Super Paper Mario

Super Paper Mario (Japanese: スーパーペーパーマリオ, Hepburn: Sūpā Pēpā Mario) is a 2007 platform action role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. It is the third game in the Paper Mario series of Mario role-playing games.

The game departs from the gameplay featured in earlier Paper Mario titles, primarily featuring side scrolling platforming gameplay with role-playing elements. The player controls Mario and later Princess Peach, Bowser and Luigi, who each possess different abilities. The majority of the gameplay revolves around Mario's learned ability to "flip" between dimensions, which consists of switching between 3D and 2D perspectives in each level, allowing the player to maneuver around obstacles impassable in different views. The plot follows the four characters' quest to collect the eight Pure Hearts in order to prevent Count Bleck, the main antagonist, from destroying the universe.

The game was well-received, accumulating aggregate critical scores of 85.16% and 85% on GameRankings and Metacritic with many critics praising the game's humorous plot and writing. It has sold 2.28 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling games on the Wii. In 2011, the game was re-released as part of the Nintendo Selects program in North America, and in Europe the following year in 2012.

Paper Mario

Paper Mario, known in Japanese as Mario Story (マリオストーリー, Mario Sutōrī) and originally known as Super Mario RPG 2, is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 game console. It was first released in Japan on August 11, 2000, in North America on February 5, 2001, and in Europe and Australia on October 5, 2001. Paper Mario was re-released for Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console in July 2007 as well as Wii U Virtual Console in 2015.

Paper Mario is set in the Mushroom Kingdom as the protagonist Mario tries to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, who has imprisoned the seven "Star Spirits", lifted her castle into the sky and has successfully defeated his foe after stealing the Star Rod from Star Haven and making himself invulnerable to any attacks. To save Mushroom Kingdom, rescue Peach, get the castle back, and defeat Bowser, Mario must locate the Star Spirits, who can negate the effects of the stolen Star Rod, by defeating Bowser's minions guarding the star spirits. The player controls Mario and a number of partners to solve puzzles in the game's overworld and defeat enemies in a turn-based battle system. The battles are unique in that the player can influence the effectiveness of attacks by performing required controller inputs known as "action commands".

Mario

Mario (Japanese: マリオ, Hepburn: Mario, [ma.ɽi.o]) (English /ˈmɑːrioʊ/; Italian: [ˈmaːrjo]) is a fictional character in the Mario video game franchise, created by Nintendo's Japanese video game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as the company's mascot and the eponymous protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian plumber who resides in the Mushroom Kingdom, his adventures generally center upon rescuing Princess Peach from the Koopa villain Bowser. His younger brother is Luigi.

The Mario franchise is the best-selling video game franchise of all time. Over 210 million units of the overall Mario series of games have been sold. Outside of the Super Mario platform series, other Mario genres include the Mario Kart racing series, sports games such as the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series, role-playing games such as Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, and educational games such as Mario Is Missing! and Mario's Time Machine. The franchise has branched into several mediums, including television shows, film, comics and licensed merchandise. Since 1995, Mario has been voiced by Charles Martinet.