Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Paper Mario: Sticker Star (known as Paper Mario: Super Seal in Japan) is a RPG for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Intelligent Systems. It was released in North America on November 11, and set to be released in Japan on December 6, Europe on December 7, and Australia on December 8, 2012. As the fourth installment in the Paper Mario series, it is the first Paper Mario title to be released for a handheld console. It is named after the artifact of the same name.

Storyline
The story starts during the night of the annual holiday, the Sticker Fest, where the citizens come to witness the Sticker Comet fly by in the sky. It is said that the Sticker Comet will actually make wishes come true. Princess Peach, on stage, shows the audience (which consists of Mario and a myriad of Toads) the comet as it floats down to the scene. Suddenly, Bowser and his troops appear and crash the festivities. Out of want for the comet, Bowser decides to take it as his own, while Goombas and Koopa Troopas applaud. Three Toads attempt to pull Bowser away but inadvertently have him crash into the Sticker Comet, breaking it into six pieces and sprawling them across the Mushroom Kingdom. One of them happens to fall on Bowser’s head making him more powerful, and unleashing a tornado which scares away the Toads. A furious Mario tries to attack him, but is overpowered and later wakes up with the Sticker Fest in a disaster, Toads stuck to Bowser stickers, and Princess Peach missing. After regaining conciousness, Mario meets Kersti, a sticker fairy and the caretaker of the Royal Stickers. At first, she blames Mario for touching the Sticker Comet and causing the destruction of the Sticker Fest, as she tells him that a Sticker Comet must never, ever be touched. Mario tries to explain that it was Bowser who touched the comet, but Kersti takes this as a cowardly excuse of him at first. Mario then suggests that he'll help Kersti get the Royal Stickers back, and Kersti finally agrees with him.

Mario starts by freeing the Toads affixed in tape placed by Bowser in the damaged festival. Once free, one of the Toads gives him a hammer. Mario then heads to the main town, Decalburg. After liberating the Toads, Mario heads towards the plaza east of town and discovers the area rolled up. The Toads together push to unroll the Plaza and bring it back to normal. As Mario leaves the town, he gets ambushed by a trio of Goombas but defeats them. Mario continues to travel through Warm Fuzzy Plains. As he comes to a bridge, Mario is encountered by Bowser Jr., whom he faces and defeats. Before leaving the scene, Bowser Jr. uses his magic to paperize the area, removing the bridge and throwing it on the ledge of a waterfall. Mario then goes back and gathers a group of Toads to the area. With their assistance, he recovers the bridge and uses Kersti to paperize and place it back to the scenery. Mario continues his way through the plains, when he comes across one of the pieces of the Sticker Comet. As he approaches the comet piece, Mario is once again ambushed by the Goomba trio. He manages to defeat them, and obtains the Comet Piece. Mario continues to traverse through the grasslands until he reaches Water's Edge Way. Mario continues his way through until he finds the next comet piece at the end, but not before having a first encounter by Kamek. After being defeated, Kamek uses his magic wand to remove the comet piece and send it away to another part of the area. Mario goes to retrieve the comet piece, places it back to its original position, and makes his way to Hither Thither Hill. After using a Fan on the Windmill and solving the puzzle inside, he uses a warp pipe leading to the underground. Upon reaching the exit, Mario gets ambushed by a Big Buzzy Beetle but takes it down in the process. Mario and Kersti eventually arrive at Goomba's Fortress, where the first Royal Sticker is held. Mario travels through the fortress, until reaching the top where he and Kersti confront Megasparkle Goomba and his Goomba minions. Mario defeats them and obtains the first Royal Sticker.

Mario eventually gets to Bowser, who has become giant-sized and cardboard, corrupted by the Sticker Comet's power. Like the first Paper Mario game, he is invincible. Kersti sacrifices herself to make him vulnerable, apologizing for causing trouble on Mario's adventure. After a climactic final battle, Mario defeats him, thus releasing him from the Royal Sticker's control and incapacitating him. Mario frees Peach, who says that the stickers are meant to be used for good and not evil. Mario uses the Royal Stickers to return everything to normal. After Peach congratulates Mario and the rest of the kingdom for their success, Bowser attempts to steal the Royal Stickers again, only for a revived Kersti to intervene. She jokes that she wants to change her career, and Mario, Peach, and Bowser laugh.

