Paper Mario: Power Dash

Paper Mario Ascension is an RPG for the Nintendo Switch. This installment serves as a direct sequel to Super Paper Mario.

Story

Prologue: Prelude to Power

Goombella, one of Mario's partners from a previous adventure, now the dean at the University of Goom, invites Mario and Luigi to a ceremony being held at Peach Castle to commemorate one of the campuses' students Goombrain. After the ceremony, a shady group of people garbed in hoods approach Mario.

Their leader introduces himself as General Ecliow and challenges Mario to a battle. Mario accepts despite Luigi's and the others uncertainty and he is swiftly defeated by Ecliow. Ecliow and his men proceed to kidnap the other guests, while he scolds Mario for his weak stature. Goombrain manages to avoid capture and brings Mario to his dormitory at the University of Goom to recover from his injuries. Once Mario wakes up, Goombrain informs him of the events that transpired following his defeat. In his current state, Mario realizes that he is incapable of beating Ecliow and ponders what to do next. Goombrain then recalls an ancient legend mentioned by Goombella; long ago the Earth was under siege by a highly-advanced alien army. To combat this threat, twenty warriors from around the world gathered and sucessfully managed to repel the invaders, but were crucially injured from the intense battle. Fearing the possibility of another crisis arising in the future, the warriors used the enemies' technology to transfer their essence into twenty gems. These gems came to be know as the Stamia Shards and if Mario is able to collect all twenty, he will inhert the warriors' power.

Mario, joined by his new friend Goombrain, decides to find the Stamia Shards and rescue their friends. The two discover a file on Goombella's computer containing a map of the shards' location and depart for Goomba Woods to find the first shard. After retrieving the shard, which was stolen by one of Ecliow's henchmen, Mario gains a new ability and the pair continues with their quest.

Chapter 1: Conquering the Valley of Vikings

The second shard lies in Victory Ruins, located in Norse Valley and the duo must travel down Norse Canal to get there. As Mario and Goombrain make their way through the valley, they are dragged into conflict with a Bilgesnipe, ancient beasts in Norse mythology, that is engaged in combat with the locals. Mario assists in defeating the creature, after which Ragnashock, King of the Neo-Vikings, invites them to a feast at his fort. At the banquet hall, Ragnashock explains that the Neo-Vikings were found in honor of Ragnashock's great-great grandfather, who was an excellent blacksmith that forged weapons with materials given to him by Odin, Ruler of Asgard, himself and greatly benefited the Vikings in war.

After the feast, Sledge, captain of the Hammer Bro. squad in the tribe, ruthlessly assualts his comrade, Beat for giving him a defective hammer during the earlier battle. Mario and Goombrain attempt to intervene but suddenly lose consciousness. Mario and Goombrain alongside Beat, wake up in the middle of an arena, being spectated by Ragnashock's troops. Ragnashock reveals himself as one Ecliow's Veinte Elites, twenty warriors that rank highest in Ecliow's army, and that he also drugged Mario and Goombrain's dinner. Ragnashock releases a Bilgesnipe equipped with armor, but with Beat's help they manage to defeat it. Afterwards, Ragnashock throws the three in a cell, while he and his men disembark for Victory Ruins to recover the Stamia Shard.

Beat explains that Sledge was once the leader of the valley but Ragnashock and his men showed up one day and defeated him, claiming the valley for their own. Since then, Ragnashock corrupted Sledge and savaged the land for his own personal means. Mario vows to restore peace to the valley once more. Beat overjoyed from Mario's heartfelt words joins the party. Using his powers, the trio manages to escape solitary confinement and set off towards Victory Ruins. Mario defeats Ragnashock's men, Sledge and Voltsagg, along with Ragnashock himself claiming the second Stamia Shard.

Interlude

Back at Ecliow's castle, the second in command, Illusia, informs her master that Ragnashock has been defeated by Mario. An enraged Ecliow orders Illusia to alert the others of Mario. Meanwhile, Peach, Luigi, Goombella, and the other Toads are imprisoned in the dungeon below. While attempting to escape, a faint voice calls for Peach and she notices a man chained to a wall in the back of her cell, The man introduces himself as Wergua and he tells Peach that he suffers from amnesia and is unsure of why he is confined, but cannot shake the feeling that he needs to stop Ecliow at any cost. Wergua manages to gain Peach's assistance with his task and uses a hidden path to escape. Peach maneuvers her way through the castle and into Ecliow's chambers where she is discovered and sent back to her cell, but manages to swipe the prisoners' keys from his room.

