Feature: The Complete History Of Paper Mario

I wonder if Paper Mario is into recycling.

I'm in camp ''The first three games are awesome and everything else in the series blows''. My first game in the series was TTYD, which is also my absolute favourite in the series, but I also very much love PM64 and Super. I have very fond memories of all these games.

...and then Sticker Star launched and the series just stopped being fun for me altogether from there on out. Aside from those first three games of course. And I really, really don't understand why Sticker Star, Color Splash and now Origami King are getting such good scores. Yes the games are 'functional', but they're absolutely not fun in the slightest to me.

Please Nintendo, if you don't want to make a new entry in the old style, at least remaster the original in TTYD style! Or just rerelease these old gems on the Switch in some capacity. Because these new entries just make me sad.

Should Mario and Luigi Paper Jam get a special mention at least?

If you like hanging gallows and edgelords in your Mario game, play TTYD.
Otherwise, just stick to the fantastic (if a little slow) PM1.

@RupeeClock oh I saw that😋 I meant a special item on this list saying it’s technically not a Paper Mario game but is still worth checking out since it meshes well with the Mario and Luigi series. 😊

Enjoyed them all. Super paper mario was just too different from all of them but I enjoyed the story best. All great games although I didn’t finish sticker star

I desperately want a hd port of thousand year door, and also super. Those games were great and also different from each other.

Star sticker was a 6/10 and colour splash 7/10 (good but not great). I have a feeling this will be another 7/10...

I wonder if we'll see an evolution again to be more RPG now alpha dream don't exist anymore. Or will they pass the mario&Luigi Baton to a new devoloper?

I like all of the Paper Mario games. Lowest point for me was Super, not because it was bad, but because it was boring. Color Splash is really good though and improved a lot on Sticker Star, which I would put slightly above Super. All in all, I can't wait to play the Origami King.

I have all of then. For me, the ranking of the awesome to the good is:
Thousand year door
Paper Mario (N64)
Super Paper Mario (Wii)
Paper Mario Color Splash (WiiU)
Sticker Star (3DS)

Even the 3DS game is good.
I highly anticipated the Switch title!

I know it’s a little off topic, but Super Mario RPG was always my favorite.

Honestly I have a bit of a soft spot for PM1 on the N64 as it was one of the first games (if not the first) to really make Toad Town seem like a livable place. You got your railway, working postal service, different districts, farming enterprises (lil' oinkers), roads to different towns and settlements, whats basically a low key religion complete with the mario equivalent of sacred sites and guardian deities, hints at an actual government structure, and more. Even regional variants on the classic Toads based on their lifestyle/ environment is a wonderful touch.
I do like Thousand Year Door a lot, but it does have some societal gaps that PM1 at least hinted at, if not filled. Both still my favorite games for the Mario franchise.

I liked all five games in the series thus far (especially the first two), so it matters little to me on how "bad" the recent three titles were. Super Paper Mario's gameplay and RPG elements needed more meat for sure, but its overall simplicity and its story and characters did more than enough to appeal to me in the end. Sticker Star and Color Splash had problems with its battle system and mechanics, but they were fun enough for me to easily grasp onto (plus I've experienced far worse battle systems throughout my lifetime, with Yo-Kai Watch 3DS and Super Neptunia RPG coming to mind).

As a result, I can't wait to boot up The Origami King tonight. I'm sure it won't surpass the first two games overall, but I'm looking for a fun time and that's what TOK is looking to be for me.

@AJDarkstar @Severian Paper Jam was mainly a "Mario & Luigi" title, though.

I just can’t get paper Mario 64 and GameCube for a reasonable price 😣

So the Origami King got an 8 which sounds pretty good... Until you consider Sticker Star and Color Splash also got 8's. I have Color Splash and I'd call that a 6. It's a beautiful looking game and its got charm; at first I kind of liked it. But the combat system is lame and after getting three of six color stars, the game just felt like an arduous slog. I never played Sticker Star, but from what I hear, it's even worse.

