CLASSIC GAMING
Paper MarioDeveloper: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: RPG
Year: 2000
System: Nintendo 64
("Keep flapping, Parakarry, that logo's gonna give us a paper cut!"
The Super Mario series have almost always been a repetitive yet classic formula. A hero in a strange land rescuing the princess of the land from some awful beast. The hero was named Mario, the princess was Princess Toadstool (or Peach as she became known in the West), and the beast was King Koopa, also known as Bowser in the West.
But sometimes this formula has been strayed from, either with different heroes, different persons to rescue and different enemies, or even a different game format. The first case of the RPG in the Mushroom Kingdom's platformer world was Super Mario RPG which has since been hailed as one of the great SNES games.
This game, Paper Mario, would be considered its spiritual successor, and a fine one at that.
Story - The story of Paper Mario is very much the same idea of almost all the Super Mario saga, except there is a slightly deeper depth this time. There is a story in the Mushroom Kingdom of a sacred place known as Star Haven. This is a place where the stars seen in the sky live and inhabit, so that one day they may be able to fulfil their purpose of granting righteous, honest wishes to the heartfelt inhabitants of the world. The 7 Star Spirits are the most powerful of them all, overseeing all of their brethren and having their power raised by the Star Rod, a mystical item that gives power to the stars and continue their purpose of keeping the land sated of good heartfelt wishes.
One day however, King Bowser manages to reach Star Haven and steal the Star Rod, as well as kidnapping the 7 Star Spirits and handing them over to his cohorts.
(As charming as it was 3 years ago...ahh, memories.)
The prologue of the game starts off with Mario, Luigi and various other creatures of other lands been invited to Peach's castle for a party. Bad timing is something familiar to Mario and Peach as Peach's castle is invaded by Bowser's forces, with Mario being soundly defeated with Bowser's power being amplified by his own selfish wishes fused into the Star Rod, which now becomes the source of his power. The castle itself is upended into the air on top of Bowser's own new floating fortress. From there on, the game begins in earnest.
The story, while simple, is enough of a depth to give one a richer look into the Mushroom Kingdom and its inhabitants. Bowser's cohorts have also began trouble in various areas of the world, and Mario must help the inhabitants (who range from Goombas to Koopas to even Boos) before obtaining the captured Star Spirit in that region.
This is not entirely a new thing of the series, since it was only in Super Mario RPG there were one or two towns that had peaceful creatures normally seen as enemies. But in this game, there are more settlements of enemies that do not mean any harm to Mario and have no association with Bowser, giving every race a simple but more fair view, showing some to be good and some to be bad. It's a charming refreshment to see enemies naturally seen as being under Bowser to actually be leading their own lives in peace and self-fulfilling company.
(Bowser defeats Mario??? What's next, Sonic becomes roadkill?)
- Being an RPG, Paper Mario's system is starkly different from the usual caliber of Nintendo's flagship series. Firstly, Mario has health points like any other RPG character, which can be healed by food, mushrooms and resting at an inn (which in the game are Toad Houses and are completely free to stay in). Harkening back to Super Mario RPG are the Flower Points (FP), which are the MP of the game and used for more special moves Mario and his allies have and can be recovered by either syrup items or resting at an inn.
Speaking of allies, Mario once again returns to RPG roots with a grand selection of allies. Each ally has their own ability in the field which can be used mostly to progress further on in the game as each newer ally can be able to overcome another obstacle you never knew how to deal with before. In battle, they have their own powers as well as being more useless against certain enemies that can defend from their attack. Not only that, but the allies can be upgraded up to two times to gain another ability and increase in their strength.
One unusual thing about the allies is they have no HP of their own. If they are hit, than they're knocked out for a few turns depending on the severity of the attack. If Mario loses all his HP, the game is over regardless of your ally's condition. In a battle, Mario and his ally share the Flower Points and they each have a turn, of which you can decide who gets to have their turn first before the other. Last of all, when Mario recovers the Star Spirits, he gains Star Power, which is something like Final Fantasy VII's Limit Break system. Mario is given a new bar of star power every time he saves a Star Spirit, who also bestow a power unto him to use in battle. The bar can be recovered either slowly every turn Mario has, or by the Focus power that recovers some star power.
(Luckily, the Mushroom Kingdom allow their postal workers to have vacations.)
Another interesting part of this game are the Badges. Mario finds Badges throughout the game, accessories he can equip to grant him abilities, such as bestowing Ice power to his attacks, protecting him against Fire attacks, or giving him a new special move. You are only allowed a certain number of Badge Points (BP) which tell you how many badges you can wear, and each Badge has their own numerical requirement of Badge Points, which can be increased when Mario levels up.
