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| Super Paper Mario | 
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| From: Nintendo
Category: Video Games
List Price: $49.99
Buy Used: $27.95
You Save: $22.04 (44%)
New (33) Used (20) from $27.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  172 reviews
Sales Rank: 315
Platform: Nintendo Wii
ESRB: Everyone
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: RVL P R8PE
UPC: 045496900151
EAN: 0045496900151
ASIN: B000NNDN1M
Release Date: April 10, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Run through vibrant 2D worlds, stomping on enemies and breaking blocks | | • | With the press of a button, flip into 3D and find hidden paths, battle foes and uncover secrets hidden from 2D eyes | | • | Hold the Wii Remote sideways and control the game in classic Super Mario Bros. style | | • | Play as Peach and Bowser, both with their own sets of essential skills |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 167 more reviews...
 Flippin' Awesome! April 11, 2007
185 out of 198 found this review helpful
Super Paper Mario, like the Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, was originally a Gamecube game that was moved on over to the Wii. Still, it's definitely a game we've been waiting for and definitely a game worth getting a hold of. Simply put, this is one of the games Wii owners ought to want.
The storyline in Super Paper Mario isn't really anything special, but it's certainly one to honor for its fine script and clever writing. An evil magician named Count Bleck plans on taking over the world, and as Mario you'll need to stop him by finding the pieces of the purity heart that'll allow you to do so. In truth, the storyline is actually really crazy, but I'd rather not give too much away. It's actually a really enjoyable story Mario fans will love in the long run.
The game is very dialogue heavy but at least its creative. Much of it is very humorous and will have you laughing quite a bit. But when I say dialog heavy, I'm not kidding. You'll be mashing on the 2 button a lot. It wouldn't be so bad if characters didn't go on to explain such things that were useless.
Super Paper Mario is truly something remarkable in terms of its gameplay. It mixes Platforming and RPG elements. There's still a need to level up and Mario has his set of HP but all the way, this is a platformer. It plays very similar to Super Mario Brothers on the NES. However, a slight problem with this kind of gameplay, is that those who were really addicted to side scrolling Mario games and were used to holding down a button to run will be surprised to learn there is no button to run! It's no big deal, but if you're feeling nostalgic (as you probably will playing this game) it's actually something long time Mario fans may have to get used to, especially because Mario doesn't move very fast.
During the game you can press the A button and flip the screen from the 2D world to the 3D world any time you want. Most of the time you'll be playing the game in the 2D realm, but there's plenty to be done in 3D too. It's a necessity to getting past some of the games puzzles. If you're ever stuck on puzzle just try flipping. It's also used to get past environmental objects. If a pipe is too tall for Mario to jump over, for example, then you can switch the game to the 3D view and simply walk around it. You can't stay in 3D forever. If you stay in 3D for too long Mario will take damage.
The problem with the gameplay is that the game is far too easy. Most enemies are easily dispatched and don't do much damage to you anyway. Even boss battles are of little challenge. The boss fights are fun, at least, requiring you to fight them in interesting ways, but they're still on the easy side. If you're an expert gamer, I don't predict you'll die anytime soon throughout your adventure.
Mario also isn't alone. He'll be joined by Peach, Luigi and Bowser throughout his travels, and each of them has an ability they can do. Peach can float, Luigi has a high jump and Bowser can spit fire. You can switch between them at any time, and there are moments when you'll actually need a certain character to do things. However, the game relies heavily on the mechanic of going from 2D to 3D and only Mario can actually do this. Despite that you've got other characters, you'll still play through most of the game as Mario.
Throughout your adventures you'll also collect Pixls. Little fairy like creatures that give Mario and company other abilities he can use. For example, early on in the game he meets a pixl that allows him to grab enemies and other objects and throw them. There are plenty of other powers. Needless to say, Super Paper Mario is filled with secrets.
The wii remote works well with this game. As noted you'll hold it like an NES controller and play the game in basically the same style you played the original Super Mario Brothers. The Wii controls, however, feel a little tacked on. You can point the remote to search for hidden doors or scan enemies. You can also shake when you jump off an enemy to get more points. The wii remote doesn't have a big impact on the gameplay, though.
Visually, of course, the game looks like a late generation Gamecube game. However, the games unique style alone warrants its beauty. The 2D landscape is far better looking than the 3D landscape, though. The 2D backgrounds are beautiful, and the background environments really shower a lot of detail. 3D doesn't look as good, though because it's just not as pretty and filled with life. Most of the level designs themselves are also pretty plain. As far as platforming goes, there's nothing too intuitively designed either. The levels also aren't filled to the brim with enemies. There's a lot of jumping, but not a lot of obstacles in your way.
The game also sounds really good. There's no voice acting to speak of, really. Which sucks for a game as text heavy as this, but most gamers who've been gaming for well over a decade probably won't care about this, anyway.
