"Paper Mario Gets A New Style"

When I heard of this game in 2006, I was so excited! Back then it was to be released in December and be for Gamecube. I was kind of angry when they pushed it to 2007 so that it could be for Wii, but I am glad that they did. Of course, I pre-ordered it after having the first two and was overjoyed. Here's why.

Story(10): This game's story is just...wow. I'll try to explain without ruining anything. Count Bleck captures Peach and forces her to marry Bowser. This causes a giant void to open up and begin to destroy everything. Mario is sent to Flipside by Tippi, your Pixl companion. Merlon explains everything to Mario and the adventure begins. Of course, the story line gets much, much deeper and interesting. Overall, the story gets a ten out of ten.

Graphics(10): The graphics for this game are amazing. They are bright and vivid. They are extremely smooth and really help the look of 3-D and 2-D. The characters look just as detailed as they should be, and animations go perfectly. The backgrounds are nice and colorful as well. Some people say the Wii's graphics are bad, but this game's graphics say otherwise. Ten out of ten.

Sound(10): The sound in this game is great. From Bowser's growls to the sound of using an item, the sounds of this game are smooth, nice, and hard to dislike. Sometimes it even feels like the things making the sounds are right next to you! Ten out of ten.

Music(10): The music in this game is great. It always matches were you are and never sound out of place. It is the best Mario music that I have ever heard. And I have heard a lot of Mario music. Ten out of ten.

Characters(10): I wonder how long it took Nintendo to make all of these people? The playable characters are Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luig. Mario is silent as usual. Peach is kind but a little funny at times. Bowser is a great comic relief. Luigi is a lot braver in this game and a great addition to the playable characters. Count Bleck speaks in third person, but makes a great main villian. Nastasia is his secretary. She can hipnotize people. O'Chunks is a big guy. He can fly by...Um...You don't really want to know. Mimi is a really freaky shape shifter. Demintio is a strange jester that can bend reality. There's the mysterious Mr. L, who when you see him isn't really "mysterious". One really good boss is Francis, a super nerd who is HILARIOUS. There's the Florosapiens, strange plant creatures. There's the classic goombas and troopas, along with some newer enemies, such as the Cursya family. There are so many characters, I can't find the time to name them all. So as you can imagine, this catagory gets a ten out of ten.

Controls(10): The controls of this game are really easy to use. But to play you put the Wii remote so that the Directional Pad is on your left, giving it a classic control style from the NES games. While you are playing as Mario, you can press "A" to flip between 3-D and 2-D. "2" let's you jump. "1" uses a Pixl's ability. You can press "1" and "2" for a quick menu, or just press "+" for the full menu. Also, if you hit "-" you can get the controls. If you point the Wii remote at the screen, Tippi can identify things for you and even reveal secret things that you can't normally see. Also, if you shake the Wii Remote up and down after jumping on an enemy you'll do a stylish move. Ten out of ten.

Gameplay(10): Time for the best part! You can flip between 3-D and 2-D as Mario. This is really good because it lets the gameplay be diverse with challenging puzzles. Unlike the past two Paper Mario games, this games battling is real time. So instead of choosing an action and trying to hit "A" at the right time for extra damage, you'll be having to doge and hit at the same time. Stylish move are back, but rather than exiting an audience, you can get extra points. What are points you ask? Well, rather than getting 100 stars and as you level up enemy experience points going down, you need points to level up. In the NES games points didn't really have a purpouse. But now as you level up you will need more and more points. When you level up, rather than choosing what to upgrade, the game will switch between plus five health and plus one attack.

The items in this game are great. There are some items that come from blocks that you must use immediatly, such as a normal mushroom or a star. The mushroom heals ten health, and the star turns you into a giant , invincible, 8-bit version of you character. another item that is used immediatly creates a few mini 8-bit version of you character around you that will kill an enemy that they touch. Some items you can carry include shroom shakes, fire blasts, and many other things. You can cook items in this game too.

There are a lot of great places in this game. You start off in Flipside. Flipside has all sorts of things to do. Like shopping for items or gambling for tokens at the arcade. The places in the chapters are creative as well. Eventually, you will be able to go to Flopside, the reverse version of Flipside. The shops there have different items so it adds to the things to buy.

The arcade in this game is really fun. There are four games total to play, but you start with three. To unlock the fourth one you need the golden ticket. The first mini game is a memory game. The second one is a game where you need to shoot Boos before they get to you. The third game is one where you must tilt the Wii Remote to tilt an island so that you can collect fruit without getting hit by enemies. Finnaly, in the last game, you must use your hammer to hit giant shells that are thrown at you. The prizes you can buy are cool, including the extremely expensive Hp Up (Adds five to maxe health) and AttackUp (Adds one to max attack).

You can collect over two hundred cards in this game. Once you get an enemy's card, you will do twice as much damage to it. Some cards are extremely rare. You can find cards, use Catch Cards and Catch Card SPs on enemies to get their card, or you can buy cards at card shops. You can also sell cards for money.

The Pit of 100 Trials is really different in this game. There's the Flipside Pit, which when you beat you'll recieve a really cool Pixl. There's also the Flopside Pit, which after beating TWICE will give you eight really rare cards. The two different Pits are extremely hard to beat, making them great additions to the replay value.

There's much, much more to the gameplay, but it would take far too long to name everything. Obviously a ten out of ten.

Buy Or Rent?: Buy. It's definatly worth the money, and if you want 100% on this, it'll take you a really long time. If you really want to you can rent it, but renting costs a lot extra if you end up buying. Which you probably would.

Overall(10): All together, this game is amazing. If you like Mario games, RPGs, Platformers, or video games at all, you'll love this! Ten out of ten!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/04/07