Gameplay
After forgoing the classic battle system in favor of a sidescrolling platformer-style system in Super Paper Mario, Paper Mario: Sticker Star returns to the turn-based system from the first two installments. However, players have to gather stickers, which are necessary both for solving puzzles and gaining battle commands. Stickers are a major part of the gameplay and storyline. Some real-world objects (called Things) appear in the form of stickers, and they also have the ability to be used to attack and overcome obstacles. Instead of levelling up from experience points as in the previous installments, Mario must find HP-up Hearts, which each increase his current HP by 5. Stickers replace Badges from the first two installments of the series. A new feature is the "Battle Spinner" slot machine which allows Mario to attack with multiple stickers in one turn, gain coins, or cause a different event to occur, depending on the combination received. .

In addition, the gameplay places a lot more emphasis on the "paper" aspect than the previous games, containing status elements directly related to paper materials such as "soggy," "clipped," or "tacked;" additionally, the enemies sometimes transform themselves to better reflect the papery nature of their designs (eg, a Goomba occasionally becoming a cone Goomba), transform as part of an attack (eg, the Koopa Troopas), or simply resemble paper to begin with (eg, the Big Boo fought in World 4-3). Many characters actively refer to themselves as existing within a paper world, most notably Kersti. The world's environments also resemble craft materials like cardboard.

Although the player grows stronger as the game progresses, there isn't an explicit level up gameplay mechanic, unlike the other RPG games or even Super Paper Mario. In addition, beyond a certain point, the player can also effectively skip battles by jumping on or hammering enemies of a certain HP range (like Goombas by World 3), instantly defeating them.

Nintendo eShop Description
''When an accident scatters stickers across the land, Mario sets off on an adventure to repair a torn world. Searching Forests, Deserts and Mountains, Mario collects stickers to solve puzzles and battle monsters. In a first for the series, there are no experience points, so finding power-ups to improve Mario's abilities is more important than ever. Mixing sticker-based gameplay elements with the traditional action-battle system of the Paper Mario series delivers a new twist on a classic franchise. Flatten-out characters, roll out towns, and walk through living, breathing dioramas in a brand-new Paper Mario adventure on the Nintendo 3DS system!''

Main

 * Mario
 * Kersti
 * Princess Peach

Allies

 * Toads
 * Luigi (5 cameos)
 * Birdo
 * Wiggler/Flutter

Followers
These allies temporarily join Mario's party and follow him around until they are taken to a certain location, where they perform an action or advance the storyline. In the Wiggler Segment's case, they must tire out before they join Mario and go back to Wiggler's Tree House.
 * A group of Toads
 * Green Toad
 * Wiggler Segments

Obstacles

 * Bowser Tape
 * Cheep Chomp
 * Lakitu
 * Cooligan
 * Sliding Stone
 * Podoboo

Bosses (in order)
Highlights signify world bosses.

Stickers
Stickers are the only methods of attacks in Sticker Star. They serve as attacks, items to solve puzzles, and the like.

Types of Stickers
There are many types of stickers, but the two main types are Jump stickers and Hammer stickers. Jump stickers include Jump, Hopslipper, Line Jump, and Iron Jump. Most Jump stickers can attack all enemies that are not spiked or have some other hazard on top of them. Hammer stickers include Hammer, Eekhammer, Slaphammer, and Hurlhammer. Most of them can hit all enemies except ones that wield wings or some other type of flying device, such as Kamek's broom.

There are also stickers that support Mario in battle, such as Spike Helmets that give Mario a helmet that damages all enemies that attack him from above. Also in this category are Mushrooms that heal Mario and Leaf stickers that execute all action commands perfectly for one turn.

Other types of attack stickers include Fire Flower and Ice Flower stickers that burn and freeze enemies, respectively. Certain enemies also occasionally drop stickers that represent their weapons - for example, Sombrero Guys occasionally drop Sombrero stickers, and Bob-ombs drop Bomb stickers.

Finally, there are Secret Door stickers that Mario is able to paste onto the enviroment via the Paperize ability. These doors reveal secret underground rooms containing rare stickers and/or Things that are usually not used for storyline purposes, such as a Thumbtack and a Squirt Gun.

Sticker Traits
Every single sticker except Thing stickers sometimes have special traits applied to them, such as "Shiny", "Flashy", and "Big". These stickers usually sparkle in Mario's Sticker Album and do more damage than usual to enemies. Stickers that have traits like "Big" and "Megaflash" take up more space in the album, not unlike Secret Door and certain Thing stickers. Typically, stickers wielding special traits are rarer than normal stickers.

