I’m a recently minted Paper Mario fan. I did not play any of the games as a kid. But when Paper Mario the Origami King surprise released last year, I got interested in the series. I decided to try Paper Mario: Sticker Star out first. I had heard that it was the worst game in the series, but that subsequent games were more likely to be fashioned after it than Paper Mario’s The Thousand Year Door (which is widely regarded as the best in the series). If I liked it, I figured that would be a good indicator that I would also like the rest of the series (and Origami King in particular). And if I wasn’t thrilled, it was the worst one so maybe the rest were better? Plus, it was the cheapest one I could get. 

Well, as it turned out, I actually did like Sticker Star. I thought it had some issues, but I had a fun time. I’ve given the game a (partial) defense in a bonus post we’re releasing today because I think it deserves to have some of its virtues recognized. 

But today, we are primarily recommending Super Paper Mario. Super Paper Mario released on the Nintendo Wii in 2007. And in recent years, it has suffered from middle-child syndrome. It has been constantly overshadowed by the enduring adoration heaped upon its immediate predecessor in the series, The Thousand Year Door, and by the seemingly endless loathing the public has for the next game in the series, Sticker Star. 

Trapped between these two games, Super Paper Mario seems to have been forgotten. That seems so odd to me since it’s the best selling game in the series. Nevertheless, I don’t think it gets much attention anymore because of the attention heaped in its siblings. But no longer! Today, Super Paper Mario gets all of the attention that it so richly deserves.

A Super Story

Super Paper Mario begins with Mario and Luigi enjoying a lazy afternoon. When they receive word that Princess Peach has been kidnapped, they know exactly who must have done it: Bowser. They hightail it to Bowser’s castle only to discover that the King Koopa is still plotting his next move on Princess Peach’s castle. 

Everybody’s a bit confused when suddenly a malevolent-looking man in a bad magician’s outfit pops in seemingly out of nowhere. He has the Princess, and he is clearly up to no good. He explains that he is Count Bleck, and he intends to destroy the universe and rebuild it again…but better or something? At first, it’s not really clear what he wants.

But clarity be darned. He is a man on a mission, and that mission requires Bowser and Peach to get hitched. So he kidnaps them both and sets off magical explosions to kill Mario. At the last minute, Mario is saved by a very colorful butterfly…thing named Tippi, who comes from a different dimension. She teleports with Mario to Flipside.

There, Mario finally gets a clue as to what’s going on. A magical old man named Merlon, who is working with Tippi, explains that Bleck’s plan required the creation of a chaos heart. With the power of a chaos heart, Bleck can open a black hole that will slowly swallow all worlds and dimensions at once. The marriage of Peach and Bowser was foretold to create such a chaos heart. (That’s unsurprising. Would you want to be married to Bowser?) 

The only way to stop Bleck is to gather the eight pure hearts. These hearts can counteract the damage of the chaos heart and defeat Bleck. So, Mario has to collect the pure hearts, rescue his friends, and save the whole universe.

A New Dimension of Gameplay

Super Paper Mario is a blend of classic Mario platforming and RPG elements. You travel to eight unique worlds filled with enemies, and you do a lot of platforming to get around. But you still have HP and experience points, and enemies have HP that you need to whittle down somehow. You battle enemies by jumping on their heads or by hitting them with some of the new abilities you gain along the way.

The first major ability you gain is the power to flip the world into 3D. Most of the time, you go left and right in true platformer style. But sometimes to progress or find hidden items, you can temporarily switch to 3D to get around certain obstacles or enemies.

You acquire additional abilities as you discover Pixls hidden in each world. Pixls are small…digital beings? Not sure exactly what they’re made of, but they’re sassy. And they give you the powers to do different things, from grabbing objects to hovering over hazards to blowing things up. You need to get most of them to progress, but a few of them are hidden for the explorers among you.

