Paper Mario (series)

The Paper Mario series is one of the many sub-series of the Mario series. Only three games have been released in this series: Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Super Paper Mario, with an upcoming fourth game. All of the games in the series are RPGs with platforming elements, except for Super Paper Mario, which was a sidescroller that did not have RPG battles, but retained similar elements. The three games have been released on separate consoles, The Nintendo 64, the GameCube, and the Wii, with the fourth game to be released on the Nintendo 3DS.

Trivia

 * In all three games, Bowser is fought twice, with the more times he is fought, he gets harder to beat. His increased power when fought for the first time in the Glitz Pit in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door could be a result of prolonged exposure to the Star Rod's powers, or it could simply be due to the fact that Bowser is powerful enough without the Star Rod.
 * Bowser has a heroic role in the series. In Super Paper Mario, as he joins Mario's's team only because Peach asks him to. He is only doing it because if Count Bleck destroyed the worlds, there would be no Mushroom Kingdom for Bowser to rule.
 * This is similar to his heroic role in the Mario & Luigi series, as in all three games, he is allied with the Mario Bros. in some way. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he allies himself with the Mario Bros. only to stop Cackletta from stealing Peach's voice, otherwise, Peach's new vocabulary would destroy his castle if Bowser had kidnapped her (ironically Bowser's Castle does get destroyed at the end of the game when Prince Peasley ignited some dynamite).
 * In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, his baby self is allied with the Mario Bros. of past and present to save the Mushroom Kingdom (only so Baby Bowser can seize the kingdom for himself). And in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, he unknowingly allies himself with Mario and Luigi in an effort to destroy Fawful. It is also similar to his temporary heroic role in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, where he accompanied Mario and his allies to stop Smithy and retake his castle. However, most of the time, it's only so he can capture Peach in which in Bowser's Inside Story, he almost did, but Fawful's "last-ditch explosion" saved the princess.
 * The Mario & Luigi series could very well be a continuation of the Paper Mario series, as both have some similar qualities:
 * Almost or all the games in both series have battles that are played out in a stage-like style with each side taking turns (the only exception is Super Paper Mario).
 * Both have the main character learn Special Moves.
 * Both have the main character get partnered up with at least one person.
 * Both use save blocks to save the player's progress.
 * Both have Bowser being fought at least once.
 * Both use maps to help the player with his/her missions (the only exception is once again Super Paper Mario, as it recaps the levels the player did).
 * Both have a sort of "tutorial" character who, in some way, aids the player with moves and badges.
 * Both have badges.
 * Both include Peach being kidnapped in some way and Mario having to rescue the entire Mushroom Planet.
 * Both series have some sort of style for the final boss that stays true to each game in the series. In Paper Mario it is that the boss starts out invincible until the main items Mario collected take away his or her invincibility, and in Mario & Luigi it is that different parts of the boss must be attacked in order to make him or her vulnerable in order to defeat them.
 * With the exception of Bowser in Paper Mario, all the final bosses are either possessing a major character or, in the case of Elder Princess Shroob and Fawful, combined with them in some other way.
 * Both have either stars or mentions stars (the only game that mentions stars only is Super Paper Mario, unless counting the Mega Star as it).
 * Also, Both have Nice, Good, Great, Wonderful, and Excellent for timing attacks right.
 * Finally, both have Mario set on strange adventures most away from the Mushroom Kingdom.
 * Paper Mario is directly referenced by name in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga; one of the four blocks in the examination rooms of Woohoo Hooniversity is that of Paper Mario, and is identified as such when struck.
 * Strangely enough, Super Paper Mario is the only game in the series that doesn't include badges.
 * Another odd part in the first two installments is when Mario's partner falls in water, they won't get damaged. However, when Mario falls into water, he loses one HP.
 * Oddly enough, in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the only way to know the ingredients to the Fruit Parfait is by reading Super Luigi Vol. 1, as Luigi was ironically "whipping up" a Fruit Parfait possibly for his brother when he finished his adventure.
 * All three games include a Giant Blooper of some sorts, with Super Paper Mario having the biggest.
 * Oddly enough, all three games include a big tree of some type. Paper Mario, Wisterwood; Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the Great Tree; Super Paper Mario, a giant tree in the Bitlands.
 * It is interesting to note that in all three games, a character says "Still your tongue" to another character whose name starts with B. Lady Bow says "Still your tongue, Bootler" when he is against the idea of her going to Tubba Blubba's Castle. Grodus says "Still your tongue, Beldam" when reminding her of how she was unable to capture Peach before she sent the map to Mario. And Blumiere's father says "Still your tongue, Blumiere" after trapping Timpani in the gap between dimensions.
 * In all three games, the player is accompanied by an explorer during Chapter 5, Kolorado in Paper Mario, Flavio in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and Flint Cragley in Super Paper Mario in hopes of gaining something from the adventure. For Kolorado and Flavio they hoped to find treasure while Flint Cragley seeked ratings for his show Flint Cragley's Cragtrotter and to rescue the kidnapped Cragons.
 * With the exception of Paper Mario, all three games in the series so far have the most recurring villain become Mario's friend.
 * Also with the exception of Paper Mario, Chapter 1 of the series includes a dragon as a boss.
 * All three Paper Mario games have a spirit as a boss. In Paper Mario, the Ghost is the Big Lanturn Ghost. In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, the Ghost is Cortez. And in Super Paper Mario, the Ghost is Bonechill.
 * Also, all three Paper Mario games have a Chapter boss that is a bigger version of it's species. In Paper Mario, it is Huff N. Puff. In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, it is the Smorg monster. And in Super Paper Mario, it is King Croacus.
 * All three games have a reference to Luigi's Mansion. In Paper Mario, there are two. The first one is when Mario goes to the Boo Mansion in Forever Forest, the mansion resembles the mansion King Boo created and when reading Luigi's diary after Chapter 3 is completed, Luigi admits he's afraid of ghosts, as he was afraid of ghosts in Luigi's Mansion. In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Twilight Forest resembles Boo Woods and the 200 Boos of the Creepy Steeple combine to create Atomic Boo, a smaller version of Boolossus. And in Super Paper Mario, the Mansion Patrol game resembles the Foyer of Luigi's Mansion.
 * All three games have the final boss being invincible at first and the stars (or hearts) Mario has collected making them vulnerable.