Super Paper Mario

Developer: Intelligent Systems	Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: April 9, 2007	Also On: None

The Mario RPG franchise has landed on almost every major Nintendo unit since it started as Super Mario RPG, a collaboration between Nintendo and Square. It evolved on the Nintendo 64 as Paper Mario, GameCube (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door), Game Boy Advance (Mario & Luigi: The Superstar Saga), and Nintendo DS (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time). With each passing game came different mechanics and an always-funny storyline. The train has stopped on Nintendo Wii, and the former GameCube title Super Paper Mario continues the series’ lighthearted platform/rpg adventures.

Mario and Co. find themselves in a jiffy when Count Bleck and his gang of dimension-traveling evildoers capture Bowser and Peach. He and his cronies hope to marry the couple and create a world-destroying black hole. It’s a stretch to think about it, but eventually Mario will have to team up with a gang of new characters called Pixls, as well as Peach, Luigi, and even Bowser if he plans on stopping Count Bleck.

Super Paper Mario is even more so a mix of the RPG and platforming genres than any previous entry in the series. The game will have you switching between the two styles very frequently. The levels are designed so that you will focus on RPG stat-building and leveling up for a set amount of time, and figuring out platform puzzles and dimension-shifting tricks. Mario has the ability to flip between the second and third dimensions, and a huge portion of Super Paper Mario’s challenge is knowing when to flatten or deepen Mario’s playing field. It’s easy to do: pressing the A button will take you in and out of the 2D world. It is also worth mentioning that more than 90% of the game is played using the NES-style controller layout, so you will turn the Wii remote to the side and use the directional pad to control Mario’s movements.

The element of comedy, in a lot of instances, saves Super Paper Mario from those inevitable RPG stretches of less-than-exciting moments. There is a boss character almost midway through the adventure who will have you grinning with his super-nerdy interests and hilarious surroundings. Count Bleck refers to himself in a third-person perspective, and seems to overdramatize his situations. The nonstop references that Mario RPG fans have grown accustomed to (Mario’s jumping skill, Luigi’s unending role as the inferior sidekick) are here to stay as well.

Visually, Super Paper Mario won’t blow anyone away with its flat 2D characters or its blocky environments. It will definitely impress the artistic gamers, however, thanks to its stylish level design and puzzling visual tricks. I would have liked to see the edges smoothed a little bit more, but Super Paper Mario still looks like a nice GameCube game, which at one point it was. The soundtrack is entertaining, as are the sound effects, although the latter are recycled and stale.

Overall, Super Paper Mario is another good Nintendo Wii title that will make bored Wii owners excited to play their console again. It won’t, however, sell consoles. It isn’t, after all, a traditional Mario game in any sense. It is very different and requires a lot more patience and a different kind of skill than the other Super Marios of the gaming world. Its only major flaws are its replay value and less-exciting controls. Other than that, it’s a particularly entertaining game that deserves the attention of almost all Wii owners.

Graphics:	7.5
Sound:	8
Gameplay:	8
Creativity:	9
Replay Value/Game Length:	6
Final:	7.9
Written by Cliff	Review Guide

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