Parakarry, Koopa facteur ailé, volant au-dessus de Mario en papier

Parakarry: the flying mailman of Paper Mario

1309 words | Reading time : 6 minute(s)

CharacterPaper MarioPartners

The only partner you recruit because he lost his mail. Mushroom Kingdom mailman and thoroughly absent-minded Koopa Paratroopa, Parakarry scatters the very letters he is supposed to deliver. This profile covers his recruitment on Mt. Rugged, his ability to carry Mario over the void, his diving attacks and the long hunt for lost letters that runs through the whole of Paper Mario.

There is one partner in Paper Mario you recruit neither by saving him from a monster nor by beating him in a duel: you recruit him because he lost his mail. That partner is Parakarry.

This Koopa Paratroopa with a mailbag is the official mailman of the Mushroom Kingdom — and by far the most absent-minded in the profession. Portrait of an ally who turned his own clumsiness into a way into the adventure.

Contents

A Paratroopa in a mailman's shoes

Parakarry belongs to the species of the Koopa Paratroopa, those Koopa Troopa fitted with wings who have haunted platforming levels since the very beginnings of the series. Here, though, there is no enemy patrol: he works for the Toad Town post office.

His shoulder bag and his glasses give him the look of a conscientious employee. The trouble is that reality does not follow: Parakarry is slow, scatterbrained and regularly loses the letters entrusted to him.

That gap between the job title and the execution is what makes the character. Where Goombario brings his knowledge and Bombette her firepower, he mostly brings a clumsy goodwill.

Three letters lost on Mt. Rugged

Mario runs into Parakarry in the middle of his trek across the desert, up on the rocky heights of Mt. Rugged. The mailman is stuck there, in despair: he has dropped three letters somewhere in the area and refuses to leave without them.

🧢 Rocks, altitude and open desert: Mt. Rugged is hardly the ideal place to hunt for three letters scattered across the wild; when it's your turn to trek under a blazing sun, our Mario caps keep your forehead in the shade.

The quest is simple and elegant: you comb the surroundings, track down the three stray letters and bring them back. Grateful, Parakarry joins the team — half out of thanks, half because he secretly dreamed of adventure.

It is one of the rare recruitments in the game that involves no fight at all. Mario's fourth partner is won with a simple favour, which says a great deal about the tone of this instalment.

Parakarry delivering a letter in Paper Mario
Recruiting him means recovering his three lost letters.

Carrying Mario over the void

His field ability follows logically from his wings: Parakarry grabs Mario and carries him through the air over a short distance. The flight lasts only a moment, but long enough to clear a chasm too wide for a plain jump.

  • He opens the way to isolated platforms that no other partner can reach.
  • His limited range turns every crossing into a trajectory calculation.
  • He becomes essential for backtracking to collect the secrets left behind.

This mechanic dovetails perfectly with those of his teammates: where Kooper throws his shell to reach a distant object, Parakarry moves the hero himself.

Painted illustration of Parakarry carrying Mario over a ravine
Carrying Mario over the void: the ability that opens up the impassable chasms.

🧱 No partner but Parakarry can reach those isolated platforms, on the far side of a chasm too wide for a simple jump; on your bedroom floor, our Lego Mario sets let you build that kind of crossing with your own hands.

Dive, shell and air raid

In battle, he exploits the third dimension the other partners simply do not have. His basic attack sends him into a dive onto an enemy, with the decisive advantage of being able to strike flying opponents just as easily as ground ones.

His repertoire then grows: a shell thrown from a distance, an enemy hauled clean off the battlefield, then a full-blown air raid that sweeps several targets at once.

That versatility makes him a safe pick against mixed groups, especially when facing squadrons of Spiny and other enemies well out of hammer range.

The longest side quest in the game

Above all, the character leaves his mark through a quest that spans the whole adventure: delivering the letters. Chapter after chapter, Mario gets his hands on dozens of envelopes addressed to the inhabitants of the kingdom.

You then have to track down every recipient, sometimes on the far side of the map, and hand the mail over in person. The reward ranges from a rare item to a single touching line of dialogue.

📮 Dozens of envelopes to keep on you from one chapter to the next until they reach their recipients: your papers, keys and loose change, on the other hand, stay tucked away in our Mario accessories instead of ending up scattered like Parakarry's mail.

This long-running collection gives the world an unusual depth: it links the villages to one another, reveals the ties between side characters and turns the clumsy mailman into the social thread running through the whole of Paper Mario.

Parakarry at a glance

Name Parakarry
Species Koopa Paratroopa
Game Paper Mario (2000, Nintendo 64)
Rank Fourth partner of the adventure
Job Mushroom Kingdom mailman
Recruitment Find his three letters lost on Mt. Rugged
Field ability Carrying Mario in flight over chasms
Attacks Dive, thrown shell, air raid
Related quest Delivering the lost letters

FAQ

  • Who is Parakarry in Paper Mario?
    He is a Koopa Paratroopa employed as the Mushroom Kingdom's mailman, and the fourth partner Mario recruits in Paper Mario, released in 2000 on Nintendo 64.
  • How do you recruit Parakarry?
    By bringing him the three letters he lost in the Mt. Rugged area. Grateful, he then joins the team. It is one of the rare recruitments in the game that requires no fighting at all.
  • What is Parakarry useful for outside battle?
    He grabs Mario and carries him through the air over a short distance, which lets you clear chasms too wide for a jump and reach platforms that would otherwise stay out of reach.
  • What are his attacks in battle?
    He dives onto his targets, which lets him strike flying enemies just as well as ground ones, then learns to throw his shell from a distance and to unleash an air raid that hits several opponents.
  • What is the letter quest?
    A collection that runs through the entire game: Mario picks up letters chapter after chapter and has to find their recipients in every corner of the kingdom to hand the mail over in person.
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