Tag Archives: 3DS

Pokemon Y Review

Posted on by
Reply


Pokemon is one of those franchises that is consistently excellent! The games always deliver with a ton of content and it’s just a lot of fun. One can always debate which series handles the turn based combat the best, Pokemon or Final Fantasy. I personally tend to think that Pokemon has it perfected, but it’s a close battle. This is the kind of game where grinding is fun and trying to catch em all feels like a real accomplishment. Especially since the game has hundreds upon hundreds of Pokemon to capture. I’m still waiting for the game that has every single Pokemon in it. Ideally that’s what will happen for the upcoming Switch game.

The game follows a kid named Terry who is determined to be the very best trainer that there ever was. He is so good that he gets two starters. Naturally I went with both fire starters to kick things off since you really can’t go wrong there. If you weren’t afraid of fire before then you soon will be! Of course it does make the team a little less balanced, but that’s just how it has to be sometimes. Rounding out the team that ended up beating the Elite 4 was Yveltal, Steelix, Pelipper, and Lucario. (The two fire starters were Charizard and Delphox) A pretty solid lineup I’d say and one that works wonders.

You have a childhood friend who also wants to be the best and she has plenty of fights with you as the game goes on. You can’t help but feel bad for her as she tries everything but simply can’t catch up to Terry. Surprisingly she isn’t even the champion at the end as a different character gets that role this time. I think a good way of subverting the trope in this game would have been for Terry to sit down after beating the Elite Four when she walks in and challenges him. Sort of the reverse of the original Pokemon games. Then the credits roll and after that it is heavily implied that you lost but vow to challenge her again someday. Still, whether she won or not the main heroine was pretty solid. Probably one of the better ones from the games and maybe even The best. I was glad that she was always eager to fight.

The main plot involves Team Flare who are trying to destroy the world. They plan to use a machine to wipe out all of the Pokemon and over 99% of humanity. Terry quickly shows up to stop them but the villain organization is massive so this task won’t be as easy as it sounds. I think the villain plot got a little less screen time than in some of the other games, but it was enough to be satisfying I suppose. Lysandre makes for a good main villain. His final form was super cool and naturally his theme music was really good as well. Ultimately the group may not have been much of a threat to Terry but then again who is?

One area where this game really excelled is in the music. It may not be a stretch to say that this game has the best soundtrack in all of Pokemon and that’s saying something since all of the games are already so good. In particular, I enjoyed the main Gym Leader theme and the one that plays when you fight the successor in the Lucario battle. Most of the battle themes were quite solid though. Til now the best soundtrack would probably go to Omega Ruby but I have to give this one the edge even though Omega has the single best track in all of Pokemon.

The graphics are really nice as well. I haven’t played a Pokemon game since Diamond so the series has certainly come quite a long way since then. Soon I’ll be playing Pokemon Sun so we’ll see if that game steps it up even more. The characters are 3D animated now instead of sprites, but it’s in a style that should still feel familiar for long time fans. It’s all very easy to look at. From a gameplay perspective the game also shines here as you won’t get lost very easily since the towns all look rather distinct. The map is really helpful with how detailed it is and your normal walking speed is quite fast. There really aren’t any inconveniences to be found here which is great.

Going back to the gameplay, it’s already been perfected so there’s not much more that this game needed to do. It brings you the classic type system as launching attacks that have a superior element to the opposing Pokemon will result in massive damage. Meanwhile you can now Mega Evolve which was a big feature for this game. I wouldn’t say that it seems to affect your stats all that much, but it does come attached with a really cool visual that makes the game that much more hype. The gameplay is fast and you are even able to turn off the attack animations to streamline the process even further. I definitely don’t see how they can improve on the gameplay even more, it’s just so good. Sometimes the simpler battle styles end up being the way to go. Make no mistake though, while it’s easy to play it’s hard to master.

The Elite Four also do seem to be quite a few pegs above the Gym Leaders which is good. In the final battle they got me down to my final Pokemon and he was nearly out. Steelix had to handle 4 opponents all by himself and that’s considering that my whole team was stronger than the champion’s by a range of 5-10 per Pokemon. These Pokemon were no joke and yet the Champion was able to one shot a few of them. I also did like how we got a bonus fight at the very end of the game right when you think the credits are about to roll. This game did a nice job of throwing in surprise fights around every corner. Of course, I wonder what would have happened if you lost to that guy. I feel like it’s unlikely since he is a little weaker than the Champion and only has 3 Pokemon so it’s a fight that you are definitely meant to win.

