Star Power
- Not to be confused with Countdown Timer.
Star Power, or Star Energy as it was originally called in Paper Mario, often shortened to SP and SE respectively, is a special form of energy featured in the first two installments of the Paper Mario series. In both games, Star Power is used to fuel Special Moves, a set of unique combat techniques that require Mario to use a special power taught by an entity like a Star Spirit or a Crystal Star.
Breaking from the tradition of the series, Star Power no longer appears from Super Paper Mario onwards. The lack of Star Power in the subsequent games disables some of the features known from its predecessors, namely the possibility to perform Special Moves.
Appearances
Paper Mario
In Paper Mario, Mario receives the ability to gather Star Energy and perform Special Moves after he rescues Eldstar from the Koopa Bros. After that, one unit of Star Power is added to Mario's disposal for every Star Spirit he rescues. Along with each Star Spirit, Mario also learns new Special Moves which consume 1 to 3 SP when used. Mario's amount of Star Energy is represented by colorful bars at the top of the screen. An eight of the bar gets refilled after every enemy turn in battle. Additionally, the Focus Command will refill half a bar upon use, or even more if Deep Focus(es) are equipped. Otherwise SE can also be restored by getting a Level-Up, finishing a Chapter or sleeping in a bed.
Special Moves
| Name | SP used | Star Spirit required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refresh | 1 | Eldstar | Restores 5 HP and FP to Mario. |
| Lullaby | 1 | Mamar | Affects to put all enemies to sleep. The base status duration of this move is four turns. |
| Star Storm | 2 | Skolar | Deals 7 points of star-element damage to each enemy, piercing Defense Power. |
| Chill Out | 2 | Muskular | Decreases the Attack Power of all enemies by 3 points. |
| Smooch | 3 | Misstar | Restores 20 HP to Mario. |
| Time Out | 2 | Klevar | Attempts to immobilize all enemies. The base status duration of this move is five turns. |
| Up & Away | 2 | Kalmar | Has a chance to instantly defeat any non-boss enemy in battle. Every eligible target's susceptibility is 95%. |
| Star Beam | 0 | All seven Star Spirits | A technique that nullifies Bowser's invincibility bestowed upon him by the Star Rod, as well as positive status effects on enemies. However has no effect on Bowser in their final encounter. |
| Peach Beam | 0 | All seven Star Spirits, plus Twink | Has the same capabilities as Star Beam, however it affects Bowser on their final encounter. |
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the stat is renamed as Star Power, and accessed by Mario after the prologue by holding aloft the Magical Map in front of the Thousand-Year Door. Like in the previous game, Mario's Star Power will increase with every Crystal Star he obtains, and he will also learn new Special Moves. Unlike before, the Star Power gauge is now composed of up to 8 dots, each representing one full unit of Star Power which can be further broken down to hundredths.
In this game, Star Power is not gained automatically at the beginning of a turn, but rather tied to performing Hammer, Jump, Partner Attacks, or Appeal.
When it comes to attacking moves, the formula used to calculate the amount of Star Power hundredths gained is as follows: square root of(Audience Value) * (Action Command Value) * (Danger Value) * (BINGO Value) after truncating the decimal part.[1]
- The audience value is calculating for adding up the number of active audience members, although Toads are worth triple, and Dull Bones or sleeping audience members are worth none.
- Action Command Value is calculated based on the Action Command Tier and whether the Stylish move was executed.
The Action Command Tier refers to the text that appears upon executing a move, and their corresponding values are shown on a table below. For example, a well-executed Shell Shield will give off the "Great" text, and thus have a value of 1.50. However, this can be modified with the Simplifier and Unsimplifier badges. For every Simplifier equipped the text will go down by one tier, and inversely go up by one tier for every Unsimplifier. As such, a perfect Shell Shield will be reduced to "Nice" with two Simplifiers, and increased to "Excellent" with two Unsimplifiers. Moves that initially yield a "nice" will still give off a "nice" with a simplifier equipped, albeit in smaller text, and will still give off less SP. On the table, they are referred as "Nice*" and "Nice**" respectively.
