Kersti's dialogue when she was in that web should have been the start of a character arc about her treating Mario better, thinking he intentionally left her behind because of how she mistreated him and when he comes back for her she takes it as a second chance to make up for her past mistakes. It's not instant, she starts nagging at him once and catches her mistake, but she goes from being a bitch to just being sassy.
I deadass thought it was supposed to be that way. She is snarky, an asshole and so on at the beginning like usual, but the longer she's left alone, the more she also talks about the immense pressure she's under and how she feels terrible, which could've been very easy to convert into a character arc of her becoming nicer to Mario, being more open, and more openly helpful.
Having a sidekick who's a bitch to the main character, especially a silent protagonist, only really works if that character arc happens *very* early on, or if they are not the only one talking. Waiting till chapter 3 would just be unacceptable.
@@mariotheundying if she started being awful at the beginning of chapter 3, sure. If there were other, non-awful, party members that can speak, that'd be fine. But if you spend the first two, three house of the game having your "sidekick" just whine, insult you, be as unhelpful as possible, and just complain, and there's no other dialogue, you WILL lose a lot of people. Rightfully so. Or those that keep playing will ignore the plot because it's terrible, which isn't much better
A note, from the TCRF page on this game: "Possible unused data: by hacking Kersti into the inventory outside of the final boss, you can sell her for 15 coins." Shows how much the developers valued her.
That's even better when you consider the first time you enter the Decalburg shop, she ponders how much she'd be worth if she could be sold there, before of course concluding she'd probably be incredibly expensive, if not priceless
Fun fact: when Gooper Blooper poisons you (making your attacks miss everytime), you can use a poison mushroom to "just regularly poison yourself" which stops Mario's attacks from missing Curious, I didn't know food poisoning could cure liquid poisoning and blindness...
That's the old "inflict yourself with a status effect so the enemy can't" strategy from the old rpg days. Did the devs not think to let statuses stack on top of each other? Odd oversight for an rpg these day but what do you expect for Sticker Star.
@@quartz_gg9090 should’ve been ink instead of poison tbh, makes more sense thematically and mechanically And so there isn’t two different Poison status effects that are named the same and look the same
It's sad how I thought the best written character in this game was specifically Wiggler Segment #4. Seeing it run to the harbour to get a boat and try to fix the problem on its own is just great. In that little moment that singular segment of a Wiggler showed more emotions than most of the other characters combined.
The next most likable character is then Mizzter Blizzard. Then, there are no more characters, and if there are they certainly aren’t likable, but functional.
@@iantaakalla8180 I felt bad for Mizzter Blizzard because it was a Frosty the Snowman reference, he didn’t want to melt away, so he was fighting for his own survival, unlike the other bosses
It was actually a lot cooler than the dragons in Skyrim. The dragons in Skyrim are lame, especially when one shows up mid quest and you've already fought 487 of them.
Maybe Intelligent systems can finally reclaim the brain cells they threw into the dumpster fire that is this game one year, and actually revitalize what made Paper Mario great, using characters not only from this series, but others as well. I could totally see the Tostarenos fitting perfectly in a Paper Mario game.
@@asherrudick3912 honestly i have no hope forthem by this point. They made the majority of the main villains in origami king RANDOM SHIT they likely had lying around the office. "so who's the villain of this area?" "Umm uhhh PENCILS." "...brillaint."
@@sarafontanini7051Lets hope that this time Nintendo itself acts. Its kinda unfair what we had original character, new and refereshing ideas like Wonder and *a f*cking Remake of Paper Mario inspiration* but not here Because a Guy named Tanabe doesn't want to stop putting poor ideas despise they never worked to begin with(the games he directed where considered the *worst* on their franchise, like Federation Forces or Chibi Robo 3DS).
4:17 You just revived an ancient, decade-old, repressed memory of mine. I remember setting my 3DS down during one of these *exact* battles to go help my mom with something and coming back to the title screen. It took me a while to find out that the reason I was there wasn't because of some weird glitch or a bad memory, but because the battle killed me while I was gone. Thanks for that flashback, Chuggs!
I remember coming back and picking up my ds and as soon as I looked at Mario he died. I wasn’t mad. In fact I actually started laughing. I killed Mario with a single look. Fear me.
Imagine this scene from a sitcom. Person A is being angry and spiteful, so they compose some sort of vicious message towards Person B. It's just meant for catharsis, and they aren't going to send it to them. But due to some unpredictable circumstance, the message ends up being sent to Person B. Hijinx ensue as Person A and their friends try to keep Person B from getting the note. That's what this game feels like. It's like a hate letter to Paper Mario that accidentally went to market.
It's that one episode of Zack and Cody where (if I remember correctly) Maddie composes a mean-spirited email towards Mr. Mosby with the intent of deleting it afterwards, then she walks away for a sec, and London walks by and hits "Send" and then they have to figure out how to get into his email and delete it.
@@supernintendo182 I think "The Loud House" also had an early episode like that, albeit Lincoln deliberately leaves an angry message and then chooses to stop it from being heard after.
Seeing Chugga this genuinely upset and disappointed is as terrifying as when someone's grandma gets upset and disappointed. *No one is safe.* (Side note, the Thumbtack into Mario's face caught me off guard, needed a laugh after this week. Thank you!)
I bet nobody knew this since the game never tells you. During the fight with the gooper blooper, if he hits you with the super poison, you can use a poison mushroom and sort off cure it. You’re still taking damage but it gets rid of the screen poison and your attacks won’t miss.
