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Description
  Another step closer to redoing all my Paper Mario: Double Darkness chapters! This one took forever, because I recently finally started driving lessons and I went to a programming camp for a week. And all those stupid, tiny details weren't exactly time-savers either. But whatever.
  I mentioned on the Chapter 4 title card that, back when I was doing those Chapter Focus things, it was the first one that I actually wrote. Well, Chapter 6 was the second. (I never got to the third; just before that point, I went on a big sabbatical so I could actually learn to draw.) Oddly, whereas writing out the plot for Chapter 4 made it into one of my personal favorites, for this one it just made me bored, and as a result I haven't changed it a whole lot since then. In fact, it actually plays practically the same; 99% of what's different is the plot, character development, and visual changes. I especially like how dramatically improved Laser Boo is as a character now (he doesn't really seem so much so yet, but you'll be seeing more of him in Chapter 8). I think the virtual lack of gameplay revision is fine, though, because the gameplay elements were already pretty polished.
    Below is the description from Chapter 6. WARNING: Really, really, absurdly high levels of reading ahead.

Characters (from left to right):
Specteira: The ruler of the Nox Empire. After being dumped into the present by the portal in the Shadow Spire, she joins Mario’s quest to recover all of the portal pieces in hopes of making it home and saving her empire from Darkblot. She acts as the game’s tattle, and can cast spells in battle which work more or less like special moves.
Mario: If you don’t know who this guy is already, I recommend you go and play some Paper Mario games before you continue reading this.
Boolean: A scrapped Roboo 2.0 prototype with advanced AI and independent thinking capabilities, which is exactly the reason no more were ever made. Instead, he’s now used for all the extra-thankless jobs, so gladly becomes Mario’s seventh partner in hopes of escaping. He can turn Mario intangible, allowing him to avoid hazards and slip through some walls.
Digit: The artificial-intelligence system in charge of the machines in Koop Labs. Makes Boolean look like a slacker. It’s smart enough to feign loyalty to Dr. Kook when he or his cronies are around, but really it loathes him.
Laser Boo: No one knows exactly who this shady Boo is or where he came from. The first anyone heard of him was when he was found injured near Bowser’s Castle by Dr. Kook, and after being patched up with robot parts, he became his personal bodyguard and is now entirely loyal to him and Bowser.
Dr. Kook: The manager of Koop Labs, one of Bowser’s highest-ranking officers, and the boss of Chapter 6. He’s brilliant in respect to engineering and programming, but his leadership skills are rather lacking. His signature invention is his fearsome Meckoopa battle suit.

--CHAPTER 5 / CHAPTER 6 TRANSITION--
    Previously, in Chapter 5, Mario and friends went to the ice-covered Whiteout Tundra, rediscovered Cryo Cliff, defended Brrr Keep from Commander Chill and his army of Cold Bones, and took back the sixth Portal Piece from him. Ninjen and Sickle thank the party for helping them in the battle and tell them to visit again soon. Meanwhile, the Duke of Brrr is clearly not very happy that Crystal has chosen to keep travelling with Mario, and while he resists calling for the guards this time, Mario decides he had better leave while he can.
    With two-thirds of the Portal Pieces safely returned to the Shadow Spire now, Mario is getting closer to the end of his quest. However, he may also be running out of time. Back in the Mt. Mushroom Observatory, Infinnah T. reveals her theory on what’s really going on with the wild magic in the Mushroom Frontier. Fort Flood being taken over by the Hydrohydra, the Sunblast Arena’s magic not working right, the sudden thawing in Whiteout Tundra, it all follows a simple theme: it’s going back to what it would be like without the Nox Empire. Darkblot’s plan is to take over the Nox in the past, and as he gets closer to reaching that goal, the present is shifting accordingly.
    It’s clear now that they have no time to lose. Luckily, with the most recently found Portal Piece, the Wire Spines, the Celestial Cannon is able to locate their next destination extra-fast- way faster than normal, in fact. In the valley directly north of Mt. Mushroom, to the right of a large castle, a small building appears, decorated with antennae and smoking chimneys. The billboard on top displays the word KOOP. Finally, the Portal Piece icon appears right near the entrance.
