How to unlock the pipe room in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

The new remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on Switch includes a brand new pipe room that lets you travel between major areas as you unlock them, and we’re letting you know how to unlock it. The original game on GameCube was beloved by fans, but one major complaint was all the backtracking you have to do. On Switch, this has now been addressed. You can access the pipe room as soon as you clear the first chapter, and you can go back after clearing every subsequent chapter to unlock a new shortcut pipe to that chapter’s corresponding area.

How to find the pipe room

To get to the new pipe room, you’ll have to enter paper mode to slip down the grate in west Rogueport. From there, drop down from the ledge on the right side and enter the pipe you find here (the one that isn’t directly next to a save block). Once you’ve done that, either smash the yellow block with the Super Hammer or enter paper mode again to slide through the fence. Enter the door to the right, and your map will create shortcut pipes to the major areas you’ve already been to. You can then head to the right of this room to hit a blue switch, which will activate a shortcut to the pipe room in central Rogueport. Overall, this will save you tons of time backtracking over the course of the game.

We were able to unlock the pipe room in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door after clearing the Glitz Pit story arc. You actually need to hold up the Crystal Star in front of the Thousand-Year Door in order for the pipe to the Glitz Pit to appear in the pipe room, so keep that in mind just in case you find yourself in the same situation. There is also a Shine Sprite in the pipe room if you use the Super Hammer to destroy the yellow block found inside.

In the meantime, feel free to let us know if you’d want to see any specific guide written for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in the future. We wrote one on how to change the game’s music, if that interests you.

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