IDK how much it counts, since it sounds more like exploiting the fact that the system lets you have only one debuff at once to replace a crippling debuff with a weaker one than a cure for it.
A couple of things for those who don't know, 1: The bowling ball only crashes against the blooper boss when you get an excellent (maybe for a good or great, idk). My guess is that the playtester for that boss didn't know about the thing sticker action commands. 34:52 2: What Kersti wanted you to do on the boss fight was wait till the turn right before the blooper spews its poison to put up the sponge so it'll soak it up and spew it back, blinding the blooper instead.
Thanks for the clarification! My theory was either action commands or it was a PAL region problem, but I couldn’t test either by the time I was past recording this part and didn’t think of it when I was at the fight.
If I'm not mistaken, doing the sponge thing with the blooper boss also changes the music to be a remix of 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. I always liked that kinda thing, the fight turning in your favor and the music reflecting it. Just a shame that the boss fight wasn't necessarily hard to begin with.
Neat little thing about the Gooper Blooper fight: The sponge IS the dev intended thing sticker... but it's meant to be used the same turn that Gooper Blooper's about to blast you with ink. If you do this, he inks the sponge, and the sponge flicks the ink back into his face! You even get a nice remix of the mario theme and three whole turns where Gooper Blooper misses all of his attacks AND takes poison damage! does it make up for chapter 3? No. Not at all. That said, it does make it the most interesting of the "boss that's weak to specific thing sticker" fights
Yeah. Charriii5 made a rant about the Gooper Blooper part of this game on his "Everything Wrong With" video on Paper Mario: Sticker Star. It was the final breaking point of him admitting that he hated this game.
@@chugga This is true considering you have to WAIT for this turn to use it. I remember playing the first time and being so afraid of misusing or not bringing the right thing sticker to the fight.
When the screenshot of the deleted enemies popped up, I was blown away. I thought the visual on-screen would be stated to be a fan ROM hack. In a world where Sticker Star took its Normal Pills, I would look at designs such as Snake with Evil Eyes and Mustache Monty Mole and call them "boring Mario RPG enemies," but in this context they're suddenly like someone reinvented the wheel.
@@chugga Not only that, but the beta version had new creative environments and a few battle options; an S Meter probably for special moves. I'm sure you might cover that in your next video.
To those who are new and surprised by how he’s able to make this many parts for his hatred for this video game… To quote chugga: “I CAN AND WILL NERD OUT ON YOU!”
there's a running joke on the guy's channel: (the one who leaves things in jars for months to see what happens to stuff) that he likes pickles even though he claims to hate pickles. you could say chugga likes this game secretly but in chugga's case, NAH His hate is so powerful that he WILL out nerd you with over 5 hours of footage about why this game sucks.
I can sorta understand if Nintendo doesn't want a spin-off series to introduce a million new species and races into the sacred Mario lore, but I feel like there has to be a middle ground somewhere between that and only being limited to: Toad, Goomba, Koopa.
Thing is: they don´t have to. The franchise is positively SEEPING with loads of seldom-used races and characters: whittles, ukiki, gearmos, lumas, jibberjays, penguins, mousers, fry guys, tweeters, bonneters, tostarenans, jaxis, new donkers, LM ghosts... You can have a veritable cornucopia of characters and people without even HAVING to think too hard about a new race. So that rule of "no new character designs" makes even less sense.
@@Cthulu1985fan games coukd easily try to include an ocean level with dragoneels and maybe have an aquatic partner that's there to help guide you around
Kirby doing the true work in making sure Emile doesn't go COMPLETELY insane doing this lol. As a good cat should.(Mine perked up when they heard Kirby meowing. I decided to interpret them as going "ah yes, we hear a cat doing their emotional support work good good.")
Chapter 3 was the first time I think I experienced gamer rage as a child. I got so lost, so confused, and adamantly refused to use a guide because I was "a smart little cookie". How naive I was to not know that the winning move was just to not play.
@@chugga oh wow! Ye absolutely!! You definitely did a fantastic job and the editing is absolutely amazing with spectacular timing and visuals used as well!!! I'd love to see more like it if you have a passion to do more like it!
@@chugga Tbh 100% agree with you because after about a quarter of World 3 and trying my best to power through the game, I legit said this is bad and gave up, it was fun seeing all the moments or some aspects of charm you do miss out on sadly but the tedium to get those highs is just not worth experiencing, heck I tried watching somebody playthrough it and got so bored watching said playthrough even though the creator was *trying* hard to make it interesting.
kersti to me feels like what alphadream tried to do with starlow but at the VERY LEAST starlow actually pulls her weight and helps you through the adventure like communicating with bowser and messing with luigi while hes sleeping.
plus unlike Kersti, Starlow is actually a likable character and she's got a good personality, the only time she usually displays frustration is when it comes to Luigi's cowardly nature
When I saw little bits of this before knowing how deep the rabbit hole went I legit was like "Oh just starlow again." But kersti doesn't have anything to be likeable! Starlow and Bowser are hilarious!
