A Mario Story: Paper Mario 64

Paper Mario is a franchise shaped, in many ways, by its identity crisis. A once-beloved arm of the Mario franchise has never been the same since Sticker Star. And, in the simplest of terms, very few people exist who prefer the modern approach of Paper Mario to the classic. Many appreciate it (it may be pertinent to note I am not one of them), but even they wonder why it came at the expense of what came before.

One prominent argument, especially from those tired of seeing nothing but praise laid at the first trilogy's feet, is that these games weren't quite as good as they are looked back upon, for a multitude of reasons related primarily to the gameplay, mostly. I believe, however, that there are a number of narrative elements that go unchallenged- some of which explain why the series went in the direction it did, and others which lament the fact and sing of missed potential. Time to prepare your paper puns, because this journey is about to unfold.

Unlike most games I have covered thus far, all three Paper Mario games have lore and important narrative before the title screen appears. Consider the title screen used as a header above to be more for bookkeeping.

This is the key world-building stuff, you're going to want to note this down.

Early in development, the game we know today as "Paper Mario" began life as "Super Mario RPG 2". Super Mario RPG was a SNES game developed by Square of Final Fantasy fame, known mostly as "the game Geno is from", and although Paper Mario is not considered a sequel of any sort, a non-zero amount of influence lingers in the corners.

Both games are about the home of wish-granting beings living high above in the stars. Although Star Haven is different from Geno's Star Road, there is enough of a relation to stand on.

Again, we're not actually going to be meeting Geno, although I suppose we don't exactly know for sure...

Unlike in SMRPG, where the Star Road had the power to grant wishes innately, Star Haven's wish-granting power is focused on a specific treasure.

These Seven Star Spirits are responsible for using the Star Rod to grant wishes, although whether or not they do anything of their own volition is less clear. I suspect they don't.

This is your reminder that, story focused as it is, it is still a Mario game, and we're going to be just as focused on making you smile as we are telling a coherent narrative. This is going to be my thesis later, as weird as that is to say in conjunction.

This is the only time in which the fact every character in the story is made of paper is relevant to the narrative being told here in 64- there's a few visual gags later, but purely visual. Although we're not really led to believe that Bowser literally taped Kammy into this book to teleport her to Star Haven, this is more symbolic.

An alternative question is "what was the story the narrator was intending to tell"? All good narratives have a conflict, or at least a "something happened". But for the "and then", this story didn't seem to be going in any such direction.

...Come to think of it, I think this is the only time we ever see Bowser from behind in this game. I wonder if he is supposed to be 3D in this one shot.

The game loves playful text like spiralling letters, and this line is clearly supposed to be based on that. It doesn't actually animate.

Bowser is Mario's eternal arch-rival, and even in 2000, the shtick was getting predictable. Bowser's been around for 15 years at this point, and I think SMRPG was the only story written for the Mario series that didn't plonk Bowser as the big bad to date. With that said, imagine stealing the power to grant wishes to finally beat a portly plumber whose signature move is one you're already immune to.

Kammy Koopa is an original character to the Paper Mario games. Bowser's Magikoopa-in-chief is usually Kamek, his primary guardian, and I'm not altogether certain why Paper Mario didn't just use him. I suspect the reason is that Kamek is a) still mainly a Yoshi's Island villain at this point and b) hasn't yet been rendered fully distinct from his species. To date, Kamek the character shares a Japanese name with Magikoopas as a whole, and even the English translations still seem a little uncertain as to whether or not to treat a single, recurring Magikoopa character as the Kamek or just a Magikoopa.

Kammy uses a powerful magical spell to disrupt the Star Spirits. Also, Bowser has grabbed his Koopa Clown Car and flown in himself.

He uses his signature fire breath to bust open the final protection on the Star Rod and claim it for himself. Although it doesn't have the same sort of iconic connection that Mario has with his Jump, Bowser's flame breath is arguably his signature move, and it's rare to see him not use it.

Bowser's flame breath is pretty powerful in Paper Mario, but I don't think the fact it's fire and everything around him is made of paper is ever a factor in this. Ironically, Mario & Luigi does make this connection with Paper Jam Bros: in that game, all Paper enemies have a categorical weakness to fire attacks.

