mario and luigi are bored. they head to the castle. they hear peach has been kidnapped and head off to face bowser

bowser and his minions are in fact planning an attack - but they don't have her yet. It turns out that some Count Bleck has her and grabs everyone but Mario as well. He's creating a dimensional void to destroy the world. Only Mario can stop him.

You (Mario) wake up and are confronted by a floating rainbow butterfly. This butterfly, named Tippi, is a Pixl. Think of her as a floating helper. You're transported to the town of Flipside and meet up with Merlon. He presents you with a pure heart. If you refuse it three times, the game is over! You need to take it to continue.

You finally can move. You're in "Flipside Tower" with 10/10 HP, 0 score and 0 coins. Make sure your controller is sideways and use the D-pad to move left.

Hit the up direction by the red arrow and an elevator will appear to move you into the town proper. Follow the butterfly to the right and use the next red arrow you see to move to 3rd floor. Follow her to the left. You can talk with people if you want, but they're not very helpful :) Get to the tall white pillar and press the up arrow in order to put the heart in. Task one complete!

Now go back the way you came to get back to Merlon. She'll advise you to save at the "S" block along the way - do so. You don't want to go through all this start-up stuff again! You save by jumping up (with the 2 button) under the block to hit it with your head.

Merlon gives you a return pipe - something to instantly transport you back here whenever you want to. Of course there is the caveat that it won't always work. You're told to go find Bestovius, a friend of Merlon's. Go through the big red doors.

You get a cut-scene of Bleck and his minions. They realize a hero is on the scene and one of the minions, O'Chunks, decides to go take care of the situation.

Super Paper Mario Walkthrough