Taking a Page From the Wrong Book | Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Retrospective
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- Опубликовано: 23 ноя 2023
- Alphadream created one of the most creative and interesting worlds within the Mario universe four games in a row, but that streak came to an end when trying to combine Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario. Did the spectre of Sticker Star completely destroy what Alphadream had built, or are there still some diamonds to find in the rough?
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its so weird that they didn't have a gimmick where you jump into the pages of a book. the past 2 games in the series revolved around a 3d main world and 2d sub worlds and that would've fit paper jam perfectly
According to some interviews Paper Jam WAS originally gonna' have all 3 bros traversing through the paper and Mario & Luigi worlds.
@@theeternalsuperstar3773 i think that the only reason they didn't add paper luigi is that you have too many hitboxes and pretty much too op in fight too and, i think they didn't want the running button as another thing also i think the game was just non-canon to any of the paper mario series or M&L. Goddamn it this doesn't fit with the discussion in this reply section but oh well
@@voiky752 IIRC, AlphaDream wanted to do a game with three characters, and Paper Mario was who they decided on as the third member
Fun fact: The "Mario world characters" are 2D sprites and the "Paper world characters" are all 3D sprites lmao
This is the 4th time i've seen this
This game is so unbelievably hard carried by its battle system, they put so much creativity into how enemy attacks work. I wish the minigames and Toad stuff were less common or changed entirely because they tamper with the pacing so hard. For as disappointing as the crossover execution was, this could've been a game just coasting on its gameplay if they cut down on the filler.
Honestly, this game reminds me something very important: VISUAL MATTERS, not in the "HD is best" sense, but in the "Your game should be visually stylish" one. Paper Jam is not bad, but it's painfully bland to look and to interact with, making players get bored easily, even if at face value it is a good game, the fact of the matter is that's an unapealling game to pick, which was a very common sin for Mario games during the Wii U era.
Indeed it was
Something that gets me about the potential of this crossover is how many obvious parallels they missed.
For example, the first game's final boss is Bowser but with a twist, the second game's is a villain who resembles Peach who controls a unique species of alien invaders, and the third game's is a lackey-turned-mastermind who changes form and becomes stronger by taking the power of a main series character, this form being the final fight. This is genuinely such a simple thing that I'm genuinely FLABBERGASTED they didn't at the absolute LEAST talk about it. That's not even mentioning the obvious potential of things like the X-Nauts fighting the Shroobs.
I… oh my god I never realized those crossovers. That’s so cool but such a disappointing addition to the reasons this game is a massive missed opportunity.
Meanwhile, both their 4th game's final boss is a Shiny Bowser. XD
And furthermore, said Shiny Bowsers are said to have unimaginable power and are a return to boss fights earlier in the Mario franchise; Bowser in Dream Team is basically the villain like in any non-RPG game before it, and Bowser in Sticker Star rips off what 64 did.
I still can’t get over how PM devolved, and it’s especially apparent in this game. PM’s paper aesthetic was just an artstyle for the most part, only occasionally being used as a gameplay mechanic. It was supposed to look like a pop-up storyboard or a scrapbook.
Come Sticker Star, and now everyone is self-aware about being made of paper and everything going forward is based on that aspect. Stickers, colors, origami. It’s like the developers learned they couldn’t make a big story with original characters anymore and decided to swing into the paper thing fully.
Paper Jam only emphasizes this because the only thing the paper characters offer is the fact that they are paper. Look, they take more damage from fire! They can make copies! They can slide through cracks! They can roll into a ball! Because it’s the only thing they can do without original characters from either series, otherwise they’ve just got two of everybody but one of them has an outline.
What bothers me the most about the quality of this game is how much potential a concept like this had, only for the developers to just fill it with basic characters and have all the paper characters just be the same as the versions in the mario and luigi universe
Yeah this game is just the *biggest* missed opportunity. No original characters from either series are featured, no original antagonist, no bringing back classic antagonists from both series to feed into the crossover concept. Just… no creativity in the characters or the story. It’s such a shame.