    Infinnah T. identifies the building as Koop Labs. It was originally the site of the Nox’s factories, and has already seen countless technological advancements. These days, the same area is controlled by Bowser. Koop Labs is the research complex where the Koopa King’s scientists work to find newer and better ways to kidnap the princess and defeat Mario. As such, it goes without saying that Mario is less than welcome. Hopefully, though, that won’t be a problem, because the Portal Piece appears easy to get to. He just needs to sneak in, grab it, and leave before he catches the attention of the scientists, or worse, Bowser.
    The gate leading to Bowser’s region of the Mushroom Frontier, although reachable since the beginning of the game, is heavily guarded by Koopatrols who refuse to let Mario through without identification to prove that he’s allowed. There is no way for him to procure one legitimately. Instead, he has to return to the back alleys of Blastburg and order a Fake ID from the Bob-omb black market for 50 coins. (Luckily, they fail to catch on that he was the one who ruined their plan in Chapter 4.) Once he has the counterfeit card, he can show it to the gate guards and start on his way to Koop Labs.

--CHAPTER 6--
    Mario has somewhat of a walk before he can get to Koop Labs. Bowser Road (World 6-1) is a pretty generic example of Bowser’s style of decoration: pools of lava, dead trees, stone buildings and walls. The only really noteworthy part is when they come across a huge, rusted-over metal platform. Specteira recognizes it as the place where the Nox put together an early prototype of a spaceship, and wonders what happened to it.
    The party follows Bowser Road to Koop Labs Entrance (World 6-2). The front door is rigged with an alarm system that calls in a 100-Goomba security force, but Mario manages to stomp them all. After fighting his way into the laboratory, he receives a call from Infinnah T. informing him that the Portal Piece is right in the next room! With any luck, they’ll be able to make up some much-needed time collecting the Portal Pieces here. The door in question has a lock, and the door to the right is barred, so for now Mario heads left. This 3-story level is mostly vertical, and enemies include Hyper Koopas, Hyper Paratroopas, Smoke Puffs, and a new enemy called a Roboo which is, as the name suggests, a robotic Boo.
    Eventually, Mario finds the key he needs to enter the room with the Portal Piece, and prepares to take on whatever monster is guarding it. What he isn’t prepared to find is a large and evidently harmless machine doing absolutely nothing of note. Mario reports back to Infinnah T, and they figure out that the machine is giving off radiation that’s similar to Nox magic, so the Celestial Cannon mistakenly identified it as a match.
    Now that they know this spot has nothing, they might as well cross it off their map. Before Mario can press the power switch, though, the screen flashes on and they find themselves facing the angry AI system of Koop Labs. The computer, who calls itself “Digit”, demands to know why the party tried to shut it off. They reply that they didn’t know, since they don’t actually work there.
    For a second, it considers reporting their intrusion to management, but decides it would rather take the opportunity to make Dr. Kook look bad. It explains that Dr. Kook, the CEO of Koop Labs, works the employees like crazy with no regard for how they feel. And being a computer, it’s had it especially hard. So the party can enjoy its protection.
    When they ask about the possibility of a Portal Piece being around, it says that Dr. Kook found a yellow scrap of paper that fits the description, but even it doesn’t know where it’s being kept. Wherever it is, though, their scanner won’t be able to find it, because everything in Koop Labs gives off the same type of radiation it does, and nothing short of turning the entire place off will get rid of it. To its surprise, Mario seems willing to accept that challenge. Digit is completely against the plan, since “everything” includes itself, but after Mario agrees to let it stay on, it reluctantly says they could try temporarily cutting the power from the Circuit Dome on the top floor. Before he leaves, Digit warns Mario to be careful. It may be prone to treachery, but it can’t guarantee the same for the other workers.
    Mario thanks the AI system and heads out the barred door on the right (which Digit unlocks for them) to the next section of the laboratory, the Koop Labs Roboo Factory (World 6-3). This is where the Roboo drones are produced, so not only will Mario have to fight tons of them, but he’ll have to negotiate conveyor belts, giant rotating gear platforms, and more. In fact, a few parts are so dangerous that he can’t even get through yet. Because of this, he soon finds himself trapped in one of the machines.
