Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

[Junko]

Huh, I could've sworn this was announced for next year. Cool, though. Hopefully I can afford this.

And hopefully they pull back on tutorials.

They did. It got pushed forward.

[Salamander]

A necessary move on NoE's part.  The end of the year was looking very bare for me; I wasn't envisaging buying any more 3DS games until next year.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

If Paper Luigi shows up and he talks then that would force Nintendo to acknowledge that the first three Paper Mario games did something right and there's no way they want to go about doing that

 

I'm not expecting him to appear. It's the fact that he talks, which Nintendo may not want considering M&L Luigi is mute and is closer to the standard Mario canon, that I feel is holding back any substantial appearance by him. He might have background cameos though. I'm more concerned about the NPCs this time; they all seem to be Toads again...

Eh, to be bluntly honest,  the M&L duo have never been mute  so much as they've been lacking in particular English language. 

So Paper Luigi wouldn't be too out there going by the above theory. 

[Sean]

Mute as in no discernible dialogue. Though I also realized as I made this post that Luigi spoke in SMG.

[Tails spin]

Also if it count we read Luigi's thoughts in Dream Team.

[Doctor MK]

And the European box art is...

...exactly the same as the Japanese one!

Do we know what the amiibo functionality for this game is yet? I don't remember hearing it mentioned before, certainly not in any depth...

Please let there be a Paper Mario amiibo please let there be a Paper Mario amiibo

[WhoWhatMan]

Okay, I never understand the need to add "Bros" at the end of the title for European copies. It really not needed.

[Salamander]

With Dream Team I can see there might have been some EU copyright issue, maybe another video game for football or something with "dream team" in the title, but doing it to Paper Jam?  Horrid.  Maybe it was for some dreadful "principle" of title consistency...

As for the boxart, the Japanese M&L boxart has always been really bare-bones, and I have never understood it and understood even less why they extended this to the western releases.  Whatever happened to this:

[AlphaRuby]

It's kinda like the Final Fantasy box art weirdness.

The US get their own art, whereas us EU folks get the Japanese ones, which look comparatively boring. It's just the logo.

Only XIII added something to it.

[Milo]

It's kinda like the Final Fantasy box art weirdness.

The US get their own art, whereas us EU folks get the Japanese ones, which look comparatively boring. It's just the logo.

Only XIII added something to it.

NA got the same boxart for Bowser's Inside Story and Dream Team though. I think Paper Jam ended up being an (slight) exception in this case.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Gabe

[Salamander]

It's kinda like the Final Fantasy box art weirdness.

The US get their own art, whereas us EU folks get the Japanese ones, which look comparatively boring. It's just the logo.

Only XIII added something to it.

When you put it like that, there does appear to be a tendency towards minimalism in some Japanese video game titles and boxart.  Final Fantasy is the obvious example, but Mario & Luigi is just Mario & Luigi RPG with not much added to each new release besides the number, and, for a further example, Ace Attorney is literally just Gyakuten Saiban [number].  ...That's fine for them, but I find the literalism of the titles and the minimalism of the art rather boring; if it's a game, I prefer the box to look more like a paperback thriller than a library edition.

[Ducktor Naldush]

Mute as in no discernible dialogue. Though I also realized as I made this post that Luigi spoke in SMG.

Also if it count we read Luigi's thoughts in Dream Team.

And when disguised as Peach in Superstar Sags.

[PC the Hedgehog]

I love me some dynamic box art, but I can understand how people enjoy the minimalist design.

For me, the more action-packed, the better. I'm shallow like that, I guess.

[Sonictrainer]

New Videos from the Japanese Website:

 

[Tails spin]

http://gonintendo.com/stories/245879-mario-luigi-paper-jam-website-tour-sticker-star-connection

 

Some people may not like this news.

 

I on the other hand can't wait for this game.

