Thesis of a cruel queen, Talk about the Shadow Queen here.

Okay then, let's talk about one of the scariest demons of all in Paper Mario 2: The Shadow Queen.

This post includes spoilers involving the game's storyline

First of all, we know that she's quite scary, yes? Indeed she is. In fact, according to Goombella, this demon that Grodus wants to revive, which is sleeping in a casket deep inside the Dark Palace (a.k.a. the Palace of Shadow in English. I like using its Japanese name a lot, since it's such a cool name.), which is behind the Thousand-Year Door which everyone thinks is holding a legendary treasure behind it, is the very same demon that destroyed an ancient town 1,000 years ago before it became the town known as Rogueport. The Queen was defeated and sealed away by the legendary heroes that Grifty tells you about while he's telling the tales of 1,000 years ago when these heroes battled against evil and hid the Crystal Stars all over the country only to be sealed inside the black chests that, once you open them with Black Keys, enable you to perform some nifty paper tricks. The demons inside the black chests were really the heroes from 1,000 years ago.

Before the battle, the Queen posesses Peach, reduces Grodus to the remains of his head, which you'll later see inside Poshley Sanctum with Lord Crump and other X-Nauts during the e-mail Goombella sends you after you beat the game, and finally reveals that Beldam was her servant, as was Marilyn. And after she speaks with Beldam, she asks you who you are and if you want to be her servant. You would definitely want to answer "no", because if you agreed, a little story would tell of how the world would be cast into darkness forever, and as for Mario and friends, your game would be over. After you answered "no", the Queen would decide that you'd pay dearly for that, and once the battle began, she would say that that foolishness would have to be punished, and the foolishness she mentioned was definitely you. As you can see, the Shadow Queen uses lightning attacks, boosts her stats, and can even pull you into the shadows for three successive strikes, plus, she has massive HP reserves just like Bonetail does. Sure, Bonetail has better stats than she does, but from what I think, the Queen must be much harder to beat than Bonetail because Bonetail doesn't have any charging up techniques but the Queen does. Once you got her down to half her HP, she'd change into a more frightening form and be invulnerable. She'd absorb your HP with her hands and/or conjure up a bevy of appendages that would attack you at once, plus she'd attack with various breath attacks and a charged-up dark lightning attack. After a while the battle would end and you'd trigger a cut scene where everyone would tell you not to give up and never to give in, and Peach would restore your energy for you. Afterward, when you battled the Queen again, you would finally be able to hurt her again.

When you are able to hurt her again, it's definitely a good idea to wear the Feeling Fine & Feeling Fine P badges because they protect you from being infected by a random status affect she throws at you. Also, Vivian wouldn't be such a bad idea, because her Fiery Jinx could take out the Queen's hands and damage her at the same time, plus, her Veil would also protect you from her charged-up dark lightning attack. Koops' Shell Slam, Yoshi's Stampede, and Bobbery's Bob-ombast would also do fine against the Queen's hands. Since the Queen has huge HP reserves, plenty of strong attacks, and just one point of her defense power, she must be a doozy!

Anyway, after you beat her, she disappears after a few words from her, and you get only one Star Point. Afterwards, after you leave the battle, she says,

"Impossible... Unthinkable... How could I... I cannot be beaten by lesser beings such as these... And I had just been reborn into this world... I cannot... I must not..."

Then, she starts screaming, "AAAAAIIYEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" really loudly. Beldam says, "My queen!" Then, Marilyn says, "Guhhhhh!" And finally, the Queen disappears, leaving Peach back to normal after the black smoke clears. And you get the ending. Duh.

From what I've seen, the Queen has got to be one of the coolest bosses in the game. Her music is pretty cool to me from what I've heard, plus I think that Peach going goth after she is posessed by the Queen is awesome! Plus, I think she has a cool defeat scene. What are your opinions on this evil monster? From what I think, she's definitely going to be one of my favorite bosses once I finally get to get to her. I can't wait!

This post has been edited by Paratroopa on Mar 8 2005, 12:32 PM

Umm.... could you make a spoiler warning, 'cos you kinda just gave away the whole game in a nutshell there.

Yah...you did...anyway I liked the evil Princess Peach a lot. I also agree with you that I think SQ is stronger then Bonetail. Although, I personally think the SQ looked weird. I also don't get why she looks different when you battle her. She should just look the same way all the time. Her music was okay. She not one of my favorite bosses.

Really? I thought her music when you battle her first form was pretty good.

Her part 1 music was good, but PM2 has better battle music... like DOOPLISS.

I think the SQ is just a regular evil character, so I don't like her much. But she's hard the first time you try and beat her.

Yeah, I think SQ is a lot stronger than Bonetail, although someone said Bonetail actually had better stats than SQ. Luckily, when I checked his list of attacks, there weren't any charge-up techniques nor charged up attacks. That's probably why I think SQ is much stronger because of her charged-up attacks.

If she attacks you twice in two turns for 7 damage each or once in two turns for 14 damage it's the same amount >_<. Party members are expendable anyway

Yeah, I agree that they're expendable. A strong all-attacking attack should be able to help you get rid of both of her hands and severely damage her at the same time if you have one.

The thing that makes SQ stronger then Bonetail is that she has hands. Bonetail doesn't have anything like that.

Yay for Bob-ombast and Fiery Jinx, then.

Yeah she's pretty cool. But what about Grodus, huh? ANYONE EVER THINK OF GRODUS!?!

Yeah, Grodus is the one who revives this demon before you fight her. Too bad she reduces him to the remains of his head in the end. Luckily, during the letter Goombella sends you in the ending that you get after you defeat her, you see Lord Crump, other X-Nauts, and Grodus talking to each other inside Poshley Sanctum.

I hope they turn bad again.

I don't think it's likely they'll turn bad again, since this is the only game they're in so far. But I hope they appear in another Paper Mario game to help Mario out if they make another.

Yeah, that would be cool.....or maybe they join Bowser or something?

No, they don't join Bowser in the end.

Anyway, back on topic. If you want, a good item to have if you're having trouble with the queen is the Strange Sack, which you'll find on Floor 50 of the Pit of 100 Trials, which you can access from the same room you access the Dark Palace in. It's an important item and lets you carry 20 items at a time, which is quite helpful against Bonetail and all of the bosses inside the palace, including SQ herself.