    A Roboo soon comes along to see why the mechanism is jammed. This one looks different from the others, and judging by how it grumbles about its job, it’s self-aware. The Roboo introduces himself (in the sense that it’s programmed with a guy’s voice) as Boolean, once the possible future of robotics, now just another corporate drone. Apparently, Dr. Kook created him as a Roboo 2.0 model, but abandoned the project because he preferred the mindless obedience of 1.0s. Like Digit, Boolean would love to take his tyrannical boss down a peg, so once Mario’s explained what he’s really up to he joins his party on the spot. Now Mario can turn intangible to get out of the machine, as well as to the end of the level.
    The Star Sphere unlocks another path to 6-1, but Mario has no business there. Instead, he takes Boolean back to the previous level and phases to the Koop Labs Potion Brewery (World 6-4). This formula-mixing facility contains countless vats of various chemicals. The basic red, yellow, and blue solutions are all dangerous, but he can mix them to create others with various effects. For example, at one point Mario reaches a basin of red liquid. In order to get across, he has to pump some blue chemical into it. The resulting mixture is susceptible to cold, so Mario can now use Crystal’s field ability to freeze it and walk across.
    From there, Mario and friends reach the Koop Labs Circuit Dome (World 6-5), where all the electricity in the research center comes from. To make it to the central generator to turn it off, Mario learns a new technique called the Hammer Spin, which allows him to smash stone blocks and undo screws and turn dials that he’s standing on. This also allows Mario to access a hidden shop run by disloyal employees in case he wants to restock on items.
    Once Mario has reached the generator and hit the power switch with his hammer, the whole laboratory goes dark. A few seconds later, Infinnah T. calls with the results of her scan: The Portal Piece isn’t in Koop Labs at all! Dr. Kook has apparently stowed it on a space station flying directly above the place. There’s a rocket pad on the far right end of Koop Labs, so the party should head there. When she updates their world map, Specteira notices that the space station looks like the Nox craft that was missing from its spot in Bowser Road. Could Dr. Kook have repaired it?
    Anyway, Mario has the information he needed, so he restores the power and leaves. Mario’s next step is back to 6-3. He finds a stone block he couldn’t break on his first trip through and Hammer Spins it, opening a path to the Koop Labs Laser Chamber (World 6-6). The theme of the penultimate division of Koop Labs is laser cannons which can both hurt you, and be used in mirror puzzles. Mario will also have to deal with another threat here: Dr. Kook’s right-hand minion, Laser Boo. Although he never actually fights Mario, Laser Boo will do just about everything else he can to stop him. In one room, he bolts down the mirrors so Mario can’t rotate them to redirect the nearby laser to its target. In another, he summons hordes of Roboos to guard the door. And so on.
    Fortunately, Mario overcomes everything the Laser Boo throws at him and gets to the Koop Labs Rocket Pad (World 6-7). The level begins with another run-in with Kammy Koopa, who’s extra-determined to take him down now that Mario’s trespassing right on Bowser’s property. Later obstacles include narrow catwalks, more electrified patches, and fights against Roboos, KooPHDs, Li’l Sparkies, and more. Once Mario has turned on all the systems to launch the rocket and sets off, he begins a side-scrolling shooter minigame where he must clear meteorites and Koopa astronauts out of his way.
    Mario docks his rocket at the Koop Labs Space Base (World 6-8), where Dr. Kook is waiting for them with the Portal Piece. Seeing the station in person is enough for Specteira to confirm that it was originally a Nox craft. As soon as Mario and company arrive, they encounter Laser Boo again. He’s surprised that they’ve made it this far, and doesn’t take any chances this time. He pulls the alarm, alerting the entire station to Mario’s presence, and retreats. Now Mario will have to deal with all kinds of security measures on his way through the level, such as doors that close when he gets near and motion sensors that summon enemies when triggered. Since he’s in space, Mario can jump higher, making platforming feel much different.
