From a guy that just beat his first couple of Kirby games in the last six months or so, it’s probably no surprise that Paper Jam is also my first Mario RPG or Paper series game, too. After getting a very late start, I’ve actually yet to complete it, but I feel I’ve played enough to move forward with this article. While I can’t speak to the nuanced differences between Paper Jam and its predecessors, I can tell you that the game’s charm and high production values captivated me early on and it continues to remain very high on my playlist.
The story doesn’t take long to set the stage and I don’t anticipate it throwing many major plot changes throughout. This is another Mario adventure in which it’s up to the brothers to stop Bowser and his numerous followers from harming Princess Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom. The adventure begins with Luigi accidentally knocking off a book from a shelf. Turns out, the book is magical, and it lands in such a way that it remains open. Out spew some untold number of paper characters. These 2D characters suddenly find themselves in a 3D world. Princess Peach meets Paper Princess Peach, the Bowsers meet each other, and so on. Numerous toads and goombas are released and of course, Paper Mario. An hour or two into the game Paper Mario joins forces with Mario and Luigi and together the trio must use their platforming and combative ability to take out Bowser’s baddies as they proceed towards his castle to restore order.
The story is simple and familiar enough overall, and I thought it did a sufficient job of setting the stage and giving the player a basic framework to run with. Unlike any other Mario game I have played, Paper Jam includes plenty of platforming/jumping sure, but the RPG gameplay elements are very pronounced here. That’s not to say that Paper Jam is a deep or complicated RPG experience, it’s not relative to the stalwarts of the genre. However, for a younger and less experienced audience — of which I’d include myself in the latter — Paper Jam’s RPG elements are very accessible yet appreciably deep. Through character dialog, some of the game’s basics are presented, but the Guide that you can pull up at anytime from the lower screen goes into the details by segmenting different gameplay elements into categories and further breaking those down into specifics. For certain mechanics, you can quickly enter a Demo mode to test them out for yourself, it’s not really necessary per se, but it’s cool to have that ability to test out a new power before having to use it in battle.
Combat is a significant part of Paper Jam and takes the form of randomized battles that are started when you get close to patrolling enemies while exploring the Kingdom. Battles are turn-based and somewhat strategic, but players won’t have to worry about navigating a hexagonal floor space or anything like that. Turns provide opportunity to use Items, Attacks, combined attacks, or special abilities like Paper Mario’s Copy function that allows him to replicate himself. Combined attacks use BP, or Bros Points. These attacks are a bit more interactive, requiring the player to do a bit of button-mashing or timing and they do a lot more damage than a typical attack, but your BP meter has to be maintained of course to use them (nothing a little syrup can’t fix). At the end of battle, XP is awarded and your characters’ stats are bumped as they level up.
In my experience, the number and difficulty of battles strikes a fair balance. Personally, I’m not a fan of a bunch of random battles in (J)RPGs, and the raw number of those I have encountered has been acceptable. The difficulty therein doesn’t demand a great deal of strategy, but if you’re playing with Assists toggled off or if you’re just trying to be as efficient with your opportunities to deal damage as possible, which includes both during your turn and also during theirs, pretty good timing skill is required. Skilled timing is rewarded with Excellent ratings on attacks, which yield more damage, and being able to nimbly avoid enemy attacks (or even better, dealing damage to them while they try to attack) certainly ramps up the interaction. It’s only fitting that a Mario game tests players agility, afterall. I do like that AlphaDream allowed Assist mode — which shows you which of your characters the enemy is targeting — to be toggled on and off instantly during a battle simply by pressing Start. Between this and other design choices (such as offering enough coins to collect to keep a good supply of Items on hand) makes the battles not very hard, but still fun.
That said, the battles for me are still not as enjoyable as the simple fun of just exploring about and taking in the great atmosphere. AlphaDream has done an excellent job creating a beautifully animated and inviting world to explore and Yoko Shimomurai’s soundtrack is stellar as well. On the whole, in a nutshell, Paper Jam looks, sounds, and plays great and I’m left with little to gripe about.