The base game should take you around 30 hours. That’s already a really sizable chunk of time and after that you’ve got a ton of bonus content to get through. Catching Mewtwo and Zygarde will likely be your first steps, but then what? Well, you can go after the 3 Birds, head to the Battle Tower, and catch the 200+ Pokemon that are still out there. It’s the game that keeps on giving so if you end up trying to do it all then it’ll likely take at least 50 hours or maybe more. It’s easy to see why I spent about 100 hours on most of the Pokemon games back in the day. These really feel like AAA titles.

I’ve been going on and on about how great the game is, but that’s because there really isn’t anything wrong with it at all. The game is pretty much as perfect as you can get. I also did like the EXP system in place here where everyone in your party gets some. It’s a great addition to the game, especially since you will want a strong party of 6 by the end. This prevents you from just powering up the top 2 for a while and then having to power the others up later. You can turn it off at any time as well so it’s not like it ever forces you to use it.

Overall, Pokemon Y is an excellent game. I think I would probably say that it is the 3rd best Pokemon RPG game behind Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Fire Red. I’d put it above Pokemon Diamond as well as the various spinoff games and big console versions. I’d highly recommend checking it out whether you are a Pokemon veteran or a newcomer to the franchise. Just be warned that once you start the game up you won’t be able to bring yourself to leave it very easily. It’s a real page turner from start to finish.

Overall 9/10

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask Review

Posted on by
Reply


The famous Professor Layton has finally found himself on the 3DS. While the last game may have not been quite as good as the others the series has never disappointed with its puzzles. This game is no exception and is a fine way to continue the story. At long last we are even introduced to the tragic past of Layton and 5 games in you could say that we were about due for it. This is the first Layton game to have fun switching up the gameplay style as well as we get a 3D racing level and also some overhead Mummy fights. I think Level 5 definitely has the right idea here as throwing in an occasional level like this is pretty fun.

This Layton game starts out with the hero receiving a letter from his old friend Angela. She wants him to hurry over because a villain known as the Masked Gentleman has popped up and is performing dark miracles on the town like turning people into horses and warping people away. Layton heads over but the place brings bad memories. The past that he had hoped to forget had finally caught up to him and he will have to face his fears head on!

The game plays out like some of the recent superhero shows as we jump from the present to the past a lot. For example one chapter will be in the present while another is in the past. In that sense, you could say that Layton solved the present mystery a bit quicker than usual. I suppose the number of viable suspects wasn’t too large so that helped his case. There were really 3 Big suspects here. First is the childhood friend Angela who seems obsessed with the Mask of Order and seems eager to give it to the gentleman. Next is Randall, the kid from Layton’s past who seemingly died, but his body was never found. Then there is Randall’s butler Henry who snagged his treasure and best friend after he died. With the whole town at stake Layton can’t afford to just sit around.

It’s a pretty solid story for sure. Layton’s backstory is definitely rather tragic. He did give up hope even while the other two friends kept looking for Randall, but I guess from a scientific point of view his odds weren’t great. He has been gone for a while after all. Layton chose to forget about the place for around 18 years until now. Layton did do everything that he could though. He would have been able to save Randall had the kid only let go of his treasure. Instead we saw that it was worth his life. It’s just hard to feel bad for him especially since he never had his priorities straight in life. Even if it made everyone worried he wanted to be rich so he would lie to everyone and take huge risks. It was only a matter of time before this caught up with him.

As with the last game we get a teaser for the next one. It’s the biggest teaser yet and that makes sense since the next game ends the trilogy. One last Aztec adventure for the heroes. In the clip we see the main villain of the prequel trilogy be defeated by a new villain. The new villain now has all of the locations needed to destroy the world. This next installment is definitely going to be a blast! The series has mostly been realistic with you just having to suspend disbelief for a bit at times. It’ll be interesting to see if the villain defies that in the next movie. After all, the villain that he defeated was able to contend with rapid bullet fire and that’s no easy feat.

