Introduction
Think back before the turn of the new millennium to a date that is not memorable for itself, but for what it entailed. On May 1, 1996 Super Mario RPG was released in the United States for the first time, taking the Mario world and the general RPG world by storm. Besides automatically demanding respect because of its namesake, SMRPG brought with it the most advanced and pleasing graphics ever seen on the Super Nintendo console and probably in many Nintendo 64 games as well. Putting aside worn-out storylines and platforming clichés, Mario joined forces with a ragtag team of heroes, including Bowser, Peach, and two other brand new friends exclusive to SMRPG, and was forced to do battle against a sinister and mysterious alien known simply as Smithy. An interesting, humorous, but always harrowing adventure and challenging gameplay climaxed into an epic battle against the voyager from beyond over the completion or destruction of the Star Road.
After the game was completed by droves of eager and excited gamers and after every one of the multiple secrets and tasks was unearthed, SMRPG left us all satisfied but wanting more. I, among many others I’m sure, desperately kept my eyes peeled for news on Nintendo’s official website and for the sound of Nintendo on my television set that might herald the coming of SMRPG’s sequel. Saddened, I waited years, the going and coming of the SNES and N64 coming and going. Finally, rumor buzzed about the Internet, foretelling the next Super Mario RPG, titled Paper Mario. The days without a new Mario RPG had at long last come to an end.
Gameplay
For those of you that have played Super Mario RPG in the past (if you haven’t done so yet, do so now), you will immediately notice the various themes and battle style components borrowed, if not exactly copied, from the original. Let’s put it this way: in terms of the storyline, Paper Mario is nothing to marvel and sit in awe at when it comes to originality. The game starts out at the Mario Bros. house when Luigi checks their mailbox and discovers an invitation addressed to them from Princess Peach, inviting them to her castle for a Kingdom-wide celebration. It sounds original at first, but before you can begin to think that just maybe Paper Mario will deliver the same surprising twists of plot that SMRPG did, Bowser shows up, kidnaps the Princess, and puts Mario out of commission with the Star Rod (Kirby rip-off), a divine weapon guarded by the seven Star Spirits, holy entities that live in Star Haven. King Koopa was able to pull that masterful feat off with the help of his new right-hand Magikoopa, Kammy, leaving the question, where did Kamek go? Thus, Peach’s castle is, along with her and that malicious reptilian brute, lifted into the sky via Bowser’s floating fortress, and Mario is seemingly defeated for good.
We all know, of course, that Mario can never die. So, in a touching scene, the seven Star Spirits use much of their remaining energy to revive Mario and send him on his way. After a warm-up bout along the road to Toad Town, the main hub world of this game, Mario meets the seven Star Spirits again, learning from them that they are merely transmitting their thoughts and that their true selves are trapped in seven different areas across the land, meaning Mario will be hoofin’ it for quite some time. How original. Seriously, though, putting aside the total lack of originality (i.e. saving Peach from Bowser and finding seven stars) the story is humorous and ultimately enjoyable.
The actual game itself is far more complicated and mesmerizing than the lacking storyline, fortunately. Although Paper Mario would be described by many as belonging to the RPG genre, I feel that, like its memorable predecessor, it employs aspects of both RPG and platforming games. Namely, Mario must jump around, break stuff with hammers, find secret items, and romp about the Mushroom Kingdom in varying milieus such as a vibrant rainforest island, a sweltering and dangerous volcano, an expansive, legend-filled desert, a haunted forest and the spooky mansion located therein, a wild west-esque town full of Boos, and a quaint village full of peace-loving Koopas, among many other eclectic habitats that will be sure to keep you entertained. Despite all of that, Mario must interact with villagers, townspeople, enemies, and bosses and collect equipment in a way that distinctly says “RPG”. The co-genre becomes all the clearer when Mario comes in contact with an enemy. Depending on who makes contact first, the battle starts with one side, good or evil, making an attack and then continues on as a turn-based battle akin to the one used in Super Mario RPG, where Mario’s party and a party of no-goods take turns attacking each other. As boring as this might seem, Paper Mario turns it into something so pleasantly interactive that you won’t mind building up your stats, a process that, frankly, can get extremely boring in some of the more celebrated RPGs like Final Fantasy and Golden Sun. Yet another aspect of the battles returning from SMRPG, timed hits and defenses are used, in which players must keep alert for varying, and sometimes exciting, actions that must be performed to either deal out double damage or save your own skin. Therefore, I suppose you might say Paper Mario belongs to the RPG platformer genre, or platformer RPG, whichever you prefer.
