Posted 12 December 2005 - 10:05 AM
Eh? Nintendo Poweresc? Their reviews are generally undescriptive.
Paper Mario (Mario Story in Japan) is a Nintendo 64 game released in Japan in the year 2000, and Europe/North America in 2001. Like the name implies, the game stars Mario in paper form. Not only Mario, but also the entire Mario universe, from the environment to the characters to the items are paper as well. This is on account of the storyline being based in a story book, and being told by an unknown narrator. Unlike the traditional gameplay featured in Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario features a lead character plus a partner character, which can be one of any eight partners that Mario meets throughout the game. Instead of HP, Mario's partner can be stunned for a certain amount of turns if they do not block the attack.
Paper Mario is a "sort-of" sequel to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for the Super Nintendo. It has no connection to Super Mario RPG other than genre. The combined factors of the visual style and SquareSoft not having anything to do with it upset many fans of the original. Some believe that SquareSoft would have been the developer of Paper Mario, assuming that Nintendo had not caused things to sour in their relationship. Instead of SquareSoft, Nintendo had one of their own developers, Intelligent Systems (of Fire Emblem and Super Metroid fame) develop it. Timed hits, a concept introduced in Super Mario RPG, was expanded upon in Paper Mario. Paper Mario did not do as exceptionally well as Super Mario RPG. While Super Mario RPG had exceeded 1,000,000 copies, Paper Mario did not meet the same number, likely because of it being released late in the Nintendo 64's life.
Paper Mario is a quality title, at least when viewed separately from Super Mario RPG in the case of SquareSoft devotees. Even in the face of Super Mario RPG, it still is an astounding RPG, and a great example of how an RPG should be. It is unfortunate that some people refuse to look past the kiddish visuals, and will ignore what is under these graphics, a deep, eventful RPG that all ages can enjoy. I cannot wait until I will be able to download it on the Nintendo Revolution. Along with EarthBound, A Link to the Past and Kirby Super Star, it will be the first thing I download.
Gameplay: 10.0
The gameplay of Paper Mario is very deep, despite the lower-than-normal numbers. Usually, any character or enemy would be lucky to do double digit damage. While it may seem like a bad idea, it is basically the damage number system in RPGs dumbed down. As both the heroes and the villains do low damage and have low health in comparison to other RPGs, the damage system works perfectly. It takes Super Mario RPG's timed hits system, and expands upon it. While timed hits were just used as an optional offense/defense system in Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario uses them as a necessity. For instance, when jumping on an enemy, pushing the A button again will cause Mario to do a second attack on them, and when Mario uses his Hammer, the player must pull back on the control stick in order to get maximum damage. It really helps to separate itself from traditional RPGs, which are more or less selecting options from a menu.
As stated before in the lead of the review, the partner system of Super Mario RPG is changed. Instead of having three equal characters in your party, Paper Mario has Mario as the lead character and a second character to be his partner. Each playable character has their own special techniques. Mario has a Hammer and Jump boots, which allow him to use the Hammer and Jump commands to attack enemies. However, there are some enemies who are immune to one of these techniques. For instance, Goomba, the weakest enemy in the game, is vulnerable to both Jump and Hammer techniques, while the Spiked Goomba is immune to Jump techniques, and the Paragoomba is immune to Hammer techniques. By doing this, Nintendo prevented the game from being too easy, but didn't make it insanely difficult. The only way for Mario to get special abilities is to either save a Star Spirit in order to unlock a new Star Power, or to equip a Badge, granting a new ability, such as the Hammer Throw, which can be used against flying enemies.
Intelligent Systems really hit home with the Badge system. Each RPG has a system to call their own - Super Mario RPG can lay claim to the timed hits, Final Fantasy VII has their Materia, and Paper Mario has Badges. There is a variety of Badges available to the player, ranging from Hammer Badges to Jump Badges to Partner Badges to Stat Badges and more. The Badge system allows for a high amount of customization for Mario and company. Several Badges are situational. Fire Power and Ice Power resist fire techniques (although they have little differences), and some Badges make the game much easier, like Quick Change, allowing Partners to change and attack in the same turn. Badges are littered all over the Mushroom Kingdom, and in order to acquire every one of them, you must acquire every Star Piece.
