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Super Paper Mario

 
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Super Paper Mario
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Game Description

Super Paper Mario begins a new chapter in Nintendo's whimsical hand-drawn adventure series, one that finds the mustachioed mascot in a familiar quest to rescue Princess Peach from the claws of one big, bad Bowser. Things quickly take a turn for the worse, however, when Mario and pals find themselves trapped in an alternate dimension called Flipside. In order to prevent the unthinkable, a marriage between Bowser and Peach, Mario must prove his valor by finding Pure Hearts hidden across eight colorful worlds.

In a surprising departure from its forbears, Super Paper Mario on Wii features traditional platform-style action instead of turn-based battles. Yet the most unusual twist is the ability for players to instantly rotate the default 2D perspective to a 3D viewpoint. This allows Mario to avoid confronting enemies, view areas that would otherwise be missed, solve environment-based puzzles, and more. The catch is that Mario's time in the 3D realm is limited, gradually taking away his "heart" points until he has none left. Scoring points during the game will help level Mario up and increase his available hearts.

While the emphasis in Super Paper Mario is now on real-time action, the game also includes some features from its RPG past. Mario can still maintain an inventory of helpful items, from consumables such as Shroom Shakes to magical objects such as the Sleepy Sheep, which will cause enemies to nap for a short time. Attributes such as attack power can be enhanced against certain enemy types by finding "Catch Cards," and a Mario game wouldn't be complete without an assortment of offbeat power-ups to acquire.

The controls in Super Paper Mario involve holding the Wii Remote on its side, with players manipulating their character using the directional pad and jumping with the "2" button. Holding down "A" causes the perspective to shift, and the controller can be shaken to perform various score-enhancing style moves after hitting an enemy. Super Paper Mario also features friendly little creatures called Pixls that grant players additional abilities with the Wii Remote, from pointing at the screen to illuminate targets to picking up and throwing objects.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Super Paper Mario represents a surprising departure from previous titles in the whimsical role-playing series, eschewing many of the successful features of past games for a more action-oriented effort closer in spirit to Nintendo's classic Super Mario Bros. The result is mixed. Fans of 2001's Paper Mario or its 2004 sequel will likely be disappointed with the simplified, action-based combat system, while platform game fans will find the game considerably easy when compared to the NES trilogy. Fortunately, the visuals, humor, and puzzles help make up for some of the deficiencies, and truth be told, Super Paper Mario is a blast to play. It also introduces some rather interesting play mechanics on the Wii.

The most dramatic feature is the ability to flip the 2D landscape to a limited 3D perspective, which often reveals hidden blocks, platforms, enemies, and secret paths. The action is otherwise classic Mario, with pipes to disappear into, blocks to punch, critters to bop, and suspended ledges to leap. A few areas have been lifted directly from the original Super Mario Bros., and older gamers will love listening to the remixed tunes while bouncing on koopas, goombas, and other familiar foes throughout the game's 32 main stages. Unfortunately the length of time to complete each level feels criminally short, and the challenge has been dialed down to the point where the game seems closer to a leisurely stroll than an intense workout. You're more likely to break wind than break a sweat.

The easy difficulty is by design. Mario has hit points instead of lives, trivializing the need to be cautious around enemies or hazards. Few enemies are encountered in any given area, and most are defeated with a few patented butt-bounces. Mario can also grab and throw enemies, blow them up, and more using his tagalong friends called Pixls. If that weren't enough, Mario and crew can consume health-restoring shakes and use offensive items collected during levels or purchased in between worlds. At no time do you feel like you're in danger of dying, which is great for younger audiences or those new to the Wii, but not so exciting for those who have known and loved Mario since his barrel-jumping days with a certain ornery ape.

Thus, gameplay generally involves visiting a themed world, bopping a handful of enemies for points, punching blocks for coins, and using the flip technique (and to a lesser extent, pointing the remote to reveal invisible blocks or doors) to solve puzzles and find the exit. Fortunately the puzzles are fun to solve, even if they take some work. Players will (1) switch between multiple Pixls, (2) switch perspectives to find hidden items, (3) switch characters, and (4) switch back to the default view to advance past an area. That's a whole lot of switching, and the act of selecting Pixls, items, or characters is tedious since you have to manually highlight them from a separate menu screen. Only Mario possesses the technique to flip stages, so other characters are merely "pinch hitters" for specific situations, such as using Peach's ability to float or Bowser's ability to belch flames. This sadly increases the amount of swapping you have to do on any given stage.

