Summary
While on your journey to collect the Crystal Stars inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, you will be forced into battle numerous times against many different foes. You have many ways to wage battle as well: jumping, hammering, andeven using unique badges with various abilities, just to name a few.
With each Crystal Star you gather, however, you will gain access to what is known as a Special Move. Each Special Move uses your star power to activate, and each has a different effect. Some can cause damage, others can buff your party or debuff enemies, and a few can even heal you and your partner in a pinch. These moves shouldn’t be overlooked, as they are very powerful when used right.
8Sweet Treat
Your First Move
The very first Special Move unlocked, Sweet Treat, will be a very useful technique in the early portion of your adventure. The purpose of this move is to recover a small amount of the party’s HP and FP as well as cure status conditions like poison.
Even though it’s not a fancy move by any stretch of the imagination, it is quite effective at giving you a little HP and FP back when you need it. It’s also quite cheap to use, too, only requiring one SP to cast. While other moves,and even some items, are far better to use later on, at the beginning of the game, this move will help tremendously.
7Clock Out
The Emerald Star
When you obtain the Emerald Star after the events of Chapter 2, you will get access to the Special Move Clock Out. This technique drops a literal time bomb on your foes, freezing them in place for a certain number of turns.
If you ever find yourself needing a few extra turns in battle to use items, heal up, or switch party members around, this move can be quite helpful. Unfortunately, enemies can still potentially shrug off the time-stop status effect, so for two SP, you might be better off using an item or just attacking.
6Earth Tremor
The Diamond Star
The first Crystal Star you find, the diamond star, will grant you access to the mighty Earth Tremor attack. This move will be your primary way of dealing defense-piercing damage outside of items for the first half of the game.
For only two SP, you’re able to deal a maximum of six damage to all enemies on the screen, regardless of whether they are on the ground, ceiling, or in the air. Until you get access to stronger attacks or Special Moves, Earth Tremor will most likely be one of your more frequently used attacks, even through the mid-game.
5Sweet Feast
The Sapphire Star
Sweet Feast is very simple in practice, it is just an upgraded version of your first Special Move, Sweet Treat. It can heal much larger amounts of HP and FP for you and your party, and the action command works exactly the same way.
The biggest downside to this particular ability is the SP cost. It takes a whole five SP to use this ability, the second-highest cost in the game. If you need serious healing or status ailment removal and have very few items, this move will be your best bet.
4Power Lift
The Gold Star
Power Lift is a fantastic move that allows you to buff up your whole party’s attack and defense values in no time at all. The action command has you play a variation of whack-a-mole to hit the correct tiles for the buffs you want before applying them at the end of the sequence.
It also doesn’t have a prohibitively high SP cost either. Each use of Power Lift only takes three SP, meaning that inthe later parts of the game, you can buff yourself and still have plenty of SP left over for other Special Moves should you need them.
3Art Attack
The Ruby Star
A new offensive type move, Art Attack, can do large amounts of damage to multiple enemies on the screen in an unusual but unique way. The move has you draw literal circles around the enemies you wish to attack, doing up to three damage per circle.
If you are quick, you can draw a circle around a group of foes four to six times relatively simply, making the attack incredibly strong. The downside? It costs four SP to use, making it a very expensive attack right when you first unlock it. Later on, however, when you have more SP, Art Attack is much more user-friendly.
2Showstopper
The Garnet Star
If you ever wished you could defeat a group of enemies with barely lifting a finger, Showstopper is the Special Move for you. This easy-to-use attack has the chance to instantly defeat your enemies and still give you experience and money as if you fought them normally.
For the low cost of two SP, this move can be spammed and exploited to no end, making it one of the very best in the game. You will find yourself using it often to defeat large groups of foes quickly.
1Supernova
The Crystal Star
The final Special Move you unlock is, of course, the very best in the game. Supernova can attack all enemies on screen for ludicrous amounts of damage. If the action command is done correctly, you will deal 15 damage per enemy you see, one of the highest totals in the game.
Naturally, the move also comes with the highest SP cost in the game as well, needing 6 SP to cast. The move is best saved for bosses or extremely difficult fights as it’s not exactly cost-effective, but make no mistake, this massive attack in your arsenal will be incredibly useful once you have it.
