Paper Mario: The Origami King - Fighting The First Boss | Earth Vellumental Temple Walkthrough

Before we can cut the red streamer, Mario will have to unlock the power of the Earth Vellumental in Paper Mario: The Origami King. Your origami friend Olivia can harness different elements by embodying the spirits of vellumentals — and Earth is our first. You’ll need to find one of these in each of the five areas, and this is where you’ll also encounter your very first boss fight.

Boss fights work very differently that other battles in Paper Mario: The Origami King. Instead of being surrounded, Mario will have to navigate his way to the boss himself. Like any other battle, you’ll have to solve ring board puzzles to move Mario to the correct spot and dish out as much damage as possible.

There’s a lot more to the Earth Vellumental Temple. If you’re stuck or need some tips, we’ve got all the info you need to navigate the entire lair below.

Paper Mario: The Origami King – Table Of Contents:

Green Streamer Region: Pt. 21: Visit All 5 Hot Springs | Shangri-Spa | Pt. 22: Cutting The Green Streamer | Bowser’s Castle

Peach’s Castle: Pt. 23: Defeat Ollie | Final Dungeon

Earth Vellumental Temple Walkthrough

The temple doesn’t look like much, but there’s a few surprises waiting for you — like exhibits! Pay 10 coins at each red chest to hear more about the Earth Vellumental. But it’s all optional. You can run straight toward the end.

Hidden Toad: Make sure to smash the large rock near the final exhibit to reveal four folded bugs. Hit all three with your hammer because they’re Hidden Toads.

One of these three toads has an accessory shop. Don’t miss it! One of the bugs skitters away under some steps, so check all the stairs for the third hidden toad bug.

Hidden Toad: Use the red exhibit station near the light posts! All the lights will turn on except for one — jump into this light to reveal a hidden toad.
Hidden Toad: Under the scratch mark, smack the red exhibit to reveal a trapped toad. Pull him free!

At the end of the Earth Temple path, there’s a wall with the Earth Vellumental’s symbol. Smash it down with your hammer and continue forth! There’s a platforming challenge ahead. If it looks like there’s nowhere to go, ride the platform down to find one near the ground. In the next room, you’ll find an impressive turtle door, but there’s an ambush first.

How To Beat Koopa Troopas: Koopa Troopas appear in their shell or outside it! For this first battle, only use rotating moves to line all three groups into lines of 1×4.

In shell form, they’re much easier to beat — just jump on a shell to launch it forward, doing big damage to all the enemies in a row.

Battle Tip: For the second encounter with Koopa Troopas, remember that they are vulnerable to both types of damage, but shells need to be jumped on, not hammered! Line up the green shells to 1×4 lines, and regular Koopa Troopa can be lined up in 2×2 blocks to hit with your hammer.

Deeper in the temple, use confetti to fix the platforms. In the back, there’s another platform you can ride down to save a hidden toad.

Hidden Toad: Ride the platform down under the Earth Elemental turtle entrance. You’ll have to defeat the Swoops to save this toad.

Ride the platform on the right side of the turtle room up, then jump and enter the door. Ahead, you’ll have to navigate pushing wall blocks.

Collectible Treasure: Rocks – Found on the lower ledge that the pushing wall rocks nudge you. Go all the way to the right to find the chest.

To get by the annoying trio of wall rocks, wait for two cycles — on the third cycle, the rocks will reverse order, allowing Mario to run through to the other side! On the push-rock to the right of the trio, there’s a hollow alcove on the right side. Step inside and ride it into the background of the cave tunnel — there’s a hidden path that leads to the exit and a Save Block.

In the next room, you’ll have to avoid spinning fire traps. Jump and wait patiently — there’s a HP heart in the middle to heal up if you take a lot of damage. There’s an enemy encounter here too — remember, if you can’t perfectly line them all up, then line up as many as possible and target the shell Koopas first. Jumping on a shell Koopa does extra damage to everyone in a line!

Near the end, there’s a seemingly impossible large fire trap! Wait until you see a fire-shooter that’s unlit. You can hide in the alcove to get around it. Next, you’ll run under a fire trap that falls down. Move Mario so you’re positioned under one of the fire slots when it rolls over you!