In its attempt to incorporate both role-playing and action elements, Super Paper Mario dilutes both, making for a game that doesn't quite feel as "super" as the title suggests. Nevertheless, most will find Super Paper Mario an entertaining 15+ hours of play. It (literally) shows a new side of familiar characters and features a surreal world filled with quirky residents, goofy, tongue-in-cheek dialogue, bizarre bosses, and an overall cheeriness that's hard to ignore. It's also hard to ignore, however, the charms of previous Paper Mario games, which are well worth seeking out on the Virtual Console after tearing through this version. Consider Super Paper Mario a well-composed work with a few wrinkles.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

Navigating the various stages by flipping back and forth is fun, as is solving the many puzzles. Yet the combat is far too easy, and at times you have to hunt for enemies to increase your score. Most players will zip through the game in a weekend.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

The 2D art style features vibrant colors and clean lines. Switching the perspective to 3D isn't quite as impressive, with narrow paths instead of wide-open areas. The blocky motif of Flipside might turn off some players looking for more traditional Mario realms.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Classic themes from a variety of Mario adventures are present, but the sound effects aren't as memorable. Mario is silent, other than a "yeah" or two, which is largely done for comedic effect.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

The main storyline spans roughly 15 hours, but players can spend a considerable amount of time revisiting completed stages to find all 256 character cards or the ingredients for 96 recipes. This is, of course, completely optional.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

The colorful multi-language manual crams everything you need to know in 12 pages, and each control feature is also explained during the game.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide
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Wikipedia: Super Paper Mario
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Super Paper Mario
Super Paper Mario cover.jpg
North American box art
Developer(s) Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Series Paper Mario
Platform(s) Wii
Release date(s) NA April 9, 2007
JP April 19, 2007
EU September 14, 2007
AUS September 20, 2007
Genre(s) Platform/console role-playing game
Mode(s) Single-player
Rating(s) CERO: A (All ages)
ESRB: E (Everyone)
OFLC: G
PEGI: 3+
USK: 0
Media Wii Optical Disc
Input methods Wii Remote

Super Paper Mario (スーパーペーパーマリオ Sūpā Pēpā Mario?) is a platform/console role-playing game (RPG) developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. Originally developed for the Nintendo GameCube, it was released for the Wii. The style of gameplay is a combination of the previous Paper Mario titles and Super Mario Bros. titles. Unlike the RPG-style gameplay of previous Paper Mario games, the game combines platforming gameplay, RPG and puzzle elements. It is the third game in the Paper Mario series.

Contents

Gameplay

Premise and setting

Super Paper Mario is a platformer with role-playing elements. The player moves through a series of levels, where they explores various landscapes, fights enemies, and solves puzzles. The game is divided into 32 levels within eight chapters, where each chapter takes place in a unique and awesome location, or "dimension". The main objective is to collect the eight Pure Hearts, one in each chapter, which is used to gain access to the next. Each area is joined to a central hub, a town called Flipside.

The perspective and level design changes as the player switches from 2D (top) to 3D (bottom).

The majority of gameplay is in 2D. Early in the game, Mario is given the ability to "flip" into 3D. By doing so, the perspective shifts and the 2D level rotates to reveal a hidden z-axis, placing Mario in a 3D environment. Flipping therefore allows the player to maneuver around obstacles impassable in the 2D perspective, or find items, enemies or varying landscapes only visible along the z-axis. However, staying in the 3D perspective too long depletes Mario's health.

The game uses a scoring system where points are accumulated through defeating enemies and using items. It also acts like the player's experience points system, however; points allow the player to level up and gain stronger attacks and higher resistance to damage from enemies or hazards. If the player's heart points (HP) reaches 0 from too much damage, they receive a game over and must resume play at the previous save point. Some recovery items, like mushrooms, restore HP.

As well as Mario, the player gains control of Princess Peach, Bowser, and Luigi as the game progresses and can switch between them at almost any point in the game. Princess Peach can float over long distances, Bowser can breathe fire, and Luigi can perform a super jump. Only Mario can flip between dimensions.