The game has a great cast as you would expect. Layton is just as solid as ever and always reminds us that he can fight as well as he can think. Taking down the Mummy swordsmen was pretty impressive. Luke is a good sidekick as well and I do like the rivalry between him and Emmy even if it is rather one sided. Luke just never really stands a chance when it comes time to start trading burns. Emmy is the main reason why the team dynamic is better in the prequels than in the main game so I’m definitely happy to have her around as a main character. Her role is rather small here, but she still does get some puzzles of her own.

As for the new characters, Randall is annoying as you can guess. He isn’t reasonable at all but I already talked about him so we can move on. There is also Henry who may be rather loyal but quick to take everything the wrong way. He gets upset rather easily and makes himself look very suspicious this way. I guess he isn’t a bad character, but he could have been better. I actually preferred the Dalston character. He wanted to be rich while everyone was having fun adventuring and he accomplished his goals. He is now one of the richest men on the planet, you just can’t beat that. He also talks tough to the coppers and in general felt on the ball.

Angela is a good character if you view her more as a subtle antagonist. She definitely isn’t hear to make Layton feel any better as she spends the majority of her time making him feel even worse. It’s not always intentional, but at the same time in the past it seems as if it was. It’s hard to really understand her character at times, but she will always keep you guessing. Agent Bloom is a fun detective. He is very intelligent and the only police officer who is able to keep up with Layton step for step. He doesn’t appear very much, but it does seem like he will be in the sequel so that’s good. Layton doesn’t really have a rival so having this guy fit that bill would be fun. There are a slew of other supporting characters in the game that are all very solid as well. In particular look for the guy with the big, curved chin. His scenes are always amusing and his rigged puzzles are a blast.

As always the graphics are pretty solid here. It’s great to see fully animated cutscenes as always and we get some CG ones as well. The levels are all pretty clear and the puzzles aren’t too misleading. I still think it’s slightly cheating when the puzzle gives you 5 possible answers and they’re all wrong so the only way to beat the puzzle is to tap on part of it to make the whole thing break. I mean, technically I guess that works, but the false answers is barely legit. If the graphics were a little darker or more unclear then it would be tough to see the tiny cracks that serve as a hint. The controls are on point as well and basically this game does nothing wrong on a technical level. The soundtrack may not have any real new tunes in it, but that’s fine as the usual ones are pretty good.

The actual story is reasonably long as it’s over 10 hours and then we’ve also got a bunch of extra puzzles to try and conquer after the game is over. After all, it’s not like you have to complete all of them to clear the game. As with the previous titles in the series you can tackle any quest that you have not completed yet in the little house at the hotel. There are also a bunch of minigames that you can try to complete all of the levels in. By the time you have done all of this the game will likely be at 20 hours or maybe even longer. There’s definitely no shortage of content here.

Overall, This was a pretty exciting Layton game with a fun story that will keep you engaged the whole time. It starts out quite fast and never really loses steam. The only way you may not enjoy the game is if you don’t care for Layton’s past and I think the game handled it rather well. It’s the best of the prequel trilogy so far, but we’ll see how it holds up to the next game. As that is the final main Layton game I expect it to end with a bang. It certainly got a considerable amount of foreshadowing in this game. In case it’s not obvious, I would definitely recommend picking this game up.

Overall 8/10

Mario Tennis Open Stats and Records

Posted on by
Reply

Stats Time!

Play Time 1h 59m
Rackets 2/48
Shirts 1/40
Sweat Bands 0/40
Shoes 0/40

Tournaments

Mario 8/8
Everyone Else 0/8
Doubles for Everyone 0/8

Special Game Records

Ring Shot
Bronze 218
Silver –
Gold –

Super Mario Tennis
Bronze 564
Silver –
Gold –
Platinum –

Galaxy Rally
Bronze 191
Silver 228
Gold –

Ink Showdown
Bronze 350
Silver –
Gold –

Moshi Monsters: Katsuma Unleashed Stats and Records

Posted on by
Reply

Stats time!

