Your favorite Paper Mario game is?

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Mazefire3609

The stand user of SRB2 MB
If you ever loved Paper Mario, and if you did/did not play any Paper Mario games...Which Paper Mario game would you personally be more interested in?
 
Thousand Year Door, then 64. The rest aren't important.

I don't understand why Intelligent Systems abandoned the old formula.
 
I can argue that Super Paper Mario was a pretty good game despite straying away from the original formula. Sure it doesn't have the colorful cast of characters the first two entries had in the series and how it strays away from the original formula like I said earlier, but it makes up for it with introducing a new world with new characters to meet, really fun gameplay with the main gimmick being flipping dimensions from 2D to 3D, and the really deep story. Seriously. I think Super Paper Mario has the best story so far in any Paper Mario game or even Mario RPG.
 
The overarching story in Super Paper Mario is arguably the most compelling, and there are some great characters... but the throwaway characters are really blatant throwaways. The pixls are basically afterthoughts and could have just been inanimate objects to begin with, whereas every partner in Thousand Year Door is fleshed out.

My problem is with the gameplay itself. 64 and TTYD had unparalleled yet intuitive customization through the badge system, which allowed for completely different playstyles, and each element of combat had strategic weaknesses and advantages. Super Paper Mario, on the other hand, is imbalanced and pretty shallow in gameplay. There is no room for character customization and leveling is automated. As for strategy, Bowser and a few pixls are enough to break combat and make bosses and the 200 trials an absolute cakewalk (Dottie especially).

I haven't played Sticker Star, but based on what I've heard about it, I don't think I want to.
 
Thousand-Year Door is the best. Ever.

The partners are fleshed out, the world is beautiful and believable, the gameplay is fun, need I go on?
 
I could write a fuckin' book about Thousand Year, but even the 64 title is really good. I must have played through each like five or six times.
 
Arid breeze blows across the mountains; giving flight to the birds of prey

I'm pretty sure D00D has done exactly that but on the terribleness of sticker star at this point
 
I have a hard time choosing between 64 and TTYD - '64 really stands out on how pure a strategic battle system it had. The numbers were low and easy to understand, and you were expected to understand them, and to use crowd control to its fullest to plan out each battle like a puzzle, aiming to take as little damage as possible.

However, TTYD got moving faster, was larger in scope (and had some really jaw-dropping single moments and feelings of scale), and retained most of what made '64 good, except it added the counter which really deeply compromised the beauty of Paper Mario's combat system by giving you a "get out of everything free" card that just dared you to be reckless and not bother to plan stuff out.

Considering you can choose to play TTYD without using counter at all, though, I suppose that makes it the favorite. They're both really good.


I personally liked Sticker Star since it brought back that puzzle feel to regular battles, and extended it to the idea of economy of force - you aren't JUST trying to keep down the damage you take, you're trying to do it while expending as little in monetary value as you can so you can throw all of that dosh at the area boss, provided you don't chicken out and grab its weakness - incredibly, it's even possible to beat the final boss without the 11th hour superpowers if you take the right build and execute perfectly in a few key places. The autosave feature played into that a bit since if you fucked up it was for keeps, but on the other hand that meant that you couldn't experiment with really crazy loadouts which was a shame.

Like TTYD though, it made some really unfortunate compromises with that core gameplay - instantly grabbable and powerful (the most powerful, outside of Things) stickers are farmable which somewhat marginalizes the economy of force idea that drives the rest of combat, and some fights will arbitrarily (that is, without any explanation) prevent you from dealing any damage in order to block an area off, or force the fight to go a specific way. Forcing sequence in that way seemed really strange, since the heavily compartmentalized story could have allowed you to go to almost any area in any order without causing narrative weirdness.

Overworld puzzles features less prominently than platforming as well, which seems a strange choice when the jump mechanics were just as simplified as any other entry in the series, save for the black sheep of the bunch...


