Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (Mario & Luigi RPG: Paper Mario MIX in Japan and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. in Europe & Australia) is a game in the Mario & Luigi series for Nintendo 3DS that crosses over with the Paper Mario series. The game was released in Japan on December 3, 2015 and in Europe on December 4, 2015. It will be released on December 10, 2015 in Australia; and January 22, 2016 in North America.

Story
The story begins with Luigi and Toad entering the attic of Peach's Castle, looking for the source of a drought. They soon find a hole above a bookcase, and Luigi investigates. Suddenly, Toad gets chased by a Scaredy Rat, which entered the room through the hole, which eventually leads to Luigi accidentally knocking over a book found in the room, holding the Paper Mario world within. This ultimately releases the paper characters into the Mario & Luigi world, spreading across the Mushroom Kingdom. The two eventually meet Paper Peach, who introduces herself to Mario, Peach, and Starlow. They agree to seek out the Paper Toads and helping them find away back home. Before exiting the castle, they meet Toadette, who is playing with a doll, and Nabbit, who steals all but two of the Bro Attacks.

However, Bowser soon meets Paper Bowser, and despite some disagreements between one another at first, they decide to team up, combine their armies, and kidnap their respective Princess Peach. The two Bowser Jr.s, however, become quite close friends. With the aid of Paper Mario, who helps Mario and Luigi after a fight with a group of Paper Goombas at Sunbeam Plains, the trio set off to rescue the Paper Toads. In the mean time, the two Bowsers attack Peach's Castle with their Clown Cars.

Soon after meeting Paper Mario, the trio learns of Bowsers' kidnapping of the Peaches. The Bowsers then arrive and send Petey Piranha to attack the Bros. to slow them down. The group makes it to a Toad Village. Before they can leave Sunbeam plains, they are blocked by a Papercraft Goomba from Paper Kamek. However, Toadette arrives, and is inspired to build a life-size version of her doll. After enough Paper Toads are rescued to complete the project, she creates Papercraft Mario to destroy the blockade and Megacrinkle Goomba. Afterward they proceed to Doop Doop Dunes.

At the dunes, they encounter Nabbit, who they catch for a pair of Bro Attacks. However, their progress is put to a halt by two giant Pokeys, Tower Power Pokey and Mega Pokey. They find that in order to progress they must jump really high to defeat them. They arrive at another Toad Village, and rescue more Paper Toads for Toadette's Workshop to create a trampoline. After defeating the Pokeys, the group prepares to proceed, but are again blocked by both Kameks and their latest papercraft, Papercraft Kamek. With the new Papercraft Luigi, the two of them are beaten and the team proceeds.

As they approach Bowser Castle, Bowser decides to blast them with cannonballs. The first shot misses, but breaks a bridge, and the second knocks out all three Bros. Wendy, Roy, Larry. and Ludwig appear to arrest them, and a group of Chargin' Chucks take them to Twinsy Tropics Dungeon. The Bowser Jrs. then appear to collect the book that contained Paper Mario's World, which Luigi was carrying. After escaping, they battle their Hammer Bro. Wardens to retrieve their items. They then find out the arrested Toads are being forced to mine Fire Ore. Also in the dungeon, they find the Goomba they fought in the tutorial and Paper Mario tutorial, who gives them Battle Cards in exchange for freeing him. Before they escape the dungeon, they face off against Wendy and Roy.

Meanwhile, the Bowser Jrs annoy the Kameks into giving them a vacation to the Mount Brr villa. They take the caged Princess Peachs with them. They also try to tell Bowser about the book, but he ignores them.

The group, alongside the freed Toads find themselves stranded at Twinsy Tropics. After collecting a few Paper Toads, they build a boat with Paper Mario as the sail. After returning to Peach's Castle, a group of Toads tells them they saw the Princesses at Mount Brr, which can be accessed through Gloomy Woods. Before heading out, they face off against Paper Petey Piranha, who blocks the way.

