Paper Mario (Part 5)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

Let’s storm this castle!

Chapter 8: A Star-Powered Showdown! (Continued)

Past the room with the possible encounter with three Anti Guys, we face more puzzles and enemies. Dry Bones, Koopatrols, and of course the Magikoopas, who become more common. This dungeon has already been pretty long overall, so the final segments start to feel rather samey. This ends with an encounter with a third Bowser door, one that forces Mario to battle a team of enemies he hasn’t seen in a while: The Koopa Bros.!

How the Heck did you get up here? ...IN SPACE?

With such a talent to adapt and improve, Jr.
Troopa could be a fantastic ally. Yet, "Nope;
Gonna be a bully and antagonize a hero."

But wait, what’s that? They get quickly whacked away? Yep. They’re defeated by none other than Little Shit, who decided he wanted a final battle. In this one, the eggshelled Koopa will switch between his various forms, forcing Mario and Co. to adapt to the situation. He still winds up being fairly weak, seeing as by this point you likely have a counter for every form he’ll take and every attack he’ll use. The fight winds up being a tad disappointing. Then again, seems like it worked and this little bully learned his lesson, ‘cause we never saw him in a Mario game again.

Pah! Good riddance!

Past that door is the top of Bowser’s Castle. And, on it, Peach’s Castle. The next couple screens are nothing more than Mario wandering the empty halls towards the higher floors. You can even find some helpful items outside and inside her castle.

Won't be the last time that Peach's Castle,
of all places, serves as the theater of the
final confrontation.

A very anime-like game of "My superpower
is stronger than yours".

Back in the long Hall that started it all, we encounter Bowser again. He’s reasonably tough. In this fight and the next (because, yes, this is Phase 1 of 2), Bowser will use the Star Rod to make himself invincible, and Mario must in return use the Star Beam to undo the effect. This almost wastes a turn, in that only Mario’s partner can attack during that turn. This Bowser has 50 HP and can be dealt with relatively easily. He will then flee, and Mario gives chase towards the top of the castle.

We get to the highest spot, and walk onto a floating platform. This is the theater of the final battle. Unfortunately, it also turns out to be a device created by Kammy Koopa that will strengthen the power of the Star Rod. And, indeed, when Mario engages Bowser in this final fight, we find out that using the Star Beam no longer strips Bowser of his invincibility. Oh no! What do we do?

And Bowser wins this new round of "My
superpower is stronger than yours"! How
will Mario fight back?

When the hero is outmatched, who shows up to
help in the final battle? Of course! The friends!
Man, this game's finale is so anime it hurts.

In an attempt to help, Peach and Twink decide to fight against Kammy. Twink starts out incapable of even harming the witch! However, Peach focuses and sends wishes the Star Kid’s way, making him stronger. Twink eventually becomes strong enough to overpower Kammy, knocking her out. Of course! The power of wishes! It’s helping the Stars in this battle! The stronger Twink joins the other Star Spirits, who gain more power thanks to the wishes of the Kingdom – upgrading their ultimate move to the Peach Beam!

And indeed, this one actually works in taking away Bowser’s invincibility. And that’s good, because this Bowser is already a beast. He has 99 HP, he hits hard, he will sometimes use the Star Rod to make himself invincible again (forcing you to lose a turn taking that invincibility away with the Peach Beam), he can use the wand to send a shockwave that will put your partner K.O. for a few turns, and can also heal himself 30 HP. He’s definitely the final boss, no doubt there.

And so, friendship is the final piece to defeat
every evil. Thank you, Star Spirits!
...and Twink!

When I played through the game for this review, my first attempt at beating Bowser ended in failure because I wound up facing the nasty combo of “partner gets incapacitated” + “Star Rod invincibility turn” + “boss heals”. So, I eventually ran out of HP and healing options, while incapable of harming Bowser more than he healed himself. On my second attempt, which went much better, he didn’t even get a chance to cast his self-healing spell even once.

After he is defeated, he and Kammy are unceremoniously booted off the platform just as it explodes. And, just like that, the Koopa Clown Car and Bowser’s Castle vanish, leaving Peach’s Castle to slowly descend from space, and back in its rightful place. The Stars thank Mario and the Princess for their help.

It might take a while for everything in the
Castle to be functional again. It was literally
ripped off the ground after all.

Is it too early to party?
Blah, whatever! Let's party anyway!

Sometime later, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom has Parakarry send letters to Mario, Luigi, and all of the allies Mario made during this adventure, inviting everyone to a big party to celebrate the (very temporary) defeat of Bowser’s evil. At the event, so many folks met during the journey are there to thank Mario for his work. And during the party proper, she appears to the audience present, wishing prosperity and peace for the Kingdom… and, hopefully, not another attack from the turtle-dragon anytime soon. Cue credits, presented under a very nice parade featuring every notable character who showed up in the game.

Final words

Phew! That was quite a ride. A very pleasant one, mind you. A very nice-looking one that has a few bumps along the way, but otherwise pretty good. The positive points here far outweigh the negative.

The style also led to pretty great scenes, like
the temple rising from the Dry Dry sands.

Stylistically, this game has a fantastic design. The combination of basic 3D environments with paper-flat 2D characters is perhaps no longer unique, but still seldom-seen. The end result is simple, yet effective. The devs also took advantage of that simplicity to include a handful of nice effects. As an example, a small number of enemies (namely, the fake Bowser suit used by the Koopa Bros. and General Guy’s tank) appear in 3D, implying they were made with materials from the 3D décor. There’s also cool effects now and then, such as the reflections in the glass of the Crystal Palace or the starry effect on Monstar. Also a little detail, but I quite like that many NPCs have their own design, no matter the species (be they a Toad, a Goomba, etc.). The music is also very great.

