SPM Chapter 4 Part 1: Squirps is Squirps

Through the fierce battle against Francis, Tippi and the Mario gang grew closer. Behind a fourth door lay a whole new world that beckoned to them both. What awaited was vaster and stranger than anything they'd encountered so far... In order to claim the Pure Heart, they would have to endure new, far-out trials...

Oh, how far-out can it be, I mean, we've kept our feet on the ground just fine-

 

...Who's ready to leap into the cosmos, well ahead of when we got there in TTYD?

Our unique drawing style is just filling the screen with stars, somehow leaving white stars behind for the ending. It's a very unique effect, and goes by too fast to figure out when the "adding space stars" ends and "leaving white stars" begins.

And out the door we go, into the vast emptiness of space.

Or on top of a very tall mountain, but I don't feel land underfoot.

Bowser: Hmm! Yeah! Space, you say? I guess I DO feel lighter... And...

There's always something to love about outer space. How different it feels out there... the stellar lighting, the feeling of weightlessness...

Tippi: What troubles you, Mario? Ah... Yes, of course... We seem to be lacking air... You need that, don't you?
Bowser: BLUUUUUUUUUUUUURGLE! C-CAN'T B-B-BREATHE!

The complete and total lack of any sort of atmosphere. Or at least, in measurable enough parts for our lungs to work with.

Good question. What happened to TTYD, where Mario could walk on the moon without question? OK, granted, the Moon has... an atmosphere, but not that much more than nothing.

Quick, Return Pipe, Return Pipe!

Right after the heartwarming moment where we saved Tippi from the clutches of Francis and she learned to trust us, we get Tippi panicking and being unable to save us despite the fact we have an easy means with which to do so.

On its own, not awful, but the juxtaposition isn't doing her any favours.

I have absolutely no idea what power this is, but it's probably the thing that she used on Mario to take him to Flipside in the first place. With Tippi panicking, though, it feels more external.

SPM Post-Chapter 3: Moving On Quick

The villains are convening after Dimentio's report on how he was utterly humiliated by his plan backfiring on him.

Although he doesn't feel very humiliated.

Count Bleck will not allow speculation of his defeat to take hold long, though. He's absolutely convinced that they're going to succeed. Somehow.

Dimentio was not aware the book had any kind of "secret weapon" to use on the heroes, and prods Bleck into explaining himself.

Bleck decides not to. Probably for theatrical reasons rather than any sort of opsec.

We won't actually be fighting any of the three members of Team Bleck next chapter. Bleck is deploying a new opponent for us.

Super Paper Mario Chapter 3: When Geeks Attack

Chapter 3, for many, is when the game gets really good. I look at this chapter, though, and wonder if this is more of a sign of the game firmly picking a side on what it wants to be good at.

We start, right away, with Tippi being taken away from us by Francis, which leaves Mario without a voicebox. Tippi should feel like more of an absence than she is, as a critically important story character and the one thing in our party that is always present onscreen, but really... most players weren't exactly leaning on the Tattle. Arguably, it's something they'll miss when they get to the nerdy setpieces in 3-4, but it's hard to use a Tattle in a game with the fast-paced action of a platformer even if it wasn't triggered by moving the controller against the normal grip.

The four levels found here are a nostalgia level culminating in Bowser's big arrival, a water level culminating in the game's only true miniboss, an ascent up a vertical level with a matchup against a Team Bleck goon, and finishing with a dungeon crawl through the nerdiest dungeon to every meow and a boss fight with a surprisingly tricky geek to get the Tattle ability back. Said aloud, I'm surprised how many bosses Chapter 3 throws at us compared to the rest of the game. The fact that I said Big Blooper is the only real miniboss in the game should tell you loads about who else we're fighting- lots of Team Bleck and few other bosses. Chapter 4 will have no bosses outside the one guarding the Pure Heart. This increase in bosses is accompanied by more chances for dialogue, which helps support the fact the only NPCs in the entire chapter were Francis's maid robots. This game loves it its funny dialogue, but it only gets to use it when there are people to speak.