Even Kersti would have been fine to bring back if only because it demonstrates that the Paper Mario world and the Mario and Luigi world are meaningfully different. She could be paired up with Stuffwell, the most annoying sidekick in the Mario and Luigi series.
Honestly the biggest missed opportunity that you have mentioned was the paper character being reduced to essentially being the cardboard cutouts of the Mario and Luigi versions of the characters. They could have highlighted the differences in how the two series approached the characters/story and gameplay instead of having none of the former and quarter assing the later.
46:24 The Bowsers holding their respective Bowser Juniors is really adorable.
Even the interesting battle system couldn't keep me invested. I got about halfway through the game before getting so frustrated with the blandness because it felt like I was working towards nothing. I ended up finishing it at some point but even then it felt like a huge slog to get through and I felt pretty unsatisfied for beating it. Felt like a waste of time.
It's such a shame because if they used TTYD/Super and honestly any M&L game for inspiration, it would probably end up one of my favorite Mario RPGs.
I honestly feel the same
It’s so ironic that right after the game that was during the “year of Luigi” they put two Mario’s in the next one and omitted paper Luigi
When you beat up about both Bowser Junior's at the end and both Bowser's put aside their plan betrayals to go Papa wolf on you. It's the only story moment I remember from this game
Paper Jam is one of the most "Missed Potential" games I've played. Being a crossover of the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario series, they could have had combined characters and story elements from both series, but instead they just have it be a generic Mario story with the hook being "there's two of each character!"
Honestly I don't think Paper Jam ever really COULD'VE been the kind of big-scale epic crossover most people wanted it to be due to the circumstances of its development.
AlphaDream poured so much time and money into Dream Team that not even a pretty respectable 2.6 million sales helped them break even, if even that. The following M&L was effectively locked to being a budget title from the outset.
This is especially apparent given that every single paper character sprite is ripped DIRECTLY from Sticker Star. The majority of them even have the same sheet structure on Spriter's Resource (though Paper Jam does have a few expansions). They never really could've done anything interesting with it since Sticker Star is Sticker Star.
I was going to say the same thing. With how massive Dream Team was it makes sense how much Paper Jam reuses from Dream Team and Sticker Star
Yeah after Alpha Dream's bankruptcy caused my question of "Why would they remake BIS like this unless they were really desperate for quick cash... but for what?" It became very likely Paper Jam's was using Dream Team and Sticker Star assets as a base to save money.
It also makes sense to skip Partners in Time since the game would require far more unique assets due to its differences and the Shroob mutations.
I'm a massive Mario & Luigi fan, but i just couldnt stand this game because of how dull and generic it felt. It had some interesting battle mechanics though.
Back when Club Nintendo was around you could get a discount on some games if you log into your account during the month of your birthday. This was one of the games on offer.
Atleast its Boss theme Slapped
Same here, I love the first 4 games. This one though, I didn’t even make it past the first main area. It just really was that bad and boring
I feel that way about Inside Story xD
@@Mut4ntG4m3r this is such bait, no way a real living person actually holds this opinion
A problem i have with the game is that the trio attacks are so long. The bros attacks in superstar saga are short and snappy but with each new title the special attacks took longer and longer and this started to make fights take way too long. The best part of a bossfight are its mechanics but you spend way more time with youre attack minigames then actually interacting with the boss.
What i remember the most about this game is how glitchy it was and how you could easily sequence break, i did it on my second playtrought and went to the final boss at like level 25 iirc, was pretty fun
One of the other good qualities. Other than the battle system. I want somebody to do a solo luigi run.
Amazing how everything sticker star touches turns to garbage
Really really struggled getting through this game. Was so dull me unfortunately
Better than Sticker Star and Color Splash though, but that’s not much.
@@UltraNintendoChalmers64agreed. Im never even playing origami king. And rhis is far below even dreamteam
Many people may be like this game is bad. Honestly it's a really good game. Story wise it could of done more. Mechanics and game play were great. The card system was fun especially with amibos.
Is basically a good game in a bad skin. The game is incredibly BLAND on the surface, and that's a big reason the game sold so little (Well, that and the relatively poor reputation of Dream Team and Sticker Star). Is a showcase of how artistic style can make a game enjoyable or dull, and is also what happened with NSMB.
