What Would A New Trilogy Of Paper Mario Games Be Like?

[Sleuth "Doggy" Dawg]

As far as we're concerned, Nintendo is never going to return the Paper Mario series to its original roots in the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube eras if we don't count The Thousand Year Door's Switch remake. But if Nintendo did do that, what would a new trilogy of Paper Mario games be like? Down here are a couple of ideas I would like to see in that new Paper Mario trilogy:

#1: Bring back the chapter system of the first two games and expand the number of chapters (Not counting the prologue) from 8 to 10, because a lot of unlicensed Nintendo games during the 8-bit era (With a few licensed games like Transformers: Convoy no Nazo being rare exceptions as far as I'm concerned) featured 10 worlds/levels/stages as opposed to the traditional 8 that most Mario games have had in the past, and I'm interested in seeing how the Paper Mario series would tackle this if the series returned to its original roots. And in addition to having a prologue, add an epilogue chapter after the game's final boss is defeated and the main story is completed.
#2: Bring back the partner system of the first two games, with most of the partners recruited throughout the games being Mario species that haven't had a whole lot of representation in the Mario franchise, especially playable representation. In addition, expand on the partners' personalities and character development so that the partners aren't limited to acting as talking tools for Mario due to his silent protagonist rule.
#3: In addition to bringing back badges, the various Jump moves, Hammer moves and usable items, add in weapons and armor that the player can purchase at stores around the map. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars did this and it worked relatively well, so why can't the Paper Mario series when they return to their original roots? Subsequently, the Rabbids spin-off series furthermore expanded the usage of weapons in Mario games, so I'm sure the Paper Mario series could also profit from this. With armor, in addition to improving the characters' defense, I'd also find it interesting to see aesthetic changes depending on the armor the player equips each individual character with. Like, Mario and Company would start out in their regular clothes and by the end of the game, they'd be all dolled up in fancy royal outfits akin to games like Neoquest II on Neopets.

What are some ideas you would like to see in a new Paper Mario trilogy if Nintendo did end up returning the series to the roots of the first two games?

 

[Waluigi Time]

Really I just want a decent story and fun, distinct characters. That's what endeared me to the series in the first place and it's a shame to see them take a backseat to "haha get it the world is paper"-based plots and a cast that largely consists of the same generic species designs copied and pasted over and over. I don't care as much about the specifics of gameplay, doesn't need to be TTYD 2 (I mean I enjoyed SPM) but uh... preferably something actually fun? Nintendo seems to be really dead set against bringing back the original combat system as-is but their constant attempts to reinvent the wheel keep sucking the fun out of it.

(By the way, if you're going to reply and tell me how trash those aspects of the original games actually were, don't waste your time.)

 

[Xiahou Dun]

The recipes need to have some actual use lol why was it designed like this. Just redo that system entirely and get something that's actually worth the payoff rather than the current system where you hunt for obscure boiled egg in the corner of a place and exchange your 50 coins in a shop located in World 3.4 to get a piece of lettuce and then cook something that, when it's finally done, it just restores an arbitrary amount of health, when health restoring items and coins are so abundant.

iirc, even the difficulty-increasing romhacks have people not using recipes, they seem to be THAT mostly worthless in the first couple of games.

/Paper Mario thread ready yer flameshields everyone

 

[Xiahou Ba]

So I'm going to offer my take here. Warning: I say this as someone who actually enjoyed Sticker Star.

One of the most uninspiring things about the modern Paper Mario games are the terrible, godawful recolors of friendly no-name NPCs, aka the nameless Toads. I've ranted about this great lengths in the past, but if you want me to sum this up: imagine playing any other RPG, and every single fucking NPC you talk to is the same model of a generic human villager, except they have a different hair color. Like, for example, in Tales of Symphonia, every world has you trying to find a Wonder Chef who will give you a recipe for you to cook something with. He has a distinct character model from other NPCs, he wears a distinct outfit, he has unique hair style, he has a different body physique etc. These combination of factors leave an impression on players, and he's *entirely* optional to boot.

When bloody Sticker Star did a shady character who plays a very prominent role in the game, and his shadiness is hinted from just his dialogue? Literally a fucking purple Toad.

The frustrating thing is, Paper Mario used to do this, at least, care a little bit more about their townies than they do currently. In a desert, you have Bedouin-inspired Toads. In the cold areas, you have characters dressed in cold weather appropriate outfits. You have fat Toads. You have female Toads. You have child Toads. For the chef example above, we got Tayce T. and Zess T, dressed and aged uniquely from the others. Some people think oh who cares about generic NPCs, who cares about townies, in an RPG, why put no effort in townie designs and I'm like, every other RPG out there clearly DOES care about what generic, no-name NPCs wear, what they look like, what skin tones they have, what age they are, why would they put some attention and detail into their physical appearance especially in the setting? Oh it's Mario, it's for dumb babies, it doesn't need a well-designed town or any thought put into its inhabitants. No, shut up, developers are clearly cutting corners here, and besides, it's Mario, one of the biggest franchises, and you don't need to tell me they don't have budget for this?

They try to alleviate this in later entries like giving those Toads little outfits but they're *still* nameless NPCs and use the same fucking character model with fucking awful "names" like "Toad mechanic" or "Captain T. Ode".

So now you know what I want, at the very least, in a new trilogy: NPCs actually worth a shit. You don't need levels of detail in these towns in the same level as Baldur's Gate but damn at the very least give them unique physical characteristics and actual names and not "Toad who complains about kids playing front lawn Toad".