    Mario finally meets Dr. Kook in the control room at the top of the station. The evil scientist turns to his computer (which displays an icon that looks like Digit but with a different color scheme) and orders it to seal the doors. He then turns back to Mario and introduces them to his latest creation: Digit OS V2.0. He admits he should have been more careful about his free-thinking computer program, especially after making the same mistake with Boolean. So, he’s going to delete the original and replace it with this new, extra-obedient version.
    First, though, he’ll have to get Mario out of the way. He has the computer open up a hatch on the floor revealing a huge Koopa robot! Dr. Kook steps into the driver’s seat, fires it up, and prepares to demonstrate exactly what he and everyone in Koop Labs aim to discover: How to defeat Mario.
MECKOOPA
Tattle Entry #20
That’s Meckoopa! It’s a giant, Koopa-shaped robot designed and operated by Dr. Kook. Maximum HP is 80, Attack is 7, and Defense is 2. It can also boost its Attack or Defense, on top of its already impressive repertoire of offensive moves. The trick to defeating it? Go after Dr. Kook. He’s hiding in the cockpit, sure, but if you manage to knock him out, he won’t be able to drive Meckoopa for a few turns. The cockpit has an HP of 10 and a Defense of 3, so you’ll just need to use some strong attacks. Meckoopa may be tough, but we can take it. Just imagine the look on Dr. Kook’s face when you destroy it!
    Even after Mario has reduced his robot to a pile of scrap, Dr. Kook is unwilling to be defeated. He climbs into the nearby escape pod, orders the computer to activate the self-destruct sequence, and flees. With no way out, for a second it looks like Mario is doomed. Then, out of nowhere, the computer crashes because of some stupid random error code and the self-destruct is aborted.
    With Digit OS 2.0 suddenly not working, the computer automatically loads up the best available alternative: Digit OS 1.0. Mario’s AI friend congratulates him on putting Dr. Kook in his place and saving it from being deleted. It then removes the bars over the door behind him and explains that the Portal Piece should be just ahead. A couple screens later, he arrives at the very top of the space station, where he finds it inside a glass bubble hooked up to a bunch of devices. He does a Hammer Spin to break the bubble and...
    ***YOU FOUND A PORTAL PIECE!***

--LUIGI INTERLUDE--
    After crossing the Mushroom Kingdom on his way to save the princess, Luigi is now almost to Bowser’s Castle. His final stop is the Akoopaten Ruins, an Egypt-themed desert world full of old sandstone structures. “Ruins” is sort of a misnomer, because it’s still inhabited by some Koopas loyal to Bowser. If Luigi wants to get through without fighting everyone, he has to pretend to be one of them.
    Just acting is enough to get in, but it soon becomes obvious that he needs to get his hands on a Bowser Badge if he hopes to enter the castle. The highest-ranking badge in the town belongs to Admiral Ankh, a no-nonsense Koopatrol living in one of the towers. Luigi sneaks in through a window and fights through the guards up to his bedroom, where he barges right in on him. The angry commander demands an explanation for the break-in, to which Luigi offers a sequence of feeble but hilarious excuses. Luckily, Luigi’s crazy stories eventually put Ankh to sleep, at which point Luigi can simply take his badge.
    Meanwhile at Bowser’s Castle, Kammy Koopa returns from her unsuccessful fight with Mario. Bowser Jr. is waiting for her, and they quickly start trash-talking each other about how they’re Bowser’s favorite (which is how this whole argument got started), and how they’re going to prove it by defeating Mario first. What they don’t realize is that Bowser’s spying on them! He reveals himself, denounces them for unnecessarily provoking Mario, and exclaims that NEITHER of them is his favorite.
    Just before he can hand out punishments, a Shy Guy arrives and informs Bowser that Mario has invaded, and done quite a bit of damage to, Koop Labs. Bowser is angry, but he manages to shake it off and not worry about Mario’s business. But then, the Shy Guy reports they have reason to believe that Mario will soon attack his Mushroom Frontier fortress as well! Once he has whispered the situation to Bowser, he suddenly announces a change of plans: They have to defend his other castle. Bowser grabs Peach, climbs into the nearest clown car, stops for a second to tell Bowser Jr. and Kammy that they're both grounded, and sets off toward the Mushroom Frontier...