@@hoohoo431DT was bad. It was unnecessarily wrong and felt like a copy of BIS
@@novustalks7525Shush Luigiphobe
@@novustalks7525 Eh i wouldnt say dream team was bad when it had the dream battles , as for the copycat allegations id say you're right to an extent but even then it still stands out from BIS with the dream battles alone
OMG yes! I so agree about the tutorials! Paper Jam actually being hands off with tutorials was awesome. I loved Dream Team but I found it annoying that I was getting tutorials in Somnom Woods. It just felt weird to hear that tutorial music when you were 90% of the way through the game.
I found it strange and a little disheartening that the M&L and PM characters were established as entirely separate entities. To me they were the same characters inhabiting the same universe, just with a stylistic perspective change. But it would be really hard to explain that in a non-abstract way and still have the "normal" and paper characters physically separate, so the book route makes sense for narrative simplicity
I remember back when Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam first got announced during Nintendo E3 and I was excited about the concept of the 2 most beloved RPG worlds of Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario colliding. Being an adult it's sad to see that this was the game that would symbolize the fall for both series especially for Mario & Luigi not having a new game for over 9 years now besides the remakes of Superstar Saga. I would've loved to have seen how well both series could've meshed elements from previous games in both series into this one. But it's awesome to see how much the Mario RPG games are making a comeback today in the modern era of gaming as I hope we can see a revival to the Mario & Luigi series in the future like we have with the Super Mario RPG Remake and Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door Remake.
I mean if you finished the expert challenges in dream team, you unlock the duplex crown which was an accessory that let a bro move twice in one turn, which i wouldn't exactly call trash.
Starlow doesn't dislike luigi though
She has low patience
Now thats what i like to hear
Just found your channel through being recommended this video (have been on a bit of a paper mario retrospective kick lately) and went through and watched all of your mario RPG retrospective videos since! I absolutely adore your style of videos; the easy to digest structure they follow and little touches added in editing make them fantastic watches! I especially like the little audio wavelengths added when showing off a game's music; it's a nice touch that helps pull everything together!
You deserve many more subscribers, and I can't wait to see what you put together in the future!
I love the idea of the 'Paperverse' merging with Mario's 3D reality. The overworld gimmicks and Paper Mario as a third fighter captivated me. The story lacked deepness though. Luigi accidentally bumping into a bookshelf and causing the so special yet unprotected book to open and fuse realities was super lame. The lack of an original villain and those annoying and softlocking toad hunts took even more value from the whole experience. The OST was nice, specially winter theme.
NGL, this was the perfect opportunity to bring back Dimentio and maybe some other bad guys like Cackletta and Fawful.
Been waiting for this! Love your content.
For someone who missed the community post like me thats a great surprise seeing the Paper Jam review now.
Ngl, that illegal on paper bit got a good chuckle out of me. 😂
whenever i think of this game, i think of the fun battle mechanics before the story or puzzles
i wanted to mention that as a person who wanted to do all the expert challenges in dream team, the expert gear absolutely goes crazy with stats
in my opinion, the paper jam final boss music is only beaten out by the bowsers inside story boss music
And DT's and Superstar Sa-
**Gets flamed*
It's just as good if not slightly better, this video did it dirty
Say what you want about this game but its Boss Theme Slaps
Super interesting video. I am currently working on a game that handles the overworld exploration with three characters a lot like this game and I am looking for reference materials all over the web. Good to know that I am not the only one who felt the three individual character button presses for something as simple as jumping up a very small ledge to b e rather sluggish.
I feel that some streamlining and giving the characters specific moves on specific button presses as something easily accessible on the overworld, while automating something as simple as the jumping just as much as the movement for the following characters, is absolutely the right thing to do.
I miss the time when Paper Mario/ Mario Story had a cartoony style because it was a stylistic choice as opposed to making everything made of cardboard and paper. It makes the world and universal ending stakes feel much less significant than they should be when it turns out it only takes place in a book.
These and paper Mario videos are great. Boy how these games have fallen.