Play Time 6h 24m
Completion 97%
Gems 12451
Monsters 69/91

Level Stats Puzzle Piece Rescued Animals

W1-1 1/1 3/3
W1-2 1/1 3/3
W1-3 1/1 3/3
W2-1 1/1 3/3
W2-2 1/1 3/3
W2-3 1/1 3/3
W3-1 1/1 3/3
W3-2 1/1 3/3
W3-3 1/1 3/3
W4-1 1/1 3/3
W4-2 1/1 3/3
W4-3 1/1 3/3
W5-1 1/1 3/3
W5-2 1/1 3/3
W5-3 1/1 3/3
W4-1 1/1 3/3
W4-2 1/1 3/3
W4-3 1/1 3/3
W5-1 1/1 3/3
W5-2 1/1 3/3
W5-3 1/1 3/3
W6-1 1/1 3/3
W6-2 1/1 3/3
W6-3 1/1 3/3
Perilous Plummet 33s
Boundless Bouncing 1m 21s
Speedy Smash 1m 42s
Menagerie Melee 435
Magma Madness 1m 41s
Fireball Frenzy 1190

Moshi Monsters: Katsuma Unleashed Review

Posted on by
2


Katsuma Unleashed is one of those games that I got on a whim. When I’m at GameStop I always like looking at the games that are 5 dollars or less. It is especially rare to see a 3DS game go for such a cheap price so I knew that I had to get it. I don’t think I even knew the genre at the time and only learned that it was a classic side scroller a little later on. It’s a fun game but it’s pretty clear why it is so cheap. The game is incredibly short so you can power through it with ease. Still, it’s a fun game and that’s what counts.

The plot of the game is that all of the happy monsters have been captured by a nefarious scientist. I don’t think this guy is an animal but it’s hard to say for sure. He doesn’t exactly seem human either as his neck is too long and his eyes are too high up. Fortunately for the animal kingdom, the Doctor was unable to catch the main character. It’s time to liberate the animals and show the Doctor that when you take on one monster, you take them all on.

As I mentioned, the core gameplay is basically like Mario or Kirby. You traverse through the levels, taking on enemies and obstacles along the way. At the end of each level is a capsule that you step on which unlocks the next level. That bit is pretty similar to Sonic . Of course, every side scroller has something to keep it unique and this one is no exception. You gain a new power after each world until you have all 5. You gain the ability to make an indestructible barrier which can endure several hits. It is by far the most useful ability. You also gain the ability to fly for long periods of time which is best for trying to speed blitz through the levels. The worst ability is your super punch. You’ll never end up using it except when the game forces you to do so. There are also your eye lasers, those are fairly fun and useful. Your final ability is that you can slow down time which is usually great, but there just isn’t much reason to use it here. As all of the bosses go through their normal patterns where you have to wait for an opening, using time stop would just slow you down.

This game is just one of those interesting cases where your base moves are so good that there is rarely a need to use your powers except flight and the barrier. Why use a punch or energy blast when it’s quicker to just spin and win? The main character’s spin move is incredibly useful and never gets inefficient to use. I mainly use flight so I can just keep running and jumping without fear. If I start plummeting just activate flight as a save. The barrier did come in handy against the final boss which was actually a fairly tough fight.

So the levels are a lot of fun. They are made quite well and you do need a level of skill to get past all of them. The game is fairly easy so I mean that quite lightly. You also have unlimited lives and many checkpoints so you will no doubt beat the game at some point. There’s no real pressure like this which is nice. While easy, that doesn’t make the levels any less enjoyable.

I only have one real problem with the game. It’s not the story. Barebones as it is, the story was basically nonexistent, but at least it wasn’t bad. What hurts the game a little is how short it is. Each level is typically 2-3 minutes with a small handful of 5 minute levels in there. There are 24 levels so you can do the math. This game isn’t very long at all. It does it’s best to add replay value though as there are a bunch of collectibles to nab. If you grab them all then you get the true ending. After all, one of the lead scientists is still captured in the normal ending so you can tell that the quest must go on. It wouldn’t take too long to get to the secret ending but it’s certainly better than nothing. I wasn’t quite a big enough fan to go for it myself, but it’s nice to know that the option is there.

The graphics are pretty nice and a little better than I had expected but this is a 3DS game so I suppose that makes sense. The levels are very bright and colorful and the character models are on point. At the very least I don’t think they skimped out on this part of the budget. The music is less impressive. It’s not bad, but it isn’t memorable either so I think you will forget it rather quickly. There also aren’t any real cutscenes and not even text bubbles pop up. That would have been fun, but I suppose you can’t win them all.

The bosses are all unique which is impressive as some big games are quick to reuse them to save budget. (Sonic Forces) The boss levels are fairly intuitive so you will quickly find out what to do while still feeling like you picked up on the weakness yourself. Just another reason why this game is so solid. The final boss came very close to defeating me which was quite impressive but I got the barrier up just in time.

