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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDKHXOQbjoc
Here is the introductory video for this game. If you don’t want to watch it, here’s a brief recap:
Story of the Stolen Spirits
There’s a place called Star Haven ruled by seven Star Spirits that holds a Star Rod that grants all wishes. See if you can find the common theme between these names.
Bowser appears to ruin the day because of course he does. So guess what we’ll have to do.
Main Title
The title screen! This game was developed by Intelligent Systems, who’ve developed a boatload of various Nintendo games, most notably the Fire Emblem series as well as the later Paper Mario games.
Fun Fact: This game was released exactly 16 years ago today in North America. I didn’t really plan for that, but it works out well!
There’s also an attract mode that shows off gameplay, but I won’t show that off since that’s my job! And also because it’s a bit spoilery.
File Select
If you’re familiar with the game, you’ll probably notice the font is different. That’s because I really hate the game’s actual font and made the effort to change it myself so you can actually read what’s going on. If you’re not interested in the technical side, feel free to skip the following paragraph.
There’s a great incomplete texture pack located here that was an attempted effort to add HD textures to Paper Mario. The font itself is pretty nice, and it’s pretty simple to insert into Project 64. Except I’m using the Wii emulator Dolphin to emulate the VC version of the game because N64 emulation is simply that bad. These textures are still compatible, but they use different file names. Thus I had to dump the textures from the VC version and manually rename every texture from the HD version to the corresponding VC version texture. There’s white and black versions of each character, so in total there’s around 150 textures I need to do this with. It took me a couple hours but I still feel it was worth it because I really think the default font is completely terrible.
That said, the texture pack was a work in progress so there might be a few weird letters with some minor artifacting (capital O and W stick out for me) as well as some general sizing weirdness (lowercase U stands out next to lowercase T, lowercase I has spacing issues). I may go back to tweak these later, but probably not.
I go Mario because I’m lazy and that’s what I usually use in these games. I don’t think it really matter anyway.
Mail Call!
This first update alone I’ve already broken my personal record for most GIFs in a single update. So yeah, expect lots of them, this game has some great animations.
Luigi, oddly absent from Super Mario RPG besides a small cameo in the ending, doesn’t really have a big role in this game. He’s much more entertaining in the sequel since by that time Nintendo finally got Luigi’s personality down pat. It’ll still take the Mario & Luigi games to make Luigi a proper playable RPG character, though.
All right, let’s see…
Princess Peach’s Theme
Many guests from distant towns are hoping to meet you.
The artifacting here is the emulator, which acts kinda weird once it loads the white letter textures. The cramped sizing is the textures I used, but generally this isn’t an issue in regular dialogue.
Otherwise, Peach is throwing a party to boost foreign diplomacy and enhance international relations. It’s mainly an excuse to get a preview of the various locales Mario will be visiting throughout the game.
A Party at Peach’s Castle
Warp Pipes are abundant and serve as screen transitions between geographically-diverse locations. Mario and Luigi live off by themselves, so it makes sense they’d have a warp pipe connecting their home to town.
Though sometimes Mario gets stuck and regrets his life choices.
Otherwise, an automated walk to Peach’s castle. Don’t worry, we’ll explore town in due time. For now, let’s focus on the party.
At this point, we’ve got free control.
If you press (A) in front of the door up there, you can open it.
There’s a lot of NPCs around here, and of course I’m going to talk to all of them. Every. Single. One.
Even the ones that don’t really have anything useful to say! Luckily there’s only this guy and one other.
I’ll bet you could hear some stories about places you’ve never been to, huh?
As I said, this party is kind of a preview of the places you’ll be visiting. It’s a pretty clever way to introduce to players the rather expansive world in Paper Mario.
He’s come all the way from the Shiver region, which lies far to the north of here.
Important toads have punny names that all end in the “T” initial. This toad is “Russ T”, while the Toad next to him is “Frost T”.
I’d mock this but I plan for all my update titles to have paper-based puns so, uh, I’m not exactly one to criticize here.
Mario, please come visit us in the Shiver region someday!
Sounds like a plan.
I already ate way too much… I’m taking a little breather.
Yes, I made individually distinct character portraits for every single toad variation. This is what happens when you’re on your 20th or so Let’s Play and keep pushing yourself to be better, you invest more and more time in more and more pointless tasks.
This is the other “useless” toad, but that’s not a fair assessment. This toad is a guard and greets people, his role is very important and he takes it seriously, whether it’s a commoner toad, a distinguished foreign emissary, or the nation’s greatest hero. If anything, this toad guard is by far the most important person at this party. So please think of this toad guard the next time you want to write off a game NPC for being useless. Thank you.
She’s been restless… hee hee hee… How cute…
Mario games have always been kinda hands-off as far as any potential Mario/Peach relationship. It makes sense because these games are aimed at kids and adults alike, and it’d be kinda weird to incorporate an intense relationship in a series known for being light-hearted and whimsical. I do think the way Nintendo handles it is a bit weird, but then they rarely deviate from the “Mario rescues Peach” narrative anyway. Still, this game probably comes the closest of any Mario game to implying there’s something more between Mario and Peach and, well, unsurprisingly it doesn’t go anywhere.
Oh! By the way, Princess Peach has been waiting for you.
For someone dedicated to hosting parties, Peach doesn’t really want much to do with them.
All but one of these doors are locked.
If you’re not next to someone, pressing A makes Mario jump. There’s some platforming aspects in this game (you can walk on the banisters for instance), but it’ll take awhile for them to develop and of course it won’t compare to your usual Mario platformer.