The only issue I had with Paper Jam was that we didn't have Paper Luigi with us as well as Paper Mario. Having all 4 bros would have been very fun and he's canonically the only one that can fully talk which could have led to so many funny or interesting interactions.
I just now realized that the star points with the cards were a reference to ttyd
great video underrated channel
bowsers slave dungeon is pretty cool tho
I tried to play this game because the combat looked fun but the bland areas, damn near completely inactive story, no original characters or ideas, etc made it impossble to get past the desert. Compare that to, for example, Superstar Saga where things were constantly happening, new locations, new characters, all of that.
The entire journey is also just "Go to Bowser's Castle. Uh oh, it's in the air! Go to Bowser's Castle again." Again compared to Superstar Saga, where the story is split into a bunch of relatively smaller adventures and goals where it feels like your immediate goals actually matter and, despite being a shorter game, could be split into 4-5 main goals versus PM's 2 samey goals.
There's literally no original ideas in this game, it's just "what if NSMB but two of every main character + Starlow".
the mario and luigi franchise touched the infected root of paper mario and fucking died and honestly that makes me despise this game way more than i reasonably should tbh
I’ve always had a soft spot for Paper Jam, not because I enjoyed the story much, but because it was the first game I truly learned how to break.
I feel there is one thing about the battle system which wasnt touched on and thats the fact that the speed which you need to dodge or counter attacks has been severely slowed down. The combat started slow but became gradually faster with time until it peaked in bis. Dream team paper jam and the remakes all slowed things down so much that goings between some of the games completely throws your reaction times off. When i say slower i mean that you need the attack to be as close as possible to the bros for the dodge or counter to actually work properly. Punching with bowser in bis original feels like you need to meet the enemy half way through the attack to stop the oncoming force.
I haven’t played this game, but from what I’ve seen I feel like this game deserves credit for actually using the core Mario enemy cast. Most of the M&L games use the majority of completely new enemies, as well as a few remixes on bowser’s army. This game specifically gave a lot of the classic enemies amazing spritework and animation, especially those who don’t always get the spotlight in these games like Petey Pirahana. Obviously it makes more sense to focus on the Paper Mario stuff, but I appreciate it’s unwavering dedication to what they could use from the normal modern Mario games.
So somewhat funny story, I first got Paper Jam in May of 2016 for my birthday. I got the Star Fox Zero Wii U bundle at the same time, and even though I was still really excited to finally have a Wii U, I remember immediately hiding in a room and playing Paper Jam after I opened all of my presents.
But anyway, while I did enjoy the game for what it was for the most part, even as a thirteen year old I could definitely see a lot of its shortcomings (especially creatively). I haven’t revisited the game since I first played it back then, but looking back I barely remember that many standout moments besides realizing that the initial battle theme was a remix of Superstar Saga’s. I really wish this game lived up to the rest of the series, especially with it being a Paper Mario crossover and all
Kensuke Tanabe who work in Sticker Star and colour splash the origami King he is the supervisor of paper jam
Would love a bundle on the switch
“Why does Mario and Luigi deserve to be the One Mario RPG Franchise” Well…I don’t think we gotta worry about that anymore #RIPAlphaDream
(Jokes aside, amazing videos! I binged all the other M&L ones over the week)
The Lakitus send info to bowser⁉️Huh⁉️I never thought of it that way.
I heard Alphadream might return with another M&L game
Emphasis on might as i still don't fully believe it but there is something (a survey)
I'm just imagining after thousand year door remake, they bring the M and L series to switch with a "spiritual successor" to paper jam with the thousand year door level of creativity, and then a reworked version of the first 5 games(with the remakes of Superstar and bowser insides of course lol) in a sonic origins at worst like package
Paper Jam was the first Mario and Luigi game I beat, because I got stuck on Inside Story and Dream Team. It WAS easy.
It's one of the best mario and luigi games
Is someone gonna notice that he synced the Mountaintop secrets soundtrack with giga shroom at 32:30
Which game do you think is better and which would you replay first in the future between Dream Team and Paper Jam?
Hard to say, I'd probably attempt to replay Dream Team a lot sooner than I'd attempt to replay Paper Jam, but I'd probably end up tapping out of Dream Team faster.
