the unusual legacy of super paper mario 

Honestly, I know it would’ve sold less seats, but I personally would’ve been more passionate about Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ if it also had Juliet transform into a rainbow butterfly after her death and Romio became a despondent universe-ender with a heart of gold and a quirky rogues gallery...

I was not mentally prepared for nastasia being called a simp.

super paper mario feels, in every way, for all intents and purposes, like a quirky and unique indie game that just happened to have mario ips inserted into it late into development even if that's not what actually happened

It's true that SPM is the "middle child" or "black sheep" of the Paper Mario series. I can't help fall in love with this game. Its fascinating lore and characters especially the villains. This is that game where Mario Luigi, Peach and Bowser worked together as team. They give us fan-favorite: like Mr. L and Dimentio (of course he's a popular one) It's a shame that the future Paper Mario series has extremely strict with character designs and story plots. I don't ask Mario's Timeline (like Zelda) but at the very least tell us a story about Mario and his friends in new adventures, location, and characters Great video and Amazing Artwork!

You know, something weird just occurred to me watching this. For over a decade, I have been absolutely perplexed by Rosalina. Super Mario Galaxy was, by all accounts, a Mario game: it played like a Mario game, story elements were only what they needed to be to move the story along like a Mario game, original enemies didn't stray very far from what a Mario enemy looks like. And yet Rosalina was a bizarre X-factor in the mix; sure, appearance wise she fits right in next to Peach and Daisy, but then you go to the library and hear her read out her origin story, and it doesn't even sort of resemble the kind of storytelling you get from a mainline Mario game. And even though her presence has been mainly sanitized in appearances following this, ensuring that she functions no different from any other Mario character despite her still retaining her status as the closest thing the Mario universe has to a goddess, that one storybook has remained a defining aspect of her and continues to this day to make her stand out in a really weird way. But watching this and revisiting my nostalgia for what I would consider my favorite game with Mario's name on it, I suddenly developed a thought: Rosalina is out of place in the main Mario universe, but she would have been right at home in Super Paper Mario.

“safe” really is the best way to describe modern mario. not “bland” or “boring” just “safe”, good enough. maybe this will change with Mario Wonder coming out this October, but i aint holdin my breath

Literally Super Paper Mario made me believe in love. Idk what else has that much power.

13:49 "Sonic cannot get overly emotional" Oh... poor guy.

When I was little and played this game with my dad's help, the one thing that sticks out in my memory more than anything else is that I thought that the top part of Bleck's cape was his hair, and I was devastated when I learned he was actually bald and didn't have big red hair.

I just want to say thank you. Super Paper Mario is such a special game to me, especially due to the deeper story and interesting characters. It was a very formative game for me as well, so to hear someone talk about it makes me very happy.

Never played it, but the way you describe it, oh gosh, I can so clearly picture myself being obsessed with it as a kid, it seems fantastic! The way Bowser was an ally and Luigi was brainwashed into a villain? The twist where the the background couple was actually Count Bleck and Tibbi? The way that Nastasia took a bullet for the Blumiere? The final boss fusion? How they sacrificed themselves to save the universe? Holy shit, I would have gone crazy over it all! Also, this is such a great analysis of the current trend of media produced.

A big part of "nostalgia" for me is feeling sad that people can't have the same exact childhood I did. As a kid, I liked video games, but I wasn't really engaged with fandom or review sites or new releases at all. I got a copy of Super Paper Mario at the local Walmart because my parents approved of games with Mario on the cover. And it had a pretty big effect on me -- it was the first game I'd played that had, like, an emotional story. These days there are a lot of great indie games out there, but it's hard to imagine ten-year-old Carter ever finding out about any of them.

Regardless of how everyone feels about Super Paper Mario, I feel like we can all agree on the fact that Francis is a top tier character. Also I really enjoy the chapter of the game where we're just stuck battling people while everyone realizes that they're doomed and you have to watch as you're too late to save Sammer's Kingdom.

The whole "tranformive" vs "reactionary" idea was really changed i the i look at fandom, and media and general, like it's probably the same reason i then to be interested in niche and weird media a lot more, the more out-there and unique something is the more room you have to think about and build on it compared to something simple and clean.

