Paper Mario: Sticker Star

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Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Composer(s)
List of composers
  • Masanobu Matsunaga
    Shoh Murakami
    Yasuhisa Baba
    Hiroki Morishita
    Saki Kurata
    Yoshito Sekigawa
    Masanori Adachi
    Kiyoshi Hazemoto
    Tomoko Sano
    Kosei Muraki
    Hiroaki Hanaoka
SeriesPaper Mario
Platform(s)Nintendo 3DS
Release
  • NA: November 11, 2012
  • JP: December 6, 2012
  • EU: December 7, 2012[1]
  • AU: December 8, 2012[2]
Genre(s)Action-adventure, role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Mushroom Kingdom to retrieve the six Royal Stickers scattered by Bowser. The game was released in November 2012 in North America
and December 2012 overseas.

Unlike the previous Paper Mario games, Sticker Star uses a distinctly

turn-based battles against enemies or in solving puzzles. A sequel for the Wii U, Paper Mario: Color Splash
, carried over many ideas introduced in Sticker Star and was released in October 2016.

Game designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto insisted that gameplay should be distinct from previous Paper Mario games, as he believed the concept was too similar to previous titles in the franchise. Because of this, emphasis was geared toward gameplay and combat, and a lack thereof for the story and plot. Allies alongside Mario were cut due to complications with sticker mechanics and there was an extreme decrease in characters with unique designs. The game received generally favorable reviews, with graphics, writing, and strategy being praised, and criticism towards unbalanced difficulty in combat, the lack of traditional role-playing game elements, and the abundance of identical Toads instead of the original fictional races the series had been known for. Reception on the sticker mechanics was mixed.

Gameplay

Mario explores the first level of the game. A Worn-Out Jump sticker is seen attached to a wall.

Sticker Star features a similar visual style to its

Mushroom Kingdom.[3] The story focuses on Mario's efforts to retrieve the six Royal Stickers that have been scattered by Bowser after he attacked the annual Sticker Fest. Mario is accompanied by Kersti, a sticker fairy, who bestows upon Mario the power of stickers.[4]

battle. Mario's stats
and available attacks are determined by collecting stickers.

A major facet of Sticker Star's gameplay is the use of collectible stickers, which are used to gain abilities to progress through the game.

non-playable characters (NPC).[6] The player has limited inventory space, with larger stickers taking up more room.[7] Stickers are used both in combat and for interacting with the environment.[8] The player can enter a state called "Paperization", which will lay the screen down flat to reveal additional secrets not visible regularly.[9] Real-world objects can be found, known in-game as "Things", such as baseball bats and scissors, that can be turned into special types of stickers called "Thing Stickers",[10] which are often needed to solve puzzles in the overworld.[8] For example, a Fan Thing Sticker can be placed in strategic areas in the environment and, when activated, creates wind that moves or destroys obstacles.[11]

The turn-based battles in Sticker Star also reiterates combat in previous games, and are initiated when Mario comes into contact with enemies in the overworld.

health points (HP) and other stats through collection of HP-Up hearts, which give Mario five more health points and stronger attacks.[16]

Plot

Every year, the Sticker Comet lands in the

Mushroom Kingdom, and those who wish on it have a good chance of their wish being granted by the Royal Stickers that reside within the comet. Mario attends the Sticker Fest, a festival held in the city of Decalburg to celebrate the Sticker Comet's arrival; where Princess Peach
presents the comet on stage. There, as the Toads all prepare their wishes, Bowser interrupts the celebration and breaks the comet into six parts, the Royal Stickers, scattering them over the Kingdom, with one falling on Bowser's head; Mario tries to stop him, but fails and is knocked unconscious. He is later awakened by Kersti, a sticker assistant, who is tasked with granting the wishes made to the Sticker Comet. After cleaning up Bowser's mess in Decalburg, Mario and Kersti depart to search for the first of the Royal Stickers.

Mario and Kersti traverse six areas to retrieve each of the six Royal Stickers. Each Royal Sticker is guarded by a

Petey Piranha
simply accidentally ate his Sticker.

After collecting each Royal Sticker, the duo enters Bowser's Castle and eventually confront Bowser. During the final battle, Kersti sacrifices herself to give Mario sticker powers in order to defeat Bowser. Upon defeat, Bowser drops the last Royal Sticker. Mario uses his wish to restore peace to the Mushroom Kingdom and restore the Sticker Comet, resurrecting Kersti in the process. The credits roll over a parade for the Sticker Comet.

