Paper Mario: Reminiscing About Mario's Second RPG Masterpiece

Although Squaresoft ceased making games for Nintendo systems for a few years following the release of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, that game had become so popular that Nintendo had to create a sequel. They ended up turning to Intelligent Systems, one of their in-house developers, to craft a new Mario role playing game, and nearly five years after the release of Super Mario RPG, it was ready to be unleashed on players in North America. Released in 2001, Paper Mario became the first in a series of three games (so far) to feature Mario and his friends and foes as paper sprites. While the game may look somewhat childish and the difficulty level largely not very high, it is still a lot of fun, and it was one of the last great games to come out for the Nintendo 64, which by year's end would be abandoned in favor of the Gamecube. Today, I shall look back at the game that made me love the Mario RPG games.

Mario and Luigi are invited to Peach's Castle for a party, and at first, everything goes smoothly. All of a sudden, the castle finds itself high in the sky, resting on Bowser's Castle. The Koopa King himself shows up, and shockingly, he manages to defeat Mario with the aid of the wish-granting Star Rod that he swiped from Star Haven. When Mario awakens in Goomba Village, he learns that not only are Bowser and his minions wreaking havoc and holding Peach captive as usual, but the Star Spirits who protected the Star Rod and who grant wishes to everyone have been captured and scattered throughout the Mushroom Kingdom. Only by rescuing the spirits can Mario hope to foil Bowser's schemes and recover the Star Rod. A pretty basic plot, though it is deeper than most of the story lines found in the main Mario games.

The basic game play has Mario exploring many areas of the Mushroom Kingdom in search of the villains who hold the Star Spirits prisoner. From the hot desert to a spooky forest to a tropical jungle, our hero has a lot of ground to cover. On the main screen, he can solve puzzles, uncover secrets, and collect items. The items in question can heal him, attack foes, and more. There are towns where Mario can do things to advance the story, spend coins to buy items, or rest up at a Toad House if he is not feeling too well. With so much exploration, players will be spending weeks just trying to do everything the game has to offer.

It would not be an RPG without plenty of combat, and here, Mario will find himself in many turn-based battles. Making its debut here is the action of getting a first strike against an enemy, whether by jumping onto it, striking it with a hammer, or using one of Mario's partners to hit it. With a successful first strike, Mario can deal some extra damage at the start of the fight. However, if the enemy hits Mario first, he will be the one to take damage when the battle commences. Either way, the battle will then start in earnest. Since the foes are out in the field, you can choose to fight or avoid them as you please. However, by running past these foes, you may struggle against stronger enemies who will surely defeat you when you are at a low level unless you have a lot of items, skill, and luck.

The battles work like this: first, Mario attacks, and then his partner (on which more later) attacks, though by pressing the Z button, you can have the partner attack first, then Mario. When both characters have taken their turns, the enemies will proceed to attack Mario. Early in the adventure, Mario will learn how to use the Action Command to help him deal more damage to his adversaries, as well as how to reduce the amount of damage he takes. Each attack has its own Action Command, and by mastering them, you can easily gain the upper hand in combat. If things look bleak, you can use healing items to recover, attack items to hurt one or more foes, or special items that cause a variety of effects. Also, each Star Spirit that you save can give you additional help, but you will need star power, which gradually recovers as the battle rages on, to call on them. The battles are a ton of fun and rarely feel like they drag on for too long.

When you win a fight, you will gain Star Points which act like experience points in that they can add up and help you reach the next level. For every 100 Star Points collected, you will gain a level and have the option of increasing one of three attributes. You can increase Heart Points to gain more health, Flower Points to use more powerful attacks, and Badge Points to wear more badges. These badges, which can be purchased or found in many areas, give Mario new or upgraded powers, or can have other effects such as having Mario sometimes avoid getting hit. You can choose the attribute to upgrade to make the game as simple or as difficult as you want it to be. Be warned, though, that the number of Star Points that an enemy gives you will decrease as you become stronger, to the point that he no longer gives you any points. Therefore, you will need to find stronger enemies if you wish to gain more levels.

