Regardless of whether or not it's an "excuse plot", it's far more cliche than anything Super Paper Mario had to offer. While Bowser isn't the first villain to ever utilize princess-kidnapping plans (or damsel-in-distress plots in general), he is, however, the very reason why those kind of plots became so overused; even to the point where other franchises specifically went out of their way to avoid falling into that cliche.Mcmadness said:The thing is though those plots are little more than excuse plots and aren't the primary focus of the game. SPM's storyline IS the primary focus of the game making it all the more annoying to deal with due to how bloody predictable and cliched it is.
As for Super Paper Mario's storyline being the primary focus... I suppose that is true to some degree, but just like the past games, each chapter had its own subplot, most which had nothing to do with the main plot, but the one thing they all had in common was the objective to obtain the Pure Heart in each respective world. You're free to dislike that game's plot if you want, I don't hold anything against you for it, but between that and the series' usual overused plot, I, for one, would take Super Paper Mario's any day of the week.