What We Already Know

Nintendo’s Paper Mario games have experienced its series of ups and downs, with the most recent Wii edition leaving fans wanting something more. What separates the Paper Mario games from the rest of the Mario lineage are the RPG elements. It’s not an RPG-RPG like Square Enix’s Super Mario RPG, though…more of a quasi-RPG or an action RPG. It wouldn’t be Mario without platforming elements and Paper Mario’s combat, though turn based, has always incorporated basic Mario elements.

What We’re Seeing Now

Like most of the 3DS demos, not much. Nintendo wasn’t letting me actually play Paper Mario, but the non-interactive demo (essentially watching in-engine clips of the game, complete with 3D effects) certainly promised a brand-new Paper Mario that properly took advantage of 3DS. The combat looked like the traditional back-and-forth the Paper Mario series is known for, but 3D was the star here. The papercraft look didn’t exactly come out of the screen, but the contrast between the traditional cartoonish 3D Mario environments and the papercraft objects worked very well. Plus, Nintendo is clearly going to be playing tricks on you with the 3D. At one point, smashing a block prompted the wall behind Mario to sink back, revealing a new space to play in. The game was clearly early (it didn’t have a final name), but I’m just glad to have Paper Mario back – 3D or no 3D.