Retro Room Gaming

This is a pretty alright Mario game, but an awfully mediocre "Paper Mario". First things first, it's a vastly superior game in every aspect compared to the horrendous gaming nightmares that were Sticker Star and Color Splash. But it in no way shape or form tops Paper Mario 64, The Thousand Year Door, or even Super Paper Mario for that matter. Origami King still suffers from some of the same issues that plagued the two entries that came before it. Character and enemy design outside of Olivia and the Origami King himself are still very much bland, and uninspired. The excuse given for this issue in a recent interview, developer Kensuke Tanabe states that "From the production of Paper Mario: Sticker Star onwards, we were no longer able to graphically represent individual characteristics, such as age, gender etc." comes across as utter nonsense. If Nintendo put such design restrictions on the Mario franchise how can amazing games like Super Mario Odyssey and Luigi's Mansion 3, have outstanding character and enemy designs never seen before? the answer is quite simple. The Paper Mario development team seems intent on not owning up to their own short shortcomings, and instead stubbornly trying to pin the blame on Nintendo itself. The intervew is quite facinating, as you'll see the PM team systematically contradict themselves in each statement. Lack of overall character design aside, you're probably wondering "Did they finaly fix the combat?" well, kinda...but not really. This time around combat is at least more engaging, and breifly entertaining. The stickers and cards have finaly been "cut", and Mario has his regular Jump and Hammer attacks restored to normal. Weapons return, but they're Breath Of The Wild esque so they break after some time. Equipable gear also returns (albeit in lesser quantity than some may have hoped.), sadly of all the things to return...exp isn't one of them, which had they made the combat more challenging and implemented an experience system, combined with the new activites and immersive overworld would've made for a pretty solid entry. Of all it's shortcomings, three things they absolutely got right are the soundtrack, the world itself, and the story. The soundtrack has a very reminiscet feel of the original games, boss themes, battle themes, and the overworld themes are all catchy and entertaining. The story brings some originality and a tiny bit of insperation back to the writing and dialogue. I'm very happy to say where the character designs lack in every direction, the world does not. The overemphasis on cardboard being everything is greatly dialed back, and the overall look is much better for it, the open world return is also a plus. I'll end it off here so as to avoid spoiling anything, but if you've played through the original Paper Mario games, skip straight over the last two and head straight for Origami King and give it a shot. It's the only PM game since Super that's managed to put a few smiles on my face, and dispite all that's wrong with it, you'll still manage to get some fun. If the developers listen next time, and polish OK's sequel that could have the potental to be one of the greatest.

With a remake of the franchise's best: Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door freshly announced, and on the way in 2024. It's time to take a look back on the worst, the stinker that set the paper precedent for the next decade that followed, Paper Mario Sticker Star. Intriguing story, deep characterization, unique characters, stunning environments, unforgettable soundtracks, clever writing, and stellar combat to sink your teeth into.....have unfortunately all been ripped away! Leaving behind an empty shallow husk. Forget star spirits, ancient demons, and dimension ending stakes, It's time for bowser to kidnap Princess Peach (With none of his usual flare or theatrics I might add!). Opening with a little bit of false hope, a book appears on screen akin to the intro from TTYD, and tells of the sticker comet and the festival that celebrates it. Mario and the Toads are all at the aforementioned festival, once the curtains reveal Peach the comet descends onstage, bowser appears and breaks it, quickly is bestowed the royal stickers power, takes peach, and dips. You quickly become acquainted with Kersti a small floating sticker crown who's the one and only companion you get for the rest of your adventure, with no combat abilities or decent personality. After meeting with Toads (Who all have none of their unique names or appearances anymore) the town is back together and Mario's objective is to get the 5 royal stickers back. Time for the plumber to set out for all five generic Mario worlds, to fight generic Mario enemies and battle bosses....that are just bigger versions of generic Mario enemies. The world is a loveless art class diorama far cry from it's colorful storybook predecessors, and all the Toads WANT you to know they're paper in a cardboard world. Almost every bit of dialogue has a lame paper pun that gets less funny each time you hear "Crumpled, crinkled, and creased" so let's "cut" to the chase, it's time to dive into the combat. As with anything too shallow though, don't bother diving too deep because it's just not worth it, Mario has no attacks. Yes dear reader you heard right! No Hammer, No Jump, No Appeal, and No Specials.....How might I attack? you must be asking, well....all those stickers you've been picking up are your attacks and your items! worst of all, it's all wastable! If all of that sounds bad, here's where it gets worse! the developer's biggest crime comes from removing exp, the very incentive for engaging in enemy encounters in an RPG. The only reward you get from battling is coins, to buy more stickers, to use in more battles, to get more coins (You get where this is going). The bosses can all be one shot, with the right emersion breaking thing sticker. These giant real world objects have no place or reason for being there and just takes you out of the emersion (If the tedium didn't do that first). As a game developer, if you were tasked to make the most soulless bland instalment of a franchise, and take as much fun out of it as you possibly could while still letting the character move around, and sprinkle in some pretentious jazz music while your at it, the result would most certainly be the creative and artistic void that is Paper Mario Sticker Star.