The very heart of the RPG aspect of Paper Mario is pumped continuously by three point systems, two recognizable and one unique, that determine Mario’s progress in battle and out of battle in many cases. Heart points (HP), similar to the hit points connected with the same acronym in many RPGs, keep Mario alive and fighting. When he runs out of these, he dies, plain and simple. Flower points (FP), making a triumphant return from the gameplay in Super Mario RPG, fuel Mario’s party’s special attacks, which complement Mario’s regular hammer and jump attacks. And then there are badge points (BP), the newest and most unique point system in the game. Throughout his adventure, Mario and his party find and receive various badges that enhance the plumber’s standard hammer and jump attacks. Although tens and tens of these may be found, the amount you can put in effect depends on your maximum BP count. Each badge takes up a certain amount of BP’s when activated, so you can only activate a few at a time. You must choose when and which badges to put into effect depending on what enemies and settings you’re up against at any given time. Just like in many other RPGs, you’re able to level up after defeating enemies in battle and earning Star Points that are rewarded to you as the victor. The amount of SPs you are rewarded depends on the difficulty of the battle (i.e. as you progress through the game and become stronger, weak Goombas that gave you five star points before might only give you one star point). You level up every time you accumulate 100 star points. At that point, you make the choice whether to increase your HP, FP, or BP. It might seem like only one way will lead you to victory, but to be successful, you must apply some forethought and gaming strategy when making your choice.
The quest itself leads Mario on a mostly direct course through seven different fascinating lands, helping out with problems that arise, quite conveniently so, almost instantly once you get back from a solving an older problem. Along the way, you’ll meet a colorful crew of memorable characters, including my favorite, a middle-aged Koopa archaeologist that can’t keep himself out of danger, but the most important individuals you’ll meet are seven oddball characters that become part of your overall party. These include Goombario, a young Goomba that idolizes Mario, Kooper, an oftentimes unlucky blue-shelled Koopa, Bombette, a temperamental pink Bob-omb, Parakarry, an absent-minded Paratroopa, Watt, a shy sun-like character, Sushie, a kipper that has problems with being assertive, and Lakilester, a Lakitu that has girlfriend problems and a strange desire to be a tough guy. In battle, you can switch between this motley cast of characters, picking one to do battle with you at a time. They have many different attacks and special moves that grow when you find level up blocks for them, which are cube blocks with spinning blue auras inside of them. When they are hit, they don’t lose HP or anything; they only lose a few turns. Out of battle, you have the same option of keeping one team member to walk around with you. This is very helpful, mainly because progression many times calls for your friends to perform special, out-of-battle action moves, such as swimming, flying, or blowing up random objects, a game component that will require you to know all seven partners’ special abilities. All in all, I think this part of the game is an improvement.
At the end of each of the seven main environments that you must solve and fight your way through is a castle or some other type of complex. All of these can be readily compared to the dungeons located in Zelda games. Through simple but fun conundrums, you eventually make your way to the boss battle and fight entertaining characters to progress. Such figures as Tubba Blubba, the immortal stuffed doll-like creature, and a clumsy Koopa with an identity crisis come to mind. In each dungeon, you will find upgrades for your standard weapons, your shoes and your hammer, and you will free another one of the seven Star Spirits, gaining their power and support.
Some of the more odd additions to the games are several parts where you take control of Peach as a playable character and, with a Star Spirit trainee by the name of Twink, solve puzzles while in the captivity of Bowser. Besides adding more hours of gameplay, the only real reason I’ve seen for putting this type of gameplay in is for a more solid storyline and a way for Peach to send badges only attainable in the castle to Mario.
