Paper Mario

''This article refers to the first video game in the 'Paper Mario series'. For the article on the actual series, see: Paper Mario (series).''

Paper Mario, known in Japan as Mario Story (マリオストーリー) is a role-playing (RPG) video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was first released in Japan on August 11 2000, in North America on February 5 2001, and in Europe on October 5 2001.

Paper Mario was a spiritual sequel to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for the Super NES, and is the first game in the Paper Mario series of video games. It has had two sequels released; the first, for the Nintendo GameCube entitled Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and a second for the Wii entitled Super Paper Mario, which is designed as a platformer with role-playing elements.

The game's English title comes from its unique graphical style, reminiscent of older Mario titles, which features 2D looking characters resembling paper cutouts contained within 3D environments, with a full range of 3D movement, hence the name.

The game was re-released on Wii's Virtual Console on July 13 2007. The game has been in the Top 20 Most Popular Downloads on the North American Virtual Console since its release and was the Number 1 download when the Wii Shop Channel Updated on August 6, 2007. It was displaced by Super Mario Bros.

Gameplay
A distinguishing characteristic of Paper Mario is that, while the game features a 3D environment similar to that used in Super Mario 64, the characters are designed as flat two-dimensional sprites reminiscent of 16-bit Mario titles, creating the impression of the characters being paper figurines.

Both Mario and Peach are playable.

Another departure from previous Mario games and from RPGs in general is the game's narration. The story is divided into eight chapters and a prologue. The beginning of a new chapter is announced with a cutscene and a scene with a curtain opening, similar to a theatrical production. When the chapter is completed, another cutscene is shown with the curtain closing. In between these chapters, interludes showing dialogue between other characters take place, advancing the story. These interludes are also times when the player takes control of Princess Peach and attempts to navigate the castle while avoiding being seen by Bowser's guards.



Paper Mario takes place in a real world environment, with many towns, castles, and areas of wilderness which can be identified as geographical locations. The game is set in the Mushroom Kingdom, which is divided into different regions through which Mario must traverse. Locations include a tropical island, a vast desert, a frozen mountain, a haunted forest, a paradise flower garden, Bowser's castle, and the inside of a toy box.

The action of Paper Mario is divided into two separate areas: the overworld and battle. The overworld is the area of the game in which the player navigates the game's locations, talks with characters, purchases items, and advances the plot. While in the overworld, Mario retains several basic actions including walking, running, and jumping. Other abilities include spinning, which speeds up Mario in conjunction with movement, hammering, which allows Mario to break certain obstacles that hinder progress, and the classic ground pound, which allows Mario to break through certain sections of floor. Many parts of the overworld require the player to solve puzzles, complete tasks for certain characters, or navigate platform-style areas in order to progress through the game.



Battles are accessed by making contact with enemies that are visible in the overworld. Each individual enemy in the overworld may actually represent several enemies to fight in the upcoming battle. The other area of the game in which action takes place is in battle against enemies. Much like in Super Mario RPG, the battles in Paper Mario rely on a cross between traditional turn-based RPG battle system and timed button presses or other such motions that allow for increased damage to enemies or reduced damage taken, a concept known in the game as the Action Command. Paper Mario builds on this concept, introducing a larger variety of moves and timed actions. Unlike in Super Mario RPG, the size of a party in battle is two, instead of three, with Mario and only one of his party members fighting against the enemies. Apart from starting the battle by touching the enemy, Mario and/or his team members can try and attack the enemy right off the bat. If successful, Mario will receive a "First Strike" which allows him to attack the enemies without using up a turn. On the other hand, enemies can also perform First Strikes on Mario and thereby get the first hit, unless a badge called "Chill Out" is worn. Apart from this, Mario and his team always get the first turn.

Badges in Paper Mario represent different powers, such as the ability to jump on top of spiked enemies, or different types of attacks and abilities. Some will increase the amount of FP or HP that Mario can find, others will increase or decrease HP as a trade off for increase in attack.

Plot
The story of Paper Mario begins with an introduction to Star Haven, a place where the seven Star Spirits reside and, using the Star Rod, an item with the power to grant any wish, grant the requests of those who wish upon the stars. The story's conflict begins when Bowser and his assistant Kammy Koopa invade Star Haven, steal the Star Rod and transform the seven Star Spirits into cards.

Meanwhile, Mario and Luigi, unaware of what has taken place, receive an invitation from Princess Peach to a party at her castle. Upon arrival, Mario retires from the guests to the back of the castle to pay a visit to Peach in private. Peach greets Mario and asks him to accompany her to her balcony. Before Mario and Princess Peach reach the balcony, a loud rumbling noise is heard. The Princess' castle is then lifted into the sky by a fortress that had been located underneath the ground below the castle. Bowser then enters the castle and reveals that he is once again attempting to kidnap Princess Peach. Mario does battle with Bowser, but fails because of the Star Rod's ability to make Bowser invincible. After beating Mario, Bowser throws him out of the window into space.



