Super Paper Mario is a platformer role-playing game released in 2007 for the Wii, as well as the first game starring Mario for the console. Unlike the other Paper Mario games, Super Paper Mario is a platformer and does not use a turn-based battle system, but rather incorporates RPG elements with platforming. The game fuses elements of 2D and 3D gameplay together, shifting back and forth between dimensions, once being described as a "2.5D" sidescroller by Nintendo Power magazine.
The story focuses on Mario, Princess Peach, Bowser, and Luigi journeying across various dimensions to stop a villain named Count Bleck from destroying all of existence. In addition to the four playable characters are fairy-like Pixls that grant the main party members various extra abilities, such as hammering objects or calling up a temporary shield. As the players defeat enemies, they accumulate points and level up, making their own attacks stronger.
Super Paper Mario has a distinct visual style among the Paper Mario games. While most characters, enemies and items returning from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door retain their appearance, the game utilizes very abstract, inorganic shapes for its new character designs, which are assembled from simple polygons, circles and lines. Its environments are equally geometric, and have tile-based layouts. For coloring, gradients, patterns and psychedelic colors are common for both characters and backgrounds. This visual direction, coupled with animations such as the rectangle selection effect for warping characters and color fill effect for appearing stage elements, seems to be inspired by digital graphics editing rather than traditional art media, as is the case for the rest of the series.
The game was originally planned for a 2006 release on the Nintendo GameCube and the newer Wii console, but it was pushed to the latter exclusively. Motion controls were added to certain gameplay features, pushing the release date back to April 9, 2007 for North America, April 19, 2007 for Japan, and September 14, 2007 for Europe, and September 20, 2007 for Australia. The game was re-released for the Wii U eShop in North America on June 16, 2016, in Japan on August 3, 2016, in Europe on August 11, 2016, and in Australia on August 12, 2016; however, the digital re-release was eventually removed from the Wii U eShop after its discontinuation on March 27, 2023, making it no longer possible for players to purchase the game, although players who purchased the title before this date can still play it as long as it is on their Wii U device.
The story opens with Mario and Luigi being informed by Toad about Princess Peach's latest kidnapping. Believing Bowser to be the culprit once again, the brothers immediately head off to his castle, only to find him preparing to attack. A villain named Count Bleck then appears with his assistant, Nastasia and Princess Peach, who is his prisoner. He announces his plans to use Peach "to destroy all worlds", renders Mario unconscious with his dark powers, and kidnaps Bowser as well, with Luigi and the Koopa Troop being sucked away too.
Elsewhere, Peach regains consciousness to find that she and Bowser are dressed in wedding outfits and standing at an altar, with Count Bleck officiating. While Bowser says "yes", Nastasia uses mind control powers to force Peach to say "I do", and the marriage between them calls forth the Chaos Heart. Luigi awakens in the Koopa crowd watching the ceremony and attempts to intervene, but he is too late as Bleck uses the Chaos Heart to open a dimensional rift known as The Void, fulfilling a prophecy he read in an ancient book known as the Dark Prognosticus, in which all worlds are destroyed.
Back at Bowser's Castle, Mario is awakened by a Pixl named Tippi, who brings him to the town of Flipside and introduces him to Merlon. He owns the benevolent counterpart of Bleck's book, the Light Prognosticus, which indicates that a hero fitting Mario's description can stop the Void, which is visible in the sky above Flipside and slowly growing. Merlon gives Mario the first of eight Pure Hearts that he needs to counteract the Chaos Heart. Upon receiving the first Pure Heart, Mario has to place it into the first Heart Pillar to cause a door to appear on the top of Flipside Tower leading straight to Lineland, where the next Pure Heart is. Merlon also tells Mario that he must also learn the "dimensional technique" from his friend Bestovius there in order to find the rest of the Pure Hearts.
Meanwhile, in Castle Bleck, the Count and Nastasia meet with the other three minions, Dimentio, O'Chunks, and the shape-shifting Mimi. Count Bleck promises to replace the destroyed worlds with a perfect world where all his minions' dreams will come true, and when Nastasia mentions that the hero of prophecy may be active, O'Chunks volunteers to take care of him, with Dimentio tagging along to watch the show.
In Lineland, Mario first seeks out Bestovius and gains the ability to flip into the third dimension, allowing him to progress through the world. After climbing Mount Lineland, Mario and Tippi reach Yold Town, where they find another Pixl named Thoreau, who assists them as they cross the puzzle-filled Yold Desert and are forced to fight O'Chunks before reaching Yold Ruins. The next Pure Heart is guarded by the robotic dragon, Fracktail, but while he recognizes Mario as the legendary hero, before he can let the plumber pass, Dimentio appears and causes the dragon to malfunction, making him attack. Mario is forced to defeat him before proceeding inside the sanctum of the ruins, where he is given a Pure Heart by Merlumina, one of the ancients who wrote the Light Prognosticus and lingered after death to await the hero.