@@BubblingBrooke Actually, now that I think about it. He was barely even annoying, all he was providing information to the player throughout the game. Speaking of which, Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time was only *slightly* similar to Sticker Star in only one way if you think about it. Just how Sticker Star uses consumable attacks, Partners in Time uses Bros. Items, meaning that you effectively need to grind for lots of coins to possibly do lots of damage. But at least there's the Jump and Hammer commands which are infinite, and the game seems to do a good job at handing you Bros. Items in some areas of the game anyways. Someone once also made a complaint about Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time recycling some puzzles from Superstar Saga, and another could complain of how this game doesn't seem to handle time travel correctly like Chrono Trigger. At least Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time is still *LEAGUES* better than Paper Mario: Sticker Star.
It's crazy how much the drawing of Mario in the Book of Wiggler looks like the drawings I did as a kid after playing TTYD for the first time. The first thing in this game I've ever seen that inspires genuine positive emotion in me.
Kersti is genuinely the worst p.m. helper out of all the games that came before her because for every flaw the other main "helpers" had, they had personality and reason to back up their actions. Goombario is a nice kid who's way in over his head sometimes who thinks he could handle an adventure with Mario which he pulls himself all the way through for. Goombella is a very sassy tomboy who is generally rude sometimes but that's only when she feels she's being mistreated by strangers and though not interacting much with everyone else shows that she holds her soft side for her companions as she goes along. Tippy is distant to you at first but has the most fleshed out story to a partner in the game and runner-up to bombery in the whole series as it takes 8 worlds to get so used to her presence that it feels genuinely heart breaking when not only she needs to leave but a former villian gives you a robotic version of her that refuses to believe it's not her. Hell even HUEY is more likeable because his character is put to a more comedic and jab in your side type of character of Kersti archetype, but even he knows when to give you general hints (sometimes like Kersti, not good enough hints) and only gets mad at Mario specifically rightfully because Mario whacks him on the head with a hammer the first time they meet, even though the game requires it. I haven't played o.k. but you can't make anything more unlikable and unhelpful then Kersti if you tried, cementing the fact that this game is the greatest game you can make with its core concepts. It's just those concepts are extremely flawed and always doubled down on.
Also you didn't cover that in chapters 2 and 3 at least, after you already are committed to fighting the boss normally Kersti will give you a major hint as to how to beat the boss. But because in the first few turns blooper shoots ink at you that means that if you didn't get the sponge or the HP sponge pun well enough then you only get a hint at having a CHANCE to beat the boss after you've already fundamentally lost. It's such ass and at that point why make a helper character if you could just have the hindsight that's developed in three year olds
If you wonder about Olivia, she’s pretty cute, and she actually helps you out in combat by becoming giant beasts to both maul the enemies on the field, and assist you with other stuff, easily the best of the modern PM helpers, high up with the ogs
So glad to finally hear somebody call out the wiggler's diary. I was so pissed when this game came out and I went through all the trouble of 100% completing it up to that point, dealing with all the annoyances like having to collect every mandatory thing sticker a second time to put it in the museum, only to find out partway through world 3 that i missed some diary collectible that I never could have even known existed and that there was no way to ever get it. It's just baffling
to be fair, i find it hard to compare a standalone indie game to a spinoff of a massive game series when it comes to introducing characters. like, of course the story that takes place in a preexisting world isn't going to have as many new characters as the completely original story
Came back to rewatch this after maybe 4 months since it was published. The Footage Used section in the credits showing Krow's Graveyard took me by surprise. For those curious, Krow is a completionist channel who actually has some incredible series. I believe the footage Chugga used was that clip he showed from Paper Mario Origami King showing Mario in the Gondola with a bob-omb. Krow's Graveyard is literally the last person I would expect to see in the credits section of a Chuggaaconroy video and I am happy Krow has received some recognition for his work. If any of you are interested in a 100% playthrough of a wide variety of games I would consider checking him out.
Emile - I don't want to risk actively and exclusively promoting negativity on this channel, since that doesn't seem to be your MO most of the time, but this has been by far one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen from you in the past 15 years Moments like the whiplash from no music at 31:30 and other small editing gags are absolute gutbusters, and I would love to see more video essay-style stuff from you like this, assuming you find anything else to talk in-depth about like Sticker Star (which in fairness, was the perfect topic for this style)
@@chuggahonestly would 100% adore a series like this, not particularly negative but essays like this starting with the paper marios! Cause obviously there’s extremely good things to say about the original 3 (4 counting smrpg) and might help convince some people to give super paper mario a try! I always feel it’s a bit of the cult classic one that ended up more liked waaaayyy after it came out. Thank you for all the laughs emile!
10:28 I love that snark - "You can't speak to someone who's not here." Cracks me up, as it's so obviously passive-aggressive; they could've just had "Kersti's not here" and been done with it, but the snark makes it five times better.
"You can't speak to someone who's not here." ...That implies I want to talk to her in the first place, and why would I waste my time talking to someone who has nothing worthwhile to say?
@@smashmaster521 Maybe the game knew you wanted to talk to someone who wasn't Kersti but wanted to point out that it's just you and her and no one else in your journey.
36:39 I think I know what happened here. You were correct about using the sponge to defeat the Gooper Blooper, but if you use the sponge when it's slamming its tentacles on the ground, the sponge will absorb all of the poison it spits and wring it out back at the boss, damaging it. This also causes a remixed version of the Super Mario theme to play.
I remember hearing a lot of people say Olivia in Origami King was a bad character but here's the thing. Olivia had personality, Olivia reacted to events in a very real way, Olivia played off the other characters had some pretty funny and strong moments with them, and Olivia actually helps you with useful hints throughout the game and doesn't constantly complain that you didn't do things the "correct way". To me, aside from the fact we needed a reason to explain how Mario could stick stickers to the world to solve puzzles, you could cut Kersti out and there would be zero difference in the writing and actually may have made the game more enjoyable.
