Paper Mario: Color Splash

Paper Mario: Color Splash is an upcoming action-adventure, turn-based role-playing title in the Paper Mario series for Wii U. It will be the fifth installment of the series.

Story
Mario finds Princess Peach and Toad at his door one night during a storm. Surprised, he lets them in and receives a mysterious letter. The letter is actually Toad drained of his colors. The stamp on the letter points to Prism Island and Mario and co. quickly head there on a boat, even traveling through a storm. Upon arriving, Mario finds a hammer and uses it to reach the town square, that is deserted and full of elements whose colors have been drained. Toad then heads off, while Mario and Peach, after activating an emergency mechanism, meet Huey, a mysterious 3D talking paint bucket. A scream is heard and Mario, Huey and Princess Peach quickly head over to the sound only to find a Red Shy Guy with a straw, called Red Slurp Guy, draining the color from Toad. Toad gives some Battle cards to Mario and then the Slurp Guy fully drains his colors. Huey then asks Mario to squeeze him into paper form in order to obtain colors from his blood, his sweat and his tears. The colors are used to battle the Slurp Guy and two Shy Guys that came to his assistance. After the battle the colors from Huey are used to return Toad to color using Mario's hammer, then Huey discovers that the Big Paint Stars at Prisma Fountain are gone and asks Mario to find them and return them to the fountain, starting from a Red Mini Paint Star at Port Prisma that he mistakes for a Red Big Paint Star. As soon as they reach the Mini Paint Star, they see an airship carrying a giant bucket of red paint that was stolen by the Slurp Guys. When they reach Cherry Lake they find a Toad, named Justice Toad, that was hanging on the giant bucket but in the end fell off. Eventually, the airship is destroyed, causing the bucket to fall onto Crimson Tower.

Later at Crimson Tower, the duo runs into Morton Koopa Jr. who is guarding the red Big Paint Star. They fight him and return the star to the town square, and learn that Morton was sent by his master to also find the Big Red Paint Star.

After collecting the Big Red Paint Star, Mario and Huey return to Port Prisma, where the Red Paint Star reveals that Bowser, while being covered in black paint, has thrown all the Big Paint Stars away from Prisma Fountain. Soon after the reveal, Bowser shows up and reveal to Mario his plan to use the power from the black paint to take on the world and then flies off on an airship with a lot of Bowser tape on it, including a long tape holding Peach. Peach manages to leave an Holo-Peach to Mario, where she reveals that Bowser seems different besides the black paint that covers him, even though he doesn't intend to be harmful toward her.

Later, it is seen that Bowser is using the black paint to color some Banzai Bills and that Peach is hanging colorless on a painting in Bowser's throne room.

At Bloo Bay Beach, Mario and Huey find themselves participating in the Ocean Fest in their research for the Paint Star.

At Dark Bloo Inn, Mario and Huey attempt to solve the mystery of paranormal incidents happening in the building, which ends up being related to a tea party that ghostly Toads are throwing. They must head to Plum Park to retrieve a teapot for the Toads after obtaining the Paint Star in the inn. At some point during this time, they also ended up encountering Wendy O. Koopa, who revealed herself from within a clamshell.

Later on, the duo runs into the Golden Coliseum where a gladiator battle is held between Mario and Iggy Koopa, a Hammer Bro and a Snifit, all three on chariots attached to Chain Chomps, while Iggy promises to give Mario the yellow Paint Star if he wins the challenge.

Gameplay
Paper Mario: Color Splash is an action-adventure game that appears to elaborate on the mechanics of Paper Mario: Sticker Star. It is based on Mario using the Paint Hammer to paint colorless elements, characters and parts of the environment in order to progress in the game and collect Mini Paint Stars and Big Paint Stars. When a course is completed, several new courses may become available at once, and the number-based course naming that was seen in Super Paper Mario and Paper Mario: Sticker Star is gone.

Super Flags are returning as well, this time found in the main square of Port Prisma. The battles are based on cards that can be painted to increase their effect. Painted cards can be bought as well at the Prisma Cardware. Once used, cards are discarded, it is however possible to buy them directly in battle using the Battle Spin and choosing one of the flipped cards. There are three types of cards. Battle Cards are used for various purposes including attacking, healing and replenishing paint. Many attacks are similar to those featured in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, with the hammer attacks now having a charging sign indicating at which point an "Excellent" attack can be obtained. Things cards, which do not deplete Mario's paint, are used to summon Things , both in battle and in the course to solve puzzles. Such cards can be obtained by directly squeezing Things into Thing cards. There is a shop in Port Prisma allowing the player to directly buy Thnigs to squeeze them into Thing Cards, and there are Replica versions of Thing Cards as well. Finally Enemy cards, dropped by defeated enemies, are used to summon an enemy into the battle as an ally. Only one ally can be present at a time. Such an ally will attack other enemies and, when the enemies attack, position itself in front of Mario to protect him, and will stay in battle until defeated. However, it will run away in front of bosses. At the beginning of a battle, Kamek can sometimes appear and either flip all the cards or steal many cards, once the battle is won all the stolen cards are regained and additional coins are obtained as well. The number showing the HP of the enemies as well as the number showing the amount of damage dealt in HP are both missing, while the health of each enemy is shown in the form of color that is gradually drained starting from the bottom.