The orignal trio was so good and so full of creativity; playing the latest ones for me is like visiting your childhood home and seeing it all painted an awful white. All of the eccentricites removed sterilized to such a degree you hardly recognize what it was before, while the latest games were not technically bad games (except sticker star) they were just so safe that the point seems lost there is nothing there, just a soulless husk waiting to be forgotten to the annals of time and big companies do this all the time they remove what people liked in the first place because they get scared that it will frighten people away. It's very obvious Nintendo is trying to make Mario the next Mickey Mouse but in that attempt they are losing what made Mario good in the first place playing it safe might work for a couple of titles but eventually people will fully lose interest as there is nothing to grip on to. Your statement on the state of the image cleaning being done to these franchise is completely correct and i hope someone will see reason before they are forgotten. The fate of Paper Mario just makes me melancholic

Nothing hit me like Sammer's Kingdom annihilation arc. Maybe the "True Mimi" reveal. This is a game to experience.

Super Mario galaxy and super paper Mario are the two best Mario games to me. I never played them myself, but watching my siblings play it was enough. The game is so good.

19:32 Okay, Dimentio handing you the L on the left there is hilarious

omg I love this video, super paper mario was my favorite game as a kid! count blek made me cry!

SPM is my favorite because of the story. I thought the story was sweet and dramatic. I ended up getting into it as an adult. I also couldn't get into the other "popular" Paper Mario games since the story didn't suck me in. It's sad Nintendo isn't taking risks again and we end up missing out on cool different takes on Paper Mario. Also thank you for pointing out that the loudest comment is not always the correct one

hhhhhh I love SPM so much, listening to Memory ALWAYS makes me emotional. Highkey, this convinced me to get it for my sister at Christmas, she just moved and got a wii and I think she’ll really like it. I loved this video! As someone who also greatly enjoys rambling about niche things, I look forward to what you choose to do next. :D

I guess I'm a little late to the party here, what with this video being several months old, but I still feel the need to comment on this just because...if I'm being honest with myself? This might be one of my favorite analysis videos on this site. It might be my favorite analysis I've ever seen in any format on any site, period (if you'll recognize and forgive a little bit of hyperbole). SPM has always been my second favorite in the series (tagging just behind TTYD, because OBVIOUSLY), and you absolutely hit the nail on the head in regards to why I ended up replaying it multiple times before finally boxing it up: the story was (and is) still my favorite story in the franchise. That scene at the climax you referred to that makes you emotional hits me the exact same way, even now when I'm just thinking about it, and the ending is frankly my favorite in the entire series just for how beautifully bittersweet it is. But what really turned me on to this video (NOT LIKE THAT, OH GEEZ) was your frank analysis of the state of big corporate franchises in the modern age. I really hope companies wise up and begin turning away from these kinds of image-polishing tactics, because-combined with the rise in fan-related copyright crackdowns made against people who weren't even planning on profiting off of their creations-they really are doing their properties, their fans, and (ironically) their own corporate image a rather disheartening disservice. I guess to sum up: I know you seem to mostly do cute fan animatics and whatnot (which is cool, don't take this the wrong way!), but if you were ever to do another video like this, I would absolutely watch it to death. TL;DR: agreed on SPM, agreed on corporate failings, love your attitude, subscribed

I've never played super paper mario, but even this game affected me. I loved watching the old game theory videos, and in one of the videos (about rosalina's mom / peach being dead) matpat uses memory in a small segment. It was only a few seconds, but that song made me feel something and I had always been curious where it originated from lol. I finally answered my thousand-year question from RT-games playing SPM and I loved it soooo much! This game was so unique and quirky; with like 3 on-screen deaths, the threat of the world's destruction, and the power of love saves all... It truly is the game of all time. I feel like I would've been obsessed with super paper mario if I uncovered it as a kid rather than splatoon lol

This is exactly what I've always tried to say about SPM, but never had the words. It is, to this day, my favorite Mario game ever. It was such a huge part of my childhood and even now, I enjoy replaying it and feeling the connections to the characters and story that I felt as a nine-year-old. Thank you for creating this video, I feel so understood! :)

This was a great video, that Reactive fandom and Transformative fandom thing you said makes perfect sense, the TTYD fandom is definitely more of a reactive fanbase, caring more about game trivia and stuff rather than fanart/fanfiction.