Bowser is surprisingly fast to figure out how this is done. You'd think there'd be some dexterity to it.

Bowser goes directly for the Star Spirits.

...This is a bit of a weird interjection for the Star Spirits. Maybe it's the narrator who's supposed to be speaking to him. Bowser seems to pay it about the same mind.

All the Star Spirits have been trapped within playing cards. I feel like this is them having fun with the paper theme, mainly.

With both the Star Rod and the captive Star Spirits in tow, Bowser and Kammy Koopa fly away to commit mayhem.

As he says this, a Star Kid flies into the Haven to illustrate the point. Star Kids are not actually delivery boys for wishes, and it is later claimed that the absence of the Star Spirits prevents Star Kids from travelling from the world below to the Haven. The spirit of this issue, however, remains true. Wishes will not come true without the Star Rod in place.

Sounds like a job for one hero:

And now we get to the title screen.

Paper Mario has a proper Attract cutscene for lingering on the title screen, but that's just gameplay nuggets.

When making a new file, you are asked to name it using this massive keyboard with all sorts of diacritics at the ready. In SMRPG, your filename made a cameo appearance in the game as the password to a door. In this game? As far as I'm aware, nothing. You also never use this keyboard again.

I'm going to make the most of it while I have it.

No difficulty options or anything similar in this game. I wonder how they might be implemented. There's a ROM hack that implements a hard mode (well, perhaps "lunatic" mode might be more accurate), but it implements a lot of new assets to do so.

It's also difficult to truly implement a self-imposed challenge, either. There is variety to the game, and I suspect you can make some interesting runs based on how you engage with that variety, but which methods of doing so are harder than others has no real consensus.

On starting a file, we are taken directly to Mario's House. Mario lives in his own house separate from the main town which he routinely aids, which I suspect is good for his mental health. If there's trouble in the Kingdom and Mario is needed, the citizens have no trouble finding and getting here, though.

In this game, though, we are not being barged in on by a Toad. Instead, we have a letter from our friendly neighbourhood mail-Paratroopa. Paper Mario is famous for using Mario's rogues gallery as friendly NPCs, and here, they have a good one: who wouldn't want flying mailmen?

Luigi accepts the mail. Paper Mario is pre-Luigi's Mansion, so we're in prime position for all our Luigi jokes to have him as the butt. This "phase" of Luigi's existence started here and kinda went all the way to Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros.

For now, though, Mario considers him an equal and treats him as such. It's everyone else that's usually the problem.

Although right now, Mario's kinda looking at him like "...I can read my own mail, bro."

Although Peach enjoys Mario's company specifically, she also treats Luigi with due respect. Still less respect than Mario, although she addresses him by name and invites him to (most) of the parties.

Paper Mario is an RPG, and part of the RPG experience is travelling to faraway towns, meeting eccentric locals, and helping them with their troubles. Some of these towns (but not all of them) will be represented here.

It is Mario tradition for Peach to invite Mario to the castle for cake, specifically. It's actually kinda weird to see Peach's invitation not specify that there will be cake.

And off we go.

In this game, Mario's House is connected to the main town by Warp Pipe. Many games that depict someone travelling to Mario's house on foot omit this part (admittedly, usually games where Mario's House will not be a visitable environment in gameplay), so the place probably isn't too far away. Warp Pipes, as far as I'm aware, have no distance limitations.

Mario and Luigi walk to the castle still in a cutscene. This town will become our major hub when the game begins proper, and I suspect the devs want you to engage with the town for the first time without NPCs blocking all the interesting places telling you to go to the castle.

As alluded to earlier, not every town we will eventually visit is represented in the opening. This line kinda makes it sound less like they have been excluded and more that we beat them here. It is at this point we get control of Mario.

Luigi wants to try and make some friends. Slash find the people who want to meet him.

I doubt anyone who needs this is going to manage to talk to Luigi. RPGs have a difficult job with mechanical tutorials- all the buttons they want to teach you are kinda the same buttons you need to use to access tutorial dialogue.

Mario and Peach are an on-again, off-again item, although considering the structure of Mario games and their overall disinterest in stopping and thinking about their characters, we don't really see the romantic chemistry they have other than "he rescues her all the time, she makes him cake". No wonder she doesn't accept his proposal in Odyssey.