Color Splash is an incredibly underrated game, it fixed all the major problems that Sticker Star presented (IMO), sure one use only cards was annoying but it's not like getting more was hard.

@StephenYap3 as I mentioned, it is worth a special mention, even if it is more a Mario and Luigi game. I say so mainly because it wasn’t a cameo, but also a game mechanic.

TTYD is still a masterpiece in video games.

I have not been disappointed by any of the games ij the series yet. Except Color Splash, because I haven't played it yet. I liked Sticker Star and Super Paper Mario. Loved the first game and TTYD (still the best in the series, hands down). I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy this new one. Also, I'll pick up Color Splash if I get to see a copy of it tomorrow.

I LOVED Super Paper Mario! It was in the comments section of some story, I got the impression that it’s not well like. Surprising to me. 🤷🏾‍♂️

It's depressing to see its decline on one page. The first two games were extremely good. The Thousand-year Door is a masterpiece.

@Yosher Super Paper Mario is odd but I enjoyed it partially.

My first Paper Mario game was Super Paper Mario, loved it to death and replayed it countless times.
After that was Sticker Star. I found the game really boring.
There was no reason to battle and it basically had no story to make up for it like Super Paper Mario.
Sad to see that Nintendo doesn't plan to return to the old formula that fans actually liked and want to continue making just ok games.

People blame Sticker Star for the "downfall" of the series but for me personally Super Paper Mario is what started it all with the drastic changes to the classic formula.

@MajinSoul For me, Sticker Star is the start of the downfall because Super Paper Mario still retained the wonderful charm that the series started out with, it still had personality, it still had a fun battle system even if it was very different, it still had actually fun and unique characters fill up the world. The new entries that came after Super Paper Mario lack all of this and started the true decline in quality on the series.

Although I do admit Super Paper Mario was already less fun than the first two, it was more like, 8/10 while the other two were more 9/10 or even 10/10. So still very nice in its own way. The new entries aren't even worth 5/10.

..all my own opinion of course; everyone's free to like whatever they wanna like.

My Paper Mario tier list:

S: Paper Mario Thousand Year Door (The first one I played so you can call my opinion biased or whatever... but for me, this had the best new original themes for levels, great original characters and really solid battle mechanics.)
A: Paper Mario (I played TTYD first so technically every PM has been a disappointment in some way since. Still a great game.)
B+: Mario & Luigi Paper Jam (not technically a Paper Mario game but it has the best battle mechanics in a Mario rpg to date)
B: Super Paper Mario (special mention for having easily the greatest story in a Mario game).
C: -
D: -
E: Paper Mario Sticker Star & Color Splash (Special mention... After these, I swore to not complete any more games in X series just for the sake of having completed every other game so far in X series. Yeah, I don't like these. The Wii U hae nice visuals though).

''The results [of Sticker Star] were mixed, and fan reaction was similarly diverse as a result.''
I'm pretty sure the fan reaction wasn't diverse: the majority was dissapointed.

Color Splash is a flawed game, sure, but I feel like it's mildly underrated since it's often likened to Sticker Star. I enjoyed the writing, some of the characters, filling in all the paint spots, and the general insanity that Thing cards brought to the table.

That said, the battle system is indeed flawed and wears out its welcome quickly. Not to mention that those paint mechanics I generally liked were needlessly applied to the card system. Plus, there's an enemy who, in the absolute right circumstances, can clear your deck and make you need to hunt for more cards.

Another problem for me was that the game introduces a way to undo your paint progress partway through. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if I had unlimited time on my hands, but I don't lol.

All in all, it's worth a look for those who accept it for what it is and don't go in expecting a meaty RPG experience.

I liked Color Splash, I haven't played TTYD or Super Paper Mario, but Huey sacrificing himself at the end... you don't see that in every Paper Mario, and it was kind of sad.

My first RPG was Super Mario RPG on the SNES. It's a game largely responsible for carving out my tastes in gaming. As the article mentions, Paper Mario was originally a follow-up to this classic. Despite not knowing this at the time, it was something I felt in its game design: the self-involved world, silly humor, cultural commentary—qualities that gave life to a believable Mario universe in a lighthearted and engaging fashion.