Description
  Another step closer to redoing all my Paper Mario: Double Darkness chapters! This one took forever, because I recently finally started driving lessons and I went to a programming camp for a week. And all those stupid, tiny details weren't exactly time-savers either. But whatever.
  I mentioned on the Chapter 4 title card that, back when I was doing those Chapter Focus things, it was the first one that I actually wrote. Well, Chapter 6 was the second. (I never got to the third; just before that point, I went on a big sabbatical so I could actually learn to draw.) Oddly, whereas writing out the plot for Chapter 4 made it into one of my personal favorites, for this one it just made me bored, and as a result I haven't changed it a whole lot since then. In fact, it actually plays practically the same; 99% of what's different is the plot, character development, and visual changes. I especially like how dramatically improved Laser Boo is as a character now (he doesn't really seem so much so yet, but you'll be seeing more of him in Chapter 8). I think the virtual lack of gameplay revision is fine, though, because the gameplay elements were already pretty polished.
    Below is the description from Chapter 6. WARNING: Really, really, absurdly high levels of reading ahead.

Characters (from left to right):
Specteira: The ruler of the Nox Empire. After being dumped into the present by the portal in the Shadow Spire, she joins Mario’s quest to recover all of the portal pieces in hopes of making it home and saving her empire from Darkblot. She acts as the game’s tattle, and can cast spells in battle which work more or less like special moves.
Mario: If you don’t know who this guy is already, I recommend you go and play some Paper Mario games before you continue reading this.
Boolean: A scrapped Roboo 2.0 prototype with advanced AI and independent thinking capabilities, which is exactly the reason no more were ever made. Instead, he’s now used for all the extra-thankless jobs, so gladly becomes Mario’s seventh partner in hopes of escaping. He can turn Mario intangible, allowing him to avoid hazards and slip through some walls.
Digit: The artificial-intelligence system in charge of the machines in Koop Labs. Makes Boolean look like a slacker. It’s smart enough to feign loyalty to Dr. Kook when he or his cronies are around, but really it loathes him.
Laser Boo: No one knows exactly who this shady Boo is or where he came from. The first anyone heard of him was when he was found injured near Bowser’s Castle by Dr. Kook, and after being patched up with robot parts, he became his personal bodyguard and is now entirely loyal to him and Bowser.
Dr. Kook: The manager of Koop Labs, one of Bowser’s highest-ranking officers, and the boss of Chapter 6. He’s brilliant in respect to engineering and programming, but his leadership skills are rather lacking. His signature invention is his fearsome Meckoopa battle suit.

--CHAPTER 5 / CHAPTER 6 TRANSITION--
    Previously, in Chapter 5, Mario and friends went to the ice-covered Whiteout Tundra, rediscovered Cryo Cliff, defended Brrr Keep from Commander Chill and his army of Cold Bones, and took back the sixth Portal Piece from him. Ninjen and Sickle thank the party for helping them in the battle and tell them to visit again soon. Meanwhile, the Duke of Brrr is clearly not very happy that Crystal has chosen to keep travelling with Mario, and while he resists calling for the guards this time, Mario decides he had better leave while he can.
    With two-thirds of the Portal Pieces safely returned to the Shadow Spire now, Mario is getting closer to the end of his quest. However, he may also be running out of time. Back in the Mt. Mushroom Observatory, Infinnah T. reveals her theory on what’s really going on with the wild magic in the Mushroom Frontier. Fort Flood being taken over by the Hydrohydra, the Sunblast Arena’s magic not working right, the sudden thawing in Whiteout Tundra, it all follows a simple theme: it’s going back to what it would be like without the Nox Empire. Darkblot’s plan is to take over the Nox in the past, and as he gets closer to reaching that goal, the present is shifting accordingly.
    It’s clear now that they have no time to lose. Luckily, with the most recently found Portal Piece, the Wire Spines, the Celestial Cannon is able to locate their next destination extra-fast- way faster than normal, in fact. In the valley directly north of Mt. Mushroom, to the right of a large castle, a small building appears, decorated with antennae and smoking chimneys. The billboard on top displays the word KOOP. Finally, the Portal Piece icon appears right near the entrance.
