Badges, partners and battles
A starter guide to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: practise action commands, balance your level-up choices, use partner abilities in the field, review badges before bosses.
Original GameCube release; the Switch remake has changes not covered here.
Practise action commands
Timed inputs improve attacks and defence. Learn each partner’s action command instead of assuming every move uses Mario’s timing.
Balance your level-up choices
Level-ups let you improve HP, FP or BP. If a useful badge will not fit, more BP can expand your options; if you repeatedly run out of special attacks, consider FP.
Use partner abilities in the field
Partners solve different environmental problems as well as helping in battle. Revisit blocked routes when a new partner joins.
Review badges before bosses
Badge Points limit your equipped loadout. Remove badges that do not help with the next fight, and use the freed points for a relevant attack or defensive option.
This is a starter reference, not a complete walkthrough or item database. Use the linked game reference for detailed routes and collection lists.