SPM was also a childhood game for me and although I never finished it (i got past the caveman part for sure) I loved it because Mimi the spider reveal scared the hell out of me as a little kid. Just her whole mansion was so creepy and I loved it. The fact that I had to play the game in the dark in my cobweb infested basement may have added to the creepiness. Also, the artstyle was amazing and just overall a really unique and spooky game. Anyways I see what you mean, I always found myself gravitating towards the more story based games, like bowser's inside story and this one. It's a shame they can't make their own original characters... I was so mad when I read that!!! if the people who make SPM tried to make a totally original series I'd totally play it.

Super Paper Mario was my introduction to the paper mario series and i fell in love so hard with this game with its quirky little existence and weird lore. I remember hunting around the lower parts of the town and talking to the npc's after every story beat and helping out cause they were so interesting and fun. I was actually a little disappointed by original 2 since the story wasn't as captivating as SPM but chalked it to being earlier games and i still had fun. Sadly, the newer games also leave me wanting as i didn't find sticker star to have what i wanted and i just haven't touched color splash or oragami king. I have been told oragami king holds a pretty delightful story but as of right now i still have yet to find out.

OP i came for tma animatics and stayed for the paper mario,, WHAT a good post!!!! (I think about Mimi-Spider Every Day)

Used to think this was a weird lame game compared to the first two. Now it’s the only Mario game that makes me cry. Thank you for being someone I can share this feeling with 🌟

honestly I loved all the weird and borderline horror elements SPR had. It wasn't too focused on appealing to popular culture like most recent paper mario titles (IMO) and it was not afraid to try new things (the fact mario went to videogame hell was impressive to child me. I also felt that undertale was partially inspired by SPR.

It's also my first paper mario game (and also my favourite). I remember that the story and the unique staff had so much impact on me as a kid that I had to Replay (and ended up 100 precent everything (no joke, don't do it)) it was very good. It really was the story and the characters for me in this game not to mention the world building about the Ancient Empire and the concepts of advanced magic, dimensions, politics (pixel revolt), failure of a civilization (probably symbolised with the obsession with the dark book) and many more staff like it around already good story (and also the possibility the Dimantio is a sadistic 3000 years old maniac that wrote the dark book and effectively killed slowly this empire). Ah and the music is also great. Note: when doing the post ending game you can really feel the importance of the story when it's absent... Second note: I still didn't find out why Luigi is the perfect host to the chaos heart what is even the deal with it

Also I super dig the way you personify the characters in your artwork, I always love to imagine them outside the otherwise simplistic style of the game.

i always come back to this vid essay every time i think of super paper mario lol. but this is srsly refreshing in the sea of clickbait titles, it's just more thoughtful and introspective than ur average video essay. also the transformative/reactive fandom thing will never leave my brain now, it's just a really good thought i hate that stupid mansion by the way, i got stuck there as a kid and didn't figure it out until i looked it up in like, high school? 😭😭😭. also omg i love those drawings, seeing the super paper mario fandom actually become a thing is kind of amazing. it felt like i was the only one who ever played this game for a while lol

It's strange for only Paper Mario to do this, as Mario Odyssey expriments a ton and takes a lot of risks.

