The Paper Mario games are some of my favorites of all time, so I was naturally excited
when I heard about a new installment in the series. When I first heard about it, it was
still gonna be for the Gamecube. As development progressed, Nintendo switched it to the
Nintendo Wii. I was a bit concerned by this as I wasn't sure if I would like potential new
controls.
When Super Paper Mario came out, I didn't have a Wii. Its release made me rabid to get a Wii, and I finally found one a week or two later. My initial reactions were mixed. I'm not too good at platformers, so I was a bit annoyed at the loss of the old combat system. As I progressed through the game however, I began to love this game.
The graphics were great, but not a big change over the Thousand Year Door sprites. This, in my opinion, was a good thing, as TTYD had a great style. A lot of the levels are designed well, but the 3D switches are a bit lacking. There was a good amount of obstacles and enemies, and most of the levels progressed well. The weakest level was the journey on the Overthere Stairs. The level was long, had repetitive music, and if you fell you would have to start back at a much lower area. This entire chapter was abysmally long, and had a lot of backtracking. The upsides were that you got your fourth character, and your final Pure Heart here.
The story was simply amazing. I felt connected to almost all the characters, and the villains were all fleshed out and had their own motives. There's a lot of humour in the levels, and one chapter has entire rooms dedicated to cameos from past games. This game is worth completing if only for it's charming story. The music was also superb. The "Memory" track that plays when you view Blumiere and Timpani's flashbacks is beautiful. I found myself humming many of the themes from this game even months after beating it.
Graphics 7/10
Like I said, graphics are similar to The Thousand Year Door. While this isn't bad, some of the character's designs are poor at best. I'm talking mostly about the NPCs that are made up mostly of different colored blocks.
Gameplay 7/10
Gameplay is pretty good. It's biggest problem is the inability for any character except Mario to switch to 3D. I found myself going back and forth much too often.
Sound 9/10
Music is amazing. You'll have some of these songs stuck in your head for awhile after playing.
Story 9/10
Story is another strong point. It's powerful enough to give you an "end of the world" feel when things start to collapse near the end. It was surprisingly deep for Mario.
Overall 8/10
I'd say this is one of my favorite games from 2007.