I liked Olivia. I liked Huey, Tippi, and the other past partners in the OG Trilogy a little better......if not equally. But still, I thought she was charming, cute, helpful in many circumstances whenever you're stuck, and even has a few different talents she finds for herself on her journey with Mario to stop her racist brother. No idea what the hate is about, honestly. OK is awesome, even without EXP. I just wish that the ring battle system was strictly just for bosses bc I think that's the only time it actually works. But even then, it's not intolerable. CS is right alongside it, if not a little bit above or below it bc it actually has its own EXP and the only problem I have with it is filling out the museum bc Enemy Cards are STUPID RARE or I'm unlucky bc I'm me. Paper Jam is an actual RPG. Not really any new characters but the game is fun, challenging in some points, funny, boss fights are mostly creative and well-designed, music's fantastic as always, and we got the confirmation of just what the Paper Mario world is and that it's technically a part of the normal Mario world. This montrosity sucks ass. Best to call it non-canon and move on bc nothing really happens. The OG Trilogy is forever timeless. TTYD and Super have a few flaws that are a PAIN but nothing to hate the whole experience over. And there you have it, Chugga-fans! You got this Fox's take on PM. Nice to meet you.
Olivia is actively engaged in the story and feels like a genuine party member, a genuine companion that you sit with just to have quiet moments and talk, having actual character development and just a genuine and touching character. Why couldn't they have done it with kersti?
@@danielcurren2119 You are precisely right. But I think we know the answer as to why. The short answer is bc fuck everyone. The long answer is because of the "development history" with this schlock. The only people who like Kersti are certain "artists" on the internet who desperately need a real significant other, probably. Things are getting better little by little, but PM shouldn't have been assassinated like this to begin with. Emile has an amazing point: Why does every other sub series in Mario get the green light for originality, gameplay, and story....and not the one that literally takes place in a fucking fairy tale, imaginative, creative AF, lesson-delivering, FANTASY BOOK?!
I think Charriii5 summed up my feelings for World 3 better than I ever could. "Gooper... Blooper... This was it. This was the moment I realized I hated this game. Megasparkle Goomba was okay. It was challenging, but it felt like a natural progression of the combat system we had been taught up to that point. There are Things that make the fight a lot easier, but they're not essential to the fight. Tower Power Pokey was a lot more annoying. You're not told the Bat will make things easier until you already lose to him before. But even though it's super challenging, you can beat him without the Bat, you don't need it. Now you can't, and I cannot stress this enough, CANNOT beat Gooper Blooper without the Sponge Thing, which is really easy to miss in World 3-9 because it's covered in poison and blends in with the background. If you do not have the Sponge Thing, you will get Poisoned and be lucky to EVER hit the boss in edition to losing HP every turn! The ONLY way I can see someone maybe beating this without the Sponge is use Leaf Stickers to perfectly block the poison he shoots at you, but there's a catch. The Sponge not only protects you from the poison, but spits it back at the boss which is what the boss is weak to! F*ck ANY strategy you might have had because there is a clear answer to this fight and is the way the devs want you to beat it. You could say it's not that big a deal, but this sh*t piles up! It's not isolated incidents that teach me to be prepared. I never know what I'm going to need coming into a level or boss battle. This game has a system where it has no rules and yet somehow manages to break them anyway! I hate this game, man..."
So the problem is that you must have one specific thing the game never mentions to defeat an obnoxious boss. And the next entry in the serie is...oh boy. Feels bad.
This is actually wrong. It’s not well known that a poison mushroom can cancel out the blooper poison. Mario and all enemies can only have one status effect at a time. You can also actually just block it Source: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-86hKOO9bFz0.html 11:10 for blocking the poison, 18:35 for curing it
You can cancel out Gooper Blooper's poison attack if you crumple him with a pow block on the turn before said attack. It's easier to do with the more powerful variants of course. If you consistently pull this off, then it's not that hard to beat him without the sponge. Of course, you'd have to know that before going into battle, so... yeah.
The secret door stickers are a sick idea if they weren't required Like if they were just for optional secrets and running away from battles, it would be a fantastic mechanic
It would be a lot like Final Fantasy IX’s running away. You can run away for free for a chance, or you can have a guaranteed run away action at a cost. In Final Fantasy IX, you lose coins. In what Sticker Star could be, you pay to have a limited amount of times to escape battles.
Well, this reaffirmed why I love Tippi and think she's the best exposition fairy ever! I remember seeing the previews that included a partner Chain Chomp and I was so excited for it. I never got the game, thankfully, but when I found out there was only Kersti, that was enough for me to not want to bother. Also, Kirby at the end. He feels your pain!
