Paper Mario

"Paper Mario is one of those games where you will cherish your first playthrough for years to come."

Score:
Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Value: 10
Tilt: 10

Overall: 10

The Good: Beautiful graphics and level design take full advantage of the N64's hardware; tons of interesting and unique characters to interact with; original locations that stay true to the Mario universe; fully customizable badge system keeps the battle system fun throughout the entire game; no need for level grinding; wonderful and original music to compliment the beautiful locations you will visit.

The Bad: Your allies can't use items from your inventory during battles.

Paper Mario is one of those rare games where I've ever had the audacity to claim that it's perfect. Paper Mario was released right at the end of the Nintendo 64's lifespan, and is one of those games that had the entire time to figure out where other games went wrong and where other games succeeded. Paper Mario is the type of game that takes a genre such as role-playing, takes out everything people dislike about the genre, leaving the good stuff, then adds a boatload of new awesome things for good measure.

Paper Mario sticks to the conventional "Mario" storyline where none other than Bowser is responsible for kidnapping Princess Peach. However in typical RPG fashion not only is Peach's safety at risk but the fate of the entire Mushroom Kingdom is hanging in the balance after Bowser steals the Star Rod which has the power to grant all wishes. However, this Star Rod was in the guardianship of the seven Star Spirits who would use the Star Rod to only grant the wishes of good kind hearted people. Selfish wishes such as Bowser's wishes to defeat Mario were left ungranted. Furious that he has always been bested by Mario and his wishes go unanswered, Bowser steals the Star Rod from Star Haven, where the Star Rod is kept and grants his own wish for ultimate power. This opens the door for the adventure because Mario is easily defeated by Bowser and the fate of the land is at stake. Bowser also takes the liberty of abducting the Star Spirits as well as the Princess, and leaving them in the captivity of his servants who he has also made more powerful.

Due to the nature of the story, the only way for Mario to defeat Bowser is to venture out into the lands beyond the Mushroom Kingdom to recover the seven Star Spirits, who when once united can give Mario the power to defeat Bowser. Once you (as Mario) are defeated by Bowser you must begin the adventure to save the Star Spirits. The gameplay begins relatively simple but expands beyond simplicity as you progress through the game. Mario will originally only have access to one attack which is a simple jump command. However Mario will eventually gain the ability to use a hammer attack, star powers and advanced jump and hammer attacks thanks to nifty badges you can find or purchase throughout the game.

The gameplay sticks to traditional Mario RPG fashion by using time based button presses to deal more damage than normal. These "action commands" are something that you will need to perfect throughout the game if you want to be successful. Every action command is different but they all test your reflexes and ability to enter commands on the controller. Many of these demand that you properly time button presses, or line up a shot properly, but even after you've done all of these action commands they will still remain a challenge to do all the way until the end of the game. Not all of them are difficult, many of them are easy, however some are difficult to master.

All of your abilities can be enhanced by the many badges you will find and purchase throughout the game. Badges are worn by using badge points. Each badge consumes a different amount of badge points so you can only wear a certain amount of badges at the same time. When you level up you can choose to either upgrade health points, flower points of badge points, upgrading badge points will allow you to wear and use more badges. I like to think of the badge system in Paper Mario as a similar system to how Materia worked in Final Fantasy VII. You can only use a certain amount of badges as you have badge points, and you could only equip as much Materia as materia slots you had on your weapons and armor. The badge system is also similar to the Materia system in the sense that you can fully customize Mario at any given time throughout the game. You don't have to just have a certain set of abilities he is stuck with the entire game, you can switch them on the fly which is convenient. For example when you enter a new area and find that you are up against a bunch of shelled enemies with spikes on their backs, after you struggle through your first encounter with them you can go back and adjust your badges to ensure that Mario can jump on spiked enemies by using the "spike shield" badge. Even then you may encounter a fire enemy further down the path so you might have to customize even further to ensure your attacks are effective against fire opponents. It's this type of on-the-fly customization that makes the game interesting and allows you to have to constantly decide which badges you should and shouldn't be using.

Like all previous Mario RPG games there are two playing fields. There is the field, and the battle screen. To fight enemies you must either attack them in the field, they attack you in the field, or you simply connect with each other. If you can attack the enemy in the field you can initiate a first strike against your opponent to deal damage to them before the battle which is convenient, however likewise they can do the same thing to you so you have to be careful. However when enemies do have the chance to attack you thanks to action commands you can use them to defend yourself sometimes completely avoiding damage depending on your enemies attack power. When an enemy attacks Mario depending on when they connect with him and when you press the "A" button you can reduce the damage that Mario takes by defending against the attack. You can even wear badges that will reward you by adding bonus defense to enemy attacks when you successfully pull off a defensive action command. What really makes this system of attacking and defending so great though is that Paper Mario throws away the typical RPG fashion of having billions of hit points and attack power and simplifies everything into lower numbers. For example Mario begins the game with ten hit-points, and his enemies (including himself) deal damage of about one to two points of damage. Whereas in a typical RPG game your character would start with something like a couple hundred hit points and deals something like a hundred damage per attack, Paper Mario becomes much more strategic early on by keeping the amount of hit points and damage factors very low, which keeps the battles interesting for the entire game.

