Developer: Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo

Released: February 5, 2001 10/10 Rated: E

Though I certainly enjoy “cozy” games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, I admit that I never felt the same emotions people describe feeling from cuddling up with those titles. That is, until I started playing Paper Mario again. While a lot of that is certainly due to nostalgia that not everybody can claim, there’s no mistaking that Paper Mario feels like home.

Though sandwiched between two Mushroom Kingdom RPGs that are arguably, and I mean arguably, more highly regarded — the late SNES-era Squaresoft joint Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and the GameCube’s Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door — Paper Mario operates within the familiar trope of Bowser kidnapping Peach, while exploring an entirely different genre and, of course, visual style. But regardless of how much groundwork had been previously laid out by the masters of the JRPG with Seven Stars, it’s a testament to Intelligent Systems that they immediately took the reins and delivered another masterpiece with its own quirks and style; something that could never be written off as just a sequel. Even as one of Nintendo’s premier development houses, with series like Fire Emblem, WarioWare, and Famicom/Advance Wars on their resume, the seamless transition between developers and to a new system is a real good noodle star for them.

It’s not just about introducing a new, unique visual style, though that’s certainly a good place to start when we talk about Paper Mario. Though Nintendo has been doing these funky “arts and crafts” visual concepts a lot in recent years, it was Yoshi who had previously made most of the forward steps with these more outlandish graphical ideas. While the GameCube follow-up, The Thousand-Year Door, and further sequels, would obviously lean into the paper concept a lot more, it’s probably important to look to the original Japanese title, Mario Story, to understand that the series title is a bit more of a chicken-and-egg situation when talking about the paper craft concept. What that leaves us with, though, is still a delightfully unique sense of style that blends 2D sprites and simple yet expressive frames of animation with a vast and varied interpretation of the Mushroom Kingdom. 

The opening scene starts us off in tremendously familiar territory that shows off the visual style and overall tone of the game going forward. Arriving at a bustling Peach’s Castle, through the foyer and up the grand staircase just like in Super Mario 64, the textures on the walls and floors, the designs of each Toad and, ultimately, of Mario, Bowser, and Peach in a standard but story-setting opening battle, it all sets the stage beautifully. Even through the standard JRPG trope of the futile opening battle, the presentation is on point for this iteration of our familiar characters. A cocky, trash-talking yet naive Bowser and a calm, silent Mario duke it out as usual until the big bad unveils the MacGuffin he stole in the intro cutscene: the Star Rod. He trounces Mario, tosses him out the window and lifts Peach’s Castle into the sky. From that point on, Mario travels to the far corners of this interpretation of the Mushroom Kingdom to search for the Star Spirits, the residents of Star Haven being protected by Bowser’s appointed guardians, who will serve as the bosses of each chapter. 

Meeting and talking with a huge cast of characters, from small role NPCs like townsfolk and shopkeepers, to key supporting characters like Merlon the fortune-teller or the seven different Star Spirits, to the eight partner characters you’ll team up with both in and out of battle, the design work on these characters is superb. Much like in the most memorable quests and journeys, including contemporaries like the N64 Zelda titles or colorful LucasArts graphical adventure like The Secret of Monkey Island, characters and settings feel alive and fully realized, even when your interaction with them is limited. It starts with the design of their sprites, and how they sit against the backdrop of a world that can both fit together like a diorama as well as be made up of or contain complex 3D objects that highlight how simple but well-drawn the characters are through juxtaposition. Then the cleverness and sometimes outright humor of the dialogue slides everything into place with observations, goals, and of course, the occasional infodump. It’s hard to say that it feels “real,” if only because Mario is so far outside our reality that nothing about it feels like it overlaps with our world. But to say that it’s the most poignant interpretation of what life overall is like in the Mario universe, I think that’s fair, and that’s why it feels so quaint and cozy in between action scenes and confrontations. its battles and setpieces.

You could also argue that Paper Mario boasts a bit of Zelda influence in how it’s structured. Though broken up into formal storybook-like chapters that begin when you set out from Toad Town and end when you beat its respective boss character, those chapters feel a lot like setting out for a new dungeon in a Zelda title. Chapter Two sends you into the desert, over a crusty mountain pass and across the dunes to a far-flung bazaar-like outpost. Interact with some of the characters, figure out who to talk to and acquire a key item to help you find the hidden ruins beneath the sands. Once you’re inside, you’ll solve more puzzles, fight more enemies, and use your companions’ abilities to traverse each room until you reach the boss and rescue the Star Spirit. It’s a familiar layout but it’s welcome because the level design is so pleasant and the ups and downs of the story along the way are set at an excellent pace. Even sections that feel like lots of walking and/or platforming fly right by because of not only the delightful visuals, but the excellent music. Some of my favorite and most earworm-worthy pieces on the N64 are in this game, and composer Yuka Tsujiyoko is a tour de force in the realm of jaunty, whistle-worthy melodies, amongst many other great tunes. Toad Town and its many variations, March Ahead, and even the battle theme will get stuck in your head all day long once you put the game down, and Shooting Star Summit’s theme is the sound of pleasant dreams somehow made compatible with the N64’s soundchip.