...Somehow, I get the impression I was meant to talk to you first.

The side doors are locked. This incarnation of the Castle Foyer is a near-match for the design as seen in Super Mario 64, and it's tempting to think these doors are just legacy inclusions- in Super Mario 64, they led to Bob-omb Battlefield and Jolly Roger Bay. Some of the SM64 doors are missing, however- so all the doors that do still exist go somewhere.

And the door leading to Whomp's Fortress does do so immediately! It leads to the castle kitchens.

...Now that I think about it, the Super Mario 64 Castle contains very little in the way of rooms you might actively choose to spend time in. I believe I've heard the story that a Nintendo employee considered the idea that Peach owns multiple castles: one to live in, and one to store all the weird magic paintings. Needlessly decadent, but do you really want to live in the same castle as a living painting of Bob-ombs at war?

This lovely Toad lady is Tayce T., and she will be an important NPC. This is not because she is named (there's a few Toads with names that don't do anything), although her design is unique.

Hilariously, Tayce T. is not an employee of Peach's, she's a freelance chef for this event. I understand why Peach may not have wanted to do the cooking, but still, this party was surprisingly free of Peach's signature cake.

...I don't think this means anything.

Tayce T. seems to be a good enough cook to have earned her position as this party's chef, although I'm not sure whether I want to compare the two cakes.

Imagine if Mario could cook on his own. I think it's implied Luigi does the cooking at home.

This Toad is Russ T., a smart Toad who'll be serving as a hint NPC later. He's about as important as Tayce T. to the plot, but far less useful.

Frost T. (...you know, why isn't it Fross T.?) is a resident of the mandatory ice area of the game. This game is free from ice physics, but it will be some time before we make our way that far north.

Poor guy.

...Listen to your body, mate.

Eventually, Mario will have been everywhere in the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser seems to take Peach to a different part of it every game.

Oh, if that isn't tempting fate. These penguins are Bumpties- outside of the Paper Mario series, they seem to have appeared in the Yoshi's Island games... and one e-reader level of Super Mario Bros 3 for GBA. The penguins seen in Super Mario 64 are a different race, simply known as Penguins.

It is true she has retired from the main halls from exhaustion, but I challenge the assertion she's going to her private chambers.

This Minister appears only in Paper Mario, sharing a similar design and purpose to the Chancellor from Super Mario RPG. Both characters were superceded by Toadsworth when he was introduced in Super Mario Sunshine: any game that wants to use this character can just use Toadsworth these days.

Chancellor, Minister or Toadsworth, their role is the same: To panic and fret whenever Peach is kidnapped. A reasonable reaction, but one that leaves them profoundly useless in a franchise where Peach spends more time kidnapped than not.

As an actual nod to Super Mario RPG, this location is known as Star Hill, and seems to serve the same purpose in both games: The closest point between the world at large and the Star Haven where wishes are granted.

So, you know, a perfect place to go on a date. In SMRPG, you could go eavesdropping on other people's wishes there, although that doesn't seem to be the case in Paper Mario.

To a race of mushrooms known primarily for wearing vests and diapers, apparently overalls are the hip new thing. I guess Mario being such a celebrity plays a part in that.

This is another important NPC we'll meet in the far north.

...All of a sudden, I actually understand why these recognisable characters are hurriedly realising they need to go leave the castle and go shopping.

Koopas have a similar design to Bowser and are often considered the actual grunts of the Koopa Troop, with all of Bowser's elites usually being "stronger" incarnations, but Koopa Troopas themselves are more peaceful than usual among the friendly RPG species. Even main-series platformers include non-hostile Koopa Troopas like Koopa the Quick and the playable one from Super Mario Kart. (Did you notice Super Mario Odyssey doesn't even have hostile Koopas?)

These do indeed seem to be the only represented locations. There are seven major areas for us to visit, which obviously means four of them are not here today. I think I'll not list them here, although I will say I don't think one of them has representatives to send.

Mario and Peach are, like, the only humans running around. He must really be out of it.

Dry Dry Outpost is occupied by Toads in turbans- although whether this is just a wrapping around their usual bulbous heads or headgear worn similarly to real turbans is a question to which the answer depends on whether you think the Toad's bulbous head is a part of their body or just a hat.