Max UP Heart: There’s a Max Up Heart ahead that gives Mario +20 HP. That’s super useful! Now where can we find more of these? That’s for later.

Exit back into the turtle mouth door room, and pull the sticker off the platform to ride up. Enter the turtle door, and don’t forget to save. There’s a boss waiting up ahead…

Stand on the ledge, and drop down to encounter the Earth Vellumental! But, it’s been transformed into Origami. You’ll have to turn the turtle back to normal before you can gain the power you need to cut the red streamer.

Boss: Earth Vellumental

Instead of fighting in the center, the boss is in the center block of the circle! As Mario, you’ll have to enter the circle to fight the giant creature. Move arrows (or attack markers) to create a path and select where you want to fight.

Move the circles to make this pattern — for the tutorial round, you’ll attack the front left leg. When you go for the attack, use the hammer instead of the boots. The hammer will attack the legs — the boots will attack the shell! The shell it invulnerable to damage! Use the hammer to attack the exposed leg to deal some damage.

After each attack, the boss will blow you back with multiple attacks. Make sure to guard and press [A] to block each attack or you’ll take a lot of damage! For the second round, move the rings in this pattern.

With two legs down, you’ll be free to fight the rest of the boss. Remember, Mario must have a pointer at his first step! Other than that, aim for the other two legs. You can get hints by running past the little notes, or get healing / power-ups from HP hearts and chests.

Treasure chests, if you run across them, will generate new power-ups on the battle grid. Run across them to do more damage or get other special effects.

Target all the legs and the head with your hammer. Hit all the parts, and the turtle will turn its tail toward you. Hit the tail for huge damage! When all the limbs are tucked into the shell, you can pull off a powerful move by reaching the new 1,000-Fold Arms Magic Circle! Get to that circle on your next turn. Here’s an example!

You can make it really simple — just place the magic circle straight ahead of you. You’ll always have at least two ring moves. Just make sure you don’t waste them! If you miss, the boss will unleash a powerful mega-attack.

Hit the 1,000-Fold Arms ring and you’ll flip the boss around, defeating it with some powerful thwacks! For defeating the boss, you’ll gain the Earth Bibliofold — and unlock the power to harness Earth Vellumental Power circles.

Use the first Vellumental Power on the green ring to raise the dirt and escape the temple. Olivia can now transform into the first elemental — and we can get back to Overlook Tower and lower it. Exit the Temple through the green pipe!

Quest: Lower The Overlook Tower

Back outside the Earth Vellumental Temple, we’re returning to Picnic Road and all the toads have returned to their stalls. That means there are more hidden toads to unlock!

Hidden Toad: Talk to the popcorn vendor to the left of the temple entrance. Pay him 100 coins and he’ll pop these three hidden toads!
Hidden Toad: Check the item vendor to the right of the temple entrance. On the right, he has an unnamed papercraft mushroom item for sale. Hit it with your hammer!

Now that you’re stronger, you can defeat enemies without having to fight them. Go through Picnic Road and follow the main path up Overlook Mountain. The path ahead is full of tougher enemies, but nothing you can’t handle.

Battle Tip: Even if you can’t defeat every enemy in one turn, it helps to make sure they’re all properly lined-up. You’ll get a damage bonus! Sometimes Mario isn’t strong enough to take out everyone in a single turn no matter what, but it’s still important to get everyone in blocks of 1×4 or 2×2.

Helpful Item: I highly recommend purchasing the Time Plus accessory from the Picnic Road accessory shop. This gives you +10 or more seconds per battle. Just having some extra time helps a lot!

Hidden Toad: Back on Overlook Mountain, you’ll find a toad being menaced by a Folded Goomba near Warp Pipe 1. Defeat the Goomba to save him!
Hidden Toad: To the left of the Overlook Mountain bridge, there’s a path that leads to a hole. Fill it with confetti then hammer the rock wall to get this hidden toad down.

Go to the top of Overlook Mountain and use Vellumental Power at the base of the Overlook Tower! Olivia will be able to lower the dirt. Now you can enter the next dungeon — the Overlook Tower!