Palms... ACHING! Fingers... BLEEDING! Body... FADING! Paper cuts... SWELLING! Must... keep... PLAYING!

Author's Rating:

Pros: An inventive battle system and interesting paper-puzzle mechanics.

Cons: Doesn't exactly share the same largeness as some other RPGs (broader worlds, thicker storyline, etc.)

The Bottom Line: 
One of the best GameCube games that I've owned from out of 2004, Paper Mario is a wonderfully unique RPG that everyone should explore.

Author's Review
Mario is Nintendo's personal poster guy when it comes to just about every genre, on every system, in every game that they concoct. He's gone from being the company's unmatchable platformer plumber, to a mean shell tossing racer, and a skilled golfer, too. In the Super Nintendo days, it was all of this, and then there was the time when Squaresoft stepped in and developed the very first RPG that would see Mario's face printed on it. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was one of the greatest RPGs fans of Mario games would come to know. But then, we wanted more. And we got it, too. Although not from Squaresoft (who at the time sided with Sony and their new PlayStation console), Intelligent Systems' Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 was a critiqued success at the very end of the system's life span. Later on (last year in fact,) AlphaDream developed the spiritual sequel to the original Mario RPG (where the N64 version was 2D and paper-oriented). That brings us back now to Intelligent Systems, who returns to their maker seat and brings us the very first sequel to their very unique and very excellent Paper Mario series, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

How many times has it been now since Princess Peach has gotten herself kidnapped? One-hundred? One-thousand? ONE-MILLION TIMES?! No really, I'm curious; I've lost count. Whatever the answer is, it's happened quite a lot. And yes, as always, it's happened once again. While on her visit to Rogue Port (a rundown seaside town,) the blonde, the beautiful, the paper-thin Peach (on the Calista Flockhart diet) was shopping, when all of the sudden a mysterious figure handed her a special map. It is said that on this map reads the location to an ancient treasure that was buried long ago behind the Thousand-Year door. Mailing the map to Mario, Peach writes to him to meet her in Rogue Port where she insists that they find the treasure together. The problem? Peach is nowhere to be found when Mario arrives on the scene. However, another dilemma arises: a fight ensues, and Mario meets a new friend, Goombella, the spike-hatted female Goomba. Learning of Mario's identity and about the map, the two set off on an adventure to find the princess and the treasure, and in the process will meet new enemies and allies on another crazy Mario quest that'll amaze you, dazzle you, and enlighten your funny bones from start to finish.

As far as RPG series go, the Mario RPG series isn't really one of those epic fairytales where villains have a heart of black and the good guys suffer the loss of Aeris and such. In its own way, however, Paper Mario is just as formidable as those other, more mature tales. It's with unique gameplay puzzles, a fun battle system and funny dialogue, and interesting characters and twists together that Paper Mario brilliantly succeeds as a game, and as an RPG that makes the game very enjoyable to play on through. It starts with the concept that Mario, and every other character in his universe, are made out of paper - literally. That's where Intelligent Systems takes Mario and his growing gang of friends out into the world, and allows them to explore further by using each power they've got to tackle certain points - be it enemies or puzzle-related - and win. From the beginning, you have Mario who'll start out from scratch with the ability to jump and whack objects or enemies with his hammer. With these abilities, Mario can obviously jump on top of things to climb upward, or on top of them to bonk them with his buttocks. Mario's hammer acts accordingly the same way as any hammer would; it slams down on stuff. As the adventure moves forward, Mario's attributes will branch off into other paths and essentially upgrade just the same for past, present, and future venues that he and his friends will be able to slip through as the game's progress points will allow for them to do so.

