First Impressions: This plumber still has some 128-bit bones left in him.
In the life cycle of every video game system there have existed “swan song” titles. Toward the end of a system’s life, the console’s creator will release a last, great, first-party title. This title in turn serves as a sort of “thank you” to fans that stayed loyal to their system for so long. There are a myriad of examples of this phenomenon, including Panzer Dragoon Saga for the Sega Saturn and Ikaruga for the Dreamcast.
This “swan song” category for Nintendo’s consoles has almost always been filled by the RPG exploits of everyone’s favorite plumber. This pattern started with Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo (also a fitting swan song for Squaresoft on that system), and continued with Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64. These two titles served as both a final reminder as to why fans bought the system, and a bittersweet goodbye to that generation. Following this tradition, on the eve of the Wii’s debut, Nintendo plans to release Super Paper Mario for the GameCube.
Super Paper Mario retains the same paper-cut out graphical style of its GameCube predecessor, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. The previous game, also developed by Intelligent Systems, is an extremely addicting RPG with platform elements and a clever sense of humor.
While Super Paper Mario promises to retain the cosmetic aspects of its predecessor, the gameplay itself is something different. With Super Paper Mario, Intelligent Systems have toned down the RPG element in favor of the traditional 16-bit and 8-bit Mario adventures of yesteryear. That’s right, Mario will be pulverizing goombas and moshing turtle shells like never before. This is no simple rehash however for Intelligent Systems has added many little differences to make this adventure unique.
The most noteworthy of these is the uncanny ability to move in and out of the 2-D world in 3-D. By holding the “R” button, the player can move Mario on a 3-D plane into the level. Here the player can discover secrets and get around obstacles that would be impossible in 2-D mode. A timer counts down while in the 3-D perspective, forcing the player to do whatever he or she must in a limited time span.
As in the franchise’s latest console games, Mario possesses a health bar in this installment. Mushrooms, instead of making Mario bigger, this time act as energy. Stars, in keeping in tune with the wacky nature of the Paper Mario series, turn Mario into an enormous, 8-bit, pixilated version of himself right out of the original Super Mario Bros. Using this ability, players can race through a level, smashing everything in their path, Godzilla-style.
Additionally, Mario will not be the only character available. The player will be able to switch between Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser at will. Each character will possess a unique set of skills the player must use to pass various in-game obstacles.
Knowing Intelligent Systems and the Mario series, all of this merely scratches the surface of the complexities of this game. There is little mystery however that in considering the quality the Paper Mario series, that Super Paper Mario should adequately serve as Nintendo’s heartfelt goodbye to the 128-bit era.
