Collection essentials #421: Paper Mario (N64)

Super Mario RPG on the SNES was Mario’s first foray into that genre. Although the game’s developer, Squaresoft, had switched to developing games for Sony’s PlayStation, Nintendo still wanted another Mario RPG to happen (not a surprise since the Nintendo 64 had an infamously small amount of them), and they gave Intelligent Systems the job, the creators of Fire Emblem. On paper (pun not intended!), this game seems to have many similarities to Super Mario RPG, but in practice it feels quite different and very much its own thing. 

You may ask, why is this game called “Paper Mario”? It’s because the concept is that this game is a storybook come to life. All the game’s characters are depicted as paper cut-outs. I remember as a kid being disappointed with the fact that the characters are not 3D polygons like in Super Mario 64. However, the paper look gives the game its own distinct style, and age is far kinder to its look than it would have been to jagged polygons that would have seemed totally outdated before long.

The story itself isn’t anything remarkable. In Super Mario RPG, Bowser was knocked aside by a big new bad guy and even joined up with you. But in Paper Mario, Bowser is back to being the big bad villain. He takes over the castle and holds the princess hostage, and he manages to get his hands on the Star Rod to become invincible. Mario must travel the world trying to free the seven star spirits in order to have a chance against Bowser. It’s a pretty basic story, but this is a rare RPG where the story doesn’t actually matter that much.

Like Super Mario RPG, combat in this game is turn-based. Mario has various friends join him throughout his travels, as you would expect in an RPG. However, in battle, they function differently than regular RPG party members. Mario can have one of them in battle at a time, and they get their own turn to act, but they do not have their own hit points. They can be hit, but they will simply be paralyzed and miss their turns. These partner characters also have abilities outside of battle which help Mario interact with the world in different ways. 

This game introduces something called “badges” which Mario can wear. These badges provide various effects, most of which can power up Mario’s fighting ability in some way, or they can do things like increase the rewards he receives after winning a fight. Mario has a limited capacity (called BP) to equip badges, and different badges require different levels of BP.

The real brilliance of this game comes with how incredibly well everything is designed, from the areas you explore to the creative battles you’ll have to fight. The game strikes the balance of being fairly simple and approachable while never feeling dull or uninspired. 

Released in 2001, the Nintendo 64 was near the end of its life when Paper Mario hit shelves. I think that may have held it back a little, as it sold well but much less than other Mario games on the platform. It may on the surface strike some as a game for young children, so perhaps that put some people off, which is a shame. It’s well-regarded, but I feel like it probably deserves to be thrown into the conversation about the best Nintendo 64 games more often than it is.

I remember when Paper Mario first released, seeing ads for it on TV and reading about it in Nintendo Power which I had recently subscribed to for the first time. I didn’t own it back then, but my cousins PJ and Eric down the street did. They let me borrow it for a while at one point, though I returned it midway through the game. I can’t remember why, I think maybe they just wanted it back because they wanted to play it more. I think they even resumed the save file that I had started. It wound up being my cousin PJ’s favorite video game, and I remember him calling me on the phone multiple times with updates as he neared the end of the game. I remember picking up the phone and hearing his very serious voice telling me, “We’re at Bowser!” 

I didn’t actually own Paper Mario until I bought the copy shown in the photo off of eBay in 2012. And it was only shortly thereafter that I got to fully experience the game from start to finish. And boy, was I impressed! It exceeded my expectations. 

Nowadays, if you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription with the Expansion Pack, this is one of the games you’ll have access to. I highly encourage you to try this game by whatever means you can, as it’s a true classic. A real quintessential essential for the Nintendo 64 in my book. (See what I did there?)