A must have for all Wii owners

Super Paper Mario is a unique platform and roleplaying mix, which is the first Mario game for the Wii. It combines classic platforming elements from the original Mario series, plus roleplaying aspects from the Paper Mario series.

You play as Mario, and you must stop Count Bleck from destroying Flipside and other worlds. To do this, you must collect 8 pure hearts from 8 different worlds. Along the way, you will get three partners that have unique abilities to help you out. Besides the partners, there is helpers called Pixls. These Pixls can do a variety of things: serve as a hammer, bomb, platform and much more.

The gameplay of the game is pretty simple. You jump, use items and Pixls to fight enemies in a 2-D landscape. At anytime, you can flip into a 3-D world to find new secrets and get past obstacles in the 2-D world. As in the original Mario series: there is bricks to break, coins to collect from blocks, pipes and more. Overall, gameplay is fun and simple. Enemies range from classic Mario enemies such as a goomba and a koopa, plus many new enemies as well. Sometimes enemies give you problems, so you have to find another way to beat them. No problem, as you have a Pixl to help you find it's weaknesses. Between worlds, you can go to town. In the town, there is a shop, an inn to heal and various side-quests to do.

Unlike other roleplaying games, there is no main defense system in this. You must use items to improve defense. To gain a level: you need to score a certain number of points, as your points doubles as an experience system. When you level up, your attack will go up or your health points will go up. The badge system is gone from this Paper game, and replaced by cards. When you collect a card of a certain enemy, you are stronger against it. This feature was a nice change, and I liked it little better than just collecting the badges. Cooking returns from the previous Paper Mario game: you can cook 1 or 2 items and get a new item. Also the stylish move returns as well, which require you to shake the remote.

The graphics look like this could've been a GameCube game, but that's not a problem. The graphics fit the game perfectly, as Mario games aren't known for their graphics usually. As for sound: it's good as well. There is very little voice acting, as this is meant to be a book. The sound of the game comes through when you battle enemies, and each has a unique sound to it.

The controls are simple and easy to learn. You use only the remote for this game. You hold it sideways (as if it were an old Nintendo controller). The directional pad moves you, while the 1 and 2 buttons are used for jumping and menus. A few things in the game, such as certain items require remote moving but it's usually simple to do.

In Super Paper Mario, there is great replay value. Besides the story mode, which takes anywhere between 15 to 20 hours, there is lots of optional things to do. There is over 200 cards to collect. There is lots of cooking recipes to make as well, plus mini-games and other surprises that add good replay to the game.