Overall, Katsuma Unleashed is probably the definition of a solid platformer. It is very easy to pick up and play with the gameplay being polished enough for you to think that it’s an AAA title. In pure 2D gameplay I would even rate it over Sonic. Of course, the budget limitations do begin to show in other areas like the duration and lack of a story. If you are playing purely for the story then you should probably skip this one. If like me you are really playing for the gameplay then you must buy this one. It’s only a few dollars which is a bargain and also offsets the negative of being a short game.

Overall 7/10

Cave Story 3D Review

Posted on by
1


Cave Story is a retro side scroller that was a pretty big deal when it came out for the 3DS. I remember seeing it all the time back in the day. After all these many years I finally got to play it and it is definitely a pretty solid title. It has a good amount of difficulty which should challenge and frustrate even the most skilled players of the genre.

The game starts off with two “kids” (seemingly) chatting through their computers. One of them is locked up in a hut while the other one has managed to escape from the villain organization. Their predicament still isn’t great though as the villains are looking to kidnap Sue again. (The one who escaped) Fortunately, a Robotic soldier from the surface has shown up and decides to help these guys out. He will stop the nefarious organization and save the world. This soldier may be brave but is he up to the challenge?

One thing you’ll notice right away as you play the game is that the title is very cryptic. You are kept on a need to know basis as everyone makes references to past events or tell you parts of stories that you have to fill in on your own. As you talk to more and more NPCs you will likely have more and more questions. The game is definitely trying to set up a lot of lore and I’m sure it was fun for some people to decipher it all and put it in a wiki. I’ve always been content to figure stuff out in my own as well and don’t think the game/any form of media should spoon feed you all of the info. Let us figure out most of it on our own and only give the really crucial parts.

The gameplay is like the classic Mega Man games. It’s primarily run and gun as you go through the levels. It is part RPG though so it’s not as simple as merely running to the goal each time. You will have to talk to people and go back and forth to get the necessary items to carry on. The backtracking isn’t all that extensive though so I wouldn’t really worry about that part. You start out with a classic beam gun and quickly get missiles. How the game works is each gun starts out at level 1 and can be upgraded to level 3. Enemies drop the energy that you use to power up the weapon. Taking any damage will then cause you to lose the energy. Thus, the game highly rewards a patient approach as you try to clear the game without really getting hit. You gather energy quickly so it’s not as if you can’t afford to get hit but I like to see how long I can last. One thing to note is that level 3 of the upgraded machine gun you get later on allows you to fly by shooting at the ground. Unlike the jet pack, you can fly forever this way once you also get the quick ammo reload power up. There is apparently also a powered up Jetpack you can obtain which may do the same thing but I never found it so this is a great alternative. As you play you will have to decide which weapons you really want to level up. You can level them all up of course but there is rarely a need too. Some abilities like the sword slash feel like weaker alternatives to your regular weapons anyway.

Each boss has patterns that you can learn and exploit through experience and quick reactions like the Mega Man games. There doesn’t seem to be much RNG (if any) in this title which is good since it comes down to skill. Even then I was glad that we got consistent save points throughout or it would have been a tough trek. As it stands, there are two parts of the game where you go a long stretch without a save point and those parts was tough. In particular, the triple final boss is really difficult and I definitely had to retry that one a few times. Find each boss’ weaknesses and learn how to win while taking minimal damage. It’s a considerable challenge, but I’m sure you can get it done.

The main character is a nice enough guy but of course he doesn’t have any actual personality. Sue seems reasonable enough but she basically spends most of the game getting kidnapped so it wasn’t her best role. The guy who was on the computer turned out to be a rather old guy and one who wasn’t very brave. When push came to shove he was ready to abandon ship and even offered us a ride home. I wasn’t having any of that and stayed in to fight. The bad ending was tempting to watch though, but I was on a mission. Either way, that guy is ally that you don’t want or need to have on your side. The villains were pretty interesting and charismatic though. Not really the main villain though, but his partners. The scientist comes off as rather generic. His plans aren’t bad I suppose and he had a good super form but he just didn’t look as cool as the others.