Super Paper Mario is actually my favorite game of all time

You know, it's funny. The Paper Mario series and Pokemon both did this thing in the late '00s/very early '10s where they changed up the gameplay formula in ways that made me decide not to give their newest games a chance at first, only for me to finally give them a shot a few years later and realize, "Oh, I should have picked this up on launch, what was I thinking?" I never played Super Paper Mario at first because, in my mind, the Paper Mario series was an RPG - Suddenly dropping that to turn the game into a (mostly) 2D platformer was such a turnoff when I was a kid, I decided to skip over SPM entirely for several years. I mean, I'd never played the original growing up - I was a bit late to the party, not getting my first consoles and handhelds until the GameCube/GBA era - but I loved TTYD, and I knew that the one that came before it was an RPG, too, so I couldn't fathom that sudden change to the formula being anything but bad for the series. And Pokemon suddenly yeeting all of the older Pokemon in favor of the new ones in Black and White? I mean, I found out after the fact that you could find Pokemon from the previous generations in the postgame and all, and of course you could still transfer Pokemon up from the old games, but in my mind, the fact that you couldn't even have a choice of those older Pokemon was too much of a leap, and I skipped out on BW for a few years, too. I mean, I grew up with the franchise having the tagline of "Gotta catch em all!" and characters telling me, "Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best." Suddenly being told, "Actually, you can't catch em all, and if the Pokemon you love best aren't from Gen 5, tough luck," was too much for me. (Ironically, my favorite Pokemon now IS a Gen 5 one, because I eventually gave the games a shot and managed to find a shiny which carried my team after many horrible massacres in a Nuzlocke of White. But that's neither here nor there.) And then I played them both, and I realized that, no, actually, these games are great. Their gameplay was solid, sure, but more than that, they had stories. Real stories, and real characters. Ones for kids, sure, easy to follow and all, but ones that actually had a level of depth beyond what their respective series had done previously. To this day, BW is my favorite main series Pokemon game, even beating out the Hoenn games that were my first entries, and SPM is my favorite Mario game - Not just Paper Mario, but Mario in general. I think those experiences of skipping out on games because I didn't like the idea of those sorts of changes, only to find out later that I'd missed out on something great? I think that changed something in me. There's things that I'm not gonna try to justify, like the fact that Kingdom Hearts made a goddamn mobile gacha game plot relevant, but... I'm a lot more open to series changing things up now, I think. I still take those changes with a grain of salt and try to make sure I know what I'm getting into before I buy those changed up games, but I stopped writing them off so easily after that. Hell, I gave SwSh a shot despite my many issues with... not just the even harsher 'dex cut than BW, but my other problems with it, too, and despite still thinking it's leagues lower than what it could and should have been (especially at the higher price tag than the previous games and having paid DLC on top of that), I don't think it's an inherently Bad game. I'd describe it sort of like the post-SPM games of Pokemon - It's not quite for me, and that's fine, and I can appreciate it for what it is, to the point that I've even done multiple playthroughs of it for Nuzlockes and stuff like I have with every other game in the series. It might still take me a while to GET to the games - Like, I still haven't gotten around to Ni No Kuni II, after all - but that's less about instantly seeing any change to a formula as "They Changed It, Now It Sucks" and more "Spare executive function? Spare executive function, ma'am?" Missing out on SPM and BW because I disliked the idea of the changes they made, only to find out after the fact that they were great all along? It made me realize that changing a series's formula, even one that hasn't gotten stale yet, isn't always a bad thing. It Can be a bad thing, sure. But it's not always one, and it's really worth giving more than just a quick, barebones glance before you write it off like I did back then.

I like story driven narratives, but that’s just me.

Super Paper Mario was genuinely such a good game, I loved its various story lines and how they all tied in to the common theme of love, even different types of love. The story was filled with emotion, and the gameplay was amazing, this is by far my favorite Paper Mario game, and I, unfortunately, don't think any other Paper Mario game will ever top it.

can we just talk about how amazing chapter 8 is story wise for 11 years me it was the best story ever written I was on the edge of my seat the entire time constantly being shocked by what happens but no one seems to care about it is it really not as great as I think

Super Paper Mario my beloved

This was and still is my favorite Mario game of all time. I have so much childhood nostalgia for it. The story will always stick with me

I gotta say this video is incredible, it really sums up the current state of the Paper Mario series, and why it’s so cherished. I played SPM in middle school, but I don’t think I was old enough to understand a lot of the deeper themes, so watching this video makes me really want to go back and replay it!

Nostalgia hits fucking hard dude, but it hits especially hard when I think about this game for some reason. Its story is just way different then anything I remember playing back then.

