Super Paper Mario

Variation on a theme.



Overview

The game's title screen

Story

Princess Peach has been kidnapped once again. Assuming Bowser is to blame, Mario  heads over to his castle only to discover that Bowser has also been kidnapped, and his army brainwashed by a new character, the evil Count Bleck. His plan is to brainwash and marry Bowser and Peach, an act foretold in a tome known as the Dark Prognosticus to bring forth a dark power known as the Chaos Heart. With this, Bleck will open an inter-dimensional rift called "The Void" and consume the universe. Of course, it is up to Mario to stop all of this bad business.

Gameplay

Super Paper Mario represents a drastic departure for the Paper Mario series in its style. The adventure game elements have been mostly done away with in favor of faster pacing and more involved action.

Mario surrounded by enemies

Combat

Turn-based combat has been replaced with platforming reminiscent of the original NES Mario games, earning experience points as he progresses and defeats enemies. Depending on the enemy, Mario can jump on enemies or clobber them with any number of abilities granted by the Pixls (more on them in a minute). Enemies drop coins and hearts when defeated in addition to points which go towards his level. Defeating enemies in combos, such as jumping on several Goombas in sequence without touching the ground, will reward Mario with an additional point bonus in a manner similar to the original Mario platformers.

Pixls

Instead of having partners of various origins join his crew along the trip as in the original games, Mario is accompanied in his journey by Pixls, mysterious fairies who can provide Mario with different abilities, such as running or planting bombs. New Pixls are discovered as the story progresses and can be switched at almost any time. Each has a personality that mimics their ability (Cudge is hardheaded, Fleep is whimsical, Boomer is temperamental).

The Cast

There are four playable characters in Super Paper Mario-- Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser--and each has their own unique abilities. Luigi has a powerful charged jump; Princess can glide with her parasol and use it as a shield; and Bowser does double damage and breathes fire. Mario's special ability is integral to the game as a whole, as he can rotate the world from 2D to 3D, showing items hidden behind objects, and new paths that would be otherwise invisible.

? Blocks

The ? Blocks in Super Paper Mario are home to more than just the standard fare of a Mario game. Several items are even unique to the game in functionality if not unique in appearance.

• Happy Flower. Instead of giving fireballs, picking up a Happy Flower makes coins rain from the sky for the next ten seconds.
• Mushroom. Heals your HP. Nothing too special.
• Slow Flower/Speed Flower. Blue and red respectively, picking one of these up will either speed everything up or slow everything down for a limited time, including the music. Enemies drop triple coins during this time and killing enemies is worth triple points.
• Pal Pills. When you grab Mario's 8-bit head from a ? Block, a circle of little 8-bit figures will suddenly appear and follow you around. These Pal Pills will mimic your actions and protect from oncomers. They can jump and damage enemies but if they touch a foe, they will die.
• Mega Star. The Invincibility Star's awesome cousin. Touching the Mega Star will transform the currently selected into 50-foot tall 8-bit version of themselves that is then free to trample everything in their path for a limited time.

Yes. It is, in fact, that awesome.

Pixls

Thoreau the Pixl

• Tippi shows hidden doors and gives tips.
  
• Tiptron same as Tippi.
• Thoreau allows Mario to grab & throw enemies and objects.
  
• Boomer is used as a bomb with a boom.
  
• Slim allows Mario to go paper thin to fit through bars.
  
• Thudley allows Mario to pound the ground and hit switches.
• Carrie turns into a platform to carry people over obstacles.
• Fleep can be used to flip objects from one dimension into another.
  
• Cudge allows Mario to use him as a hammer.
  
• Dottie has the ability to shrink Mario to the size of a dot.
  
• Barry creates a barrier, that does damage, around Mario & friends.
  
• Dashell makes you dash faster.
  
• Piccolo plays music from old Mario games that can cure status ailments.