When TTYD dropped, I screamed like a schoolgirl upon first playing it. I immediately recognized the changes to the combat. They were so fresh and satisfying. I remember the eager desire I had to learn everything I could about the new wacky companions accompanying you this time around. There was Goombella, the witty university student; Koops, the timid Koopa hellbent on avenging the death of his father; a wind spirit, a Yoshi, a villain-turned-hero, and more.

Then there was Admiral Bobbery, the forlorn naval ship captain. He was a sailor whose love for the sea was only matched by the love he had for his woman, Scarlette. Every time he was shipped off, she loyally awaited his return. One day, she grew devastatingly ill while Bobbery was out at sea, and, when he returned, she was dead. Bobbery, unable to cope with the reality of her passing, receded into hiding. This particular segment is notably memorable because the player is forced to spend a somewhat frustrating time tracking him down, but it's easy to see why this was done.

These moving narratives complimented by a compelling and entertaining gameplay loop made the series for me. Some years later, Super Paper Mario dropped. As expected, I hotly anticipated the latest Paper Mario adventure. This was during a time before game boards were as sexy as they are now, mind you. I went in blind, and disappointment washed over me like a tsunami. This was no longer the Mario RPG I came to love.

As @MajinSoul so eloquently put, this was the turning point. Everyone refers to Sticker Star as "the one that changed everything", but it all began with Super Paper Mario taking the coveted RPG experience and nerfing it into oblivion; leaving what's better described as a standard-fare Mario game ... but with storytelling and hit points.

I haven't returned to the series since. I didn't leave Paper Mario. It left me, and that's what a lot of these newer fans don't seem to understand. The shift in the core gameplay dynamic was so radical it was disorienting. I could hardly believe this was Paper Mario now, and that same sentiment can be used to sticker, paint, or throw confetti over the rest of the later entries.

With The Origami King painfully confirming there won't ever be a return to what originally brought me to love the series, I can move on, at least and fondly remember Paper Mario for what it once was.

I've played most of the Paper Mario games. I adore TTYD, like many people. I also enjoyed the N64 original and Super Paper Mario, even if the latter was completely different from the first two.

I already talked about how I hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE Sticker Star multiple times here at NL - I ended up skipping Color Splash as a result. I did get Origami King recently, as it still looked miles better than SS, despite it not being quite like PM1 and TTYD. So I'll be playing that and then I'll judge the game for myself.

I get sick of the the hate Super Paper Mario receives purely because of how precious people are about TTYD. SPM might be Mario's most underrated game.

@jtmnm
I understand the point about Super Paper Mario being the turning point.

But...

Even though Super Paper Mario has different gameplay that isn't as good as in those that came before, I still found it enjoyable. The story though... for me, it's easily the best story in a Mario game s.o. far.

I found both Sticker Star and Color Splash lacking in both the gameplay and story department so for me (and for many others I suppose) these two were the turning point for worse.

Can't say anything about Origami King yet. Maybe I end up borrowing it one day if any of my friends end up buying it.

@Maulbert
I give that game credit especially for the fact that bothered to actually write a great Mario story.

@Maulbert Would you be saying the same thing if Intelligent Systems took Fire Emblem and turned it into a platformer?

@Luffymcduck You're, of course, entitled to your opinion. In fact, I'm jealous of you. For me, the gameplay change was too drastic to reconcile. I just couldn't get into it.

Just today I grabbed a cheap copy of Super Paper Mario. I'll have to start the series with Thousand-Year Door, though, which I got for a reasonable price years ago after much searching, because the N64 entry has been superexpensive for years.

It definitely would be on a N64 Mini if it was ever released (it won't), but at least it should be ported to Switch instead of all the Wii U games' ports that devoid the good old system of must haves...

@jtmnm Mario has a history of defying genres, besides, SPM still has RPG elements. Get off your high horse.