At Gloomy Woods a few Toads tell Mario to stay on the east side of the forest, because the west side is haunted. They also meet a starving Wiggler who claims to be the guardian of the forest. Paper Kamek shows up to block the path with junk, which Wiggler considers littering. After feeding him a berry, he breaks some opening the way, but falls asleep short on food, blocking the way himself. After getting more berries from a Paper Paratroopa, Wiggler requests a Melon, which a nearby Yellow Yoshi has. After challenging the Yoshi to a race, they feed the melon to Wiggler. After breaking a couple of gates,

Gameplay
The overall gameplay is mostly similar to the previous Mario & Luigi games, though with the addition of a new party member alongside Mario and Luigi, Paper Mario. Players control Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario simultaneously (Paper Mario using ). Because the player now has two characters following after Mario, all three characters can be made to jump simultaneously with the button, which also causes the three to flutter in the air briefly when held. By continuing to hold the button after jumping simultaneously, players can charge up a dash. All three characters also possess hammers. By using all three hammers in quick succession (,, and then ), the trio will unleash a powerful shockwave that can destroy large blocks.

In battle, players control all three members of the group. Paper Mario, in a first for the series, fights alongside but independently from Mario and Luigi, unlike the Baby Bros. in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the only other installment to feature characters fighting alongside the Mario Bros. This allows the trio to take three actions in one turn. While Mario and Luigi control similarly to the way they did in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Paper Mario's abilities set him apart from the other two. Paper Mario is able to create copies of himself as a battle command, which increase the damage he can do in his attacks: He can land as many jumps as he has copies, and when he uses his hammer, the copies will split and target all enemies on the field. Paper Mario loses a copy for each hit he takes, but can replenish them on his turn before using another battle command. His jump dodge allows him to flutter, letting him briefly stay in the air longer than Mario and Luigi can. Players are able to use Bros. Attacks with Mario and Luigi, working like they did in previous games. In addition, a new variation of special attacks called Trio Attacks can be performed with Paper Mario. These attacks will have all three members attack enemies with a giant cardboard hammer to flatten them into paper form before executing the attacks. At certain points, the trio will take part in Papercraft battles, which are the equivalent to the giant battles from the previous two games.

amiibo will be compatible with the game, each giving the player a special support card to use in battle.

Bros. Attacks

 * Mario
 * 3D Red Shell
 * Rocket Blast
 * Bomb Derby
 * Cannonball Chuck
 * Toad Trail


 * Luigi
 * Fire Flower
 * Drill Shell
 * Dropchopper
 * Balloon Blast
 * Mega Thwonk

Trio Attacks

 * Trio Racquet
 * Trio Kite
 * Trio Whirligig
 * Trio Shuriken
 * Trio Meteor

General

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Paper Mario

Papercraft Characters

 * Papercraft Mario - Normal Papercraft with no advantages and middle range.
 * Papercraft Luigi - Allow to use a Flying Hammer Attack, that can damage spiky enemies, such as Papercraft Pokeys.
 * Papercraft Yoshi - Allow using its tongue to grab pile, coins and floating enemies. The ground pound made by Papercraft Yoshi can stun enemies nearby and push buttons, but has a short range of attacking.
 * Papercraft Peach - Allows for a long hover in air, and ground pound on other papercraft, with a long range of attack. Dashing with block enemy projectile.
 * Papercraft Fire Mario - Allows the player to shoot Fireballs

Non-playable

 * Princess Peach
 * Paper Peach
 * Toads
 * Paper Toads
 * Toadette
 * Kamek
 * Paper Kamek
 * Bowser
 * Paper Bowser
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Paper Bowser Jr.
 * Koopalings
 * Starlow
 * Nabbit
 * Yoshis
 * Lakitu
 * Scaredy Rat
 * Flutter

Both series

 * Goomba
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Dry Bones
 * Hammer Bro
 * Boomerang Bro
 * Fire Bro
 * Spiny
 * Pokey
 * Piranha Plant
 * Shy Guy
 * Ninji
 * Bob-omb
 * Scaredy Rat
 * Spike
 * Broozer

