, the lone Spiky Goomba in Rogueport Underground can only ever have Toads, Goombas, Shy Guys, and/or Luigi in its battles' audiences. It is also possible to see Piranha Plants in the audience early in the western portion of the Rogueport Underground before travelling to Boggly Woods.
In the Switch remake, to compensate for the drastic weakening of Star Power multipliers elsewhere, all audience members have a higher base value for provided Star Power.[1]
Macho Grubba getting invisibility
A Shy Guy affecting the stage
A Shy Guy affecting the stage in the remake
| Character | Base SP (GCN) | Base SP (Switch) | Description | Possible thrown objects |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Boos |
1 | 5 | Randomly turns a character in the battle Invisible for 1 turn. | Repel Cape Boo's Sheet Spite Pouch Rocks Cans |
 Bulky Bob-ombs |
1 | 2 | Takes up two seats, reducing total audience capacity. Randomly ignites their fuse, exploding 5 turns later and causing many audience members to run away. |
- |
 Crazee Dayzees |
1 | 4 | Randomly sings, causing most of the audience to fall asleep for 3 turns, preventing them from providing Star Power and participating in the Clock Out move. | - |
 Dull Bones |
0 | 2 | No unique behavior. | Bones Rocks Cans |
 Goombas |
1 | 2 | No unique behavior. | Rocks Cans |
 Hammer Bros. |
1 | 4 | Throws a hammer at Mario if he fails a hammer attack. | Hammers |
 Koopa Troopas |
1 | 5 | Randomly hides in their shell for 5 turns. During this time, it won't provide Star Power until it comes back out. | Coins Hearts Flowers Courage Shell POW Block Rocks Cans |
 Luigi |
1 | 4 | There can only be one Luigi. Will not be ejected from the audience if he is attacked by mistake. (GCN version only) |
Coins Hearts Flowers Mushrooms Super Mushrooms Ultra Mushrooms Honey Syrup Maple Syrup Jammin' Jelly Shooting Star Rocks |
 Piranha Plants |
1 | 2 | Randomly eats an adjacent audience member after the enemy turn. | - |
 Punies |
1 | 5 | May swarm the audience if Mario uses a Stylish move. Flees upon hearing certain loud noises. | Coins Hearts Flowers Dried Mushrooms Honey Syrup Maple Syrup Jammin' Jelly Tasty Tonic Slow Mushrooms Gradual Syrup |
 Shy Guys |
1 | 4 | Randomly jumps on the stage, triggering a stage hazard. | Ice Storm Earth Quake Volt Mushroom Sleepy Sheep Dizzy Dial Ruin Powder Power Punch Stopwatch Mini Mr. Mini Mr. Softener Point Swap Fright Mask Mystery HP Drain Rocks Cans |
 Toads |
3 | 7 | No unique behavior. Provides more Star Power than any other character of the audience. |
Coins Hearts Flowers Mushrooms Super Mushrooms Ultra Mushrooms Life Mushrooms Honey Syrup Fire Flowers Thunder Rage Shooting Star |
 X-Nauts |
1 | 2 | May throw a rock at Mario if the battle drags on for too long. May throw a rock if Mario lands an attack that does nothing or receives contact damage. All other X-Nauts in the crowd will feign also throwing a rock. |
Rocks Cans |
Super Paper Mario[edit]
Paper Mario: Sticker Star / Paper Mario: Color Splash[edit]
In these games, an audience only appears during Snifit or Whiffit.
Paper Mario: The Origami King[edit]
- Toads
- Shy Guys (during Shy Guys Finish Last)
Mario Kart series[edit]
Mario Kart: Super Circuit[edit]
In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the audience only appears during the award ceremony.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!![edit]
- Boos
- Donkey Kong Jrs.
- Goombas
- Hammer Bros.
- Nokis
- Piantas
- Doot-Doot Sisters
- Ukelele Pianta
- Shy Guys
- Snifits
- Toads
- Toadsworths
Mario Kart Arcade GP / Mario Kart Arcade GP 2[edit]
- Baby Luigi
- Baby Mario
- Birdo
- Bowser Jr.
- Daisy
- Kongs
- Koopa Paratroopas
- Koopa Troopas
- Nokis
- Pac-People
- Jr. Pac-Man
- Professor Pac-Man
- Piantas
- Rambis
- Toads
- Waluigi
Mario Kart DS[edit]
Mario Kart Wii[edit]
Mario Kart 7[edit]
Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart Tour[edit]
Mario Tennis series[edit]
Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64)[edit]
Mario Power Tennis[edit]
Mario & Luigi series[edit]
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time[edit]
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story[edit]
Mario Baseball series[edit]
- Birdos (cutscene only)
- Boos
- Goombas
- Koopa Paratroopas
- Koopa Troopas
- Monty Moles (cutscene only)
- Nokis
- Paragoombas (cutscene only)
- Penguins (cutscene only)
- Piantas
- Shy Guys
- Toads
- Ukikis (cutscene only)
Mario Strikers series[edit]
Mario & Sonic series[edit]
Mario Sports Mix[edit]
Gallery[edit]
- For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Audience.
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Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | Kankyaku |
Audience | |
| Chinese (simplified) | 观众[?] Guānzhòng |
Audience | |
| Chinese (traditional) | 觀眾[?] Guānzhòng |
Audience | |
| Dutch | Publiek[?] | Audience | |
| French | Public[?] | Audience | |
| German | Publikum[?] | Audience | |
| Italian | Pubblico[?] | Audience | |
| Korean | 관객[?] Gwan'gaek |
Audience | |
| Spanish | Público[?] | Audience |