@@angeldude101 Being from the original 3 games, Tippi was allowed to have depth. Even if it wasn’t such a sad story, it definitely worked in many ways to just make her a lovable character who could be empathized with. She also had a 3D personality that was realistic. You can’t just slap down the living embodiment of a sticker, paint bucket, or piece of origami, with the most minuscule 1D character traits and backstory ever, and expect them to be received the same way the parters of the first 3 games were.
dunno if someone has said this, but kersti ACTUALLY gives you a clue if you stick a normal mushroom where the poison mushroom goes for the desert door, so you only get the tip after WASTING A SHROOM
Oh. OH. I have something to tell about the two required invisible coin blocks in 3-5. I was stuck there for over a WEEK because I couldn't find them. I spent multiple hours *per day* double-checking every nook and cranny, paperized every milimeter and. I vividly remember literally screaming at the screen and begged for forgiveness (I was young, okay?) before finally finding them when randomly jumping at the wall trying to sequence break. I was absolutely gobsmacked. Sure, there have been required secrets before, but there usually were at least some hints to them. These two blocks? Nothing. The only thing remotely hinting at their existence is the little stop the leaf takes when passing by. Which can be easily put aside as just a neat detail. And I was *furious*. I put the DS aside and just took a rest. A long rest. A rest of little less than a month, because I just couldn't believe it. The funny thing is that I was so taken away, I forgot to charge my 3DS... and the battery died on me. So I had to replay the level. Normally just a minor inconvenience, but it absolutely drained me. I finished the rest of the game without much issues, but this level will forever haunt me. And to this day I am just seething with rage when seeing this level. Edit: Oh, I forgot to add this: It actually gets even worse. AFTER you beat the world and come back with the poison drained, there is a flower underneath the blocks, hinting at their existence. The sheer audacity to hide the indicator until you beat the world just baffles me. "Oops, tee hee, look what we left there! Did you need this four hours ago and now feel stupid? Aww, too bad, maybe try harder next time!" Leave it to 3-5 to pump my blood pressure through the roof in whatever way possible...
I swear young me can remember most of this game and say “sure it was partially annoying but at least I’m winning” but of the levels forgotten by me I’m convinced 3-5 was repressed.
Something important worth noting. You will not actually get all of your regular stickers back. In the scuttle bug level, you will get your most important stickers back and that's pretty much it. Aside from specific ones here or there and ones that you are likely to remember from your inventory, the game doesn't actually give you your exact stickers back. instead it usually ends up giving you far worse options or far less stickers in return. This can be tested by entering the level with A LOT of really good stickers and will result in getting not getting them all back. Some of them you will never see again. What's that you were saving up those cool stickers or you just went to the shop to buy a bunch of good ones aw sorry most of them are gone now. It is worth noting that you will end up finding your thing stickers though.
@@tsyumamatsuthehavenofguard32 I say burn it. As much as you probably want the money it would just be someone else's headache. And then they'll want to sell it after getting frustrated, endless cycle.
Putting a damage pool underneath a healing station is an obvious sign of developers having resentment for their players or the project they're working on. As someone who was a World of Warcraft player for 15 years you can trust me when I say if a project has a proper work environment and management that doesn't happen.
In regards to 33:28 - playing through Bowser's Inside Story as my first big RPG and then finding the Elite Trio battle in Dream Team was downright _mindblowing_ for me as a kid. The fact that the battle's mechanics had so much flair and cool mechanics to them (like knocking Paraplonk into the line of reinforcements at the back and seeing a *whole line* of damage numbers pop up, or the fact that you had to down *all three of the Trio* at once to win the battle) made that genuinely one of my favourite fights in the series, to the point where I saved Save Slot 3 permanently to the block before the fight. And on the subject of "not making unique Toads" anymore, one of my favourite things about Bowser's Inside Story was seeing the different NPC designs around; case in point, the amnesiac adventurer Toad in the clinic that gives you hints to the other Ability Puzzle Pieces! For them to say "it's not worth the effort" just reads to me that you're not putting _enough_ effort in, and I got really disappointed in that.
That part about "using previously established characters to make the mario world unique" I feel is applicable to Paper Jam. Despite being a game with no new unique characters (outside of starlow) I feel they did the best they could using previously established mario characters like Chuckyas, Ninjis, Petey Pirahna, King Boo, Bowser Jr. and many others. It may not be the most creative of the Mario and Luigi games but I think Alphadream tried their best with crafting a somewhat unique world with these limitations. Lord knows you could only do so much when Sticker Star decides to partner with you...
I think Color Splash and Origami King show this even more. Color Splash is filled with nameless Toads but they have a lot of personality and there are still many that clearly have a defined character even if they don't look that different from the others.
@@SpecterVonBaren Character's with personality is nothing new for Paper Mario, it's been there since N64 through it's writing. The correct term is *Expression* which Color Splash and Origami King, even I personally disliked these new games, I will give credit for being more expressive and showing more emotions with a lot of the NPCs compare to the older PM games.
@@GottaFistDemAll and hell Origami King had more original characters like Professor Toad, DJ Toad, and the Origami Toad. So yeah it's on the right track.
God this just unlocked an ancient memory for me. My friend had been stuck in this chapter for like a month and I remember running around all the levels to try and find how tf to progress. And when the wiggler piece ran into an inaccessible area we literally got stuck again and couldn't figure out how to get it! Truly goes to show how confusing it actually was if even you had trouble with it as an adult, I wish I knew how to look up a guide back then.
I would say that one of my main issue with all of the new Paper Mario games is that they took the name too seriously. They decided that the meaning of the Paper in Paper Mario is that everything in the world is paper, and thus must be related to paper, be it stickers, paint, or origami. The previous 3 games almost never mentioned the whole paper gimmick (save TTYD using the folding transformations) because the Paper in Paper Mario was meant as an artistic choice to them, not the concept of the entire game. With this grand misunderstanding of that one word, they turned the Paper of a grand storybook into just some paper used for a kindergartener's arts and crafts project.