[Forte-Metallix]

Why is Nintendo so insistent on shoehorning Toads everywhere? They're not interesting, funny- heck, most of them don't even have names! It's like they're trying to make recent Mario games different via subtraction.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm gonna enjoy this game from a presentation perspective. The world map shows all the locations are cliche' Mario tropes (grass, desert, ice, beach, etc.), and the story isn't really compelling. Other than, "Now there's two of everybody", it's just "Bowser kidnaps Peach. Go save." for the umpteenth time. The Paper and M&L versions of the characters are exactly the same personality-wise, so there's no real opportunity for them to play off of each other.

Don't get me wrong, the gameplay looks phenominal, and that's what truly matters in a video game. But for a crossover between two Mario universes, it seems like they're really playing it safe story-wise. And as Sticker Star will tell you, playing it safe is probably not a good idea for an RPG.

[Tails spin]

 

Looks like Nabbit is in the game

[Salamander]

I'll say one thing about Dream Team: It may have made some missteps, but it was full of fresh characters and places and ideas (along with a few M&L-exclusive returning figures as well).  If Paper Jam Bros. goes the Sticker Star route and just has vanilla Mario characters in vanilla Mario settings, that would be hugely disappointing and I wouldn't understand what they were thinking.

[Dantemustdie00]

I'll say one thing about Dream Team: It may have made some missteps, but it was full of fresh characters and places and ideas (along with a few M&L-exclusive returning figures as well).  If Paper Jam Bros. goes the Sticker Star route and just has vanilla Mario characters in vanilla Mario settings, that would be hugely disappointing and I wouldn't understand what they were thinking.

Miyamoto would be to blame, shoot it was him intervering in the development of Sticker Star that the game turned out the way it is. Luckily he didn't touched Dream Team.

I know that the Mario series as a whole is his creation, but jeez, both RPG series did not needed his intervention and were perfectly fine as they were. He apparently doesn't like the various races of the Mushroom Kingdom having their own identity.

[MegasonicZX]

I'm still going to hold out hope that they're going to pull the wool over our eyes and have some amazing parts in this game but dang man, it'd really suck if they made this a barebones crossover with no flair to it especially since with the two series they're crossing over it wouldn't be hard to make it amazing, heck it'd be harder to make it unamazing.

[Sean]

My hype is dead but I'm likely to still pick up the game regardless. At least it's still a normal RPG unlike Sticker Star.

[Dantemustdie00]

Yeah I'll still likely pick up the game as I have played ever title in both series, so I won't be skipping it out no matter how dull the game may be.

[Salamander]

I've requested it as a Christmas present, so at least I don't personally have to spend money on it, but I am so tired of Nintendo just throwing away their talent.  I would be pretty steamed if they looked at one of the biggest complaints about Sticker Star and the reason there hasn't been another Paper Mario game since and just decided to do exactly the same thing.

[Pompadour]

I think as long as the sticker star stuff is just by aesthetic and concept alone, then it'll be fine. It's the oversimplified story people had the most issues with, right? Maybe i'm just too optimistic, but Paper Jam might give Sticker Star a chance to partially redeem itself. Might give it an actual soul. Paper Bowser talking is already an improvement in my book.

That said, the game is already sounding pretty vanilla compared to previous titles... and the current lack of a game-exclusive villain has kind of made me bummed. I always liked seeing what new villain they were going to make next, but double the bowsers will be fun anyways, no doubt.

Can they tone down starlow's obnoxiousness this time, though? I liked her ok in BiS, but she was nearly insufferable in DT. :X

[Ducktor Naldush]

...

Yeah, this is a huge no in my book. I don't know if I'll buy it. Say what you will, but the charm the various Mario RPGs have is the fact that you get to explore more places and meet new people living in the Mushroom World. To go beyond the "oh no the princess was kidnapped please go save her" shtick, that's what truly matters. 

Gameplay is important, sure. But in a RPG, presentation and plot are also fundamental.

And I'll stop here, I'm tired of trash-talking that old-fashioned Miyamoto guy and his head stuck in the land before time of videogame writing.

 

P.s. Also, fuck you, Starlow.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Naldush Repulsa