One step forward, two steps back. While I certainly don’t consider this to be the game that triggered the downward spiral of Paper Mario by any means, it does in some ways feel like a regression in comparison to Thousand-Year Door even if on the whole it’s still really damn good in its own right.
Most people’s biggest contention seems to be with the shift from turn based RPG to 2D platformer with some RPG elements sprinkled in. I definitely wish that the dev team stuck to the former, especially since it’d been all but perfected by Thousand-Year Door, however when taking into account that this game started out development for the GameCube it is slightly more understandable for the change in gameplay. This is without taking into account that the actual gameplay isn’t inherently broken like Sticker Star and, to a lesser extent, Colour Splash, and while I don’t think it’s anything amazing I still found it relatively engaging throughout the adventure.
Then there’s the story, which is really where the opening sentence comes into play. Aside from Tippi and the occasional supporting character, very few of the new characters are all that interesting. Also doesn’t help that most of the designs are often random geometric shapes stapled together. I understand the need for distinct designs compared to the regular Mario fare, especially considering the conceit of travelling throughout various different dimensions, but I haven’t the faintest clue why this was the dev teams best idea for executing that.
Now both of these complaints apply to all but one major exception, or should I say exceptions. As you’ll recall in my Thousand-Year Door review I highlighted that while not a terrible villain, I found that games main antagonist Grodus to be kinda lacking as far as character was concerned. Fortunately that ain’t the case here. Count Bleck is fantastic villain in terms of both character and design, as is likewise for his minions. While he initially starts out as kinda generic, not unlike Grodus ironically, as the game goes on we gradually get more and more insight into his motives and past for why he is the way he is. Obviously I won’t spoil it as I feel you should all play this game for yourselves, but the result of this ultimately leads to what is easily the most emotionally charged climax of any Mario game, RPG or otherwise. Embarrassing as this may be I did tear up a little bit after the credits, though I’d like to hope you’ll all recognise why if you ever play it for yourselves.
I wasn’t exactly expecting to hate this game by any stretch, I mean I’m the guy that loves Partners in Time so I generally have a knack for loving the more divisive entries of beloved series a lot of the time, but I definitely didn’t expect to enjoy it to this extent either. Weird as it may seem I’ve finally finished the original Paper Mario trilogy, as well as doing the same for Mario & Luigi. Of course I still got the OG Mario RPG and later entries like Paper Jam and Origami King, but this is what properly puts the cap on the ones I’ve been dying to play for years now. Needless to say it was well worth the investment both in terms of time and money (fuck you Nintendo for not re-releasing Thousand-Year Door after nearly 20 years) and I look forward to seeing what you will all think when you eventually play them for yourselves, as well as revisiting them myself sometime later down the line.
8/10
Most people’s biggest contention seems to be with the shift from turn based RPG to 2D platformer with some RPG elements sprinkled in. I definitely wish that the dev team stuck to the former, especially since it’d been all but perfected by Thousand-Year Door, however when taking into account that this game started out development for the GameCube it is slightly more understandable for the change in gameplay. This is without taking into account that the actual gameplay isn’t inherently broken like Sticker Star and, to a lesser extent, Colour Splash, and while I don’t think it’s anything amazing I still found it relatively engaging throughout the adventure.
Then there’s the story, which is really where the opening sentence comes into play. Aside from Tippi and the occasional supporting character, very few of the new characters are all that interesting. Also doesn’t help that most of the designs are often random geometric shapes stapled together. I understand the need for distinct designs compared to the regular Mario fare, especially considering the conceit of travelling throughout various different dimensions, but I haven’t the faintest clue why this was the dev teams best idea for executing that.
Now both of these complaints apply to all but one major exception, or should I say exceptions. As you’ll recall in my Thousand-Year Door review I highlighted that while not a terrible villain, I found that games main antagonist Grodus to be kinda lacking as far as character was concerned. Fortunately that ain’t the case here. Count Bleck is fantastic villain in terms of both character and design, as is likewise for his minions. While he initially starts out as kinda generic, not unlike Grodus ironically, as the game goes on we gradually get more and more insight into his motives and past for why he is the way he is. Obviously I won’t spoil it as I feel you should all play this game for yourselves, but the result of this ultimately leads to what is easily the most emotionally charged climax of any Mario game, RPG or otherwise. Embarrassing as this may be I did tear up a little bit after the credits, though I’d like to hope you’ll all recognise why if you ever play it for yourselves.
I wasn’t exactly expecting to hate this game by any stretch, I mean I’m the guy that loves Partners in Time so I generally have a knack for loving the more divisive entries of beloved series a lot of the time, but I definitely didn’t expect to enjoy it to this extent either. Weird as it may seem I’ve finally finished the original Paper Mario trilogy, as well as doing the same for Mario & Luigi. Of course I still got the OG Mario RPG and later entries like Paper Jam and Origami King, but this is what properly puts the cap on the ones I’ve been dying to play for years now. Needless to say it was well worth the investment both in terms of time and money (fuck you Nintendo for not re-releasing Thousand-Year Door after nearly 20 years) and I look forward to seeing what you will all think when you eventually play them for yourselves, as well as revisiting them myself sometime later down the line.
8/10