We haven’t talked about Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam since E3. And that’s because, despite
being excited for it, there wasn’t a whole lot to really say. The trailer exclusively
uses footage from the available demo and not even the Treehouse presentation showed anything
new. Most of this stuff is pretty obvious, but we’ll put the old Analysis Machine to
work nonetheless. So let’s get started.
Now the only story we know for sure about the game is the basic setup in which Luigi
accidentally knocks over the book containing Paper Mario’s world which brings the inhabitants
of that world into the 3D world. But does that mean Bowser and Paper Bowser are the
main villains? Bowser has never been the main villain in any of the Mario & Luigi games,
but he was the primary antagonist in the original Paper Mario and Sticker Star. So it is possible
that Bowser, or both Bowsers, will be the major threat for the first time in a Mario
& Luigi RPG. We even see Bowser kidnap Peach before the trio has to fight Petey Piranha.
Will Paper Bowser do the same to Paper Peach? Oh, and one more thing--the paper version
of him actually talks here, unlike in Sticker Star--which means he’ll behave more like
his appearance in every other Paper Mario game.
And then there’s the question of where the game will take place. We see Peach’s Castle
during the demo so will the entire game take place in the Mushroom Kingdom? That was the
case for Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Bowser’s Inside Story, as well as the original
Paper Mario and Sticker Star. So it wouldn’t be out of place for the Mushroom Kingdom to
be the main setting, especially since it seems the focus is on the meeting of these two spin-offs.
Besides Paper Mario, Paper Peach, and Paper Bowser, the only characters from the Paper
series are the Toads and a few enemies like Paper Goombas and Paper Koopa Paratroopas.
Beyond the Paper enemies, there are also 3D versions of the Goombas and Koopa Troopas.
And Biddybuds are making their RPG debut since first appearing in Super Mario 3D Land--and
since they come from a game that literally has “3D” in the title, it’s not exactly
surprising that’s the form they take here too. Of course, it’s possible they’ll
have a Paper form as well, but so far, every enemy we see in Paper form had already appeared
in the Paper Mario series. So it’s possible new additions, like the Biddy Buds, will take
on the 3D form of Mario & Luigi’s world.
Finally, there’s Petey Piranha who we see in 3D. However, he did have a Paper form in
Sticker Star so is it possible that version will appear as well? Maybe the two will even
team up.
It makes us wonder if this limited selection of Paper characters and enemies means Sticker
Star will be the main inspiration for this crossover, or if we’ll really see some of
the more memorable characters from Paper Mario as the game gets closer to release. At the
very least, we do know that Starlow is returning from Dream Team to act as Mario & Luigi’s
voice and guide.
Perhaps the answer lies in Paper Mario’s abilities. He now has a flutter jump that
he can perform both in battle and in the overworld. This is completely new though he was able
to perform a similar maneuver with the help of Yoshi in The Thousand-Year Door. And speaking
of Thousand-Year Door, Paper Mario’s ability to turn sideways and slip through cracks returns
from that game. He can also become a paper airplane during the chase sequence with Petey
Piranha, something else from the Gamecube classic. It seems to point to Thousand-Year
Door being the primary influence on Paper Mario. And if that’s the case, we wouldn’t
be surprised to see other elements return too--like turning into a paper boat to cross
water-filled paths.
But then there’s the papercraft hammer that he unfolds when performing a Trio Attack.
While not exactly the same, it is reminiscent of the Things, or real-world objects, from
Sticker Star. And when the Trio Attack involving the tennis racquets is selected, the enemies
become stuck to the wall, almost like stickers, similar to how you could turn Things into
Stickers by flinging them at a special board in Sticker Star. The stickers don’t look
exactly the same as the ones in Sticker Star, but it could be a sly reference. Or the developers
are just doing whatever they feel best fits Paper Mario whether it’s a nod to that series
or not. After all, Paper Mario has new abilities like transforming into a shuriken during the
other Trio Attack or his new Copy ability. We can see from before this is activated that
Paper Mario has HP just like the brothers, but once the Copy ability is activated, it’s
replaced by the number of copies he has.
And this ability seems incredibly potent since it doesn’t take up a turn. He can then jump
on enemies up to six times in a row or spread out his copies to hit all of the enemies with
a hammer at once. What’s truly incredible is that this ability seems to prevent any
real damage done to Paper Mario. An attack that connects with him only makes one copy
disappear. There’s no indication that his health dropped either. In fact, the only time
Paper Mario loses multiple copies is when Petey Piranha chomps down on him, each bite
destroying a copy. But even then, Paper Mario can select Copy on the next turn and seemingly
have no punishment done to him. Could the health be tracked in the background or is
Paper Mario really this powerful?
We’re just about done here, but there is one final thing to note. During the tennis
scene, Mario & Luigi each hold a racquet with M & L on it respectively, whereas Paper Mario’s
just has a “P” for paper. And this is interesting for a couple of reasons. One,
it reinforces the idea that this is Mario & Luigi’s world and they’re the main characters,
whereas Paper Mario is the outsider. However, we are suspicious of how generic that “P
for Paper” seems to be--we can’t help but wonder if you might be able to swap out
the Paper Mario character for other Paper characters, like say Paper Luigi, or Paper
Peach--similar to the partner mechanic of the Paper Mario games themselves. It might
be a stretch, but it’d be pretty cool.
Until we see new footage of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, it’s impossible to say what all
of the influences will be. The Paper Mario references seem focused around The Thousand-Year
Door and Sticker Star for now. But that could change with time. We’ll just have to wait
and see. Of course, let us know if there are any other nods to the previous games we may
have missed in the comments. If you liked this video, be sure to like us on Facebook
or follow us on Twitter at GameXplain to keep up with everything we do. Thanks for watching,
and make sure to stay tuned to GameXplain for more on Mario and other things gaming.