The Poorly Explained History of Mario's Weirdest Spinoff

I've gone months and I still haven't come up with any cheats for that new Mario RPG. Goodbye, Joe's son, you're a genius. Paper Mario or the story of Mario, if you're an annoying idiot like me, was originally supposed to be a sequel to an SNES. game made by square that was an RPG starring Mario with the very creative name Mario RPG but then Square started working exclusively for Sony because well Nintendo I can't keep watching you do this to yourself it's time for you to choose me or cartridges good So if that's how you feel then leave, I don't need you, all I need is my 393 beautiful N64 cartridges, now leave, I never want to see you again, oh okay, if that's how It's going to be, I'll go.

I also never want to see you again, so after that, Nintendo had a company called Intelligence Systems make the game. Ultimately, they decided to separate this new Mario RPG game entirely and tried a bunch of different art styles to differentiate it, but couldn't. finding when that fits until a developer said hey, instead of using the 3D capabilities of the n64s to make a 3D game, what if we used the 3D to make an even more extreme 2D? Wow, you are a genius and thus Paper Mario was born, the game was a twist. -role-playing game released on August 11, 2000 and directed by ryotakawode, it was very well received when it came out and it's not surprising, because the game was great, there were turtles, there were birds, there were turtles that turned into birds, you could play like Peach and Pitter. -Walk through Bowser's Castle in a stealth section oh sorry Solid Snake, who why are we still here just to suffer?

You can recruit baby electricity to help you defeat the big turtle man, he stopped the child soldiers, my favorite and on top of them all. which unlike most other Mario games, there was an actual story: you start the game with Bowser punching Mario after retaining an object called a star that makes Bowser invincible. Bowser then hits Mario with a Kamehameha, causing Mario to fall out of the fucking sky. Mario somehow manages. to not die and now Mario and his partners have to collect the star spirits and obtain the power from him to defeat Bowser before things go even more wrong.

A simple story, to be sure, but this was only the first game and things could be greatly expanded upon in the sequel Hey guys, what are you doing? Aha, miyamoto-san, we're just making a Paper Mario sequel. Oh, really, what's the new innovation in the game? Is Innovarme a motorcycle? Yeah, some massive changes or tricks for the new game, right? Tell me you started making a sequel without some new innovation. No, no, the Miyamoto sound, we would never do that. Look at all these characters on the screen, there are like thousands. Okay, I'll allow it, but make sure you do every game from this point on.

It has innovation, but miyamorasan, if you're making a sequel to a game that people already love, isn't it enough to give them more of that experience? No, you need innovation, well what about those who kept quiet four years after the original game came out in July? On the 22nd, 2004, Paper Mario the Thousand-Year Door was released under the direction of our good friend Kawa Day and released a great review, as the art and combat are killed dead by the game's downright embarrassing dialogue and it's funny that Mario himself is the least charismatic character in the game, his small, empty, shiny black eyes betraying his empty personality in the game.

Oh and all these reviews too I guess but the positive reviews aren't that shocking after all the game was basically just the first game but better instead of turtles that turned into birds there were people that turned into pigs Instead of sneaky Peach, you had an invisible Peach in a section of the game where she has to take off her clothes to advance the story again, which is actually the third time. instead of one child soldier you get a whole army of child soldiers and most importantly instead of Bowser being the villain again, this time the villain is an ancient old demon who destroyed a huge city once and killed Its entire population and now Chris Pratt and his gang of heroes, including a college student and a literal newborn, have to collect the Chaos Emeralds to defeat the demon once and for all before he can destroy the world.

That's right, this game ends in an epic anime battle between an Italian plumber and a death deity. and destruction where Mario defeats the demon once and for all using the power of the friends he made along the way why because it's a jrpg and it's beautiful needless to say Paper Mario was setting itself apart as something unique, it wasn't like others Mario games. It wasn't afraid to tell absolutely crazy stories that you would never expect from a Mario game and a lot of people loved it for that, but now there was a sequel on the horizon and it looked a little different, so in conclusion, next article.

The Mario game will be a turn-based RPG with platform elements. Hey guys, I heard they're working on a new Paper Mario game. What is the innovation? In conclusion, the next Paper Mario game will be a 2D platformer with role-playing elements. Okay, so the real innovation was being able to switch from 2D to 3D, but even then the next Paper Mario game was going to be a 2D platformer with RPG elements instead of an RPG with platform elements. Imagine if the next Fire Emblem game was a dating sim in disguise. as a tactical RPG instead of the other way around, imagine if Kingdom Hearts 4 is well written, imagine if the inevitable OverWatch 3 is good, yes, this was a pretty wild idea at the time, but anyway, Super Paper Mario was released on April 9, 2007. once. again under the direction of our friend Kawa Day, however this time there was a new producer on the scene named Tim Nabe.