Both the use of the Paint Hammer and the painting of most cards requires colors, whose levels are indicated by bars. Even though only coins are obtained when winning a battle, after winning it the defeated enemies drop various items, including colors, cards, coins and, most importantly, Hammer Scraps, cardboard hammers that fill a bar. They exist in at least three different varieties with varying amount of glittery parts, and the scraps with more glittery parts fill the bar more than the scraps with less glittery parts. Once such bar is fully filled, the maximum amount of colors that can be carried is permanently increased and the power of the First Strike is increased as well, up to the point that enemies on the course can be directly defeated without starting the battle.

It is also possible to permanently increase the number of cards playable in a turn during a battle by collecting special power-ups. Similarly, the maximum amount of HPs of Mario can be increased by collecting HP-Up Hearts that are obtained when saving a Big Paint Star. Each HP-Up Heart increases the maximum amount of HPs by 25.

In order to gain additional coins, there are side quests and mini-games that can be played. One of them is finding Luigi who is hiding in some places, another is playing Roshambo against several opponents at the Roshambo Temples.

Furthermore, it is possible to use a move similar to paperization called "Cutout" in order to cut part of the courses. Likewise, the Flip technique from Super Paper Mario is returning as well, at least in a course dedicated to Super Mario Bros. 3. Key items also return.

Playable

 * Mario

Allies

 * Princess Peach
 * Toad
 * Toads (red, green, blue, yellow, purple and ghost)
 * Luigi
 * Yoshi
 * Huey: a paint bucket character (in 3D and paper form)
 * Five Fun Guys
 * Rescue Squad V (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple)
 * Rescue Squad Chief
 * Holo-Peach
 * Rock Paper Wizard
 * Big Paint Stars (Red, Orange , Yellow , Green, Blue, Purple )

Bosses

 * Koopalings
 * Morton Koopa Jr.
 * Ludwig von Koopa
 * Iggy Koopa

Enemies

 * Shy Guy (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink, Black)
 * Shy Guy 4-Stack
 * Slurp Guy (Red, Blue, Yellow)
 * Shield Guy (Red)
 * Sombrero Guy
 * Spike Guy (Red, Blue, Yellow)
 * Snifit (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow)
 * Slurp Snifit (Red)
 * Chariot Snifit
 * Koopa Troopa (green)
 * Koopa Paratroopa (red)
 * Hammer Bro
 * Boomerang Bro
 * Fire Bro
 * Chariot Bro
 * Sledge Bro
 * Shady Sledge Bro
 * Spike
 * Spiny
 * Cheep Cheep
 * Scaredy Rat
 * Fuzzy
 * Dry Bones
 * Boo
 * Chain Chomp
 * Goomba
 * Mega Goomba
 * Micro-Goomba
 * Rocky Wrench
 * Ninji
 * Blooper
 * Pokey (spiked and non-spiked)
 * Swoop
 * Ptooie
 * Orange Yoshi
 * Dino Rhino
 * Banzai Bill

Other

 * Draggadon
 * Petey Piranha
 * Goomba
 * Kamek
 * Bowser
 * Wendy O. Koopa
 * Lemmy Koopa

Locations


The game is set on Prism Island, shaped like a paint brush, and on three nearby islands, similar to drops of paint, which have been drained of their color. Locations include:


 * Port Prisma
 * Ruddy Road
 * Cherry Lake
 * The Crimson Tower
 * Bloo Bay Beach
 * Indigo Underground
 * Daffodil Peak
 * Château Chanterelle
 * Sunglow Ridge
 * Mondo Woods
 * Sacred Forest
 * Dark Bloo Inn
 * Plum Park
 * The Golden Coliseum
 * Marmalade Valley
 * Redpepper Volcano
 * Roshambo Temple #1
 * Fortune Island
 * A train course
 * A plains course
 * A ruins course
 * A radio station course
 * A circus course
 * A course set in a crater filled with lava
 * A secret water base course
 * A course in the style of Super Mario Bros. 3

General

 * Coin
 * Super Star
 * ? Block
 * Unfurl Block
 * Save Block
 * Paint Star
 * Big Paint Star

Key items

 * Tea Recipe Book
 * Birdcage
 * Caged "Bird"
 * "It"
 * Fresh Sheets

Cards
There are more than 150 different cards in the game.

