Paper Mario (series)

 The Paper Mario series is a Mario sub-series that has spanned over Nintendo's latest three consoles. It began in 2000, and has continued up to the present.

Paper Mario
The series began with the aptly-named Paper Mario, a Role Playing Game for the Nintendo 64. It is named Paper Mario because of the characters' two-dimensional appearance due to the story being told through a story book.

The story of the game was that Bowser had kidnapped Princess Peach by lifting her castle into the sky (specifically, his castle was buried underneath the Princess's and flew into the air to lift it up). Mario could not defeat him, because the evil king used a weapon known as the Star Rod to become invincible. However, with the power of Princess Peach's wishes and great Star beings known as the Star Spirits, Mario was able to make the Star Rod ineffective, and promptly defeated Bowser.

While Mario progressed through the quest, short missions featuring Princess Peach were featured at the end of each chapter. In these missions, she is helped by a Star Kid named Twink to sneak around her castle in any way possible and find information that could help Mario. Twink would then fly down to Mario and inform him of the news.

The game also introduces partners, eight of which are available in this game. Each partner has four attacks, and they have all of the same tactics as Mario except for running away and using Items. The partners (in order) are Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, Parakarry, Bow, Watt, Sushie, and Lakilester.

Super Mario RPG 2
Paper Mario was originally intended to be a direct sequel to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, aptly titled Super Mario RPG 2. However, Square Enix split from Nintendo while the game was being produced, and the project was cancelled.

Despite this, several elements from SMRPG were still used. For example, the characters Merlon, Merlee, etc. appear to be modeled after the Shaman enemies of Super Mario RPG. Also like the original Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario featured a parade of several characters while the credits rolled - in fact, in both games, the parade is led by Luigi.

Additionally, connections to Super Mario RPG are more apparent in the Japanese series, which shares more of the same names of locations, items, attacks, and even characters. As the translation was done by a separate translation team, some of these references were lost in translation (or it could possibly have been due to legal reasons). Also, the game is still referred internally as Mario RPG.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
In 2004, Paper Mario was followed by a sequel for the Nintendo GameCube, entitled Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. One day, Mario received a letter from the Princess, telling him about her discovery of an ancient Treasure Map. She wrote that she was in the town of Rogueport, and that she wanted Mario to come help her find the treasure that it led to. She even included the map within the letter.

Not long after Mario arrived in the port by boat, he saw a strange man named Lord Crump hassling a young Goomba girl about items known as Crystal Stars. The Goomba spotted the hero and begged him to help her, and so Mario quickly pummeled the strange evil-doer. Lord Crump was impressed, but soon he called on a squad of alien creatures called X-Nauts. The X-Nauts pummeled left and right, but they were too oblivious to notice that Mario and the Goomba had already gotten away from them. The Goomba introduced herself as Goombella, and she soon took notice of Mario's Treasure Map. Immediately after, Toadsworth ran into Mario, and told him that the Princess had gone missing. Keeping this in mind, Mario and Goombella had to find the young Goomba girl's professor.

The two explored Rogueport until they found Professor Frankly's house. Frankly found that the map lead to all seven Crystal Stars, the objects needed to open the Thousand-Year Door. Behind the famed door was a marvelous treasure - or so rumors told. Frankly took them underground, where the Thousand-Year Door was. Once Mario stood on a pedestal that lied before the door, the specific location of the first Crystal Star was found.

As Mario went through this journey, he collected one Crystal Star after another, and made many allies. Some even went anywhere Mario took them, for one reason or another. He was joined by a cowardly Koopa Troopa named Koops; a kindly, ex-actress wind spirit named Flurrie; a fierce baby Yoshi who Mario took care of and named; a once evil-doing Shadow Siren named Vivian; an old Bob-Omb sailor named Admiral Bobbery; and a petty thief who Mario meets several times, Ms. Mowz.

