Paper Mario (series)

The Paper Mario series is a Mario sub-series that has spanned over Nintendo's last three consoles. It began in 2001, and has continued up to the present.

Paper Mario
The series kicked off with the aptly-named Paper Mario, for the Nintendo 64. The game was a Role Playing Game. The plot was that Bowser had used his castle to lift the one that belonged to Princess Peach into the air. At this particular time, Mario was attending a party at the castle, and so he immediately broke out in a fight with him. At first, the fight appeared as any one between the two would; Mario was going to defeat the king in no time. However, as Bowser was on the ropes, he whipped out a brand new weapon - the Star Rod. As told earlier in a storybook, Bowser and Kammy Koopa had stolen the Rod from Star Haven. As Mario attacked Bowser, he soon realized that the item literally made Bowser invincible. Bowser used the item to viciously take out Mario, and he tossed him right out of the flying castle. Mario eventually crash-landed in a remote area. A young Goomba girl, by the name of Goombaria, found the unconscious plumber. Her family brought him to a Toad House, and the Toad running it kindly allowed him to rest. In Mario's rest, he saw an elderly Star. The Star asked him to wake up, and that he do his best to save him and his friends. When Mario awoke, he told the Toad about this; however, the Toad told him it was probably a dream, and he should just disregard it. When Mario came out, he met the rest of Goombaria's family: Goombario, her older brother; Goomama, her mother; Goompapa, her father; and her two grandparents, Goompa and Gooma. Mario eventually found himself lost in a forest with Goompa, after the veranda burst. The two wildly ran around, trying to get back home. This proved Mario's skill to the family, and Goombario, Mario's die-hard fan, immediately joined him in his quest to save Peach.

As Mario continued his journey, he found that he began rescuing several Stars, including the elderly one that spoke to him - they were the Star Spirits, powerful Star Beings who were left powerless without their stolen Star Rod. Mario also gained more friends to help him along the way. He met Kooper, a somewhat meek Koopa Troopa; Bombette, a tough Bob-Omb who was trapped in the Koopa Bros. Fortress; Parakarry, a sluggish Paratroopa mailman who was constantly losing letters; Bow, a sassy princess among Boos; Watt, a young Li'l Sparky; Sushie, a Cheep-Cheep who babysat the rambunctious Fearsome 5; and Lakilester, a rebellious Lakitu who was once with the villains. Soon, he rescued all of the Star Spirits, and they were able to find him a vehicle to reach Peach's flying castle. He soon set out to put an end to the journey. While Mario progressed through his adventure, Peach herself did some exploring around her castle, with the help of a Star Kid named Twink. The two spied on Bowser's minions to get information that would be helpful to Mario. Twink would then fly down to Mario and inform him of this information.

Once Mario made it through Bowser's filthy castle, he got up to the Princess's castle, and soon found Bowser waiting for him. Naturally, Bowser whipped out the Star Rod again, but Mario used the combined power of the Star Spirits to perform the Star Beam, a move that temporarily weakened the Star Rod, leaving Bowser vulnerable. Bowser soon faced defeat, but wasn't through yet. He and Kammy Koopa flew upwards, and Mario's party quickly chased him up the stairs. He ran up to Kammy's evil device, the Power Platform. It made the Star Rod become even more powerful, and it caused the Star Beam to become completely ineffective. While Mario tried to find a way to defeat Bowser, Twink took on Kammy Koopa. At first, Twink couldn't even scratch the devious Magikoopa. However, Peach's wishes of hope for him made his power increase, and Kammy was soon defeated. Twink was then able to use his new power to help the Star Spirits, and Star Beam was upgraded to Peach Beam. Now, Mario could deactivate the Star Rod, no matter what the conditions, and soon enough, Bowser was defeated. The Princess had a party the following day, and everybody that Mario met on his adventure was invited. Luigi led everybody through a victory parade for Mario, and the game came to a close.

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 him. 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.