My RPG stint continues with Super Paper Mario! I guess it’s not really much of a stint seeing as my last three games weren’t RPGs and this hardly qualifies, but whatever. I still have a lot more RPGs on my plate lately than normal, and Fallout 3 is on my horizon.
Super Paper Mario is one of those mystical Wii games aimed at the hardcore that are supposedly so hard to come by. Though I guess when it was released, it was one of like four. Anyway, Paper Mario is one of many games that were planned as a GameCube title, but had motion controls retrofitted into it since it was delayed so long that no one cared about the GameCube by the time it was done. Luckily there are barely any uses of the Wiimote, which is good because most of the few feel tacked on. The most prominent of these is the games hint system that uses the pointer. The only other uses are small mini games to maximize the benefit of certain power ups and flailing the controller when frozen. The rest of the time the Wiimote is turned sideways and is used almost as an NES controller. Only now there is a giant A button near your left thumb.
Unlike previous Paper Mario’s this one plays a lot more like the original platforming sidescrollers. The game is still has plenty of RPG elements, specifically leveling, but gone is the turn based combat and whatever else was different. I never actually played the previous titles. :) Super Paper Mario works wonderfully as a hybrid except for one fairly annoying fault. The game has way too much story. It’s a largely unecessary story too, some evil guy is trying to destroy the world, Mario needs 8 Pure Hearts to stop him. There is also a surprise twist that isn’t really because of the major clues dropped several hours before the big reveal. This kind of thing probably worked better when the combat was turn based. The previous games must have proceeded at a much slower pace overall so the interruption in interactivity wasn’t as noticeable.
Incidentally, I still found the writing to be one of the games strongest attributes. Despite the story being derivative, the game has a very sharp sense of humor. There were several parts that poked fun at gamers and an entire world devoted toward making fun of nerd culture. Another world parodied old martial arts movies. Multiple times, in game characters would refer to the player, breaking the fourth wall with very humorous results. The game managed to be consistently funny, something I wasn’t even expecting it to try to do.
The humor blended nicely with the games art style. As you may have guessed, the game is called Paper Mario because everyone and everything is entirely 2D. When you turn around it appears as though a cut out of Mario is being flipped over. Everything is also all very cute looking. It looks great and fits the humor well. If you’ve played any of the previous games it won’t be anything new in the character department. The backgrounds did get quite the overhaul, however.
Like most Nintendo games, the gameplay and level designs are rock solid. The bulk of progression is done through puzzle solving and as the game progresses new powers are unlocked. By the end of the game you can choose between four characters all with a unique ability and close to a dozen Pixls each adding an ability to your arsenal. It’s done slowly enough to not be overwhelming and leads to some pretty ingenious puzzles reminiscent of Zelda dungeons of old. The coolest power, and the games main selling point is Mario’s ability. Early in the game you obtain the power to flip the world from 2D to 3D. Several things are hidden in the 3D world that aren’t visible from the 2D, including pathways going into and out of the plane of the screen. This makes the puzzles that much more unique and interesting.
The game has a few shortcomings, but almost all of them were rare enough to be overlooked. For instance there are a few fetch quests that require a decent amount of backtracking through a levels. Once you actually backtrack though, you realize you really hadn’t come that far to begin with, it was the explorative diligence that originally took time. There’s no reason to constantly flip to 3D and check every nook and cranny on your way back and the destination is always a memorable spot. Another problem, and many people will probably disagree with this, is puzzles that require nothing more than searching every inch of the area to discover how to move on. I only noticed this once, but I found it incredibly frustrating. These kind of tactics were used a lot more in old games and I am happy to see them fading.
My biggest issue with the game was the camera believe it or not. I didn’t know you could mess up a 2D camera, but they did just enough for me to take notice. The camera stayed vertically in place throughout the whole game. It would always be fixed right below the initial thing Mario was standing on. Therefore if you needed to jump down to a platform or up to one above the screen, it was a blind jump. Once you safely landed the camera would readjust, but then stay there now blinding you of plenty of other obstacles. Simply jumping in place in order to get a peak did nothing. The problem proved annoying, but not terribly hindering throughout the entire game.
Finally, there was a bit of a difficulty spike in the last world of the game that caught me off guard. I think I died three or four times throughout the rest of the game and I easily doubled that throughout the last two levels. Still, this wasn’t too huge of a problem because most of the games time consumption is spent on puzzles. Even if I spent thirty minutes progressing into the level, retracing my steps took only a few minutes. The difficulty spike was unexpected, but not unmanageable if you made it that far.
Super Paper Mario is a fun romp that is worth dusting off your Wii for. It isn’t the best thing Nintendo’s put out, but it’s a nice throwback to the Mario games of the late 80’s and early 90’s that we all love so much. It did get tedious at times with the story, but enough of the writing was clever and silly enough to hold my attention. Shortening the game by a world probably wouldn’t have hurt, assuming you’re part of that camp, but I still recommend it as is. Besides, it’s not like you are using your Wii for anything else.
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