Mario lands injured and unconscious in a grassy clearing. Projections of the seven Star Spirits appear above Mario and with the strength that remains within them, the Star Spirits give the wounded Mario the strength to survive via these projections. Soon after, a Goomba boy, named Goombario, encounters Mario still unconscious and takes him to his village to heal. During his unconscious state in the village, Mario receives a vision from Eldstar, one of the Star Spirits, telling him to come to Shooting Star Summit as soon as possible, as the Star Spirits will be better able to communicate with him there. After arriving at Shooting Star Summit, the seven Star Spirits reveal to Mario what Bowser has done and tell him that the only way he will be able to defeat Bowser is to rescue all seven of them, each of whom has been placed under the care of Bowser's minions in a particular area of the Mushroom Kingdom, for only their combined power will be able to overcome that of the Star Rod.

Throughout his quest, Mario makes many friends and succeeds in rescuing the seven Star Spirits, who then open up a portal atop Shooting Star Summit providing access to Star Haven. Upon arriving there, the Star Spirits combine their power and grant Mario an ability called the Star Beam, which can negate the effects of the Star Rod, and also provide Mario with a flying machine for him to use to gain access to Bowser's flying fortress. Mario enters the fortress and confronts Bowser again, revealing to Bowser that he is now able to counter the Star Rod. Bowser, however, lures Mario to an area where a machine is kept that he uses to amplify his power to such an extent that he becomes resistant to the Star Beam. Princess Peach upon seeing this makes a desperate wish upon the stars in Mario's favor. As the Star Spirits gain their power from people's wishes, this wish provides them with enough power to increase that of the Star Beam, now called the Peach Beam (with a little help from Twink), allowing Mario to defeat Bowser and recover the Princess and the Star Rod. Bowser's castle and his device that was used to increase his power is destroyed causing him and Kammy Koopa to fall off the castle. The Star Spirits carefully put Peach's castle back in its original place. Twink says a tearful goodbye to Princess Peach before leaving to Star Haven.

Back at home, Mario has finished telling Luigi the story, when Parakarry arrives with a letter to Peach's castle. All of the party members that had joined Mario on his quest are also invited as the guests of honor. Upon entering the castle, Peach emerges, congratulating Mario and his friends for retrieving the Star Rod and defeating Bowser.

After a parade through the credits (led by Luigi), Mario takes Peach to his house to watch the fireworks, with the intro music playing lullaby-style. The scene will continue to play the fireworks until the player turns off the game.

Development
Paper Mario was developed by Intelligent Systems. The directors were Toshitaka Muramatsu, Takahiro Ohgi, and Hironobu Suzuki. Kumiko Takeda and Kaori Aoki wrote the game's script and Naohiko Aoyama was the art director responsible for the game's distinctive graphical style. The game was initially called Super Mario RPG 2, then Super Mario Adventure during production. It was originally supposed to be for the Nintendo 64DD, until that failed and Square and Nintendo split.

The game was first revealed at Nintendo Space World '97, a video game trade show hosted by Nintendo. Initially called Super Mario RPG 2, critics compared the game's 2D character style to PaRappa the Rapper. Shigeru Miyamoto, who consulted on the project, stated that the game was being developed with beginning and amateur gamers in mind. He had earlier revealed at E3 that around twenty developers were actively involved with the project.

Yuka Tsujiyoko composed the game's musical score. The song in the beginning of the game (in which the story about the Star Spirits is told) and the song by the Pop Diva are two very recognizable songs among gamers. They are heard at the end of the game, as well, when Mario and Peach are watching the fireworks. Her goal was to reflect the comical and lively sound of Koji Kondo's original Mario music in new ways. Tsujiyoko has also stated that the nature of her personality and the influences of her composing partner, Taishi Senda, were reflected in the finished music for the game.

Reception
Paper Mario immediately met with critical acclaim from a number of reviewers. Although the game's release at the end of the Nintendo 64's lifespan affected sales, it was still the 8th best selling game for the period from January to June of 2001. It was also the top selling game in Japan the week of its release, despite the availability of several games for PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast, which were then "next-generation" consoles. It was voted one of the top 100 games of all time, by Electronic Gaming Monthly. On GameSpot, the N64 score is 9.5 and the Wii score is 9. It was rated the 63rd best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.

DS remake
On April 16, 2008 the Japanese magazine CoroCoro said that there would be a remake of the N64 game. It was said to be released in Japan in July 2008, although as of May there has been no official release confirmation from Nintendo.