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 encounter 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 confronts 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 will 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 objects appear in the form of stickers, and they will also have the ability to give power ups to Mario. They can also be used to overcome obstacles. Various real-world objects also appear and after being turned to stickers in Decalburg, they can be used in battle or in the overworld. Instead levelling up from experience points as in the previous installments, Mario must solve problems and will be rewarded with an HP Up Heart. Stickers also appears to replace Badges from the first two installments of the series. A new feature is a "Battle Spinner" slot machine which allows Mario to get a set of extra stickers or coins.

In addition, the gameplay placed a lot more emphasis on the "paper" aspect than the previous games, where it contained status elements directly related to paper materials such as soggy, clipped, or tacked, and the enemies sometimes transform themselves to better reflect the papery nature of their designs (eg, a Goomba occasionally becoming a cone Goomba), or even simply transforming as part of an attack (eg, the Koopa Troopas), or simply resembling paper to begin with (eg, the Big Boo that was fought in world 5-3).

Protagonists

 * Mario
 * Kersti
 * Princess Peach

Allies

 * Toads
 * Luigi
 * 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

Mini-Bosses

 * Bowser Jr.
 * Kamek
 * Big Buzzy Beetle
 * Wiggler Segments
 * Big Scuttlebug
 * Big Cheep Cheep
 * Big Boo
 * Big Chain Chomp

Main Bosses

 * Megasparkle Goomba (World 1 Boss)
 * Tower Power Pokey (World 2 Boss)
 * Gooper Blooper (World 3 Boss)
 * Bowser Snow Statue/Mizzter Blizzard (World 4 Boss)
 * Petey Piranha (World 5 Boss)
 * Bowser (World 6 Boss)

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 perfectley for one turn.

Other types of attack stickers include Fire Flower and Ice Flower stickers that burn and freeze enemies, respectivley. 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 area. The World Map is exactly like the one in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
 * Decalburg
 * World 1, both the grassy plains and the high stone moutains, containing 6 levels:
 * 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:
 * 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:
 * 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: Rustly 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:
 * 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:
 * 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:
 * 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 not to start at the Mario Bros. House.
 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star doesn't have an optional boss that is stronger than the final boss or any optional bosses at all.
 * 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 some sort, either of half-circle sunglasses (most Koopa enemies), thick glasses (Kent C. Koopa), or eye-bandanas (The Koopa Bros.).
 * It is the first Paper Mario where Mario can't turn into an 8-bit version of himself.
 * The Ninji 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 starlings.

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.
 * 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 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.
 * 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. Also, both games have a character sacrifice themselves to render the final boss vulnerable (In The Thousand Year Door, the lingering part of Peach's soul temporarily regains enough control over her body and uses the last ounce of her power before permanently being subdued to force the Shadow Queen to recover Mario and his party's health and reduce the Shadow Queen's invincibility. In Sticker Star, Kersti sacrifices herself to neutralize the final Royal Sticker's power to render a giant Bowser vulnerable to Mario's attacks).
 * 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 appeared in this game return in this game. Most of the enemies and the areas are also designed from their appearances from this game.

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, not unlike 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.