Controls

The game is controlled by holding the Wii Remote sideways, akin to the Nintendo Entertainment System control scheme, though very little of the controller's motion sensing is implemented.[1] During gameplay, the Pixl Tippi allows the player to use the Wii Remote pointer like a spotlight to highlight and read the descriptions of items and enemies, or spot any hidden objects. The 1 and 2 buttons on the Wii Remote allow the player to use the ability of a Pixl (a digital fairy-like character) and jump, respectively. Pixls grant the player abilities such as throwing or destroying obstacles, becoming tiny, or defending against enemies.

Wii Remote motion controls are used primarily for activating items through tilting the remote or shaking it. Also, shaking the remote after attacking an enemy causes the player to pull a "Stylish move" and earn extra points, and consecutive Stylish moves accumulate even more.

Plot

In light of a recent kidnapping of Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi head to King Bowser's castle to retrieve her, only to find that Bowser was not responsible for it. It is then revealed that the true kidnapper is Count Bleck, a sorcerer who wields an ancient, prophetical tome called the Dark Prognosticus. In addition to Princess Peach, he kidnaps Luigi and Bowser, and brainwashes Bowser's Koopa and Goomba army. The Count then employs the hypnotic powers of his right-hand woman, Nastasia, and forces the marriage of Princess Peach to Bowser in order to, as the Dark Prognosticus foretells, unleash a destructive power known as the Chaos Heart. Count Bleck uses the Chaos Heart to open an inter-dimensional rift known as "The Void", which will eventually grow large enough to engulf the entire universe.

Mario meets a butterfly-like Pixl named Tippi and a wizard named Merlon, who have come in search of Mario. They inform him that he matches the description of the Hero, described in another prophetical tome called the Light Prognosticus, who is able to halt the impeding doom of The Void. To banish the Chaos Heart and reverse the destruction, the Hero requires the eight Pure Hearts, artifacts created from genuine love. Mario and Tippi set off to collect the Pure Hearts and stop Count Bleck's plan.

On Mario's journey, he encounters a number of antagonistic forces that attempt to stop him from retrieving the Pure Hearts, such as a race of mind controlling sentient plants, a die-hard otaku and nerd named Francis, and a horde of demons. Some of Mario's more prominent foes include Count Bleck's minions: O'Chunks, a dim-witted but loyal warrior with superhuman strength, Mimi, a sadistic shapeshifter obsessed with wealth, Dimentio, a psychotic dimension-crossing jester; and Mr. L, a mysterious masked villain with a flair for robotics who is actually a brainwashed Luigi. Dimentio is eventually revealed to be secretly working against Bleck's vendetta; he spirits Peach away from Bleck's clutches and reunites her with Mario; Bowser eventually joins up with Mario due to Peach's insistence. Dimentio also covertly assists Mario by sowing distrust between Bleck's minions, and at one point he "kills" both Mario's group and Mr. L; though, in actuality, he merely restored Luigi's memory and instantly moved the group to another location unscathed, resulting in the brothers' reunion and the cleansing of a Pure Heart that had been nearly destroyed by The Void. Both Mario and Bleck are unaware of Dimentio's standalone agenda.

At the end of each chapter, another story is told of a passionate relationship between two people, Blumiere and Timpani, that was ended by the hand of Blumiere's disdainful father, who banished Timpani to wander between dimensions and left her to die. The identity of these characters and their relationship to the story are initially unknown, though Tippi is later revealed to be Timpani, and "Count Bleck" is the pseudonym of the devastated Blumiere, who—unknowing of Timpani's rescue by Merlon—was driven insane by the loss of his love. After he took on the persona of Count Bleck, a suicidal Blumiere sought to bring existence to ruin and turned to the Dark Prognosticus. However, over the course of the game, Blumiere and Timpani begin to realize the other's true identities, and Blumiere begins to regret his actions; nevertheless, Blumiere continues with his plans, believing that he has gone too far to stop.