One big villain who kept showing up was this sentient Toaster. Perhaps the game meant for him to be a boom box or an oven but he looked like a Toaster to me so I’m sticking with that. He even had his own theme music which was really fun to listen too. While the Toaster’s redemption arc may be rather cheesy and hard to buy into considering just how mean he is, it could have been dragged out a whole lot more. He is the best character in the game for sure and you have to admire his drive and persistence. No matter how many times you defeat him he will come right back. Another villain who was cool was this evil fire mage/fairy creature who is bound to serve the one in control of the temple. As a result she works for the Scientist. She’s a good fighter and her abilities seem similar to that of Infinite’s. She doesn’t get to do a lot in the game but at least we do fight her once so that was neat.

The soundtrack is limited but fairly good. As I mentioned, the Toaster got the best theme in the game. It’s just excellent and really makes you enjoy the fights. The rest of the themes aren’t bad, but you will hear them a lot so get used to it or it’ll be a tough time. The graphics aren’t quite as good as the music though. The levels are all fairly dark and the sprites are small. This makes it rather easy to get hit by stage hazards and the like even when you would have dodged them otherwise. This happened to me a few times in the final level with the stone spires. The graphics aren’t bad, it’s just that the lighting was dark which hurts the overall look. It’s still bearable though and just make sure you play in a well lit area. I also wonder if it might just be my 3DS since screenshots of the game look fine. In my playthrough you wouldn’t have even known how the main character looks if not for the cover. It’s like it was zoomed out too much or my 3DS is getting ready to kick the bucket.

The game is reasonably long and took me 8 hours. I can’t say that there is much replay value beyond beating the game but there is enough. You can keep on chatting with everyone to find out more about this war torn world. You can also grab new weapons and I believe you do unlock a new level so that would be pretty fun. All in all, it’s definitely enough content to justify the price. The game will last you for a satisfactory amount of time and the level of difficulty will ensure you don’t beat the final levels too quickly. I died quite a lot in this game so I can definitely vouch for the game’s difficulty.

Overall, Cave Story 3D is a fun game. The gameplay is on point and I did like how the weapon levels worked. It’s a very unique take on the leveling system in general and one that I’d say works. The plot may be vague and even by the end you don’t know what the full situation is, but the mystery aspect can be enjoyable in its own way. You don’t always need all of the answers. I’d recommend checking this game out. It’s a very solid side scrolling adventure with a lot of options on his to play the levels thanks to your array of weapons. When in doubt, just fly. That’s my motto in this title.

Overall 7/10

Paper Mario: Sticker Star Review

Posted on by
2


Paper Mario has always been pretty ambitious for a Mario series. The plots could get pretty serious and were certainly darker than the main series as they selves into Luigi’s psyche and had Peach turn evil. The Thousand Year Door was the peak of the series and could hold its own as an rpg against the mainstream ones like Final Fantasy. Then….this game came out. It’s basically a Mario game masquerading as a Paper Mario title.

The plot is paper thin compared to the old ones as Peach is kidnapped. Bowser has taken her away to his castle and Mario is going to need some help if he wants to save her this time. Fortunately he had a pal named Kersti who is some kind of Princess I think. I can’t remember to be honest but she talks a really good game and insults anyone who gets in her way. She reminds Mario that he will need to obtain the 6 World Crown Stickers to save the world and stop Bowser’s evil plan once and for all. Can Mario do it or will he end up panicking throughout the entire game!?

Right away the game’s main problem presents itself in the form of the stickers. Not only is the entire game built around them, but the mechanics aren’t even fun. You need them to perform any kind of action in combat from jumping to using your hammer. This means you really do need to take the time to pluck them off the walls or you’ll run out during a boss fight. The stage will throw you a few extra ones when you’re empty but only cheap stickers that won’t do a lot of damage. This gets very tedious very quickly. It doesn’t help that the bosses have an enormous amount of hp so the fights drag on for eternity. That’s also why running out of stickers becomes a legitimate concern since you will need a lot of stickers to finish them off.

The final boss in particular has around 5 phases and keeps healing between each phase. This just drags on the fight more and more as opposed to being exciting. You can’t jump on this opponent either so even though I made it to the final phase with a lot of stickers left, I couldn’t do anything. None of my jumps would do anything but hurt me and so I had to watch as my efforts went to waste. The game is built around trial and error to a large extent which is certainly not how a game should be if you ask me. You should be able to reasonably guess what to expect and win if you thought about it enough as opposed to just needing more stickers from the shop.

