Paper Mario Chapter 1: Storming the Koopa Bros. Fortress

Chapter 1 is the first real exposure to Paper Mario's signature gameplay loop- doing Action Commands to take on Koopa Troopas and dealing with tricky enemies like Bob-ombs, culminating in a dramatic showdown with an awesome crew. So how's the setup?

First off, we have Koopa Village, and... you know, they do a surprisingly good job of burying the lede here. First of all, the Fuzzies aren't actually combat encounters- probably for the best, Fuzzies aren't actually that fun to fight with their esoteric block command. Second, although there's a lot of mini-puzzles (most of them aren't even puzzles), there's no reward for helping the Koopa Troopas get their shells back. And then third, the Town Story culminates in a shell game- an annoyingly difficult one if the Fuzzy gets too tricksy. There is a boss at the end, but it's more of a demonstration of Kooper in action than a boss. Also- did you notice the Fuzzies didn't have anything to do with anything? The fact Merlon had to send us this way might've been a clue the setup wasn't as cool as they thought.

After picking up Kooper, it's a straight shot to the Koopa Bros. Fortress- Paper Mario isn't really a long or involved game, and it's often one Town Story, some more gameplay, and then leading right to the big dungeon. Koopa Bros. Fortress is a Zelda dungeon that got lost on the way to Ocarina of Time, or perhaps one of the handheld games. The place has some neat setpieces with the Koopa Bros and a cool idea regarding the Bob-ombs being used for maintenance, but because we're more focused on gameplay at this juncture, there's just no execution on it. The Koopa Bros. sell themselves entirely on their spectacle as the Teenage Masked Ninjakoopas, and they do it well, but they're hardly winning any villain-of-the-year awards. Honestly, I'd have taken them appearing as reforming NPCs in Koopa Village after the fact.

Mechanically, Chapter 1 does a good amount to soothe the issues of the Prologue. It puts you in lots of fights where your new Action Commands have utility, it gives you new partners to play with to expand your options with your second turn, and it introduces the puzzle elements that make the partner system stand out so well. Combat hasn't really taken its final shape yet- we're going to need a few more and varied Badges before we can really say that, plus we haven't yet seen all of the game's mechanics in action. Nevertheless, if you played the Prologue and didn't have fun, I think the extra stuff Chapter 1 adds will make a convincing enough argument. Now why they put themselves in that position in the first place...