Revisiting Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door with a High-Attack, High-Defense Build

This fall, I had an absolute blast playing through Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door! I originally started the game right after launch but set it aside until about a month ago—and I’m so glad I picked it back up. It’s been a joy to revisit this classic, especially since I hadn’t played it since the GameCube days.

Here were my stats for both playthroughs (Gamecube and Switch):

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door  (GC)
- time: 48:48
- level 32
- star rank: superstar
- HP: 60
- FP: 45
- BP: 42
- recipes: 10/57
- badges: 53/85

• All party members maxed out (including Ms. Mouz!)

• Bonetail destroyed!!

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch)
Started: 5/27/24; ended: 1/5/25
- time: 52:20
- level 32
- star rank: superstar
- HP: 20
- FP: 25
- BP: 78
- recipes: 18/58
- badges: 64/86

• All party members maxed out (including Ms. Mouz!)

• Bonetail destroyed!!

• Prince Mush defeated!

This time around, I went with a completely different build—focusing on high attack power and high defense. To pull this off, I put most of my leveling into Badge Points (BP) and prioritized badges that boosted Mario’s attack and defense. Unfortunately, while the game does track these attack and defense stats, they’re hidden from the player.

While digging around, I found a post from 12 years ago on GameFAQs that tries to break down Mario’s hidden attack and defense stats:

Please Note: I haven’t tested this myself, so for now, we’re going to assume the info in this GameFAQs post above is accurate. With that in mind, here’s my badge setup for this second playthrough:

This build is all about boosting Attack and Defense while also adding counterattack damage to enemies that target Mario, thanks to Spike Shield and Zap Tap.

If we’re assuming Mario’s baseline attack power with the Ultra Boots and Ultra Hammer is 3 (based on that GameFAQs post), my setup includes two Power Plus badges, bringing Mario’s attack power to 5. I’ve also equipped a P-Up, D-Down badge, which adds one more point to attack but reduces defense by one. That bumps Mario’s attack power to a solid 6 at baseline.

Since I focused heavily on BP, I didn’t invest much in HP (or even FP), which adds a bit of a danger Mario element to this build. That’s why I’ve included two Close Call, two Last Stand, and Power Rush badges as backup, although they’re not the primary focus here.

For defense, Mario is wearing two Defense Plus badges, boosting his defense by 2. However, one of those is offset by the P-Up, D-Down badge, so Mario’s net defense is just 1. To compensate, I equipped two Damage Dodge badges, which increase Mario’s defense to 3 when executing a guard action command.

I also boosted my Partner’s attack and defense by one each with a Power Plus P badge and a Defense Plus P badge.

Playing the game with this build was such a blast! It really gave me a fresh perspective on the mechanics and strategy.

For now, I’m putting the game down, but I plan to revisit it later to take on Whacka, the secret post-game boss in the Pit of 100 Trials.

Nintendo, if you’re reading this—please bring back this classic style of Paper Mario!