    Infinnah T. identifies the building as Koop Labs. It was originally the site of the Nox’s factories, and has already seen countless technological advancements. These days, the same area is controlled by Bowser. Koop Labs is the research complex where the Koopa King’s scientists work to find newer and better ways to kidnap the princess and defeat Mario. As such, it goes without saying that Mario is less than welcome. Hopefully, though, that won’t be a problem, because the Portal Piece appears easy to get to. He just needs to sneak in, grab it, and leave before he catches the attention of the scientists, or worse, Bowser.
    The gate leading to Bowser’s region of the Mushroom Frontier, although reachable since the beginning of the game, is heavily guarded by Koopatrols who refuse to let Mario through without identification to prove that he’s allowed. There is no way for him to procure one legitimately. Instead, he has to return to the back alleys of Blastburg and order a Fake ID from the Bob-omb black market for 50 coins. (Luckily, they fail to catch on that he was the one who ruined their plan in Chapter 4.) Once he has the counterfeit card, he can show it to the gate guards and start on his way to Koop Labs.

--CHAPTER 6--
    Mario has somewhat of a walk before he can get to Koop Labs. Bowser Road (World 6-1) is a pretty generic example of Bowser’s style of decoration: pools of lava, dead trees, stone buildings and walls. The only really noteworthy part is when they come across a huge, rusted-over metal platform. Specteira recognizes it as the place where the Nox put together an early prototype of a spaceship, and wonders what happened to it.
    The party follows Bowser Road to Koop Labs Entrance (World 6-2). The front door is rigged with an alarm system that calls in a 100-Goomba security force, but Mario manages to stomp them all. After fighting his way into the laboratory, he receives a call from Infinnah T. informing him that the Portal Piece is right in the next room! With any luck, they’ll be able to make up some much-needed time collecting the Portal Pieces here. The door in question has a lock, and the door to the right is barred, so for now Mario heads left. This 3-story level is mostly vertical, and enemies include Hyper Koopas, Hyper Paratroopas, Smoke Puffs, and a new enemy called a Roboo which is, as the name suggests, a robotic Boo.
    Eventually, Mario finds the key he needs to enter the room with the Portal Piece, and prepares to take on whatever monster is guarding it. What he isn’t prepared to find is a large and evidently harmless machine doing absolutely nothing of note. Mario reports back to Infinnah T, and they figure out that the machine is giving off radiation that’s similar to Nox magic, so the Celestial Cannon mistakenly identified it as a match.
    Now that they know this spot has nothing, they might as well cross it off their map. Before Mario can press the power switch, though, the screen flashes on and they find themselves facing the angry AI system of Koop Labs. The computer, who calls itself “Digit”, demands to know why the party tried to shut it off. They reply that they didn’t know, since they don’t actually work there.
    For a second, it considers reporting their intrusion to management, but decides it would rather take the opportunity to make Dr. Kook look bad. It explains that Dr. Kook, the CEO of Koop Labs, works the employees like crazy with no regard for how they feel. And being a computer, it’s had it especially hard. So the party can enjoy its protection.
    When they ask about the possibility of a Portal Piece being around, it says that Dr. Kook found a yellow scrap of paper that fits the description, but even it doesn’t know where it’s being kept. Wherever it is, though, their scanner won’t be able to find it, because everything in Koop Labs gives off the same type of radiation it does, and nothing short of turning the entire place off will get rid of it. To its surprise, Mario seems willing to accept that challenge. Digit is completely against the plan, since “everything” includes itself, but after Mario agrees to let it stay on, it reluctantly says they could try temporarily cutting the power from the Circuit Dome on the top floor. Before he leaves, Digit warns Mario to be careful. It may be prone to treachery, but it can’t guarantee the same for the other workers.
    Mario thanks the AI system and heads out the barred door on the right (which Digit unlocks for them) to the next section of the laboratory, the Koop Labs Roboo Factory (World 6-3). This is where the Roboo drones are produced, so not only will Mario have to fight tons of them, but he’ll have to negotiate conveyor belts, giant rotating gear platforms, and more. In fact, a few parts are so dangerous that he can’t even get through yet. Because of this, he soon finds himself trapped in one of the machines.
