GAMER LOUNGE 20XX (NO CASUALS!!)

[E-Man]

the art style looks very similar to Sticker Star, so I'm having my doubts if they'll exclude the flaws of that game (and I don't mean just the sticker system). Still, I haven't watch the trailer yet, so it's unfair to judge this book by its cover (pun slightly intended) so soon. I'll update this post with my second impressions once I reviewed the trailer.

EDIT: On second thought, I have a much better idea! Instead of telling you guys about my thoughts and impressions here, I'll simply make a new thread. Besides, it'll give you guys a chance to discuss this game without flooding the topic.

look at u judgin a book by its cover. daaang. besides, who are we kidding - Sticker Star and Thousand Year Door have the same art style rofl. It's Paper Mario; the characters all look the same anyhow.


What kinda concerns me is that...like, did the last Paper Mario do so bad they said "screw it, let's do a crossover with the Mario and Luigi series. That's a good graveyard for our paper friend"

Sticker Star has pretty different animations, the way everything moves looks "jerkier" and a lot of the characters are drawn at a pretty different angle.

But yeah, Paper Mario is dead... unless they return to the series roots and put it on Wii U. 

I don't know how they can be so stupid as to fuck up 3 times in a row when they know exactly what we want :/

I couldn't have explained the art style better myself, so thanks. Besides that, what also makes up the Sticker Star art style are the background elements and props. Not only do they look more like paper craft as opposed to the Thousand Year Door's comic book-like textures, but also cardboard is the primary material.

Now, with that out of the way, even before Jermungandr brought it up, I felt like this was a "jumping the shark" kind of deal; however, don't yell at me for this, but I think the only series that is jumping the shark right at this moment is the Mario & Luigi one as opposed to Paper Mario. Sure, Paper Mario is in hot water ever since Sticker Star (and Super Paper Mario depending on whom you ask), but that's mostly because it has yet to grasp that special element that makes that series so well-loved. If anything, it's more or less Nintendo's counterpart of the Sonic franchise. As for the Mario & Luigi series, I feel sorry for Alphadream since I feel like they are hard-pressed to find good ideas for sequels. When they made Bowser playable, I thought it was it for the Mario & Luigi games. You could probably guess how I reacted when Dream Team was announced. Sure, Dreamy Luigi is a bit of a step backwards compared to Bowser, but it does show that Alphadream still has some good ideas stored away. As for this Paper Mario crossover, it has the potential to be one of the best titles on the series. With that said, though, then what? This new entire looks very hard to top and I fear that Alphadream's next Mario & Luigi game after this one will suffer as a result. With that said, unless they come up with an idea that blows the minds of the vasty majority of fans, I honestly think this is the last good Mario & Luigi game we'll get as long as they don't treat it like a cash cow and give us bad sequels. Sure, they could crossover with Super Mario RPG or a completely different game series, but wouldn't that lack the same charm/surprise since we're already getting a crossover nobody expected? On top of that, the cash grab and fan pandering will be extremely obvious if this route is taken. :/

Anyway, while I can imagine this game acting as some kind of farewell to Mario's current RPGs (especially the Mario & Luigi series if you take what I just said into account) to make way for a new possible Mario RPG series, it's still anyone's guess as to what'll happen to the Paper Mario series. While I did acknowledge that Paper Mario is not doing so hot, its problem is that it has load of potential; however, it is not being used in ways that please the fans. Even though the Mario & Luigi games appear to be running out of ideas at this point, Paper Mario still has room for at least a couple of good games left in the series as long as Nintendo actually cares about it. Right now, considering that Sticker Star elements currently have a tight hold on Paper Mario, I'm a bit uneasy that Nintendo probably didn't earn their lesson. Still, it's too soon to say from the footage we have so far and they might be holding out on the good stuff (i.e. references to the first three games) until much later. Even though it seems awkward for Paper Mario to rely on riding the coattails of its more successful counterpart, maybe Nintendo will finally see how well Paper Mario works when he's in his original element and take measures to bring him back to where he once belongs. Otherwise, I can imagine some of the guys from Intelligent Systems leaving to start their own studio and make a Kickstarter showing off a spiritual successor to the old Paper Mario games that gets funded in minutes flat (pun originally not intended)! XD