Prognosticus. Then comes good old Mario and it turns out that he's the hero spoken of in the Light Prognosticus that is the only one that can stop the Bleck guy. So you have to get the light hearts to help you defeat Bleck. It is not only fun and easy to play, but it challenges you without getting too frustrating. Remember...when in doubt, just flip...  (less)

means necessary. The latter tend to grow tiresome in a hurry, and navigating around in 3D mode is unnecessarily difficult, but it's still kinda fun to play and worth renting at least. I got mine for $30 used and feel that money could have been better spent elsewhere.  (less)

hidden goodies! The game is almost near perfect except for one small exception. WAY! TOO!! MUCH!!! READING!!!! The entire first half hour of the game is just reading! Which is why I say the game isn't for kids. They just simply won't want to do all the reading that comes along with the game play. Even I have trouble doing the reading because conversations can just be endless at times. Other than that though, the game is alot of fun to play. It includes some retro elements for us who like to feel nostalgic, like the power up with you're surrounded by little mini 8-bit marios who protect you from enemies. And when you jump, they do too, but they make the jumping sound that was in the original mario bros. games. And there is also a power up where you turn into a giant 8 bit mario, as well as a part of the game that is an exact replica taken from the original Mario bros game. You also get to play a variety of characters. Mario, Peach, Luigi, and Bowser. And sometimes it's necessary to switch to these characters to help you through the course. Now, I am one of the people who consider this an RPG. Just because you need to use items, buy things, the storyline, and of course, the reading! I've even played RPGs with less reading that what this game has. but the reading aside, this is a fun game and a kid can even play it. He or she may not understand the storyline, but how much of us REALLY cared about the story of the game when we were kids?  (less)

player would have to use strategy, etc to figure out ways to progress through the game. I enjoyed the first Paper Mario maybe more than any game I have in a long time, and therefore eagerly picked up the Paper Mario 1000 Yr Door for the Gamecube a few years later.... THe GameCube game was a bit less effective that the original, mostly because they added a bit TOO MUCH text to the story, but it still was a long (30+ hour game) and had enough to more than keep you interested, just didn't have the ghost levels, or charm of the first one because some of it had been done, but it was not far off, still one of GameCube's better titles and one of the few long games that I (an adult) took the time to beat. There's enough humour etc and enough strategy to make this one interesting, and I was eager for more (I had the game for a few years actualy before I got around to playing it because as an adult time is tough and devoting 30+ hours to a game can be hard, but when I had the time, I was more than happy with using it to play this game. It was more challenging than the first one, but also maybe a big too long. Still hardly a bad game, I'd still rank it a perfect 10/10 overall....and I was more than eager to buy the Super Paper Mario game which at the time I thought was going to be for the GameCube.... 6 months pass and the Super Paper Mario game comes out for only the Wii.....I had already a desire to buy the Wii, but thought I can't wait to buy it now because I know there's at least a Paper Mario Game if not a Zelda game I'd be interested in.....so I finally buckled down and bought something I thought would be a can't miss title....Super Paper Mario. I like the fact that the first two games read like a story, and really the most compelling piece of hte first two games is the RPG style with the thousands of mini stories and battles, they were very well detailed.... SO I bought the Wii, with really Super Paper Mario being the clincher for me, and got the game, put it in, with reasonable excitement. I even told my wife (I'm a newleywed) about it and she remembered briefly me playing the last one....and I said I was really excited about this, especially after I already tested and enjoyed Wii Sports so much.....so we both put it in, and right off the bat, the graphics were a bit disappointing (they're worse than the GameCube and maybe even N64 version) and suddenly the game is now more like a standard old-school, dated Mario Game than the interesting RPG styled game series I fell in love with. I felt very jipped. I still am upset. I've tried to play the game several times, but find it boring, and less inspired/entertaining than the two games preceeding it. It's one of the worst video games I've bought ever, and is much more in tune for a 10 year old, rather than an adult (whereas the previous titles work well for adults, and I'd really recommend their strange charms). This title is a complete waste. I almost feel like Nintendo should give everyone who bought this game thinking it was going to be similar in style at least to it's two predecessors should be able to get their money back. It's billed as a Paper Mario Title, but is much more like a very weak Super Mario 3 styled game. THis type of game would have been ok had it been called Super Mario 4 (I think World was 4) or Super Mario Wii, or really had it come out 15 years ago when I was a kid....but billing this as Super Paper Mario, then delivering a game that in gameplay is nothing like the original is a complete waste. If you're a 10 yr old kid or an adult buying a game for a 10 yr old kid, by all means buy this game....if you are familiar at all with the Paper Mario Game Series, avoid this like the black plague. It's simply not worth your money, and had it not been for games like Wii Sports and Trauma Center, this game might have soured me completely on the Wii itself..... It's just a horrible shame, and I'm still upset about it a month after I've bought it. I want my money back!  (less)