I loved Mario RPG for SNES. I really enjoyed Paper Mario for the 64 and GameCube. I loved Mario and Luigi on GBA and Bowser's Inside Story on DS. I was lukewarm on the Wii version. The latest entry in the Mario RPG series comes in the form of Sticker Star on the 3DS. With a heavy heart, I have to say that Sticker Star is my least favorite in the series. Using stickers to perform the turn-based combat is an awesome idea. The problem is that the best stickers are far too common. They are easy to find or buy. Furthermore, too many boss battles are easily solved with the object stickers (such as the fan or scissors). The lack of collectibles and side missions (like finding Luigi in the GC version) is unfortunate. The 3D aspect of the game is absolutely unnecessary. I played the game with the 3D off without any impact. Compare that to how vital 3D is to Mario 3D Land (then again that has 3D in the title). My opinion of Sticker Star is reflected in the title of this blog: I'm the sucker. Let's just hope the next Luigi's Mansion makes up for this.

I loved Mario RPG for SNES. I really enjoyed Paper Mario for the 64 and GameCube. I loved Mario and Luigi on GBA and Bowser's Inside Story on DS. I was lukewarm on the Wii version. The latest entry in the Mario RPG series comes in the form of Sticker Star on the 3DS. With a heavy heart, I have to say that Sticker Star is my least favorite in the series. Using stickers to perform the turn-based combat is an awesome idea. The problem is that the best stickers are far too common. They are easy to find or buy. Furthermore, too many boss battles are easily solved with the object stickers (such as the fan or scissors). The lack of collectibles and side missions (like finding Luigi in the GC version) is unfortunate. The 3D aspect of the game is absolutely unnecessary. I played the game with the 3D off without any impact. Compare that to how vital 3D is to Mario 3D Land (then again that has 3D in the title). My opinion of Sticker Star is reflected in the title of this blog: I'm the sucker. Let's just hope the next Luigi's Mansion makes up for this.

@saturn639: Sticker Star is my least favorite out of all the Paper Mario games, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

@insouciant said:

@saturn639: Sticker Star is my least favorite out of all the Paper Mario games, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

I fear that I'm such a big fan of the Paper Mario series that even though I don't like anything I've heard about Sticker Star, I'll still end up buying it because I HAVE TO KNOW, and then I'll be able to knowledgeably complain about it.

Seriously though, they removed the best parts, namely party members and having an actual story. Alas, Thousand Year Door will remain the pinnacle of the series, before they decided that each new game should reinvent the series into a different bad idea.

@BisonHero: I agree. Thousand Year Door was the best.

sucker star, lol

Is it rentable at least ?

It would suck even more if the 3D WAS vital. It isn't, it just makes it more enjoyable - at least for me.

@saturn639 said:

Furthermore, too many boss battles are easily solved with the object stickers (such as the fan or scissors).

And it seems like that was their intention. Maybe this is just supposed to happen, but after I whittled down a 90 HP boss with regular attack stickers, the crown sticker sidekick guy said something along the lines of "Boy that sure took a while, maybe you should try finding some stronger stickers!" That made me think 3 things:

1. That's not very helpful advice
2. If it was supposed to be useful information, why did you wait until after the boss fight to tell me this?
3. Fuck you, flying sticker guy

Clever girl...

@BBAlpert said:

@saturn639 said:

Furthermore, too many boss battles are easily solved with the object stickers (such as the fan or scissors).

And it seems like that was their intention....

If I remember correctly, a similar thing was done in TTYD. There was a special badge that, if you wear it, changes the sound of your attacks, and the first boss (Hooktail?) hated the sound it made and your attacks did more damage. Whether every boss had a similar solution I don't know.

Having an easier way to defeat a boss sounds like something they've been doing since the beginning.

Just ordered this, looking forward to playing it.

@serhulse said:

Four months later, allow me to say: that is basically a one-off thing, and he's actually fairly difficult if you don't find and remember to use the badge that changes the sound of your attack. It's especially difficult because your only repeatable source of healing and "mana" regeneration uses star power, and he prevents you from gaining any star power near the end of the fight, and your healing and mana items are pretty bad that early in the game. You can win without the sound effect badge, but it's very close, and you kind of missed the point of the lead up to the boss by not using that badge. Also, it's the first boss of the game, so they kind of give you a helping hand.

It's deplorable that like EVERY boss in Sticker Star is cheesable by just going in with the busted-ass object stickers.