Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

[\Lennox]

Rogueport is by far my all time favorite music theme out of the entire Mario series.

Intelligent Systems, I beseech you. Please have Yuka Tsujiyoko perform far and beyond the realm of her skills, achieve a status befitting the paragon of composers, and create marvelous works of art that can rightfully be compared to that beautiful song.

<3

It's been done. Oh, by Fire Emblem, even!

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[lounge]

The thing I loved about TTYD was that the game world felt like it was really living and breathing. Felt like people and NPC's were doing stuff around and far beyond rogueport.

I literally haven't played the first paper mario since 2001. I'd rent it from blockbuster a lot. I still remember that koopa bros. fortress and shy guy toy box world. Never did beat it though sadly.

I never played Super Paper Mario cause I didn't like the fact that they ported over from gamecube. I'd rather they took advantage of the wii's graphics and power. I don't want to see last generation graphics and power on a current gen platform.

[TrueBlue]

I admit that I would rather they had TTYD's battle system and expanded on it, but them the breaks. Perhaps that will come with the next console installment?

In any case, I like how they've made the stickers more than a simple battle gimmick, giving them importances in traversing the overworld and completely side missions. The heavy usage of said stickers gives me confidence that they're not there simply for the novelty, and will play an important role aside from differentiating this installment from the previous three.

[-Robin-]

It's been done. Oh, by Fire Emblem, even!

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Edited June 9, 2012 by Joshua

[JezMM]

I will admit that Super Paper Mario had a pretty blah soundtrack.

I mean when you can't remember the final boss theme for a Mario game something has gone seriously wrong, especially after just how amazing PM and TTYD's final boss themes were.

[Solkia]

I actually don't mind a new gimmick as long as it doesn't stray too far away from the Paper Mario formula like Super Paper Mario did.

[Doctor MK]

When I first saw the new sticker-based battle system, I must admit I was a bit dubious... but now, having seen the latest trailers etc, I'm actually warming to it. It looks like it manages to retain the classic Paper Mario formula yet add a fresh new spin to it - in the E3 2012 trailer it even looks like you can chain together stickers in order, adding a level of strategy to the mix. Plus I'm sure all the action commands for jumping and hammers and everything else will still be intact, so it'll feel like Paper Mario, it'll just have a slightly different way of going about things.

One thing I am particularly loving about the new trailer, apart from the fact it's back-to-basics Paper Mario RPG style, is the fact that they're really pushing the whole "paper" theme now. It's amazing to see how far they've come in terms of that across the series, with the original Paper Mario not really touching on it very much, to TTYD having paper transformations, then SPM's whole 2D/3D dimension switching thing, and now A MOTHERHUMPIN' DESK FAN AND SCISSORS OF DOOM. Genius.

E3 may have been a bit of a let down this year, but one thing's for sure... Paper Mario remains top of my most wanted list.

GIMME GIMME GIMME.

[-Robin-]

I will admit that Super Paper Mario had a pretty blah soundtrack.

I mean when you can't remember the final boss theme for a Mario game something has gone seriously wrong, especially after just how amazing PM and TTYD's final boss themes were.

The problem with the soundtrack to Super Paper Mario to me is that it wasn't nearly as varied and atmospheric as its predecessors. PM and TTYD's soundtracks encompassed a wide array of emotions, ranging from the action-packed Rawk Hawk theme and Koopa Bros. theme, to the meditative Boggly Woods theme, The Sanctum, and Crystal Palace theme and Tower of Riddles, themes that you will just creep you the fuck out like Creepy Steeple and Twilight Trail, and themes like Rogueport that could only be described as "alive." And all the while, the themes felt consistent with one another, never feeling out of place. It gave me the sense that I was the one on the adventure instead of Mario, and that all my emotions and feelings were being represented and accentuated by the songs.

Remember the Mario Vs. King Bowser theme? That theme moreso than any song in the soundtracks mirrored the thoughts and emotions I was feeling in a particular point in the games:

The fast tempo with raunchy instrumentation gave me both a "Oh jeez, not now!" and "Again, Bowser?" impression, considering that I was not aware if Grodus had sneaked away during the skirmish and went to revive the demon, and because Mario was desperately in need of some health as the battle was automatically started, and so it was a rather tense moment to continue the rivalry Mario and Bowser have. It gave the impression that time was slowly ticking away and was about to run out, and that the battle needed to finished as soon as possible, but that the fight was going to take a while.