Chapter 2: A Match for the Ages

The third Stamia Shard is located in the Gameplex Gorge, where the fiercest athletes gather to claim the title of Sports Master. After making their way through Booting Trail, Mario and co. arrive at the gorge, where they immediately spot the Stamia Shard embedded into a trophy. They learn that every three years a competition know as the Masterthon is held, the competitor who earns the most points in all seven events (Cycling, Soccer, Tennis, Hockey, Swimming, Fencing, and Boxing) wins. Mario and co. try to register, but find that sign-ups are closed. Uncertain on what to do next, Beat and Goombrain suggest heading back to the university for the time being until they can come up with a solution. While on their way, they notice a nearby Broozer named Sam struggling with his training, Mario and co. approach Sam and he introduces himself to the trio. Sam comes from a family of Broozers, who were treated as outcasts in his hometown for being considerably weak. Sam is the weakest of the family, due to his cowardliness and spontaneous sweating.

Sam entered the games to improve his families' reputation and finally be accepted into their society, but realizes he is no match for the other contestants. Using this to their advantage, Mario and co. decide to personally train Sam and a overjoyed Sam joins Mario's party. Mario and co. use Sam's abilities to reach a secluded area they couldn't access earlier within the Booting Trails. After a good amount of training, Sam is ready for the Masterthon. Sam uses his sweatiness to his advantage making the other competitors slip and fall earning top points in every event and the nickname "Sweaty Sam". For the final event, Boxing, Sam faces off against another opponent named Vincent a.k.a "Vanish Vincent", who is currently tied with him. Sam begins fighting Vincent, however Vincent moves so fast that Sam cannot land a blow on him. Sam loses to Vincent, who claims the trophy for himself. Mario and co. detecting foul play decide to investigate Vincent's locker, where they find Dash Peppers stashed away in Vincent's gym bag. Vincent shows up and reveals himself to be one of Ecliow's Veinte Elites and secretly used Dash Peppers during the match to increase his speed.

Vincent ties up Mario and co. so that they won't reveal his secret to the judges and heads to the award ceremony to officially receive his trophy. Outraged by this revelation, Sam bursts out in anger, freeing himself and Mario and co. in the process and they hurry towards the ceremony. In the nick of time, Mario reveals Vincent's secret out loud to the public and is denied of his prize. Vincent decides to take the trophy by force, but Mario and co. step in to fight Vincent and emerge victorious. Sam is declared the official winner of the Masterthon; he claims that he couldn't have done it without Mario and his friends and permanently joins Mario on his adventure. Sam removes the Stamia Shard from the trophy and gives it to Mario claiming his third Stamia Shard.

Interlude

With another one of his prodigies defeated yet again, Ecliow sends Illusia to handle Mario and his friends, while he continues with his plans. Meanwhile, Peach uses the keys she grabbed earlier to set Wergua and the others free, however Peach realizes that they cannot escape without being captured. Wergua mentions seeing a teleportation machine somewhere in the castle long ago and suggests using that to escape. Luigi, Goombella, and Peach decide to split up to cover more ground and explore different sections of the castle to find the device. Luigi stumbles across a soldier's uniform and uses it to avoid detection, but he is forcibly dragged by another soldier into the nearby break room to chat. Luigi makes the best of the situation to learn the whereabouts of the teleportation machine and discovers three key cards are needed to operate it. As Luigi is about to head out, a solider picks Luigi out of the crowd to dance on stage. Unable to resist the soldiers cheering his name, Luigi dances for them. On his way out, Luigi notices one of the key cards in a soldier's pocket and swipes it from him.

