The first Paper Mario game was on the N64, where it received high scores from critics and is one of the greatest games on the N64. The sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, graced Nintendo's purple lunchbox and, like it's predecessor, greatly pleased it's critics. Both followed the RPG system, but then it turned right back around to platforming goodness in the Wii hit, Super Paper Mario. The story is related around our portly plumber Mario as he sets out to collect eight Pure Hearts to defeat Count Bleck, a new villain in the series' roundtable of baddies. The Count sets out to destroy the worlds thanks to the wedding of Bowser and Peach, which causes a giant black hole to sprout and flourish, which our hero has to stop. He has a fairylike helper named Tippi, and, along the quest, you get partners called Pixls that perform certain abilities. The controls are really simple, as you tip the Wii-Mote horizontally. You move Mario with the Control Pad , jump with the 2 Button, and use the Pixl with the 1 Button. Tippi also helps out when you point the Wii-Mote at the screen to find secrets and know about certain characters. She really takes the place of your first partner in the previous Paper Mario games, right down to the Tattle ability. You also learn the power to flip to 3D, which is activated by pressing the A Button. Gameplay is akin to previous Mario platformers, such as jumping on enemies, but also adds a RPG feel to it, such as HP. It really puts a spin on a good series. However, the game has an almost predictable storyline, and you can figure the story secrets before World 4. The game also suffers from what I call 'puzzle withdrawl'. In some of the later worlds, it has you trekking back and forth trying to find this, find that, do this, but, wait, gotta go do that before you finally get to a room very near where you started. Very annoying, but such idiosyncricies don't keep this game down. With massive replay value and side-quests, such as the return of the Pit of 100 Trials, this addition to the Paper Mario family won't be a letdown.
The highly acclaimed Paper Mario series has been praised for its artistic and creative innovations. The first two games were unique in the fact that they were role-playing games, but fused with some light platforming ele... Read Full Review
Super Paper Mario statrted out as the GameCube-exclusive sequel to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It was quickly outnumbered by the next-gen system hype, and was, seemingly, completely lost. It was moved silently t... Read Full Review
