Paper Mario: Master Quest is a mod made for "Paper Mario" on the N64. It was created by Emperor_Thamz, Rainchus, JaThePlayer, Brotenko, and now Quackles (with some bug fixes by theKidOfArcrania). It revamps old content and adds plenty of new as well.
Often considered "The Dark Souls of Paper Mario", the mod is incredibly difficult. It was designed with elite challenge runners in mind, and unless you have extensive knowledge of Paper Mario, you may struggle with much of the content.
For those players we offer Paper Mario: Master Quest Jr which has all of the content of Master Quest, with a much more reasonable difficulty curve. If you want to stream the mod, starting with Jr. is recommended.
- 50+ new maps, including a brand new dungeon!
- A fully functional Pit of 100 Trials.
- Boss refights for all major bosses.
- 60+ new enemies, ranging from recolors to fully custom bosses.
- Heavy changes to enemy AI, and new battle mechanics not found in the vanilla game.
- A number of map changes to keep some areas feeling fresh, and keep the player on their toes.
- Item and Badge rebalancing, some more obscure tools are now viable.
- New badges and partner attacks.
- Download the newest .mod file
- Get a Paper Mario (USA) ROM. A .z64 ROM file is required.
- Go to this link to patch your ROM.
- Get an emulator, if you have one already, then load the patched ROM file and play! Bizhawk is the recommended emulator for Master Quest.
Is this mod completed?
Yes, for the most part. A version 2.0 is in the works but is in development by a new team with a fair bit of input from Thamz. v2.0 will be the final version of the mod when it comes out, but until then, you can consider 1.5.x.x a "finished" mod. There is no ETA on v2.0, but this will be updated when it comes out. If you would like to follow development, please visit the Paper Mario Modding Discord.
Bizhawk: savestates don't work!
After loading the patched ROM, go to the N64 tab at the top and check "Use Expansion Slot".
Project64: "R4300i opcode" error
After attempting to load the ROM, go to settings. Under Paper Mario, change 4 MB ram to 8 MB. Then, click on Recompiler by expanding the Paper Mario settings. Uncheck register caching and save your changes.
Project64: Graphical Issues / Screen Flicker
You need to manually setup the GLideN64 graphics plugin for your emulator. Visit this link and add extract the zip to path/to/project64/Plugin/GFX. Then, reopen PJ64, go to options -> settings, click on Plugins in the left pane, and select GLideN64 for the Video Plugin option. Note that Glide64 is not GLideN64 - the latter is more accurate to the point of being required for decent Paper Mario emulation, although it doesn't support weaker machines.
Project64: "Verify ROM and its settings" error
Your ROM is somehow corrupted! Most likely it was not in the correct format (.z64) when you patched it; try N64 Tool to convert your .n64 or .v64 ROM to .z64 and use the online patcher.
Opening the pause menu causes a TON of lag!
Open up the graphics plugin settings for your emulator. Non-Bizhawk users should have setup GLideN64 first before this. In the GLideN64 ->Frame Buffer Settings tab, change the FB (Framebuffer) settings to the same as the picture below and click Save. Different emulators may use slightly different names for options.
Where do I report bugs?
You can post a message in the #mq_chat channel on the Paper Mario Modding Discord. Keep in mind that unless a bug is found that completely prevents completion of the game, it will likely not be patched until v2.0 is ready.
Why is _ so hard!? This mod is unfair!
This mod was designed to be incredibly difficult. If you are struggling, we suggest you check out MQ Jr!
How can I support MQ?
Find someone streaming MQ, and sub to them on twitch or donate or however you want to do it. Just dropping into the Paper Mario Modding Discord to say thanks is always nice too!
Where can I post a link if I stream this mod?
The Paper Mario Modding Discord MQ channels are a good place to start.