Paper Mario
Platform: N64/Wii (Virtual Console)
For $10 on the Wii VC, RPG fans will have a hard time finding a better deal for a 25 hour game.
Review by Sirus

“Paper Mario” originally came out on the N64 in 2001 towards the end of the console’s life cycle. Few gamers were able to play and appreciate this beautiful game. Then later in 2004 they released a sequel “Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door” for the Nintendo Gamecube which was given more hype leading up to its release. Some may have not gotten into this amazing series until the release of “Super Paper Mario” on the Nintendo Wii this year. With the release of “Paper Mario” on the Wii Virtual Console (VC) gamers who own a Wii can now play all three of the Paper Mario games on this one console. With a price tag of only $10, there is nothing to stop fans of the later games from picking up the gem that started it all. But the biggest question is, does it stand the test of time? Or did it age horribly like many other games?

“Paper Mario” takes the simple story that has been present in the Mario games from the beginning and takes things a step further. Bowser has once again kidnapped Princess Peach and Mario is the only one who is able to stop his evil scheme. This time though, Bowser isn’t his normal self. He has gained the power of the Star Rod that he stole from the Star Spirits in Star Heaven and imprisoned the Star Spirits so that Mario has no way of defeating him. After an initial confrontation in Peach’s Castle, Mario is sent flying down to earth where he is knocked out and left lying at the brink of death in a small forest. The nearby family of Goombas finds Mario and nurses him back to health, enabling him to make his way up to Star Heaven where he can contact the Star Spirits to find out what he has to do. The Star Spirits tell him that in order to defeat Bowser, he must rescue each of them from their place of captivity and, with all their combined powers, take on Bowser and defeat him once and for all.

Mario must save the Star Spirits in a set order that takes him through multiple areas before fighting a boss and saving the spirit. After Mario saves a spirit, the game switches control over to Princess Peach in her castle and shows us how she is doing as she works to gather information to be of some help for Mario. Each of the areas Mario must adventure to is accessible through a path that goes from Toad Town. Toad Town works as a sort of hub from which everything branches out. The game keeps itself from constantly bombarding the character with battles because there are a ton of puzzles to solve in each area. The combat works like a typical turn-based RPG with timed hits to master in order to do the most damage and take the least damage possible. Enemies are visible on screen and players can gain an advantage by getting in an attack on the field or a disadvantage by letting the enemy get in an attack on the field. The timed hits in battle are different depending on the action players take. For Mario’s signature jump move, players must press A right before their hit lands on the enemy to cause the most damage.

Timed attacks aren’t available from the very beginning but very early on, Peach sends Mario an item which enables them. Killing enemies nets experience which levels Mario up so that he can access new moves. The game’s creators seem like they want to keep players from over-leveling so they created a system that makes the amount of experience you get from an enemy change by level. Each level comes when Mario gains 100 Star Points. Mario can get anywhere from 1-4 star points from regular enemies and upwards of 30 star points from bosses. If you are killing enemies that give three star points and then level up, for the next level they will give only two star points, and the next level one star point. The problem with this system is that fighting enemies who only give one star point tends to become boring.

The boss fights at the end of each of the areas are unique and memorable enough that they stand out. Most of the game’s bosses are quite easy though and are taken down with little trouble. The final boss is the only real exception. To make things even more complicated, Mario can equip badges to unlock abilities or boost his current abilities. Each badge takes a number of badge points to equip and the number of points available can be increased at the level up screen. Badges make it possible to have higher HP or FP than the otherwise maximum as well as let Mario do stronger skills than would otherwise be accessible. Most badges have limited usage though and end up being used only at specific points and then forgotten afterwards.

The graphics of “Paper Mario” were awesome for their time when the game first came out and still look good today. If the observant player looks close enough they can see the pixels in the characters but much of this is easily forgotten after a couple hours of play. The areas are vibrant and show off a multitude of details that make each area unique. Characters, enemies, and bosses are well drawn 2D sprites that show a good number of different emotions at the right point. The music is solid but nothing memorable and there is no voice acting in the game at all. For $10 on the Wii VC, RPG fans will have a hard time finding a better deal for a 25 hour game. If you have gotten into the series through one of the newer entries and own a Wii, you should go on virtual console today and buy “Paper Mario”.

Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Sound: 7/10
Story: 8/10
Longevity: 8/10 (25 hours)

Final Score 8.0/10 (an average)