It's not too important for now, but keep it behind your Noggin anyway, the game was released and was received quite a bit. Well, for critics, however, it was much more divisive among fans with people leaving reviews like too easy, too much text, too little fighting, too short. Paper Mario 2 is my favorite game, this one isn't even half as fun and the elemental gameplay is the same tired, familiar gameplay. familiar characters the same tired family story mediocre Graphics a total bore and my personal favorite review I'm 50 years old and I bought this for the fun exercise of the week if this is fun then we grew up a generation of mentally handicapped people incredibly boring also many In other words, a big waste of money for Boomers looking to use their wheeze and have some sport, smooth movements and Wii sports are better.

The 45-minute opening intro is absurd garbage material. If I wanted to read, I would have curled up with a book I can't really tell if this review is a troll or not, but hey, one of those reviews mentioned the same tired familiar story, so what exactly is that? An evil guy named Black Count was in a Forbidden Love with a group and one day. she disappeared, so he decided to cause the heat death of the universe by getting Princess Peach and Bowser married. Mario and his friends then have to collect things known as pure hearts to stop the end of the world, meanwhile, one of Count Black's henchmen named Dementia.

He plans a coup against him and employs the help of a very mysterious evil henchman named Mr. L. Then at the end of the game, he features Black as a redemption arc because the butterfly Mario was traveling with was actually a lost love complex. a long time ago, but then dementia overthrows the black account. with the help of Mr. L, who turns out to actually be Luigi, wow, and then the redeemed count as in the butterfly sacrificed himself to prevent the heat death of the universe, so yeah, it's a pretty standard Mario story, but despite the divisive nature of the game itself. most fans still enjoyed the characters and story.

I mean, at one point the game just turns into a dating sim with a redditor, so the game still had that Paper Mario atmosphere where you just have to wonder what the hell this is like. a Mario game, however, it was clear that this was a turning point in the series when asked in an interview if Super Paper Mario represented a new direction for the series. Kawade responded that I don't know if the next Paper Mario will keep this style or if it will return to the previous RPG format it could even be a completely different game foreshadowing is a reference it's often a vague reference but a reference to something that will come later in the story hello Mr.

Tanabe, I made a list of everything that people like and don't like about the series, let me see that, okay, I think you made a little mistake here, let me fix it real quick, perfect, okay, before so we can talk about the next game in the series. Paper Mario Sticker Shop, we need some background. Paper Mario can be effectively divided into two phases: Old Paper Mario, which is made up of the Thousand Year Door and Paper Mario 64, a new Paper Mario which is made up of a sticker star onwards and also Super Paper Mario. which is kind of the strange middle child over which the parents gained joint custody, most people would consider the sticky star to be the start of the new Paper Mario because, among other reasons, our old friend Kawa Day wouldn't be directing this one.

For whatever reason Kawade decided to stop his involvement in Paper Mario completely presumably because he was tired of coming up with weird new ways to sexualize Peach and not only left but most of the other members of the original team as well when he returned as star of stickers, but that's not the only reason we star in stickers. I felt bad because originally the game was much more similar to the older Paper Mario games with partners in a more traditional combat system and characters that don't get towed, but then they showed the game to Mario's creator and close personal friend of Mario.

Chris Pratt, Shigeru Miyamoto. No, this is the part of the story where the details get pretty murky, so let's start with what we know for sure. Miyamoto came to test the sticky star prototype and basically said that this game is too similar to the Thousand Year Gate. He made basically the same game and released it on a different platform. I would never do that and hey, do your best to only use MCU characters and simplify the story a bit. You don't need a complex story. This is a Mario game. that is the gist of what he said and these are the actual quotes, however, there are two main interpretations of that information: one, heed my words, mere mortals.

I am Miyamoto Saab and I declare that you cannot create any new characters, you cannot even give them names. and you can't make a complicated story, nobody likes complicated stories and if you don't follow these rules, my best friend Chris and I will beat you up, it's cool. Jesus or interpretation 2, from now on you can only use creatures from the Mario series. oh no i cant make original characters anymore denabe he just said you had to use creatures you could just give a toad a unique design and a name and that would still count oh how i wish i could make any character except sir except my hand. is being enforced by these damn rules oh woe is me oh whatever those are the two main fan interpretations of why the series changed by claiming it's all miamotoson's fault and one claiming that Tanabe misinterpreted the cut .

He enforced Miyamotoson's words, but wait, why Tanabe specifically? Well, honestly, I don't really know that Tanabe has been a producer on the series since Super Paper Mario, but what exactly does a producer do well like everything else in this story? It's complicated, usually a producer handles the serious thing. The business side of things, while a director handles the creative side of things, but this can differ drastically depending on the company and production cells. It seems that Tanabe was a fairly hands-on producer based on the fact that in many interviews he specifically mentioned ideas he had for games, however, there are also many occasions in interviews where other high-ranking developers, including directors, They talk about the ideas they had and how they had to abide by Miyamoto's rules on set, so if I had to guess, people blame.

