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"Probably the best RPG for N64... Wow it's even better than Quest! *snicker*"

Mario is back and I'm not talking Mario Tennis crap. I'm talking about Mario's first action adventure since Super Mario 64 from way back then in the prehistoric times... I'm talking about Paper Mario!

*Get ready for a really long review. Yeah, I decided to make it excruciatingly long to make up for the fact that I didn't make one of those neato art title things that all those talented people do. Maybe I'll learn*

Gameplay 9/10 They sure took their sweet time working on this game but it was well worth the wait. The Gameplay is great... and very interesting. Paper Mario is not your ordinary RPG! If you've ever Super Mario RPG on Super Nintendo it's very similar to that except there's a little more action and a little less RPG... trust me, that's a good thing. For example, action is involved in the respect that when you're on the ''regular screen'' (the screen you're on when you're not in battle mode) you can see you're enemies and try to hit them to get a First Strike which means in battle mode you'll get to hit them first. This can be very effective. The game stays true to it's action roots too; you'll be collecting coins, going down pipes, and jumping like a crazed plumber on steroids. The battling system, however, is one of the best on the system... keeping in mind that this is the same system that made Quest 64, a game that doesn't even deserve to be played, their debut RPG. Battling is pretty simple... that's probably the best thing about it. Early on into the game you get something called Lucky Star that gives you the Action Command. Woohooo! Thanks to the Action Command there is actually a lot of skill in battling. It's mostly about timing, reflexes, and how fast you can press a damn button in a given time. When jumping on an enemy you want to press A just before landing, when hitting your enemy with your hammer you want to hold the control stick to the left until a star on the screen lights up, etc.. It may not sound all that compelling at first but you'll get into it. Like most RPG games you earn experience points (called Star Points in this game) that help you level up. Unlike most RPG games though there really isn't a big focus on leveling up. More important than that is collecting badges which have various effects on Mario. Of course you won't beat the game without some companions that you'll meet along the way. I suppose it would be considered a ''spoiler'' if I told you who these ''companions'' were. If you're a Mario fan you should recognize some of them.

Graphics 10/10: In my opinion this is the best part of the game. Yeah... when I heard about the idea of characters made of paper I thought that was just an excuse to take less times on the graphics... but it really looks cool with 2D characters in a 3D world. When the characters turn around they look like little cardboard cut-outs! Best of all when Mario is going to bed he floats into the bed. it's so groovy man. The scenery is always new, fresh, and cool looking whether you're on the tropical Lava Lava Island or on the damn-that's-cold frosty region of Shiver City. *NOTE* - Gamefaqs.com... this is NOT a spoiler! It says something like that on the back of the box... ok maybe I overdid that, I was just checking. Anyway the graphics are great despite what you may have thought.

Storyline 7/10: Ok I'm sick of everyone ragging on Paper Mario and all the Mario games about the Storylines. Do you think the first thing they were thinking when they decided to make this game was ''Ok... we're going to create the best storyline for a video game in history! They'll make it into a novel!'' No probably not. In fact they probably don't care. I'm not even sure if it's even fair to rate the Storyline of any Mario game. Obviously it's just going to be Mario trying to save the Princess! Ok I just needed to get that out of my system. On that note... yes you guessed it. Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach and Mario has to save her. But with the added crap about the stars making wishes with the star rod which Bowser stole in order to grant his own wishes because the stars never granted his wishes because they usually involved sexual fantasies with princess Peach and because Bowser was a big meanie anyway that always tried to kill everyone and take over the world... it's probably the best storyline to a Mario game yet. Whew, can you say run-on sentence!?

Controls 10/10 There's not a whole lot to say here. The controls are great and very simple. On the field screen you jump with A, swing your hammer with B, do a dash spin thingy with Z, and press a in mid-jump to do one of Mario's famous ground-pounds. It's even easier in battle because it usually tells you what to press! Oh, did I mention you move with the control stick? You probably could have figured that out on your own.

Challenge 6/10 This is kind of hard to rate because it depends whether you're trying to get every star and collect every badge or not. If you just want to get through the game it's probably a 4 meaning a novice gamer could probably beat it though there are a few places even the average gamer could get stuck. The many fortune tellers throughout the game can make everything much easier. If you are aiming to get all 160 stars, all 80 badges, and beat the game go ahead and make that an 8. As you can see I used my mathmetician skills and averaged 4 and 8 out to get my rating of 6. Just beating the game without a guide will probably take you about 20 hours depending on how good you are. Collecting all the collectibles will take much longer!

Replayability 8/10 I understand that there are many people who just want to beat the game and once that's done the game is left untouched for the rest of eternity. Obviously if you're that kind of person there really isn't much reason to be reading this part. If you're not that type of person I think you will definitely like the game enough to play it again. There are some cool little mini-game like things and if the first time you beat it you didn't get all the stars and badges you might want to start a whole new game and challenge yourself to do that. This game is just downright fun to play whether you've beat ir or not.

Overall 9/10: This is a great game! Better than Super Mario 64 in my opinion. It has it's fair share of challenges and a nice combo of action and RPG. Whether you're 6, 16, or 61 you're bound to have hours of enjoyment with this stellar package.

To buy? Or to rent? Hey, wait... that's 2 questions! It really depends. If you are that person I've mentioned above that just wants to get the game beat and start on a new one I would probably reccomend a 5 day rental... or however many days it would take you to play the game for at least 16 hours (the amount of time that a really good gamer could probably beat it in). otherwise definitely buy, buy, buy! Where I got it it was a mere $49.99! If you buy many new games or have at least seen the prices on them you'd know that that is a helluva deal!

Whew... that was a pretty long review! Oh I just felt like bringing up the stupidity of the people that wrote the stuff on the back of the box the game comes in. They made 2 mistakes. First of all they said Mario meets 7 new companions along the way even though it's actually 8! Also on the box when it is trying to say the separate words ''plots to'' it has them put together and says ''plotsto''! Does anyone proofread this crap? Aaaaannnyywaaayy... signing off (oh great now I sound like a news anchor) this is *Addictedtogamez* See ya!



Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/01, Updated 03/09/01