TEC
- “Goodnight, Princess Peach.”
- —TEC-XX, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
TEC-XX is the main computer of the X-Naut Headquarters during the events of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Most of Sir Grodus' captives, including Princess Peach, call him TEC. He usually helps Princess Peach get information on what Grodus is planning. TEC also has a crush on her. He claims to be the "flawless and perfect" computer. After Mario and company completed Chapter 6, TEC's memory of Peach was deleted after Sir Grodus caught the computer telling Peach that the X-Nauts are planning to offer her as a vessel to the Shadow Queen. The minute TEC meets Mario and his teammates after Chapter 7, he tells the plumber and his team that Peach was taken to the Palace of Shadow. TEC was running on a backup generator after his memory was deleted; unfortunately, he starts to go haywire and eventually, ceases to exist, destroying X-Naut HQ in the process. At the very end of the adventure, TEC reboots and the X-Naut HQ is up and running again, although the whole place is deserted. He seems to have been restored to his original state after Peach gave Mario the last of her power during the battle with the Shadow Queen.
Trivia
- In one of the early scenes of the game, when Peach is in Grodus' throne room, the perspective changes to the view of TEC's camera. Once Peach comes into the shot, a surge of electricity flows over the screen, which is probably the glitch that becomes TEC's crush.
- TEC is clearly based off of the HAL 9000 in 2001: Space Odyssey because of his intelligence and security systems. However, unlike HAL, TEC isn't insane or malevolent.
- Another Marioverse spoof of the HAL 9000 was the HAL 9001 from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "On Her Majesty's Sewer Service / 9001: A Mario Odyssey".
- If the player looks closely during the deleting of TEC's memory, he or she can see him say "Peach, I love you", seemingly proving that he had learned what love was since the game's beginning.