While Mario collected the Crystal Stars, Princess Peach tried to find out where she was being held. She met up with the leader of the evil organization that kidnapped her, Sir Grodus. Lord Crump told Grodus about a man in a red cap, overalls, and a mustache that beat him up. Princess Peach instantly knew it was Mario, but she unfortunately spoke about him out loud in front of the X-Nauts. Grodus kept the bit of information memorized, as the X-Nauts took Princess Peach back to her room. The Princess took a brief shower, and soon saw the door in front of her automatically open. More and more doors did this, until she found herself face-to-face with the X-Nauts' computer, TEC-XX. He claimed to have gotten a glitch when he saw the Princess, and she realized that somehow, the computer may have fallen in love with her. As Peach interacted with TEC, he asked that she do some sort of favor for him, and in return, Peach could send an E-Mail about any information she may have learned. Eventually, however, Grodus and the X-Nauts became aware of TEC's irresponsible doings, and shut him down.

Mario and Peach weren't the only ones taking part in the adventure. When Kammy Koopa informed Bowser of Mario hunting for treasure and Peach being kidnapped by somebody else, he had an outrageous fit. He immediately took off to find Crystal Stars, AND the Princess. Bowser visited many places that Mario had been two chapters before-hand, only to find that Mario swiped the Crystal Stars there before he could. In the final Bowser event, a Paragoomba informed Bowser of Mario's heading for the Palace of Shadow, the place that was behind the Thousand-Year Door. Bowser raced there to catch up with Mario.

Eventually, Mario had to get to the moon for the final Crystal Star, and found that it was being held in the X-Naut Fortress. He took on Lord Crump for the fourth time in his journey, though this time he used one of his Magnus Von Grapple Robots. Once Mario defeated him, he could open the door. Mario's party met Professor Frankly to open the door. Frankly insisted on staying behind, but wished the gang good luck.

Mario bested the various creatures that stood in his way, and soon encountered the Shadow Sirens, allies of the X-Naut Legion. They revealed that the Professor Frankly who accompanied them while opening the door was actually Doopliss, one of Mario's foes who replaced Vivian when she betrayed them. Mario immediately took care of them, and continued on.

Soon, he met Grodus for the first time, and they battled head-to-head. Grodus was defeated, but not for good: he revealed that he had Princess Peach right behind him, and that if Mario even dared to attack him, she would be a goner. However, Grodus could not do anything after Mario's answer, as he was crushed by Bowser, who fell from the ceiling. Kammy Koopa came with him, and they battled Mario in order to get both the Crystal Stars and Princess Peach. Mario also crushed the two Koopas, and found that Grodus was running off with the Princess through a secret entrance. Mario followed him, and saw that Grodus was opening the coffin of the "treasure": a thousand-year-old demon known as the Shadow Queen. As the queen awoke, darkness spread across the entire world.

The Shadow Queen possessed the Princess, and destroyed Grodus for trying to command her. The Shadow Sirens appeared and revealed that they were planning on betraying Grodus anyway - they were acquaintances of the Queen. She offered Mario to become her eternal slave, and in return, she would not harm him. Mario immediately refused and went to battle with the Queen. She realized that she wasn't used to Peach's body, and she reverted back to her original form, which made her completely invincible. Mario pondered what to do, when the Crystal Stars suddenly appeared. They scattered across the land, and when Mario's friends saw them, they gave their best wishes to Mario. The wishes could be heard in the Shadow Queen's room, and they restored Mario back to full health. Princess Peach was also able to temporarily wish good luck to Mario, even despite the fact that she had been possessed. Mario was now able to hurt the Queen, and soon, she was vanquished. Princess Peach was absolutely fine, and the adventure was over.

The next day, Mario received an E-mail from Goombella, telling him that all of his friends were doing fine. She also requested that he come back to visit someday, and that was just what he did.

Super Paper Mario
The third, and most recent installment of the Paper Mario series is Super Paper Mario. This installment, unlike it's predecessors, is an Action/Adventure genre, similar to Super Mario Bros.

The story begins with a peaceful day in the Mushroom Kingdom. Just to get out of the rut, Mario and Luigi decide to pay a visit to Princess Peach. However, a Toad comes by and tells them that Princess Peach has been kidnapped.

Assuming it is Bowser who was the kidnapper, the Mario Bros. head to his castle. However, Bowser was about to kidnap her, but did not actually do so yet. The real kidnapper appears, Count Bleck. He attacks Mario, which leaves him unconscious, and takes everyone else.

Mario is woken by a Pixl, a digital-like creature, named Tippi. Tippi will explain that she is an ally and transports Mario to Flipside, the city between dimensions. Mario is met by Merlon who explains that Count Bleck has created the Void, and Mario is the hero of the prophecy, the only one that can stop Bleck.