Tanabe specifically because he has become something of a figurehead of the Paper Mario series. If you read an interview related to Paper Mario, it will probably be the main character answering the questions and the interview will probably go something like this, so what inspired you to take? such a drastic change from the other Paper Mario games and video games in general, well, one day miyamotosan came into the office and said, dogs, you have all this technology and you still can't think of an innovation, it seems that miyamotasan was it . I didn't take any hits, yeah, and we really took that heart, so me and the rest of the team locked ourselves in a cagefor dogs with just a Windows XP installation disk, a paper clip and a dream, and I think those limitations imposed by the son of Myanmar really helped us.

Reduce the essence of Paper Mario. I really hope you enjoy Paper Mario and the Curse of the Clip coming this spring, so it's not too hard for someone to hear that and say, hey, it's all this guy's fault when really it's usually referring to the decisions they made. as a team and from what I found out he's probably not even the guy with the most creative control in the first place but honestly we'll probably never know if it was miamotosan's fault or the team's fault the truth is probably somewhere in between and there are so many parts of the story that are open to interpretation or simply contradict other information that it is difficult to know who is to blame in this situation.

If Phoenix Wright were here, her index finger would spasm, but regardless it was all about the game. was finally nearing completion after the third prototype of the game Daddy miyamotosan finally gave it the go-ahead oh sorry my bad mom miyamotosan foreigner and the development of the game was finally coming to an end, the game mechanics are quite different from the of the previous Paper Mario games, but without a I doubt it turned out to be a Paper Mario game. Are you sure about that Paper Mario sticker shop? It was finally released on November 11, 2012. After being first revealed at E3 two years earlier and the crowd died down, yes, the game did well with critics with sevens and eights across the board, but fans felt kind of okay, let's just say they had a different reaction God no God please no no no, but what was the game really like?

Well I think I know someone who could describe it much better than me, take it away Arnold, this is a great example of when change is not good, liberalization and relaxation. of Standards have turned on the so-called intelligent systems to make an unintelligent game it is very easy to get stuck the companions are gone there are no incentives to measure in battles and the stickers are quite stupid as

history

and a lame mechanic Arnold is not a moose. okay, so people? We weren't excited about the game, but what really happens in it, make sure you fasten your seat belts because this is a wild ride.

What you see in this game is that Bowser kidnaps the princess and now Mario has to save her. I know, it's revolutionary, but wait, I'm listening. you're saying that's basically just the plot of the N64 game, wait because unlike Paper Mario 64 with its boring original characters, Paper Mario's Sticker Star had such classic characters as Troublesome Toad and Slinger thing Toad and the absolutely crazy Oasis toad in General Paper Mario. Sticker Star was a game that disappointed fans with its lack of character charm and a lizard robot flirting with Peach and it didn't look like things were going to get much better in the next game, sir, I have an idea for the new one.

Paper Mario game, what if we make this one about color? Seems like a great idea on paper. Wow sir, you really like it. Yes, it seems like you have a very colorful imagination. Thank my Lord. That means a lot coming from you. You are welcome. I want to start this right away, everyone, man, is parked. No, please stop, sir. Paper Mario Color Splash was announced on March 3, 2016 at a Nintendo Direct where it got the reveal it deserved and is now the name that will soon be known. Lost Revers, by the way, there's a new Paper Mario game, it's like a sticky star, but with paint, anyway, have you heard about the Pokémon tournament?

Yes, Color Splash was revealed rather casually, but to be fair, most Nintendo games at the time had not been done by Nintendo. I mastered the dramatic reveal, but needless to say, fans weren't too happy with the reveal and there was even a petition to cancel the game entirely. Keep in mind, this was after a trailer, so, well, all that hate for the game was directed at a producer. Riza Tabata's name started doing interviews about the game where she said that Paper Mario was trying to move away from the RPG genre and become an action-adventure game, after all, the Mario and Luigi series was already an RPG and then, a few years later he said the studio that made Mario and Luigi went bankrupt, he also said maybe we'll remake the Thousand Year Door, but only if people ask for it, so 55,000 people did it, we're still waiting, but then Out of all that bad press, the game was finally released on October 7, 2016.

Except no, it wasn't because Nintendo of America accidentally released the digital version two weeks earlier. Yes, everything that happened around this game from reveal to release is the dictionary definition of a dumpster fire, yet all that trouble. It will be worth it because upon release, the game received the highest honor any mere mortal could ask for. That's right, it was nominated for a Kid's Choice award. However, it unfortunately lost to Just Dance 2017, but come on, with that kind of competition, can you really blame it? Anyway, the game was already out, so what did people think of it?

