Super Paper Mario

Moby ID: 27544
Wii Specs
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Description official descriptions

In this action-platformer, Bowser and Peach find themselves at the wedding altar, forced into marriage by the evil Count Bleck. With this union, a void will engulf the entire universe as foretold by the book, the Dark Prognosticus. Before Luigi can stop Count Bleck, the villain escapes with an item known as the Chaos Heart. However, there is another book, called the Light Prognosticus, which can counteract the Dark Prognosticus. The Light Prognosticus foretells of a hero dressed in overalls. This hero is believed to possess the power to stop certain destruction of the universe.

Mario, joined by Peach, Bowser, and a new group of friends, must travel through eight worlds in search of Pure Hearts. Each character has a special ability, which can help the player solve the game's many puzzles. Mario can flip between the second and third dimensions in order to find items, secret pathways, and pound enemies. Peach can use her parasol to float long distances and to defend against enemy attacks. Bowser uses his fire breath to light things and to fry enemies.

Super Paper Mario does not fully depart from its RPG roots. For instance Mario and friends receive points from baddies. These points allow Mario and company to level up. Items can also be used to attack enemies or gain lives. Players collect coins to pay for more items.

Players can shake the Wii remote after jumping on bad guys but before hitting the ground to gain extra experience points. Players use Tippi, a Pixl, allowing them to point the remote at the screen to find secrets. Other Pixls, who help in other ways, can be found along the way. Pixls besides Tippi can be used by pressing the 1 button.

Spellings

  • スーパーペーパーマリオ - Japanese spelling
  • 슈퍼 페이퍼 마리오 - Korean spelling

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Credits (Wii version)

141 People (135 developers, 6 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 85% (based on 116 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 59 ratings with 2 reviews)

The Anti-Difficulty Movement

The Good
It's mostly very easy. You'll know where to go next. You'll know how to unlock the doors. And most importantly, it's very easy to stay alive. In Mario games such as Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Yoshi's Island, there are always hazards that kill you immediately. Nothing in Super Paper Mario can kill you immediately. Let's say you actually want to die in the game. That will take a long time. You have about 20 hit points and no matter what you do, you only lose 1 or 2 hit points. You can also carry like 5 potions with you, potions that replenish your health. So, the difficulty is far lower than any other Mario games.

The Bad
The dialog. It's funny at first, and then it gets tedious. I had said that the dialog in Portal was bad. But this, this is not Portal 2-level bad. It's worse.

Only Mario can access the 3D world. You end up switching between characters a lot.

The level design is not very good. None of the levels are particularly memorable.

The graphics are laughable. Games on the PlayStation could look this good. Like Symphony of the Night.

The Bottom Line
Play Symphony of the Night instead, for true RPG/Action-platformer/Exploration hybrid greatness.

Wii · by Pagen HD (146) · 2013

Good On "Paper", Average In Reality.

The Good
After an extensive introduction (with vast amounts of text and only minor cut-scenes), the player is introduced to "Flipside", the practical overworld of the game. Initially, you notice the paper cut-out style of the artwork and graphics. This is charming in it's own innocent way, even if very simplistic.

Within this town, the player can interact with NPCs as well as get involved in side-quests and even a virtual video-arcade. These little distractions are a nice addition to the main game, and rival most mini-games I've tested in other Wii titles; "Rayman Raving Rabbids" for one. The characters are not in typical Mushroom Kingdom regalia. In fact, most characters resemble a kind of tangle of geometric shapes and scribbled lines. Again, this has it's unique appeal too.

The main game is divided up into Chapters, and each Chapter is split into four levels. The gameplay is mainly platform hopping and enemy stomping, with a little problem solving thrown in for good measure. Mario controls fine although there is no dash button, and the art of jumping and stomping is alive and well in this game.

Visually though, the game is very cheery and colourful. The sprites (and they are 2D sprites!) are comical and lively, and the dialog (if you don't mind reading in your video games, which I actually prefer) is fairly interesting and sometimes even out-loud laughable. As with others in the series, plot-points and directions are sometimes rammed down your throat. You're never unsure of where to go - another kid-friendly decision I think.

The Bad
My main gripe is that the fusion of gameplay styles are too watered-down.

It seems like they intended to cover the best areas from RPG games and platformers, but it never really came together that well for me. The platforming is hardly challenging, and the RPG elements are hardly interesting. The item and leveling systems are very basic indeed. Unlike "The Thousand-Year Door", (a brilliant RPG quest), leveling up is all automatic, and the decisions that go into shaping your character are made for you. I suppose that was a kid-friendly decision.

The inclusion of Peach and Bowser as playable characters excited me, but their actual role in the game is minimal and sometimes even forced. Peach is quite manouvreable but weak, whereas Bowser is sluggish and damn powerful. His stomp is the most brutal force in the game - that is, if you can get his hulking body up and around your foe. Also, his fire-breath is fairly useful, even if it seemed a little like a novelty.

Long-term interest in this title may wane, as once the main mission is complete, their are only a few chores left to tidy up, and admittedly, some of them aren't so fun. Digging about for "treasures" that are revealed on purchased maps was fun for the first ten or fifteen times, but I felt like it turned into an orienteering class crossed with a memory test. Even after checking a guide, my interest in completing this section of the game waned.

The Bottom Line
I have mixed feelings about this title. On one hand, it is a very original concept, with funny and kooky gameplay, but on the other, you kind of feel like the game was only a reflection of what it might of been, and the easy difficulty really does harm the replay value. Also, the self-referencing and fun-poking was fresh in the first two Paper Marios, but now the satire has run a bit dry for me. Maybe the next game can take some pointers from the masterpiece Mario Galaxy.

Wii · by So Hai (261) · 2008

Trivia

Development

Super Paper Mario was originally announced as a GameCube game at the 2006 E3 show in May 2006. Likely due to greater-than-expected pre-release Wii popularity, the game had been moved to that system by September. The only major addition appears to be the addition of the 16:9 mode.

Glitch

There is a bug in the original European release when playing the game in UK English, German, or Spanish. After meeting Mimi in Chapter 2-2, if you talk to her before picking up the key that opens the nearby trap, the game will freeze. Nintendo of Europe offered a workaround on the website and planned to offer a replacement disc as well.

References

  • Just prior to fighting the boss of Chapter 1 Fracktail, he says several things referencing real world computers/electronics including "CTRL + ALT + DEL." He also states "I am error" alluding to the infamous character in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
  • Fracktail's eye contains the Wii Shop Channel logo animation while he is "processing" to decipher Mario's identity.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2007 – #3 Best Wii Game of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2007 – #9 Wii Game of the Year
    • 2007 – Wii RPG of the Year

Information also contributed by Johsua J. Slone and Sciere

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Related Sites +

  • Super Paper Mario
    Nintendo's Official Wii Section for Super Paper Mario.
  • Wikipedia
    In-depth overview of the game at the open encyclopedia

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 27544
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Guy Chapman.

Wii U added by Harmony♡.

Additional contributors: Sciere, Steve Thompson, LordRM, Patrick Bregger, Grandy02.

Game added April 11, 2007. Last modified January 14, 2024.