Paper Mario

Pros • Tremendous controls • It’s an RPG! On the N64!!	Cons • More sugar and sweetness than a pixie stick binge
Bottom Line Nintendo has once again laid down the law. Nobody can mess with Mario. The Nintendo 64 is a dying system, pretty much anybody in the gaming industry will tell you so. Most major developers have abandoned it in favor of the “next-gen” consoles like the Dreamcast, the PS2, or the yet to be seen Xbox. However it seems that nobody told Nintendo that its 64-bit console was going down the drain. In the last couple of months we have seen some great games like Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Banjo-Tooie, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. The latest addition to this heavy-hitting line up is Paper Mario. While the name Paper Mario is far from awe inspiring, keep in mind this is the unofficial sequel to the Super Mario RPG for the SNES. On the original, Nintendo teamed up with Square, one of the biggest names in role-playing games. Needless to say, it was a huge hit. Nintendo’s new partner, Intelligent Systems, had a lot to live up to. However, with Paper Mario, Intelligent Systems proved that not only could they make a kick ass role-playing game, but also they can keep up with one of the giants of the industry.

One thing that can be said about Nintendo is that they like to stick with story lines that work, and this is especially true for any Mario game. This time the evil Bowser has stolen the Star Rod, a magical device used to grant wishes. When people wish upon a star, benign Star Spirits use the powers of the Star Rod to make their wish come true. Bowser, sensing an opportunity to get revenge on his enemy Mario, steals the Star Rod and then imprisons the Star Spirits, who are the only ones capable of combating the power of the Star Rod. In perhaps one of the greatest injustices in the history of our mustachioed hero, Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach, with the power of the Star Rod, right before Mario is finally going to get a kiss. A word of advice, never interrupt a plumber when he is getting some action, and I mean NEVER. Thus starts Mario’s tale of savage, bloodthirsty revenge. Well, maybe it’s just the start of his tale of rescuing the Star Spirits and the Princess.

Don’t think that rescuing the princess is going to be a snap. Bowser has a tough army of opponents geared up to stop our plumber hero. From familiar faces like the lowly goombas and koopas to the evil witch Kammy, Mario has never faced a tougher line up. It’s a good thing he’s brought some reinforcements for himself. Each one of Mario’s friends brings a unique special ability to the table. For example, Bombette can explode herself and reveal hidden paths by destroying weak walls. In order to reveal all of the secrets in the game, you will need to use your party’s abilities to their fullest.

With all the good guys and baddies running all over the place, and this being an RPG, it’s a pretty safe bet that sooner or later there’s gonna be a fight. Luckily Paper Mario has one of the best combat interfaces ever seen. Aside from the standard weapons, spells, and items, Paper Mario comes equipped with a feature called Active Command. This feature combines some skill with the standard menu attacks. For example, Mario can jump on an enemy several times in succession if you time the jump command right. By using the action command successfully, you can cause more damage to opponents, cause special status damage, or reduce the damage that you take.

If you judge a game’s visuals by the number of polygons it pushes, or how many cinematic cut scenes there are, then Paper Mario isn’t going to win any awards from you. I mean let’s face it, two-dimensional characters running around in a 3-D background doesn’t exactly scream processor power. However, if you judge the graphics only by the polygon count, you would be making a huge mistake. The real strength of Paper Mario’s graphics lies with the atmosphere they present. When playing Paper Mario, you get the impression that you are watching a storybook that has come to life. Each character, despite having a two-dimensional handicap, is perfectly drawn with huge attention paid to all the details, from Mario’s mustache to Bowser’s spiky tail. The backgrounds are also outstanding. Every rock, tree, and plant brims with a life of its own. While not impressive in terms of raw graphical power, Paper Mario certainly has a visual personality all of its own.

The sound effects continue to enhance the storybook mood set by the cheerful graphics; probably too cute for their own good, but pleasant nonetheless. Of course, players will hear the familiar Mario music, but there are a lot of new scores as well. In fact, considering the space limitations of the cartridge format, Intelligent Systems did a great job with the background music. The special effects aren’t really going to stress out your stereo system, but the collection of boinks, thuds, and bumps are well designed if nothing else.

Yeah, Paper Mario has more sugar than most children’s breakfast cereals and it lacks the movies found in many role-playing games. What it does have is a great story, fun puzzles, and epic battles. Any RPG fan would be absolutely nuts to pass on Paper Mario.

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