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; will be released in Europe on December 4, 2015; 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 introduce her to Mario, Peach, and Starlow. 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. With the aid of Paper Mario, who helps Mario and Luigi after a fight with a group of Paper Goombas, the trio set off to rescue the Paper Toads. Soon after meeting Paper Mario, the trio learns of Bowsers' kidnapping of the Peachs. The Bowsers then arrive and send Petey Piranha on the bros. After the trio beats him they set off to rescue the remaining paper toads, both the princesses, defeat both Bowsers and send Paper Bowser and his army back to the Paper Mario world.

Gameplay
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. This is, presumably, to make jumping up ledges less tedious than pressing each character's button individually. 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 player to take three turns with their party. 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 divide and conquer by targeting 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 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 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


 * Luigi
 * Fire Flower
 * Drill Shell
 * Dropchopper
 * A Bros. Attack that makes Luigi giant

Trio Attacks

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

General

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Paper Mario

PaperCraft Characters

 * PaperCraft Mario - Normal Papercraft with no advantages and middle range.
 * Papercraft Luigi
 * 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.

Non-playable

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

Both series

 * Goomba
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Hammer Bro
 * Spiny
 * Pokey
 * Piranha Plant
 * Ninji

Mario & Luigi series-only

 * Fly Guy
 * Sandmaargh
 * Boomerang Bro
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Biddybud
 * Ant Trooper
 * Horned Ant Troopers
 * Spike
 * Shy Guy
 * Bully

Paper Mario series-only

 * Shiny Koopa Troopa
 * Koopa Paratroopa
 * Bob-omb
 * Spear Guy
 * Swooper
 * Sombrero Guy

Papercraft

 * Goomba
 * Spike
 * Mechakoopa
 * Dry Bones
 * Bullet Bills

Mario & Luigi series

 * Petey Piranha
 * Chargin' Chuck
 * King Bob-omb
 * Wiggler
 * Kamek
 * Ludwig
 * Larry
 * Wendy
 * Roy
 * Morton Jr.
 * Iggy
 * Lemmy

Paper Mario series

 * Tower Power Pokey
 * Paper Petey Piranha
 * Paper Kamek

Papercraft bosses

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

Items

 * Beans
 * Coins
 * Mushrooms
 * Nuts
 * Syrups
 * Super Mushrooms
 * Super Syrups
 * ? Blocks
 * M&L Blocks
 * Copy Block
 * Ultra Mushrooms
 * Ultra Syrups
 * Max Syrups
 * Max Mushrooms

Locations

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

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.
 * No additional points given when level up.
 * Unlike previous entries into the series, Lakitu seems to have a different role in this game.
 * Unlike previous entries, the tutorials are now optional.
 * This will be the first game in the series that Toadsworth won't be in.
 * Instead of Giant battles there will be Papercraft battles.

Reception
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam has received generally positive reviews from professional critics, scoring an 80 based on 20 critics in Metacritic and a 79.38% based on 8 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 humor 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

 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Mario & Luigi: Dream Team: Many of the game's graphics and special moves are reused, although some characters have received new animations. One of the new Bros. Attacks features Luigi as a giant, similar to his appearance during the Giant Battles in this game. Luigi even uses the same model from those sequences.
 * Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door: Both the Paper Airplane and Paper abilities return from this game.
 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star: Many of the elements from this game return.