When looking at the Mario series, no one would expect RPG adventures to be part of his catalog.
Yet thanks to Super Mario RPG and the decision to continue in the same vein as that classic,
Mario has almost ten RPGs under his belt divided into two series.
The Paper Mario series tends to be more experimental with varying degrees of success while Mario
& Luigi is more consistent but rarely leaves its comfort zone.
So it makes sense to have a crossover where Paper Mario actually meets Mario & Luigi.
But is this meeting of the Marios in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam just retreading old ground
or does it bring something unique to the table?
Paper Jam begins with Luigi trying to fix a hole in Peach’s attic.
Thanks to the antics of a mouse, Luigi accidentally opens a special book that contains the world
of Paper Mario.
Hundreds of Paper Toads and Bowser’s Minions pour across the Mushroom Kingdom including
the paper doppelgangers of the primary characters.
What starts as a simple Toad rescue mission eventually becomes something grander as Bowser
and Paper Bowser begrudgingly combine their forces in an attempt to overwhelm the Mario
Bros. Luckily, Mario & Luigi can count on the help of Paper Mario and his unique abilities
to overcome the Bowsers’ plot.
On paper, it seems to be a very simple story.
And that’s because it really is.
There isn’t a single new character introduced.
Instead Paper Jam focuses on the interactions between the 3D world and the Paper world’s
characters.
And while that could’ve been a problem, the standout writing and humor that Mario
& Luigi is known for is still very much present.
It’s incredibly amusing seeing the Bowsers and Kameks fight amongst each other while
Bowser Jr. actually has fun with his paper duplicate.
And the Peachs compare stories of their kidnappings and things they always wish they could do.
Even the Koopalings, who make their return from Superstar Saga, have good lines as they
wonder why they don’t have Paper versions.
Strangely, it’s the interactions between the Marios and Luigi that are the dullest
since none of them really talk.
We do get some visual jokes between the three but unfortunately they’re few and far between.
But there is one advantage to this lean storytelling.
Compared to previous Mario & Luigi adventures, there is much less forced backtracking.
The trio will return to previous areas on occasion but almost always have some new place
to explore or different interactions.
Despite the standard story, there’s a great sense of constant progression which is welcome
after Dream Team.
Despite being a crossover, Paper Jam plays pretty much like previous Mario & Luigi games.
Each brother is mapped to a button to control their actions both while exploring and during
combat.
As you progress through the game, they learn new abilities to access new areas and special
moves called Bros. Attacks to deal more damage to enemies.
But Paper Jam does add a fair amount of new features to both aspects.
Trio Moves have the brothers work together in order to grab distant objects, fly across
gaps, or dig underground.
Really they’re just new versions of previous game’s Bros. Moves, but Paper Jam does a
good job of making them useful for more than just the obvious like using the Trio Hammer
to flip objects or the Trio Drill to climb walls.
But the single most useful ability in the game is the new dash.
This allows for much quicker exploration of each area while also serving as one of the
methods of catching Paper Toads, which we’ll explain soon.
It’s a simple addition but adds to the overall streamlined feel that Paper Jam has.
Much of the excess that was in previous games has been trimmed.
And this applies to battles as well.
Gone are the overlong tutorials that teach every single aspect of the game at length.
Instead, a quick overview is provided with the option to look at it more in-depth later
on.
This allowed me to skip over the stuff I already knew as a longtime fan and focus on the additions
to the Mario & Luigi formula.
But the biggest addition to battles is Paper Mario himself.
His primary ability is the Copy Block which allows him to create at least six copies of
himself.
This uses up a turn but he gains extra defense as any hit will destroy a copy rather than
damage him, useful since his HP is rather low.
It also applies to his offense where he can jump on an enemy six times in a row or use
his hammer to hit all enemies at once for less damage.
Paper Mario is a great addition and not as overpowered as I feared.
He lacks Mario & Luigi’s strength and if he is hit, I often had to decide whether to
use a turn to fill up his copies or press on with my attack.
In addition, Paper Mario provides access to the new Trio Attacks which are extremely powerful
and use all three brothers.
They’re generally more involved and a bit trickier than the Bros. Attacks, but the damage
output is definitely worth the effort.
Of course, if any one of them falls in battle, it can’t be accessed at all.