Super Paper Mario is my favorite game of all time and helped shape who I am today, and this video really made me happy to see other people who love this game just as much as I do

Oh god, RU-vid can't just recommend a video about one of the most important games of my childhood and expect me not to like! Absolute banger analysis, 10/10 would cry again

Super Paper Mario is a very well-made game...it has a little something something for everyone.

I loved this game so much as a kid and thinking about it makes me feel so nostalgic. I remember getting internet access and seeing people claim it was a bad game, which made me feel sad for all the people who will never play it, because they thought it wouldn't be enjoyable. I played Thousand Year Door a few years ago, but I still like Super Paper Mario more. Also Mimi still haunts my nightmares haha

I love this video! It’s a very calm and fair look into how people view the games and that’s wonderful. (Also, I’ve seen your art before, and I absolutely love it.) I honestly see Origami King as a step in the right direction, and I hope we continue to see more loveable characters.

I wish i had friends to talk to abt this amazing game. Super paper mario is still the best paper mario game tbh. Also thanks for bringing back all my nostalgia.

This game is amazing and I miss it, My childhood possessions were stolen by bad friends in a move. Thank you for the video!

I think I gained brain cells watching this video.. learned a lot about the psychology behind famous intellectual property owners. Thanks!

Why'd I only just run into this? You said a lot of what I've been saying for like...yeesh, 10 years! One of those foundational games to my identity as a gamer.

Thank you for this video essay! Spm is my favourite mario game ever, i hold blumiere and timpani so close to my heart aaagh This is such a poignant and thoughtful video essay that does speak to me as a person who gets into weird and niche fandoms. It’s very noticeable when people put heart into a project and i think that’s why people will gravitate towards it and put it the same level of love to cherish it as well. Great video!

One risky thing that the new origami king plot did was the Bobby plotline. It's both sad in the moment and paints a really grim picture of what life for a bombomb is like in every mario game

6:43 I feel called out!......because I only like TTYD and SPM. 😅 In all honesty, this is a great video and a great dive into the oddness that is the current Paper Mario fandom. 10/10 Your takes on Color Splash and Sticker Star are basically the same as mine, though I have thought of getting Origami King recently since I hear it's a semi-return to form for the writing. (though I heard there were sprinkles of it in Color Splash too) Though to be honest, I can see why people still say they're fans when the entries they're praising as the 'heart of the series' are its start and its sequel. it's hard to fault them for expecting the series to continue its 'bevy of dark themes in the middle of a happy go lucky Mario RPG with quirky writing' when that's how it began. Kinda like that Simpson's quote: ' I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. ' Be kinda like if Kingdom Hearts stuck with card combat after chain of memories, and people were clambering for direct fighting combat like 1 and 2 again. It started like that, and, given how many entries KH has, there'd inevitably be more card-combat games over time, but I'd still say those people asking for a return to form are still fans of the series. Big ones at that. I just don't think the more entries added to a series you used to like detracts from whether you can be counted as a fan of the series anymore, basically. Though I do definitely agree, the more risks in story and games that big IP's take, the more of an impact they're likely to have on the player than playing it safe. (That last quote from the Origami King interview always makes me really sad for the dev team's situation) But yeah, that's just my 2 cents on the video. Good stuff, I'd love to see more deep dive videos like this, aaaaaand never underestimate how much the fans like Dimentio. Or jester characters in general....lookin at you Marx. (my middle lil sister dressed up as Dimentio for Halloween once, so it's def still going strong😉)

this was one of my FAVORITE games as a kid, one of the biggest factors in that being the aesthetic. it just LOOKS so cool, and honestly informed a large portion of my aesthetic preferences/interests today

Finally got around to watching this and I can say for sure that I was in circles on DA and Tumblr years ago where we liked reading and writing fanfiction with Mario characters (mainly the Paper and RPG series) and our main point in each story was how we would make the worlds bigger or even transform what we were given with the smallest of building blocks.

This game was so fun, I hope that Nintendo will either make a sequel or a remake of this game someday soon

Your speech at the end is beautiful! Thank you so much. This game means a lot to me

Super Paper Mario is to the "Majora's Mask" of the Mario Franchise.

