Topic: Paper Mario: Color Splash - OT

I still don't agree with Miyamoto, even if Color Splash is a fun improvement on Sticker Star. I find his views on story to be highly disagreeable and a detriment to Nintendo overall, in the sense that he has held back at least two games (this and Sticker Star) from being better than they were because he forced them to stick to a simple Bowser story. I find the fact that Color Splash is fun to be wholly the talent of Intelligent Systems working with the silly restrictions that were placed on them.

@Operative I think if there's story issues with Color Splash then Kimishima is to blame, not Miyamoto this time. He did speed up the Wii U's death after all.

So will we have a round of score predictions before the embargo ends?

I think the game looks nice, it's a Mario game, it's Wii U's last exclusive game from Nintendo. It's non offensive, I mean as in it's not a SFZ or a M: FF. It's probably funny.

Cons could be: it's short, the Sticker Star template(actually now I change my mind about being non offensive, there are people that despise that game), the over reliance on Toads as NPC's.

Anyway, I think it'll score around the 8/10 mark. When you consider TTYD has an average of 87% then I might be being a little optimistic. Ya, maybe 75%. That sounds more about right.

I think it might do a bit worse, in part cause some sites will try and not make the mistake they did with Sticker Star's score.

But around 70-78% seems a fair average here.

How long are they going to keep this up? Toads were everywhere in Sticker Star, Paper Jam, and now Color Splash. How long are they going to play up this "joke" that they all look the same? In the next Paper Mario is everyone still going to be a Toad? Seriously, this is getting old.

Also, some other thoughts:

I doubt the next Paper Mario will be Sticker Star 3. Mainly because, what else can they do? They seem very reluctant to change things, so I'm not sure what they would do for a sequel other than "look at this new paper gimmick!" After TTYD, they broke away from the formula, and I think they'll do the same with Color Splash. They'll probably find a way to change things up again, or they'll hopefully go back to the original formula. I mean, it's been nearly a decade since they last did it, so why not give it another go? But I doubt it, because of the new team and their backwards rules and ideas.

Also, I think they're going too far with the whole paper concept. The first Paper Mario was called "Mario Story" in Japan, so I'm not sure why they called it "Paper Mario" everywhere else, because the game doesn't have much to do with paper. The art-style seems to be based on a pop-up story book (which is probably why it was called "Mario Story"), and the characters are paper-thin, so maybe that's how they got the name. TTYD started to take the "Paper Mario" name more literally by incorporating paper-gimmicks into the gameplay in the overworld. But Sticker Star removed those mechanics, and instead made the entire world out of paper and cardboard, and pretty much all the characters acknowledged that they were made out of paper. To be honest, I think the whole paper/cardboard aesthetics is pretty bland. Something about just seems lifeless to me. When I look at the previous games, everything seems so lively, especially in TTYD. I think this is because the worlds have the same art-style as the characters. The worlds in Sticker Star and Color Splash don't match-up with the characters at all, and the Thing objects just make it worse. Anyone else feel this way about the SS/CS art-style?

Turns out my copy shipped yesterday afternoon from Base.com. That's the earliest I've had a game sent out. So Nintendo already have my money regardless of what the reviews say later today.

I don't like the way review embargoes run night up to the release date. It's a developers way of making sure it's too late for some people to cancel their orders if the game turns out to be crap.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE If there only was a solution.. Oh, wait, there is; Don't pre-order.

@Octane If you don't preorder then you run the risk of stock running out or missing out on a good deal. Which in fairness this was. And like I said this is the earliest by far a preorder has shipped for me. Usually it ships on the Friday or if I'm lucky, the day before. UK deliveries usually arrive by the weekend and they get post on Saturday. It takes longer to deliver to Ireland, we don't get post on Saturday and I normally have the game by Monday or Tuesday. At least there should be one positive, I'll have it by the weekend.

Yeah, stock issues are a big problem. MK8 to Super Mario Maker was pretty well stocked (excluding amiibo) but before MK8 and after Super Mario Maker it was pretty much if you don't preorder you won't get it.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Sure, that's what I do when I know I'll be getting a game regardless. But if you're really not sure, just wait. I don't think stock issue are that big of an issue. If haven't seen any game out of stock the day after they came out. Maybe after a couple of months, but definitely not on launch.

@Octane Stock won't be a problem with this game but it has been for Wii U Collector Editions. Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water and Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Fortissimo Edition. They're like gold dust. Gone long before release day. Even Star Fox Zero Collector's Edition was a bit hard to come by in the run up to launch. No such problem with that now. That's Collector Editions though. And this is the last Wii U exclusive from Nintendo, sales have been poor, Nintendo have been limiting the print run of Wii U games lately so I wanted to be safe. I'm surprised they didn't have a Collector's Edition or an amiibo bundle. It's rare that they don't do something these days.

@CapeSmash Pikmin takes place in a realistic world (complete with Things!) populated by not-so-realistic creatures as well. Possible human extinction aside, is that game's world lifeless too?

@SLIGEACH_EIRE You're right about the Limited Editions, but I think there will be enough copies of Paper Mario though.

I've found some early reviews even though the embargo hasn't ended yet. You'll need Google translate for the first one.

http://www.techtudo.com.br/review/paper-mario-color-splash.html 9.5/10

http://hackinformer.com/2016/10/04/paper-mario-color-splash-p... 9/10

http://www.cheatcc.com/wiiu/rev/papermariocolorsplashreview.html 8/10

Looks like the game's good in its own way and will get plenty of positive reviews.

More scores coming in now.

8/10 NintendoLife

8/10·Trusted Reviews

8.5/10·Destructoid!

7.5/10·Lazygamer

7.3/10 IGN

7/10 Gamespot

7/10 US Gamer

9/10 Nintendo Insider

9/10 Nintendo World Report

8.5/10 God Is A Geek

8/10 XGN

9/10 FNintendo

8.7/10 MeriStation

8/10 EGM

7/10 GamesRadar+

Hmmm...
Getting a sense of Déjà vu here...

Have you ever considered that maybe sticker star wasn't an objectively bad game?

Anyway, the general consensus is that this one is a better Paper Mario than sticker star.

The GameXplain score is "Liked a Lot" and that was from a Sticker Star hater.

As a UK resident I've never had a chance to find a copy of TTYD and don't see the hubbub about it, so I'm optimistic of viewing this game as a game. Maybe it'll surpass SPM as my favourite who knows.

Roll on the negatives