Message markup

Tag names and their arguments aren't case sensitive. Numbers can be decimal or hexadecimal, such as 10 or 0x0A. A tag that isn't on this page is an error.

Printing

Tag	What it does
[BR]	Ends the line.
[Wait]	Waits for the player to press A.
[Next]	Moves on to a new page of the box.
[Scroll 2]	Scrolls the text up by 2 lines.
[Pause 10]	Pauses for 10 frames.
[End]	Ends the message, and closes the box.
[Yield]	Hands control back to the EVT script that showed the message, and keeps the box open. Comes before [End].
[Speed delay=2 chars=1]	Prints 1 character every 2 frames.
[DelayOff], [DelayOn]	Prints the text after [DelayOff] all at once, until [DelayOn].
[InputOff], [InputOn]	Ignores the player's buttons, until [InputOn].
[EnableCDownNext]	Lets the player press C-Down to move on to the next page.
[RewindOn], [RewindOff]	No known use.

Box styles

[Style ...] sets how the box looks, and usually comes first.

Tag	Box
[Style right]	A speech bubble, with its tail on the right
[Style left]	A speech bubble, with its tail on the left
[Style center]	A speech bubble, with its tail in the middle
[Style tattle]	A tattle
[Style choice pos=120,90 size=75,46]	A list of options, at a position on the screen, at a size. See Choices.
[Style inspect]	A gray box, used when the player inspects something
[Style sign]	A sign
[Style lamppost height=72]	A lamppost sign, with the given height
[Style postcard index=0]	A postcard, showing the given image
[Style popup]	A small box, such as for getting a partner's shell
[Style popup2]	Another small box, with no known use
[Style upgrade pos=40,35 size=240,42]	A box for an upgrade block, at a position on the screen, at a size
[Style narrate]	Narration, such as "You got a Mushroom!"
[Style epilogue]	The text at the end of a chapter, with no box

Choices

Tag	What it does
[Cursor 0]	Puts the cursor for option 0 here.
[Option 0]	Starts the text of option 0. [Option 255] comes after the last option.
[SetCancel 1]	Picks option 1 when the player presses B.
[EndChoice 2]	Ends a list of 2 options.

[BeginChoice] numbers the options for you. After it, each [Option] with no number puts the cursor and starts the next option, and [EndChoice cancel=1] ends the list and picks option 1 when the player presses B:

[Style choice pos=120,90 size=75,46]
[BeginChoice]
[Option]Yes[BR]
[Option]No[BR]
[EndChoice cancel=1][End]

Text

Tag	What it does
[Font standard]	Sets the font: standard, menu, menu2, title, or subtitle.
[Color red]	Sets the color of the text, by name or by number, such as [Color 0x0A].
[SaveColor], [RestoreColor]	Saves the color, and goes back to the saved one.
[Size 32,32]	Sets the width and height of the characters.
[SizeReset]	Sets the size of the characters back to normal.
[CharWidth 8]	Gives every character the same width. [CharWidth 0] turns it off.
[FullSpace], [HalfSpace]	Prints a wide or a narrow space.

The color names depend on the box's [Style]:

Style	Colors
inspect	dark
sign	normal, red, blue, and green
popup	normal, red, pink, purple, blue, teal, green, and yellow
Any other	normal, red, pink, purple, blue, cyan, green, and yellow

Position

Tag	What it does
[SetPosX 40], [SetPosY 15]	Moves where the text prints to.
[Right 8], [Down 6], [Up 6]	Moves where the text prints by a number of pixels.
[CenterX 159]	Centers the text around a position. [CenterX 0] turns it off.
[SavePos], [RestorePos]	Saves where the text prints, and goes back to the saved place.

Effects

An effect applies to the text after it, until its closing tag, such as [Wave]Hello![/Wave]. [/FX] closes the most recent effect.

Tag	What it does
[Shake]	Shakes each character.
[Wave]	Moves each character in a wave.
[Rainbow]	Colors each character in turn.
[PrintRising]	Prints each character rising into place.
[PrintGrowing]	Prints each character growing into place.
[SizeJitter]	Changes the size of each character at random.
[SizeWave]	Changes the size of each character in a wave.
[DropShadow]	Draws a shadow under the text.
[NoiseOutline]	Draws the text with a noisy outline.
[Static 50]	Draws static over the text, by an amount.
[Blur dir=xy]	Blurs the text, in x, y, or xy.
[DitherFade 217]	Fades the text, by an amount.

Images

The image tags show images that an EVT script sets with SetMessageImages, by their index in its list.

Tag	What it does
[InlineImage index=0]	Shows a small image where the text prints.
[Image index=0 pos=85,97 hasBorder=1 alpha=255 fadeAmount=15]	Shows an image at a position, fading it in.
[HideImage fadeAmount=15]	Fades the image out by an amount each frame. [HideImage] hides it at once.
[ItemIcon itemID=0x0057]	Shows an item's icon.
[AnimSprite spriteID=0x0039 raster=30]	Shows a sprite's raster, as a frame of an animation.
[AnimDelay index=0 delay=14]	Sets how many frames frame 0 of the animation lasts.
[AnimLoop 0 0]	Repeats the animation.
[AnimDone 0]	Ends the animation.

Inserted text

Tag	What it does
[Var 0]	Inserts text or a number that an EVT script sets with SetMessageText or SetMessageValue, from 0 to 2.

Sound

Tag	What it does
[Voice normal]	Sets the sound the text makes as it prints: normal, bowser, or star (also written spirit).
[Volume 50]	Sets the volume of the text's sound.

Special characters

These print a symbol: [NOTE], [HEART], [STAR], [UP], [DOWN], [LEFT], [RIGHT], [CIRCLE], [CROSS], and the button symbols [A], [B], [L], [R], [Z], [C-UP], [C-DOWN], [C-LEFT], [C-RIGHT], and [START].

Each button symbol prints in its button's color. To pick another color, add color= to any of them except [A] and [Z]: blue, green, red, yellow, or gray, such as [START color=blue]. To print a button symbol in the text's color, put ~ before its name, such as [~A].

Raw bytes

[Raw 0xFF 0x06] puts bytes into the message as they are. Use it for message codes that have no tag, such as 0xFF 0x06, which ignores the player's buttons for the rest of the message.

Don't use [SetCursorPos] or [CustomVoice]. They have bugs that cause errors.