Mario & Luigi series

 * Cheep-Cheep
 * Fly Guy
 * Sandmaargh
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Biddybud
 * Ant Trooper
 * Horned Ant Troopers
 * Bully
 * Urchin
 * Mecha-Koopa

Paper Mario series

 * Shiny Koopa Troopa
 * Koopa Paratroopa
 * Spear Guy
 * Swooper
 * Sombrero Guy
 * Boo
 * Fuzzy

Papercraft

 * Goomba
 * Pokey
 * Spike
 * Mechakoopa
 * Spiked Ball
 * Koopa Shell
 * Bob-omb
 * Dry Bones
 * Boo
 * Bullet Bill
 * Whomp
 * Airship

Mario & Luigi series

 * Petey Piranha
 * Chargin' Chuck Brigade
 * Big Pokey
 * King Bob-omb
 * Wiggler
 * King Boo
 * Kamek
 * Ludwig
 * Larry
 * Wendy
 * Roy
 * Morton
 * Iggy
 * Lemmy
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Bowser
 * Dry Bowser
 * Shiny RoboBowser

Paper Mario series

 * Paper Tower Power Pokey
 * Paper Petey Piranha
 * Paper Kamek
 * Paper Bowser Jr.
 * Paper Bowser

Papercraft Bosses

 * Papercraft Megacrinkle Goomba
 * Papercraft Kamek
 * Papercraft Bowser Jr.
 * Papercraft King Boo
 * Papercraft Bowser

Items

 * Beans
 * Coins
 * Mushrooms
 * Nuts
 * Syrups
 * Super Mushrooms
 * Super Syrups
 * ? Blocks
 * M Blocks
 * L Blocks
 * Copy Block
 * Ultra Mushrooms
 * Ultra Syrups
 * Max Syrups
 * Max Mushrooms
 * Refreshing Herbs
 * 1-Up Mushrooms
 * Double 1-Up Mushrooms
 * 1-Up DXs
 * Star Candy
 * Dashing Socks

Locations

 * Peach's Castle
 * Sunbeam Plains
 * Gloomy Woods
 * Mount Brrr
 * Doop Doop Dunes
 * Doop Doop Grotto
 * Twinsy Tropics
 * Bowser's Castle
 * Neo Bowser Castle
 * A mysterious crystal cave

Ranks

 * Mushroom Rank - Level 1 to 5
 * Shell Rank - Level 6 to 11
 * Boomerang Rank - Level 12 to 18
 * Flower Rank - Level 19 to 26
 * Leaf Rank - Level 27 to 35
 * Star Rank - Level 36 to 45
 * Rainbow Rank (theoretically) - Level 46 onwards

Differences from other Mario & Luigi games

 * Mario and Luigi can use special attacks and hammers in the very first battle.
 * Badges are replaced by Battle Cards.
 * Luigi is the first playable character in this game.
 * This is the only Mario & Luigi game to keep the same graphics as its predecessor.
 * Bonus points can no longer be applied to stats upon leveling up.
 * Unlike previous entries into the series, Lakitu's role seems to be as an assistant of sorts to Mario and co.
 * Unlike previous entries, the tutorials are now optional.
 * Toadsworth is absent.
 * No new characters are introduced to the franchise. Unless Dry Bowser is counted.
 * Attack items are obtained from Nabbit instead of Attack Pieces.
 * There are seven ranks, more than Bowser's Inside Story ' s six and Dream Team ' s five. New ranks including Boomerang rank and Leaf rank.
 * This is the first game in the series to feature optional crosshairs under the Bros. when an enemy is attacking. This most likely due to three characters being on the battlefield at once.
 * This is the first game in the series to have Items under categories in the player's bag.
 * This is the first game in the series to have the three main playable characters all take a turn in battle.
 * This is the second game in the series that the final boss has two phases.
 * This is the first game to have no new enemies (to the Mario series) introduced.
 * This is the first game that allows the player to block attacks.
 * In addition to jumping on enemies or pounding them with a hammer to deal early damage at the start of a battle like in past games, Mario and co can also dash into battle due to the effects of the Dashing Socks.

