Why I Love Paper Mario (64)

Edit: So... umm... this hasn't aged the best. I'll get more into this when I release my big The Thousand Year Door review, but I've been thinking back to Paper Mario 64 and I'm not really sure it's one of my favorite games anymore. It's a game I'll always have a lot of love for, but compared to many of my other favorite Mario RPGs, it's the only one where I just am not all that invested in what's happening. Sure, it's damn near faultless from a gameplay standpoint, but the story is a pretty big aspect of an RPG and Paper Mario 64's just doesn't hold up as well as I remember it, especially after re-experiencing TTYD's more ambitious tale. Like all the reviews I take off my Top 100 list, I'll keep this one up for preservation's sake, but keep in mind that there some takes here that I just don't really agree with anymore. Oh, and I don't really hate F-Zero GX either, I regret trashing that game as much as I did as well.

Oh... time to talk about the Paper Mario series. While I love the vast majority of Paper Mario games, the discourse around this series is a minefield of toxicity, especially if you're like me and have weird takes on the series. I have multiple Paper Mario games on this list and TTYD, despite being the most beloved, is not one of them. As far as the RPG entries in the series go, I vastly prefer its predecessor, Paper Mario 64. I absolutely adore 64, it was the game that introduced me to the franchise and it still holds up incredibly well in terms of fun factor and replayability. Although, to justify why I think it's better, I may have to criticize its sequel a bit, like with F-Zero GX. Sorry to the TTYD fans out there.

Paper Mario 64 is the second Mario RPG game ever made, and at the time was a pretty out-of-left-field sequel to the SNES's Super Mario RPG. That was a more straight-forward RPG by Square Enix, but Paper Mario not only had a new paper aesthetic, but an entirely new battle system too. But while I love Super Mario RPG to bits, especially after that recent remake, I do think that Paper Mario does feel like a worthy expansion of the formula in a lot of ways. It leans more on Mario RPG's more unique traits like its comedic writing, action command-based combat, and emphasis on platforming, all the while carving out an entirely unique niche for itself that not many RPGs have been able to replicate.

On a story level, Paper Mario 64 isn't anything groundbreaking, but it takes the simple premise of Bowser capturing Peach as far as it could possibly go. I don't think there's a single other Mario game that does as much with this premise. Bowser using his own castle to lift Peach's Castle up into space is a very memorable and striking plan, and Mario's journey to stop him requires him to travel all over the Mushroom Kingdom to find the Star Spirits, who would actually become somewhat reoccurring characters for a bit. The Mushroom Kingdom in this game feels so developed, there's a unique town for nearly every major enemy type, and all the partners Mario meets are quite likable and charming, with Lady Bow, Parakarry, and Watt being notable highlights. I'll concede that TTYD's story does have higher highs with its partners and setpieces, but its world doesn't feel as closely-knit, and at its worst, there is some very iffy characterization (why does every female character have a crush on Mario?). On top of that, 64 even has these surprisingly fun intermissions in between chapters where you play as Peach as she tries to escape, a very fun change of pace that gives Peach as a character more agency. And these intermissions aren't just stealth, you'll have to do a whole slew of fun tasks like taking a quiz or cooking a meal for Gourmet Guy. TTYD also has Peach intermissions but they lack that same kind of character agency or gameplay variety, on top of how weird the TEC subplot is.

As far as movement goes, I still think Paper Mario 64 is the best in the series. It might seem a bit weird to talk about movement in an RPG, but keep in mind that the Paper Mario games are fundamentally based on platformers, which are movement based. Like most of its sequels, you can run around, jump, and use your hammer, but 64 also has a spin move you can do. It may not seem like much at first, but the spin actually lets you get around faster, and you can attach badges that can either extend your spin or let you use it to instantly defeat enemies. This spin move single-handedly makes overworld navigation a ton of fun, and super fast too. TTYD does also have a partner that lets you speed up in the Yoshi Kid, but I vastly prefer the spin because you have it at the start of the game, you can use it with any partner, and as mentioned above, you can upgrade it with badges you get really early on. Running through the overworld has never been this fun in a Paper Mario game, and it helps that the overworld itself is very fun to explore.

I feel like overworld design is often overlooked in RPGs, as if it's not important compared to the battle system. This is something I have always fiercely disagreed with, as you could probably tell from my Final Fantasy V post. In any RPG, the combat system and the overworld are equally important halves. A good battle system can't carry a boring or poorly-designed overworld and vice-versa. This is doubly important in a Mario-themed RPG, which would be derived from a series based entirely on platforming. Super Mario RPG has fantastic level design with tons of secrets to find and tricky platforming sequences, and the same applies to the Mario & Luigi games, the modern Paper Mario games, and even the Mario & Rabbids games (though they prioritize exploration over platforming). TTYD's level design being straight lines with minimal platforming and minimal exploration is absolutely a knock on the game when this is something every other Mario RPG does well, not just the Paper Mario series, and that especially applies to its predecessor.