But first, to understand these values, you first have to be able to analyze the format for places Mario will visit. Like Mario or anyone else, insides and outsides of towns, buildings, enemy fortresses, and basically anywhere Mario can go are entered in a 3D/2D measurement. Because Mario is 2D himself, he can only move from side to side. That doesn't stop him from moving upward or downward, though. At every axis, at every turn of an adjustment in advancing throughout the game, Mario will gain new abilities (like being able to butt-stomp through patterned floor panels, or turn his side upward to squeeze through vertical bearings) and friends who together will filter through different points in a town or a level when not engaged in battle. For example, Mario's first friend in the game is Goombella. Her power is to tattle, or basically to inform Mario about everything that there is to know. By pressing X in the game, ally powers will kick in. In Goombella's case, if you press X in the port town of Rogue Port, Goombella will feed Mario a brief description of what kind of place Rogue Port is. Perform the same function when standing next to an individual NPC of Rogue Port, and she'll produce stats on them instead. (Rogue Port, by the way, acts as the main hub to tie any and all access passages throughout the burg to its inner, upper, outer, and all arounder workings.) Later on in the game Mario will team up with Koops, a Koopa Troopa who's sliding shell ability allows Mario to kick him in a sideways direction. This move also allows Mario to hold Koops in an out-of-reach position once booted (by pressing down on X and keeping it pressed) to be thrust into an object on return, whilst Mario simultaneously is able to wander off elsewhere. This move is useful for knocking Koops into distant objects that can't be reached, or buttoned blocks that initiate a timed elevator sequence, for example. Face not the block but in the opposite direction instead, toss Koops, freeze him there, have Mario step onto the bigger block lift, and release to let Koops fly backward into the block and send Mario up. In total, Mario's party can grow to eight in all, including himself. With each new character Mario befriends, some will give Mario greater advantages based on their talents (such as a baby Yoshi who gives Mario a boost in cruising through levels quickly while Yoshiback riding, where other partners cannot). But even as certain allies don't get as much due as "favorites," every character has a role and a function in the game, and it's interesting to see them all played out.

Battles, on the other hand, differ. Your choice of partners can be anyone, or they can be just one. And they will be only one too, because as a matter of fact battling in Paper Mario is done in twos; at least for you. Combat in the game is setup like this: First you walk around in the level out doing whatever in real-time. You see an enemy, or more than one enemy. Approach the enemy, and when it touches Mario, the fighting will commence. But, the idea is that you don't want it to touch Mario - not unless you want to score an extra hit before hand. If Mario is able to jump on an enemy, whack it with his hammer, or even use his partner's ability before the battle occurs, then a bout will start out with the first enemy in a lineup (that can range from one, to two, up to about six) getting the effect of the damage. Timing is everything, though. Just like in all of the previous Mario RPG games, waiting to press a button right before you hit an enemy or an enemy hits you, an advantage of greater damage or protection will be on your side just as long as you're able to follow attack patterns and key in every sequence correctly. For example, Mario's attacks consist of both hammer and jumping properties. When Mario leaps into the air above the enemy's head, pressing 'A' right before the landing will increase the damage given to a single foe double time. Time the attack just right, and an icon of a mushroom, star, shine, flower, or a poisoned mushroom will appear on the right side of the screen. If two of the same icons show up in two joint turns in a row, a slot machine mini-game will begin and allow you to refill your stats with the associated icon (i.e., health for mushroom, flower points for flowers, etc.) The same procedure can be done with any ally, and every ally also has their own method of attack. Koops the Koopa, for instance, uses a spinning strike. Holding down left on the analog stick and waiting for the indicator on a sliding bar to reach a symbol in the middle and then release will give the enemy their come uppings with greater damage. A Yoshi partner, which you'll team up with and even name yourself (mine I called Fonzie... heeeeeeeeeey!), uses a stomp attack where he'll flutter overhead and bounce multiple times on top of an enemy just so long as you're tapping the 'R' button to fill up his gauge. The manner in which a combination of buttons that you'll press all depends on which partner you have selected, where all of them can ultimately be switched in and out of combat for the betterment of your survival.

