Paper Mario was a very unique game in its day and has garnered quite a loyal fanbase over the years due to its fun RPG mechanics, witty writing, and amazing characters. Sadly that legacy would be short lived as the series would change a lot over the years and lose a lot of the steam it once had but that can never change how much fun and amusing the original game was. First off you wouldn't think Mario would work much as an RPG, especially one as simple and appealing as this but I think that's exactly what makes Paper Mario so special. It's not a game made for RPG players, it's made for casual fans who are looking for a system that's easy to figure out but also fun and that's exactly what you get with this series. The battle system is pretty simple, you have Mario who can usually use one of two attacks, either jumping on enemies or by using his hammer. Figuring out which one is most effective on which enemies sometimes requires a bit of strategy but a lot of the time it comes down to jumping on flying enemies and hammering enemies with spike helmets (or other things that would hurt Mario if he touched them). There's also the partners, throughout the game Mario will pick up lots of new friends who will travel alongside him and help him both in and outside of battle, the partners are all very unique in many ways and can often come in very handy when used against certain enemies in battle. The levelling up system in this game is similarly simple with Mario earning star points after each battle and once he gets 100 he levels up and then has the option to upgrade his heart points, flower points (which are used for using special moves), or badge points which we'll get into next. Badges are utilized very well in this game as they all give you some sort of bonus, such as special attacks or ways to avoid certain attacks by enemies like the flame resistant badge lets Mario touch fire without getting hurt. Next we'll discuss the story.

While the story of this game is fairly simple, Bowser has once again captured Princess Peach (oh, who didn't see that coming?) again but this time he's done so by using an item called the Star Rod which makes him practically invincible to all of Mario's attacks, he's also kidnapped the 7 star spirits and given them each to one of his many minions which Mario must save if he ever hopes to defeat Bowser this time around. What really makes this game special though is its characters, whether they be allies or enemies, I think what I really loved about this game is that it established that all the normal enemies we see working for Bowser are not representative of their entire race, they just happen to work for him while others have various jobs or other things that they do, I thought this was a cool detail as I always kinda felt bad for all the koopas and goombas I jumped on in other games but it's nice to know that they aren't created simply so they can work for Bowser, but rather that they choose to. All of the partners you pick up are different kinds of enemies in other Mario games (goombas, koopas, bob-ombs, etc.) and they all have very unique personalities, you'll grow attached to plenty of them soon enough, then of course we have the bosses which again are all very special and unique in their own ways even if they are based on normal Mario enemies. This game has some of my favorite boss fights in any video game including General Shy-guy and the crystal king. If I haven't mentioned by now the dialogue and writing in this game is incredibly witty and at times has actually made me laugh, there's no voice acting in this one but it's easy to picture what each character sounds like and it makes encountering them rather humorous and at other times wholesome. But if you thought this game was good, wait till you play the next one...