Though some parts of this game may throw you off for an hour or so, the avid RPG gamer will have no trouble finishing the game successfully. Don’t let the game’s relatively low difficulty level fool you, though; the game is engrossing and inevitably satisfying the first time it’s played through and a few times after that to boot. Looking back on how every RPGing aspect of the game was simplified, Paper Mario would make a very good introductory game to the amateur RPGer who wants to try his or her hand out in the rewarding genre while keeping one foot in the comfortable world of platforming.
Graphics
The controversial graphical style of Paper Mario is, whether you like it or not, undeniably unique. Every character in the game, whether it be Kooper, Mario, or even Bowser, is, at heart, a 2D sprite. As well as that, though, they bend and move (whisping and floating about) just like all the various types of paper, hence the name. For example, when Mario is defeated near the beginning and tossed out of the Bowser’s flying kidnapped castle, he floats gently down. The background, including buildings, bridges, and trees, is made up of 3D polygonal shapes. Mario moves up and down streets and swims across lakes in a style noticeably different from the isometric angle of SMRPG. Though the move to this sort of ambiguous graphic design was risky for developer Intelligent Systems, I feel it does a wonderful job of interpreting the storybook-like people and places of the Mario universe.
The only problem that I can recall is the sporadically inserted close-ups on the 2D sprites, which come across as a mass jumble of colors and shapes that’s not in anyway attractive. Though, when I remember the amount of displeasure that was caused by the knowledge of the graphical style before the game was actually released, it’s nice to know that close-ups were the only real problem.
Sounds
Both the music and the sound effects in Paper Mario stand out as the typical Nintendoish wonders that have always been produced. Cheery, bouncy, and, when appropriate, enigmatic and hauntingly spooky, the music always increases the feeling and mood of the story tenfold, implementing masterfully composed and presented pieces that will leave you humming a tune long after the game is done. An odd collection of dings, boings, clamps, bams, and smashes dress up the game as quirky, cute sound effects that never cease to bring character actions to life. All in all, the sound factor in Paper Mario is top-notch.
Luigi
One of my favorite bonuses in SMRPG’s semi-sequel is the use of Luigi. He’s the second character to appear in the game, even before Mario, and a variety of amusing components are added that are directly related to him, including his cheerful support, his humorous “secret” diary, and his constantly amiable mood. Though Luigi is not a playable character in the game itself, he can be said to have more actual character than Mario. The addition of Luigi makes Paper Mario even better, as it does with all games.
Conclusion
Paper Mario is unarguably the best traditional RPG for the Nintendo 64 and is a noticeable competitor in the RPG genre as a whole. Though the cute, smile-inducing stylized 2D graphics uniquely played against a blocky 3D background may turn off gamers looking for the more mature, mind-numbing graphics of the Final Fantasy series, this wonderful game should not be passed on as babyish. Beneath the game’s simplistic surface, Paper Mario is a fantastically complex, intuitively designed, and rewarding experience that, with an enhanced take on SMRPG’s old-school turn-based battle system and a core statistical system that will please any RPGer, will live on as one of the greats in video gaming history.
Presentation: Nicely executed design
style, detailed RPG system, and classic platformer characters all mixed
together perfectly. (9)
Graphics: Though these graphics may
turn off some expecting a certain style, the look fits Mario and it's done
almost without flaw, as long as you don't count the close-ups. (8)
Sound: Signature Nintendo sounds and
interesting sound effects that will leave a lasting impression on you.
(8)
Gameplay: A centralized RPG system
with a wonderfully implemented point system. Enhanced old-school turn-based
style. Intricate quest designed around your party's abilities and how you
interact with the environment. Astounding. (10)
Difficulty: Although the game is volumes
easier than most other traditional RPGs, one must remember that Paper Mario
is designed to be an introductory RPG. Amazingly, while doing so, it offers
a challenging, fun adventure that will appeal to all the skill levels players
have. (9)
Overall: 9
Mario Fan’s Final Decision: Buy. Play. Enjoy.
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