Paper Mario

Paper Mario is the first installment for the Paper Mario series and is the predecessor to the GameCube game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and the Wii game Super Paper Mario. The game received a positive reaction from the media, attaining an aggregate score of 88% from Game Rankings and 93% from Metacritic. It was rated the 63rd best game made on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Games" list in 2006.

Paper Mario combines traditional role-playing game (RPG) elements with concepts and features from the Mario series. The player controls Mario for the majority of the game, who can jump and use his hammer to overcome physical obstacles placed in the game's overworld. Many of the game's puzzles and boundaries are based upon the abilities of Mario's partners, who each have a specialised skill required for progression in the game. The player accumulates partners as they advance into different locations; only one partner can accompany Mario in the overworld, although the player can interchange between them at any time. These characters also assist Mario in the game's turn-based battles, where damage inflicted against them results in temporary paralysis as the characters do not have individual HP statistics. Attacks in the game are similar to those in traditional RPGs, although the player can influence the power of a move when attacking or defending by timing a button-press accurately or performing some other action command as required. Mario and his partners have a finite capacity to perform special moves, with each of these consuming a particular number of flower points (FP) when performed. Such statistics can be increased by earning Star Points (experience points) in combat to level up. There is also an on-screen gauge to display Star Energy, which is required to perform another type of move that accumulate in number as the player advances through the game. The player can locate hidden battle upgrades in the game's overworld, which promotes one partner character to a new rank at a time.

The game is set in Mushroom Kingdom, beginning as Mario and Luigi are relaxing in their house when suddenly the mail Parakoopa, Parakarry, arrives with a letter. Mario sends Luigi to fetch the mail, which turns out to be an invitation from Peach to a party. Mario and Luigi then head to the castle, and as Mario is about to have some quiet time with Peach, Bowser appears. After Bowser's invasion and victory over Mario, the Castle becomes attached to Bowser's Fortress, which serves as the location for playable side quests of the kidnapped Peach. In the main quest, Mario tries to retrieve all of the Star Spirits on land, where most of the locations are linked to the central Toad Town, which acts as the game's hub area. The story's main conflict arises when Bowser invades Star Haven, the residence for the seven Star Spirits, and steals the Star Rod.

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