@@ScionVysethats fair
I have to ask, did you avoid fights?
A game with on field encounters by design expects you to fight each encounter once. They don't need to test out lower/higher levels since it is purely optional if you do the bare minimal expected of you in a decently designed game.
I will watch this soon
This was actually my first introduction to the M&L series
But even I can agree it's definitely the weakest of all the games
In my opinion it isn't that bad, but it's definitely not as good as the rest and has a LOT of lost potential.
The concept is amazing but the potential definitely wasn't recognized.
The rest of the game is pretty good though, mechanics are cool, fights feel fresh with Paper Mario and the Trio Attacks, and the music is amazing. I definitely wish it had some past characters coming back but I definitely understand why they didn't, new fans wouldn't know who they were and wouldn't understand their whole deal, particularly referring to the giant cast of Paper Mario.
I still love the game but it's definitely not the best.
It’s actually impressive how much missed potential this game holds. On the flip side though, this game is really fun
As someone who genuinely enjoyed as well as the rest of the Mario and Luigi series, seeing an actually positive review of this game was SUCH a welcome surprise, (even if there were other critics that really liked it). And after playing Origami King, I’d take this over OK any day and I’ll stand by that. At least Paper Jam didn’t sacrifice making fun for the sake of a shallow excuse for fan-service. Literally ANYTHING that the fans wanted to see return was very surface-level and battle system was fundamentally broken. By contrast: Paper Jam prioritized making a good fun game over fan-service and it arguably payed off for the developers. And even if the overall story and characters were too generic, there was still some original gameplay additions 3DS and remakes had great stories to tell and added new lore and even address and fix plot holes from their original versions. All that aside, this whole review series was a great time so keep up the nice work👍.
I see the elusive anon42 is here, nice.
I really hope you reach that goal with so you can do a retrospective on the mario rpg remake
i like underleving paperjam. its like playing hardmode in dreamteam
fwiw i generally liked Triforce Heroes, lol
I like your pfp
As someone who enjoyed both series, I have to admit I agree, there was so much missing potential. There's a lot I loved about Paper Jam, for example, Gloomy Woods's music was my favorite song from either series, and it's tons of fun, but I felt like the game had the potential to be the best game ever.
Are you planning to retrospect the Mario + Rabbids duology? Genuinely fun games.
Why does the real world Kamek also summon paper-based rubble
This is the only game in the series I haven't finished. Though I dropped it for a more petty reason, the expert challenges for the Paper Sombrero Guys were way too difficult and the fact that they randomly appear in battle annoyed me so much that I quit.
This game in general is a massively frustrating missed opportunity. The whole game feels like it was sanitized hard by the "IP Team" that Tanabe mentioned when he was interviewed for Paper Mario Origami King. All the featureless toads, Toadsworth being gone (fsr the IP Team hates Toadsworth), the areas in the game being boring New Super Mario Bros locations, the Koopalings suddenly existing again in the Mario & Luigi series. Also reused assets from Sticker Star and all of the out of bounds glitches makes it feel like not much time was spent on this game compared to Dream Team. Not to mention how a crossover game is usually a celebration of what makes both series great, this doesn't do any of that in the slightest.
I'm happy M&L met its end before it repeated Paper's path. Also, Paper Jam's battle system (most the Trio Attacks) are just so slow.
Is there the chance you forgot to pick up the bros. attack cannonball chuck, seeing as you didnt have it in 48:19?
I got it in my first playthrough, I just didn't bother in my second.
As a Mario and Luigi fan Who never play M&L PJ i still have to say that this is one of my favorite M&L Games The gameplay i've seen on RUclips grew on me and i thought this was a really cool game i do admit this game does get dull best its still to me aleast one of the Best mario games But its right under Mario party 8 for me
You like deck building huh? Have you played Megaman Battle Network?
I loved Paper Mario. Never got into Mario and Luigi simply because I didn't have a gba until late into the life. I guess I was a Paper Mario purist and would give Mario and Luigi the stink eye. After a number of Paper Mario games that were not what I wanted, a genuine RPG experience, I caved and got this game just for a tiny hit of that Paper Mario feel. And.... I really enjoyed it. While the game's primary goal of you trying to reach the castle keeps getting detoured, I liked the combat, I loved the dialog and I liked that Paper Mario was in here although I wish there was more from that series in here. Give us Paper Luigi, you cowards! I knew nothing about the Mario and Luigi games aside from a few base things and this game had me go back to the previous games.
