My N64 kick continues (possibly to an end for now) as I finish Mario Story, aka Paper Mario. I thought it'd be a really fun exercise to play a game with such fun writing (which I also happened to know the English of so well) in its original language, and I was very much right! Now this N64, one I brought with me from America from when I was a kid, has seen from beginning to end 3 of my favorite games from my childhood UwU
The writing was a really interesting thing to notice differences in. Particularly among the main cast of Mario's partners. Goombario is far more of a little brat, almost like a wannabe tough guy middle schooler, which had me just in stitches for some of the Tattle descriptions he'd do XD . Bombette's speaking style is much more of a cross between girly but sassy and I thought it was very cute. Lady Bow is actually SUPER similar to how she is in English, and Watt's speaking style uses a kind of baby talk-ish lisp for how they say things that, while cute, made it really hard to understand what they were saying at times. Bowser is also just SO over the top campy with how evil he talks that it always makes me laugh more than anything. I've loved him in other Mario RPG's I've played and now I really wanna buy a Super Famicom Mini to play Mario RPG itself in Japanese because the way he's written is always just so funny XD . The combat is more puzzle-y than I remember, though I think that's just my more analytical way of thinking due to my age rather than tastes. I did not remember at all taking SO much damage from even normal enemies, but it certainly made sense with how baby-me always maxed out health as the first stat they could when I played the game when I was little. It really heavily incentives rushing down enemies as fast as possible, so every encounter almost feels like a kind of simple puzzle (save for somewhat more complex boss encounters) of how to get it over with ASAP. It also has a weird kind of feeling to how powerful you are because your attack and defense are linked to story-related gear instead of level, so that's one more element forcing you to engage with that puzzle-type fighting because you can't just power-level your way to one-shotting everything. It's a very interesting design that makes it a far more unique experience than something like Mario RPG. That said, I still enjoy the sequel more. Paper Mario's best parts are its writing, and the often dialogue-less dungeons can tend to really drag on, especially towards the end of the game and in the final dungeon. TTYD does a much better job in surrounding its dungeons in larger story beats that just makes it an overall more enjoyable experience to me. I might try and pick that up again soon too; it's been far too long since I've played it. <3 Verdict: Recommended. The simplicity of the combat and sillier, lighthearted story may turn of some people, but if you're a Nintendo fan and don't demand large degrees of tactical choices from your RPGs, you will likely enjoy Paper Mario quite a lot UwU
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
AuthorI'm an avid gamer who likes to detail their thoughts about what they play in the hopes it might aid someone else's search for a game to play. Archives
April 2024
|