Development

Sticker Star being presented at E3 2012

Sticker Star was announced at

localization manager Nate Bihldorff, one of the writers for Sticker Star's English text, was later shown at the Nintendo 3DS Showcase event, which heavily detailed and elaborated on the sticker-focused gameplay.[19] The game was announced to be distributed both physically as a Nintendo 3DS cartridge or downloadable via Nintendo eShop.[20]

Scenario

The partner system prevalent in previous Paper Mario titles was removed by the developers because it would often conflict with the sticker-focused gameplay and mechanics. Additionally, the developers were asked by

level system were implemented so that players could easily stop and resume play at any time.[23][24]

Characters

In developer interviews for the 2020 title

Iwata Asks", Satoru Iwata suggested how traits and personality was rather a product of function and gameplay.[21]

Reception

Sticker Star received "generally favorable reviews", gaining an aggregate score of 75/100 on Metacritic.[26] The game sold 402,000 copies in Japan in 2012.[37] As of March 31, 2013, the game has 1,970,000 worldwide sales.[38] The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Sticker Star with "Handheld Game of the Year" during their 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards ceremony.[39]

The introduction of stickers received mixed reception by critics; critics liked the strategy of managing stickers on hand.

1UP praised Sticker Star's playability by saying, "The sheer playability of Sticker Star goes a long way to offset the moments at which your forward momentum grinds to a halt and you're forced to traipse through old haunts for some arbitrary fetch quest."[27] The use of Things received negative reception, criticized for being out of place[28] and their function in game being a necessity.[34] They were considered one of the game's weaknesses,[31][10] criticized for inevitable backtracking and only having one solution for each puzzle.[10] Jeff Grubb of VentureBeat criticized the use of stickers due to a lack of inventory space, being forced to hold onto certain stickers for later, and constant backtracking to retrieve unobtainable stickers.[36] Graphics and worldbuilding were praised,[28] and was compared to the likes of Super Mario 3D Land.[33] The game was noted as being just as unique as previous games in the franchise,[31] with Electronic Gaming Monthly stating how the "3D-effect only enhances the visuals further".[30] The characters were also praised for their charm and "offbeat" naturalism,[10][36] however they were also criticized for lack of variety in visual design as well as the abundance of Toads instead of the diverse fictional races the series had been known for.[41]

Many critics were negative towards the removal of multiple role-playing game (RPG) elements,[10][32] of which a lack of character progression, such as experience points (XP).[32][8] GamesRadar+ liked the change from traditional RPG content, but believed there was "not enough of an RPG for genre buffs".[32] Additionally, critics were disappointed in the loss of a proper story,[33] but the comedic writing was praised;[36][5] Paste reviewer Casey Malone believed the game "stands out as genuinely funny compared to most other games".[42]

Other complaints came from a lack of difficulty in standard combat.[10][31] Critics found regular encountered battles to have little to no difficulty at all, with Eurogamer reviewer Rich Stanton believing that they "don't think I was killed by a normal enemy once".[31] On the contrary, boss battles were considered overly difficult, being called a "nightmare",[31] "ridiculous",[10] and "inevitable".[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: ペーパーマリオスーパーシール, Hepburn: Pēpā Mario Sūpā Shīru, known in Japan as Paper Mario: Super Seal

References

  1. ^ Fletcher, Leon. "Paper Mario: Sticker Star Dated For Europe". Palm Gamer. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  2. ^ "Paper Mario: Sticker Star, White 3DS XL and other 3DS goodies dated". vooks.net. October 22, 2012. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  3. ^ "News: Paper Mario: Sticker Star New E3 2012 Screens". GamersHell.com. Archived from the original on December 30, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  4. ^ "Paper Mario: Sticker Star – First Look Preview". Everybody Plays. Archived from the original on April 11, 2014. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
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  6. ^ Schille, Jeff (June 8, 2012). "3DS Trailers: 'New Super Mario Bros. 2,' 'Luigi's Mansion' & 'Paper Mario'". Game Rant. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  7. ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (June 7, 2012). "E3 2012: First Paper Mario 3DS Details Revealed". IGN. Archived from the original on July 21, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Schreier, Jason (November 6, 2012). "Paper Mario: Sticker Star: The Kotaku Review". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c Petit, Carolyn (November 9, 2012). "Sticker Star Reviews - GameSpot.com". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
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  11. Screw Attack. Archived from the original on June 10, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
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  14. ^ Hilliard, Kyle. "Nintendo Shows Mario's Sticky Gameplay – Paper Mario Sticker Star – 3DS". Game Informer. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
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  41. ^ "Paper Mario Sticker Star review". Nintendo Life. November 6, 2012. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012. The supporting cast is mostly made up of Toads, with virtually no sign of anyone more interesting, which is disappointing for a series that has otherwise proven itself quite fresh.
  42. ^ Malone, Casey (November 12, 2012). "Paper Mario: Sticker Star Review (3DS)". Paste. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2020.

External links

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