On the whole, Super Paper Mario is a must own title for the Wii. It's been ingeniously designed; it's full of humor and has been cleverly written. And to top it all off, it's just a lot of fun to play.
Pros:
+Well crafted dialogue
+VERY humorous game
+Strikingly original gameplay elements
+Simple easy gameplay to get a hold of
+Good music
+Plenty of things to do in the game
+Cleverly designed puzzles
Cons:
-The game is far too easy for experienced gamers
-Tacked on Wii Remote controls
-Very dialogue heavy; it's GOOD dialogue, but there are moments when you really just want to play the game
Solid Fun April 13, 2007
54 out of 58 found this review helpful
It's a shame that so few people have Wii's in North America. Otherwise, I would imagine that "Super Paper Mario" would have tons of reviews at this moment. This is an incredibly solid game.
Less "Paper Mario" than "Super Mario", the game returns Mario to his 2-D roots. Gone are turn-based battles, and in their place, good 'ole hoppin' and boppin' fun, like in the old days, but with one clever twist. When your character is faced with, say, an impossible jump, you can simply "flip" yourself into three dimensions, the result of which is often the opening of a new path, or the emergence of a hidden pipe, etc. It's a clever twist on the 2-D goodness of the old "SMB" games of the Nintendo and Super Nintendo.
If I had one complaint with the game, it's that it's a bit too easy. With the ability to level ones character, the challenging aspects of the original "SMB" games gets a bit lost (in particular, the character will NOT die from falling in a hole, and can sustain multiple hits before running out of heart points, which can be replenished by items, or even hidden mushrooms). But make no mistake - while the game is never particularly challenging, it is always fun. The dialogue is snappy (the "dating sim" send-up is incredibly humorous, e.g.), the controls are good and responsove (I would have liked to see the nunchuk controller used a bit, particularly for the 3-D sections, but this is a mild complaint), the graphics are pretty...interesting, and the whole experience is trippy, in a "Katamari" sort of way.
All in all, a solid Wii outing - this is one of those games that makes you happy to own the system.
Great Whole-Family Game; Perhaps a Bit Short April 29, 2007
17 out of 21 found this review helpful
Super Paper Mario for the Wii brings a fantastic new dimension to the 2D fun of paper mario. You can now switch - on the fly - between a 2D and 3D view of your world.
This brings a whole new twist to the idea of puzzle solving. You run along your 2D path and think you've hit the end. But when you take a look at the 3D view, you might find a tunnel hidden behind a rock, or a whole new path pointing out at a 90 degree angle.
There's a fun storyline, full of cute dialogue, but really in games like this you aren't worrying about deep plots or soap opera style intricacies. You play to jump on mushrooms, hit blocks, and search for those secret locations.
The game is clearly pointed towards a young audience, but it's a credit to its design that even adults have a lot of fun hopping along towards the goals. For some reason you can't run here - which can be frustrating sometimes - but in general you get the same mario fun from previous games. You learn new skills as you go, can throw items, change characters, locate new helpers, and level up.
The game is nicely broken up into short segments, again perfect for its target audience. If a kid has only 1/2 hr of "video game" time available in a given day, they can still make progress and feel like they've achieved something. The puzzles are never so tricky that they drive you completely insane. A careful perusal of the spot you're in will usually provide the answer.
An adult might complain that because of this, if you actually have control of the TV and a full weekend of gaming laid out, you could easily beat the entire game before the weekend was up. While this is true, you can always go back through after that and challenge yourself to find even more points on each level.
And for those with youngsters around, it really is great fun to play together. The game is very 'friendly' - if you step in sludge or fall off a cliff, which most games would kill you for, here it usually is just a minor setback.
In a world of zombie games, kill-everyone games and horror games, it's nice to find something that you can play with all ages and have fun with. It doesn't require a ton of dexterity or a complex understanding of role playing setup. You just run, jump, and puzzle-solve.
Highly recommended!
 Too much BLAH BLAH BLAH October 7, 2007
17 out of 29 found this review helpful
I bought the wii and paper mario because I was craving a little old school 2D mario action. I think this game is pretty satisfying once you get going and I enjoy it, but I dread all the stupid blathering. The dialog might be ok if it were sort but it isn't even that. It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on with inane stupid conversations that consist of nothing better than "I'm better than you!" "Nuh uh!" "Yeah huh!" "Nuh uh!" And if, for example you don't beat the villain at the end of the level you have to scroll through the entire stupid conversation AGAIN! Horrible, just horrible.
I was babysitting a tween recently and they didn't even stick with the game for more than 5 minutes because they said there was too much reading and not enough playing.
Ugh. I want to play not read!
HUGE LET DOWN, THEY CHANGED THE FORMAT AND IT RUINED THE GAME September 8, 2007
12 out of 21 found this review helpful
UPDATE 1 YEAR LATER. After my intial distaste of this video game that all but caused it to sit there and collect dust, I revisited this game in June of 2008 without all the built up excitment I had coming in after playing the previous Paper Mario Games, and felt this game itself is very solid.