Upon collecting all of the Pure Hearts, Mario, Timpani, and company confront Blumiere in his castle. They defeat Blumiere but fail to halt The Void's destruction. The Chaos Heart falls from Blumiere's possession and Dimentio picks it up; he reveals that he has studied the Dark Prognosticus extensively and that he wishes to use the Chaos Heart and the Void in conjunction to create an entirely new universe in his image. Dimentio brainwashes Luigi into becoming Mr. L once more, saying that the Dark Prognosticus revealed him as the ideal host for the Chaos Heart; Dimentio fuses the Chaos Heart, Luigi, and himself into one entity called Super Dimentio, who has complete control over the Void; Super Dimentio uses this power to shatter the Pure Hearts, and begins making his new universe.

However, Blumiere and Timpani's renewed love for one another, as well as the feelings of loyalty felt towards Blumiere by his remaining minions, restore the Pure Hearts; Mario and Timpani use their power to battle Super Dimentio, who upon defeat splits back into three parts: Luigi, the Chaos Heart, and Dimentio, who perishes. However, Dimentio's lasting influence on the Chaos Heart causes the Void to expand uncontrollably, threatening all of existence.

Blumiere nullifies the wedding chapel in Castle Bleck that was used to marry Peach and Bowser, and he and Timpani then restore their true love for each other and exchange their vows, which banishes the Chaos Heart, seals The Void, returns the other characters to Flipside and restores order in the universe, effectively nullifying the prediction in the Dark Prognosticus. However, Blumiere and Timpani disappeared after the rebirth of their love; it is assumed by the company they did not survive.

Merlon cheers up Mario and company, as well as Blumiere's minions, stating that they are likely in a better place, and everyone leaves to celebrate their victory with a meal. After the credits, Blumiere and a human Timpani are shown together in a place resembling a paradise.

Development

Super Paper Mario was created out of a desire to combine the familiar look of the Paper Mario series with a new style of gameplay.[2] Chief director Ryota Kawade was on a train thinking about ways to adapt a mini-game from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in which the player controls a large Bowser in a short side-scrolling stage; he noticed that the other end of the train looked like a stage in a Mario game and envisioned switching between two and three dimensions.[3] When producer Kensuke Tanabe was told about the idea, he decided to make the sequel an action-adventure game,[2] but retained some role-playing elements to establish the game in the Paper Mario franchise.[4] Kawade and Tanabe also felt that these elements, as well as the ability to switch between two and three dimensions, would make the game more accessible to players unaccustomed to action games.[5] The team played side-scrolling Mario titles for inspiration, envisioning how the levels would look in 3D.[4]

Super Paper Mario was announced by Nintendo on May 11, 2006 at E3 for the Nintendo GameCube.[6] On May 30, 2006, Nintendo set a release date of October 9, 2006.[7] That summer, the game was "quietly moved" to the Wii.[8]

PAL copies of the game contain a glitch if the language is set to English, German, or Spanish. In Chapter 2-2, the game will freeze if Mario speaks to the character Mimi without first picking up the key. Nintendo of Europe is replacing the game disc for no charge with a version that does not contain the glitch.[9] Nintendo of Europe announced details of the replacement on their website in November 2007.[10]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 85.2%[11]
Metacritic 85% (56 reviews)[12]
Review scores
Publication Score
Edge 7 out of 10[13]
Famitsu 35 out of 40[14]
Game Informer 9.5 out of 10[15]
GameSpot 8.8 out of 10[16]
GameSpy 4 out of 5 [17]
IGN 8.9 out of 10[18]
Nintendo Power 9.5 out of 10[19]
X-Play 4 out of 5[20]

Reviews for Super Paper Mario were generally positive. One comment by IGN was that Mario's flip ability was somewhat overused. NGamer magazine also stated that the 3D flipped worlds were rather barren compared to the 2D worlds. As of March 31, 2008, the game has sold 2.28 million copies worldwide, with 500,000 copies sold in Japan.[21]

Super Paper Mario's plot has been praised by most critics. GameSpot said that its plot's history has a "great sense of humor",[22] while GameSpy called it "funny". However, X-Play criticized the plot as a "con" of the game, stating that it is "cutesy". The graphics were also well received.[20] GameSpy praised its "clean visuals" and IGN, giving the graphics a score of 7.5 out of 10, said "A beautiful 2D platformer and an uninspired 3D one. The worlds Mario explores look fantastic when they're flat, but the moment they gain depth they become barren landscapes".[23] XPlay said that "everyone should rejoice that the long suffering 2D platform genre has gotten a much needed makeover courtesy of the mustachioed man that helped create it in the first place."[24]