I hope though with the success of Super Mario Rpg and a Paper Mario The Thousand-Year Door remaster on the way, this is a new age of the Mario RPG.
Hot take: This one's actually my favorite in the series. I love the qol improvement this game it has as well as finally having a way to speed up the cutscenes.
The last papercraft fight is the sole reason I never finish this game on repeat playthroughs. Not because it's hard (it really isn't), but because it's clunky and unfun.
ive heard people calling this game the worst from both worlds. honestly sad but i understand
I think the problem with the game is the fact that it suffers from not knowing what to do with itself. There's a lot of ideas here that don't mesh well together and there's no calm approach to them. I love the battle system, I love a portion of the minigames and I love the simplicity of the story despite it fumbling in the third act, but that's about it.
Those three things could have just been the parts for AlphaDream to focus on when making the game. The battle system could have included Paper Luigi in it replacing Starlow since she does nothing of any significance in the story, the minigames could have been optional for building an audience in the battles and the story could have benefited more if there was an emphasis on character reflection for Bowser and his decision on working with Paper Bowser.
What's going on at 50:45 on? Seems like you have too many soundtracks playing at the same time
it also has the shortest into. so if you just want to play the game then you can just get to it
Man, it would have been nice if either Alpha Dream or Intelligent Systems were paper mario fans lmao
Makes you want to apologize to dream team
DT was Great
I don't see how people hate it
The Mario and Luigi Series has NO BAD games
@@SMCwasTakenI referring to the haters and this video
This game was great too besides generic stuff. There is no bad M and L game
I actually just a few weeks ago bought and played all the mario and luigi games apart from dream team and superstar saga which i owned. Out of them all ill be honest, paper jam felt soulless abd starlow making 4th wall break jokes felt off... like even alphadream knew it was gonna be bad.
This is the first Mario & Luigi game I ever played but never beat it cause I gave it away due to me not wanting to go through another annoying stealth section.
i just homebrewed my 3ds & i was curious if this game was worth playing lol… 😮☯️
I hated how the whole generic toad mandate infected the Superstar Saga remake, where all the unique toad designs were replaced with generic ones. I'm glad Nintendo seems to be swaying away from doing that, since the Mario RPG and TTYD remakes kept and adapted their old toad designs.
Not a mandate. Alphadream confirmed they wanted to do more but combining all their universes in that manner would of been convoluted and a mess.
The reason why they went to bankruptcy in autumn 2019 is that their last games weren't financially that successful unfortunately. With Paper Jam, a trend of lower Sales numbers, which brought Alphadream to just stick with remaking their stuff with Superstar Saga (2017) and Bowser's inside Story (2019), ignoring Partners in time for a remake (because of its relatively unpopular position in the franchise). Unfortunately, the remakes didn't really work out either, especially since the remake of Bowser's inside story, the financially most successful Mario and Luigi-RPG, turned out to be the biggest flop of the Mario and Luigi RPGs. To be fair though, the remake was released as the last 1st party game for the 3DS, because production for the console ended later the same year. So basically Bowser's inside story was the last attempt to keep the 3DS ahead in some ways...
Only just started watching this, recently watched the rest of your videos on this series, so I may just be treading over the same stuff others have said. But what has really ticked me off was Paper Mario’s weird direction being stated by Nintendo to be because having two RPG series was redundant…only to kill off AlphaDream anyway. So what gives? At least I haven’t played these myself yet, so there’s more for me to play in the future.
This game could have been awesome but got kneecapped by being a wii u era cost saving asset reuse game over all else
Lore of Taking a Page From the Wrong Book | Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Retrospective momentum 100
❤
I beat the game 7 times and never used the cards.
