Chapter 2 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door focuses on the Punies and the Great Boggly Tree. While the forest outside the tree is straightforward, the tree itself is labyrinthine, filled with twists and turns.
You’ll have to rescue the Punies, who end up following you around, eager to help solve the mysteries of the tree.
The Great Boggly Tree can be a nightmare to navigate in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, so we have a walkthrough for you, including how to find all six Star Pieces and four Shine Sprites.
Paper Mario: TTYD Great Boggly Tree walkthrough
Once you’re inside the tree, take out the X-Nauts and listen to Punio’s conversation with his friends. The other Punies have been kidnapped, and you can’t really progress much through the tree without them, so your first task is going to be to free them.
Ignore the red door on the right and head into the warp pipe, which will take you up to the second floor. There’s an interesting structure with a star-shaped cutout in the back, but we’ll be back for that later. Keep its location in mind and head up the warp pipe to the third floor.
Smoosh the bushes in this room to find a Power Punch item. Head up another floor and then another floor to see the jailed Punies in a red and blue cage. Head to the left and you’ll run into Ms. Mouz in a treasure room, where you can grab some loot. Take out the X-Naut inside who drops a red key, collect the Ultra Mushroom, and then head back to the cages to free the elder Puni. Follow him to the first room of the tree.
The elder Puni will give you the Puni Orb and 11 Punies will start following you around, attracted to the orb. Note that Punies will not follow you if you jump off a ledge, but they can fall down ledges when scared or blown away by Flurrie. They will follow you up and down the pipes, though. If you lose any of your Punies, you can also go back to the first room and talk to the elder to get them back.
Head back up to the second floor and put the Puni Orb in the star-shaped cutout structure you passed earlier. A pipe will appear, leading you down the tree, so grab the Puni Orb out of the indent, and then head inside. Take out the X-Naut and interact with the console next to the red door to have permanent easy access to the first room of the tree.
Take the warp pipe down and smash the bushes to get a Thunder Rage item. There’s also a Shine Sprite on the right side of the room.
Head back up and place the Puni Orb into this indent to get all the Punies to line up. Then use Flurrie’s wind ability to blow them off the platform to the right and into the water below. Keep blowing with Flurrie and the Punies will get swept to the right side of the room. Jump across the platform to the right side and enter the pipe with your Punies.
Follow the path and your Punies will get scared by a Pider, which you’ll need to be wary of as you traverse the tree. Your Punies may run off the cliff, but don’t worry about them. Beat the Pider and then use Flurrie’s wind ability to move a boulder off of the plane platform. Glide down to the right and land on another plane platform and then glide down to the left to get a second Shine Sprite.
If any of your Punies were left upstairs when you flew down, there’s a pipe behind where you grabbed Shine Sprite that you can use to pick them up. Head back down and head into the warp pipe in the back right corner.
In this zigzag room, Piders will drop down, scaring your Punies off the platform, but don’t worry about it. Use Koops’ shell to hit an invisible block under the question mark block to get a Damage Dodge P badge.
Drop off the platform to get to a room with a save block in it. Hit the bushes nearby to get a Star Piece and use Flurrie’s wind ability on the left wall to get to a secret shop. Buy stuff (if you want), and then head back out.
With your Punies back, head back up to the zigzag platform, and then go to the room to the right. Let your Punies engage in battle with the Jabbies and head into the newly opened room to get the blue key from a chest. You know what to do: Head back up all the warp pipes until you hit the jail cell room and free the remaining Punies. You should have 101 of them now!
Make your way back to the zigzag room and follow the path with your 101 Punies to enter the left doorway. Again, your Punies will take on a massive hoard of Jabbies, but you’ll need to help them a bit. Use Flurrie’s wind ability to assure their victory against the Jabbies, and then enter the newly opened doorway.
Head down the pipe, ignoring the Puni structure. In the room with the big stump in the middle, walk behind the pipe to get a Star Piece. Go into the next room and use the Puni Orb on the 101 Puni structure — only for it to be a trap.
Luckily, you can wiggle out of the cage through the bars using ZR. Head into the warp pipe on the right and memorize the symbols you see down there: sun, moon, Puni, and star. Hit the black exclamation point block. Before you leave, grab a Star Piece from behind the pipe.
Backtrack to the zigzag room again and head into the room on the right where you fought the Jabbies. Keep heading right back into the room where you found the blue key. Hit the newly-appeared switches until the pillars in the back match the ones you saw before. (If you need a reminder, from left to right, it’s: sun, moon, Puni, and star.)
The pillars will vanish and you can head into a back room now to get the Super Boots, beefing up your jump damage and allowing you to Spin Jump!
Head back out and Spin Jump on the wooden platform to drop down to an area with lots of pillars. Fire Koops’ off to the left to nab a Charge badge. Jump to the back platforms to get a Shine Sprite. Head back up once you have your loot and go to the zigzag room again.
Go to the left room and use your new Spin Jump ability on the wooden panel on the floor to land on the big stump.
Ignore the pipe on top of the stump for now, and head to the right to reach the room that the Punies are trapped in. Spin Jump on the wooden platform inside the cage and put the Puni Orb in place on the structure. Use Flurrie’s breath to push the Punies into the hole to freedom. Head down to pick them up and then take them to the warp pipe on the giant stump.
Drop down the pipes repeatedly until you get to a room filled with water. Go down another floor, cross the platforms, and take the pipe back up. (Ignore the Shine Sprite for now.)
Use Koops to hit the blue switch, draining the water. In the now-drained area, there’s a Dizzy Dial behind the stairs and a Shrink Stomp badge in the treasure chest. Head back to the floor below and use the lily pads to reach the Shine Sprite.
Go into the pipe next to where the Shine Sprite was and use the 101 Puni device to open another hole in the ground. Drop in to get into a room with a save block. Head to the right room. Put the Puni Orb in the indent for the boss to emerge. You’ll have to escape the tree in a set amount of time, but don’t worry – it’s more than enough time to get out of the tree.
Head up the pipe on the right. Take out the X-Naut, but before you leave this room, smush down the bushes for a Star Piece. Use the console to open the red door, and head up the pipes until you get to the room where you had to push the Punies into the bubbles. Cross the platform and enter the red door for a boss fight against Magnus Von Grapple.
Magnus has 30 HP and isn’t really any different from the other enemies you’ve encountered. Its hands will detach, and you can one-shot its hands as long as you execute your attacks correctly.
Once you’re done with the boss, you’ll get the Crystal Star and you’ll be done with the Great Boggly Tree!
There are two Star Pieces you can backtrack in the tree if you want, now that you have the Spin Jump:
- Go back to the room where you pushed the Punies into the bubbles. Go up the pipe on the left and Spin Jump next to the pipe that’s going up to get a Star Piece.
- Go up to the room with the red and blue jail cells and Spin Jump in the blue cell for a Star Piece.
Here’s the two spots with Mario hammering them for visibility:
With that over, you’re done with the tree. You pretty much never have to come back here ever again, unless you want to take advantage of the secret shop.
For more Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door guides, see how to get Ms. Mowz and learn all Thwomp quiz answers. You can also see where to find all Star Pieces and all Shine Sprites.