Back and forth, the turn-based brawls throughout Paper Mario are actually staged. I mean literally, they're staged as in that they take place in a 2D/3D theater surrounding. Mario has himself and his partner on the left side of the screen, and enemies are adjacent to the right. An audience, who can affect both yourself and your foes for better or worse, sits on the bottom of the screen in rows of chairs. Since enemies can appear in greater numbers at most points and sometimes also have distinctive attributes on their body that can block certain attacks if Mario or one of his partners isn't equipped for the right offense, there's the swap option that allows Mario to switch any of his partners in and out of battle when his or his partner's turn comes up. These conflicting elements certain enemies have arranged come in spikes protruding from their heads, to armored shells covering everything but their bottom halves. Mario's body is soft and squishy, so figuring that touching anything pointy is going to hurt this Italian stallion. And just how that goes, whenever Mario performs a jumping onset onto a sharp-topped being of some kind (i.e., piranha plants with pointy teeth, or little armored guys with horns,) he's going to feel the hurt. This is where part of using your brain comes in. Not forgetting about the hammer attack, instead of squashing these pains with his butt, Mario can rid them with his mallet. Not forgetting about Mario's partners either, certain team members have ways of getting through these barriers themselves. Take for example Bobbery, a Bomb-omb Mario partners with at one point. His skill is walking up to an enemy and exploding in their face. He doesn't have to touch any spikes on top; he just needs to stand next to an enemy and blow them to smithereens. But therein lies a problem factor for some allies. Mario can both jump on top of and whack at his foes. Not every enemy lies in wait on the ground. Some enemy types will wait in the air to be beaten. Some will shift their stances back and forth between airborne and ground attacks. This means that not every ally can help out Mario using their normal attack patterns, as some are focused on ground attacks permanently. Thus, using the partner switch system and being able to determine which attack measures work best against all diversities of enemies is one whole part of managing through the sometimes tough, but definitely entertaining and interesting battle mechanics.

The other portions of battle management develop with raising Mario and his partner's stats. Across the top half of the screen in every fight within the game depicts gauges for HP (health points,) FP (flower points,) and a star meter for what is called special moves (these are timed attacks that only Mario can use to deal greater damage to all opponents, or to regain lost stats.) The way that Mario actually gains experience in Paper Mario is by collecting more star points from defeated enemies. Whenever one or more enemies in battle are beaten, stars are tallied and submitted to a growing number that is also shown at the top of the screen. Each time this continuously ascending amount reaches 100 stars, Mario is given three options to pick from. He can choose to increase his health or flower points by five digits, or he can up his badge rankings by three. Badges are special items that can be equipped to affect Mario's or the partner's chances in battle or otherwise, by aiding them in one way or another. Basically these things are the armor, weapons, or whatever that better the defenses or options like in any RPG game. The catch, however, is that upgrading Mario's badge slot number alone doesn't let you have everything. There are 85 badges that can be gained throughout the game. Every badge requires a certain amount of badge points that must be freed up before it can be equipped. Where some badges only use one or two badge points, there are those that ask for up to five or six in all. And the thing about that is, it's not a frequent thing that you'll be given the opportunity to increase your badge points. Beating enemies into the ground can relinquish around ten or more star points at a time, but more often than not it's fewer than that, especially when you're returning to past levels to uncover its secrets that you couldn't access the first time through. Experience is gained very minutely in Paper Mario, but the wait is worth it no matter.

Why? Because badges are an essential factor in completion of Paper Mario. Without them, it's likelier a player is going to struggle with the fighting scenarios more than they would without certain badges equipped. You can keep leveling up Mario's life and flower power (which determine the magic points that Mario and his mate share within battle,) but then you wouldn't be able to gain new abilities and qualities like a stronger defense and attack, the ability to charge (in other words, raise a character's attack power on command,) or electricity (adding an electrical defensive shield that harms enemies whenever they bump into Mario or his partner,) or even granting Mario the property to finally jump onto spiked or flaming enemies (which really helps out against the harder unfriendlies ahead.) These badges also add a nice touch to Mario's extensive collection of some flower point-activated moves. As an idea of what the flower points do, they're based off of the number seen at the top of the screen. If Mario or his partner pick a flower attack in battle, that flower point amount will lessen (unless restored.) These specialty maneuvers can range from having the Yoshi character gulp any enemy type and spit them out into the enemy behind them, to twisting Mario's body with the hammer so to twirl into an opponent and knock the one standing behind it (which, in both cases multiple enemies would be injured rather than just the single.) Finding badges to wear is a whole 'nother issue, which adds to the lengthiness of Paper Mario in its great array of sidequests. Located in Rogue Port is a shop dedicated to selling badges. While some badges can be bought here, there are plenty of others that can be earned within the depths of enemy territories (provided you have the right partner to help nab it.) Other items and subquest secrets in the game include mushrooms and syrups that can refill health and flower points, lighting bolts and frost items to strike all enemies at once in battle, turtle shells that can boost defense, star pieces that can be hunted for through many spaces (and are used for purchasing badges from a specialty shop,) and shines. Shines, like these star pieces, are used to level up your partners. Unlike Mario, the rest of the team can only be leveled twice - expending three shines per upgrade. There is also a spot in Rogue Part called the Trouble Center, which lets Mario accept all manners of problems - from fetching certain items, to speaking with multiple individuals, to counting the number of chairs different homes contain all for items, money, and even badges. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door really isn't just any meager quest; there's more than fifty hours worth of fun and adventure to squeeze out of this baby.