Aside from the design and the fact they live in the desert, they don't seem to be any different from vanilla Toads.

The desert is also occupied with Little Mousers, called "Nomadimice" in the ENG version of this game. Little Mousers have also been known as "Mousers", "Mowz" and "Squeek" by various non-Yoshi's Island games that include them.

I wish you well.

Do you guys have anything to talk about other than her love life?

This room did not exist in Super Mario 64 at all, and these doors are not supposed to go anywhere recognisable. I'll also admit I don't remember which door goes where off memory.

This one, though, is very memorable: This is where Peach lives.

I like how this is the Toad's objection.

His dialogue changes if you talk to him repeatedly.

If you talk to him a total of five times, you something interesting to happen.

The Toad will actually let you in to Peach's bedroom! Hooray for harassment on multiple counts!

...Now that I think about it, what is this portrait actually showing? There's a castle with a moat, obviously, but Peach's Castle doesn't have a moat in this game. It does in other games, so I wonder if this was Peach's Castle in a different game... not that we've really seen lots of incarnations of Peach's Castle yet. I don't even think this is the SM64 design (the path leading up to the door has a sharper curve in that game).

Peach has a big fireplace! You could almost walk in there.

Can't check this portrait, though.

She's got some unique designs scattered around, but most of the time I think it's her ponytail and not her actual dress. Super Mario Sunshine and the sports games have the most visually distinct dresses, while still being the pink dress.

...And I'm not sure what part of his face he can put them on without being covered by his iconic moustache. The eyes, at least.

...And these two aren't any further along?

Someone get Luigi on this!

There's also a flowerpot. Not sure why this can be checked.

It is possible to enter this balcony later, although it's not like it has anything.

I dunno, I kinda feel like you may want to check that out. Just in case, of course.

...Not like this Toad is protecting his own cloak.

He may be a trainee, but he will fight just as valiantly as every other Toad!

Sure, that valiance will be running in circles screaming "panic and fear panic and fear!", but it will be equal!

This part of the hallway is described as Peach's "private chambers", as opposed to her actual bedroom that the guard isn't even allowed into. I'm not even sure they're chambers, and this one Toad hiding in here too suggests they are not, in fact, private.

But this is where Peach has gone off to. You're going to drift this direction anyway, but as mechanical clues go, this is not great.

Considering you left the party, I'm surprised you're so excited to see company.

For Mario, she's happy to make an exception.

...

You know, I kinda wonder if this conversation was supposed to take place in Peach's bedroom early in development. There isn't a balcony anywhere near this hallway, but she does have one in her bedroom.

We do not make it to any balcony, however. An earthquake has begun.

We cut outside the castle, and...

Well, that's cause for alarm. Peach may get kidnapped every game, but only this game and Super Mario Galaxy have the castle come with. New Super Mario Bros. U gets points for the kidnappers setting up shop in the castle.

So that's what Bowser used his wish on.

Incidentally, every named character except the Minister we bumped into got out OK, and we'll find them in the main story. This might be why they were all bringing up the fact they needed to go on a shopping run.

Mario and Peach run around in panic and fear circles. Mario starts attempting to hold up the sky every now and then, Peach doesn't have any fancy animations and sticks to hoisting up her skirt.

Bowser's Castle keeps going up until we get to this point, above the clouds. There is no concern about air out here, but that doesn't rule out the possibility this is space.

For what it's worth, Mario Kart Super Circuit has this incarnation of Bowser's Castle in the background of Rainbow Road, although I'm not sure that's proof one way or the other.

Good question. I don't think we find out how Bowser got a castle down there, but considering he has just stole the power to grant his own wishes...

...It's not that bad, you might just need to lie down?

If this conversation was ever supposed to be in Peach's bedroom, this moment is likely the reason it was moved. Bowser needed a big enough window for a suitably dramatic crash.

Let's pretend like this line makes sense. Mario has been light on stories on the N64: I don't think there's been anything involving "Peach gets kidnapped!" since Mario 64. Yeah, they've bumped into each other in the kart racer, the parties, the golf tournament, but never a kidnapping.

There's some cool emotion in these talking animations, but unfortunately for me, they stop their animations as soon as all the text is printed. A similar problem happened in DQXI, and it's a hazard of a picture-only playthrough.

