Frankly, an adorable game. One of the last hoorahs for a console that was infamous for not having many games, and even less RPGs, and I reckon a fitting one. Paper Mario, I suppose in retrospect feels like a weird idea for one of the main Mario spinoffs, let alone its JRPG branch. This game in particular is only older than I am by a couple of months, so it sort of always feels like its been around, taunting me in particular for never touching the series until now. And I guess it never really hit me how much of Mario's aesthetic is itself enraptured with the idea of make believe or making a production of itself. Even as early as the Famicom era of the pumbler, games like Super Mario Bros. 3 presented itself as a stage production of a Mario plot, and Yoshi's Island as a classic fairy tale story. So the idea of putting the plumber in a flat world, filled with makeshift craftwork, is novel, yet it still feels pretty befitting to what Mario is as a series, and it helps it is endlessly charming.

You are playing Paper Mario for the charm of it. It is a whimsical little game that, while not being revolutionary looking on the system by any means, is fully taking advantage of what the 64 was capable of. Pretty much is one of the best looking games on the system by default, with the Star Haven locations at the beginning being particular showstoppers. Character designs are killer, with every unique enemy being pretty instantly recognizable. And it feels like the soundtrack is something I've known since before time itself, its got a very etheral quality to it almost haha.

The gameplay itself is clever! I'm not going to claim its super in-depth, but I think its the type of out the box thinking that fits Mario to make turn based strategy just a little more tactile. It isn't rocket science, but it feels good to hit stuff in the rhythm of an attack! It is a consistent good feeling, that I don't think ever truly becomes great, but I do think it is engaging enough to never be boring. Considering Nintendo spent the better part of half a decade struggling to create any role playing games after Squaresoft left them, I think they came out with a very satisfying project! And having your partners always be useful in some way while constantly having to switch between em is just enough to make you use your noggin, a smidge! I like it!

Super Mario RPG, I would say this game is not. Perhaps its a bit unfair to compare the two. But RPG came at a time where both companies feel like they were white hot, and creating some of the best games of all time out of it. This is a great follow up to that idea after it became clear Square had other ambitions outside of Nintendo, and I think they did a fantastic job in that regard. And it sure has had its staying power, for better or for worse, because Paper Mario is still around even to this day. I still have yet to play Thousand Year Door, but considering what I do know about it, there is potential for an all timer in that one, that I just know.

Before wrapping this up, I just want to say that in general, I feel like Paper Mario (specifically the first three games) have a really large impact on internet culture that I never quite see talked about. I've never played any of the games until today, yet the soundtrack for these games have graced the world of gaming youtubers everywhere. Just about all the main cast are iconic internet fictures (albiet, a lot of that is more present in TTYD) and the general aesthetic I feel just feels inherently inspired, and I see that inspiration take place in plenty of online works. I don't know, I might be overthinking this one a bit, but I thought about it, and I'm interested to see if anyone else ever made that connection as well.