The latest Nintendo Direct finally provided a release date for Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.
And while it may not be until the end of January, they did provide new details on what we can
expect from the Mario RPG crossover. But the old Analysis Machine isn’t satisfied with
just that. So we’re taking a closer look at not only the North American Direct but
the European one as well to see just how many secrets and hidden details we could find.
Of course, be sure to watch our previous analyses on Paper Jam as we’ll only be handling the
new information here. Right off the bat, we get to see Paper Mario’s
coil ability in motion. When breaking it down, we see that Luigi acts as the base while Paper
Mario gets in the middle, morphing his body into a coil to stretch even further, which
allows Mario to grab distant objects. What’s strange about this sequence though is that
the hand icon begins with Mario before switching to Paper Mario as the animation plays out.
We think that this is because Mario is the one to activate the transformation, but it’s
up to Paper Mario to decide when to stretch out and help Mario grab the fruit.
The fruit is the goal of their current quest too as we can see a counter in the top corner
of the screen. However, this isn’t like the Paper Toad quests as the area seems like
a natural continuation of the Mushroom Kingdom forest. We can see a question block in the
distance which has never appeared during the Paper Toad quests. And speaking of the forest,
this is our first time getting a look at it after seeing the game’s map in the Famitsu
scans. Another new area we get a look at is Bowser’s
Castle which seems to be the final location in the game. Like other versions of Bowser’s
Castle, it’s naturally filled with lava though some of it shoots up in geysers, lifting
platforms into the air. It’s a simple platforming challenge at best though we can also see that
Boomerang Bros will act as enemies. What’s intriguing though is the floor beneath him.
It’s completely different from the checkerboard pattern on either side; instead appearing
cracked and made of stone. Is it possible that it’ll break in some way? Could that
be the area’s goal? Bowser’s Castle also gives us a glimpse
at one of Paper Mario’s other transformations, the Paper Airplane. We saw him do this before
in battle, but here we see that he can ferry Mario and Luigi across large gaps. Unfortunately,
we don’t see the actual start-up but we believe it must be activated at specific spots
since there’s an arrow symbol on the floor on the other side.
The new footage also gives us a taste of the Mushroom Kingdom coast though only in battles.
At first it seems like these scenes only show fights against Paper Piranha Plants, Paper
Koopa Troopas, and Shiny Paper Koopa Troopas from Sticker Star, but the background provides
another example of papercraft scenery. In this case, a papercraft coconut tree. However,
the new trailer that played during the European Direct finally shows the origin of all of
these papercraft sets. It turns out that Paper Kamek is the one summoning them into existence.
To what end, we’re not sure as he seems to make traveling the area much easier for
the brothers. The European Direct provided a lot more scenes
of Mario & Luigi’s gameplay as well. And many reveal a host of new enemies such as
Paper Swoopers, Paper Spear Guys, Pokeys, and Shiny Hammer Bros. Some are even making
their RPG debut. The first we see is a large group of Chargin’ Chucks. Then there’s
Sandmaargh, who is much more recent, first appearing in Super Mario 3D Land. But the
newest are the Horned Ant Troopers which first appeared in Super Mario 3D World.
Along with the new enemies, we see one of the new Triple Moves that’ll be available,
the Triple Drill. Based on the surrounding area, it looks like it will allow them to
travel up dirt walls. This Drill also appears during battle, though it’s limited to just
being a Bros. Attack as Paper Mario stays on the sidelines. Finally, we get a few more
new locations. First up is a cave filled with jewels, but it only appears during battle.
The overworld map shown in Famitsu doesn’t have a place for caves which makes us think
that it’s part of the snowy mountains. But there is one more cave except it’s not the
same as there are no jewels. We suspect that it’s from an earlier area since there is
where Sandmaargh is found and it is only level 6.
So it appears that caves will be used to flesh out certain parts of the Mushroom Kingdom.
But we also get a look at a Toad village that’s inside the forest. Strangely this scene has
them running around the village to try to catch a Yellow Yoshi for some reason. It seems
to be part of an obstacle course of some kind too what with all of the jumps and the speed
pad on the right side. Maybe a villager lost his Yoshi and the brothers have to catch him?
The European Direct also provided a quick look at several story sequences from the game
as well as the opening title screen which features Paper Mario pulling away a sheet
of Paper characters to reveal the brothers on the left while Bowser, Bowser Jr., Peach,
and their paper counterparts on the other side. The background is a mixture of traditional
mountains and their papercraft versions. We also get to see the room where Luigi discovers
the book containing Paper Mario’s world. When looking at the footage of the opening
from Nintendaan’s preview on Nintendo World Report, we realize that this room is in the
castle’s attic where he and a Toad try to fix a hole. But thanks to the antics of a
mouse that scares Luigi, the book containing Paper Mario’s world falls and bursts open.
Then there are several scenes involving the Bowsers including one where we finally see
the two of them uniting their armies along with the Kameks. Once their army is ready,
they storm Peach’s Castle to kidnap their respective princess though oddly, Peach is
looking away for some reason. We doubt that this the case since we later see that she’s
kidnapped along with Paper Peach, but it honestly makes us wonder if it’s a decoy. Maybe it’s
played for laughs and fails to trick Bowser as he kidnaps the real one? Or more likely,
it’s just the way she happens to be looking during this particular moment.