Special moves that Mario obtains are used by using badges and flower points (basically mana or magic points) and by using star powers. Of the many badges Mario can equip many of them are passive enhancements, but many of them are also new jumping and hammer abilities, things like hammer throw, where Mario throws a hammer at an enemy, or multijump where Mario jumps on every enemy in a row so long as you successfully complete each action command, where if you miss Mario will fall to the ground and the attack will cease. These attacks consume flower points so they will have to be used intelligently. Star power attacks are special moves that you gain by defeating a boss and rescuing a Star Spirit. Every time you rescue a Star Spirit you will obtain one new meter a Star Energy and a new ability. Each ability uses a different amount of Star Energy and they are an assortment of different powers. One power for instance will replenish a small amount of health and flower points, while another will send a storm of falling stars to attack your enemies. There are also Star Power abilities that will immobilize your opponents or lower their attack power for several turns. These abilities are a great addition and can greatly change the course of a battle if used wisely. Unlike health and flower points star energy cannot be replenished by using restorative items, it can only be replenished by using a command called focus. This command restores some energy but also wastes your turn. Initially only Mario can do this command but a badge will also allow your allies to use it as well. Thankfully the star energy does replenish on its own over time (although very slowly) and can also be replenished by sleeping at a Toad House (the Paper Mario equivalent to an Inn).

Exploration in Paper Mario is another aspect of the game that makes it so wonderful. Despite the fact that the game in in fact very linear, exploring the environments you have to go to is reminiscent of Super Mario 64. In Super Mario 64 the game is linear, but once you have enough stars you can access new areas, however there is a clear line of progression in that game. While Paper Mario may be much more linear the whole process of exploration in Paper Mario is near the same as in Super Mario 64. The levels are wonderfully designed each sprung to life with gorgeous visuals (yes the N64 graphics are actually gorgeous) and the "paper" aspect of the game creates this weird sensation. Its very difficult to explain but all of the environments are so unique and interesting and so vastly different from each other yet they all connect to the Mario universe in one way or another which makes them so interesting, yet refreshing to explore. Each area you go to in Paper Mario is laid out in a certain order but actually going there offers much exploration. While your ultimate goal is also linear in a certain sense there is much exploration while you are trying to figure out what it is you are supposed to do. This also leads to some very interesting puzzles, and whats makes the puzzles so great is that they are wonderfully designed yet not mind numbingly confusing. It simply comes down to the fact that the entire concept and design of the areas explored in Paper Mario are so faithful to the Mario mythos yet so unique in their own way that it gives you such a wonderful feeling when you explore them for the first time. The level design is simply wonderful and goes back to the days of the amazing level design found in games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.

The levels aside, there are also many wonderful teammates who will accompany you throughout your adventure, and while the character development is nowhere near the level of a Final Fantasy game, the characters in Paper Mario have so many wonderful and hilarious cut-scenes there will be no part of the adventure where you won't see yourself with a smile on your face. Paper Mario has perhaps some of the most memorable characters in Nintendo history.

To compliment the beautiful levels Paper Mario is conveniently accompanied by a wonderfully pleasing soundtrack. The music is so perfect for a Mario game its astonishing. There are even some classic tracks hidden deep in the game and many updated versions of older tracks make an appearance. It's hard to knock Paper Mario's music when it sounds almost childish but the music fits the tone of the Mario universe so well that its essentially the perfect musical experience for a Mario game. Not to mention the sound effects are equally superb. The attention to detail is amazing and even an easter egg such as being able to turn into 8-bit Mario from Super Mario Bros. includes the classic jump sound from that game, along with the original Super Mario Bros. theme song. It all adds up to a great effect which makes the adventure that much more entertaining to experience.

Paper Mario is about a 30-35 hour adventure without including any side-quests and collecting all of the badges, star pieces and other goodies spread throughout the game. Adding up all of the extra things to do such as side-quests and collecting every last badge and star piece could take anywhere from 40 hours and beyond. Paper Mario isn't the longest RPG out there but it's definitely by no means short and with so many extra little things thrown in it can keep you occupied much longer than you'd think. Things like cooking, mini-games, doing favors and collecting badges to find all the ones you've missed can take up hours. And even when you've completed the main quest you will probably be so involved in the experience by that time that you will do all of the extra stuff if only to make this wonderful experience last that much longer. Paper Mario is truly a remarkable game and is one of the Nintendo 64's best. Don't pass this game up, whether you find it laying around in some dumpy old store or it eventually surfaces on the Wii as a downloadable game, play this game because you will not regret enjoying the best RPG that the Nintendo 64 has the offer.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/06