Chapter 3: Trouble Amongst Tribes

The fourth Stamia Shard lies deep within the Cape Colony. Cape Colony is home to a small tribe of indian Toad warriors called the Spores who isolate themselves from modern technology, preferring to live in an amish-like civilization. In order to reach their next destination, Mario and his friends have to travel through Srthick Woods, a huge forest connecting to Cape Colony. Arriving at the woods, Mario and the gang notice the entire forest is covered in a thick layer of fog making it nearly impossible for them to safely navigate through the treacherous woods. However, they find a strange pendant at the enterance, that is capable of navigating them through the forest. Using this pendant, Mario and co. reach the colony and locate the Stamia Shard within the village chief's chambers, but one of the locals prevents them from taking it.

The person introduces himself as Apachawk, the youngest son of the village chief, and saids the Stamia Shard rightfully belongs to his father, Chief Toma. Mario asks for an audience with the chief, but Apachawk cannot since the chief has been missing for many months. Apachawk goes on explaining that one day a mysterious fog enwrapped the entire Srthick Woods, though the tribe felt little concern for this sudden development and assumed that the fog would eventually dissipate. However, weeks passed and the fog still remained, the village low on food and materials sent out many of their people to retrieve these resources, but they never returned. Eventually, the chief himself decided to search for his fellow Spores, intending on using his Ancestor of Bold: Eagle Wind (an ancient ability that is passed down through each generation, in which the chief harnesses the lament power of his spiritual animal) to rid the fog, but also suffered the same fate. With little food and no chief to lead them, the tribe fell into despair plagued with an unbearable famine.

Mario offers to find the chief and the rest of the Spores, in exchange for the Stamia Shard. Apachawk appericates Mario's concern, but refuses to let an outsider get involved in the villages' affairs, until he notices the pendant he is wearing. The pendant is an artifact worn by Chief Toma, its magical properties acts as a homing device to locate other Spores. Apachawk decides to accept Mario's offer and he and his partners set off to locate the other Spores. Mario successfully finds the six missing Spores and locates the village chief tied up deep within a cavern. Upon release, Toma is explained the current situation of his village by Mario and friends. Having located the source of the fog, Chief Toma joins the gang and uses his powers to expel bigger portions of the fog covering the area. Mario and the others find out the source of the fog coming from a being named Nati'v, Toma's eldest son. Toma explains that Nati'v was against the villages traditional methods and left the village at a young age to learn more from the outside world. Nati'v claims that in his travels he met a man named Ecliow and they both struck a deal.

Nati'v believed his village would thrive more if they integrated technology into their society, Ecliow promised Nati'v that if he gave him the Stamia Shard, then Ecliow would provide him with the sufficient tech Nati'v requested. Nati'v knew his father's powers would be troublesome for him, so he used his newfound powers to fill the entire woods with fog, in an attempt to capture Toma and prevent him from interfering. Nati'v heads to his village to claim what is rightfully his, with Mario and his friends hot in pursuit. Mario fights and defeats Nati'v at the colony, Apachawk keeps his promise and hands the Stamia Shard to Mario but before Mario can claim it, Illusia appears and begins mercilessly beating Nati'v for his incompetence. Mario battles Illusia, but is too injuried from his previous battle to fight her, however a now reformed Nati'v heals Mario and his friends, allowing Mario to win. Illusia swears revenge and leaves the scene, Nati'v promises to make amends for his wrongdoings by succeding his father as village chief. With the colony now under his protection, Toma permanently joins Mario and gives the fourth Stamia Shard to him.

Interlude

Ecliow is both disappointed and frustrated by Illusia's and Nati'v's performances. Illusia assures Ecliow that she allowed herself to be defeated, testing Mario and his friends' strength along with studying their attack patterns so that she can develop countermeasures for them. Illusia promises next them that she will not hold back and Ecliow overlooks this defeat and gives Illusia another chance. Meanwhile, Goombella wanders around Ecliow's castle in search of the teleportation device mentioned by Wergua. Goombella stumbles across the room with the machine, but learns she needs three card keys to activate it, just then Luigi enters the room and Goombella head bonks him out of fright. Luigi reveals he has one key card and knows the whereabouts of the other two, from eavesdropping on the other soldiers but he thought it would be easier to find them if he had a map of the castle and began searching each room for one. By pure luck, the two find a map in the same room there in, and use it to maneuver through the castle and find the second key in a locker room.