There were also some complaints about the game. Game Informer criticized the after-end of the game and the side-quests (such as recipes), as said "There also isn’t much impetus to collect enemy cards, bake things, or do anything extra since the game never gets hard enough to warrant it. And after beating the game (it takes a little over 20 hours), there isn't any significant additional content to keep players coming back."[25] GameSpot criticized the audio, saying "The weakest element is the game's audio, which is a little too retro. Although the soundtrack is solid, there are no standout tracks. The sound effects are effective, albeit a bit too familiar. Voice is used too sparingly, though what's there fits the archetype set by the previous games."[22] Though IGN praised the plot, they said "The writing is well-crafted and humorous, but there is so much to read that it actually interrupts the flow of the game."[23]

References

  1. ^ "Super Paper Mario :: Wii Game Review". KidzWorld. http://www.kidzworld.com/article/7881-super-paper-mario-nintendo-wii-game-review. Retrieved 2009-03-09. 
  2. ^ a b Williams, p. 76.
  3. ^ Williams, p. 78.
  4. ^ a b Williams, p. 77.
  5. ^ Williams, pp. 76–77.
  6. ^ JKR (2006-05-11). "E3 2006: Super Paper Mario". IGN. http://cube.ign.com/articles/708/708018p1.html. Retrieved 2007-03-07. 
  7. ^ Harris, Craig (2006-05-30). "Nintendo's Latest Line-up". IGN. http://cube.ign.com/articles/710/710515p1.html. Retrieved 2007-03-07. 
  8. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (2007-01-22). "Paper Mario Unfolding in April?". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/757/757502p1.html. Retrieved 2007-03-07. 
  9. ^ "Super Paper Mario announcement". Nintendo. 2007-09-19. http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2007/super_paper_mario_announcement.html. Retrieved 2008-04-25. 
  10. ^ Nintendo - News - Super Paper Mario announcement
  11. ^ "Super Paper Mario Reviews". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/933012.asp. Retrieved 2008-03-14. 
  12. ^ "Super Paper Mario (wii: 2007)". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/wii/superpapermario. Retrieved 2008-03-14. 
  13. ^ "Super Paper Mario review". Edge 176: 84–85. June 2007. 
  14. ^ "週刊ファミ通クロスレビュープラチナ殿堂入りソフト一覧" (in Japanese). GEIMIN.NET. http://geimin.net/da/cross_review.php. 
  15. ^ Vore, Bryan. "Super Paper Mario review". Game Informer. http://www.gameinformer.com/Games/Review/200706/R07.0411.1202.25242.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-23. 
  16. ^ Torres, Ricardo (2007-04-09). "Super Paper Mario for Wii Review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/wii/rpg/superpapermario/review.html. Retrieved 2007-09-14. 
  17. ^ Williams, Bryan (2007-04-09). "Super Paper Mario for Wii Review". GameSpy. http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/super-paper-mario-/779073p1.html. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  18. ^ Casamassina, Matt (2007-04-05). "Super Paper Mario Review". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/778/778606p1.html. Retrieved 2007-09-14. 
  19. ^ "Reviews: What's Playing Now". Nintendo Power 216: 100. 
  20. ^ a b Mollenkopf, Emily. "G4 - Reviews — Super Paper Mario". X-Play. http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/1502/Super_Paper_Mario.html. Retrieved 2007-12-27. 
  21. ^ "Financial Results Briefing for the Fiscal Year Ended March 2008: Supplementary Information" (PDF). Nintendo. 2008-04-25. pp. 6. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2008/080425e.pdf#page=6. Retrieved 2008-08-03. 
  22. ^ a b [1]
  23. ^ a b [2]
  24. ^ http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/1502/Super_Paper_Mario.html
  25. ^ [3]
  • Thomason, Steve (April 2007). "A Matter of Perspective". Nintendo Power 214: 44–48. ISSN 1041-9551. 
  • Williams, Drew (May 2007). "Super Paper Mario: The Interview". Nintendo Power 215: 76–78. ISSN 1041-9551. 

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