Yeah, Super Paper Mario. Forgettable characters (and non-characters with introductions), and core game mechanics that fight bitterly with itself leaving an uncohesive mess. Leveling up attack power in a bounce-on-your-enemies platformer just doesn't work all that well; unless you're in the sweet spot for an enemy or that enemy's sweet spot is being 1-hit-killed, having variable strength just compromises flow. Similarly, switching pixls and characters in the middle of the action just drags speed down - more likely you'll pick one and stick with it for everything unless forced to switch.

The game is the most fun in the opening stages where it plays the most like a normal mario game, and after that? It's all downhill. A couple of really impressive story moments do little to lift this thing up... particularly when the rest of the story elements have you scrolling through dialogue several minutes at a time in a platformer.


I see a lot of people hate sticker star and SPM, and considering what they're trying to live up to I can understand that, but I can't understand anyone who says Sticker Star is the worse of the two - nevermind originality of mechanics, at least SS is cohesive as a game, SPM can't even manage that much.
 
In the distance machines come; to transform Eden – day by day

Personally i really liked SPM
Its just.. way more memorable than sticker star.

plus i feel the absolute biggest problem with sticker star is its story (or lack of such)

i mean for fucks sake Bowser doesn't get a single line in a mario rpg, that's kinda ridiculous
 
except it added the counter which really deeply compromised the beauty of Paper Mario's combat system by giving you a "get out of everything free" card that just dared you to be reckless and not bother to plan stuff out.

Thank you! I was afraid I was the only one who thought this.

The game is the most fun in the opening stages where it plays the most like a normal mario game, and after that? It's all downhill.

I got this feeling as well, especially for bosses; first boss fight centering around the hand pixl was really fun. No boss after that was particularly memorable. I think the introduction of other flawed variables (mainly things like overpowered pixls and Bowser) later on muddied the gameplay.

I see a lot of people hate sticker star and SPM, and considering what they're trying to live up to I can understand that, but I can't understand anyone who says Sticker Star is the worse of the two - nevermind originality of mechanics, at least SS is cohesive as a game, SPM can't even manage that much.

I played the demo and it was okay. D00D seems to hate it, so I sort of just take his word on it. Mainly I just don't buy it because it isn't the Paper Mario I want to play. I want my badge system, dammit!
 
I played the demo and it was okay. D00D seems to hate it, so I sort of just take his word on it. Mainly I just don't buy it because it isn't the Paper Mario I want to play. I want my badge system, dammit!
D00d thought it was alright his first playthrough, but then replayed it... I think 2 times? Maybe 3. It soured on him over time, as he realized the overworld stickers, lack of EXP, and command inputs on Thing stickers being absurdly powerful meant he didn't actually HAVE to fight anything outside of bosses... and then some of the bosses had that deal where they would stop taking damage for no stated reason to do some scripted thing, or demand that you have some specific item. He died to one boss because he overextended to deal a killing blow only for it to go "nope! Arbitrary boss-cannot-die time".

I totally understand where he's coming from, I just view it more as Sticker Star being a good battle concept with some issues in execution and overworld design. SPM by comparison seems to just be a polished turd, there isn't a good idea at the center of it at all.

At the time, I basically said that I was happy sticker star was made, since it was such a different experience and good enough for me to enjoy it for its novelty, but that I still really wanted that TTYD sequel like everyone else.
 
Super Paper Mario. I would enjoy The Thousand Year Door, (and I actually have a physical copy of it), but I don't have a memory card or a controller to enjoy it with. It's just a useless disc to me. In fact, I doubt that it works. :(
 