While the level design in Paper Mario 64 does have its fair share of hallways, it's fundamentally far more varied and interactive. Areas often have elevated ledges, hidden coins, and weird secrets you can find by just interacting with everything. Some areas even feel like they have that classic four-step Nintendo level design, like Mt Rugged and its slides. Paper Mario 64 also has a bunch of more puzzle-centric areas to keep things fresh, particularly in Chapter 3 which contains the looping Forever Forest and the tricky Boo's Mansion, and Chapter 7 which contains the murder mystery in Shiver City and the confounding Crystal Palace. Some chapters almost feel like an entire puzzle box like Shy Guy's Toy Box and Flower Field. And of course, Paper Mario 64 has a nice balance between vast open areas that you're encouraged to explore like Dry Dry Desert and Jade Jungle, and fun platforming gauntlets like Mt Lavalava. The level design and pacing in Paper Mario 64 is genuinely fantastic and elevates the game so much, because it makes sure to constantly provide fun platforming, engaging exploration, frequent combat encounters, and satisfying puzzles in equal measure.

As I said, the battle system is equally important, of course, and Paper Mario's battle system can be best described as a ton of fun. It doesn't have as much strategy as Mario RPG's system, nor does it have the wild action commands that Mario & Luigi's system has, but combat in Paper Mario 64 is just plain fun. Each attack comes with a fun little action command that adds a bit of a skill element, the multiple partners give you a solid amount of options, and the enemies you face are all memorable and fun to fight against. I'm honestly not too sure if I prefer 64 or TTYD's combat. TTYD does make some nice improvements like giving your partner a health bar, but 64 lacks all the RNG elements that TTYD has. Combat in 64 just feels far less gimmicky, and the difficulty curve is incredibly smooth with each successive boss requiring increasingly more strategy. But the thing that really makes Paper Mario combat special in either game is the badge system. 

Paper Mario has a ton of badges you can find that you can equip which will have a wide array of unique effects. They can give you a wide variety of new attacks, increase your HP or FP, or add weird or potentially helpful perks. You only have so much space for your badges, though you can upgrade your space by leveling up, so there's a lot of strategy and customization that goes into building your loadout, and by the last few bosses, you will need to have a good build because Paper Mario 64 gets pretty damn tough by the end. The difficulty curve in this game is genuinely perfect, each boss is harder and requires more strategy than the last, and if you still feel the game is too easy, there's a bunch of optional superbosses to face as well. As a matter of fact, Paper Mario 64 is stuffed to the brim with content, like the wide array of Star Pieces to collect that you can use to buy more badges, a ton of quizzes to solve, a cooking system, a playroom with minigames to get more coins, a pig farming sidemode, letters to deliver, hidden blocks that level up your partners, and a whole bunch of sidequests you can do. The central town, Toad Town, is so rich with NPCs, activities, and side content while also being incredibly comforting to hang around in, kickstarting a trend of pretty consistently stellar hub areas across the Paper Mario series.

But what really clinches Paper Mario 64 as one of my favorite RPGs in the franchise is its unique aesthetic. There's a lot of discourse over what a Paper Mario game should look like, but all I can say is that 64's pastel storybook artstyle is simply delightful. The Nintendo 64 has always been able to pull off pastel visual styles, and the decision to use flat 2D characters and simplistic 3D dioramas makes for a game that works to the console's strengths. As a matter of fact, Paper Mario 64 might be the best-looking game on the console, and still looks really good to this day. The soundtrack is also kind of adorable? It's dreamy, ethereal, and just plain weird at points, but in a way that fits with the game's cutesy and childish aesthetic. It's a soundtrack that perfectly compliments Paper Mario 64's vibes, and boasts a bunch of particularly memorable tracks like Shiver City, Ghost Gulping, Bowser's Rage, Jade Jungle, and Crystal Palace Crawl.

Paper Mario 64 is one of the first Nintendo 64 games I've ever played, and the game that introduced me the Paper Mario series as a whole, so it's a game that's really near and dear to my heart. But I think there's a reason why it's the Paper Mario game I've returned to the most, it's just really replayable! It's a perfectly paced RPG that expands on the Mushroom Kingdom in new ways, boasts a fun and customizable battle system, packs in some very fun overworld design that balances platforming and puzzles, and has a beautiful storybook artstyle. Thousand Year Door is also a great game with higher highs and lower lows, but Paper Mario 64 is a consistent blast from start to finish that nails pretty much everything it's going for.