    A Roboo soon comes along to see why the mechanism is jammed. This one looks different from the others, and judging by how it grumbles about its job, it’s self-aware. The Roboo introduces himself (in the sense that it’s programmed with a guy’s voice) as Boolean, once the possible future of robotics, now just another corporate drone. Apparently, Dr. Kook created him as a Roboo 2.0 model, but abandoned the project because he preferred the mindless obedience of 1.0s. Like Digit, Boolean would love to take his tyrannical boss down a peg, so once Mario’s explained what he’s really up to he joins his party on the spot. Now Mario can turn intangible to get out of the machine, as well as to the end of the level.
    The Star Sphere unlocks another path to 6-1, but Mario has no business there. Instead, he takes Boolean back to the previous level and phases to the Koop Labs Potion Brewery (World 6-4). This formula-mixing facility contains countless vats of various chemicals. The basic red, yellow, and blue solutions are all dangerous, but he can mix them to create others with various effects. For example, at one point Mario reaches a basin of red liquid. In order to get across, he has to pump some blue chemical into it. The resulting mixture is susceptible to cold, so Mario can now use Crystal’s field ability to freeze it and walk across.
    From there, Mario and friends reach the Koop Labs Circuit Dome (World 6-5), where all the electricity in the research center comes from. To make it to the central generator to turn it off, Mario learns a new technique called the Hammer Spin, which allows him to smash stone blocks and undo screws and turn dials that he’s standing on. This also allows Mario to access a hidden shop run by disloyal employees in case he wants to restock on items.
    Once Mario has reached the generator and hit the power switch with his hammer, the whole laboratory goes dark. A few seconds later, Infinnah T. calls with the results of her scan: The Portal Piece isn’t in Koop Labs at all! Dr. Kook has apparently stowed it on a space station flying directly above the place. There’s a rocket pad on the far right end of Koop Labs, so the party should head there. When she updates their world map, Specteira notices that the space station looks like the Nox craft that was missing from its spot in Bowser Road. Could Dr. Kook have repaired it?
    Anyway, Mario has the information he needed, so he restores the power and leaves. Mario’s next step is back to 6-3. He finds a stone block he couldn’t break on his first trip through and Hammer Spins it, opening a path to the Koop Labs Laser Chamber (World 6-6). The theme of the penultimate division of Koop Labs is laser cannons which can both hurt you, and be used in mirror puzzles. Mario will also have to deal with another threat here: Dr. Kook’s right-hand minion, Laser Boo. Although he never actually fights Mario, Laser Boo will do just about everything else he can to stop him. In one room, he bolts down the mirrors so Mario can’t rotate them to redirect the nearby laser to its target. In another, he summons hordes of Roboos to guard the door. And so on.
    Fortunately, Mario overcomes everything the Laser Boo throws at him and gets to the Koop Labs Rocket Pad (World 6-7). The level begins with another run-in with Kammy Koopa, who’s extra-determined to take him down now that Mario’s trespassing right on Bowser’s property. Later obstacles include narrow catwalks, more electrified patches, and fights against Roboos, KooPHDs, Li’l Sparkies, and more. Once Mario has turned on all the systems to launch the rocket and sets off, he begins a side-scrolling shooter minigame where he must clear meteorites and Koopa astronauts out of his way.
    Mario docks his rocket at the Koop Labs Space Base (World 6-8), where Dr. Kook is waiting for them with the Portal Piece. Seeing the station in person is enough for Specteira to confirm that it was originally a Nox craft. As soon as Mario and company arrive, they encounter Laser Boo again. He’s surprised that they’ve made it this far, and doesn’t take any chances this time. He pulls the alarm, alerting the entire station to Mario’s presence, and retreats. Now Mario will have to deal with all kinds of security measures on his way through the level, such as doors that close when he gets near and motion sensors that summon enemies when triggered. Since he’s in space, Mario can jump higher, making platforming feel much different.