The Super Paper Mario Ending Gets Me Crying Every Time And I Just Re -visited The Game Today And I Was Crying And For That SPM 10/10 Would Play Again

It's funny where in super paper Mario you can let the world's collapse by refusing the quest or suffocate in space due to you being a karen

I think its funny that super paper mario has literally nothing to do with paper. Not a single paper joke in the entire game unlike any other part of the series

It's my firm belief that Super Paper Mario could have avoided being so knocked by the fans of the previous installments by not calling itself "PAPER Mario". Because if you look at the third installment... there's no paper anywhere in it! The characters are 2-dimensional (in a literal sense), but that's in service to the game's theme, and it has a much more computerized motif than the others. If it weren't named as part of the Paper Mario series, I think it could be beloved for what it is without the baggage of "changing" the series.

This game changed my life in so many ways, I would not be living nearly the same life had I not played it and engaged with the fandom in the way I did (I literally met my partner through a paper mario streamer LMAO). Suffice it to say, Nintendo/Intelligent Systems knows how to make such formative experiences iwith their games, it's just such a shame that they shy away from it in favour of what makes the most money. Thank you so much for making this video, it's really insightful and I'm glad to have heard from others whose lives have been changed just as much as mine was due to this silly yet emotional masterpiece.

Late to the party on this one but I really just need to express how much I like this video. I think your analysis is on point, and to me it illustrates so well the suffocating effect of intellectual property on creative freedom. Super Paper Mario is a special game because it's kind of out there for a Mario game, but that's why I've really grown to love it.

Can't forget how the paper Mario Ost affected some people.. "I don't care if I get hate because of this opinion, but this is my favorite paper Mario song" - Lunar1314

The restrictions for the newer entries make my blood BOIL, I genuinely can not understand this decision seeing how amazing the first 3 games are… Amazing video tho! SPM was THE childhood game for me, I know it by heart and love it so so much :)

I watched this probably no more than a week after I finally completed my childhood copy of this game back during 2020 and it means about as much to me as SPM at this point lol Very eye opening (originally) and entertaining. Feels like one of the few dissertations on this game that truly “get it”

Love this video!! I'm pursuing degrees in English bc new forms of literature like video games are so important and you hit the nail on the head with the ways Fandom can manifest. I'm so fascinated with how popular culture fanbases present themselves in ways so similar to "traditional" scholarship, to the point that videos like this offer so much insight and value that we wouldn't be able to discuss in the normal constraints of academia. A lot of your points are things ive tried to echo in my own papers and its awesome to see others feeling the same way about the importance of an impactful story and the ways we engage with them. Super Paper Mario is a game about the many forms of love, and this analysis coming from a place of passion about something you enjoy is a pure heart among the chaos ones. Keep on creating good stuff! :)

oh my GOSH. super paper mario is literally in my top 5 favorite games, your video is so relatable and amazing, thank you for making this and talking about what makes SPM so special, because it's rlly often overlooked!!

I think the thing about more esoteric work better resonating with their audiences is absolutely a result of a lack of broad audience appeal. It's the embodiment of the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none", if you make art that's more geared towards a specific demographic, that demographic is going to notice, and take more interest, as the art resonates with them personally.

This game is the game that no shit was what me and my friend bonded playing. Hell I’m currently trying to turn our old role plays and hc into its own stand alone story more or less. I own this game a lot and it will always be one of my favorites.

"Honestly there's no point in this except" it's one of the best videos on RU-vid and makes a social analysis I never seen been made before. Holy moley