Finally, the European Direct provides a look at several new and returning elements. First
of all, it won’t just be Papercraft Mario that the brothers can ride on. We now see
that Papercraft Yoshi will be an option as well. But this begs the question, does it
have different stats or is it merely for looks? And could this mean that we’ll see Papercraft
Luigi, Peach, and maybe even more characters? It’d be a great way to add more personality
to these fights. Then we get to see that the Bros. Block returns
as well though it’s been expanded into a Trio Block for all three of them to hit. And
Beans are back too as we can see X’s in the ground where they can be dug up. The question
is, can Paper Mario eat the beans or are they reserved only for Mario and Luigi? And then
there’s our first look at Nabbit in action. All we see are three Toads giving him chase
while Mario watches from the right side. What has Nabbit stolen though? Well, thanks once
again to Nintendaan, we know it’s the Bros. Moves. At specific points, you’ll have to
run around to catch him and this will unlock the new move.
And with that, there’s really only one thing left to discuss, Battle Cards. These look
to be the biggest addition to Mario & Luigi’s battle system and take up the entire bottom
screen. Here we can see three card stacks in the center. Thanks to the European Direct,
we know that the cards can’t be flipped unless there some available in the top right
corner’s counter. Tapping one will flip over one of the cards to reveal what it’s
capable of and tapping them again will actually use it. But the card cannot be used at all
unless the player has enough Star Points. These are earned by doing well in battle.
However, we’re not sure what the medal or book options actually do. It could be that
the book shows this card screen that lists all of your available cards and the ability
to manage which ones you want to use. But this feels more appropriate for a menu option
outside of battle. And we have very little idea what the medal option does as it doesn’t
even appear at one point during the European Direct so it must be unlocked through the
story after a certain point. The final icon is the amiibo character card option which
is where the amiibo cards are accessed. Going back to the card menu, we see that a
few have checkmarks indicating that they’ve been selected. This is also when the Remove
option is highlighted. At no point in this scene does the Add option become selectable.
And that’s likely because a deck of ten has already been made, which is the maximum
amount for these battle cards. Then there’s what the cards can do exactly.
One costs five stars but restores 20% of every characters’ HP, another only costs 3 stars
and increases the party’s attack power for a short time, and the others increase defense
and speed respectively. There’s even a card that costs 8 stars to damage all enemies as
well as the ones that Bill lists off like increasing the amount of coins earned and
decreasing an enemy’s level. Though we do wonder if decreasing their level will also
decrease the amount of experience earned. But the biggest focus was given to the amiibo
character cards. Thanks to Nintendaan, we know that special question mark cards must
be found or bought in order to scan an amiibo to it. But the actual card that appears is
random as part of a roulette. Of course Mario will always give Mario cards and likewise
for the other compatible amiibo. However, there are a few restrictions. First of all,
while the amiibo Character Cards cost no Star Points, they can only be used once per battle.
And considering that the amiibo has to be scanned to even access the set, they’re
not the best option while on trips. Looking at the cards themselves, we see a
lot of examples of the artwork. There’s Basketball Mario, Stone Tanooki Mario, classic
Mario artwork of him breaking a brick, Mario flying in either his Racoon or Tanooki suit,
and Rainbow Mario from the Mario Galaxy games. But the one that ends up being chosen is Fire
Mario from the original game which hits all enemies for 30 damage. And later on we see
that each character card does indeed have a different effect. More cards include Mario
using a hammer from Mario & Luigi artwork, Tanooki Mario running, Coin Block Mario which
we see increases the amount of coins earned by 30%, small Mario which doubles the chance
of critical hits, classic small Mario which increases the amount of Star Points earned
so that cards can be used more frequently, and modern Fire Mario which has the same effect
as the classic version. Beyond this, we see that there are also golden character cards
though we have no way of seeing what makes them different. We just know that they’re
Stone Tanooki Mario and Paper Mario artwork from Sticker Star.
The other compatible amiibo include Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, and Bowser though we only
get to see examples of Luigi and Yoshi’s character cards. Luigi’s cards include him
in the Flying Squirrel Suit from New Super Mario Bros. U, artwork of him golfing, Fox
Luigi which earns star points proportional to the amount of damage you’ve taken, Bee
Luigi which hits all flying monsters with 50 damage, Mario Kart Luigi which raises the
party’s speed by 35% for a short time, Dream Team Luigi, and artwork of Mario & Luigi’s
drill move. Yoshi’s cards show him with a traffic cone
on his tail, his submarine transformation, him throwing an egg which does 30 damage to
all enemies, Yarn Yoshi which reduces the cost of the revealed battle cards by 30%,
modern Yoshi using his tongue which allows you to use the previous battle card again,
mine cart Yoshi which earns star points proportional to damage taken, Luigi and Yoshi artwork,
and finally Mario riding Yoshi from Super Mario Galaxy 2. But the Yoshi cards also reveal
the first repeats of effects that the other character cards had as well. This means that
all of the effects can be earned through a single amiibo. The only difference is in the
artwork that’s unlocked based on the character that’s scanned in.
And with that, we’ve detailed everything that we could find in the new footage of Mario
& Luigi: Paper Jam from the Nintendo Direct. It’s definitely looking like a Mario & Luigi
game with Paper Mario elements though we must admit that the battle cards seem a little
too powerful, especially the amiibo ones. Hopefully, the game is able to balance them
so that the game isn’t too easy. But of course, let us know if we missed anything
in the comments. If you liked this video, be sure to like us on Facebook or follow us
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