Mario then embark on his greatest adventure yet. To stop Count Bleck and save the world, Mario travels to different dimensions, collecting Pure Hearts, the entitys of love and purity, and the only thing to counteract the Chaos Heart. He meets many different characters and fights many different fights.

Mario teams up with Peach, Bowser and Luigi. Peach finds herself in the middle a giant castle. Some of Bowsers minions try to help her but end up getting brainwashed by Bleck's minion Natassia. Before she gets brainwashed herself, she gets mysteriously transported away. When she appears in Flipside, she is unconscious. When she is awoken, she offers to help Mario. Bowser joins the group when Mario beats him at the end of Chapter 3-1. They convince him to join, since there won't be any world to rule.

After Mario retrieves five of the seven Pure Hearts, he enters "The Sammer's Kingdom" world which soon gets entirely swallowed up by Count Bleck's void. Mario is then sent back to Flipside and re-enters the Sammer's Kingdom door only to find the entire world completely empty, meanwhile Mr. L strikes Mario again with his new robot and Mario defeats him again and finds a lifeless Pure Heart and returns with it to Flipside.

Luigi becomes playable before Chapter 7. In an intermission, Luigi try to find a way out of Castle Bleck. He guides two Goombas, unfortunately, in to a dead end. Natassia finds them and brainwashes Luigi. Luigi then takes on the the alter ego Mr. L(aka the "Green Thunder") He appears as the Chapter 4 and 6 boss. He battles in his giant robot Brobot and Brobot L-Type. At the end of chapter 6, Dimento give him a "Game Over" and sent him to the Underwere. Mario, when he is sent to the Underwere as well, finds Luigi, not brainwashed, and joined Mario.

Recurring Elements

 * In all the Paper Mario games, Mario can transform into an 8-Bit version of himself, along with some type of Super Mario Bros. music accompanied with it.
 * In every Chapter 2 in the Paper Mario series the chapter boss is a minion of the main antagonist; in Paper Mario, all the chapter bosses are minions of Bowser, in PM:TTYD it's Lord Crump, and in Super Paper Mario it's Mimi.
 * The final boss for each game starts out invincible, but after a specific scene or battle, their invincibility is destroyed. For Bowser, Twink defeats Kammy Koopa and powers up the Star Beam; for Shadow Queen, the power of the Crystal Stars and the voices of everyone across the world destroys her immortality; and for Super Dimentio, Tippi, Count Bleck, O'Chunks, and Mimi are able to destroy his invincibility with the Pure Hearts.
 * The role of Luigi is more significant in each game; in the first Paper Mario, he is simply there; in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, he is off on his own adventures; and in Super Paper Mario, he finally becomes a playable character and is possessed by a final boss.
 * The storyline seems to get significantly darker within every Paper Mario series installment. The storyline of the first game involved wishes no longer being granted, while The Thousand-Year Door was about an ancient demon (which Peach ended up getting possessed by) who once sank an entire town underground from all the destruction that she caused, and Super Paper Mario's plot involved a void that was created to wipe everything from existence entirely.
 * There is one more playable character in each game. In Paper Mario, there is Mario and Princess Peach, in The Thousand-Year Door there is Mario, Peach, and Bowser, and in Super Paper Mario, there is Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi.
 * The fifth chapter's final area in every game always takes place in some sort of cave or underground area; the first game has Mt. Lavalava, the second game has Pirate's Grotto, and the third game has the Floro Sapien Caverns.
 * The first chapter in every game involves Mario traveling across some plains or a valley; the first game has Pleasant Path, the second game has Petal Meadows, and the third game has Lineland Road, also the first chapter of every game ends with Mario defeating a boss at a fortress; Koopa Bros. Fortress in the first game, Hooktail's Castle in the second game, and the Yold Ruins which is more of a temple than a fortress.
 * Bloopers have appeared in every game; three of them appear in the first game in the Toad Town Sewers, one appears in the Rogueport Underground City right before starting the first chapter in the second game, and one appears in the middle of Chapter 3 in the third game during the Tile Pool level.
 * Every game includes a female cook who provides recipes for Mario.
 * Each game features various fourth wall breaks, particularly referencing Mario's history of rescuing Peach.