Paper Mario Colour Splash (Jackson B*ll*cks)

Hahaha! That's rough! I thought it looked decent, but each one since the N64 original has put me off the series a little bit more. So long as this doesn't keep on talking like TTYD, doesn't have a game-breaking bug in the second hour like SPM, and doesn't scupper itself by just being so mentally obtuse like Sticker Star, this could be something that I enjoy.

It didn't look like something I'd personally want out of a Paper Mario game, but I think the series has been shifting away from its roots since Super Paper Mario and is showing no signs of turning back. Reserving further judgement until we see some more of it though!

The Paper Mario guys: Hey, Splatoon was popular, right?



That might be grossly unfair, for all we know. As long as it's an upswing from Sticker Star, I'll be happy.

Aye I feel like it was just a teaser of sorts so it's really tough to judge it properly on what was shown.

What we saw looked very Sticker Star, but it also looked like super early footage. I reserve judge til play. Then again, I'm the guy who's only completed Super Paper Mario, so...

While I have every confidence that this game will be nowhere near as bad as the game Cappa first said that about, here are four reasons why I'm tempering any enthusiasm I had when the title popped up:

1. It looks to have a disposable-based battle scheme, like PMSS.

2. It doesn't have an explorable overworld, like TTYD - instead it has a level select map, like PMSS.

3. It didn't show any new characters, just traditional Mario villains - one of my big gripes about M&LPJ(B), and inherited from PMSS (the first Mario RPG to do this).

4. It looks like PMSSU.

Judgement is reserved, but I'd rather not be disappointed at a once-great series taking a further nosedive.

I totally forgot about Paper Mario as this was rumored awhile, I've not really played a Paper Mario properly since TTYD that to me it looks okay with what looks like a level from Tearaway with Splatoon paint mechanics added in.

Drunkalilly wrote:

Then again, I'm the guy who's only completed Super Paper Mario, so...

Ooh! Ooh! Me! I have too! Me! I acutally really liked it. I don't think there's really been a "platform adventure" since then. Having said that, I'd be happy trying a proper good RPG again.

Drunkalilly wrote:

Then again, I'm the guy who's only completed Super Paper Mario, so...

I've finished SPM too! It was rather good but a definite departure from its predecessors.

Earlier today I realised something - I'm not giddy about this. It's not a bad thing - I'm up for it, sure, but we're almost certainly not going to get the TTYD-beater that we could (in fact, the only Paper Mario game that could beat TTYD at this stage would be TTYD HD). Having completed all previous Paper Mazzas, my opinion carries no more weight than anyone else's (subversion!). SPM is an alright game but, like Sticker Star after it, would be better received by some if it didn't carry the Paper Mario name.

Very focused, Zero...

Videogamer are once again on the money.

Bang on, shame Nintendo can't see it.

I saw it pointed out that PMSS sold more than TTYD, which makes everything make a little more sense.

The reaction to this does seem a little like the reaction to Federation Force though - people hating on it because it's not what they want from the name. Not necessarily because it looks bad (we really haven't seen enough to know, other than it superficially looking like PMSS).

The battle system looked very SS though, which is officially rubbish. Sure everyone bought SS, but nobody finished & enjoyed it.

Andy's nailed it (it happens occasionally). I bought PMSS, but if this is anything like it, I'll be giving it a miss.

Also one of the games was on a third-place-sales-wise home console, and the other on the only handheld that sells anything on the market. The two aren't really comparable.

OR is onto something there. I'm going to get it, almost regardless of reviews, but I cannot call myself as enthusiastic as I could be. Despite the sales figures, TTYD was better than Sticker Star.

Also, this is the tipping point for the series: it's a 2-2 draw between Paper Mario and TTYD vs. Super Paper Mario and Sticker Star. Just thought I'd say.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

The battle system looked very SS though, which is officially rubbish. Sure everyone bought SS, but nobody finished & enjoyed it.

"Looks like" doesn't mean it will be like it though, we just haven't seen enough to pass judgment. It could well be rubbish, don't get me wrong. But it might not be!

MarioWiki has done the hard work so that you/I don't have to.  

"...it is confirmed that only coins will be obtained when winning a battle..."  Sorry OR, that isn't even "looks like", the lack of EXP is basically stone-cold admission that SS' battle style is returning.  I've tried to "reserve judgement", but the confirmation that PMSS' battle system is returning and a lack of overworld are enough for me to fire into this game with both barrels.  I just don't think the game can possibly be good with those handicaps.

And maybe this is a bit Athrun-levels-of-bile, but I don't care: I hope it dies a death at retail, and forces the powers that be to abandon the style of game.  Short of the game introducing free flight, or having a plot that blows TTYD's out of the water, I'll help by staying as far away as possible.

That said, TTYD HD would still be a day-one buy.  A shame.

Is that battle system inherently bad though, or was it badly implemented in PMSS? The same goes for having no overworld - plenty of games have no overworld and are not bad games because of it. If these systems are well balanced and work inside the structure of the game, then it will be good. Dismissing it outright because of them is only an argument for you not wanting that kind of game, not an argument for saying the game itself must be bad.

Again, it might end up being bad. But you can't pass that judgement with so little information.

It makes battles a drain on resources and an irritating obstacle, so yes, it's bad.

Surely having this, is better then having no Paper Mario on Wii U and having what maybe is a okay game in what may be the Wii U's last year of relevance.

I know you can say, Wii U owners shouldn't settle for average game but it's likely this or nothing after April.

I'd rather they put this time and effort into making Paper Mario: The Million-Year Door on the NX to be honest.


Of course I can only really speak for myself, OR, and "goodness" for a game is subjective - many people really liked PMSS. But I feel that those two factors alone will be enough to bring it down in the estimation of the absolute hordes who felt that PMSS was worse than TTYD, including me, unless every other aspect of the game is so utterly bleeding amazing that it makes every Zelda game ever look like meaningless pieces of crap.

Sure, if the battling is well-balanced then grand. But I don't see a way for that to happen, for reasons that Andy said. I shouldn't be actively avoiding battle, I should be being rewarded for partaking in it. Due to the poor reward mechanic, I'd say it's an inherently bad system - but again, that's me being subjective, albeit much-agreed with.

And an RPG with no overworld is inevitably worse than a game with a good overworld, like the one TTYD had - again, in my eyes. RPGs with a menu system for levels succeed (if they do so) in spite of it, not because of it.

It's not too late for them to make the selection of characters/enemies more interesting than we saw, I'll acknowledge that much. And should the above be wrong I'll happily chew down on my humble pie at the time. I just don't think it will be.

ZeroJones wrote:

Also, this is the tipping point for the series: it's a 2-2 draw between Paper Mario and TTYD vs. Super Paper Mario and Sticker Star. Just thought I'd say.

That's a little arbitrary; SPM was nothing like any of the others, especially not SS. Really, all four games are pretty different. If this one is like SS, that'll be the first two really similar games in the series.

Plus, I really liked Super!

SPM was... awright. I liked some things it tried to do, not so much some other things. The key difference between it and PMSS was that, even where I didn't like what it was doing, I could appreciate the ideas.

I have very little respect for PMSS, you may have noticed. Apart from the soundtrack, which is the best of any Paper Mario. Yes I'm serious.