This was a really amazing video, it deserves way more attention and you really summed up my thoughts on Super Paper Mario exactly, we have a very similar story when it comes to that game. Though I grew up with both, TTYD was my first actually, and I DID used to consider it my favorite, but as I got older I realized that Super Paper Mario did way more for me even if I do know that TTYD might be a bit more objectively.. """"better"""" as a game. I think Super Paper Mario inspired a lot of things I like and a lot of the tastes I have today as an adult in both story, characters, and art style, so.. yea it's hands down one of my favorite games of all time and certainly my favorite in the series. The thing about the newer paper mario games, I do think you're right. It isn't fair to judge a game based on one it isn't trying to be. But... honestly I can't bring myself to just leave it at that. I don't think it's very fair to us that Nintendo pretends fans of the older games basically don't exist and the best we get is easter eggs or references. There's clearly a market for paper mario games like the first 3 and I'll criticize them to the end for being so cold to such passionate fans. I think it would have been better to leave the "paper mario" series in the dark than to transform it into something so vastly different. These new style of games could have easily been a new spinoff series or something instead of a lumbering zombie of a franchise that came before.

19:31 bruh, dimentio do be handin' us the L, huh?

hi! just wanted to say that this is one of my all time favorite video essays. super paper mario was one of the games i really latched onto as a child, and it honestly shaped a lot of my sense of humor and storytelling. hearing someone talk about it with passion and thoughtfulness like this really is lovely, tysm :,) am back for a rewatch and will be back for many more im sure!

I played SPM for the first time last year, what an experience it was! While I wasn't necessarily a fan of the action-RPG combat, the story and characters carried me the whole way through to the end, and it was worth it! Anytime memories played in the flashback scenes it really got me, and the final version of it during the final boss fight had me sobbing away. I'd be hesitant to say it's a better game than Origami King, but in terms of impact it has lasted longer, so you could technically argue that it is? Idk, but it is a very cool game to talk about!

I remember playing this game for the first time. My sister never was as much of a gamer as me, but we both really loved this game for its story and characters. Up to that point, I had never played any of the Mario RPGs, so it felt like a very unique and special game. I don’t know if we did much transformative with the game, but it absolutely had more of an impact on us compared to something like NSMBW. Also, fun fact: This game has such a transformative fan base that the director Seth Gordon wanted to make a movie out of it, but it unfortunately never came to fruition

I've been looking at the Paper Mario games closely, and I think I have a bit of an understanding of what's going on. And for that, we're going to need to borrow one of the more peculiar quotes from Colour Splash's developer interviews and have a look at what Mario & Luigi is doing. (Or, well *was* doing.) TTYD and SPM are both very dark games, openly pushing the boundaries of what sorts of situations Mario can find himself in, but the further you get into TTYD's deepest recesses and SPM's... everything, you get the general sense that Paper Mario's best work just... isn't interested in the "Mario" part of the identity. Mario & Luigi, on the other hand, have some *really dark concepts on their own merits* (I maintain the reason Partners in Time was skipped was because modern ratings boards would not have objected to some of the scenes that passed muster back when the game was 2D and standards were laxer), but the dark characters feel more like they're working with Mario, using similar design bases and keeping with the tone in demeanour if not in action. Compare the Chaos Heart and the Dark Star, for example. This comparison persists into the newer games. When Paper Mario lost the ability to add original characters, it panicked and suffered an identity crisis, before somehow finding a way to sneak original characters in anyway. Mario & Luigi, by contrast, preferred to look around for undeveloped characters lying dusty in the Mario IP and bring them out for a fresh look. The way the two franchises carry themselves, it feels like IS is making good RPGs in spite of Mario, while Alpha Dream made good RPGs that made use of Mario. In addition to BiS and DTB providing massive redemptions to Bowser and Luigi to save them from a decade of being used as a punchline (a pattern the Mario franchise had gotten into with Paper Mario 64 and was at its worst in TTYD), and it's obvious why the Mario IP bet on Mario & Luigi. With the COVID pandemic exasperating the issues that Alpha Dream's shutdown caused, it's not yet obvious how the Mario RPG brand plans to handle that particular issue, but there's plenty more characters- like Princess Daisy- that a Mario RPG could break out anytime. 64 offered an unprecedented look into the Mario world, but IS seems allergic to trying that again.