Mechanically, we have added Bowser, Thudley and Carrie to the team. These three additions have one thing in common: Damage. Double damage, a more precise way to deal double damage with Mario and Peach, and a refinement to the game's controls to make landing damage in the first place easier than ever. If you were having trouble with the game's mechanics, this chapter will cover you, and there are even more Pixls that make the game even easier for the situations we're currently not equipped for. Between these and Catch Cards, it's rather difficult to feel engaged with the combat system- which makes sense, because platformers are a difficult genre to fit combat systems to, often encouraging you to move along at a rapid pace. But oh boy, the boss fights either sideline your combat skills or turn into "win as soon as you get on top of them". Or fire breath them.

A lot of people seem to point at this chapter as either a high point of the adventure, or where the game really starts to kick into high gear. And honestly... I'm not 100% convinced. Between the trivial combat, the frustration of the Dotwood Tree, the swimming level that is 3-2, and the mostly jocular tone of 3-1 and 3-4, I feel like this is the game firmly establishing that there won't be much of a game here, purely a light-hearted adventure while it's not being serious with Bleck, Dimentio, and the Blumiere/Timpani plot thread. No, by this point, the game has locked in its aesthetic, and that aesthetic truly is unlike any other Paper Mario game, and even farther removed from Super Mario. You play this game to see what is going to happen next: Very rarely, if ever, do you care about how you're getting there. In some ways, this is a consequence of a very RPG-heavy company trying their hand at a platformer game. In other ways... these are the roots from which Sticker Star's flaws grew. That inability to secure Super Mario's essence, and that disregard for mechanics in favour of narrative- and in particular, comedic narrative.

SPM Chapter 3 Part 3: Giving Nerds a Hard Time

Let us begin.

Bowser has apparently dealt with Francis occasionally, but hasn't had the resources or interest to actually look into firing back.

It looks bigger, although it does also happen to be closer. Don't worry, Bowser, your castle is still cooler. With that said, though, there's something hilarious this castle has that Bowser's doesn't in this game specifically.

"We've been gone a while. I'm just saying..."

And then we get a cutaway to seeing exactly how all right, or otherwise, Tippi is.

It could be far worse. It could also be far better.

SPM Chapter 3 Part 2: Tumbling Downs and Scaling Up

Ahoy-hoy! Swimming in the sea means Bloopers, it sounds.

Just... randomly starting underwater today, no prelude on why we decided this was our best method of crossing the water. Environmentally, I think I have an idea, but still. Water level for water level's sake.

I don't think the Tile Pool theme is supposed to be a remix of anything specific.

Green Cheep Cheeps, like this one, have no real practical difference in combat. They tend to have behavioural differences in the main series (with the New games making green ones Deep Cheeps that can slightly home in on Mario), but I think the extent of any such differences in this game is that green ones won't turn around.

Counter-intuitively, Bowser's fire breath can be used underwater. Not only that, but it's actually the most effective combat tactic, as well as possibly the only one. Now that's how you make a new party member feel welcome!

Jumping does not work. Underwater, Cheep Cheeps deal damage through all contact, not just side-to-side.

SPM Chapter 3 Part 1: It's About Time

Mario and his new friends opened the door, unsure of what they would find. All the while, Merlee's words about finding the "other two heroes" rang in their minds. Were these other heroes somewhere in this new world? If not, where? Meanwhile, the creeping void grew larger in the skies above Flipside. The hopes of all worlds rested on the heroes finding the next Pure Heart...

The chapter narration reminding us about the Four Heroes in a rather timely mention, although I'm not sure who "new friends" is referring to. Peach, Boomer and Slim? That is stretching the definition of "new" and "friends".

 

Super Paper Mario has, thus far, remained... well, it's difficult to call anything Mario does "grounded", but the things you have seen have been consistent with Mario's internal logic, across the whole trilogy. Even Flipside, as a place "in another dimension", uses only as much handwaving as any other game set in a location somehow more exotic than the Mushroom Kingdom.

Buckle up.

World 3 is the land of pixels. Unlike 1-1, which was just sorta borrowing the style of the 1-1 aesthetic, this is a throwback to the real thing.

A little bold to have both, but this stops being 1-1 in a hurry.

Tippi flies forward as she has her line. This must be a character moment.

Unlike last time, where the possessor of the Pure Hearts has been at the end of a series of chapters, the Pure Heart seems to be a little bit closer this time...

So then, any chance that we can get that Pure Heart now and-

Occupational hazard of being a butterfly.