Super Paper Mario

I think it best that I come out swinging for this review. Super Paper Mario has a lot of interesting ideas but fails to properly execute any of them. Unlike its predecessor, it is woefully dated graphically. Combine that with boring level design, a penchant for padding and a tonally inconsistent plot and you have one of the most middling games in the entire Mario series. Perhaps the most disappointing game in Intelligent Systems’ entire catalog, there is no reason to play Super Paper Mario when there are hundreds of better platformers out there.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

RPGs aren’t a genre for everyone. When you consider how non-interactive the game portions of titles like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy are, it’s a wonder that the genre ever caught on. That’s not to say that there weren’t more interactive alternatives to the typical DQ battle system, there were. Square’s own Parasite Eve and Super Mario RPG created inventive new battle systems that forced players to pay attention and stay invested in even the easiest of battles. The Super Mario RPG style of battle, which is heavily dependent on timing button presses, found its way into its spiritual successor series, Paper Mario. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, the 2^nd title in the sub-series, expands on concepts first presented in the 1996 SNES RPG but in doing this, reveals some problems with the interactive battle system.