You’ll likely need to farm some coins at one point or another so I’d recommend 4-1 for that. There’s a shiny goomba right when you enter the level and a ice flower in the box next to him. Grab the flower and you can beat him in one hit which will get you around 100 coins. You can do this very quickly so just keep at it. I saved to about 2500 coins for the final boss and it was certainly worth it. The super stickers do have cutscenes that are unskippable which is unfortunate but they are worth it for the damage they dish out.

Another massive problem with the game are the puzzles. You probably know this if you’ve been reading my reviews but one thing I’m really not a big fan of are poorly made puzzles. It’s to the point where they can easily lower a game’s score on their own like Final Fantasy VII, Metroid, and Majora’s Mask. The same thing happens here but to a larger extent. Some puzzles require you to go all the way back from world 5 to 2 for example as you look for an ice sticker that can freeze the volcano. I had to resort to Gamefaqs a few times here because these puzzles are absolutely terrible. How could you possibly think to search a new world? Why would the ice be in the desert world instead of…..the ice world? The game is actively trying to troll you which I don’t appreciate and there are so many puzzles here that don’t make any sense. I think the only way you would figure some of these out is if you were planning to 100% the game anyway so you investigate every book and cranny. Even then, the same thing happens with the bosses as you have to try and figure out how to deal with them. My sticker “pal” mocked me after every fight as she pointed out that I used too many stickers so certainly don’t use my tactics.

This game just wasn’t all that fun and it’s a shame because the gameplay minus the stickers was good. Some of the levels had a little platforming so you would jump around and try to reach the goal. It gives you a small glimpse of what the game could have been like without the odd gameplay style. It also makes you wonder what the point of the stickers was because at the end of the day it is still basically a turn based style of gameplay. It’s just far more limited than the usual ones since you always have to worry about running out of stickers which is a really pointless feature. Throw out all of the many, many puzzles and this could maybe will be a good game even with the sticker system. Of course, then we are looking at a completely different game since this one was really built with all of those puzzles in mind.

As far as the characters are concerned, this Mario game plays it by the books. Mario is your classic lead who is always ready for a good time but really does panic at just about everything. Peach gets kidnapped as per usual, but gives a pretty nice speech at the end so that was cool. Bowser essentially gets controlled by the stickers so it wasn’t his best appearance. Seeing all of the old bosses was pretty cool like Gooper Blooper and Petey Piranha. Bowser Jr and Kamek also has pretty solid roles. The main heroine Kersti was also pretty decent even if she was rather generic the whole time. The big sacrifice at the end was certainly a pretty emotional moment when you think about it. Mario didn’t really put up much resistance to the plan but I guess we can assume that he knew about the true power of the stickers and figured it would all work out. The climax was pretty intense and in a main Mario game it would have looked awesome since Mario effectively got Super Saiyan mode at long last. If you ask me, it’s about time.

As far as the presentation goes, Paper Mario’s graphics hold up pretty well. They’re certainly. not amazing or anything like that, but they are good enough and get the job done. The character models are solid and the level environments are pretty striking as well. It’s a oh as good as I’d expect a modern Paper Mario game to look. The soundtrack is certainly less impressive compared to the average Mario games but it’s not bad. At the very least the main menu theme is quite iconic after hearing it so many times. I’m not likely to forget it anytime soon.

In terms of the replay value Paper Mario is fairly decent. There is a set amount of large stickers to obtain so gathering them all would be an accomplishment. You can also try to find Luigi in his 5 appearances which will hopefully trigger some kind of cutscene. The main game is around 15 hours of more if you get stuck so that’s a very good amount right off the bat as well. So technically there is a lot to do here but you probably just won’t be all that tempted to accomplish all of this since the fun factor isn’t quite there. The post game is st least more enjoyable than the main game since the puzzles are already taken care of. It becomes a little more of a straight job from start to finish while you complete everything. Prepare for a lot of back and forth either way.

Overall, it’s rare for me to say that a game is actually bad. Over 90% of the games I’ve reviewed at least make it to 5 and most are over 6. This one just goes way too far with the sticker mechanics and the problem that the game isn’t fun. It’s not really a title that you look forward to playing which is the problem. It has its moments but every time you think the game is hitting its stride it comes back at you with another puzzle. They just keep on coming and never stop so the game could not save itself. I highly recommend playing the other Paper Mario games first as this one will really give you the wrong impression of the series. I can only hope that the next Paper Mario game has improved a lot from this one.

Overall 4/10