Wii Download: Paper Mario

Not long after I picked up my Wii, I snagged a Wii Points card so I could download and relive a bit of childhood in the form of Spelunker... but, that left me with entirely too many points left over. I had previously heard that Super Paper Mario was a good game, so I decided to try the original Paper Mario, to see what made it sequel-worthy.

Several weeks and about 30 hours of play time later, I finished it... it was one of the better uses of $10 that I've made, games-wise, because I honestly enjoyed it. The "paper" aspect of it wasn't exploited so thoroughly as in the Super Paper Mario clips I've seen, but more of an artistic choice, based on the concept that the game is actually a story being read from a book. I think the way that the game was purposely ratcheted back from the graphics capabilities of its original console (Nintendo 64) actually helped it keep a somewhat "fresh" look all these years later.

The game is a mix of role-playing and platform genres (but, honestly, closer to the role-playing end), with the sort of story that's nice for pick-up play... not terribly deep, no huge plot twists, and pretty well laid out (in broad strokes, at least) early in the game. That said, there were a number of nights that I found myself approaching midnight before I determined I had to turn off for the night if I was going to function the next day... and not because I was looking for a save point, either (an unfortunate, but unavoidable, part of playing a game of that vintage). Best of all, from my point of view, the game painted a world based on the various strangenesses of ye olde Super Mario Brothers that hung together and made a strange sort of internal sense... the best kind, don't you know... :)

At any rate, if you've got $10 to blow, a Classic Controller (or a Game Cube controller, if you're into being tethered to your Wii), and several hours of time to kill, you could do far worse than this game.