Chapter 4: Sharp Shooter Showdown

The fifth Stamia Shard is within Oaky Village, a small town inhabited by a race of wooden people known as Whittles. However, the group's destination is too far for them to travel on foot and the only method of reaching it, is by train. Mario and gang aboard a locomotive from the nearby station, while onboard Mario runs into an old acquaintance of his, a blue penguin who dabbles in detective work and owns a place known as the Poshley Sanctum, Pennington. Pennington has been asked to investigate a recent disappearance of Whittles from Oaky Village, which is coincidentally Mario and friends' destination. While they do some catching up, the train abruptly stops and Pennington decides to investigate with Mario and friends in tow. They discover the passengers being robbed by a group of bandits, Mario and co. manage to hold off the marauders and they forcibly retreat, but one of them drops a piece of paper, which Mario takes.

Arriving at Oaky Village, Pennington decides to go ahead of the others and investigate. Mario and co. search the village, hoping to gain the whereabouts of the Stamia Shard and in their forage, they discover an underground passageway within the mayor's house. Proceeding through the tunnel, Mario and co. trigger various traps placed throughout it, the group wonders who could've set the traps in such a remote location and during their pondering, they are ambushed and captured. Mario and co. wake up within an infirmary and are greeted by Pennington. Like Mario and co., Pennington stumbled across the secret passage and was promptly captured as well. He reveals that their captors were none other than the local Whittles that mysteriously disappeared. Pennington saids a small Whittle girl recognized Mario as the legendary hero of the Mushroom Kingdom and convinced the others to spare his and his friend's lives, as she knew they didn't pose a threat. 

After Pennington was set free, the Whittle explained that an archer named Quiver and his possy invaded the village and kidnapped a majority of the Whittles, imprisoning them within his hideout. Quiver intends to use the Whittles as target practice to improve his archery skills. The remaining Whittles fled underground, setting traps along the way, and established a refugee camp until they could formulate a plan to rescue their kind. Pennington leads the others to the Whittle girls' hut, where she introduces herself as Splint. Mario learns from Splint that the scratch paper he picked up earlier is actually a map to Quiver's hideout, Fort Deadeye. Unlike the other Whittles, Splint has been eager to rescue her people from captivity and begs Mario to take her with him, which he agrees. 

With Splint's abilites, the group reaches and infiltrates Fort Deadeye. Mario and co. have a rematch with the bandits they fought earlier, before encountering Quiver. Quiver reveals himself to be one of Ecliow's Veinte Elites and has obtained the Stamia Shard from Oaky Village. Quiver is swiftly defeated by Mario and co., they free the imprisoned Whittles and as gratitude allow Mario to keep the Stamia Shard, while Splint decides to continue with Mario on his journey. 

Interlude

Peach rendezvous with Goombella and Luigi, where she is informed by the two that Wergua possesses the final card needed to operate the telportation machine. Peach gains a uniform that Luigi swiped from the locker room earlier to disguise herself as one of Ecliow's men. Peach enters Ecliow's chambers and sees Illusia conversing with Ecliow, who has discovered that Peach and the others have escaped. With Ecliow now aware of these events, Peach hastily attempts to swipe the card from Ecliow's grasp but inadvertently ruins her disguise, exposing herself to both Ecliow and Illusia.

Chapter 5: Crouching Elite, Hidden Ninji

The sixth Stamia Shard is located within the captial of Dynaston, the ancestral birthplace of the Ninjis. The city is hidden to all outsiders, only a descendant of the first Ninji clan can reveal its location. Goombrain recalls that most Ninji's are trained from birth within Manabu Dojo to become shinobi's or kunoichi's and suggests traveling there to learn of Dynaston's whereabouts. Mario and co. wander through the Forest of Manabu, the only accessible path to Manabu Dojo, until they are intercepted by a convoy of soldiers. Nin, the second-in-command, states that Mario and co. are violating a decree set by Emperor Ji by trespassing on forbidden territory and will henceforth be placed under arrest. Mario and co. attempt to negotiate, but instead are forcibly dragged into a battle with Nin and his men. Mario and co. succeed in defeating Nin, but in a last-ditch attempt he uses his ninjutsu to subdue Mario and the others. 