...You know, if you skip the opening cutscene with the Star Spirits, there's probably a lot of suspense here.

Bowser's having a lot of fun having the upper hand. He's got a looping text laugh, and his talking animation just looks so happy.

Peach's Castle has some unique geography from game to game, but that's nothing compared to Bowser's Castle. Mario probably blew up a few, but if Peach has multiple castles, Bowser probably never reuses one.

Bowser has confused this story for a Fire Emblem game and seems to believe he controls Peach because he controls the building she happens to occupy.

...Considering we are currently in space, he might have a leg to stand on here.

...He's been here the whole time, dude.

Mario always shows up whenever it is least convenient for Bowser: any time, really.

Bowser is correct on this point.

But since it's not obvious how, Peach is within her rights to scoff at Bowser's chances. We're what, 5-0? Just counting the platformers and RPGs there, though, I am not diving into the rabbit hole of weird spinoffs for platforms I've never heard of.

Who wants a belly rub?

Time for our first battle!

With Peach's words of encouragement, we get to see our battle actions for this fight: Next to nothing. We currently have the options to perform a Jump action, use an inventory item or perform a strategy.

The game only allows us to do a Jump, though.

Paper Mario is a low-numbers RPG, and Mario's Jump does 1 damage as a matter of course. The bulkiest common enemies in the game have 12HP, and while there are attack power increases, we're going to keep the damage numbers low. This is my favourite part of the Paper Mario system, and it shines best here in the original Paper Mario.

As I mentioned previously, Bowser is usually considered spiky in the main games, and he will damage you if you try to jump on him. Paper Mario does not, probably because they don't want this fight and his endgame fights to take away Mario's iconic attack.

Two different attacks, Bowser is doing one damage to us, too. If he has 10 HP or less, we've got this in the bag.

Peach will gasp in shock whenever we take a hit. I'm not sure if she cheers when we get Bowser, she's usually off-screen when that happens.

All right, let's see your secret trick.

It's a stick with a star on it. You're not scaring anybody.

That, on the other hand...

Any wish in the world, and Bowser wishes for a strength boost.

As promised, Bowser wishes himself one strength boost.

I dunno, let's see you take a swing with it.

Now, see, now I'm scared.

Mario is now considered in Danger status. "Danger" does have an actual impact on the game, and is active whenever you have 5 HP or less, being cured as soon as you heal up out of it. Right now, though, Danger doesn't do anything except make an annoying "you're on low health!" chime every few seconds.

Bowser hasn't just boosted his Atk, but his Def, too. And we were doing one damage!

Normal vitamins or "strength-enhancing" vitamins? We're not getting any Vitamin D here, though.

After another round of proving our futility, Bowser's happy with proving how strong he is now.

And Bowser decides he's done taunting us.

It's time for his iconic fire breath attack!

Yeah, we're super dead. When fought later in the game, his fire breath attack is still rated at 10 there. The claw attack gets a buff, though.

Mario performs his dying animation for this game: Spinning around like a top, before folding over. Peach has appropriate (and possibly unique) panicked reactions to it.

He assumes a more usual collapsed sprite on the field, though.

On one hand, he had to have the power to grant his own wishes.

...On the other hand, he looks so happy, and he's never going to get this lucky again... Wait, never mind, Super Mario Odyssey. Never mind, I'm saying it. You don't get to count this as a win.

Kammy kisses his tail.

His win may be illegitimate, but we're not going to be contesting anything until we do something about that.

Bowser considers how to dispose of the body.

He lands on "shoot him with a thunderbolt and send him flying out of the castle."

Well, I mean, it got rid of him.

Peach can't get a break with the screaming "MARIOOOOO!" when she gets captured.

Kammy calls over some Koopatrols to do the manhandling. Koopatrols are original to Paper Mario, incidentally. They probably wouldn't be any fun in the platformers, as cool as they look.

We get to see Mario fall all the way down the sky and into some clouds at the bottom of the screen...

And that is the game's opening. It might seem to pretty short and brief, but I think it's still the longest one of the Paper Mario trilogy. Paper Mario 64 also suffers from a very sluggish Prologue before the gameplay loop starts, too, but we're not getting bogged down with lore- it's a different kind of sluggish.

Next time: The prologue starts!