This puts emphasis on the player who, like in previous Mario & Luigi RPGs, has to stay
alert during fights as it’s possible to evade or even counterattack every move made
by an enemy.
Looking for tells is important as ever and Paper Jam takes advantage of the new Paper
enemies.
Some will have the copy abilities of Paper Mario and all of them have variations of the
3D enemy attacks.
They’re similar but different enough that you can’t rely on the exact same strategy.
The final addition to fights is the Battle Cards.
A deck of ten can be made before battle which grant special abilities like increased Power,
Speed, or Defense, lowering those stats on the enemies, outright damaging the enemies,
or even increasing the amount of experience or coins that you earn from the fight.
However, each card has a usage cost.
Star Points must be earned to use them and the more powerful they are, the more expensive
the Star Point cost.
It’s another aspect that I worried would make the brothers overpowered, but it’s
balanced in such a way that they never came across that way.
Strategy is key and I enjoyed their inclusion.
And speaking of difficulty, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Paper Jam could
be quite challenging, especially the boss fights.
I never really bothered grinding which actually kept me at an almost consistently lower level
than most enemies.
But I was still able to progress with a moderate challenge thanks to the dodge and counterattack
mechanics.
The bosses legitimately pushed me though.
Each of them found a slightly different way to put pressure on me whether through sheer
numbers, using abilities that I had, or just being downright tough.
They were consistently the highlight of an area and the game is filled with them.
Of course there’s also the addition of Papercraft Battles.
Each fight has players use a unique Papercraft with its own abilities in order to challenge
an enemy version.
Every one of them did feel different while using the same mechanics.
Battles would start with a rhythm mini-game to fill the Toads’ energy which is expended
while charging into enemies or tossing the Papercraft to land on them for massive damage.
It’s simple fun and figuring out the best way to attack the different enemy Papercraft
was satisfying.
I enjoyed it much more than previous Giant Battles from Dream Team and Bowser’s Inside
Story.
Papercraft Battles are just easier to control as they don’t rely on the touch screen.
In fact, the touch screen is really only used for Battle Cards and the map.
The final way Paper Jam mixes things up is with various Challenges that can be accessed
through the Lakitu House.
Most come in the form of rescuing Paper Toads but others involve trivia, puzzles, or chasing
Nabbit for new Bros. Attacks.
They do a great job of mixing up the game and reward you with special Battle Cards and
new attacks.
Some are truly fun and entertaining but others can be a complete bust, most notably any that
involve stealth which is manageable but never fun.
The presentation in Paper Jam is mostly unchanged from Dream Team, but that’s not a bad thing.
Each character emotes really well and many of the animations are downright hilarious.
The new locations are exactly what you’d expect from a Mario game: Plains, Desert,
Forest, etc. and are rarely that interesting to travel through.
But the addition of the Paper world does spice things up.
Seeing the Paper characters move and interact is great to see and the 3DS is capable of
really showing how these worlds are different.
The cardboard landscape that begins appearing also adds some needed variety and there are
great touches like Paper enemies dropping cardboard coins.
It’s the little details that help it stand out.
The music, as always, is great.
It’s Yoko Shimomura who has proven time and again that she can make the Mario & Luigi
soundtracks pop.
Paper Jam is no different.
While Dream Team built off of the ideas of Bowser’s Inside Story, Mario & Luigi: Paper
Jam feels like an extension of the ideas within Partners in Time.
The new mechanics work really well and the addition of Paper Mario feels remarkably natural.
The biggest problem is that it feels a little too standard.
The adventure never goes beyond stopping the two Bowsers and is instead a showcase of the
interactions between the Paper characters and the 3D ones.
They’re great, but Paper Mario fans will be disappointed by the lack of original Paper
characters in the game.
This is definitely a Mario & Luigi game first with paper ideas added in though none from
specific Paper Mario games.
But with all that said, it is a great entry point for fans that have only played the Paper
Mario RPGs.
No backstory is needed and everything is kept simple and familiar.
So while Paper Jam could be seen as just another entry in the Mario & Luigi series, I still
liked it a lot.
It may be just another entry, but these games are fun.
And I always look forward to playing another.
Thanks for watching and of course stay tuned to GameXplain for more on Mario & Luigi, Paper
Mario, and other things gaming.