Nintendo's Paper Mario Series Is Now 20 Years Old

Wow, you'd think that the games would be paper thin but they're all great (except for Sticker Star, and debatably, Color Splash).

Dreaming for a remake on the switch

I only have Sticker Star and Color Splash.
Will consider Origami King later but i should bury my dream to get TTYD as the price on Ebay was cut throat. 😓

I've only played the latest three but I definitely liked the Wii one the best

Bunch of paper

The original Paper Mario (alongside FFX & the first Kingdom Hearts) was one of the games that really got me into JRPGs. I never owned it proper, but the local video store kept letting me renew my rental without giving it back, so I was eventually able to beat it, lol. It'd be really cool if it got a Switch remake in TOK's engine (or an HD port bundled with Thousand Year Door & SPM).

While the series has changed & Sticker Star was pretty mediocre, I thought The Origami King was a great game.

Never played a paper mario game but I jjust picked up and am enjoying Bug Fables

@Anti-Matter Oof, that’s like the only flavours of ice cream you’ve tried being rum & raisin and pistachio.

Me and my brother used to play Paper Mario: TTYD. A ton. We always looked forward to what events the next chapter would bring. So that was my favorite Paper Mario memory. Still my favorite Paper Mario game too, with the N64 original not too far behind. I do like Origami King as well - that was a MASSIVE step up over the train wreck known as Sticker Star.

I don't think we've have a good paper Mario game and years.

We've had some decent games and origami King is okay, but it's not a good paper mario game.

@nessisonett
I think you made a typo there, friend. You accidentally put rum raisin instead of coffee

I've only played two entries in the Paper Mario series so far: Color Splash and Super Paper Mario. The former is flawed but enjoyable, and the latter has some odd mechanics but a wonderful story, decent music, and various interesting scenarios. I intend to track down and play the others eventually (Well, minus Sticker Star unless I find it dirt cheap somewhere lol), though I think The Thousand Year Door is out of my reach until it's ported or remade somehow.

Super paper Mario was epic.

I’ve never got into this series but keep hearing that thousand year door is the best. I’m thinking I should buy this for my GameCube..

EDIT: Has anyone seen what this game is going for??? £120 used, minimum!

@Mips I am very very glad that I have it sitting in a cupboard. GameCube games go for crazy prices.

@FroZtedFlakerZz The Wii one Super Paper Mario isn't among the latest three, those are Sticker Star, Color Splash and The Origami King.

It would be nice if Nintendo celebrated the 20th anniversary by releasing the original Paper Mario and its sequel, The Thousand Year Door.
Instead we get a tweet. 😩

Love the series. I have fond memories of constantly dying in Rogueport Sewers because I was too stupid to figure out how to kill the spiked Goombas without jumping on them.

I've only played the original and origami king but I have super paper and sticker star on the backburner.

Wow, happy anniversary, Paper Mario! I've loved pretty much every game of yours (haven't played Sticker Star, though)
Origami King was an absolute blast, but I'd loved if they released a TYD remaster this year or the next, to celebrate this.

@nessisonett I agree! Thank god I finished my retro collection a few years ago - it’s worth a fortune now.TBH I’m happy to pass on PM, too many games to play.

i remember first playing the game in a hotel, i was 6 and i could barely even read. but the game was so new and different for me and i eventually asked my mom for ttyd when i got older.

ive played and beaten every PM game since (except CS) and the series means a lot to me, but its a bittersweet feeling seeing the series live on and purposefully hold back on so much gameplay, characters, and story now.

the newer games feel more like novelties. fun the first time, but stuff like the gimmicky battles systems stop me from ever playing them again

My favorite memories of Paper Mario (64) are obtaining my first badge, Chapter 1's Koopa Bros Fortress, obtaining the action command pendant after talking talking with the star spirits, Chapter 2's Dry Dry Desert and Ruins, the Chapter of the Southern Island (don't remember if it was the 5th or 6th chapter) and Chapter 7. Of course, I enjoyed the story and personality of the partners

Nintendo's twitter made a post about it...

Biggest mistake of my life to look at the replies. It's sad how many people give death threats and scream as if someone is a murderer if they like Origami King. TTYD is a good game but it will forever be tainted in my mind as the game that people scream and cry about every waking moment. Because what else is there to do in life when you can do that?

Going to try my best to actually finish color splash.

Dead before the age of 20, tragic.

If we get N64 online, PM64?

Oh man I remember waiting for this game to come out. 20 years! Thanks Nintendo Life for making me feel old. I hope they will come out with a treatment to slow down aging during my lifetime lol.

I'm going to be that guy right now.

Yes, 64 and TTYD are fantastic games. Super's got some great moments, too.

...But Sticker Star is criminally underrated. Color Splash, too, and even Origami King seems to get a lot of hate. I feel that all three are every bit as great as the originals and do not deserve the bad rep they have--especially the latter two, which actually improve a lot of the rough edges of Sticker Star that people dislike so much.

This is actually one of my favorite N64 games, and I have fond memories playing this one on my cousin's N64.

Here's to corporate meddling and developer stubbornness.

Favorite is Super Paper Mario (I’d love a sequel but, I like the constant evolution of the series) but I really enjoyed Color Splash and Origami King...even though I didn’t get to finish those two. Will make that a summer project.

And yet the entire series sucks apart from the N64 original.

Why did they look at TTYD and say "No more of that!" seriously bums me out.

Loved Thousand Year Door. Such an amazing game and so many memories

I adored TTYD throughout my childhood. It was my favorite game up until college, and now it sits comfortably at #2. The world was sprawling and interconnected, the story rich, the characters brimming with personality, the combat expertly crafted, the locales unique by Mario standards, the music catchy, and the recipes exquisite-looking. With treasure everywhere and a rewarding badge system keeping you customized, it's a marvelous RPG masterpiece for the ages!