Locations
Unlike previous installments, the game has a level progression system. Each level course is unlocked after collecting a Comet Piece in the preceding area. The map is reminiscent of the one used in Super Mario RPG, though it is more open-ended and not linear. Many levels contain alternate exits that lead to other levels, and the goal of entering a level is not always to "finish" it by touching the Comet Stickers.
 * Decalburg
 * World 1, both the grassy plains and the high stone moutains, containing 6 levels. The main boss of this world is Megasparkle Goomba:
 * W1-1: Warm Fuzzy Plains
 * W1-2: Bouquet Gardens
 * W1-3: Water's Edge Way
 * W1-4: Hither Thither Hill
 * W1-5: Whammino Mountain
 * W1-6: Goomba's Fortress
 * World 2, A desert with pyramids, containing 5 levels. The main boss of this world is Tower Power Pokey:
 * W2-1: Drybake Desert
 * W2-2: Yoshi Sphinx
 * W2-3: Sandshifter Ruins
 * W2-4: Damp Oasis
 * W2-5: Drybake Stadium
 * World 3, A dark and dense forest area, containing 12 levels. When Mario first arrives, the area is covered in poisonous goop. The main boss of this world is Gooper Blooper:
 * W3-1: Leaflitter Path
 * W3-2: The Bafflewood
 * W3-3: Wiggler's Tree House
 * W3-4: Strike Lake
 * W3-5: Loop Loop River
 * W3-6: Outlook Point
 * W3-7: Rustle Burrow
 * W3-8: Tree Branch Trail
 * W3-9: Gauntlet Pond
 * W3-10: Stump Glade
 * W3-11: Holey Thicket
 * W3-12: Whitecap Beach
 * Surfshine Harbor:
 * World 4, a snowy plains, containing 6 levels. The main boss of this world is Mizzter Blizzard:
 * W4-1: Snow Rise
 * W4-2: Ice Flow
 * W4-3: The Enigmansion
 * W4-4: Shaved-Ice Cave
 * W4-5: Whiteout Valley
 * W4-6: Bowser's Snow Fort
 * World 5, a thick jungle and volcano area, containing 6 levels. The main boss of this world is Petey Piranha:
 * W5-1: Shy Guy Jungle
 * W5-2: Jungle Rapids
 * W5-3: Long Fall Falls
 * W5-4: Chomp Ruins
 * W5-5: Rugged Road
 * W5-6: Rumble Volcano
 * World 6, the final world of the game, taking place in the sky. There are 3 levels, one being Bowser's Castle, where the final battle against Bowser takes place:
 * W6-1: Gate Cliff
 * W6-2: Bowser Jr.'s Flotilla
 * W6-3: Bowser's Sky Castle

