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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays and today we're taking a look at every Paper Mario game and ranking
00:15them from worst to best.
00:24Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to Mojo
00:28Plays and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:32Number 7 Paper Mario Sticker Star It is honestly no surprise that Sticker Star
00:45is regarded as the worst in the franchise.
00:48Keep in mind that it isn't an awful game in the vein of most notorious games like E.T.
00:53for Atari.
00:54It features some interesting ideas in its heavy focus on using items.
00:58There is a lot to consider in which items can take down enemies quicker, and which should
01:02be saved for boss fights or bigger fights in general.
01:06However, as an RPG and as a Paper Mario game, it fails in just about every other aspect.
01:19For starters, the lack of party members allowed the combat to grow stale quickly.
01:24We're not opposed to playing as Mario primarily, but the Stickers only did so much to change
01:29strategies and did nothing to raise the difficulty.
01:33Then there was the backtracking.
01:34Oh, the abysmal backtracking.
01:38If you ever hit a roadblock in one area, it meant you had to go back to some other area,
01:44sometimes with no clue as to where you should be going next.
01:48Really, Sticker Star just did not respect the player's time and failed to follow up
01:52on what used to be a universally acclaimed series.
01:55At least the music was decent.
02:03Number 6 – Mario & Luigi Paper Jam
02:14At first, this seemed like a neat way to mesh the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi fanbases
02:19together to maybe introduce one side's peanut butter to the other side's chocolate.
02:24That is the goal of crossovers in the first place, right?
02:34Well it succeeded in some ways.
02:36You have the creative paper concepts of Paper Mario blending with the multi-character abilities
02:41Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario can access.
02:45Problem is that, apart from visuals, the Paper Mario half gets shoved aside more often
02:50than it probably should have.
02:52Much of the gameplay plays like any other Mario & Luigi game, just with a third character
02:56at play and some characters having more health.
03:00Decent game, but it really should have been way better than it ended up becoming.
03:12Number 5 – Paper Mario Color Splash
03:22Color Splash already had a lot riding against it, especially after the lackluster state
03:27Sticker Star arrived in.
03:28Alas, what we got was just plain mediocre.
03:33To its credit, Color Splash was an improvement in writing and humor, making the story enjoyable
03:38enough for some players to want to progress.
03:40Gameplay on the other hand, you can take it or you can leave it.
03:51Sure there were some neat ideas in using a hammer to restore color to the world, and
03:56some of Mario's new transformations were creative.
03:58However, the tedium can set in rather quickly.
04:02How often can recoloring flowers be satisfying?
04:05After about 5 minutes?
04:08Not very.
04:09If you wound up just booking it for the finish line, we honestly can't blame you.
04:20Number 4 – Paper Mario The Origami King
04:30At first, Origami King seemed like a step back in the right direction for the franchise,
04:35almost like Color Splash did.
04:38Once again, we were given a wonderful story with an imaginative concept and cast to adore.
04:43Plus, the dark tones were playfully horrifying in the best ways, while the overworld's
04:48puzzles made you stop and try to figure things out on your own.
04:59And we'd be lying if we said we didn't get a kick out of tossing confetti into the
05:02air and watching it stick to gaping open spots.
05:06But then you get into the combat.
05:08Look, the whole rotate the circles to maximize your damage is cute and all, but some of the
05:13fights can be a bit much when you start throwing in arrows that affect Mario's movement and
05:19limited number of times to shift positions.
05:21It's a good concept overall, but it kinda makes the game hard to recommend to anybody
05:28who doesn't already have a mild desire for puzzle-based mechanics.
05:41Number 3 – Super Paper Mario
05:54From an outsider's perspective, you would think Super Paper Mario would be widely despised
05:58on account that this was the first major stray away from the traditional turn-based combat
06:03with timed inputs.
06:05Besides, how in the world do you make an RPG platformer?
06:09Well, you make combat real-time as you would with usual action RPGs, but what really carries
06:15Super Paper Mario are the unique pixel powers that change the way you explore every level.
06:29Acquiring a new one would encourage you to revisit levels to uncover any secrets you
06:33might have missed before, and each pixel brought something new to the table from granting new
06:37attacks to changing perspectives and more.
06:41On top of that, Count Bleck and his cronies were some of the most memorable villains we
06:45had encountered in the series, truly deserving of the love they get from Paper Mario fans.
06:57Number 2 – Paper Mario
07:11Much of our love for the first Paper Mario stems from it being the first in the series.
07:15The traditional RPG formula wasn't anything new for Mario and friends, Super Mario RPG
07:21already showed his potential in the genre.
07:23Regardless, this was a new avenue for the plumber in aesthetics, combat, and cast.
07:28The paper visuals brought a ton of charm to the visuals while wrangling in new mechanics
07:33with partner abilities in the overworld and in combat.
07:44Speaking of the combat, it brought the right amount of difficulty in the perfect areas
07:48where things weren't too easy, but also weren't difficult enough to frustrate younger
07:53players.
07:54In other words, it was an RPG almost anybody could enjoy regardless of age or skill level.
08:10Number 1 – Paper Mario – The Thousand Year Door
08:24It's impossible to really be surprised that our number one pick is The Thousand Year Door.
08:28So many of us swear by this game as the de facto Paper Mario game that everyone should
08:33play.
08:34There are just so many brilliantly written tales that you wouldn't expect from a game
08:38like this.
08:39From Vivian's struggles to Peach talking to an artificial intelligence program suffering
08:44from an existential crisis, The Thousand Year Door was a wonderfully wild ride that expanded
08:50upon the first game's ideas without getting too crazy with it, which is something the
08:54series would struggle in balancing after this point.
09:03And then you have the various settings like the mysterious Rogue Port, the beautiful Petal
09:07Meadows, and the intimidating Glitz Pit Arena that really burst with creativity in their
09:14lore and characters.
09:16Honestly, if you've never got the chance to play the original on GameCube, you absolutely
09:20need to pick up the remake on Switch.
09:32But tell us, which Paper Mario game is your favorite?
09:35We might have an idea what you all may say, but let us know down in the comments below
09:40and don't forget to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more great videos every day.
09:45Thanks for watching.
09:53If you enjoyed the video, there's more where that came from.