Nintendo can't wait for those remaining discs to deteriorate. Then there'll be nothing to keep us from embracing the new ones (ignoring the fact that 64 and Super are both on the Wii U eShop for direct comparisons).

Well, Paper Mario is a series I started loving with Sticker Star, so... Maybe I'm just flawed that way. Origami King and Colour Splash are both great, but I like the artistic direction of the latter more (just personal taste). I didn't have much fun with the 2D/3D gimmick of Super Paper Mario and I never had a GC or a N64, so I don't know about TTYD and the original Paper Mario, but I guess it would be nice if I could play those and check if they're up to their reputation.

Honestly, I'm surprised with the community here. I expected to see all complaints about the direction of the series, critics to the last title, and so, but is quite the opposite! It's seems I'm not the only one that loves Origami King, that's great. Imo, it's the second best title in the series, after TTYD, which is still the best, not just for the battle system, but for everything around it (that game was a master piece, much better than the original in every way). So, even though I'd love to see first a remaster of the best one, I can't wait to play a new one and see what they'll come up with the next time.

PS: All of you complaining, saying the series is already dead and so, I tell you: go play Origami King. Give it a chance.

I just completed The Origami King and thought it was really fun. Not the most challenging game but definitely had some great dialogue and the story was entertaining all the way through.

I have OK and it’s amazing. Sad times were had 😢.

My favourite Paper Mario memory is all the fun diverse characters we otherwise never get to see in the Mario universe and it is such a shame that they cut this out of the series. Oh well, at least I still have those first three excellent installments to hold me over until Nintendo fixes the series. Probably won't happen though, stubborn as always.

It’s kind of weird to see no mentions of super Mario RPG: Legend of the seven stars (SNES, 1996), which I think should be considered as the first game in the series (before they adopted the paper style). Back in the day we talked about Paper Mario as “super Mario RPG 2”. It was really groundbreaking when it came out.

@mafalb If you've got a WiiU you can play Paper Mario 64 via virtual console. It definitely is an excellent game.

Just don't expect it and TTYD to live up to the hype some people put behind certain parts like the story and characters. Don't expect the partners of 64/TTYD to be like Olivia, Bobby or Huey.

@PBandSmelly I saw the article headline, and I thought to myself how long before the comments descend into bedlam. Surprisingly chilled in here though...for the moment.

The original Paper Mario is still my favourite but I do need to revisit TTYD and see if my opinion is still the same.

@WiltonRoots,

Have I missed that the series has not had a decent game in years?

Only played Origami King and Loved it.

Played all of them except Thousand year door. I have the N64 version on my Wii. Super Paper Mario to me was a great departure from the norm and wish they would make a second one as the mechanics of switching between 2d and 3D was a brilliant idea and worked really well, without all the turn based rights was the best progression.

All we need now is a Paper Mario all stars for switch, with original, thousand year and Super paper Mario

Would love Paper Mario 64 and TTYD on switch!

Feels like it's been 20 years since the last good one

I'm not debating, I loved them all!
There's just a quirky, special kind of humor to them that I haven't found in anything else. It always feels life a celebration of my favorite franchise and I can't wait to play whatever is next!

@RetiredR Saying that after Three Houses and Origami King is... shocking.

Happy to play TTYD once Nintendo makes it available on a console that isn't 20 years old.

The original paper Mario game was the very best one, and yet with Nintendo doing a remake of just about everything in their catalog for the Switch, it just makes zero sense that they haven’t done the same for this gem of a game. At the very least just release it as it is so we can play it on a portable system for the first time.

Let it never be sad that Paper Mario is a stagnant series. From an RPG with the first two, to a platformer on the next, to a series of adventure games with varying RPG-lite elements with the last three-and I don't know if that description does those last three games justice. I've played 64, TTYD, Super, and Origami King, with Sticker Star and Color Splash in my sights. While I don't count it in the sam series, Paper Jam was also fun, and I plan to return to it someday.

Overall, I've had a lot of fun with this sub series. I do consider it a victim of Nintendo's very rare tendency to experiment too much with games instead of stagnating on formulas, but I can't deny enjoying the directions taken. It's such a strange set of games, and there really aren't many out there like it. Looking forward to seeing what they do with the next one, and low-key hoping Paper Mario makes it into Smash.

I miss the original Paper Marios. I wish Nintendo would remaster the first two (and maybe the third) for switch

@nessisonett Or you know he could [:D] it, only if he has a pc and is cool with it.

A compilation of the N64, Cube and Wii titles would be amazing. Those are the 3 best ones IMO and people new to the series can play these fun titles.

Cant wait to finally play it! I was just given a box of about 20 N64 games today, including classics I never owned like this one, both Zeldas, Star Fox, Star Wars..... and also a dozen sports games.

I may actually need to collect all the N64 games now.

Next year it's able to drink!

...I'm surprised nobody cares about this sorta thing

@hizaihazozhu
Literally proving my point here. While I personally don't like the newer games, calling anyone who likes them "toxic" is way more toxic than they can be.

@johnvboy ^^^^^Did I speak too soon?

@WiltonRoots,

I think you did.

@hizaihazozhu Ok yeah Sticker Star is trash, but a lot of people actually like Color Splash and I do actually like Origami King, although not as much as the first and second game. I do respect your opinion however.

@hizaihazozhu You can't just call people apes for liking something you don't btw, then call them toxic.

@hizaihazozhu Wait a minute, did you make an account just to bring people down for their opinion? That is not the kind of community that this website is. Being toxic and shaming people for liking something you don't is unacceptable and that kind of behavior is not allowed on Nlife Media.

God I sound like a bot lol

But seriously, don't do that or you'll get a bad rep here and get banned eventually.