The Paper Mario series has always been known for its witty writing and crazy stories, and Super Paper Mario is no different. The game begins with Princess Peach being kidnapped (again!), but this time it’s not by the hand of Bowser. No, instead an evil villain named Count Bleck is behind this evil plot, and he has also nabbed Bowser. His world-destroying plan hinges on the marriage of Princess Peach to Bowser, and upon completing this odd union, chaos erupts throughout the universe. A void is created that threatens to swallow every world in existence. Of course, Mario comes to save the day and must collect life hearts from each world to counteract the void that is ever growing.

The past two Paper Mario games were straight up role-playing games, complete with turn-based battles similar to Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. Super Paper Mario plays more like the standard 2D Mario games. To kill a Goomba, you simply jump on his head to squish him. You’ll receive coins and points for each enemy you kill. Points are added to your overall score, which will eventually level-up Mario and give him increased heart points (more on that in a moment) and attack power. Like in prior games, the more consecutive enemies you stomp on without touching the ground, the higher your overall score. If you see a bunch of Koopa Troopas walking in a line, knock them all out with a turtle shell to see your points climb higher and higher. A short way into the game Mario will learn that he can increase his points even more by showing off his stylish moves. To do this, simply jump on an enemy, continue to hold the jump button and at the height of Mario’s rebound jump shake the Wii Remote. If the timing is correct, Mario will summersault and strike poses. You can chain these moves together to net yourself some massive points.

The game starts you off with 10 heart points. Each time you fall down a pit or get hit by an enemy you’ll lose some of these points. If you deplete your entire stock you’ll see the dreaded game over screen and have to continue from your last save point. Smashing blocks will reveal coins and of course mushrooms and fire flowers. The coins no longer offer extra lives, but instead you’re able to spend them in stores to buy new items. The standard mushroom replenishes your hit points and the fire flower rains down coins from the top of the screen. Other items can be bought in stores, found in secret chests, or obtained randomly from fallen enemies. You can take any item you find to a shop in town to have it cooked to create a new, usually more potent item. Many items are used for replenishing heart points or increasing defensive and offensive abilities for a short time. However, there are also offensive items that will allow you to attack enemies from a distance, and these will all use the Remote in unique ways to dole out the damage.

Players control the game with just a standard Wii Remote that is held sideways like the original NES pad. The controls are intuitive and simple to learn. As Mario makes his way through the various worlds, he is introduced to new characters named Pixls. These floating sprites help him on his quest by offering up new powers and abilities. The first one he meets, Tippi, allows Mario to examine nearby enemies and items simply by rotating the Wii Remote and pointing it at the screen. Tippi offers up stats on each enemy and even gives tips on how to defeat boss characters. Secret doors and items can also be located by searching the surrounding environment with the Wii Remote. As players progress through the game, new powers like throwing enemies, laying bombs, and even shrinking down to a miniature size will be essential to completing the levels and locating hidden treasures and secrets.

The coolest gameplay mechanic introduced is Mario’s ability to switch the 2D level into a 3D landscape simply by pressing the “A” button. This technique allows Mario to find hidden items, secret paths, and more enemies to smash. In the first level you’ll come to a bottomless pit that can’t be jumped over. Changing the view to 3D shows a path around the hole that Mario must take to continue on in the level. He can only stay in the 3D mode for a limited amount of time before his flip meter drains and he begins losing heart points. As such, expect to flip back and forth between modes frequently to locate hidden paths and treasures and to regenerate the flip meter.

Mario’s not the only controllable hero. In fact, there are four and you will have three of them in your party near the beginning of the game. The two that are widely known are Princess Peach and Bowser. The last one joins a bit later in the game and I won’t spoil, but it’s not too difficult to figure out who it is. Each character has his or her unique special powers, but only Mario can flip to 3D. You can switch to any of the characters by accessing the menu screen (pressing 1 + 2 simultaneously). Peach can use her parasol to jump and float long distances and can guard against enemy attack by shielding herself with her umbrella. Bowser is by far the strongest of the group, but he’s also the slowest with the smallest jumping range. Besides doling out massive damage, he can also breathe fire, making most standard enemies (and many bosses) easy to kill. Even with Bowser’s extra strength and Peach’s long jump, I found myself using Mario about 95% of the time because I always wanted to check out the 3D aspect of the stages to see if there were any secret items or paths to find.

Super Paper Mario has a very distinct art style. All of the characters are flat, so when they turn around they actually flip, like a piece of paper. The backgrounds are completely out of this world. The first world has floating equations in the sky, and later levels have scenery resembling magnified pixel blocks. Switching to 3D shows a rather barren looking world, but it fits in perfectly with its 2D version of the level. Many familiar characters show up during the game, and even the old-style Super Mario Bros. sprites make an appearance when you nab the star power-up. The game features a ton of parallax scrolling and the graphics are very bright and crisp. It supports 16x9 widescreen television sets, which is a very welcome feature.

I simply loved the music. There are plenty of new tunes that sound very Mario-esque, with upbeat tempos and familiar instruments. Many levels featured highly remixed segments of old Mario songs that really added a touch of nostalgia. They don’t overuse any of the songs and each level’s background music fits perfectly. The game is presented in Dolby pro logic II surround, but like many Nintendo games, it doesn’t feature any voice acting for the characters. Of course you’ll hear Mario say “Oh Yeah!” and some other little snippets, but it might be disappointing to some players. That said, there is so much to read in this game, and the text is so well written, that I don’t feel the lack of voice really matters.

Super Paper Mario really benefits from excellent level design. The “Oh wow, that’s really cool!” moments never end from start to finish. There are some really awesome and mind-twisting levels that simply must be played to understand how devious they are. One in particular brings to mind the old Genesis game, Mickey Mouse and the Castle of Illusion where the level is completely upside down. Except in this case Mario will be walking on the sides of walls, the ceiling, and the floor. When you mix that up with the 3D view it can become quite the challenging experience. My favorite world has to be World 3, where you’ll meet up with a toad that is the epitome of a nerd. He collects insects, comics, and loves sci-fi. He’s absolutely hilarious and pokes fun at hardcore gamers, anime collectors, and even forum junkies. Be sure to check out some of his books and collections he has stashed on his shelves for some truly funny stuff.

I highly recommend Super Paper Mario to gamers of all ages. There is a bit of reading involved, but it’s nothing too heavy that younger gamers can’t handle. There is quite a bit of puzzle solving scattered throughout the game that may stump some gamers, but for the most part the game isn’t overly difficult. The game is loaded with secret areas, items, and plenty of collectible cards to collect as well as recipes to discover. There’s even a challenging dungeon that has 100 levels for the gamers that need to complete everything. The only thing keeping Super Paper Mario from being perfect is that the game begins to drag a bit midway through. The later levels didn’t excite me near as much as the first half, and some of the puzzle ideas were weak and seemed to serve only to drag out the levels. The game should take most gamers well over 15 hours to complete, and much longer if you want to try and find all of the hidden items. This is one game where I constantly wanted to uncover the secrets just because of how clever so many of them were. If you own a Wii, don’t pass up this highly entertaining game. If you don’t yet own a Wii, Super Paper Mario is just one more high caliber title waiting for you when you do. Now, bring on Super Mario Galaxy!