Pixls bestow their powers not only on Mario but also his companions. As you make your way through the story, Bowser, Peach, and Luigi will eventually rejoin your party. They each have a unique ability as well. Plus, if you go into cutscenes while controlling them, they have unique (often hilarious) dialogue. So you have a lot of flexibility, and you are constantly discovering new things as you go.

Welcome to the Sassy Dimension

Like I said, Mario’s adventure takes him to eight unique worlds (not counting Flipside, the hub world) and puts him in contact with some wacky folks. Some worlds are better than others, but they’re all fun to visit.

My personal favorite came about halfway through the game. Mario arrives in a new world only for Tippi to be kidnapped by a gigantic chameleon named Francis. Francis is a massive, awkward, pimply nerd, and he’s so excited about Tippi for some reason. So now, Mario has to chase Francis to his castle and rescue Tippi.

Once you get there, you find that Fort Francis is a supernerd’s dream lair. High-tech butler cats, mountains of comic books, and a security system all block Mario’s path to Tippi. Francis has hidden behind a door that only he and the “super hot babes” who might accidentally stumble into his castle can pass through.

Fortunately, Peach has joined your party by that point in the game, so Francis lets her in. But then he hyperventilates because he’s actually talking to a girl for the first time in his life. He has to boot up a dating program to communicate with Peach virtually. I just about died laughing at the conversation he tries to have with Peach and the way she shuts him down.

And that’s a consistent theme about this game. It’s so over the top that I couldn’t help but laugh constantly. Whether I was chasing caveman film crews through a dungeon filled with sentient sunflowers, using a goldfish bowl as a space helmet, navigating the River Twygz, or listening to Bowser try to flirt with Peach, I had to laugh. I frequently would call Michela over to have her come watch the cutscenes with me because they were too funny to pass up.

Flipping the Script

But the game has more to it than humor. Later in the game, there are some sweet and interesting moments as you learn more about Bleck, Tippi, and the other characters in the game. Those moments are still cheesier than Wisconsin, but they’re sweet nonetheless. 

I appreciate that the writers tried to develop the characters, particularly Bleck and Tippi, more than a typical Mario game would do. You learn that Bleck isn’t just out for destruction. He has other motivations too (no spoilers). And I like a villain with some extra motivations, even if they’re a bit over the top.

And I think the game has the space for character development because of some of the gameplay choices the development team made. While most Paper Mario games are turn-based RPG games, Super Paper Mario is more of a platformer with RPG elements. You still gain experience points, and enemies still have hit points and things like that. But you don’t have to bother with going in and out of battles all the time. This means that the story has a lot more room to breathe. There’s time to develop characters and provide more dialogue and progression throughout the story.

But Bleck!

However, the extra room for story also left room (and some might say a need) for padding. I did not always enjoy the in-between chapters sections. Usually, you go to a world, find the pure heart, and bring it back to Flipside. At that point, Merlon tells you to go find a heart pillar, where you insert the pure heart to open the next world. These pillars are hidden in random parts of Flipside, and they are increasingly difficult and tedious to get to. I kind of dreaded needing to come back to Flipside. I really just wanted to get on with the story, but I had to spend more time than I wanted fiddling about with dumb stuff in Flipside.

Luckily, that was about the worst of it. I found the rest of the game delightful and fun. The music was enjoyable (especially in Merlee’s Mansion, the second world). I wasn’t a huge fan of the art style for most of the worlds, but I could understand what they were going for. And as I’ve said, this game is funny. The writers really knocked it out of the park.

Who to Play With

Super Paper Mario is fun for all ages. I would play with Geekling sometimes on Saturdays, and he had a good time. The last time we played, he kept asking me “Can Mario do that?” whenever I would do something with a different character. It was pretty cute. Super Paper Mario is a single-player adventure, but it’s just as much fun to watch as it is to play. It’s funny, clean, and not especially scary at any point (probably why it’s rated E). Even Count Bleck is more moody than truly malicious.

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