"like the paper of a grand storybook" is a good description of what they were going for with the first three games. and yeah. the old games' design choices being wildly misinterpreted by the new team is a bit of a theme with modern paper mario
I don't mind the artstyle change, the look of arts and crafts is done well and looks great. and i'd say Origami King had the most Paperisation so far, and while good i think Paper should stay away from Story because we're practically out of things to make a story of revolving around something paper related. ..Unless you want 'Paper Mario and the Great Deforestation' as your most anticipated for 2025
Especially after he learned what he did about bringing that one Toad there during Jon’s Bonus stream. I feel like he was about as livid as the end of that one Bowser Party board during the Mario Party 10 stream.
man, the wait on this series is really hard to endure it's an absolute testament to how awesome your videos are when they actually make me want to see n hear more about sticker star
Ye who enter this toxic forest, abandon all hope for this game, since World 3 is where the game drops to a deeper level than before. Jam-packed with so many baffling and frustrating level gimmicks and design choices that will just leave you questioning “Why?”, if the last world didn’t make you despise this game, this one surely will.
At least once you get past world 3 you do have a good world and a not too terrible world waiting for you. That is…if you ever make it out of the hell jungle
If you can suffer through the first 3 worlds, world 4 is worth a playthrough since its the only time in the game that provides fun content. World 5 is just as bad as the rest for multiple reasons
Even when Chugga makes a series dedicated to hating something, he still researches it in depth to teach you new things and makes sure to leave in enough that it works as kinda an actual guide if need be
There’s a giant difference between simplicity and not trying. Sticker Star is a pretty good example of the latter, regarding characters, enemies, and story.
Whenever I hear of this game I always think of the time I overheard a conversation at a store, where a woman, presumably a mother or an aunt, was discussing with their friend about whether to buy this game for their acquianted child as a gift. Every time I think of how that child eventually reacted, when they realise the game is what it is.
I appreciate how though this game is the Devil's work in Chugga's eyes, he still tries to be fair and find something to like about it, even if it is microscopic.
something about kersti thats interesting to me is that other "guide" characters, while often annoying, still add to the story in meaningful ways. as an example Navi is very annoying, but she's still somewhat helpful and i do enjoy her presence (though i'd enjoy it more if she was a little quieter). In past paper mario installments the guides were, while not the strongest partners, very enjoyable to listen to, adding to the world and getting some fun character moments. Kersti though... While a rude or snarky helper can work, that's only true if they actually give any bit of help. If this game was better written, maybe she could have actual tips delivered somewhat condescendingly (maybe something like 'you'd be lost without me') but soften over time- getting saved from the webs could start it. Maybe she, i don't know, becomes a better person over time? instead we got a brat that doesn't help and berates you for everything.
Majoras Mask basically does what you mentioned. Tatl has a sarcastic smart ass personality and it shows in her dialogue even when describing enemies. She also has an actual character arc
Now I'm just imagining the game development being run like Ba Sing Se: "Hey, I just came up with a great original character idea!" "Game Developer, Miyamoto is inviting you to Lake Laogai." "I am honored to accept his invitation."
It's honestly disheartening to find out that Miyamoto didn't actually force the team to restrict their creativity, he just *suggested* they use mainly classic unchanged characters and didn't actually get involved with the production almost at all, and Tanabe's response was to cut out all interesting characters and storytelling to make something so thoughtlessly basic, in a series previously praised for good storytelling and lovable cast. All of the decisions that led to Sticker Star being what it is astound me. It didn't have to be like this... It's hard to believe it's made by any of the same people, with the first three games having so much care put into their writing, characters, gameplay mechanics, etc, and Sticker Star having Kersti (the only one who can even be confidently called a character) be extremely unlikable and *completely useless*, the sticker mechanic so poorly executed that it's genuinely irritating to use, so poorly paced it makes you replay sections multiple times, the one thing in the game with much care put into it is very easily missable... I really want to see what Sticker Star could have been, especially after seeing the screenshots of unique enemies and even a partner... I know it would have been more similar to TTYD, which could only be a good thing.
@@internetguy7319 even though that is how in Japanese work culture works (even tho we have no idea if Nintendo actually follows these), the devs really missed on a lot of potential even with their limitations in place. You can actually do a lot with just the Mario cast of characters and baddies. Heck, that limitation didn't limit Origami King from using stuff that isn't Mario-related for bosses and such.
This is why I still blame Miyamoto at this point. "But he has nothing to do with the Paper Mario development team, of course he's totally innocent!" No, shit. He dropped the Paper Mario development scene in the worst moment, after giving Tanabe and their team the worst advice in video-games then washing his hands from all fault. Miyamoto never did anything for the Paper Mario franchise to go back to his roots. Even if you can't blame the guy, you can't deny he's an accomplice in its demise.
You know its bad when The Super Mario Bros Movie was allowed to play with existing characters (Penguin King, Punk Koopas, Blue Shell Koopa, Toad Consuls, and Kongs)
This series inspired me to go back and play the orginal Paper Mario trilogy. I'm currently in the middle of TTYD and it is quickly becoming my favorite game of all time. Its sad to see how far the series has fallen.
waht are your opinions on color splash and origami king? (if you've played them) i personally really liked origami king, imo i think the series is getting better now
@@Victini7472 While far from terrible games in their own right, Color Splash and Origami King aren’t what fans of the original series want. And the refusal to return to the roots is what drives the fans mad.
