What is Paper Mario in 2020?
The popular franchise has migrated from its traditional RPG roots — and maybe that’s all right
The Paper Mario series is one I hold truly close to my heart. A fond early memory of mine is receiving The Thousand Year Door for Christmas and playing it with my parents. As a matter of fact, throughout my childhood, my dad would watch me play at least once per weekend. I wouldn’t play it without him there, and the defeat of the Shadow Queen, after years of effort, was a family affair.
Not many games have ever reached the emotional heights of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for me. The mysteries behind Jolene of the Glitz Pit, learning how to use the internet to find Doopliss’s name, the luxurious train ride to Poshley Heights all speak to the quality the game holds throughout its storyline. The Bowser and Peach side-stories provide comedic relief after each chapter, ensuring consistent pacing. Battling a demon-possessed Princess Peach to ensure the safety of the world was a shock to childhood me, and remains one of my favorite memories of all time.
Recently, I actually replayed the game, just to make sure I wasn’t seeing it through rose-tinted glasses. What I found instead re-instilled my opinion of the game as one of the best RPGs of all time. Even as an adult, I find humor in its jokes; even as an adult, I find it’s story charming, yet surprisingly dark; even as an adult, I become emotional at the sight of all those I met throughout the journey praying for my safe return during the climax of the final battle.
“Paper Mario is known for having a creative art style masquerading darker elements — especially in its more well-regarded entries like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (TTYD).”
Jason Rochlin
The game is truly a masterclass of RPG-style gaming. There are, of course, annoyances, but the cohesive identity of the game more than brushes many complaints to the side. A major complaint from my parents, though, was the noose hanging around in Rogueport’s central square.
After a few years, Nintendo released another title in the Paper Mario series: Super Paper Mario. I loved that game, although it became tedious at times. Admittedly, even as a child, I was disappointed by partners being replaced by Pixls; I wanted my Yoshi, dammit. However, the ability to play as Luigi, Peach, and Bowser more than made up for any misgivings I had at the time.
Gameplay itself was drastically different from previous titles in the series. Instead of being a traditional RPG with platforming and other Mario characteristics, it was a story-driven platformer with RPG characteristics. That’s not a knock against the game at all; I still loved it. Arguably, the story itself was more compelling than either of the two before it.
Who can resist an ill-fated love story resulting in the death of the multiverse at the hands of an unwitting hero and a duplicitous minion? And, in the end, the story’s primary antagonist saves the multiverse through a change of heart.
The game sold well, the highest in the series. Part of this is inevitably attributable to the success of the Wii, but much of the game’s success was due to its own strength.
Super Paper Mario was unafraid to take risks in order to fulfill the story objectives. After all, an entire world is actually destroyed during a tournament held to receive a pure heart. Shortly thereafter, Mario and company are murdered and go to the equivalent of Hades (except Peach, who legit goes to heaven).
As I grew a little older, Nintendo followed up with Paper Mario: Sticker Star. I’ll be honest with you, I had incredibly high hopes for the game. It was lackluster, to say the least. I actually never finished the game, largely due to the issues I had with its battle system.
It’s a well-worn complaint, so I won’t hash it out here. The main point is that the game’s reliance on stickers for even basic attacks and lack of XP actively discouraged participation in battles. Reverting back to an RPG-like battle system whilst simultaneously refusing to input elements which make the genre work is an… interesting design choice.
Sticker Star also reverted from the chapter format of the previous games, becoming much more like standard Mario games in its usage of worlds. Each world additionally contained items necessary for its final boss.
From the very start of that game, the world was less interesting than that imagined in the previous series entries. Old tropes dominated the story, in lieu of the wild and wacky hijinx previous entries were well-known for. In terms of the stories of each game, the series had gone, respectively: rescue Peach from Bowser, defeat a demon who threatens the globe, save the multiverse from The Void, save Peach from Bowser.
Neither partners were available for Mario’s adventure, nor were other playable characters available in a franchise whose dialogue was heavily dependent upon them for comic relief as well as plot development. All quality aspects of the series faced serious decline in Sticker Star.
“Over the previous games, Paper Mario had evolved Mario’s archenemy into a boisterous figure of comedy and even pathos, complete with some truly inspired dialogue. In a way, he was an extension of how the series treated common Mario enemies like Goombas and Koopas, who were presented as more than cannon fodder. In Sticker Star, by contrast, the only NPCs are just nameless Toads, while the Koopa King barely appears and lacks dialogue or personality.”
I actually never finished that game. The game I had imagined differed significantly from the product purchased. However, I downloaded the original Paper Mario, from the Nintendo 64, when it released on Wii U. The game was incredibly solid, still holding up today. Many of the elements from TTYD were imported and improved from 64. It would be redundant to go through the successes of that game, given how much the first two entries in the series resemble one another.
Color Splash came out in 2016, improving several elements of complaints from Sticker Star. The writing in that game was stellar, and the world-building enhanced its charm. Arguably, two of the most important aspects of the Paper Mario universe were enhanced by Color Splash.
Unfortunately, character diversity was lacking in the game. Battles were more of a mixed bag, still feeling fairly tacked-on while actually providing at least nominal benefit. Being one of the last games on the ill-fated Wii U, however, the game never really got a chance. It’s by far the lowest-selling in the franchise.
Origami King looks to retain much of the series’ charm and serves fans an interesting story as well as an open world. Once again, a colorful cast of characters joins Mario’s adventure to help along the way.
The battle system is now a collection of puzzles as opposed to either the traditional format or the Sticker Star version. They still don’t provide XP in the traditional context, instead giving coins one can later use to upgrade equipment. These coins may be found elsewhere, but battles additionally give confetti that may be used to unlock hidden secrets.
The trailer itself was phenomenal, a fanservice-y event with nods to the series’ penchant for paper puns and twist surprises. From the get-go, Peach has once again been locked under a hypnosis spell, and Bowser as well as his son become needed allies in the battle to save the Paper Mushroom Kingdom.
In short, the traditional RPG format is not necessary in ensuring critical acclaim or financial success for the series. Super Paper Mario proved that point. Paper Mario may never return to its roots as a traditional RPG.
It’s time for long-held fans of the series to face the truth. Paper Mario has not been a standard RPG for 13 years. Nintendo’s own website lists Origami King as an action/adventure rather than an RPG. There’s now more games in a different genre than those following the style set by 64 and The Thousand Year Door.
Maybe we’re just not the targeted audience any longer, and maybe that’s okay. For the series to permanently live in the shadow of TTYD would be a travesty.
We may, after all, end up with a truly great game. After all, it took the Legend of Zelda 19 years to break out of the expectations fans held the series to since Ocarina of Time.