The sound team could have just put in a remix of the King Bowser theme and let that serve as the battle theme. But no, they decided to make a pulse-pounding, adrenaline-rushing masterpiece such as that and let me rock out while fighting. <3

Compare to Super Paper Mario's OST, which felt like it only bothered to tackle the "ADVENTURE TIME!" emotion, and more often than not failing at it. It became very stagnant and uninteresting to listen to. It's as if there was little effort made in creating the soundtrack that time around. The only theme from the game that sticks out to me is Soft Light, due to the meditative feelings invoked similar to the theme in Paper Mario where he talks with Merlon's ancestor.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3dsags0Tfo

I hope that with Sticker Star, the passion I felt being invoked in creating the TTYD OST is brought back full force. From what I heard in the demo from the 3DS conference, it sounds like its on its way to matching TTYD in music.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Joshua

[SuperStingray]

Unfortunately, I really doubt that Sticker Star will be as emotionally intense as Thousand Year Door. Not that I won't give Nintendo the chance to surprise me, but handheld spinoffs are, by nature, "lesser" in most senses compared to console counterparts, and the footage so far seems to exemplify that. If not this, I'm hoping a true successor to Thousand Year Door will see its way to the Wii U in the future. But that IS a hard game to top.

[JezMM]

^ Yeah I haven't got my hopes up either. But it's worth mentioning that the trailers didn't even give an inkling of the kind of twists and (forgive the term) "dark" stuff in TTYD and SPM, sooooo we'll see.

I mean I know it's skipping a lot of important details, but I did always love telling my friends how throughout the Paper Mario series, Peach has been nude, posessed by a demon, killed and - even worse - taken part in a dating sim.

If nothing else I hope this one gives us just a new thing to add to the list of things to make non-Mario fan friends say "wait what... in a mario game?" 8D

Edited June 10, 2012 by JezMM

[Thigolf]

RELEASE DATE!

November 11

[Marcello]

Ugh, another November release? =_= Nov is such an expensive month.

[Doctor MK]

Please let there be a November release for Europe too...!

[Nintendoga]

Slightly off topic but, as glad as I am that Paper Mario finally got a release date, it greatly worries me that there's no sign of Luigi's Mansion on that sheet.

Edit: And now I know why

Edited August 13, 2012 by Nintendoga

[Gregzilla]

It sounds like November is gonna be one busy month, what with the likes of ASRT and the Wii U launch (if the delay rumor is false). Kinda wish they would have given us this one in October to spread it out.

[-blank-]

RELEASE DATE!

November 11

I have just one thing to say;

It's about damn time!

And now I know what to ask for my birthday.

[Detective Shadzter]

New Super Mario Bros U And Paper Mario 3DS Playable At PAX Prime

http://mynintendonew..._medium=twitter

Glad to hear. More gameplay footage from attendees! Anyone here going?

[Shade Vortex]

I'll be going, so I'm definitely going to check out this game, and also definitely going to try the Wii U out. Hopefully I'll remember to give my impressions after I get back, because I tend to forget things easily, and with the excitement of everything else that I try out or do there, I may not be able to give impressions off everything I play.

This game definitely seems kind of interesting and I'm sort of worried about the sticker gimmick, but I'll see how it is for myself before I judge the game.

Edited August 29, 2012 by Shade Vortex

[Tails spin]

Since Luigi's Mansion got pushed back to next year, I've kind of been interested in this game. Note thought that I've never touched a Paper Mario game, would you guys recommend this as the game to get started in?

[Doctor MK]

Since Luigi's Mansion got pushed back to next year, I've kind of been interested in this game. Note thought that I've never touched a Paper Mario game, would you guys recommend this as the game to get started in?

Sticker Star looks to be a fairly easy way into the series without too many ties to the previous entries, so I'd say yeah. It'll be a different experience due to the whole sticker gimmick, for sure, but the core turn-based RPG battling will be similar enough to the first two games as well.

I definitely do recommend playing Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door at some point though, be it before or after Sticker Star. They're two fantastic games and a couple of the finest RPGs out there. Super Paper Mario is also worth a play but it's less essential.

[Nintendoga]

Since Luigi's Mansion got pushed back to next year, I've kind of been interested in this game. Note thought that I've never touched a Paper Mario game, would you guys recommend this as the game to get started in?

No, since this game dramatically changes the battle system the other two games had, I'd download Paper Mario 64, then find a way to play TTYD, then play this. Though it's up to you really. You can skip Super Paper Mario and watch a walkthrough on Youtube or something.

[Tails spin]

No, since this game dramatically changes the battle system the other two games had, I'd download Paper Mario 64, then find a way to play TTYD, then play this. Though it's up to you really. You can skip Super Paper Mario and watch a walkthrough on Youtube or something.

Well I have played Super Mario RPG and a little of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, so I'm sort of use to the RPG battle system. Unless the Paper series has a different type of battle system.

[Conando]

Nah, Paper Mario is mostly the same as the battle systems in those games.

[Solkia]

Wait, Luigi's MAnsion was pushed back to next year?

Goddammit...

[Sean]

From the info we've received, Sticker Star's gameplay seems like it's a mix of Paper Mario's battles with the Bros. items from Partners in Time. Considering I love PM's battle system and hate Bros. items, I'm pretty mixed on what we have so far, as much as I don't like to admit it because I'm still very excited to play this.