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The Paper Mario series is a series of role-playing video games published by Nintendo and developed by Intelligent Systems. They are 3D games, but the characters are drawn in 2D. They are based around platforming.

About the series[]

The Paper Mario series can vary from a platformer to an RPG. It is very similar to the Mario & Luigi series. It involves the player going through a game where everything has a "paper" sprite. Every Paper Mario game (except for Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash) usually has 8 chapters that the player must go through. There are currently six games in the series with The Origami King being the latest installment.

Gameplay[]

Paper Mario combines traditional role-playing gameplay elements with concepts and features from the Mario franchise. The main protagonist, Mario, overcomes obstacles placed in the game's overworld by jumping and using his hammer. The graphics consist of a mixture of 3D environments and 2D characters who look as if they are made of paper. Battles in the Paper Mario games borrow elements from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and traditional role-playing titles; and feature a turn-based system, in which players select an attack, defense, or item from a menu; and an "Action Commands" mechanic where the player can receive substantial attack or defense bonuses when they perform a timed button press correctly or follow some other instruction. Mario's health is measured in Heart Points (HP), of which one or more are consumed by attacks from the enemies he combats in battle; once his HP is reduced to zero, the game will end and the player will have to reload from the last save point reached.

However, starting with Super Paper Mario, the gameplay has changed dramatically with this game in particular abandoning the turn-based mechanic that the previous two games have. Paper Mario: Sticker Star, while going back to the turn-based gameplay, has completely abandoned the core aspects of the last games including the partners, with each fight having Mario fight by himself, and most notably, the removable of Experience Points. Mario must also fight battles using items called Stickers and they are required to be used in each fights. With the lack of Experience Points, there are no Level Ups and the only method that Mario must use to increase his HP and attack power is by collecting special items called HP-Up Hearts. This mechanic mostly continues in Paper Mario: Color Splash but with now the Stickers being replaced with Cards and Mario must now color in cards with paint in order to make them more useful. Paper Mario: The Origami King features an entirely new battle mechanic in the Battle Ring where Mario must now line himself up in order to damage enemies in a straight line (for jumping) or bunched together four tiles in front of him (for hammering).

List of games[]

Paper Mario - North American boxart Paper Mario - The Thousand-Year Door (North American box) Super Paper Mario (North American box) PaperMarioStickerStar1 Mario & Luigi Paper Jam Boxart PMCS cover
PMTOK cover
Paper mario thousand year door switch
Paper Mario (2000/2001) The Thousand-Year Door (2004) Super Paper Mario (2007) Sticker Star (2012) Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015/2016) Color Splash (2016) The Origami King (2020) The Thousand-Year Door (remake) (2024)
Nintendo 64 Nintendo GameCube Wii Nintendo 3DS Wii U Nintendo Switch
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