    Mario finally meets Dr. Kook in the control room at the top of the station. The evil scientist turns to his computer (which displays an icon that looks like Digit but with a different color scheme) and orders it to seal the doors. He then turns back to Mario and introduces them to his latest creation: Digit OS V2.0. He admits he should have been more careful about his free-thinking computer program, especially after making the same mistake with Boolean. So, he’s going to delete the original and replace it with this new, extra-obedient version.
    First, though, he’ll have to get Mario out of the way. He has the computer open up a hatch on the floor revealing a huge Koopa robot! Dr. Kook steps into the driver’s seat, fires it up, and prepares to demonstrate exactly what he and everyone in Koop Labs aim to discover: How to defeat Mario.
MECKOOPA
Tattle Entry #20
That’s Meckoopa! It’s a giant, Koopa-shaped robot designed and operated by Dr. Kook. Maximum HP is 80, Attack is 7, and Defense is 2. It can also boost its Attack or Defense, on top of its already impressive repertoire of offensive moves. The trick to defeating it? Go after Dr. Kook. He’s hiding in the cockpit, sure, but if you manage to knock him out, he won’t be able to drive Meckoopa for a few turns. The cockpit has an HP of 10 and a Defense of 3, so you’ll just need to use some strong attacks. Meckoopa may be tough, but we can take it. Just imagine the look on Dr. Kook’s face when you destroy it!
    Even after Mario has reduced his robot to a pile of scrap, Dr. Kook is unwilling to be defeated. He climbs into the nearby escape pod, orders the computer to activate the self-destruct sequence, and flees. With no way out, for a second it looks like Mario is doomed. Then, out of nowhere, the computer crashes because of some stupid random error code and the self-destruct is aborted.
    With Digit OS 2.0 suddenly not working, the computer automatically loads up the best available alternative: Digit OS 1.0. Mario’s AI friend congratulates him on putting Dr. Kook in his place and saving it from being deleted. It then removes the bars over the door behind him and explains that the Portal Piece should be just ahead. A couple screens later, he arrives at the very top of the space station, where he finds it inside a glass bubble hooked up to a bunch of devices. He does a Hammer Spin to break the bubble and...
    ***YOU FOUND A PORTAL PIECE!***

--LUIGI INTERLUDE--
    After crossing the Mushroom Kingdom on his way to save the princess, Luigi is now almost to Bowser’s Castle. His final stop is the Akoopaten Ruins, an Egypt-themed desert world full of old sandstone structures. “Ruins” is sort of a misnomer, because it’s still inhabited by some Koopas loyal to Bowser. If Luigi wants to get through without fighting everyone, he has to pretend to be one of them.
    Just acting is enough to get in, but it soon becomes obvious that he needs to get his hands on a Bowser Badge if he hopes to enter the castle. The highest-ranking badge in the town belongs to Admiral Ankh, a no-nonsense Koopatrol living in one of the towers. Luigi sneaks in through a window and fights through the guards up to his bedroom, where he barges right in on him. The angry commander demands an explanation for the break-in, to which Luigi offers a sequence of feeble but hilarious excuses. Luckily, Luigi’s crazy stories eventually put Ankh to sleep, at which point Luigi can simply take his badge.
    Meanwhile at Bowser’s Castle, Kammy Koopa returns from her unsuccessful fight with Mario. Bowser Jr. is waiting for her, and they quickly start trash-talking each other about how they’re Bowser’s favorite (which is how this whole argument got started), and how they’re going to prove it by defeating Mario first. What they don’t realize is that Bowser’s spying on them! He reveals himself, denounces them for unnecessarily provoking Mario, and exclaims that NEITHER of them is his favorite.
    Just before he can hand out punishments, a Shy Guy arrives and informs Bowser that Mario has invaded, and done quite a bit of damage to, Koop Labs. Bowser is angry, but he manages to shake it off and not worry about Mario’s business. But then, the Shy Guy reports they have reason to believe that Mario will soon attack his Mushroom Frontier fortress as well! Once he has whispered the situation to Bowser, he suddenly announces a change of plans: They have to defend his other castle. Bowser grabs Peach, climbs into the nearest clown car, stops for a second to tell Bowser Jr. and Kammy that they're both grounded, and sets off toward the Mushroom Frontier...