TEC-XX

“Goodnight, Princess Peach.”

—TEC-XX, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

File:Tec.jpg

Princess Peach talking to TEC.

TEC-XX is the main computer in the X-Naut Headquarters in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Most of Grodus' captives, including Princess Peach, call him TEC. He usually helps Princess Peach get information on what Grodus is planning and has this crush on her. He also claims to be the "flawless and perfect" computer. After Mario and co. completed Chapter 6, his memory of Peach was deleted after Sir Grodus caught Peach in his room after he tells Peach that the X-Nauts are planning to offer her as a vessel to the Shadow Queen. The minute he meets Mario and his teammates after Mario and co. complete Chapter 7, he tells Mario and the team Peach was taken to the Palace of Shadow. He's running on a backup generator after his memory was deleted, unfortunately, he starts to go haywire and eventually, ceases to exist, destroying X-Naut HQ in the process. At the very end of the adventure, he is still alive and the X-Naut HQ is up and running again, although the whole place is deserted. He seems to have been restored to his original state after Peach gave Mario the last of her power during the battle with the Shadow Queen.

Trivia

• In one of the early moments of the game when Peach is in Grodus' throne room, it is showing the view from Tec's camera. Once Peach comes into the shot, a surge of electricity flows over the screen, which is probably the glitch that becomes Tec's crush.
• TEC is clearly based off of the HAL 9000 in 2001: Space Odyssey because of his intelligence and security systems. Though unlike HAL, TEC isn't insane or malevolent.
• Another Marioverse spoof of the HAL 9000 was the HAL 9001 from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "On Her Majesty's Sewer Service / 9001: A Mario Odyssey".
• If the player looks closely during the deleting of TEC, he or she can see him say "Peach, I love you". Though he didn't know what love was in the beginning.