Okay, while Paper Mario 64 is decent, it feels as if it's mostly worth going back to for the feelings of nostalgia. I can't help but just feeling like wanting to glare at the fact that despite its being a simple "Bowser steals the star rod, kidnaps Peach, Mario has to save her and the star spirits while Bowser sends in more villains", it seems to be more like a repetitive version of villain of the week, except the formula doesn't have the special flavor as Paper Mario TTYD to make up for it. Even the villains feels like one-shot characters. If any minor villain I find the most memorable and possibly interesting, was the Koopa Bros. They sticked around having longer screen-time than the rest of the other chapter villains and are actually more interesting (Especially along with their conflict) despite Nintendo trying to make them be more original with them than just being blatantly "Teenage Mutant Ninja Koopas". Other than that, Not sure if anyone care that much about Huff n Puff (That one boss that took me half an hour to beat as a kid), Tubba Blubba, Tutan Koopa, General Guy, lava piranha, and Crystal King even after knowing a little about them.

Chapter 2, Chapter 4, and chapter 6 are kinda like chores at times, but chapter 5 isn't that much. Chapter 2, if I can recall, almost has much as backtracking as Chapter 6, with all the berries and stuff to do and collect for others while still sometimes keeping fun in it...Chapter 4, however, is almost the same case, considering that you also needed a cake for the gourmet guy to eat before you could move on even after backtracking to get everyone's stuff back. Speaking of the cake thing, it was frustrating at first to make sure the cake was baked long enough for me as a kid, considering that I've never made a cake before (Although that game encourages me to try to be able to make a cake one day). Not until I've done mental math to calculate how long is 30 seconds if I can recall. At least doing what Paper Peach has to do is more interesting than, "Go and walk to talk to TEC, dance with him, fetch him something without feeling suspense, etc." And can do something more useful for Paper Mario such as storing items and badges inside that one box that Paper Mario can later get when he get to the star piece house.

Paper Mario 64 has like 3 interesting partners and at least three okay partners (Bomette & Watt). Goombario was mostly memorable for wanting to be like Mario as to Tails wanting to be like Sonic because they look up to them, if I can recall about Goombario. Lakilester was somehow a bit interesting, but I can't remember what his ideal was exactly that could feel more like a conflict. Bow has the charming kind of personality that she even came back in TTYD as an NPC. Parakarry and Sushie, however, feels more like chore kind of characters, except Parakarry wants to repay Mario if I can recall, so he got more interesting.

If there's anything at least better to say than just nitpicking its flaws, is that if Super Mario RPG didn't exist, Paper Mario series won't. Which is partly why we're glad that Nintendo made the game the way it is even when Paper Mario 64 was originally intended to be Super Mario RPG 2 as a sequel.
 
I don't really object to your criticisms, only that I feel the game's strengths outweigh the weaknesses. The plot of course isn't nearly as compelling as the two games after it, but its strong point has always been the battle system itself, and I'd argue it's more or less as good as TTYD's. The different overworlds are hit or miss, but the underground network is definitely more compelling than the sequels by a landslide.
 
Find the peace within ourselves; no need for a cure

I still don't know why i enjoyed Super Paper Mario and now I feel the urge to replay it to see if it still holds any value to me -- I'll probably post here with my ultimate thoughts if I do.
 
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I agree, Super Paper Mario was actually quite good. ;o I loved that game, save for the crash-bug in the Hotel chapter. :T Thankfully I saved right before, but still!

I need to get around to actually playing TTYD, though. I've only heard endless praise for that game. (The only criticism I hear being that it's too similar to the first game.. does that really count?)

Never played Sticker Star either. Though for that one.. I also don't PLAN to play it. :V
 
I love The Thousand-Year Door for its world and gameplay, and Super for its characters. I haven't played the original, but the more complicated level design sounds better than the more streamlined stuff in Thousand-Year Door. Overall, it's TTYD for me.
 
I have really only played a bit of Paper Mario 64.
It's a good game for the first installment in the Paper Mario series but truly the second installment in the Super Mario RPG series, as it was once a sequel to Legend of the Seven Stars.
 
I don't really like to subcategorize the Mario RPGs. Given the different phases Paper Mario is going through and the recent crossover, saying that something is "like Paper Mario" is like saying that something is "a videogame".
 
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