Leveling Up Together
Looking forward to the Super Mario RPG Remake, we take a look back at the game's spiritual successor: Paper Mario
I loved Super Mario RPG. I was still in elementary school when it came out, during a time in my life where RPGs were mostly limited to Chrono Trigger and a Final Fantasy or two. One of the games that helped foster my love of the genre. A rare (at the time) collaboration with Nintendo, it boasted hallmark sleek development from Squaresoft. The game had it all - and knew it. If crisp graphics, snappy music, or interactive combat weren't enough...it had Mario, Bowser, and Peach fighting alongside each other. I was hooked.
I expected a sequel, but it never came. Instead, a few years later I was introduced to a spiritual successor in Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64. Although it retained turn-based combat, it ditched party management and other RPG staples that, to me, watered down what was great about Super Mario RPG. I was eager to write off the game, deriding it as a kid's game. After all, it was a new millennium, and I was a teenager. While I would eventually come around to Paper Mario and it’s sequel, I have always been partial to Super Mario RPG. The nostalgia for that SNES game would grow as the Paper Mario series would move further from RPG mechanics with each iteration.
While we may never see a true sequel to Super Mario RPG, a remake is coming out on November 17. With my two kids eagerly counting down to the release of Super Mario 'Arr Pee Gee" this week, we've been cutting our teeth on the Paper Mario series. I recently wrote about Super Paper Mario, the 2007 Wii iteration of the series, after my son "discovered" it at the local library. That game abandoned turn-based combat entirely, and is a good first foray into RPGs with younger players.
However, playing Paper Mario with my kids has been a completely different experience and one that can serve as a great introduction to RPGs due to the simplified, but still present, RPG mechanics. Funnily enough, the gameplay design choices I lamented 20 years ago are part of Paper Mario's lasting charm - and why it's another great game to use to introduce young gamers to role-playing games.
The Mario universe is a great setting to draw in a younger gamer who is new to the genre. Most people, gamers and newbies alike, are familiar with Mario, Bowser and their castmates, making early buy-in easy. The plot is classic Mario - guess who has been kidnapped - with a few small wrinkles and a great dose of inspiration from Super Mario RPG. The story is told simply but well-constructed, relayed to the player through chapters of a storybook, and very easy to follow. The story is buttressed by sharp writing and a host of original characters who are based on existing Mario lore. It feels kind of silly to regard something as "Mario lore," but I wrote it and we have to live with that.
Fans of fighting alongside Peach and Bowser will be disappointed, as the concept of party members is tweaked. Instead of three combatants with their own HP, Mario can rotate from a growing selection of party members with their own abilities - a Goomba who can scan enemy stats and weaknesses; a Cheep-Cheep that helps Mario swim; and even a Bomb-omb - each with distinct personalities, too. While they don't have their own health or equipment to manage, they are still integral to the gameplay and help liven the proceedings. When playing with my kids, we took time with each new party member to go over their combat and general abilities, like using "Tattle" to discern enemy health, and why we couldn't use Mario's jump ability on a spiked Goomba as well as the importance of working together as a team.
The combat system is incredibly accessible to young gamers. In combat, players must manage Mario's HP, whose health represents the entire party. Low HP totals make number comprehension more accessible, especially in the context of combat management. The turn-based system allowed us to discuss certain command options, with my daughter pointing out Mario couldn't use his hammer against flying enemies. The slower pace of combat allowed us to discuss the importance of choosing the right actions and how to time button presses to earn attack or defense bonuses, as well as basic item management. I remember scoffing at Mario having "only" 10 HP at the start of the game when I was 13; playing the game again in my thirties with a 1st grader, and I am thankful.
Likewise the progression system is balanced, intuitive - and appropriately simple. Mario is awarded "star" points which serve as experience points, gaining a level with every 100 star points. At each level, players can choose to boost Mario's hit points, flower points (magic), or badge points. Badges provide additional tweaks to combat and gameplay, although activating badges require badge points, forcing players to strategize which badges to use at a certain time. Fresh off the heels of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and my kids felt right at home.
Explaining the concept of "leveling up" was surprisingly easy, especially in the framework of explaining Mario's incremental growth. Soon enough my kids were letting me know Mario was about to level up, and giddy at the idea they were to choose which stat increase he would receive at that point. Even my preschooler was eager to knock out a few enemies. Naturally, each level up increase was an opportunity for my kids to fight over whose turn it was to choose; one they always accepted with gusto. Watching Mario's health increase from 10 to 15, and then to 25 HP demonstrated growth in a way my daughter was able to conceptualize on her own, without excessive Dadsplaining, making our shared screen time more enjoyable and memorable.
Navigating the light puzzle elements, as well as thinking strategically as to which party member abilities we could use emphasized analytical thinking and problem-solving, skills that are fundamental in gaming and life in general. Doing all this with my oldest is simply awesome in that full-circle or circle-of-life parenting moment we hear about but so rarely observe in the wild. Teaching these mechanics through an accessible package wrapped in a Super Mario skin is a great time for everyone. Joined with the beautiful graphical presentation and jazzy soundtrack, it's easy to see why Paper Mario is loved - because it is a great game and introduction to the genre. That so much of Super Mario RPG's DNA is baked into Paper Mario's combat, story, and presentation makes it a spiritual successor that builds on those elements while being unafraid to innovate and experiment. It's something the series continues to do even twenty years later, even if more recent iterations may have strayed too far from it’s RPG roots.
With Paper Mario's sequel, The Thousand Year Door, set for an HD remaster next year, there will be another opportunity to enjoy a classic turn-based Mario RPG, especially since the series begins to lose a lot of the RPG mechanics thereafter. But for now, we are savoring Paper Mario together, and planning on finishing just in time for Super Mario RPG at the end of the week.
A few have asked for my thoughts on Super Mario Bros. Wonder after writing about it last month. My kids and I loved it. I do think it is one of the best 2D platforming Mario games around, and captures the essence of what makes Super Mario Bros. such an enduring series. The Wonder Flower gimmick worked beautifully. I caught myself grinning every time we reached a new one because you have no idea what the developers are going to hit you with.
The game is not perfect - I would clear levels at night while the kids were asleep, because playing these games multiplayer with children can be a total hassle. I liked the idea that Yoshi and Nabbit couldn’t take damage, but it was disappointing they could not use power-ups.
I appreciate that friendly fire has been removed, and the centering of the camera around the player with the crown helped stabilize chaotic multiplayer proceedings. Is anyone else’s kids fighting over who can reach the highest point at the flagpole, though?
My biggest disappointment was the boss encounters. Too much Bowser Jr, and not a Koopaling in sight has left my son quite sour. We’ll always have “Wowie Zowie,” though.