@Maulbert You're conflating Mario as a whole with a series that was originally established to be an RPG. Great job on avoiding the question, though.

Here, I'll rephrase it to meet your obtuse rebuttal: Would you be saying the same thing if Fire Emblem, an RPG aimed at a core gamer demographic, dropped its established formula in favor of reinventing itself as a platformer ... with minor RPG elements?

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/interviews/paper-mario-origami-king/

it basically explains why you wont ever see a paper mario in the old mario story style ever again Tanabe has a reputation for being regid and backwards in his game design and this confirms it.

@jtmnm Your comparison is a strawman argument rife with false equivalency not worth answering.

First two games were great, the subsequent games were fun, but not the same caliber. They felt mediocre in comparison

@Maulbert Explain how I'm strawmanning you for the class, please.

Paper mario thousand year door 8/10 the new paper mario 8/10 something quite fishy here thousand year door was underrated.

I do not think Paper Mario will return to its roots. But we still have the Mario & Luigi games, and now that the 3ds is dead I wonder what kind of treatment the series will get, maybe something pokemon style.

@jtmnm Again, as you choose to ignore, Paper Mario is a sub-series, which I might add, only had 2 entries at the time SPM came out, not a 20 year history of a specific genre. Fire Emblem doesn't have the mass appeal of Mario, so Nintendo isn't going to throw it's name on a new type of game to try to sell it. Mario games will always change. That's what their history is built on.

Know it’s a Mario and Luigi game, but still feel like Paper Jam deserves a mention here.

@Maulbert What does any of that have to do with the comparison? You're deliberately overcomplicating it to justify your avoidance. This is beginning to feel bad faith.

The comparison is very simple. I took two RPG series. One made a departure from being a core RPG, and I posited a scenario where another did the same thing and asked how you would respond. You then argue I'm strawmanning you, and, to defend this, you state Paper Mario is a sub-series, so it doesn't matter what happens to it—because Mario, franchise pedigree, and so on.

For the sake of argument based on the assumption you are, in fact, operating in good faith, I'll revise the comparison once again to square this hole you made and propose a hypothetical.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is a core RPG based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Sonic is traditionally a platformer, but the series is home to a variety of genres ... just like Mario. Here's the hypothetical: Let's say SEGA announces they're collaborating with BioWare to produce a follow-up. Fans of Dark Brotherhood ignite in online spaces and anticipate only the best from this long-awaited sequel. Despite this, marketing surrounding the game is fairly scarce, and, when it finally releases, it's confirmed to be more of a traditional Sonic game than its predecessor. This new entry is a fine game in its own right, but fans of the previous title are making their grievances known.

Now—would you continue to be dismissive of these fans; telling them to get off their collective high horse, that they're hating, that the series they like so much is a only sub-series and doesn't matter, etc.?

The first paper mario was great but everything after that was pure paper waste.

@jtmnm

"I didn't leave Paper Mario. It left me"

Well put.

I'm of the mindset that there is no such thing as a Paper Mario fan.

The "fans"like The Thousand Year Door and have been praying for a sequel ever since.

Origami King looks fun but that just isn't enough. Do Nintendo not understand that the fans want a true rpg? I thought now Alphadream are gone we would get a true rpg since Nintendo didn't want two Mario franchises being rpgs at the same time.

I won't go for it. I'm sure it will be really funny but what a surprise, the combat is a waste of time. I might get it at around twenty pounds or I might just not bother since Switch games never get significantly cheaper.

I loved TTYD back in 2005. I even replayed it last year and it still holds up so well. I would love to see it with PM1 in a collection. It really is one of the best rpgs ever made and PM1 is great. Thank you for the virtual console Nintendo. I never would have played it without the VC on Wii.

I also enjoyed SPM. The 2D to 3D mechanic was pure genius and the game was so funny. Yes they gutted the game to be just an adventure game with basic stats but it was enjoyable. The story ruled and how they took the Bowser is clearly in love with the Princess story to its natural conclusion was amazing. Oh and 8bit giant characters was amazing.

