Paper Mario

"Mario And Paper = Great Combo!"

Introduction
Paper Mario shows us that Nintendo has the capability to make a good Mario RPG game without Squaresoft. Paper Mario was a nice change from RPGs such as...wait...there were almost no RPGs for N64...oh well, anyhoo, with no RPG competition and a very classic Mario game feeling, Paper Mario was easily one of the better games the N64 made before finally calling it quits and making way for The Gamecube. I will tell you why it deserves and has that title.

Gameplay 9/10
The Gameplay this game has to offer is excellent! The game does have what it take to compare with it's prequel Mario RPG. You start off with one party member then gain more as you progress through the game, this includes a Goomba, a Koopa, a pink walking and talking bomb, a Ghost and many more! You venture to many worlds including a fortress, a desert, a Tropical Island, an Ice Mountain, only to name a few. There are many side quests you can do, so even if you finish the game, there are so many different things you can do, so you will never have truly finished the game until you have you have done all of the side quests and special features the game has to offer.

Story 6/10
Ok, the story is the only bad part of this game just because it is the same as Super Mario Brothers 1, Super Mario Brothers 3, Super Mario World and Super Mario 64. Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach and you have to rescue her from Bowser for the 5th time, But to do so you must collect all 7 Star Spirits and defeat the 7 guardians guarding them, after venturing to different parts of The Mushroom Kingdom and collecting all 7 star spirits, you can face Bowser in the final confrontation to rescue Peach.
If the general plot had not been used, I would have given the Story an 8 or a nine, I gave the story a 6 instead of a 5 because it had a bit more to it then just saving peach.

Graphics 10/10
Don't let the old Paper Mario commercials fool you, this game has almost the best and most colorful graphics on the N64. The characters are 2D, but the environment is 3D, so you are technically still playing a 3D game, just 3D characters, which I personally like. The bosses, party members, townspeople and Miscellaneous people in the game have lots of detail and character. The Dialogue of the people you talk to changes a lot, and it will always be new, you won't find the same dialogue from say...3 levels ago ever again once the person starts a new topic, I think this game really used a lot of the N64's capabilities, such as an expansive world(Ex:Ocarina of Time), but not too expansive(Ex:Donkey Kong 64). Overall, this game just has superb graphics and if you want a very colorful and smooth game for the N64, you cannot get much better then this!

Audio 10/10
what can I say, there is nothing wrong with the Audio. It has many different original Mario theme songs that fit well with their Scenarios.

Control 9/10
The controls are very simple in this, there are only 3 action buttons (Jump, hammer, Party member, a menu button, a party member change button, and a fast menu change button. The walking and running in this game is a little sluggish, but it is nothing to complain about really. There is a spin dash you can do, which is alright, and when you are not in battle, you can use the hammer and the jump. Other then that, the controls are pretty easy to remember and fairly simple.

Difficulty 7/10
Depends on your age and game experience, for a 5-12 year old with a little to mediocre game experience it would be really hard, for a person who has beat games like super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, it is not very difficult, but has it's points in the game where it is tough and puzzling.
I just had to take 3 points away cause it is not hard, I always give mediocre difficult games a 7/10.

FUN 10/10
The game is really fun, like I said before, there are so many things to discover, figure out, complete and overcome, you will never stop having fun any time soon. I really never thought the N64 could make a game where you could have a single player fun for hours on end, but I was wrong, the game has too much I give this game a 10/10, no question, if you can't find fun in this game, I don't what Single player game you will find fun in!

Playing Time 9/10
To do the basic walkthrough of just beating the game, the first time might take 10 hours at least. 2nd time through would be 9 hours max. And all other times should only take under 8 hours. If you do everything in the game has to offer then beat it, your looking at 22 hours at least.
Overall, it has lots of playing time if you do all of the features the game has to offer. So that's why I think it deserves a 9/10, I'd give it a 10/10 if the game was a bit harder.

Replayability 9/10
This game, like I said, has so many features to offer and it is definitely worth beating a couple times just for the heck of it, so I would most definitely give the replayablity of the game 9/10.

Buy Or Rent
Buy, DEFINITELY buy, it is worth the money, every single last cent. If you like Mario games, then you will definitely like this game, if you do not like Mario games, the stay clear of it!

Overall
Hey, this game deserves a 9/10, It used almost all of the N64's capabilities and showed that Nintendo has what it takes to make a good RPG without Squaresoft. Nintendo has made Rpgs in the past without Squaresoft, but they were horrible and some did not make it to the N64! So this game is definitely worth a rent at least, do not consider other RPGs until you have played this one, it is probably the best RPG out there on the N64!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/04