The gameplay is not limited to RPG battles. There are a lot of things to do outside of battle. It is one of the truer platforming RPGs, because it goes further than jumping around to make itself a platformer. For instance, there are blocks lying around all over the Mushroom Kingdom, requiring that Mario either jumps to hit them or hit them with the hammer, assuming they’re on the ground. There are also special techniques. One such techniques is the Butt Stomp, a typical technique found in 3D Mario titles. This technique can be used to do a variety of tasks, such as push buttons, or flip panels over that are hiding Star Pieces. Partners can be of assistance as well. Goombario can tell Mario about any person or place, Kooper can be launched a good distance (in order to hit a switch or grab an item) and Bombette can blow up walls. Each character in Mario’s party has their own distinct ability that must be used to finish the game (with the exception of Goombario’s). Sidequests are also abundant. They range from minor sidequests, such as the Dojo, to the big ones, like the Recipes or Star Pieces.
Audio: 10.0
The audio is a very good throwback to previous Mario games. While few songs in the game have any relation to songs of previous Mario games, many of the songs present in the game have the same feeling as previous Mario games, thanks to being composed by famous Nintendo music composer Koji Konno. The music isn't the only great thing about the game; the sound effects are very good as well. Like the music, they are very reminiscent to previosu Mario games. Many sound effects, such as jumping and destroying blocks sound similar, although they are far enhanced in comparison.
Visuals: 9.0
The visuals may not have been all fancy 3D, but they were very clean 2D, and far more appealing than most 3D games seen in the 32/64 bit generation. Most of the environmental design is in two dimensions, there are some three dimensional effects, such as the collapsable doors that collapse when Mario and his partner enter the building, and trees. Because of the simplistic two dimensional sprites, the character animations are disappointingly underdeveloped, with characters having few animations. However, despite this, the animation is very fluid. The area design was similar to a pop-up book. This may seem a bit kiddish, but it works very well.
Storyline: 9.0
The storyline is a bit corny, but it is still very humorous and enjoyable to read what everyone has to say. The storyline starts out with Mario and Luigi receiving an invitation to a party at Princess Peach's castle. At Princess Peach's castle are several various people from all over the Mushroom Kingdom. Once Mario meets with Princess Peach, the ground starts to shake violently, and the castle begins to be lifted into the sky by King Bowser's castle. Bowser and Kamek Koopa fly through the window of the castle, and Mario battles with Bowser. However, Bowser has captured the mystical Star Rod beforehand and kidnapped the seven Star Spirits. Bowser successfully defeats Mario, and knocks him all the way back to the ground with a lightning bolt. Mario falls unconcious, and gets a message from the seven Star Spirits asking him to save them. Mario soon awakens in a Goomba Village, where he meets a family of Goombas. Soon afterwards, he joins up with a Goomba named Goombario, and go on a search for the Star Spirits. Throughout the game, Mario meets up with many different characters, including Kooper, Bombette, Parakarry, Bow, Sushie and Lakilester.
Replay value: 7.0
Like many RPGs, Paper Mario does not have much incentive to be replayed again, at least in a short period of time. Once you have collected all of the Recipes, Badges, Star Pieces and maxing everything out, there's not that much to do in the next replay of the game. However, Paper Mario features an average of 20 hours game length, and once the previous replay eventually wears off, the game is enjoyable enough to be replayed once again.
Overall: 10.0
Paper Mario is one of the best RPGs ever created, falling short of the #1. spot to EarthBound, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Chrono Trigger and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Combining the intuitive gameplay, the fun storyline and the paper graphics, there's not much that can beat this game. Unlike Super Mario RPG, which was essentially just a traditional RPG with a Mario flavor, Paper Mario is in a class all of its own. Other than Nintendo's own Mario RPGs, its gameplay is like no other game. Nintendo's Mario RPGs are the only RPGs I have ever seen that successfully fuses platforming elements with RPG elements. Along with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Paper Mario is the must-have for any Nintendo 64 owner. You're cheating yourself if you do not play this masterpiece. Although, if you were forced to choose between this and The Thousand-Year Door, I would go with the latter.