Paper Mario

Paper Mario is a role-playing game released in 2001 for the Nintendo 64. It was developed by Intelligent Systems and released February 5th in North America. Paper Mario is the second role-playing game in the Mario series and the first in the Paper Mario series. Its sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, was released in 2004 for the Nintendo GameCube.

Overview
Paper Mario introduces new concepts to the role-playing game genre, while holding elements from the Mario series. The basis of Paper Mario is that Bowser has stolen the Star Rod from Star Haven. Mario must retrieve all the Star Spirits and defeat the evil Koopa King. The characters of Paper Mario are two-dimensional, however, the world itself is three-dimensional. The world and characters exhibit paper-like qualities to them, however, use of these paper-like structures were not used until the sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

Mario is controlled for most of the game, while Peach is controlled between chapters. Peach communicates with Mario through Twink. As she learns things from her capture, she sends Twinkle to tell Mario of what she has learned, often leading to the next area of the game.

Gameplay
Outside of battle, Mario can interact with his environment, including speaking to non-player characters and searching through certain objects. There are also several platforming elements, where Mario may need to use a partner to assist him. Partners can assist him inside and outside of battle. For example, Goombario can describe locales and characters to Mario, while inside battle, he can use his tattle ability to give Mario a brief description of the enemy.

Inside battle, the gameplay shifts to a turn-based battle, with Mario attacking first, followed by his partner and finally the enemies. Mario can use items that can inflict damage, increase stats or perform other useful qualities, such as Mushrooms restoring health. If the partner is hit by anything, then they will be unable to attack for a few turns.

Chapters
The game loves to use a play-like style for battle and separates each part of the game into 8 different Chapters. These chapters mark the progress the player should be and the difficulty changes with each passing chapters.

Prologue: A Plea from the Stars
In the game, Mario goes to Princess Peach's Castle for a party. Upon his arrival, many guests greet him as he ventures forth through the castle. In a large open hallway, Mario gets to meet Princess Peach. Peach talks to him, but suddenly a large earthquake occurs. Princess Peach's Castle is uprooted from the ground and Bowser's Castle, located right under it, rises with it. Bowser then enters this large hall and tells Mario to get lost. Mario, angered by Bowser's intrusion, challenges him to a fight. Bowser, unbeknownst to Mario that he has the Star Rod, calmly accepts this challenge.

Mario then attacks Bowser with all of his might. Each attack damages Bowser little. After thinking it over, Bowser finally uses the ultimate power his newly obtained and fully functional Star Rod can accomplish. Here, Mario is defeated as he can no longer daamge Bowser. Bowser defeats Mario by using his powered up fire breath. With Mario knocked out, Princess Peach is taken prisoner by Bowser and his underlings. Mario is then attacked by a lightning bolt Bowser congers up and sent flying toward the west. This begins the wonderous tale of Paper Mario.

Mario, knocked out and injured, is visited by the seven Star Spirits, the protectors of the Mushroom Kingdom and masters of the stars. The spirits tell him to visit Shooting Star Summit and find all of them. Mario is then found by Goombaria, a female goomba from Goomba Village. Mario then wakes up in the Toad House located in the small village. Suddenly, while he was trying to exit the village, Mario was greeted by Kammy Koopa, Bowser's second in command. Kammy uses her powerful magic to created a block that crushes the gate to Goomba Road.

Mario, in need of a hammer, tries located Goompa. While looking for him on the viranda, Mario falls and is sent down at Jr. Troopa's playground. Goompa is also here and asks him where the hammer is. Mario replies that he doesn't know and the two set off looking for it. Jr. Troopa, the 'owner' of this playground, challenges Mario to a fight considering he is trespassing on his teritory. This spot holds the hammer Mario is searching for. With this new hammer, Mario makes his way back to Goomba Village and into Goomba Road. Goombario, a huge fan of Mario, wants to adventure with his long time hero. Mario asks him to reconsider the offer, but Goombario doesn't listen. Goombario travels with Mario from then on.

On the road, he meets two mysterious goombas, Red Goomba and Blue Goomba. These two ruffians block the path to Toad Town. After Mario takes these punks down, they cry and go back to their boss, Goomba King. Mario fights the king and defeats him. After his defeat, the Goomba King retreats into his small fort. Mario then looks around the area and finds a hidden blue switch. This switch activates a hidden device in the tower of the fort. The bridge that used to be there comes out of the Tower and pops back into place. Mario traverses the bridge and leaves Goomba Road. His next stop was Toad Town.

At Toad Town, he goes and talks with what he could. He can talk to Merlon, a wise sage in Toad Town, Lugi, Mario's brother, and other influential figures in northern Toad Town. Mario ventures off to Shooting Star Summit and, at the top, is greeted by Eldstar, the oldest Star Spirit. Eldstar and the other spirits talk to Mario about what he should do next before taking Bowser Down. He is told to go to Koopa Bros. Fortress at the far side of PLeasant Path.

Intermissions
In between chapters, gameplay shifts from Mario to Peach. As Peach, she often sneaks around the castle, which has been lifted into space, to learn and assist Mario in his quest to save her. Peach's gameplay differs from that of the rest of the game, including segments where she must cook a cake for a Fat Guy and look for hidden switches located around the castle.

Reception
Paper Mario was well-received by critics. Critics, such as IGN's Matt Casamassina, praised the game's accessibility, while others complained about "brain-dead easy" puzzles and bosses requiring "basic strategy at best". Eurogamer compared Paper Mario to the previous Mario role-playing game, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, saying that "Paper Mario is a vastly superior game to SMRPG". RPGFan noted its similarities to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and questioned its name, due to the lack of insufficient gameplay features or aspects that justified the name.

The game's visuals were also met with favorable opinions. IGN noted some of the paper-based visual effects, such as Mario folding into a bed to sleep, but complained about character zoom-ins, as it reveals "a pixelated mass of colors". Other reviewers claimed that the novel graphical style was initially confusing, but it was eventually welcomed with GameSpot stating that it was "extremely well done". Audio was generally praised, however, most reviewers and critics note the absence of voice acting and character-specific sound effects.

Paper Mario was the top-selling game in Japan upon the first week of its release, selling 276,000 units. It was also the eighth best selling game from January to June 2001 in the US. Electronic Gaming Monthly placed it as one of the top 100 games of all time and Nintendo Power rated it as the 63rd best game made on a Nintendo system and the 13th greatest Nintendo 64 game of all time.