Paper Mario - Story

Let us finish off this review of the game by taking a look at the story. The game starts out with a playable cut scene. By playable I mean that you have to go through the motions of the game but are forced into specific actions. This is where you find out that Bowser has the Star Rod which makes him invulnerable. At the end of the battle you get thrown from princess Peach's castle which is on top of Bowsers castle and is floating in space. Somehow you survive the fall. You get discovered by friendly Goomba's and get taken to their "town" where you end up on a quest to find a hammer. Once found, you get Goombario as your first party member. You then need to travel to Star Summit to find out what is going on. This requires crossing a bridge guarded by the first boss, the King Goomba. Crossing the bridge leads you to the main town and from there you can go to Star Summit where the story really starts.

It appears that not only did Bowser steal the Star Rod from the seven star spirits, but he also locked up the seven star spirits in seven different locations. You, obviously, have to rescue the seven star spirits in order to gain the power to counter the star rod so that you can beat Bowser in a fair battle. This leads you to to a variety of areas including (in random order) a Volcanic Jungle Island, a Frozen Wilderness, Space, a Fortress, a Haunted House, a Desert, a Toy Box and Flower Fields.

Between the chapters you get to control Princess Peach as she tries to gather information that she feeds to Mario via Twink (a young star). Gathering this information leads to stealth sequences that can be somewhat annoying if your timing is poor. There is also a cooking sequence that is quite interesting and a quiz show that she gets to compete in. The one combat she is involved in is really just an extended cut scene where you don't really have any options at all but have to go through the motions.

Overall, for 1000 points this game is a must-have game if you enjoy role-playing games.