Sticker Star though was a joke. Forcing you to get stickers just to fight regular enemies and when you exhaust your supply and can't fight the enemy so you have to quit and get more was ridiculous. I quit after a few hours and was so glad I bought it for very cheap in a blockbusters closing down sale in 2013. Then I watched my wife play Colour Splash and hated it. Even she hated how long the game took and how pointless combat was. She doesn't believe me when I tell her how good it used to be since she started on Sticker Star but she knew something had gone wrong, especially from the bits she saw me play of TTYD.

Nintendo need to put a good team in charge who get what makes PM so good. Do Intelligent Systems still work on it or is it Nintendo's main team?

And I think I will pick up SPM. I haven't played it since 2007 and could be fun to do it again. Plus it should be so cheap now.

You wanna know the really most memorable thing about the first Paper Mario? Just like Super Mario RPG, it expands, adds more depth and much better characterization of the Mario World than ever before, giving many species unique traits such as female Toads before Toadette. The game also felt harder than TTYD because it lacked many some of the added gimmicks in its sequel.
I wonder if Intelligent Systems had a lot of pressure during development, thinking they could surprass the effort of the mighty Squaresoft in making a Mario RPG. Well, they did in the end, and that's how the Paper Mario series began! The only things that hindered the game when I played it was the pacing, but that was probably linked to the memory limitations of the N64, and that's why I think this title deserves a remake, though probably not as much as Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

The reason many consider TTYD the series' high point is because it takes the gameplay and execution of the previous Paper Mario, and UP that ante to Eleven. Here's a little example of that accomplishment: in Chapter 3 you fight an Eagle Hulk Hogan and an oversized Spike as the final boss, but you must also fight a series of opponents before them. And the battles are aided with much more mechanics such as the audience, which can help (or hinder) Mario and his partners. Overall, people consider it a Sacred Cow because it really deserves it.

The actual reason SPM ditched turn-based battles was because its main producer, Ryota Kawade, wanted to do something different with the next Paper Mario after TTYD, so he likely considered this a derivate from that previous title (which explains why it looks so similar and why it's just as well-executed), but I bet he also knew that the main formula was perfect, so many RPG elements stayed here, such as the experience system (which was now based on Points) and the ability to use items in the overworld. Many fans still think of it as the point where the Paper Mario series ended, and would rather ignore Sticker Star and Color Splash. I wonder if the Origami King will be considered a continuation of these entires then...

Then there comes Sticker Star, right? There's a lot to say about this, but I don't have much space, so I'm just gonna say it had a very long development cycle. You can search it on the web if you want. And also that there was still some legacy from the previous entries in the RPG battles.

And finally, Color Splash. I remember the backlash this game recieved when it was announced, but I prefered to ignore it until launch. Many people called it Sticker Star 2 and there was even a petition to cancel the game! But as time passed and the game launched, the opinions became literally divided. I consider it to be a decently good action-adventure game, but still not on par with the first entries in terms of everything. That doesn't mean it's bad, but it's clearly not the best entry (seriously, always aim for the best!)

I wanted to say more about this game as well as Sticker Star, but there's a word limit here (I'd suggest implementing a word counter) and I felt this was the perfect chance as this was a retrospective just one day before the game launched. I hope The Origami King delivers the return to form the series needed for a long time, but even more hope it's not the last first-party game Nintendo has up on its schedule :lol.

The only Paper Mario game that I’ve played is Super Paper Mario and it was awful. The 2D to 3D mechanic was just a stupid gimmick which got annoying. The levels were boring and I found the story uninteresting. I didn’t beat the game, so I can’t really say much about the story, but what I played wasn’t too good. The gameplay was also so boring that even if it had the best story ever I wouldn’t have tried to beat it. Ttyd looks good, but the battle system doesn’t look very strategic. It’s just attacking back and forth with no real strategy. The worlds and characters look amazing, but the battle system looks just ok. If they were to make a game where you have more than 2 attacks and the partners are equal to Mario in power with up to 3 partners in a battle with the amazing worlds of ttyd then it would be perfect. Also get rid of the random stuff falling on you.