This game does have 3D backgrounds that move around at times to adjust the player’s view, and that’s always a neat-trick when used with the characters’ paper dimensions.
The bottom door leads to the kitchen.
You may not know this, but I cooked all the food for this big party. I made all of my most delicious dishes! But… Oh dear… I got so into my cooking that I used up all of my ingredients! Now I have to go shopping!
It’s pretty impressive for one toad to make all the food for a party this large.
I hope that someday I get good enough to cook food as delicious as Tayce T.'s.
Cooking is always something I want to get into more but end up too tired and lazy to do. But then that’s true of pretty much every hobby I try to get into. I don’t know how I managed to do Let’s Plays as long as I have, honestly.
I wish I could stay here at Peach’s Castle forever!
There’s quite a few representatives from the Shiver region, including this fellow.
She must be a bit tired.
Through this door is the other half of the party.
It’s good to see you here. When you’re around, I feel like our kingdom is secure. Yep, our future looks bright!
For the sequel, this guy would get replaced by Toadsworth, who himself kinda fell off the map after the Gamecube era. I mean, I’d feel bad for Toadsworth if he weren’t so one-note. That’s still one more note than this generic fellow, though.
This castle is really lovely, isn’t it? Truly gorgeous. So cool and comfortable… I even got a chance to talk to the beautiful Princess Peach. What an honor! When I return to Dry Dry Outpost, I’m going to tell everyone about it.
So already we have an ice town and a desert town. I mean, it’s a video game, you’ve got to have all the staples. The sequel does a more impressive job shaking things up, though.
Everyone I’ve met in this town seems incredibly nice. I think I’ll make this place my home away from home.
Outside the castle is Toad Town, and this mouse is correct in how nice everyone here is.
There’re so many folks here, I can’t keep track of them all.
How embarrassing. But yeah, we’ll explore quite a few more locales beside those three.
She’s such a lovely lady… Whoever she loves must be very special indeed…
It’s definitely the best place for a date. Trust me. Maybe you ought to, you know, ask the princess to go there…
Why is everyone so obsessed with who Peach is interested in dating? Imagine if we did that in the real wo–ohhhhhhhh. Oh dear…
This is currently my favorite NPC.
Ohhh… I just had the honor of talking with Princess Peach! What a wonderful lady she is!
I believe this is the first Mario game that actually has “good” versions of enemy staples like Goombas and Koopa Troopas. I like the idea myself, adds a lot of NPC diversity without having to make up new races.
My goodness, look at the time! I have to go shopping for souvenirs with Frost T.!
That’s four reps from the Shiver region now. We won’t even be going there for a good while!
There’s a door upstairs that we need to take to advance. And since we’ve talked to almost everyone in the room now…
So many guests… My heart’s been beating like a bass drum ever since this morning…
The game does some clever things with dialogue boxes at times. Though usually I’m spamming A to skip through the dialogue since I’m a fast reader.
That’s it! That’s every NPC! I’ve talked to everyone in this castle except for…
Princess Peach’s Theme
I was just resting a bit. It gets tiring, greeting all those guests out there! Nobody will bother us here. Shall we relax and chat, just the two of us?
In case it hasn’t been made obvious by now, Mario is, as usual, a silent protagonist in this game. I get the feeling Peach doesn’t really care right now, though.
Sounds like a good time to get started on the game’s conflict!
Bowser Takes the Castle
…I must say, it’s pretty impressive Bowser managed to build a giant version of his clown car under the castle and lift the entire thing up into the sky. The Star Rod must be powerful indeed!
That’s a pretty swank set-up, alright.
Peach is still trying to grasp what exactly happened. She’s been too busy panicking over the shaking castle to really notice the castle being lifted to the sky, remember.
And it’s time for one of the coolest music themes in the game.
Bowser’s Theme
…Bowser! But this can’t be! It was you who made the ground shake just now, wasn’t it! Whatever did you do?
Yeah, that was me! I’ve lifted your castle up into the sky! It’s sitting on my castle now! Weren’t expecting that, huh?
Ha! Not really! I expected you to turn up, right on cue. You’re just as annoying as ever. Unfortunately for you, there’s nothing you can do this time.
Haven’t you learned your lesson by now, Bowser?
True, true, I have had my problems in the past… But this time is different!
OK, tough guy! Let’s go!
Our first battle in the game is against, of course, Bowser.
I’m not going into the battle system today since for now we can only do one action. This is a plot battle, pure and simple.
So we get a few rounds of combat alternating between this…
…and this.
After three attacks from Mario…
But today, your pathetic little attacks won’t beat me!
This fine piece of work has the power to grant any wish in the whole wide world! And when I use the Star Rod to increase my strength, even you can’t beat me, Mario!
I didn’t alter any colored text since the regular text was enough effort as is, so consider it an opportunity to bask in the terribleness that is this game’s default font.
Bowser’s been buffed.
Bowser’s offense has tripled, while Mario’s has been nullified. This…isn’t good.
This really isn’t good.
It’s not even worth my time to toy with you anymore, Mario. It’s time to end this!
Game Over.
I finally did it! I beat my old rival Mario! Yessss!
Congratulations on your victory, Your Viciousness! That’s why you’re the King!
As long as I have this Star Rod, everything I wish will come true! No one can stop me now!
Title Crawl
Bowser has defeated Mario and once again kidnapped Peach. How is Mario going to come back from all of this to defeat a seemingly-unstoppable Bowser?
Follow this Let’s Play of Paper Mario and find out!