Reception
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam has received generally positive reviews from professional critics, scoring a 79 based on 22 critics in Metacritic and a 78.33% based on 9 reviews in GameRankings. General praise has been given out to the battle system, gameplay, and the humor, as well as removing the amount of tutorials present in the game's predecessor, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, though it has been criticized for the simple story and playing too safe for the franchise. Lee Garbutt from God is a Geek, writer of one of the more positive reviews, giving the game a 9/10, praised the game's battle combat and the humour though stated that the game was too simple for hardcore JRPG fans and the amiibo implementation was superfluous. Daan Koopman of Nintendo World report gave the game a 7.5/10. He called the game "cute" and praised the interactions between the characters, but criticized the pacing in the review, highlighting the Toad Rescue missions being the primary problem of being too excessive. On a more critical note, Mark Brown gave the game a 6/10, criticizing the game for being too safe and also lamenting the lack of a diverse cast of characters, and failing to live up to the standards set by preceding games, though he notes how some charm is left and that the gameplay is fun.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros. 3: A portion of the music for the battle against Bowser and Paper Bowser is taken from the Airship theme in this game.
 * Mario sports games: At one point, Paper Peach thinks about changing her hair into a pony tail, with Peach stating it is more fitting for sports, referencing her design in most sports games.
 * Paper Mario: Bowser's Castle rising out of the lava because of a platform underneath is very similar to when Bowser's Castle lifts Peach's Castle into the sky in this game.
 * Luigi's Mansion: During the game, Mario and Paper Mario get kidnapped by King Boo referencing this game's plot.
 * Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: A cover of the battle theme from this game can be heard when Mario and Luigi are fighting. It's later replaced by a new battle theme, when Paper Mario joins the party. HP recovery blocks from the Japanese version return as well.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: During the chase sequence with Petey Piranha, he uses an attack featuring the Goop from this game. Some voice clips where re-used from this game during the Petey Piranha battle.
 * Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door: Both the Paper Airplane and Paper abilities return from this game.
 * Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time: A cover of the tutorial theme from this game can be heard, which in turn is an arrangement of the Super Mario Bros. theme. The energy beams which unlocks pipes return. The cloud platforms return as well.
 * Super Paper Mario: One of the Expert Challenges is called Super Paper Mario, a nod to this game. Also, Paper Bowser's artwork seen at the end is from this game.
 * Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: A cover of Peach's Castle's theme from this game can be heard, which in turn is an arrangement of the same theme from Super Mario 64. The multiplying move of King Boo resembles that of the Dark Star. When Roy and Wendy are fought against, one of the moves they preform resembles the Koopa Corps
 * Super Mario 3D Land: A rank appears based on the Boomerang Flower, as well as one based off of the Super Leaf's redesign from this game.
 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star: Many of the elements from this game return. One of the Toads in Sunbeam Plains' Toad Village talks about wanting to become a traveling Toad, similarly to the disaster-prone one frequently encountered in Sticker Star.
 * Mario & Luigi: Dream Team: Many of the game's graphics are reused, although some characters have received new animations. One of the new Bros. Attacks, known as Mega Thwonk, features Luigi as a giant, using the same model from the Giant Battles in this game. There are also two returning Bros. Attacks originally from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. Similar to giant battles, Papercraft battles allow players to win 4 items. The name Neo Bowser Castle is re-used.
 * Mario Kart 8: Some of the Koopalings' voice clips are reused from this game.

Trivia

 * Starlow references the Year of Luigi after Luigi is left alone in Gloomy Woods.
 * This is the first official Mario game to give spoken dialogue to the Koopalings and the first one since Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga to call them "Koopalings" instead of "Bowser's Minions" in a PAL version of the game.