Levelling up is a simple affair. After defeating an enemy, Mario obtains Star Points, and for every 100 Star Points he gets, he levels up and is given the choice of either increasing his HP, FP, or BP. While this looks simple, there is a strategy involved in what you should upgrade. Mario cannot equip armour at all in the game and so is quite vulnerable to enemy attacks, without the help of certain badges. So there is a strategy involved of balancing HP with FP with BP throughout the game, which you must utilise to the very best. Mario has only two physical methods of attacking. The Jump (which does not work against enemies with spikes) and the Hammer (which doesn't work on flying enemies), which are upgraded automatically through the game. Your allies also do not have any armour or upgrading of weaponry, so throughout the game the defence power you have is maintained.
In battle, aside from HP, the enemies have their own degree of attack and defence. Attack power shows how much health they can take off normally. For example, a Goomba has an attack power of 1, so they take off 1 HP. Defence power shows how much of your attack they can resist. One example is, if an enemy has a defence power of 2, then an attack you have that normally does 3 HP damage will only do 1 HP. While this looks unfairly one-sided and also quite annoying in terms of never managing to deal MAJOR damage you'd normally expect in an RPG, it is nevertheless simple and gives the game a good start for the younger gamers, as it was meant to be. Your attacks do not do much damage in contrast to Final Fantasy's attacks or so, but the enemies do not even have that much HP either.
Mario however can be able to defend against enemies a little later in the game, by the ability of Action Commands. Whenever Mario is about to be attacked, hitting the A button at the right time defends Mario from the attack and normally reduces the attack by 1 of its strength. Likewise, when Mario attacks with his Jump, he can do this twice if he hits the A at the right time of his first jump. Your allies also have their own ways of increasing their power, for every attack has their own special way of being performed, either with the control stick, A button or others.
(Since goombas are closer to the ground, would they freeze faster?)
- This is the very first thing you will note in the game that's very different to the Super Mario saga. The graphics are incredibly two-dimensional at their finest, with the world looking very bright and colourful in that childlike manner that the series has become well known for. The game does not even bother explaining why everyone in the game is paper thin (as you can very plainly see). In fact there is no explanation, this is merely an inventive graphical style, moving away from Super Mario 64's new cool 3D look and returning back to Super Mario's 2D roots, utilising them very finely as a merging point between 2D and 3D within the game to make this a perfect experience for young fans, young newcomers to Nintendo's ongoing series, or even those new to RPGs.
Following this, there are some instances of 3D in locations for buildings, certain characters and so forth, giving the game a bizarre but incredibly unique feel that you can't really forget anytime soon. This does not make it any less atmospheric, on the contrary it merely helps increase it. You know that huge Boo Mansion leering over you is going to be scary, and you know Toad Town is an incredibly nice homeyl place from the moment the graphics are seen. They only elicit the point of every place's existence in such an obvious way that you know you won't get any wrong messages any time soon.
(Best. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ripoff. Ever.)
- Taking a back seat from this project, Koji Kondo (the legendary musician of the Super Mario series) has handed the lyrical reins over to Yuka Tsujiyoko, who supervised the score in the Fire Emblem series. Yuka's musical take on the series is not only reminiscent of Kondo's childishly happy-go-lucky ambience prominent in the series, but there are instances of newer pieces that while surprising for the Mushroom Kingdom nevertheless fit really well. Boss battles have a slight rock-style undertone, places are given their various musical feels. Toad Town is very happy sounding, Boo Mansion is spooky yet like a ballroom waltz, the lands of the Stars are twinkling and mystical. You won't get any mixed messages in these worlds from the music and the graphics blending together to imprint a feel upon you of exactly what you're going to expect in whatever area of the game you're in.
(Is it too late to say "duh duh DUH, daaahh daaahh, dah, Da-DAAAAAAAAHHH"?
This is a strange game that decides to blend an original mix of 2D and 3D, but also inject a marvellously simple yet strategic RPG element in the Mushroom Kingdom that while easy to learn, is slightly tricky to master perfectly. It is practically a "My First RPG" kind of game for kids. The music while different is still enough of similarity to exactly what you'd expect in this world, obvious but slightly less simple by the further technology of the N64. It tells a lot more about the Mushroom Kingdom, about its inhabitants and its natural laws, its folklore and its geography even is presented nicely in such a way that there is a small part of you waxing nostalgia every time you notice a familiar enemy from a past game or so. It's a marvellously presented travel guide of a kingdom we've all wondered about in its fundamental sense, and how it REALLY worked. If anyone can be able to make a good guess, then Intelligent Systems (who developed some of the game) have made an intelligent guess contrary to their apt name.
Final's Final Rating - 8/10"Videogames are bad for you? That's what they said about rock 'n' roll." - Shigeru Miyamoto
Hail Slither, The Eternal Champion!