Well, the opinion of most critics and newcomers was: yes, okay, the opinions of most fans, on the other hand, I want to die, yes, so most of the old fans thought it was a bit better. sticky star repeat, however, there were many clear improvements in the dialogue and creativity, at one point you can beat up a steak, it's a great moment, but above all there is one thing that sets it apart from other games: it is an absolutely captivating story, you better catch it. Pull up both socks with flex tape because this one is fantastic in this game.

Bowser kidnaps the princess and now Mario has to save her, but this time Bowser is possessed by evil paint. Well, the story wasn't that different, but it was a genuine improvement. over stickers star and the stickers star changes made enough of a difference that some people actually enjoyed the game. I mean, not that many because the game only sold like 10 copies, but there were some and, besides, there was hope. the toads have Power Rangers suits to what extent non-original characters could be dubbed. Well, it would be stretched to its absolute limit in the next game. I know it's a crazy idea, but hear me out.

In early 2020, a rumor began to circulate that there was. a new Paper Mario game in development and that it would be a return to the impossible form screamed fans of the classic Paper Mario Nintendo hates us, they said, but then, one fateful day on May 14, 2020, without warning, Nintendo tweeted yes , there is a new Paper Mario game to change here is the trailer LOL And the impossible happened, the trailer actually looked good, there was an original villain, intriguing locations and a kind of unique and creepy atmosphere behind it all and then the next trailer and revealed the removal of the dreaded slash sticker system. the return of the partners and the insignia and this babam has a name.

There are clearly still a lot of elements of the game that were taken from the sticky star and splash of color, but in some ways this game felt like a fusion of the new and old Paper Mario games, the classic. fans started to become cautiously optimistic and finally on July 17 20 20 the game was released and none of it really mattered, the badge and partner system were half baked, there was still no experience for battle which made that the main game was completely meaningless and Bobby was the bob-omb. was the only character in the game with a real name depending on who you asked, the release of this game was the worst thing to happen in 2020, however, while many fans didn't like Origami King, many saw Paper Mario.

Origami King is probably the most controversial game in the series. The star sticker was not controversial. Nobody likes me. At best, someone would think it was okay. The flash color was better, but no one played it because it was on a console that sold less software. The Switch sold hardware, but Origami King was a much more refined version of Color Splash now on a console whose sales would make it the 14th largest country by population, so it obviously attracted some people new to the franchise who played the game. and they said: wow! I like this game it's very fun but it's not as fun as the old games but it's very creative but it's not as creative as the old games but it has fantastic world design but yeah no you actually got us there, so this game was good. enough to attract a new wave of Paper Mario fans, but what's really happening in it is that there's a sentient piece of origami that's turning everyone else into origami, which, as we all know, is pure evil.

His name is Ollie and he is angry that his father gave him that. gives him a tattoo, so he decides to collect all the Dragon Balls to kill all the Toads, which is apparently a bad thing, but then Olivia's sister Ollie, who is actually his daughter, joins Mario to stop him and They finally meet a character with a name Bobby the bob-omb, then Ollie shows up and pushes the rock on his daughter, not his daughter, Olivia. Bobby then uses Kamikaze to defeat the rock and Bobby dies. Oh, fast forward a bit and now it's time for Mario's final showdown with Ollie, where he beat the shit out of him and then went all Olivia, darling, definitely not daughter.

I'm so sorry, please forgive me. Well, you tried to kill me like five minutes ago and you're the reason Bobby died, so no, and then she rejects it. a cliff and she uses the seven Dragon Balls to wish that all the Toads would die and everyone would live happily ever after. No, that would have been good. Instead, Ali sacrifices herself to obtain the last Dragon Ball and Olivia wishes to return all the people she turned into Ollie. The origami turns back to normal, which also kills her because she's definitely not her daughter, so the game ends with your navi-type partner sacrificing herself to save the world, which turns out to be the same way the last four games ended. .

One last thing to mention. is that during an interview, tanabe said that he was now a big boy and that miyamotosan was no longer looking after him and that the team had almost complete creative control over the Splash necklace and the origami King and that the designs only needed to pass an IP check There is credibility to the argument that the massive change in the series is not miyamotosan's fault, but like I said before, I never thought that the change in the series was caused by one event or person, it was probably just a series to begin with. of unfortunate decisions made by several different people and yes, that is where we are today.

The success of Origami King is more than likely the final nail in the coffin for the classic Paper Mario to return, but while Nintendo probably won't make a classic Paper Mario game again, plenty of independent developers have taken it up. Take on the challenge and the quote-unquote Paper Game has become something of a subgenre with games like Bug Fables and Outgoing Ghosts and the Next Bred Born Game among others, so while the classic Paper Mario may have clearly disappeared, memories of him. He won't die so easily because maybe the true classic Paper Mario was the friends we made over the course of the year.