Had they called this game something like Super Mario Wii Story, or something along those lines, I probably would have gotten this game and liked it off the bat....unfortunately they called it a "paper" mario game, which was horribly misleading and very much disappointing to this fan of that series--this game was a key reason why I made the plunge for the Wii in the first place--I love the Wii anyway, but was extremely disappointed with this game when the entire gameplay style that was so endearing in previous titles was gone. The story part was still there, but the style had changed and it took a level or two really to get going and become very good.
Now having started and completed this game, I'd probably give it a 3.5-4 star review. Had it not been billed as a Paper Mario game, it might have hit a 4 star review easily, but I still discount it somewhat for that (I likely would have enjoyed it more initially if I wasn't coming in with preconceived notions).
Overall, the game more than held my interest once I got past the first few levels.....and I would really still consider buying another title in this edition, but I was extremely disappointed, and gave it a review as such a long long time ago. The game was interesting enough too after it got going to be very entertaining, but much easier at least to me than it's Gamecube counterpart (which was much tougher than the initial N64 game).....
I don't beat many video games at all, and I beat this one.....I would recommend it and probably rank it higher if I was new to this series....I think a 4 star review is about right.
Here's my intially shocked review, written probably 2-3 months after I bought this game, probably a year ago from today (Sept08).
The Paper Mario series was one of the best series featuring 2 of the best games for Nintendo's previous systems.....Paper Mario for the N64 was a brilliant RPG game with enough colorful design for the kids, but yet enough of a decent story and interesting almost Zelda like moments for the adults. It was a turn based game, where the player would have to use strategy, etc to figure out ways to progress through the game. I enjoyed the first Paper Mario maybe more than any game I have in a long time, and therefore eagerly picked up the Paper Mario 1000 Yr Door for the Gamecube a few years later....
THe GameCube game was a bit less effective that the original, mostly because they added a bit TOO MUCH text to the story, but it still was a long (30+ hour game) and had enough to more than keep you interested, just didn't have the ghost levels, or charm of the first one because some of it had been done, but it was not far off, still one of GameCube's better titles and one of the few long games that I (an adult) took the time to beat. There's enough humour etc and enough strategy to make this one interesting, and I was eager for more (I had the game for a few years actualy before I got around to playing it because as an adult time is tough and devoting 30+ hours to a game can be hard, but when I had the time, I was more than happy with using it to play this game. It was more challenging than the first one, but also maybe a big too long. Still hardly a bad game, I'd still rank it a perfect 10/10 overall....and I was more than eager to buy the Super Paper Mario game which at the time I thought was going to be for the GameCube....
6 months pass and the Super Paper Mario game comes out for only the Wii.....I had already a desire to buy the Wii, but thought I can't wait to buy it now because I know there's at least a Paper Mario Game if not a Zelda game I'd be interested in.....so I finally buckled down and bought something I thought would be a can't miss title....Super Paper Mario. I like the fact that the first two games read like a story, and really the most compelling piece of hte first two games is the RPG style with the thousands of mini stories and battles, they were very well detailed....
SO I bought the Wii, with really Super Paper Mario being the clincher for me, and got the game, put it in, with reasonable excitement. I even told my wife (I'm a newleywed) about it and she remembered briefly me playing the last one....and I said I was really excited about this, especially after I already tested and enjoyed Wii Sports so much.....so we both put it in, and right off the bat, the graphics were a bit disappointing (they're worse than the GameCube and maybe even N64 version) and suddenly the game is now more like a standard old-school, dated Mario Game than the interesting RPG styled game series I fell in love with.
I felt very jipped. I still am upset. I've tried to play the game several times, but find it boring, and less inspired/entertaining than the two games preceeding it. It's one of the worst video games I've bought ever, and is much more in tune for a 10 year old, rather than an adult (whereas the previous titles work well for adults, and I'd really recommend their strange charms). This title is a complete waste.
I almost feel like Nintendo should give everyone who bought this game thinking it was going to be similar in style at least to it's two predecessors should be able to get their money back. It's billed as a Paper Mario Title, but is much more like a very weak Super Mario 3 styled game. THis type of game would have been ok had it been called Super Mario 4 (I think World was 4) or Super Mario Wii, or really had it come out 15 years ago when I was a kid....but billing this as Super Paper Mario, then delivering a game that in gameplay is nothing like the original is a complete waste.
If you're a 10 yr old kid or an adult buying a game for a 10 yr old kid, by all means buy this game....if you are familiar at all with the Paper Mario Game Series, avoid this like the black plague. It's simply not worth your money, and had it not been for games like Wii Sports and Trauma Center, this game might have soured me completely on the Wii itself.....
It's just a horrible shame, and I'm still upset about it a month after I've bought it. I want my money back!
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