Ah, the positivity here is really awesome! I'm ranking purely based of worlds and levels. Not battle style and story :
1: color splash (so much creativity in stories and levels. The pirate search, the mario 3 level, the sunset train...Just awesome! )

2: paper mario (the toy box, the snow mystery, that first world, and storming the final castle... Brilliant I loved this game! )

3: thousand year door (that final level was the best this series ever had, goosebumps!! And the OG of the train levels was my absolute favourite in this game! )

4: sticker star (the hotel, the desert, )

5: super : I really disliked the look of this game : the prehistoric level sticks out the most. Still had some great levels : the underwhere, kungfu palace, the slave house... Dark but amazing!

@garfreek nice list! I’m a sucker for ranking too. If I had too it’d be

1. TTYD
2. Paper Mario
3. Color Splash
4. Super Paper Mario
5. Sticker Star

I love them all, but I just couldn’t get into Sticker Star and SPM then the first 3.

@bobzbulder in my eyes you only played the ugly duckling of the franchise. Strategy wise the battles have been meh, but ttyd definitely has its moments!

One thing is for sure; paper Mario never ever looked like paper until the white outline. Much better design

Still play through TTYD every now again when I'm in the humour. The X-Nauts are such a great villainous group and the dialogue is rich and hilarious. And of course it gives us the best partners in Vivian and Goombella.

Nintendolife needs to do one of these articles for the Mario & Luigi series-- Oh how I'm sad that series is most likely dead

its sad that they arent ambitious to make the series feel grand again. the producer even doubled down and said theyre actively going against deep stories and original mario character designs, and this time their only reason being just cause

wondering if you guys will make an article about it
https://nintendosmash.com/paper-mario-the-origami-king-producer-claims-they-avoid-creating-complicated-stories-and-modifying-familiar-characters/

Here's an even quicker history:

N64: Visionary achievement.
GC: Somehow better — among the greatest RPGs ever (no joke).
Wii: The 3D/2D thing was cool, but...something is off?
Wii U: WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
3DS: No for, real guys, I'm really worried something is wrong here!
Switch: TBD.

@MeloMan Here, here! I am playing Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions right now and enjoying it heartily.

But realistically, they should just accept that Paper Mario and Mario Luigi were stealing each other's thunder and combine the series. Bring RPG mechanics back to Paper Mario (guess that paper airplane has sailed) with the team function as an added bonus from the ML series.

Can you do a follow up piece with a history of the Mario & Luigi series, most of those were great too

Super Paper Mario dynamics of 2D/3D switching was brilliant, just don't know why they didn't carry on in it's own right as a sideline.

I have never played Thousand Year Door, wish they would bring out a HD version as trying to get it on Gamecube is Impossible, but I liked the first one, the rest of them just went a bit off the rails, but liked the storylines even if the battle system was a bit crap.

Just waiting for Origami King to be delivered, will play it once I've finished my current game, no rush as it's not going anywhere.

@Apportal they certainly miss a bit of charm compared to the rest! But still, what a franchise if those are your weak points!

@jtmnm
On that note, I'm kinda jealous of those players who like Sticker Star and Color Splash. I gave those games a chance but I just can't understand why someone would like the new combat, recycled level themes with little variotions or really anything else about the new games. Well, there's at least something I like: Sticker Star has a really good snow level theme and Color Splash is excellent visually. But that's about it.

@rdm22
There are differences between the series though:

• In Paper Mario the HP and attack numbers are really low so you can calculate exactly how much damage you need to do in order to take down your opponents.
• Mario & Luigi on the other hand is about performing even wackier attacks with damage and HP in HUNDREDS.

For me, that was one of the bigger reasons that made both series combat more unique from each other.

