Paper Mario is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 home video game console. Paper Mario is the first game in the Paper Mario series. First released in Japan in 2000 and then internationally in 2001, Paper Mario was later re-released for Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console in July 2007, the Wii U Virtual Console in April 2015, and the Nintendo Classics service on December 10, 2021.
Paper Mario is set in the Mushroom Kingdom as the protagonist Mario tries to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, who has imprisoned the seven "Star Spirits", lifted her castle into the sky and has defeated Mario after stealing the Star Rod from Star Haven and making himself invincible. To save the Mushroom Kingdom, rescue Peach, get the castle back, and defeat Bowser, Mario must locate the Star Spirits, who can negate the effects of the stolen Star Rod, by defeating Bowser's minions guarding the star spirits. The player controls Mario and a number of partners to solve puzzles in the game's overworld and defeat enemies in a turn-based battle system. The battles are unique in that the player can influence the effectiveness of attacks by performing required controller inputs known as "action commands".
Although Nintendo planned to have Square, now Square Enix, develop Paper Mario, the company was occupied with developing Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation; Intelligent Systems developed the game instead. The game received acclaim, being praised for its concept, battle system, and graphics, and was rated the 63rd best game made on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Powers "Top 200 Games" list in 2006. It was followed by a line of sequels, starting with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the GameCube in 2004.
Gameplay
thumb|alt=refer to caption|Mario and one of his partners, Parakarry, walking through Toad Town. The game's visuals feature [[two-dimensional character cut-out designs contained within three-dimensional backgrounds.]]
Paper Mario combines traditional role-playing game (RPG) elements with concepts and features from the Mario series. For the majority of the game, the player controls Mario, who can jump and use his hammer to overcome physical obstacles placed in the game's overworld. Many of the game's puzzles and boundaries are based upon the abilities of Mario's partners, who each have a specialized skill required for progression in the game. Attacks in the game are similar to those in traditional RPGs, although the player can influence the power of a move when attacking or defending by timing a button-press accurately or performing some other action command as required. Mario and his partners have a finite capacity to perform special moves, with each of these consuming a particular number of flower points (FP) when performed. Such statistics can be increased by earning Star Points (experience points) in combat to level up. Nintendo approached Square, who had developed Super Mario RPG for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, to develop the game, but they turned down the offer due to work on Final Fantasy VII. Instead, the company initially hired HAL Laboratory to write the main story before development was handed over to Intelligent Systems to develop the game. The game was initially called Super Mario RPG 2, was slated for release on the 64DD, and was first revealed at Nintendo Space World '97, a video game trade show hosted by Nintendo. Miyamoto stated that the game was being developed with amateur gamers in mind. The game later released for the iQue Player in 2004. Paper Mario saw a number of re-releases for later Nintendo consoles: the Wii Virtual Console in July 2007, the Wii U Virtual Console in April 2015, and via the Nintendo Classics service in December 2021. In 2023, Paper Mario was fully decompiled, making an unofficial PC port and mods possible.
The game had a marketing budget of $4 million.
Music
The game's soundtrack was first released in Japan on September 21, 2000, with the game's original title by Enterbrain, and distributed by the magazine Famitsu. It was followed in the United States a few months later as a Nintendo Power exclusive with the illustration from the international game cover. It included both the original music to the game, as well as sound effects, in 78 tracks on two discs. All of the game's compositions were written by Yuka Tsujiyoko, with a reprised arrangement of previous Super Mario themes by Koji Kondo.