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.

Nintendo eShop Description
Launching this holiday, this classic action role-playing franchise gets a fresh 3D look in its hand-held debut as Mario uses stickers found in the game to win battles and solve puzzles.

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, such as the Frog Suit. 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 (e.g, a Fan sticker can be used in World 1-4 to gain entrance to a windmill). 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 is similar to Bingo! in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door; it allows Mario to get a set of extra stickers or coins.

Protagonists

 * Mario

Allies

 * Kersti
 * Toads
 * Princess Peach
 * Luigi
 * Wiggler

Enemies

 * Goomba
 * Paper-Cone Goomba
 * 2-Fold Goomba
 * Shiny Goomba
 * Shiny-Cone Goomba
 * Pokey
 * Paragoomba
 * 5-Fold Paragoomba
 * Shiny Paragoomba
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Shiny Koopa Troopa
 * Koopa Paratroopa
 * Shiny Koopa Paratroopa
 * Dry Bones
 * Piranha Plant
 * Fire Piranha
 * Hammer Bro.
 * Boomerang Bro.
 * Fire Bro.
 * Ice Bro.
 * Magikoopa
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Shiny Buzzy Beetle
 * Bony Beetle
 * Spike Top
 * Spiny
 * Swooper
 * Bob-omb
 * Para-bomb
 * Spike
 * Snow Spike
 * Whomp
 * Sliding Stone
 * Shy Guy
 * Snifit
 * Spear Guy
 * Clip Guy
 * Mariachi Guys
 * Accordion Guy
 * Sombrero Guy
 * Maraca Guy
 * Fuzzy
 * Boo
 * Ninji
 * Scuttlebug
 * Poison Blooper
 * Cheep-Cheep
 * Mural Goomba
 * Mural Koopa
 * Podoboo
 * Paint Guy
 * Rocky Wrench
 * Bill Blaster
 * Broozer

Mini-Bosses

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

Main Bosses
He is later transformed into a giant cardboard version of himself and acts as the final boss.
 * 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)

Other

 * Cheep Chomp
 * Lakitu
 * Birdo
 * Cooligan
 * Flutter

Items

 * Question Block
 * Brick Blocks
 * Coin Blocks
 * Coins
 * Large Coins
 * 10 Gold Coins
 * Recovery Block
 * Save Block
 * Warp Pipe
 * Sticker Album
 * HP-Up Heart

Obstacles

 * Bowser Tape. Pull it off to find hidden Stickers/Areas. It should be noted that it is similar to the paper that can be blown off by Flurrie in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

Locations
Unlike previous installments, the game has a level progression system, similar to the platformer games. Each level course is unlocked after collecting a Comet Piece in the area. Along with that is a world map, similar to the main series, as well as a throwback to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars' overworld map.


 * 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: Scuttlebug 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

Critical Reception
The game has received mainly positive reviews but has received a few mixed reviews as well. 1UP gave the game an A- grade, Gamesradar gave the game 4.5/5, Game Informer gave the game 8.75/5, IGN gave the game 8.3/10, Modojo gave the game 4/5, Nintendo Life gave the game 8/10, Digital Chumps gave the game 7.6/10 and Venture Beat gave the game 68/100 (68%). However, GameXplain gave the game 2 stars out of 5.

The game has been mostly criticized for straying too far from the rest of the series, but has been praised for its graphic style.

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.
 * It is the first Paper Mario where Mario can't turn into an 8-bit version of himself.

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 object. In this case, however, it was purely by accident. 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.
 * 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 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.
 * 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.