3. Quadrilateral characters: Super Paper Mario

 After the psychic damage caused by the previous game, I am immensely pleased that Super Paper Mario will be the topic of today's blog. Despite not having ever played it, I'm confident I at least won't have to feed any Tims. Probably not even any Geoffs!

Anyone familiar with my "taste" in games would probably be shocked that there is a Mario game I have not yet played, particularly one as mainstream as Super Paper Mario (SPM). However, at the time of release, Super Paper Mario was actually somewhat controversial.

Unlike it's predecessors, which had been excellent traditional RPGs with timing elements to their turn based battle systems, SPM replaced the battle system with real-time combat, and the level aesthetic was completely different from the previous games. And this was seemingly enough that loud fans of the previous 2 games proclaimed it as a disappointment. What I should have realised at the time, and know for certain now, is that loud Paper Mario fans are even harder to please than loud Pokemon fans. At this point, there have been, apparently, more bad Paper Mario games than good. Personally, I would only claim one Paper Mario game I've played as being bad, that being the 3DS game Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

Since missing the game at release, I've become more aware of its qualities, particularly the writing, which has always been a highlight of all the games in the Mario RPG series that I've had the pleasure of playing (Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi series both). Even some of the self-proclaimed "Paper Mario fans" now claim it as one of the "good ones" in their bizarre campaign against Toads Without Hats (I will not elaborate, it is honestly too tiring to go into).

Unfortunately, upon actually playing the game, well...

OK, that might be going too far, as I cannot speak to the quality of the entire game. But the hour I played was marred with a large chunk of non-playable content, a bizarre incongruous art style, and platform physics and mechanics that do not meet the standards set by the rest of the Mario series proper.

I was not shocked that the game began with a long unskippable story section (technically 2, one before the title screen and one after), after all this is very much a story focused series. I was shocked that it was a full fifteen minutes before I actually had any control over Mario. Further to this, it was another full 3o minutes before the game reached the premier feature of the game: the 2D to 3D flip.

The game primarily plays as a 2D Mario platformer, with combat mostly relegated to jumping on enemies. However, once unlocked, at the press of the button, the level will turn 90 degrees, with the various components making up the 2D perspective placed across a plane. It is a pretty interesting concept, and has been used in other games in different ways. In the first hour, there were a few interesting uses - for instance, background elements becoming traversable - but most were relatively simple. I would assume the use become more interesting over the full game.

What was somewhat disappointing was the control of the game. As it was played primarily as a 2D platformer, it is hard not to compare to games within the 2D Mario platform series. In this case, Super Paper Mario comes up short. Mario moves a lot slower with slippery and less precise movement, with a jump that is much harder to land on a small platform. Further, the level design itself was quite simplistic compared to even the opening levels in most 2D Mario games, presumably due to the need for each level to be able to be presented from 2 perspectives, from which it both needs to work.

And so, my final issue with this game: the art style. After a traditional looking opening in the Mushroom kingdom, Mario finds himself in a world between worlds, where characters are made from mostly disconnected shapes.

However, the rest of this world doesn't share this haphazard art style, so immediately, these characters stand out not only in contrast with Mario, but also the world in which they inhabit.

This continues to the first level itself, where the various disconnected art styles clash even harder, to the point where it actually impacts the gameplay. While travelling through the level, Mario will combat enemies of the more traditional Paper Mario appearance such as Goombas and Koopa Troopas.

Mixed in with this are enemies with this newer "shapes and gradients" design.

And further, enemies that do not seem to subscribe to either design philosophy, such as this... thing.

Mixed into the level are towns where Mario can interact with townspeople of the "shapes and gradients" type. And so, when shortly after passing through a town, I encountered the following fellow jauntily strolling towards me.

I assumed that this was a friendly NPC! Unfortunately, they were not, and Mario took an entire HP of damage. While not a big deal by any measure, it is a poor design choice that NPC and enemy designs can be so similar.

What would not be surprising for anyone familiar with the series, one thing that does hit well is the dialogue. The Paper Mario series has always been written with a lot of humour and wit, with the characters written with a lot more depth than any of the standard Mario games. Bowser in particular is a highlight in these games, written with as hard-headed gullible oaf. Typically his role is not as the main antagonist, but as  secondary one who acts as a somewhat of a wild card. In the short playtime I had, this characterisation was already in place so should I return to the game I am confident that the writing would at least hold up. Other characters were also amusingly written, even when only present for a short moment. Standouts are the 2 bridge operators, who will actually get rather mad at you if they catch you lying about your favorite colour.

Overall, despite my issues with the game, I could see myself coming back to this game in the future. However, I do not think it will be before other Mario roleplaying games I have yet to complete.

Next time: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue team.