45:14 that would more interesting expact that theres 2 with problems with that first of you see and this is in case you know or not but grodus was blasted by the shadow queen when mario was about to face her living nothing but he's head alive and grodus and the x nuts are now in pease but the point is that how is he going to take over a world without a body
I had a stroke trying to read this lol
@@James2210 sorry i'm just so focus in what i'm trying to Say in the comments that i don't pay attention to what im actually typeing
Here’s how I’d rank the Mario RPG games (excluding any remakes, so strictly the originals)
1. The Thousand Year Door (10/10)
2. Bowser’s inside Story (9.5/10)
3. Super Mario RPG (9.2/10)
4. Paper Mario (8.8/10)
5. Superstar Saga (8.5/10)
6. Dream Team (8/10)
7. Super Paper Mario (7.7/10)
8. Partners in Time (7.5/10)
9. Origami King (7/10)
10. Paper Jam (6.5/10)
11. Color Splash (6/10)
12. Sticker Star (4/10)
🤖🤖🤖
Here's my list:
1. Superstar Saga
2. Dream Team
3. Bowser's Inside Story
4. Partners in Time (non US version)
5. Paper Jam
6. Partners in Time (US version
Hmm... Partners in Time deserves an 8 *_at least_* , Dream Team a 7.5 and Paper Jam a 7. Everything else seems about right.
The reason it's so "uncreative" is not mandates. It's money issues
Honestly ?? I actually like this game a lot. I don't know why, but it felt more refreshing than DT ??
The story could've been better and the characters could've been more diverse but otherwise I love this game
I'd say this has always been my second-least favorite Mario RPG. Obviously Sticker Star is my least favorite due to how disrespectful it was to me as a Paper Mario fan. But Paper Jam just felt to me like its quality was right between Sticker Star and Dream Team. It is relatively playable: while I was only able to play through Sticker Star once, I tried a second playthrough of Paper Jam, but I found it boring. I'll admit, I like Dream Team better. I've never minded the slow pacing in it because I like longer lasting games. I do get that the unskippable tutorials were a problem, and I am glad that that got fixed in Paper Jam--not to mention I also liked the card system in Paper Jam as well. But, yeah, Dream Team at least had more interesting world-building, characters, species, and even an actual story compared to Paper Jam--all of which are important to me in an RPG.
Before this game came out, I always wondered what a crossover between Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario would be like, especially after playing Paper Mario, The Thousand-Year Door, and Bowser's Inside Story, since those games would've gone together like peanut butter and jelly. But Paper Jam came out, and, I'd say, obviously somebody behind the scenes had a similar idea but executed it at the wrong time. And, unless Nintendo decides to bring Mario & Luigi back, I doubt that a proper crossover will ever happen. But now, with the Thousand-Year Door remake coming out, maybe dreams really do come true.
It's interesting that you mentioned the music being more boring in this game, because I probably would've said the same thing--until I listened to this soundtrack at work a few times. And, if you actually listen to the soundtrack through on its own, out-of-context while doing something else, it actually takes on a whole 'nother world of its own. I was amazed. It sounds cinematic. Not entirely, of course, but you definitely notice in that mountain one. Boy, is it awesome!
I'm kinda sad that your retrospective of the Mario RPGs are over (other than Mario RPG, of course), because I've really enjoyed hearing what you have to say. The Mario RPGs are one of my favorite subjects to talk about, and, while I have expanded my horizons as a gamer a bit more recently, it's tough for me to find other game series to really sink my teeth into, let alone hear others talk about (not because I'm too afraid or anything; I'm just a bit picky and try to be careful about certain themes). But I'm looking forward to what other projects you have in the future!
YO, its the misfit of the group at hahahagreatnames' place back in the DAY. You heard from him lately...
I still Live despite my best efforts
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Who is this
Yep, I still talk to him a bunch, and even visit the ol' stomping ground every once in a while. Hope everything's going well!
feels like it jiust had the issue that its the last in a long line of great games. what was previously creative is now..usual. So in general its a forgettable, but good game to me :D
Honestly apart from the "story" i probably also like this ore than inside stiry, so for me its now
2,1,5,3,4 in ratings :D
really sad to see we wont see an alpha dream M+L anymore, but who kows what the future holds - the remakes were fine, althiugh they skipped PiT :D