Along your massive adventure, the key gameplay mechanic will, of course, be the turn-based battles that make Paper Mario one of the few RPG-style games in the entire N64 library. This shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for those that only want action, however, as the battle system operates on action commands, which return from Super Mario RPG, but are essentially a mechanic meant to keep players engaged in fights beyond just selecting commands from a menu. Perform a simple command like mashing A or tilting the control stick to get the most out of your attacks and soften the blow from your foes’ efforts. This is, of course, to say that you won’t really stand a chance if you’re not keeping up with this in pretty much every battle. Not only is it vital for taking out enemies quickly and efficiently, but there isn’t really an alternative like grinding, with experience points being pretty heavily scaled, and only Hit Points, Flower Points (magic/mana), and Badge Points being upgradable with each advancement:

Badge Points are your other major gameplay mechanic for battles and, really, just about everything else Paper Mario has to customize your experience to your liking. Equipping different badges allows Mario to add special moves to his arsenal, utilize passive abilities, or boost individual stats. It’s essentially the game’s version of changing up your load out. You might do so because you like using a particular technique with your hammer attacks, or because the types of enemies you’re facing in a certain area call for a particular type of approach to do effective damage. You might find yourself using more special moves for a while, so you equip an FP Plus badge for a hefty price of three Badge Points until you gain your next level and can upgrade your FP permanently and switch back over to the Close Call badge so that enemies might miss you entirely if your health is low (1 BP) and the Quake Hammer badge so you can hit every enemy on the floor and/or ceiling at once (2 BP).

Charm is a word that I often feel too quick to use, but it’s easy for games that have an overall feeling that draws you in beyond mechanics or graphics. Even something like visual style and motifs that give them that extra sense of appeal, that’s not strictly what that means to me. It’s almost intangible but it’s easy to point out when you see it, and Nintendo in particular has made its fortune on making games that aren’t just good, but have that very particular brand of charm to them. Paper Mario feels like it goes beyond even that. It feels like home in a way that simple nostalgia or cute visuals or funny dialogue doesn’t account for. It’s almost like it’s nostalgic the first time you play it. 

Maybe using the classic “Mario vs. Bowser” setup really has benefited it that much — you’re already in familiar territory when you get started, and all the game does is bring you closer to these characters. Bowser is invulnerable in a literal sense, but gullible and insecure through his characterization. Peach is once again held hostage, but doesn’t stand idly by, doing her part to help Mario prep for the road ahead when we control her in between chapters. The Mushroom Kingdom isn’t just lined with goombas and koopas and whatever enemy suits the current batch of levels — it has citizens with wants and needs who go about their lives and worry about their Princess when these incidents go down. Paper Mario is a game that lets you feel closer to the world of Mario than ever before, and just like when the people in our lives open up and let us in, Paper Mario endears us to it just by being its true and pure self. 

Continuing Legacy

The Paper Mario series continues on directly with the aforementioned The Thousand-Year Door on the GameCube, often heralded as an even better entry in the franchise. After this, the direction of the series changes drastically, with Super Paper Mario on the Wii focusing more on the adventure and platforming aspects than the turn-based RPG mechanics. This is largely due to the creation of the Mario and Luigi franchise, a similar series of RPGs that began on Nintendo’s handhelds, and the apparent redundancy of two Mario-centric role-playing franchises. While Super Paper Mario is still excellent and highly regarded, future iterations for the Wii U and 3DS were seen as pretty major disappointments. A return to a turn-based battle system with 2020’s The Origami King was met more warmly, but still far from the praise of the early titles. Thankfully, all three original Mario console RPGs can be played on the Nintendo Switch, with Paper Mario for the N64 available through the Online Expansion Pass, while Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door have each received full remakes.

Additional Information

Saves: Cartridge

Compatible With: Rumble Pak

Players: 1

Print Guides: Nintendo Power, Prima, BradyGames

Aggregate Critical Reception (GameRankings): 88.74%, based on 33 reviews

Other Releases: JP, August 11, 2000, as Mario Story

EU, October 5, 2001

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