@Luffymcduck From what I heard of their music, it rocks as hard as it ever did. Some of the charm that made the originals so special is still intact. Maybe that also contributes to my frustration with the modern Paper Mario series; to be so close, yet so far. That's a fair summation of my thoughts towards the series now, actually.

My opinion on them all

PM: Loved it, set the groundwork for the series.

TTYD: Amazing game, the pinnacle of the series. Took everything good about the first game and set the new standard formula for the series.

SPM: Worst game of them all. Ok I'm not going to say it's a bad game, because that would be harsh. But it strayed too far away from the winning formula. I really struggled to maintain interest when playing it. The flip mechanic was cool, but ditching the RPG mechanics was a mistake and so was replacing partners with the annoying Pixls. Maybe I'd enjoy it more if I played it these days but I will never quite forgive that this game is where the series started to go wrong, and I wish it was never made. Yep I said it! (I will get so much hate for this...)

Sticker Star: I actually quite enjoyed it. More of a return to the classic formula, only really let down with the consumable battle item mechanic but hey, at least it was turn based RPG battles!

Colour Splash: Again, I thought it was a really good game but just not quite the Paper Mario formula we should've had. Battle system was a bit iffy but at least it was turn based. Colouring stuff in was fun too. Needed some partners.

Origami King: From what I've played, this is brilliant in everything besides the battle system. The battles are really meaningless without a levelling system. This could easily have been the best Paper Mario since the glory days if they just gave it the classic RPG mechanics with equipment and turned based battles. The ring puzzles could've been a subgame or a bonus mode. At least they seem to have brought partners back, even if they do have generic designs and names.

I hate the fact that they seem to have decided Paper Mario is up for experimentation because Mario and Luigi is the flagship RPG series. Those games have gradually gotten less and less interesting to me and I would hope that now AlphaDream have bit the dust Paper Mario can take over the mantle of the Mario RPG series and M&L will be an experimental series if someone else takes it up. I also can't help but notice the last 3 Paper Mario games have focused on a mechanic of filling in blanks in the otherworld (stickers, painting, confetti) and I have to wonder what they will use in a future to theme that around.

I've played the OG Paper Mario, TTYD, Super and finally Origami King a few months ago. With the exception of the original one I've quite enjoyed all of them. But Origami Kind did manage to sort of earn a special place for me for at least being partially rensponsible for helping me get over bit of a depression I was suffering from back in september when I just couldn't seem to find enjoyment in anything.

I went in expecting to hate it but ultimately it managed to put a smile on my face and won me over, it just was exactly the right kind of game at the right time for me. And that soundtrack, such great stuff.

I may eventually snag origami king. I actually prefer the Mario & Luigi series over the paper Mario series and hope we see some of those come to the Switch.

I'm having a blast with Origami King. It might be because I'm playing it with my brothers, but the battle system doesn't bother us. And the rest of the game is just brilliant. Good stuff, really good. Not as good as TTYD so far, but it's getting close.

Time to agitate the TTYD fan club again for the clicks, lol

@TheLightSpirit Why is that? I'm serious. Was it just because you didn't like the new battle system? It's weird, that's true.
Otherwise, I don't understand such disappointment. The rest of the game is brilliant.

Aside from The Origami King, I enjoyed the series very much, with the first two being the highlights for me. As great SPM, SS, and CS were in my book, they simply can't touch the first two games for me.

Hopefully Intelligent Systems catches wind of the fanbase one of these days and takes Paper Mario back to its roots because the RPG elements and such are what made the series take off in the first place.

Only game I didn't like was sticker star. Paper mario 64 is my favorite

its sad that the paper mario series peaked so soon....

I've played all of them and I like most of them but not entirely impressed with SPM. But I widely applaud them for innovation and willingness to experiment and try ideas in a big budget game, I adore what they did with Origami King.

I can see why they moved on from the original style after TTYD though. In that game other than Flurrie and Ms. Mows(who ability doesn't solve puzzles) all the partner skills and most of the game puzzles are functionally identical to Paper Mario 64's.
Goombario = Goombella
Kooper = Koops
Yoshi = Parakarry + Lakilester
Vivian = Bow
Bombette = Bobbery

Like the majority of the new gameplay in TTYD came from Mario's Paper transformations. It seemed like they didn't really have new ideas or innovations, just a set of new character designs and story.