During Mario's adventures, he will gain the aid of eight companions, who can help him in and out of battle. First, there is Goombario, a Goomba who can tell Mario about many places, people, and enemies. Then there is Kooper, a Koopa who loves adventure and can hit distant objects when Mario kicks his shell into them. Bombette is a Bob-Omb whose specialty is blowing things up. Parakarry is a somewhat clumsy Paratroopa who can carry Mario across some gaps and who can deliver letters to some characters. Next, there is Bow, a female Boo who can make Mario invisible to pass through walls and hide from enemies. Watt the Spark can illuminate dark areas and discover hidden objects. Sushie the Cheep Cheep can carry Mario on her back while she swims in the water. Lastly, Lakilester the Lakitu can carry our hero over spikes and other hazardous terrain. Deciding which partner is best for which tasks and battles is important for success, and it is a lot of fun to use every single one of them.

One of the very best parts of the game occurs every time Mario rescues a Star Spirit: the scene switches to Peach's Castle, where for once, Peach is not just waiting for Mario to save her. Instead, with the help of a young star named Twink, she sneaks out into the castle in search of clues to help Mario on his quest. These missions tend to be stealth-based: should Peach be caught, she will be sent back to her room and will have to escape again (fortunately, Bowser and his minions never catch on to the princess' escape route). Peach can gain hints as a result of doing such things as baking a cake for a hungry Shy Guy, partaking in a quiz show, and reading Bowser's diary. She will always be recaptured in the end, but not before she gets the information needed to point Mario in the right direction. These missions are pretty exciting, and one wishes that Peach was always this useful instead of being a damsel in distress.

The main quest is quite long, but there are also a lot of side quests to participate in throughout the game. You can hunt down Star Pieces that can be traded in for badges, do favors for an old Koopa, fight some pretty tough boss battles, and more. These quests tend to be rewarding and offer a nice break from the story, not that the story is not very engaging itself. As in other Mario RPG games, there is plenty of humor and references to other Mario games. For example, at one point, our hero finds himself ridding a whale of his stomach ache, and as a result, the whale refers to him as "Dr. Mario." It pays to talk to everyone and search everywhere to see what ingenious humor and wonderful surprises can be discovered.

As a whole, this game is nothing short of being awesome, from its action-packed battles to its inspired humor. If there are some minor complaints, they include having the game be a little on the easy side (though some of the optional bosses present quite a challenge) and having some of the side quests drag a bit. At least unlike subsequent games, backtracking to other lands is largely optional and thus it never feels like the story has any artificial lengthening. All in all, Intelligent Systems did a marvelous job in taking what made Super Mario RPG so amazing and improving on it in numerous ways. For Nintendo 64 fans, this game, along with some others such as Conker's Bad Fur Day, helped the system go out with a bang, and proved that Nintendo was willing to give the system a grand send off before the Gamecube's release in late 2001.

The reason the game is called Paper Mario is because Mario, as well as his friends and foes, are all paper sprites, while everything else is in 3D. However, it is a charming combination, with the characters looking and acting like cartoon characters. At times, their animations appear as if they belong in an animated movie. The 3D graphics look fairly good for a game released near the end of the Nintendo 64's lifespan, as well. The music is fittingly cute, with lots of memorable tracks and the usual set of remixes of tunes from past Mario games. All in all, the game triumphs in both visual and audio presentation.

Nine years have passed since the release of Paper Mario, and yet its appeal has certainly not diminished at all. It is considered a classic today, and has also become available on the Wii Shop Channel for players to download and enjoy. It would lead to an excellent sequel (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door) followed by a mediocre follow up (Super Paper Mario). There is no word yet on when or if we will see a fourth title in the series, or whether or not it will be more like an RPG like the first two games were. For now, if you have never played Paper Mario, I recommend that you do so, as it is a great example of what a game released near the end of a system's life should be like.