Explaining Super Paper Mario

Imagine a Mario game where you are literally enslaved, fight terrifying inter-dimensional nightmare demons, witness a matter-collapse apocalypse of an entire universe, and oh by the way, meet freaking God. That's Super Paper Mario and my Grambi is it an impressive spectacle of a Wii game. When I tell you that Super Paper Mario is the highest selling game in the Paper Mario franchise, you might think that it would be the most tame and accessible game, and I suppose there's some arguments for that being the case, it being the game that changed it's game-play and combat style from a turn-based RPG, into a side-scroller action-RPG, more akin to the more popular, mainline Super Mario 2-D platformers. but no; the game we got is so so much more than that. Super Paper Mario is by all accounts, a peak for the franchise in terms of storytelling, humour, characterization, game-play mechanics, and overall direction. Where many who criticize the newer Paper Mario games that diverge from the traditional Mario RPG format cannot fault Super Paper Mario on is it's story, and ambitious design. Sure maybe they prefer turn-based attacking, but no one can deny the quality and ingenuity of the adventure, itself. And in fairness, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems were originally producing this for the Gamecube, so they already wanted to differentiate the game from the already existing Thousand Year Door. And differentiate they did. Because MAN, is this a weird one. Maybe still the weirdest. Many MANY people have talked about this game, and they get some of the biggest reactions in terms of how funny, and genuinely fascinating this game is to play through. And how deserving of these reactions Super Paper Mario is; it has achieved a cult-classic status, as the one that diverged from the previous Mario RPG style, but before the franchise began to shift in terms game-play direction quality. And to be honest, I didn't have too bad a time with Sticker Star, and I think since, Colour Splash and Origami King have also been steps upward in terms of quality. That being said though, nothing since or before Super Paper Mario was there any Mario game quite like it. It still stands out. Heck its stands out amoungst all Wii games, or just Nintendo games in general. It's staggering. Though it's interesting since there's such a critical preference towards Paper Mario and Paper Mario TTYD amoung the more hardcore fans; Super Paper Mario still doesn't get the love I believe it deserves. And that extends beyond it's amazing story; it's unique mechanical design still creates a wonderful experience; this game is a genius unfolding of the Mario universe, and the logic of video games as a whole.