Tippi: the butterfly who guides Mario in Super Paper Mario

CharacterSuper Paper MarioPixl

A rainbow butterfly who hands out advice — and hides the heart of the story. Tippi is the Pixl who stays with Mario from the first minute of Super Paper Mario to the last, and whose real name, Lady Timpani, holds the game's entire tragedy. This portrait covers her role as a guide, what she inherits directly from Goombario and Goombella, her past with Blumiere, and the stand-in you have to buy once she is gone.

She never lands a hit, never blocks a path and never wins a single fight. And yet Tippi is the character without whom Super Paper Mario would have no story to tell: she is the one who sets the adventure in motion, and the one who closes it.

A butterfly with rainbow wings, she belongs to the family of the Pixls, the game's tool-companions. But behind the role of guide hides a name the story takes hours to let slip — and that name ties everything back to Count Bleck.

Contents

• A Pixl shaped like a butterfly
• The direct heir of Goombario and Goombella
• A cursor that reveals the invisible
• Lady Timpani: the real name, and the whole tragedy
• Tiptron, the 999-coin replacement
• What her presence changes in the story
• Tippi at a glance
• FAQ

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A Pixl shaped like a butterfly

Tippi appears as a rainbow-coloured butterfly, tiny, forever floating beside the hero. By nature she is a Pixl: a companion creature that lends the player an ability rather than a fighting arm.

She is the one who leads Mario to Flipside, the game's hub town, to meet old Merlon there and hear the prophecy that launches the adventure.

Her tone sets her apart at once: reserved, almost hesitant, she ends nearly every sentence with an ellipsis.

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The direct heir of Goombario and Goombella

In the Paper Mario series, one role comes back in every instalment: the companion who describes the enemies. Goombario opened the way, Goombella perfected it; Tippi inherits it.

The difference lies in exclusivity: where her elders had a whole range of moves, description is the one and only talent Tippi has.

Another oddity: she is always there. No selecting, no summoning — apart from the moments when the plot pulls her away, she stays with the player at all times, something no partner before her ever did.

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A cursor that reveals the invisible

Her mechanic makes direct use of the Wii Remote. Point it at the screen and Tippi becomes a cursor; pressing on a highlighted target triggers her commentary.

• Pointed at an enemy, she reels off its stats.
• Pointed at the hero, she recaps the current objective.
• Pointed at the scenery, she brings hidden doors and blocks to light.

She also has an ability the game never really explains: sending the heroes back to Flipside without using the return Warp Pipe, a power that fires on its own at three key moments of the story.

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Lady Timpani: the real name, and the whole tragedy

Tippi is only a nickname. Her true identity is Lady Timpani — and she is the one Blumiere loved before he became the count bent on erasing every world.

The whole story rests on that unspoken truth. The player follows a chatty, cautious guide with no idea of travelling beside the root cause of the tragedy, nor that the woman lost by Count Bleck has been flying at his side since the very first minute.

The game does drop clues, though. She often speaks of her former life, without ever telling anyone about it — until the finale.

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Tiptron, the 999-coin replacement

When Tippi vanishes alongside the count, the player loses their commentator. The game has a fallback ready: Tiptron, a mechanical replica sold by Francis.

The price is no accident: 999 coins, the maximum you can carry. Getting a fake Tippi back literally costs everything your pockets can hold.

It is a crueller piece of writing than it looks: the function can be replaced, the person cannot.

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What her presence changes in the story

Tippi brings in a tone the series had never had. She is attentive, often speaks in Mario's place during the scenes, and grows fond of the travelling companions she distrusted at first.

She also recognises Dimentio from his very first appearance, without the game ever explaining why — a loose thread that still fuels debate among players.

Finally, she started a lineage. Later instalments handed the same permanent-guide role to other companions, but none inherited her emotional weight — that of a character whose real name is the key to the whole story. See also Dimentio, whom she alone identifies right away.

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Tippi at a glance

French name	Tippi
Real name	Lady Timpani
Game	Super Paper Mario (Wii)
Nature	Butterfly-shaped Pixl
Role	Permanent guide, describes enemies and secrets
Distinctive trait	Always present, no selecting or summoning
Link to the plot	Blumiere's lost love, the future Count Bleck
Replacement	Tiptron, sold for 999 coins
Legacy	Succeeds Goombario and Goombella in the describing role

🍄 Want to keep the adventure going? Discover our Mario plushies in the shop.

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FAQ

• Who is Tippi in Super Paper Mario?
  Tippi is a rainbow-coloured, butterfly-shaped Pixl who stays with Mario from the start of the game to the end. She leads him to Flipside to meet Merlon and hear the prophecy that launches the adventure.
• What is Tippi's real name?
  Lady Timpani. She is the woman Blumiere loved before he became Count Bleck, which makes her the root cause of the tragedy the player lives through without knowing it.
• What is Tippi used for during gameplay?
  She acts as a cursor: pointed at an enemy she gives its stats, pointed at the hero she recaps the objective, pointed at the scenery she reveals hidden doors and blocks. That is her one and only talent.
• Can you keep playing after Tippi leaves?
  Yes. The game offers Tiptron, a mechanical replica sold by Francis for 999 coins, the maximum you can carry. So the function can be replaced — at a steep price.
• How does Tippi connect to the partners of the other Paper Mario games?
  She takes over the role of the companion who describes enemies, started by Goombario and then carried on by Goombella. She differs on two points: it is her only ability, and she is present at all times without having to be selected.

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