It's Official: Super Paper Mario is Wii-bound

In case you missed the headline, Mario's latest transformation into paper cut-out shape is officially dated - and headed to Wii. As in Nintendo's (Pink Sheets: NTDOY) infamous, fun-for-all new-gen videogame system, that is.

In a rather humorous fashion, the venerable Japanese videogame company announced that the next chapter in the hotly-anticipated platformer-RPG series is due on April 9th. The release, cleverly styled in event-invitation format, carries the preliminary details as follows:

"Nintendo of America Requests the Pleasure of Your Company at the Marriage of Peach to Bowser on the 9th Day of April 2007. The nuptials will take place at the beginning of Super Paper Mario, which will be available for Nintendo's hot new Wii home video game system. Those who wish to attend - or thwart - the ceremony will need to switch between 2-D and 3-D."

Developed by Intelligent Systems, Super Paper Mario had originally been lined up for the GameCube, but with that console's demise hastened by Wii excitement the game shifted to the newer format, where its platform and role-playing hybrid style will have a chance to find a wide early audience. This appears to be confirmed at this time, as the lack of information concerning a release on the original development platform points even further to the pending retirement of the 'Cube as a destination for new content.

According to videogame website Eurogamer, Super Paper Mario, much like "the N64 and GameCube Paper Mario games (and, to some extent, Alphadream's Mario & Luigi series) before it... will consist of side-scrolling platform-style gameplay, directed by holding the Wiimote sideways and using it like a regular game controller, but interestingly it will allow players to switch to three dimensions to aid exploration. Players will also collect Pixls, which add game functionality that draws upon Wiimote capabilities."

Other than platform and release date, however, there is still a lot of information we don't know yet. However, among the details already known there are many clever throwbacks from previous Mario games that players must see to believe. In one level, you get to play through a recreation of the entire second act of World 1 from the original Super Mario Bros. with a few twists that take advantage of the 2D/3D transitions you can periodically activate at different points in the game. In other areas, this same mechanism can reveal the true form and location of certain blocks in a given area compared to what you see in 2D vs. 3D, in addition to areas which can only be traversed in one dimensional format or the other.

Pricing and other details are not currently available, nor has the game received an official ESRB rating.