Prince Mush

Prince Mush
Sprite from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Species	Toad
First appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)

“Whoa... Is this... Am I back in the Glitz Pit?”

—Prince Mush, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Prince Mush is a character who first appeared in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. He was the first champion of the Glitz Pit during the game's storyline. He is also the younger brother of Jolene. In the Nintendo Switch remake, Prince Mush is added as a new superboss.

History

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Prince Mush is mentioned by several characters throughout Chapter 3 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and appears at the end of it. Prince Mush was captured and had his power drained by Grubba's power-draining machine after he found out that Grubba was using a Crystal Star to drain fighters' powers. As such, Mush was missing for an extended amount of time. Afterward, his older sister Jolene went undercover in the Glitz Pit to look for him, and after accidentally seeing Grubba power up by using his machine, she carefully guided Mario to defeat Grubba. After Grubba's defeat, Grubba claimed to have sucked the life out of Mush with his machine to benefit himself, saddening Jolene before Mush suddenly appears out of the Gold Star. Now united with his sister Jolene, they rejoice.

Later in Mario's adventure, he receives an e-mail from Jolene saying that Prince Mush is planning on making a comeback. However, he can never be fought in the game. Mush is also the answer to a question of the X-Naut Fortress Thwomp, who asks the name of the very first champion of Glitzville. Unlike other languages which give him a real name that differs from his stage name, Prince Mush's real name is simply Mush in the English version.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)

Once the player completes Chapter 3 and Jolene's trouble "Help wanted!", after some time, they will receive an email from her regarding Mush's training. After some more time and completing another chapter (the earliest possible chapter being Chapter 4, including taking the Ruby Star to the Thousand-Year Door), Mario will receive another email, this time from Prince Mush, who challenges him to an Exhibition Match arranged by Jolene. He can be found in the backstage corridor near the red locker rooms and spoken with, but Mario can only initiate the fight by approaching any league terminal and selecting Exhibition Match to reserve a fight against him. During the battle, the audience is composed entirely of Toads.

Prince Mush has a unique stance mechanic in combat, and during the first phase will switch between two different stances every turn. Mush's hopping stance allows him to fully evade grounded attacks, while his sidestep stance allows him to fully evade aerial attacks. Initially, Mush will attack using a dashing punch and a flashing dropkick. A successful superguard against these attacks will throw Mush off his stance, causing his Defense to drop to 0 for one turn. As Mush's HP lowers, he will start to charge attack power (sometimes on multiple turns in succession), before unleashing a powerful kicking combo that can hit Mario or his partner for damage five separate times in one turn. His moves have an initial attack power of 6, becoming 9 and 12 after a charge or two, respectively.

Once his HP drops by half or less, Mush will be able to power up tremendously, either doing so right before executing a standard attack or three times in a row to deliver a devastating kicking combo on the next turn. During this phase, if Mush's techniques are not superguarded against, he will remain in a defensive stance for every turn, blocking every incoming attack while creating two duplicates of himself after his action. In this powered-up state, he has an attack power of 20-24.

Mush is additionally immune to fire, explosion, and lightning attacks (preventing the Zap Tap badge or Volt Mushrooms from being effective) as well as counters and items that grant the Payback status such as Hold Fast, a Spite Pouch and the Return Postage badge, while also being immune to all status effects, with the exception of the KO effect inflicted by Showstopper. Some of his attacks may also drain Flower Points if connected.

Once defeated, he can be rematched at any time. Mario can also talk to Prince Mush in the Glitz Pit hallway, where he gives Mario his belt as a token of appreciation. Goombella's Tattle implies that Prince Mush once fell victim to Rawk Hawk's Poisoned Cake trick and thus dislikes said food as a result.

