PAPER MARIO (2000)

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in a way, i feel very spoiled by having played paper mario the thousand year door first in the same way i felt spoiled playing saints row 1 after having ventured through its sequel in which every single concept was built upon to soaring heights, because that's exactly what's going on here. paper mario 64 lays out strong concepts: a battle system that, despite being turn based, feels very involved and greatly rewards strategy just as much as it does reaction time and timing. an aesthetic that celebrates simple, cel shaded art displayed on various dioramas atop dioramas. writing that isn't afraid to get cheekier than mario ever has before.

but all of these named concepts are half baked, its sequel completely forcing paper mario 64 into its shadow given its sequel's focus on mastering that combat, mastering those dioramas, mastering that cheek factor. let's examine each point closely.

paper mario's gameplay is simple but effective. you've got your health, a pool of special action points, some items masquerading as stars, and then the combat itself which exemplifies small numbers... 0's, 1's, 2's, and so forth, thank god. time your actions and you'll deal more damage, time your blocks and you'll lower the consequences. but it isn't the most rewarding: badges are gimped at the paltry 30 point cap, limiting your toolset, and that toolset itself is a little ridiculous when some badges are retired by "improved" versions of themselves (compare charges and power smashes/jumps) and others being just point hogs (why in fuck is a 20% chance to dodge a whopping 10 points total? that's a THIRD of your entire badges!). and of course, there's no way to fully negate damage with perfect, precise timing--a very, very satisfying improvement made in ttyd.

paper mario's locations and locales are... just alright. they follow the "mario format" so to speak: grasslands, desert, forest, jungle, ice world--but not completely. the grasslands and desert are ho hum, but that named forest is actually a pitch black one with twists and turns that leads to a haunted mansion which leads to a dried up gulch which leads to a stealth mission within a large manor.... and that's pretty incredible. there's also a miniature world mario visits, which conceptually is cool, but in action turns out to be a backtracking hell (something ttyd did not learn from, unfortunately). but beyond these two, the locales mario visits end up being about as bog-standard as they come (minus a murder mystery...). they're by no means boring, but they're foundation laying, and what is built upon them in ttyd is....

anyway, the writing. i don't really know what's going on here. there are moments where it's hard to hold back laughter at just the absurdity of a moment, such as a flower pointing out her assaulting miscreants and choosing to randomly include a passer-byer with comical timing, but then there's also a diary kept by your brother where most of the entries lack any sort of punch at all, and you wonder why they even bothered. who's at fault here? the japanese devs? the american localizers? it's strange how half of paper mario 64 can make you smile and the other half can leave you with a straight face. your partners also get it the worst, here--they have nearly zero personality aside from their introductions. you can sort of tell as you play through that the writers get more into the groove and start handing out unique lines, but it's a little late on the delivery. of course, not to worry... ttyd doubles down on it and spit-shines the writing into absurd heights.

while i've spent the entire review denigrating the experience and offering its sequel as a worthier play, by no means would i ever suggest anyone skip such an interesting first entry in the paper mario series. it's definitely good! it's very good! but the shadow it lives in is massive, and perhaps paper mario 64's worth playing if only to see what improvement from game to sequel can truly be.

... oh, but that shouldn't be the last note to leave on, actually. i know what you want to read: what did paper mario 64 do BETTER than ttyd? and actually, a few things. there isn't a single chapter in the sequel better paced than pm64's island chapter. the reoccurring rival of an egg shelled turtle is enormously endearing and his absence in ttyd is missed. the binary art is also very endearing, although the flash 8 presentation of ttyd is by no means bad, either--just different. the soundtrack, helmed by koji kondo, is phenomenal of course, although ttyd's is no slouch, either. and i absolutely adore those fanmail letters mario can receive, complete with original art and everything--such a concept is sorely missed in paper's sequel.

but, ah... yeah. that's it. it's a great game, and then you play ttyd, and suddenly it becomes demoted to "pretty good". this is by no means a bad thing--i thought about this earlier with artists who create landmark albums despite having previous, great entries. said landmarks do not delete the existence of what came before and, in fact, it's worth checking out to every fan of the artist to explore the discography beforehand... because it preps the appetite for a feast not too soon after.