Suddenly, a group of Ninjis appear and rescues Mario and co. from Nin's clutches, leaving them befuzzled. Mario and co. are escorted to Manabu Dojo, only to find the place almost completely demolished. Once inside, the Ninjis bring Mario and co. to meet with their leader, Shurki. However, Shurki refuses to deal with the situation and lets the other Ninjis decide what to do with them. The Ninjis explain that Shurki is the daugther of the once former king of Dynaston. At a young age, Shurki was trained at Manabu Dojo to prepare for the day in which she would take the throne. One day, a man named Ji arrived 

Playable Characters

Mario

Luigi

Peach

Goombella

Partners

Note: The order of the Partners listed are not the actual order of who joins Mario when.

• Goombrain - Goomba
• Beat - Hammer Bro
• Sam - Broozer
• Harry - Magikoopa
• Taz - Monty Mole
• Uni - Wiggler
• Chief Toma - Toad
• Ba-Beard - Bob-omb
• Shurki - Ninji 
• Hosh - Luma
• Splint - Whittle

Gameplay

The gameplay retains the original structure from the first two Paper Mario games including the turn based battling system, special attacks, and audience members. Mario can use action commands during battles to block or reflect attacks, however there are certain battles where Mario can dodge enemy fire by jumping or dodging so long as the buttons on screen are pressed on cue. Mario's partners also have their own FP (Flower Points) bar that increases by upgrading the party. To upgrade Mario's party, he has to collect a certain number of Power Stars that he might come across during his journey, his partners can be upgraded up to three times.

Mario's gang as in its predecessors use their abilities to help out Mario, but some of the partners abilites are used differently. For example, Taz can dig underground to hit hidden switches, but the player must guide him by using the Nintendo Switch gamepad to maneuver him to his goal. Coins also serve the same function as they can be used to purchase items and badges along with Star Pieces. Collecting a certain amount of Star Pieces can unlock new badges which serve the same function as before, but now there are over 300 badges that can be purchased and unlike previous games where they were all scattered throughout the world, all of them can be found at a place known as the Grand Badge Emporium.

Finally, the leveling up system retains its trend from the previous games gaining 100 Star Points to level up either your HP (Health Points), FP, or BP (Badge Points).

Special Moves

Move	Description
Delightful Restore (1 SP)	Allows the party to regain a small portion of HP and FP.
Thunder Tidal (2 SP)	Summons a giant cloud that strikes all enemies with a barrage of lightning bolts.
Uplift (2 SP)	Temporarily boosts the party's attack power.
Bluster Back (3 SP)	Repels all enemy attack back at the foe at half of that damage.
Lock-On (2 SP)	Makes it 100% certain that all of the party's attacks hit the opponent, regardless of environment conditions, and spiked or invisible enemies.
Double Trouble (4 SP)	Allows Mario and his partner to have two turns instead of one, during a normal turn.
Placement Pound (5 SP)	Places a high bounty on all opponents, causing a swarm of people to rush in and flatten the enemies.
Freeze Flare (6 SP)	Freezes all enemies for three turns.
Lucky Dust (4 SP)	Summons a magical dust that creates some sort of environmental hazard or status condition, deadly to the current opponent(s).
Meteor Shower (10 SP)	Strikes all opponents from above with a shower of meteors.
Fear Glaze (5 SP)	Creates two eerie and frightening eyes that can cause some opponents to flee. (Does not work on bosses.)
Delightful Recover (10 SP)	Allows the party to regain a huge portion of HP and FP.
Blossom Blur (9 SP)	Envelops the enemy in a huge cyclone of blossom petals, causing all their attacks to miss for three turns.
Powder Poison (10 SP)	Drops a huge amount of gunpowder on foes, which inhaled will gradually poison the enemies throughout the battle.
Flame Guard (11 SP)	Summons a guardian deity with 10 HP to withstand all incoming attacks until it runs out of health.
Bam Ram (12 SP)	Slams all enemies with a powerful attack. Can bring all flying opponents to the ground.
Upgrade (17 SP)	Temporarily gives Mario and his partner plus 5 HP and FP points.
Amazing Armor (13 SP)	Boosts Mario and his partner's defense by 4.
Cash Cow (2 SP)	Doubles all coins earned at the end of the battle.
Power House (18 SP)	Mario fires a gigantic laser at all enemies. (Causes 20 damage to all foes.)