What Can I even say--this is one of my favorite games of all time.

From the very beginning, you can tell this is a game unlike any Mario game you've ever played; it goes so far as to set up the very typical 'Peach is captured by Bowser' trope specifically to cram parody jokes in there and subvert the whole thing. After the intro, this game becomes essentially a completely different world, which just happens to have the Mario cast around. I can see why the higher-ups thought this went a bit too far, but wow, am I glad this game shipped before they decided to ax these creative decisions.

Visually, the game is absolutely stunning. In an era of wii shovelware, there is such a strong sense of artistic direction behind everything here. Everything is coated in this sort of abstract picasso-esque cubism, with characters being made of squares and abstract, spinning shapes. And yet, it never gets gimmicky! the worlds are so incredibly visually distinct that every chapter of the game is pure novel eye candy. And, getting to see all of the environments in both 2D and 3D was always a unique thing to me. Everything about how this game looks oozes charm and distinctness, in all its weird colorful wonderfulness!

One of the greatest casualties taken to modern Paper Mario, as any fan will tell you, is the characters. As I mentioned, this game goes completely off the rails in terms of its characters, bringing in so many unique faces that have no real precedent in the Mario world, but shine because of how distinctly weird they are. Count Bleck, the Victorian magician villain you love to hate; Dimentio, pioneering the wacky magic jester niche before Jevil ever came around; Nastasia, the dry office-secretary-type. I could go on for so many characters major and minor that appear through the runtime, and they're all as fresh as these. However, what makes the characters in this game truly shine is that they are not as two dimensional as paper, ironically enough! Everyone has their own backstory, unique motives, relationships, etc--it truly feels like you're watching an interconnected web of people and their actions going down in real time. For example, Count Bleck isn't some evil-for-the-sake-of-evil dude, he only turned to his nihilistic universe-destructing manner as a result of losing the love of his life. Nastasia doesn't really want all worlds to end; she's fallen in love with Count Bleck, but has to reconcile her feelings with the truth that he only has love for his lost lover. Dimentio is not just another Bleck underling; throughout the whole game, he has the rebellious air of someone primed to backstab his leader, as he does by the end of the game. This is hardly scratching the surface of all the well-written characters and their deep, meaningful relationships in this game.

The soundtrack is genuinely one of the best ever crafted in my opinion! It does this amazing thing where it had this perfect blend of retro-game styled tracks that also make room for expansive, orchestra-worthy moments and leitmotifs abounding. It all reminds me a bit of Undertale and Deltarune, two other games with some of the best music in games' history, but this one did it nearly a decade before Toby Fox released either of those into the world. This was the first game that ever showed me how powerful just a few notes can make you feel if they've been built up over a long, colorful, emotional journey. And, of course, I'm a real sucker for those letimotifs in general, so of course I'm going to love this stuff. The audio design in general for this game is super unique and all fits its zany visual and musical style--I love it all.

The gameplay is yet another aspect in which this game loves to differ. It's not an RPG like the other Paper Mario games, but I love it for having its own game design identity. I find the live-time battles to sometimes be even more engaging, though it's true that they don't reach the depths of complexity that can be found in the RPG setting, but this is forgivable. Because of how awesomely unique the world is, exploring it and discovering its many incredibly clever puzzles is an absolute joy, utilizing the ingenious 3D flip mechanic. The Pixls are also a wonderful addition, giving Mario lots of very unique and helpful abilities that give incredible depth to some of the puzzles! I really appreciate how there are some Pixls that are totally optional but offer ways to unlock even more secrets and helpful mobility and combat, should you seek them out. I get that the gameplay is the weakest part of this package for lots of people, and it probably is from an objective standpoint, but I still think it holds up enough that it's still a joy to play through.

And lastly, the narrative-- wow, the narrative! Setting it all up with a forced wedding gone wrong, having Bleck's chaos portal loom in the sky over Flipside the whole game as you learn from Merlon about this spooky ancient prophecy of the Prognosticus, and then interweaving the foretold elements with characters we already know whilst very fun subplots are happening in each chapter just renders the story to be consistently fun and varied as you feel along all its idiosyncrasies. I love how the game breaks its own bounds or the expected rules, too--like when Dimentio interrupts a meeting the protagonists are having to literally send Mario to hell. Chapter 6 (the Sammer's Kingdom) and beyond just really messes with the player and what they expect to happen in the plot, bringing out some wild emotions and plot twists that genuinely shocked me on my first playthrough. It's that 'oh shit' moment when you can tell you're truly in the endgame, all bets are off, and literally anything could happen anytime. It was awesome! And it all wraps up nicely with a truly emotional ending that wraps around back to the beginning and gives you the full context for a lot of the cryptic text you've been reading between chapters. This narrative won't leave you bored for a second, it's truly filled with more twists, turns, wacky jokey moments, emotional heavy moments, and everything else under the sun than you could imagine before jumping in. This game is a true masterpiece!