Think of a two-dimensional 3D coloring book, and you're on the right track to imagining the world in which Mario's latest adventure in paper revolves around. Starting from the stone and brick-layered town of Rouge Port, and reaching all the way to the rocky craters of the moon, Paper Mario has an entirety of distinctive and intriguingly structured levels to wander through. Follow through a grassy meadow path and into a castle that spirals around when Mario reaches for the summit. Journey across an island's jungle and through a ghost-inhabited cavern. Reach across the skies via a fishy blimp ride to enter into a mammoth battle arena where only the strong survive. One of the really amazing parts of the game's environments is how this 2Dish game is able to mix unlike techniques together (you'll notice a cel-shaded formula in the water, as the whites and blues are less paper formatted, for instance.) While much of the game is viewed from a flat angle, there are many times where the camera rotates as Mario moves upward, and a building all of a sudden becomes 3D. Even certain boss characters show off their boxy and curvy "fatter" angles, such as a dragon that looks as if it were made out of perfect cardboard pieces glued together. For the most part however, every character in the game is flat, crisp, and colorful. Characters appear as animated coloring book drawings, as each one has a bold line outlining its body. And on these masses are moving bits and pieces. For instance, during story segments, you'll actually be able to tell when Mario's squinting his eyes in anger whenever the two little black dots turn from round ovals into, um... squinty round ovals. Mario and his partners of course have bunches and bunches of other moves - cooler ones too. One character on Mario's team in particular (who's name would best not to be spoiled) can turn Mario and herself invisible in or out of combat by getting sucked downward in a drain of colors, and forming a black shadow on the ground as to hide or avoid attacks. Bobbery the Bomb-omb lights up and uses his slow marching steps to peddle his way over to a foe or a destructible environmental object, and blows them up with yellow flashes and everything. Although it wouldn't be right to think of Paper Mario as having the most elaborate and effective visuals seen on the GameCube, just be sure it's of clean, colorful, cute, clever, and creative quality.

For someone who's barely had a voice his entire career, Mario has surely become one of the most popular gaming icons. Outside the usual yelps and the "It's-a me, Mario!" lines that Mario's belted out over the years, Mario hasn't said much of a peep. And that's kind of what makes him special. He's got that quiet, cool air about him. Continuing that tradition, this new Paper Mario uses a limited range of Mario voices. You'll get the yelps. You'll get the, "Yuh-huh!" But other than that, this fat Italian ain't going to speak for nobody, no how. But that's okay, because every other sound element in the game is boo-tee-ful. Suitably with every level that Mario and friends encounter, there's a synthesized rhythm throughout the confines of both towns and enemy compounds. Whether on a lighter, cheerier note, or of a bizarre or darker key when set in enemy limits, the music in the game is not only very good stuff, but it's also something that you're going to remember down the line. Thwacking a hammer... blowing up a wall... running and jumping... stomping on foes.... These are just some of the sounds that you'll hear along the way. With every noise that's made, an exactness follows. Like, you'll actually hear the crispy crackling countdown of Bobbery before the wall shatters and the pieces are heard landing on the ground. Sometimes the audio effects can be exaggerated to a cartoon effect (like when you're able to change the FX of Mario's hammer to some odd cricket noises,) but nevertheless, excellent harmonics reside in each and every one of them.

Unique is the key word that describes best the kind of RPG that Paper Mario is. When you think about other RPG games and you think about this one, there are similarities there. But, Paper Mario is still different. Instead of swords and sorcery, you've got variations of hammer attacks to wield as both weapon and magical stances. Instead of a darker and distorted RPG tale, Paper Mario contains its elements in a friendlier nature that even when being silly and humorous, is still a narrative that touches on a larger scale than it would initially seem. Comparatively speaking, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door isn't quite as grand and compelling an RPG like certain Final Fantasy type games are. However, it's more of its own thing. There are loads of savory things to do in this paper-made world that's funny, and original, and just solid by any and all means.