Meanwhile, O'Chunks reports back to Castle Bleck in shame, so the Count sends Mimi to deal with the hero, while Nastasia goes to look for any "goons" in the castle who still are not under the Bleck's control.
Soon after, Peach (now in her usual pink dress) wakes up in Castle Bleck and joins a Hammer Bro and a Koopa Troopa in search of an exit, but they are soon cornered by Nastasia, who brainwashes Bowser's minions. Peach, however, is teleported away before she can be hypnotized.
Far away, Mario returns to Flipside to bring the Pure Heart to Merlon, and the group learns from a panicking citizen that a girl has fallen from the sky. They then go to investigate, and discover that the girl is Peach, whom they revive with Spicy Soup. Feeling responsible for the opening of the Void, Peach insists on joining Mario in his quest and helps him reach the next Heart Pillar, and Merlon sends them through the new orange door to the next world, Gloam Valley.
Mario and Peach cross Gloam Valley to reach Merlee's Mansion, meeting an explosive Pixl named Boomer on the way. At the mansion, Mimi is waiting in disguise as Merlee's maid and uses various tricks and traps to try and stop Mario and Peach from getting deeper into the building, including forcing them to work in the mansion's power plant to work off a phony debt she levied on them for the apparent breaking of a vase. With help from another new Pixl, Slim, the heroes outwit Mimi and enter the mansion's basement, where a spectral Merlee appears and warns them to be careful as they search for her. Mimi shape-shifts into Merlee to try and trick Mario and Peach once more but when the truth is discovered she reverts to her true spider-like form and chases them around the basement as they seek out the real Merlee, who had hidden in a bathroom. After more attempted trickery, Mimi fights the heroes, but Merlee weakens her with magical chanting and she is defeated and forced to flee. Merlee then gives the third Pure Heart to Mario and Peach and informs them that there are a total of four heroes needed to stop the Void.
Meanwhile, Luigi wakes up and is manipulated by two Goombas into helping them find a way out, but they run into Nastasia. One of the Goombas is hypnotized and the other Goomba joins Nastasia's side, and they restrain Luigi so that Nastasia can brainwash him as well.
Upon the heroes' arrival in the pixelated Bitlands, Tippi is kidnapped by the geeky, butterfly-collecting chameleon, Francis. Another Pixl named Barry witnessed the scene from behind a bush and tells the heroes how to reach Fort Francis. After passing through an underground area just like World 1-2 in Super Mario Bros., Mario and Peach come across some castles occupied by Koopas, Hammer Bros., Bullet Bills and Bowser himself, who proceeds to lose a one-on-one fight with Mario. Bowser explains that he was locked up in Bleck's Castle and does not know how he appeared in the Bitlands, and with some persuasion, agrees to join Peach and Mario on their journey. The three swim across The Tile Pool, where they meet a new Pixl, Thudley, and use him to defeat a monstrous Big Blooper. Beyond the pool, the heroes climb the Dotwood Tree in order to use the winds blowing at the top to float over a gorge and reach Fort Francis. Along the way, they run into Dimentio, who transports them to Dimension D and fights them. He is defeated, brushing it off as a mere amusement, and monologues to himself that he was in fact using it to gauge the heroes' strength in order to ensure they can defeat Count Bleck when the time comes. Unaware of Dimentio's plotting, Mario, Peach and Bowser continue on to Fort Francis, where they find another trapped Pixl named Carrie and navigate their way through a sea of puzzles, Meowmaid robots, and nerdy memorabilia. When they reach Francis, he immediately develops a crush on Peach and attempts to flirt with her using an electronic chat interface that he created, called Swoon.exe. She rebuffs him and he is defeated in battle, and the surge of trust and happiness from the newly-freed Tippi calls forth the next Pure Heart from the castle.
Back at Castle Bleck, Dimentio muses that the heroes might be able to defy the prophecy, but Bleck is confident in his plan and calls for an unnamed new minion to take care of his foes. Nastasia lingers after the other minions leave and tries to get Bleck to reconsider, but while he does not give up after coming as far as he has, he gives her a chance to leave with his blessing, which she declines out of loyalty and love for Bleck. Unbeknownst to both of them, Dimentio eavesdropped on the entire exchange, but decides not to worry about it, since he has his own "projects" to attend to.
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