You’re walking through Rogueport, maybe just finished getting your butt kicked by Gus because you refused to pay his "toll," and you see it. A weird, yellow, glowing shard tucked behind a crate near the gallows. You pick it up. Paper Mario TTYD Star Pieces are basically the currency of the obsessed, yet so many players just let them rot in their inventory for sixty hours. Honestly, that’s a mistake. These things aren't just shiny collectibles meant to pad out your completion percentage; they are the literal engine behind some of the most broken combat builds in The Thousand-Year Door.
If you’re playing the Switch remake or the GameCube original, the logic remains identical. There are 100 of these things scattered across the world. Some are sitting in plain sight, mocking you. Others are buried under floor panels that require a well-timed Spin Jump to unearth. But the "why" matters way more than the "where."
Merlow is the Most Important NPC You’re Ignoring
Most people meet Merlow once, see his weird house in Rogueport Underground, and then forget he exists until the endgame. That is a massive tactical error. Merlow is the only guy who trades your Paper Mario TTYD Star Pieces for Badges. And we aren't talking about garbage like "Close Call." We are talking about the foundation of the "Danger Mario" meta and high-level resource management.
Think about the Power Plus badge. It costs 15 Star Pieces. That’s a steep price when you’re early in the game, but adding +1 to every jump and hammer strike fundamentally changes the math of every encounter. Most enemies in the early to mid-game have low defense. If you can bump your base damage from 4 to 5, you're suddenly one-shotting Clefts or Dark Puffs that would otherwise take two turns. Speedrunners and challenge runners don't hunt these pieces because they like the sound they make; they do it because Merlow holds the keys to the kingdom.
The Math of the Trade
Let’s get real about the economy here. You find about 20–30 pieces just by playing the game normally without a guide. That gets you a couple of decent badges. But if you actually hunt for them, you unlock things like Mega Rush P or Zap Tap.
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Zap Tap is a sleeper hit. It costs 10 pieces. It makes Mario electrified, meaning any enemy that touches him takes 1 damage and, more importantly, their attack is canceled if they are physical attackers like Fuzzies or Swoopers. It’s basically a "get out of jail free" card for some of the most annoying enemies in the Pit of 100 Trials.
Stop Looking Up; Start Looking Down
The biggest misconception about finding Paper Mario TTYD Star Pieces is that they are all hidden behind pillars. Nope. A huge chunk of the 100 total pieces are hidden under "flip panels." These are floorboards that pop up when you perform a Spin Jump (A then ZL on Switch, or A then R on GameCube) nearby.
I’ve seen players spend twenty minutes scouring the Great Tree in Boggly Woods, looking for a hidden path, when the piece was literally under their feet the whole time. If you hear a slight "thud" or see a floorboard vibrate when you land near it, jump again. Do it. It’s the most consistent way to fill your pockets.
Here is a quick reality check on where these things actually hide:
- Behind every single warp pipe in the underground.
- Hidden behind "scenery" in the foreground that looks like it's part of the UI.
- Under the stairs in the Excess Express (people always miss this one).
- In the houses of NPCs who definitely didn't give you permission to be there.
It’s kinda weird when you think about it. Mario just breaks into someone’s house in Poshley Heights, flips their floorboards, steals a cosmic shard, and leaves. Peak hero behavior.
Why the Remake Changed the Grind
If you're playing the 2024 Switch version, the hunt for Paper Mario TTYD Star Pieces feels different. The UI is cleaner, sure, but there’s a specific addition that makes the 100-piece hunt less of a chore: the Battle Master and the updated map. While they don't give you a GPS coordinate for every piece, the game is much more forgiving about tracking completion per area.
But don't get complacent. The "Trouble Center" side quests often reward these pieces, and if you skip the side content, you're essentially soft-locking yourself out of the best badges. Take the "Garbage Can" request in Rogueport. It seems tedious. It is tedious. But those rewards add up. You need 100 pieces to clear the shop, and you cannot get them all just by exploring the main path.
The Strategy for Your First 50 Pieces
Don't spend them one by one. It’s tempting to buy a "Money Money" badge or something flashy, but you should prioritize Power Plus or Heart Finder early on. Heart Finder (and Flower Finder) are underrated. They cost 6 pieces each. In the original GameCube version, resource management was tighter. In the remake, it’s still the difference between burning through your inventory of Ultra Shrooms or finishing a dungeon with a full health bar.
Honestly, the best way to handle this is to do a "Star Piece Sweep" after every Chapter. Once you get a new partner ability, go back to previous towns.
- Koops' Shell Toss: Grab pieces stuck in high or narrow gaps.
- Flurrie's Breath: Blow away "fake" walls that were hiding pieces in plain sight since the Prologue.
- Vivian's Veil: Occasionally useful for avoiding traps to reach a piece, though less common for the actual collection.
- Admiral Bobbery: He is the MVP. There are so many cracked walls in Rogueport and the surrounding areas that lead to "secret" rooms containing multiple pieces.
What Most People Miss in the Pit of 100 Trials
There’s a rumor that pieces are randomized in the Pit. They aren't. While most pieces are found in the overworld, the Pit of 100 Trials serves as a secondary check for your power level. If you're trying to find Paper Mario TTYD Star Pieces to buy Zap Tap specifically for the Pit, do it before you hit Floor 50. After that, the difficulty spikes, and you’ll wish you had spent those shards earlier.
There are no star pieces as "drops" from regular enemies. This is a common point of confusion. You can't farm them. Once you have the 100, that’s it. The economy is finite. That's why spending them on the wrong badge can actually set your build back by several hours of gameplay.
Actionable Steps for your Collection Run
If you want to maximize your efficiency, stop wandering aimlessly and follow this logic:
Backtrack with Intention. Do not go back to Petalburg until you have at least Flurrie. Every time you go back without a new ability, you’re wasting time. Wait until you have the Paper Tube or the Boat transformation to do a full sweep of the Rogueport sewers. There are at least five pieces down there that require those specific movements.
Check Behind the Scenery. Use the "X" (on Switch) or "C-Stick" (on GC) to pan the camera slightly where possible. TTYD is a 2.5D game; the developers loved hiding pieces literally behind the "wall" of the room where the camera can't normally see. Walk intoทุก corner. Hug every wall.
The Spin Jump is Your Best Friend. If a room feels empty, it’s probably not. Spin Jump in the center, the corners, and near doorways. If you see a hidden panel pop up, you’ll get a satisfying "ding" and a Star Piece.
Prioritize the Power Plus Badge. It costs 15 pieces. Get it as soon as humanly possible. It is the single most effective use of your Star Pieces in the entire game. It turns Mario from a plumber into a god.
Once you’ve traded your pieces to Merlow, they’re gone, but the badges stay with you through New Game Plus (if you're doing multiple runs) or just for the post-game superbosses. Don't be the player who finishes the game with 40 pieces in their pocket. Use them. That’s what they’re there for.