Differences from other Paper Mario games

 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star is the first Paper Mario game to not start at Mario's House, nor feature this place at all.
 * Unlike the first two Paper Mario games which have a turn-based battle system, Sticker Star does not have Flower Points, Star Points, Badges or Items. Mario also has no partners to battle by his side.
 * All the bosses in Sticker Star are not unique to the Paper Mario series, as they are all more powerful versions of preexisting enemies or bosses featured in other Mario games.
 * Kamek takes on the role filled by Kammy Koopa in the first two Paper Mario games.
 * This is the first Paper Mario game were Bowser does not talk at all.
 * This is the first Paper Mario game with a world map.
 * This is the first Paper Mario game that does not explain each Action Command.
 * Unlike Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario, the game does not feature an Audience. It also does not feature a Pit of 100 Trials.
 * While Mario does possess a hammer given to him by a Toad, he cannot use it in-battle, but only as a way to get a First Strike, unlike the first two installments.
 * This is the first Paper Mario game that is not split into separate chapters. If it were, there would only be 6 chapters, whereas the first three installments all possessed 8 chapters.
 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star only has 55 enemies and 18 bosses, for a total of 73 different enemies; each of the first three installments had over 100 enemies.
 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star doesn't have an optional boss that is stronger than the final boss.
 * This is the first Paper Mario game not to include enemy Tattles, recipes, Koopatrols, Crazy Dayzees, Amazy Dayzees, Gloombas, Frost Piranhas, Putrid Piranhas, the Merlon clan, Peach as a playable character, or Whacka.
 * On a related note, it is also the first game where enemy Koopas do not possess eyewear of any sort.
 * Due to the lack of a Tattle ability, several aspects of it have been incorporated into regular battle. For example, an HP bar showing the collective health of all enemies on screen displays during battle. The enemies' names are also all displayed while Mario is choosing stickers.
 * It is the first Paper Mario where Mario can't turn into an 8-bit version of himself.
 * Ninjis in Paper Mario: Sticker Star are now actual enemies. In their previous appearance in Paper Mario, they were friendly NPCs who acted as caretakers for the Star Kids.
 * Mario can't choose which enemy to attack if there are multiple ones; he defaults to the one in front.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros.: Part of the overworld theme can be heard in the plains theme, as well as in the game's credits.
 * Super Mario Bros. 2: Shy Guys, Snifits, Pokeys and Ninjis, which were introduced in this game, appear in this game. Some Pokeys are designed like their first appearance from this game as well. The main theme is a jazzy version of the credits theme.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: The Goomba's Shoe, Super Leaf and Frog Suit return directly from this game, now as stickers. An Airship also appears. The athletic overworld theme is remixed for the ski lift ride in 4-5.
 * Super Mario World: Portions of the music inside the Enigmansion, along with the music played when talking to the owner while he waits outside, are remixed from the Ghost House theme.
 * Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars: The beginning of the game has a cosmic object being shattered into pieces, and the main character has to retrieve the pieces of the object, similar to Super Mario RPG. In addition, the main bad guys are implied to have left at least one of the pieces to be guarded by a monster, similar to Smithy's Gang.
 * Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins: The music played when using the Boom-Box is a snippet of the Space Zone theme from this game.
 * Super Mario 64: During the mine cart ride in World 4-6, a remix of The Princess's Secret Slide plays.
 * Paper Mario: Similar to the first Paper Mario, Bowser ends up becoming nigh-invincible from a magical wish-granting object. In this case, however, it was purely by accident. Also, in both games' climax, Mario confronts Bowser at a flying castle, and Bowser also ends up growing larger in a last ditch effort to beat Mario after his initial invincibility was temporarily disabled, also significantly bolstering his invincibility to be absolute. The game ends with a parade, much like this game. Enemies like Spear Guys and Ninjis make their re-appearance in the series since this game. Also, a letter written by Parakarry may be found in Shy Guy Jungle in the garbage before the goat eats it. Mario's design and expressions are more based off him in this game, as well as the scenery.
 * Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: Searching the dump in Shy Guy Jungle before using the Goat reveals a memo from Goombella, who is apparently still attending University of Goom and doing research on the Chomp Ruins during the events of the game, but is never seen.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: Gooper Blooper and Petey Piranha, which made their first and main appearance in Super Mario Sunshine, return.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: Portions of the music inside the Enigmansion are remixed from the Ghostly Galaxy theme.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Some of the enemies, such as Ice Bros. and Scaredy Rats that appeared in this game return in this game. Most of the enemies and the areas are also designed from their appearances from this game. The Big Buzzy Beetle was a beta element from New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: The Poison Mushroom has the same design as in this game. Also, one part of the title screen music sounds like the beginning of Special 2-1's music from this game.

References in later games

 * New Super Mario Bros. U: The Big Buzzy Beetle who debuts in Paper Mario: Sticker Star reappears as a species in New Super Mario Bros. U, although he was a beta element in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Also, Bony Beetle has the same design as in this game and Bowser Jr. uses the same glass dome in his Koopa Clown Car.

Trivia

 * This is the first Mario RPG since Paper Mario to have Bowser as the main villain and not an ally, a minor foe or a penultimate boss.
 * Oddly, in this game, Bowser doesn't utter a single line of dialogue.
 * Whenever a new character is introduced, the game pauses to show the player their name, similar to Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * From its release for download onto the Nintendo eShop until January 13, 2013, Club Nintendo members in North America who download Paper Mario: Sticker Star and register it on Club Nintendo will also receive Donkey Kong: Original Edition for free.
 * It is in fact possible to attack enemies without using stickers. The only way to do this is the First Strike, where Mario attacks the front enemy with either a hammer strike or jump. However, during battle, stickers must be used.
 * When hitting with the hammer, Mario can now face towards the screen or away from it, unlike the first two installments, where he could only face left or right.