@@benjaminpeterson455 fair point i think i just like action games more, so having origami king (and to a lesser extent color splash) be action-adventure games appealed to me more
I’m interested to see how this part goes cause I’ve honestly forgotten nearly everything from world 3 aside from that gameshow and the blooper boss, it honestly surprised me to see most people here really dislike this world considering how little of an impact it left on me.
Actually, an easy easy way to fix like half the story: make this a literal storybook story Peach is telling some Toad children and the stickers are LITERAL stickers the 'audience' is giving the characters and Kersty is kinda the conduit (and change her personality but ya).
Something to show the frustration of the creative staff is that they need to hide Peach's personality down in the sewer through the form of graffiti in a hidden room. They want to get back to what Paper Mario was, but are kept from doing it by something or someone.
@@eletgres519 Over the course of the Origami King, a story is told through graffiti in the sewer. It's Bowser attacking and the usual action including some Luigi abuse. If you go into a spare room at the very end, we see Peach is the one who's beaten Bowser. It's really easy to miss, especially the ending.
Only thing I’ll say is I hate the term Karen. I knew a lot of Karens growing up and they were decent people. I’d say she was the Navi of paper Mario but at least Navi has a legitimate emotional connection to link. Kersti offers nothing and I hope this game gets a remake the makes it actually fun.
@@changvasejarik62 ...Why remake this game when everyone hates it? That would just be a slap in the face to the fans. I get your argument, but we have fun versions of Sticker Star; They're called Color Splash and Origami King.
A few things I do find cute of the Wiggler segments is that when you find em the first time, they bow to Mario and vive versa. And they also go droopy when sad, which is a pretty good way for em to show emotion despite not having any features really.
In addition to your point about weaker/useless party members; they usually tend to be some of the most charming. It's endearing to see them try and keep up with/ impress the other stronger characters (Lakilester is a good example)
@@bunsmasterbunny Honestly, I don't mind the modern art style. Origami King is _gorgeous,_ and if they maintain that style for the inevitable "Paper Mario 7: Deforestation Has Consequences", I'd be fine with it. I've even seen TOK-style mockups of Rogueport posted on twitter, and they looked perfectly serviceable. The _gameplay and writing_ are where the series needs to return to its roots.
I feel like this is a GREAT format for you Chugga! I can feel the same passion you put into all your other projects, just more condensed, which I feel could work for other game you want to put onto your channel as well. I love these new video styles and really wouldn't mind if this became the other half of your channel. This and the "discadables" series have been a serious treat to watch and hope you know that your new ventures into video making are INCREDIBLE. Thank you for all your hard work Chugga!
14:43 This part made me realize that they made an official protagonist in an official Mario game whose character is among the worst versions of Peach that the fanbase has theorized, headcanoned, or made up
What I like about this review it goes deeper than the common "no partners and no story". It actually shows how badly designed the game is due to these questionable game design choices. Legit went "what the heck" in my head whenever Chugga bumps into those.
I think it's actually very easy to name a favorite character for Sticker Star, it's Luigi cause he just wants to run away from the game as soon as he is found in it. (Edit: somehow completely forgot to put Luigi's name in originally)
I remember going through almost all the game without a guide I finally looked up a playthrough when I needed to magically know a certain character changes over time to fly. There was NO INDICATION thanks ZackScott games for being one of the few complete playthroughs on RU-vid.
28:18 This is probably my favorite rant in this entire part, about the lack of unique characters in this game. The original Paper Mario and TTYD had loads of great unique characters - to the point where you can point at any given chapter, and I could name at least one memorable or unique character (or groups of characters) from that chapter. I've not been able to do that for any other game that I can recall. In fact, lemme go through them because I've got time to kill! (Note that it's been a bit since I played these games, so I may forget names, and these are only a few.) PM64 Prologue: Goombario and his entire family. Chapter 1: Bombette. Chapter 2: The Mouser that gives you the gem to unlock the ruins. (Moustufar or something like that.) Chapter 3: Lady Bow. Also, her butler. (Both of them also show up in TTYD, so they could reuse characters!) Chapter 4: Anti-Guy, and the Shy Guys in general. Also General Guy. Chapter 5: Kolorado. Also the Yoshi kids and Sushi. Chapter 6: The one Lotus character. Also, the flower that gets pissed at you if you hammer her crystal tree (and kicks you out to the previous room, iirc) Chapter 7: The penguin mayor, and the one mini-boss that has like, 10 HP because it's a bunch of star kids. Chapter 8: Twink, the powerhouse! Also that one Toad that's hiding in a closet. TTYD: Prologue: Goombella! Chapter 1: Ms. Mowz. Chapter 2: The elder Puni. (battle of the hags!) Chapter 3: RAWK HAWK! Also the Bandit that gets into trouble, the Koopa you first meet after joining the Pit that "retires" halfway, the bob-omb that ends every sentence with "BOMB!"... Also Jolene! Chapter 4: Vivian! Also Doopliss, but I like Vivian more. Chapter 5: Flavio and Cortez. Also, the one chest curse who's bummed that you've already ran into three other similar chests. He appreciates you letting him do his thing after all this time. Chapter 6: The waitress Toad! She's the character that sticks out the most for me, but there's also the "detective" penguin, the Cheep Cheep Chef, Zip Toad, and the Bob-omb family. Chapter 7: The Russian Bob-ombs, that one damn Bob-omb you chase around the entire game world to find.... There's also TEC, but there's not many characters in general that I can remember from there. Chapter 8: The Shadow Queen is a cool boss, but there's only one other named character in this chapter that doesn't show up elsewhere, and that's the dragon you fight, who's related to the first dragon in Chapter 1.