Even though there's a demand for a TTYD style PM I don't want to see Paper Mario go down that hole. Mario & Luigi did it when Dream Team was basically a reskin of Bowsers Inside Story (Bowser Giant Battles became Luigi Giant Battles, Bowser 2D dungeons became the 2D Dream Dungeons), thinking that a new set of characters and story were enough to sell a new game...didn't work it was a bore.

With PM64/TTYD style games I think people aren't going to be as endeared to a 3rd/4th/5th/6th Goomba as they were Goombario or Goombella. Or has excited solving the same puzzles kicking a Koopa over a gap to hit a switch. T

They arguably could come up with exciting new abilities, but I'd question that when the one new ability for Flurrie had 2 uses. Blowing the Punis in the Boggly Tree and it was really buggy, or blowing at dead ends and revealing a secret path which is basically just a lock and key.

I'd rather they stick to the current direction of completely overhauling the gameplay ever few entries to keep the series fresh.

Never played the original, really enjoyed TTYD, loved the story in SPM, found SS to only be fun when completing the museum or achievements, CS looks beautiful, but felt like it was severely limited, and TOK has a soundtrack that was composed to feel nostalgic in the future, not to mention feature a non-antagonist character death in a modern Mario game.

I've been replaying basically every Mario platformer and RPG this year, and I've actually had the most fun with 64 and Color Splash. Thousand Year Door's story is pretty good, but I don't find the gameplay engaging enough to back it up, and it has a pretty slow start. Was a bit long too for a Mario game. Took me over 30 hours to get through when all the other RPGs generally took around 12 - 20 (except Dream Team which is padded waaaaaaay the heck out).

Sticker Star was boring though. So hard to get through that one.

Only liked the first two games, i didn't care for the boring pseudo RPG platformer hybrid that Miyamoto forced it to become.

@TheLightSpirit You can avoid 90% of the battles, which, by the way, give you a lot of coins and stuff that you need. I know they could be more fun and I agree there's no point on taking away the XP (what a bad choice, my goodness), but that alone doesn't make the game "bad", imo. It has soooo much more to offer, and there's a lot of ways to battle, even as an action RPG, which is new in the series. So many great ideas and variety of characters and situations shouldn't ve missed only because of some battles you wanted to avoid but you couldn't (honestly, sometimes I've gone through one part of a map to the other without battling once).
It's better to see the common battles as puzzles to solve in order to continue, like a Zelda game. They are pretty enjoyable in small doses, actually.

Super Paper Mario is still da best.

I've never played a Paper Mario game, but from the comments it seems that Nintendo has led the series down a path that the fans don't want.

I would pick up Origami King, but its £50.

Is Sticker Star worth a playthrough as it's only £16 on the Eshop?

What is it about the series that people like?

@sandman89 and this is why people emulate, rather than pay overprice to a second hand seller.

@BongoBongo123 true and false because most fans are eager for another despite apparently over 10 yers of bad paper mario games. Personally i find them all enjoyable but the first few had something special.

@Mince the sellers make out like the games are super rare but they were big sellers at the time I mean ttyd sold over a million definitely so there’s plenty about. Loads of over priced copies on eBay 🙈

@sandman89 This is where nintendo makes no sense until they get a grip on remakes and answering fans enjoyments then they will always battle emulation issues.

You skipped Paper Jam.

Obviously 64 and TTYD stand out head and shoulders above the others. However, having player through ALL of those, there is none I actually disliked. A couple got quite boring at times but all pleasant play throughs.

Super was the first I played in the series and pretty much the only one. I‘d really like to play TTYD but I honestly don‘t wanna pay these high prices. Release it on the e-shop already, Nintendo, you‘ve got the emulator working for Sunshine so there’s no excuse in not giving us some more of the Cube‘s library.