The plot is, overall, pretty basic: Bowser kidnaps the Princess, once again. Then, we get the common plot of gathering a number of trinkets, like in the Mario RPG that preceded it (7 star pieces, 7 Star Spirits). It’s been done, is where I’m getting at. The writing shines more in each sub-story presented in the eight chapters, plus the prologue, and in the interactions Mario has with the people of this world.

To be entirely fair, I don't remember a time where
Bowser came this close to complete victory.

Another example: Kent C. is an old Koopa, so
he is particularly affected by spells and
items that induce sleep.

Can I also say that I love the amazing level of foresight the developers put into this game? All of the main characters and enemies have sprites for every possibility. Also, plot-wise, each partner has their own lines of dialogue for instances where any of them could be out during a cutscene. There are also many interactions that are dependent on what you do, such as the parent of a lost Yoshi baby having unique dialogue if you talk to them after rescuing their child, but before rescuing the others. Another example is Watt’s reaction when freed from the lantern in Chapter 4, which changes depending on the method used. Hammer? Kooper’s shell? Perhaps Bombette? Yep, those are taken into account.

Fight the Master... if you dare.

The game has a lot of side-quests to offer, as well as exploration bonuses; if you revisit every area with the partners and equipment you acquire, you’re bound to find new stuff. Badges and Star Pieces, mostly. The badges can give Mario a wide variety of special moves, many of which have special effects in battle. There’s also quite a number of optional battles that you can take part in if you so wish. Side-quests range from playing mailman to helping an old Koopa, and there’s an entire crafting system to try out by visiting Tayce T.! I didn’t mention it, but there’s also a bunch of details that pop up between chapters – as an example, you’ll find Luigi up to something anytime you return to Mario’s house, and might often have to help him by using your most recent partner’s ability.

Compared to all of these good points, my critiques might come across as nitpicks, barring a few issues that most people agree on. The first is that there’s a lot of padding, which isn’t always bad – it can force Mario to gain Levels and be better prepared against what comes next. But it’s a constant throughout, and usually tied to the plot, so you have no choice but to sit through it all. True, it often results in Mario finding important items, but sometimes, it legit feels like filling time. The worst chapters in that regard are the Toy Box and Flower Fields.

Not really, NGL.

On to the other annoyances. It’s a good thing that there are so many side-quests and activities; so when one is sort of lacking in terms of content, it’s not so bad. The Playroom (which I’ve mistakenly labeled a “Casino” earlier) is probably the blandest area in the entire game, with only two mini-games. And both are unlocked by helping Koopa Koot. It’s a bit bad that we can’t use action commands from the start, as it makes the intro and prologue rather boring to get through. I could see why Intelligent Systems didn’t want to introduce these from the start, since the first fight against Bowser is meant to be hopeless (not that actions commands would help much, mind you…), but it makes the first half-hour a slog.

Most chapter villains are confined to their own arc; Hell, some don’t even appear in the story until it’s time to fight them! That goes for the bosses of Chapters 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The only chapter bosses who leave any sort of lasting impression are Bowser (obviously), the Koopa Bros. (who even make an extra appearance near the end), and Tubba Blubba (who’s a major part of the intrigue within Chapter 3).

Anyone actually wished they could have learned
more about, say, uh... the Crystal King?

Speaking of characters, Lakilester (“It’s Spi- ah, forget it”) is the most forgettable of the partners. His appearance late in Chapter 6 means that he doesn’t get many chances to shine; in comparison, Sushie gets a lot of opportunities and she’s found early in Chapter 5. Lakilester’s overworld ability is decent, and finds uses now and then for the remainder of the plot, but not much to find extra items while revisiting past areas. In battle, his attacks are all pretty terrible save for a few niche uses (Spiny Surge is great to destroy the Puffs that appear when Huff N. Puff takes damage). The one saving grace is Cloud Nine, a move that boosts Mario’s evasion and makes enemy attacks miss more frequently.

The inclusion of the Peach moments was also
a very nice idea.

So yeah, all in all, a very good game. I definitely recommend it, if you can find a way to play it. Not perfect, and in fact I’ve learned that the sequel, The Thousand-Year Door (which I haven’t played) improved some of those aspects. But these flaws don’t detract too much from the enjoyment.

(I would like to thank YouTube user MasaeAnela for her Let’s Play of the game, in which I picked the images for this review. Go check out the playlist for the entire playthrough, she spends quite a bit of time doing side-quests on top of covering the entire story from start to finish.)

And now if you'll excuse me, I might have to take a break for a few weeks. See you... well, hopefully soon!

What To Do In The Mushroom Kingdom: A Tourist’s Video Guide, Pt. 3

*static cuts to video with glitches, showing a padded cell with the tourism Toad in a straightjacket*

I’m fine… No, I’m fine! Pinkie swear! Get me out of here already! Get me out of this damn Kingdom! It’s torture here! Our world is never NEVER! the same, it’s exhausting having to adapt to this! Tayce T.’s gone, everyone – they’re all- they’re all fucking gone!

Why does nobody believe me around here? I have the tapes! I have the damn tapes! I have proof! But no – I am insane now aren’t I? Argle fargle blargle! You, the Toads keeping me in here – let me out already, I’m gonna find a better world to live in! A consistent world! Aurgh! Okay fine, you know what, you all can go f-*video cuts to static again*