I know this is an old comment, but heck even Super Paper Mario(my favorite) has easily recognizable and named characters in every chapter! Prologue: Count Bleck intro and Merlin+Flipside Chapter One: Bestovious, Old Man WATCHIT!, Merlumina, Fracktail, O'Chunks Chapter Two: Mimi, Merlee, the prisoner that calls Peach a hottie Chapter Three: Francis and his robot cat maids, Dimentio Chapter Four: SQUIRPS! Mr. L, the weird aliens on in the houses Chapter Five: Flint Cragley and crew, the Floro-Sapiens, all the Floro-Dapien rulers, the Cragnon you find with Dottie Chapter Six: King Samur and the Smaur Guys! Chapter Seven:Queen Jaydes, the shaydes, King Grambi, of course Luvbi, and who could forget those three hags in the Underwhere road Chapter Eight: I don't recall any new characters but it is the last chapter and one long dungeon
Don't forget about the level repeats for those hp-up hearts and the things once the poison is gone! Those were a very welcome and exciting part of content
I feel like that would be excusable if the main story didn't make you do so many repeat visits already. Many rpgs have extra goodies in old areas if you return to them later. Too bad this game makes you never want to see a swampy forest ever again in your life due to how it's "structured"
there is something so satisfying in hearing Chugga be so unapologetically upset, so much so that he openly swears without censorship. after watching him for 10 years, it just *feels* good
At 34:29, you ask, "Why is Paper Mario the only Mario series that has to play by this stupid rule of being as milquetoast and uninspired as humanly possible?" I can't help but think that the answer is, "It's punishment." The Thousand-Year Door took the Mario series into new and unexpected directions, having everything from a Pianta mafia to a noose in the frequently visited town square. Super Paper Mario also wasn't very afraid to press boundaries. And... I think it's possible that some people didn't like that. I don't know how many people, or how important they were. But those games always made me feel enjoyable vibes of, "Wow, I can't believe they were allowed to get away with this in a MARIO game", and now... the games since Sticker Star simply don't. I feel like maybe because earlier Paper Mario games took things so far, that future Paper Mario games would end up much more heavily scrutinized. Of course this is baseless. We'll never know what truly goes on behind closed doors, especially because no one's REALLY going to talk in an interview about the problems they had to deal with in these circumstances. But from my personal point of view, it's the closest thing to an answer that my emotions can offer to you. I think there's a good chance that... it might just be punishment. There's gotta be a good reason why so many people at IS left their jobs in the first place.
I was surprised to see that! I'll be even more surprised if the English script adds back in content that the original translation censored, such as Vivian's gender identity. If not, it'll be nice if the script at least stays true to the English translation we already had, without removing even more (like the recent Pikmin 1 port on Switch did. I mean of all games you'd expect to be censored, PIKMIN was at the bottom of my radar.) But maybe they're testing the waters. Us fans have been loud enough for long enough about Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, so if these remakes make enough of a splash, maybe there could be even more to come.
there is one good character in this game: mizzter blizzard. A sympathetic villain, who actually got what he wished for, but in a twisted monkey paw way. He only wanted to live, and became a mindless bowser pawn for it. If only we got more foreshadowing of his story, as it does involve the namesake sticker star..... if only...
I'm absolutely loving this series. If Chugga wants to go in-depth on another game, be it one he loves or one he hates, I'd gladly just listen to him talk about game design and his personal experiences with games.
Same. It also helps explain from a fan like him why certain things worked, what didn't work and why some remarks make little to no sense when you make proper comparisons and such.
I love how good this has been. Like Chugga makes such a solid all around video while getting all his thoughts out. What’s so incredible about it how this doesn’t feel like someone’s first attempt at making something like this. This feels like he’s been making these videos for years
“Chugga Sticks it to Sticker Star [Part 4]: Who the PISS was in charge of the pacing and thought it was a great idea for Part 4 to release after triple the length of all the others?”
I cannot thank you enough for really diving deep into this series' development, post Super Paper Mario, and debunking many fan theories as to why (x) went wrong because of (y). At the same time, by providing this evidence, you also use it to strengthen arguments that everyone and their grandma has been levvying against the modern Paper Mario team for over a decade now: "Why do you continue to do the things that you do when the only people with the authority to tell you to do them...don't care either way." I appreciate how this series on Sticker Star isn't exclusively centered around tearing it apart--although it has been exceptionally cathartic to see you dissect it as much as you have--you're also bringing up issues with the modern Paper Mario series and asking genuine questions that deserve answers. I appreciate how instead of you saying "Go back to the old Paper Marios", you're instead saying "What reason is there for not going back?" And any counterarguments that can be provided as to why, you're keen to provide counterevidence for. (And if I'm being honest, I'd lose a lot less sleep over why the series being the way it is now if the answer was just "Because we just don't want to anymore." At least it'd make more sense than the other answers we've gotten.) Nevertheless, thank you Chuggaconroy for this series on Sticker Star, and I salute you for sticking to your guns allthroughout.
![Chugga Sticks It to Sticker Star [Part 3]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
