Paper Mario Sticker Star: 3DS

Making a paper Mario game with a new mechanic; Stickers. Now i'm not against change, 2D jumps to 3D and sometimes even new whole takes on the game. But my god this is how to butcher a game series, take everything which made it what it was and ruin it. Now lets go back to the beginning, the real beginning, the start of the paper Mario series, and if you can already guess, i'm talking about Super Mario RPG. 

Super Mario RPG, an old game for the Super Nintendo, was a brilliant game and it had a whole new cast of characters, old characters had a new but not contrasting personalities, and the game itself was brilliant. I remember in my youth playing this game, but i had never beaten it, always though hoping for a sequel. Super Mario RPG had a turn based combat system, meaning in fights each team took turns to battle each other. It was a mix of final fantasy (The old ones) and Mario.

Now many people wanted to play another Mario rpg, and luckily it became the parent of two Mario RPG themed game series. The first being Mario and Luigi's super star saga series, where the two Mario brothers go out on an adventure of sorts to quell evil yadda yadda. The second, which came before Mario and Luigi, was the comical fun adventure of paper Mario.

One of the most innovative games for the SNES

Paper Mario was the most entertaining thing to see, it was if the developers at Nintendo decided to parody themselves. Take the world of Mario that you know and simply put them into a world of paper and see what happens. Because they were made of paper, they could do things that you normally wouldn't think of but makes sense because, paper.

Now as i said briefly, this game was highly comical. While Mario never talks (like how link talks in his game with gestures) the genius comes from all the other characters. Luigi goes on his on adventure in one of the games and he constantly tells mario how he's going to save a kingdom, but he's scared. Mario meets with these 4 masked koopas, and my god are these my favorite villians. The game is constantly having fun. 

The Koopa bros. What type of cameo are they? Some say Ninja turtles, some aren't sure...

Now since Super Paper Mario for the Wii, the formula for the game has been changing. Now i personally liked Super Paper Mario, it was not turn based but rather real time jumping and stomping, but the one reason i can overlook it is because MR.L. I firmly believe he is the best character of this game, and it shouldn't be a spoiler but it's Luigi. 

I DON'T KNOW WHO THIS MASKED FIGURE IS!

Now you might be wondering why i spent the last couple paragraphs reminiscing on the past. If you've played paper Mario sticker star, you'd understand. In this game Bowser returns as the villain. Now over the years Bowsers become a weak Villain, capture princess ect. Now i have not beaten this game, so if theres a big twist i can be wrong, but from what i played i did not enjoy, so i will not rate the story portion too much.

This game centers around stickers, you use them in combat, you use them to unlock areas, you even use them to help toads (the mushroom people). Now i would be fine with this concept, expect if in combat you run out of stickers, you run out of things to do and are forced to run. Granted nintendo does a great job, no sarcasm, putting stickers everywhere, literally. The boss fights require each a special sticker that can be used on them and does mountains of damage, trying to beat it without it, simply means you'll lose (when you run out of stickers).

The biggest problem i had with the game was the way the levels were separated. In traditional Mario games the levels are separated by and overworld map with World 1, world 2 ect and in each world smaller sub stages. eg. World 1-3 would be stage 3 of the first world. In the paper Mario series it was a giant world, no overworld, and to get to other areas you had to walk, which sounds tedious, but it felt like a real adventure.

Welcome to the world map, go have fun on the very linear stages.

In Sticker Star, the stages are ordered in the traditional Mario game setting, eg World 1 stage 3. It also has an overworld. While that doesn't sound so bad hearing about it now, it really takes away from the game. It doesn't do the series justice. The first two games in the series had you finding new companions to help out in your adventure. The version for the Wii had you switching between princess peach and bowser, though this one, for what i played, has you playing with only mario with a single sidekick.

Now over the years mario has become more of a blank slate persona, but thats where the paper mario series thrived, it made mario look as weak as paper. Pun intended. I remember when the first one came out and you had to fight bowser and jumping on him, the only thing that happened was a ting sound of nothing affecting him. In this one it looks as if a battle will start between bowser and him, but then it just cuts to the next scene, no fight, no nothing.

Paper Bowser, you were quite the villian. And comic relief. 

Overall Paper mario sticker star feels like a sad attempt at trying something new. They throw in a new mechanic to keep the game fresh, now i am ok with most of the sticker element, but other parts do not meld well. I like the museum where you collect the stickers you use in battle and spend them to put them on the wall, though it is seriously costly, and i can tell nintendo did that on purpose. Do i recommend sticker star? If your a huge fan of the series,  tread lightly, if you saw this in Gamestop or walmart and decided to buy it with no knowledge, you'll be fine. It's more of an ungraceful addition than it is a bad game. So Overall, a bad game to the franchise, but if you had no idea what paper mario is prior to this... you'll be fine.