How to get the Gold Medal Badge in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

There’s a lot to do in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, including the ultimate quest of obtaining the Gold Medal Badge. If you’re looking to 100 percent complete the game, this is actually a fancy (albeit cosmetic-only) reward for those of you looking to go the extra mile. Here’s how to 100 percent complete Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and earn the Gold Medal Badge, which you can equip for 0 BP to turn Mario golden.

How to get the Gold Medal

100 percent completing Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and obtaining the Gold Medal Badge isn’t exactly easy, but there are three main parts to it: Recipes, Badges, and the Tattle Log. You’ll need to complete all three of these sections in your Journal. There are 58 Recipes to cook in this game, and they all require different ingredients scattered throughout the world. If you’d like to see a list of where all these ingredients can be found, check out our corresponding guide. There are a total of 86 Badges in this game. A good chunk of them can be purchased from the Lovely Howz of Badges, while others are exclusive to things like the Pit of 100 Trials. You’ll need at least one of all 86 Badges in your inventory at some point so that the Badge list in your Journal becomes complete.

Finally, there’s the Tattle Log, which has 134 entries. This also entails fighting the two newly-introduced bosses, which are the most difficult challenges this game has to offer. If you’d like a full list of all 134 Tattle Log entries, check out our list right here. Once you’ve completed the Recipe Book, the Badges List, and the Tattle Log, you will receive an email telling you to head to central Rogueport. Check the platform in the middle of the area and you’ll receive the Gold Medal Badge. It costs 0 BP to use, and turns Mario into Gold Mario. Nice!

What else counts for 100% completion?

Technically speaking, the Gold Medal Badge is your proof of 100 percent completing the game. That being said, a lot of essential tasks are excluded. There are 42 Shine Sprites available in the game with which you can upgrade your partners up to two times each. There are also 100 Star Pieces hidden throughout the world that you can trade for Badges in Rogueport Sewers. Then there are the Trouble Center requests, which become available after clearing each chapter. There are also new requests available during the Prologue and postgame.

Another thing the Gold Medal Badge doesn’t count is the Super Luigi books. These become available at the central Rogueport shop after clearing the game, and there are a total of five to purchase. It doesn’t count the Happy Lucky Lottery either, even though the top three prizes are one-time only and change after you hit the jackpot for the first time. There are three key items you’ll need, too: Prince Mush’s Belt (obtained from defeating Prince Mush), the Gold Whacka Bump (obtained from defeating Whacka), and the Champ’s Belt (obtained from doing a second run of the Glitz Pit and winning the championship battle). Finally, you’ll need to be at least Level 30 to maximize the size of Mario’s audience.

Between the Gold Medal Badge requirements and our own completion requirement additions, that should be everything you need to do to 100 percent complete Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It’s up to you on whether you want to complete only the Gold Medal Badge tasks or if you want to take on the additional challenges we listed. If you’d like to check out the rest of our guides for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, you can do so here.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is out now for Switch. You can visit the official site here.