My dumb child brain believed Mr. L was a completely separate character from Luigi, so don’t stress about the Tippi and Count Bleck thing 😆

this was a very nice suprise! I hope you have more video essays like this planned

SPM is a beautiful game, it always makes me cry at the end

I personally consider Super Paper Mario and TTYD *tied* for best Paper Mario game, since each has the best to offer in a respective category - TTYD it's gameplay, and SPM it's story. Sometimes I think this could have all been different if the RPG elements were still in force in SPM, because a TTYD with a SPM story would *easily* blow what we have out of the water. Don't get me wrong, TTYD has a great story in its own right, but Super Paper Mario's story was the one time a Mario game dared to go into some truly heavy topics. And they got bit because of the gameplay and thought the story was the one they bit them...sigh.

Oh my god I needed this video, I loved super paper mario- I couldn't keep up with TYD at all 😭

This is the best Super Paper Mario talk I've heard about the game (by not really talking about the game)! Problem is.. even if it has a "more engaged fanbase", how can Nintendo re-use these elements? I don't think they can (considering the Mario franchise label on it is practically unnecessary, but is what people associate it with)! The characters had their moment, arcs completed and story wrapped-up.. so in the end, while different and appreciated, it comes full circle as a Mario franchise that leaves not-much-to-play-with as a narrative. I wished they had made a new IP for it, and thought about leaving space to do more with it. The "safe" approach to development and IP-limitations is one of Nintendo's worst quirks. I like your art!

Dimentio is the best villain and no one can change my mind

i really love the brief explanation of the chapters and while theres some wacky themes its pretty tame and relatively normal until chapter 7 just goes absolutely insane mode so incredibly out there for a mario game its hilarious

i really like how this video analizes how what the source material prioritizes affects its fanbase. thats something ive really never heard talked about before SPM is one of my childhood faves as well ^_^

For my first ever game as a mario maniac as a child I picked well still love this game

Okay I knowwww this was posted two years ago but I’m back in my SPM simp phase (that Nastasia comment absolutely got me) for the 18th time and I’m just here to say I love that you connected your love to an “outlier” to the world as a whole. Joy and meaning is found everywhere in the smallest, weirdest things. Would I love if this game became the first of the next Paper Mario games? Of course! But at least we have it itself at all. I 100% enjoy what we have in this one.

The Super Mario platformer games are understood by the fanbase for its basicness, but even then the likes of Sunshine, Galaxy and Odyssey at least makes it a bit complex to not be as simple as the New Super Mario Bros games. The spin-offs are usually supplemental and exprimental, and making it sync with the mainline by stopping down to its simplicity seems counterintuitive of what spin-offs are supposed to be. I assumed spin offs are for those who already have known the franchise rather than the entry point. But in order to take advantage of the brand's popularity they will also try to make side stuff seemingly as simple as the mainstream because they already have established a big following that it doesn't need to go the extra mile as they did before.

2 years later, sonic is seemingly rising from the ashes for a lot of people. They're taking risks with bringing up lore and continuity and it's great.

super paper mario feels like a fever dream really it feels like a game an indie developer will make thats probably why it has a lot in commune with undertale

Great vid, i completely agree. Nintendo been moving for corporate mass appeal for a minute now. Make more of these, put us on to other things you love

very late but what i think is sort of ironic is that nintendo prohibits new mario games with new characters and complicated storylines for fear of not feeling like mario anymore , and super paper mario is the game that gave birth to this rule , and that in said game blumiere is forbidden to be with timpani bc she's a human and he's from the tribe of darkness , due to the rule that no member in the tribe of darkness can marry anyone outside their circle for fear of diluting their magical blood .

12:30 that probably happened, and the someone is probably Miyamoto. He hates storys in mario games, remember Mario Galaxys Storybook? that was added last minute by Koizumi and as Miyamoto found out, Mario galaxy 2 was forbidden to have more than a basic story

Basically Super Paper Mario won the award for "Greatest Story In A Mario Game!"

The biggest shame of it all is letting Intelligent Systems, the company best known for Fire Emblem, a franchise well known for its story telling, restricted from writing compelling and interesting stories.

I've played origami king and its safe to say that yes its safe but also takes slight risks like the horrifying mache enemies, peach nearly dying being folded and merged with the castel and .... and...... (sniff) k-k-killing..... b-bobby... WAAAAH!