Super Paper Mario
 

Over at GDC, we've got some impressions of the titles thanks to a demonstration by one of the localizers. The preview is downright glowing and with the game a little over a month away (April 9th), it won't be long until we can have a go at this one. Anyway, enough babbling. Here's some choice bits from the writeup.

More of the Super Paper Mario preview

April?! My god that was quick! I seriously expected this not to come for another 6 months.

I've been excited about this one since it was announced. As an avid not-fan of RPGs, I was really glad they decided to try this out. At the same time, the last RPG I actually really enjoyed was, heh, The Thousand Year Door, so I'm glad it hasn't lost it's signature appeal (if going by the article).

I am distressed at the fact that it's coming this early. My wallet :(

Haha! Wow that looks awesome! I thought this game was going on the DS though. Oh well.

Oh, I almost forgot. Apparently some new enemy (the guy you see marrying Bowser and Peach) gets them married and the event causes a tear or distortion in space/time and... that's why there are equations and crap in the sky.

If anyone's played TTYD, he has a similar design to that of the curse boxses that gave you your paper abilities.

I watched that little demo video, and the way the perspective change thing works is really cool. I first looked at it, and Mario walked up to the door surrounded by blocks, and I was thinking... "How's he going to jump that high-- HOLY CRAP THE WORLD TURNED AND HE CAN JUST WALK THROUGH!" ...XD

This looks really cool though. I can't wait. :D

Heh, looks like there's a few more videos to sink our teeth into. This time, we get to see Peach in action as well as character switching and a bit more. Looks fantastic. Makes me crave all the older titles in a similar style.

Super Paper Mario - Moves (Peach gameplay + floating)

Super Paper Mario - 8-Bit (Pixelated stage, Levelling up shown, Pixels power demonstration)

Super Paper Mario - Star

IGN's very nice video of a desert stage

Gamespots got 3 offscreen movies as well.

IGN's video is labeled 480p, so it might be that this game has a progressive scan option. Definitely a bonus to those out there with televisions who can take advantage of it.

This is one of those quirky games that i just gotta buy for some reason ^___^

LOL Paper Mario ^_^ It's too funny!

480p and widescreen FTW! XD

It's coming out next month so... should people bother to pre-order the game? >_>

All I need to know. Thousand Year Door was the best game Nintendo released last generation. This is Paper Mario without the RPG- even better.

Now this looks fun ^_^ I just watched the excerpt from the Desert level and I now know I must get this game. I should probably play its critically acclaimed predecessors, too. I don't know why I haven't, actually. =/

I'm definitely looking forward to this one, if only cuz I need a good new Wii game to sink my teeth into. The whole 2D/3D perspective changing looks utterly bizarre and awesome.

This game does look awsome, much like old school gameplay with a new twist:)

This game looks great & I'll bet getting it, but:

SuperFX chip ftw?? :D

This game will finally be the perfect reincarnation of a 2D and 3D world melding together. From what I've gathered this must have been a programing nightmare, but they really pulled it off quite well. And hopefully the RPG elements are still implemented in a way so that they don't come off hokey or unneeded. But the insane amount of creative thinking that went into this...I just can't wait to play it. :)

i've very skeptical. i thoroughly enjoyed both paper marios, especially the 1,000 year door. interesting concept, i'm hoping they can pull it off. -_-

As you can see in a lot of the videos, there isn't that much in the way of RPG elements as the guy says. It's something like 80% side scrolling action platformer/20% RPG, instead of the reverse like the Paper Mario RPGs. So far there's leveling, item use and from what I heard earlier, shops.

Hmm, yeah. I also recall that during the video when you use an item the action stops. Like for the flower, it encompasses all the nearby enemies and does massive damage. While doing so the action on the screen stops for awhile.

That flippy rectangles thingy the desert video that transports you to another location looked very cool, though it seems to do nothing else beside halt gameplay. A bunch of novelties like that throughout the game could become annoying.

Also just noticed the new screenshots. Is that a space shooter level? I'm sold.

I have faith that this will turn out better than NSMB (which was shovelware) as it looks like they're at least attempting to inject some innovation into it this time, and when Nintendo actually puts effort into something it shines (e.g. the N64's one utterly flawless game-every-two-years library vs. the GCN's flood of mediocrity).

This will probably be the title that convinces me to buy a Wii (seeing as how the only 5-star title on it right now is a port of a Gamecube game) although I see nothing other than the wider resolution to suggest this couldn't be released for the Gamecube.

I didn't like the first two paper Mario's at all, but I must say that this Super Paper Mario game excites me.

According to Erik, the game as it was at GDC was actually the final build (I'm not sure what they do in that extra month). He was super nice and went to great lengths to explain the game and his job, until a PR guy from Penny Arcade pulled him away before I could ask for his business card. :(

Anyway, the game itself is super awesome, though I got confused and lost pretty quickly. Then again, Erik gave me a weird save game pretty far into the game, so maybe I just missed some clues. It didn't blow me away completely, but it's already my favourite Paper Mario game. It's on my "95% chance of gets" list.

Typically, that "extra" month is to do all the physical manufacturing -- printing the CDs, manuals, case inserts, etc -- and to actually ship those boxes to the various stores. That stuff doesn't happen by magic (yet) :p

I'm pretty pumped about this game. I played the original Paper Mario, but not the sequel. Hopefully this one doesn't make the rotating effect into a gimmick (Mario Sunshine, I'm lookin' at you).

Here's another video explaining the controls which hasn't been posted in this thread yet.

I enjoyed Thousand Year, even though I struggled to complete it because some of the levels were completely boring (train level, for example). This looks a lot of fun though and I'll definitely be getting it.

Ah, good call!

You mean DVDs. XP

Anyway, I pre-ordered a copy on amazon.com (no tax + free shipping XD). Now to wait...