Battle Cards
There are 4 categories of Battle Cards: Worn-Out Battle Cards have a striped background with fine colored stripes on a white background, Normal Battle Cards have a checkered background with colored squares on a white background, Big Battle Cards have a checkered background with bigger colored squares on a background of a lighter color, Mega Battle Cards have a striped radial background in which a striped colored slice is alternated with a striped slice of a lighter color, the stripes themselves alternating a stripe of a lighter color with a stripe of a more saturated color. There are also cards that allow to obtain the same effect up to five times, depending on the number of items in the card.
 * Worn-Out Jump
 * Worn-Out Jump ×3
 * Worn-Out Jump ×5
 * Jump
 * Jump ×2
 * Jump ×3
 * Big Jump
 * Big Jump ×2
 * Mega Jump
 * Hopslipper
 * Hopslipper ×2
 * Hopslipper ×3
 * Big Hopslipper
 * Mega Hopslipper
 * Line Jump
 * Big Line Jump
 * Mega Line Jump
 * Iron Jump
 * Iron Jump ×2
 * Iron Jump ×3
 * Big Iron Jump
 * Mega Iron Jump
 * Spin Jump
 * Big Spin Jump
 * Worn-Out Hammer
 * Worn-Out Hammer ×3
 * Worn-Out Hammer ×5
 * Hammer
 * Hammer ×2
 * Hammer ×3
 * Big Hammer
 * Big Hammer ×2
 * Mega Hammer
 * Eekhammer
 * Eekhammer ×2
 * Eekhammer ×3
 * Big Eekhammer
 * Big Eekhammer ×2
 * Mega Eekhammer
 * KO Hammer
 * Big KO Hammer
 * Mega KO Hammer
 * Hurlhammer
 * Hurlhammer ×2
 * Hurlhammer ×3
 * Big Hurlhammer
 * Mega Hurlhammer
 * Blazehammer
 * Fire Flower
 * Big Fire Flower
 * Ice Flower
 * Big Ice Flower
 * Mushroom
 * Big Mushroom
 * Mega Mushroom
 * 1-Up Mushroom
 * Spike Helmet
 * POW Block
 * Tail
 * Frog Suit

Thing Cards

 * Fan
 * Fan Replica
 * Electric Battery
 * Fire Extinguisher
 * BBQ
 * Basin
 * Cat-O-Luck
 * Lemon
 * Lemon Replica
 * Turnip
 * Salt and Pepper Shaker
 * Teapot
 * Piggy Bank
 * Piggy Bank Replica
 * Ice Pick
 * Bone
 * A bottle opener
 * Magnifying Glass
 * Screwdriver
 * Plunger
 * A hammer
 * A hair dryer

Enemy Cards

 * Shy Guy (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink)
 * Slurp Guy (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink)
 * Spike Guy (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink)
 * The Shy Bandit
 * Snifit (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink)
 * Slurp Snifit (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink)
 * Spike Snifit (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink)
 * Goomba
 * Paragoomba
 * Bone Goomba
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Koopa Paratoopa
 * Piranha Plant
 * Fire Piranha Plant
 * Ptooie
 * Cheep Cheep
 * Blooper
 * Lava Bubble
 * Hammer Bro
 * Boomerang Bro
 * Fire Bro
 * Ice Bro
 * Sledge Bro
 * Shady Sledge Bro
 * Bob-omb
 * Ninji
 * Pokey (Spike and non-spike)
 * Dry Bones
 * Boo
 * Spike
 * Rocky Wrench
 * Spiny
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Spike Top
 * Fuzzy
 * Swoop
 * Magikoopa
 * Dino Rhino
 * Scaredy Rat

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros. 3: The Angry Sun is mentioned by one of the Five Fun Guys during Toad and Go Seek. There is an area that resembles a level in this game, where Mario can flip into 3D like in Super Paper Mario.
 * Luigi's Mansion series: One of the Toads in Dark Bloo Inn references Luigi's role in these two games.
 * Super Paper Mario: Mario can flip in a certain area, an ability that originated in this game.
 * Mario Party 8: The Five Fun Guys troupe name originates from the Mario and Toad team name featured in this game.
 * Mario Party 9: Toad and Go Seek is named after a minigame from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Iggy taunts Mario by slapping his behind like in this game.
 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star: Photographs of the Yoshi Sphinx, a location in World 4, and Hither Thither Hill can be seen on the left wall in Dark Bloo Inn's lobby. . Also, sound effects from this game are recycled. The music for Bowser's introduction is also the same music used for his introduction from the same game.

Trivia

 * Two weeks ahead of release, it was discovered that pre-purchasing the game on Nintendo eShop unintentionally allows players early access to the full game.