A paper-thin Mario

In the year 2001, Nintendo released one of the finest games in history: Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64. It was an RPG with very innovative 2D 'paper' graphics. Every character model and object had the look of being made of two-dimensional piece of paper. It also combined some very addicting gameplay thanks to the highly interactive battles, and it quickly earned a spot in most every gamers' 'top five list'. In 2004, Nintendo released a sequel to Paper Mario in the form of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for the Nintendo Gamecube. While The Thousand Year Door aimed to be a more epic Paper Mario, most fans felt there was something missing that kept TTYD from matching the greatness of the original Paper Mario. Perhaps it was the more realistic graphics. Perhaps the much more epic and complex story just didn't fit with Mario and all his goofy friends. It was not a bad game by any means; in fact it was arguably the greatest game of 2004. It is just that it did not reach the standards set by the original...

New(s) Paper

Now, Nintendo has announced a third Paper Mario game in production for the new Nintendo Wii console. Nintendo says that this new entry in the franchise, named Super Paper Mario, will be a platformer much like Super Mario Bros but with a few RPG elements. Nintendo has also said that Super Paper Mario will be using the innovative Wii Remote in conjunction with the franchise's unique style of graphics to deliver a Paper Mario experience like no other. All this sounds well and good, but will the game be wrapped up in too much complexity, or will Nintendo seamlessly integrate all these features to deliver a smash hit?

Super Paper Mario starts off with Mario and Luigi enjoying a lazy weekend afternoon when some horrible news is brought to their attention - Princess Peach has been kidnapped (I never saw that coming)! The two brothers rush off to Bowser's Castle in order to save the princess, but when they arrive, Bowser doesn't know what's going on either! Suddenly, an evil magician named Count Black emerges and forces Bowser and Princess Peach together in holy matrimony. Due to the overly bizarre nature of this occurrence, a rift of dark energy that threatens to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom emerges! It is then up to Mario to venture through the game's eight chapters and save the Mushroom Kingdom.

I know what you're thinking. Some story, eh? Yeah, the Mario games have never been known for their epic stories, but that's just the way Mario fans like it. The Thousand Year Door had an overly Final Fantasyish story, which did not fit the Mario universe at all. Super Paper Mario aims to deliver a story much like that of the first - a simple story with a lot of room and potential for puns, one-liners and many other forms of humour.

Paper in 3D

Super Paper Mario's gameplay is quite unique compared to that of the past Paper Mario games. By that, I mean that thanks to the game's paper-like worlds, the player will be able to interact with the world in new ways. For instance, early in the game, the player will gain the ability to switch the view of the world from a side-scrolling view to a 'from-the-back-view' to get past certain obstacles. Say a rock or some other such object is blocking the path forward. Simply press a button on the Wii Remote, and the world will be flipped to a three-dimensional view. Now, the player can easily walk around the rock and continue their journey. This ability will also reveal objects that are invisible when playing in the two-dimensional view. Of course, Nintendo will most definitely utilize this new trick to present very clever puzzles to the player. There is, however, the concern that Nintendo may use this new ability too much, and it may become tedious to flip back and forth between dimensions. Hopefully, Nintendo remembers not to overwhelm the player with too much flipping back and forth. That would become very tiresome very fast.