The mystery of Super Paper Mario's name

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Super Paper Mario! It's a game!

I know everyone who complains about this game mostly complains about the gameplay, how it's like, basically not even an rpg. But we're not talking about that today. We might not even look at anything inside the game.

WHY is it called Super Paper Mario?

This name was always really weird to me. As a kid I thought this was the first paper mario game, because of its name. It was really misleading to me, especially after I found out that it's the THIRD installment in the series! Why isn't this game called something like i dunno, Paper Mario: Interdimensional Chaos? That name sounds way better!

I do have a theory as to why this game is called like that: maybe it's because it's more of a platformer, and since it's closer to Super Mario Bros than other Paper Mario games, they decided to give it that name. But hey, that's just a theory, A GA_

What do you guys think about this subject? Why do you think this game has this name, and can you think of a better name?
 
Honestly, there's not much to think, You're probably correct with your theory, since you don't go into battle when you fight an enemy or a boss, and most of the skills you need consists on your movements instead of your tactics. I can totally see why this has been changed into a paper mario game and not a normal mario game, simply because of its gimmick of switching into 2d to 3d, and if you ask me, that wouldn't really makes sense if the same gimmick was in the usual types of mario games.

I definitely don't know why the game is called like that, it still has all the quests, dialogue and characters, which is all the essentials in an RPG game. It just has the unusual of having a matter of skill, but that's honestly all that's changed to throw it off a bit. If I would've given it a name, it would probably be something like "Paper mario: switched dimensions" or something idk
 
They probably wanted to attribute it the "Super [Mario]" brand so it gets more recognition, not to mention that the game being mainly a 2D platformer makes it reminiscent of classic Super Mario games. The game was also probably conceived as a sort of spin-off in the Paper Mario series with experimental mechanics that depart from the turn-based combat of the original two games, so the title needed to differentiate in some capacity. I still find it a weird choice of title though, as it implies the game is somehow an upgrade from the original Paper Mario.
 
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I think you're right too. Super Mario generally is the platforming Mario, although now I'm curious to how often Super Mario and Sport Mario intertwine just out of namesake or if a Super [sport] Mario has significant difference to a non-super [sport] Mario
 
The game was ~10 years too late to be released on the Super Nintendo
 
It's called Super Paper Mario because it was the only one that is still superbly safe from Paper Mario fandom warfare.
 
Sven Svennson. said:
It's called Super Paper Mario because it was the only one that is still superbly safe from Paper Mario fandom warfare.
Click to expand...

Uhhh actually it's one of the centerpieces of the Paper Mario fandom warfare lmao
 
I say it's even more controversial due to how polarized opinions can get from this game while there is more agreement that Sticker Star is one of the weaker entries.
 
Perhaps it's just as simple as it being designed as a platformer with a Paper Mario twist, and since Super Mario is the platformer series, the title was used. After all, the gameplay aspect of this game was showcased earlier and was also advertised as such. I have a feeling the story aspect was added later on but the title stuck so the game's title didn't really have time to have a title change.

Speaking of the title, it does have something in common with how Thousand Year Door was titled in Japan, which is the rather simplistic "Paper Mario RPG".

Thank you for reading.
 
I always just saw it as being due to it having more gameplay elements from the platformers as well as a few structural things like the X-X level format
 
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