| Tier | Value |
|---|---|
| (No Text) | |
| Nice** | 0.50 |
| Nice* | 0.75 |
| Nice | 1.00 |
| Good | 1.25 |
| Great | 1.50 |
| Wonderful | 1.75 |
| Excellent | 2.00 |
Performing a Stylish move will furthermore modify this value like so: (Base Value + x) * 2. x equals to 1 for all moves in the PAL and US versions of the game, but in the Japanese release, a couple of the moves have this value different from 1. Fire Drive, Quake Hammer, Multibonk, Power Shell, Lip Lock, Mini-Egg, Veil, Infatuate and Bob-ombast have values of 2, and Tornado Jump, Shell Slam, and Tease have a value of 3.
Although certain moves have more than one Stylish move to perform, in the PAL and US versions of the game, only one is required to affect the Star Power multiplier. Doing successive Stylish moves will only affect audience gain. However, in the Japanese release of the game, Tornado Jump, Quake Hammer, Hammer Throw, Multibonk, Shell Toss, Power Shell, and Shell Slam require all Stylish moves to be perfectly executed to increase the Star Power regeneration.[2]
- Danger Value is calculated based on this table:
| Healthy Partner | Partner in Danger | Partner in Peril | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthy Mario | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| Mario in Danger | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 |
| Mario in Peril | 3.0 | 4.5 | 6.0 |
Although if Mario is at 5 HP while his max HP was reduced to 5 by Chet Rippo, the Danger multiplier will not take effect.
- The BINGO value is normally 1, but it is increased to 2 for four turns in the event of a Mushroom, Flower or Star Bingo!; or increased to 3 for six turns in the case of a Shine Sprite Bingo.
Star Power can also be regained by using the Appeal command, in which case the formula to calculate the Star Power hundredths is as follows: 25 * (number of Super Appeals + 1) + (number of active audience)/4[1]
Other methods of recovering Star Power in battle include getting a successful Star or Shine Sprite Bingo!; and consuming Trial Stew. Otherwise SP can also be recovered by getting a Level-Up, finishing a Chapter or sleeping in a bed.[3]
Special Moves
| Name | SP used | Item required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Treat | 1 | Magical Map | Restores up to 8 FP, 7 HP to Mario and his partner, and cures their negative status ailments. If Mario's partner is KO'd, it lets Mario restore up to 14 HP instead. |
| Earth Tremor | 2 | Diamond Star | Deals up to 6 damage to all enemies. Needs to fill at least two bars to hit flying enemies, and four bars to hit ceiling enemies. |
| Clock Out | 2 | Emerald Star | Produces a huge time bomb that immobilizes its targets and affects either Mario's team, the enemy group, or the audience. Effectiveness depends on the enemy's susceptibility and Action Command success. |
| Power Lift | 3 | Gold Star | Increases Attack and Defense Power of Mario and his current partner. |
| Art Attack | 4 | Ruby Star | Summons a small cursor which the player can circle around the enemies. Each complete circle before the time limit is up causes up to 3 points of damage to the enclosed enemies. |
| Sweet Feast | 5 | Sapphire Star | Restores up to 24 FP, 24 HP to Mario and his partner, and cures their negative status ailments. If Mario's partner is KO'd, it lets Mario restore up to 48 HP instead. |
| Showstopper | 2 | Garnet Star | Has a chance to instantly defeat all enemies in battle depending on the enemies' susceptibility and Action Command success. |
| Supernova | 6 | Crystal Star | Deals up to 15 points of damage to all enemies on the battlefield. |
All Star Powers ignore evasion and invisibility checks. Furthermore, they pierce defense except for special defense such as the Iron Clefts'.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | スターパワー[?] Sutā pawā |
Star Power | |
| Chinese (simplified) | 星之能量[4] Xīng zhī Néngliàng |
Star Power | |
| French | Energie Etoile[?] | Star Energy | |
| German | Sternenergie[?] | Star Energy | |
| Spanish (NOE) | Energía Estrella (Paper Mario) PE - Poder Estelar (The Thousand-Year Door)[?] |
Star Energy SP - Star Power |