Profiles and statistics

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door enemy
Prince Mush
	Max HP	96	Attack	6	Defense	6
	Location(s)	Glitz Pit	Role	Super-Boss	Level	41
	Sleep?	0%	Dizzy?	0%	Confuse?	0%
	Tiny?	0%	Stop?	0%	Soft?	0%
	Burn?	0%	Freeze?	0%	Fright?	0%
	Gale Force?	0%	KO?	5%	Moves	???
	Exp. points	?	Coins	N/A	Items	Prince Mush's Belt
Tattle Log #: 134	Log	The original champ of the Glitz Pit and a squeaky-clean fighter. He was gone for a long time, but he's still super strong! If his stance changes, he's about to use a different battle style, so watch out! Outside the ring, he's Jolene's li'l brother...Mush. Just...Mush.
	Tattle	That's Prince Mush, the original champion of the Glitz Pit! He's finally making his comeback! He's got a Max HP of 96, an Attack of 6, and a Defense of 6. You'd never guess that he was kept away from fighting for such a long time. He's still a powerhouse. He's known for being a clean fighter, so he'll come straight at you without relying on dirty tricks. He's also known to switch between different battle styles. Just keep an eye on his stance! When he changes it up, we'll have to think fast and come up with a good attack method. And if you're not sure you'll come out on top, try to rely on Superguards! Also, I've heard he's not a fan of cake. What's the story there, hm? Some cake-based trauma in his past? Whatever. If you can manage to beat this guy, you'll become the true, unrivalled champion!

Field Tattle

Prince Mush's field Tattle is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch remake. When his Exhibition Match becomes available, he can be found in the Glitz Pit hallway.

• "That's Prince Mush. He's Jolene's younger brother. Poor guy's been through a lot, so it's great that he's able to return to the ring like this... He's all set for the Exhibition Match. I bet he's a tough opponent... so be ready for a doozy of a fight!"

Gallery

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  Prince Mush in the Nintendo Switch remake

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  Prince Mush waking up in the remake

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  Prince Mush with his sister Jolene in the remake

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  A photo (far right) of Prince Mush and Rawk Hawk making up as seen in Rawk Hawk's secret training room in the remake

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  Prince Mush powering up in the Nintendo Switch remake

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  Prince Mush with clones of himself in the Nintendo Switch remake

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  Prince Mush and the other Glitz Pit fighters supporting Mario in the final battle in the Nintendo Switch remake

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  Prince Mush and Jolene in the remake’s credits

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  Glitz Pit fighter screen in the Nintendo Switch remake

Names in other languages

Prince Mush

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	プリンス・マッシュ[?] Purinsu Masshu	Prince Mush
Chinese	蘑力王子[?] Mólì Wángzǐ	Pun on「蘑菇」(mógū, "mushroom") and「魔力」(mólì, "magical power") +「王子」 (wángzǐ, "prince")
Dutch	Prins Puik[?]	From puik ("pretty nice")
French	Dark Toadster[?]	-
German	Dark Toadster[?]	-
Italian	Re Mush[?]	King Mush
Korean	프린스머시[?] Peurinseu Meosi	Prince Mush
Spanish	T. Rex[?]	Reference to the dinosaur of the same name. "Rex" also means "king" in Latin, in reference to the original Japanese name.

Mush

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	キノシチョフ[?] Kinoshichofu	"Kinoshichev"; a portmanteau of「キノピオ」(Kinopio, "Toad") and "-ev" (a common masculine ending for Russian surnames)
Chinese (simplified)	奇诺辛切夫[?] Qínuòxīnqièfū	Transliteration of Japanese name
Chinese (traditional)	奇諾辛切夫[?] Qínuòxīnqièfū	Transliteration of Japanese name
Dutch	Puikje[?]	From puik ("pretty nice") and the Dutch name ending "-je"
French	Banali T[?]	Pun on banalité ("banality")
German	Toadskov[?]	Male form of "Toadskova"
Italian	Toa Toa[?]	Repeated clipping of "Toad"
Korean	키노시초프[?] Kinosichopeu	Transliteration of Japanese name
Spanish	T. Roonie[?]	?