My last Mario RPG for ages was Super Paper Mario (I didn't like Partners in Time, so after Super Paper, I just had no interest in pursuing later MaRPGios), so this was a chance to see what I'd been missing. Origami King had just come out, and I'd been inundated with discourse surrounding Sticker Star for years, but I actually knew little of what to expect for Color Splash. More of what people disliked about Sticker Star?
Well... probably... but I do think it's a fine enough game on its own.
The main thing is that you basically have to treat Paper Mario before and after Sticker Star as different series. A shared aesthetic lineage, to be sure, but the goals of each sub-sub-series is so different as to be incomparable. Color Splash has no interest in matching the world-building of Paper Mario, the scope of Thousand Year Door, or the tragedy of Super Paper; it just wants to be a silly series of incidental adventures with some Mario characters. And that's perfectly fine! I don't need every game to be a deceptively expansive RPG or anything like that. Simple li'l adventurey deckbuilders are okay, too.
Not that combat is especially interesting. Deckbuilding at least naturally encourages the player to experiment with the standard cards, but there really aren't too many, and you're likely to settle into something after a while. The ridiculously-named "Things" are the main bit of spice, essentially being one-off summons. They're... I guess it's cute how they change things up, but being one-and-done, it's hard to get real jazzed up about experimenting with them, especially knowing that some puzzles and some fights require some of the Things, and it's not always telegraphed what you'll need. You can at least grind 'em out if you need one you already used, but, like... was this really the easiest way to handle this mechanic?
Nah, you're definitely mostly here for the scenarios and writing. And there's a good deal of variety there! To name a few, there's a pirate adventure, a [muffled Shy Guy voice] BATTLE ROYALE, a Metal Gear Solid-esque infiltration sequence, a cooking challenge... to my knowledge, this is even the first Mario game to have the dubious honor of a Hot Springs Episode. Not to bring up a tired conversation point, but would this all be better with distinct Paper Mario OCs? Perhaps, but I'd argue that it's more effective in some ways to have some no-name Shy Guy randomly confide in Mario his own existentialist ennui. Anyway, it's fun to see how this game develops established supporting members of the Mario cast. Being a former Lemmy's Land Tourist, I'll frankly take any characterization I can for the Koopalings. And Birdo's reinvention as a lounge singer just... feels right for her. Definitely my current headcanon for her day job.
Also, without giving it away - the Green Power Plant was such a cool surprise. Holy moly.
My main emotional takeaway from this game is that it ended at precisely the right time. I had a lot of fun with its scenarios, and its mechanics were enough to lead me through them, but I think any longer - even one or two more stages - and the game would've worn out its welcome. Maybe that's a sign that tracking down each and every one of those Toads was a bit much? Whatever the case, while I definitely am more of a fan of the original Paper Mario series, this at least showed me that modern Paper Mario has its own merits. Solid enough time.
P.S., Thank you for remembering the Super Mario Land Staff Roll theme existed, game.
P.P.S., Another entry for the "when the hell else will I be able to recount this" list. This was my first regular livestreamed game for Designing For (viewable here), following our experiment with Live-A-Live. I didn't already own it, so I ordered a physical copy off GameStop's website (since I generally prefer physical media as a rule). I was confused when the disc wouldn't work on my Wii U, like the console simply couldn't read the disc. I had to check over and over again before I finally caught it - inexplicably, I'd received the German copy of the game in the mail from GameStop, and my Wii U was region-locked. I actually did try looking for a copy at physical stores (while observing social distancing, this being in the middle of COVID), but I ultimately just bought the game digitally off Wii U eShop. Still own that German copy, tho.
Well... probably... but I do think it's a fine enough game on its own.
The main thing is that you basically have to treat Paper Mario before and after Sticker Star as different series. A shared aesthetic lineage, to be sure, but the goals of each sub-sub-series is so different as to be incomparable. Color Splash has no interest in matching the world-building of Paper Mario, the scope of Thousand Year Door, or the tragedy of Super Paper; it just wants to be a silly series of incidental adventures with some Mario characters. And that's perfectly fine! I don't need every game to be a deceptively expansive RPG or anything like that. Simple li'l adventurey deckbuilders are okay, too.
Not that combat is especially interesting. Deckbuilding at least naturally encourages the player to experiment with the standard cards, but there really aren't too many, and you're likely to settle into something after a while. The ridiculously-named "Things" are the main bit of spice, essentially being one-off summons. They're... I guess it's cute how they change things up, but being one-and-done, it's hard to get real jazzed up about experimenting with them, especially knowing that some puzzles and some fights require some of the Things, and it's not always telegraphed what you'll need. You can at least grind 'em out if you need one you already used, but, like... was this really the easiest way to handle this mechanic?
Nah, you're definitely mostly here for the scenarios and writing. And there's a good deal of variety there! To name a few, there's a pirate adventure, a [muffled Shy Guy voice] BATTLE ROYALE, a Metal Gear Solid-esque infiltration sequence, a cooking challenge... to my knowledge, this is even the first Mario game to have the dubious honor of a Hot Springs Episode. Not to bring up a tired conversation point, but would this all be better with distinct Paper Mario OCs? Perhaps, but I'd argue that it's more effective in some ways to have some no-name Shy Guy randomly confide in Mario his own existentialist ennui. Anyway, it's fun to see how this game develops established supporting members of the Mario cast. Being a former Lemmy's Land Tourist, I'll frankly take any characterization I can for the Koopalings. And Birdo's reinvention as a lounge singer just... feels right for her. Definitely my current headcanon for her day job.
Also, without giving it away - the Green Power Plant was such a cool surprise. Holy moly.
My main emotional takeaway from this game is that it ended at precisely the right time. I had a lot of fun with its scenarios, and its mechanics were enough to lead me through them, but I think any longer - even one or two more stages - and the game would've worn out its welcome. Maybe that's a sign that tracking down each and every one of those Toads was a bit much? Whatever the case, while I definitely am more of a fan of the original Paper Mario series, this at least showed me that modern Paper Mario has its own merits. Solid enough time.
P.S., Thank you for remembering the Super Mario Land Staff Roll theme existed, game.
P.P.S., Another entry for the "when the hell else will I be able to recount this" list. This was my first regular livestreamed game for Designing For (viewable here), following our experiment with Live-A-Live. I didn't already own it, so I ordered a physical copy off GameStop's website (since I generally prefer physical media as a rule). I was confused when the disc wouldn't work on my Wii U, like the console simply couldn't read the disc. I had to check over and over again before I finally caught it - inexplicably, I'd received the German copy of the game in the mail from GameStop, and my Wii U was region-locked. I actually did try looking for a copy at physical stores (while observing social distancing, this being in the middle of COVID), but I ultimately just bought the game digitally off Wii U eShop. Still own that German copy, tho.