Someone once said it better than I can ‘this isn’t a Mario game, it’s a love story with Mario characters.’ Or, something along those lines.

I like the running gag in the Mario RPGs that any pair of twins in the Mario universe also wear red and green. Superstar Saga specifically does this a bunch. I guess it explains how anybody besides Mario and Luigi are expected to interract with the Red and Green colored blocks and switches.

its a very good game. and i love all the bad moments. yes, make me type "please" 5 times. thats funny as hell

This was my first paper mario lmao. Without knowing anything about the old games, this game was so confusing and fun for me

my thrilled ass ready to watch the ten billionth "SPM's story is good but the gameplay is shit" video: (I LOVE SPM!!!!!!!!)

You looked at the capture cards and the recipes as if they were just gameplay elements. As a child, it was really fun just to collect them.

6:40 the paper mario games reflect how stories can be told. and using a computer to do so is one of those options

One of my favorite moment in this game, that is unfortunately not shown in this video, is when Mario briefly looks back to Luigi when he's going, after Luigi tells him to go to deal with Dimentio, something he didn't do for Peach or Bowser. From this single frame, you can tell that Mario deeply cares for his brother, and is afraid something might happen, before going on his way.

Amazing video, by the way ! It's true that gameplay wise, Super Paper Mario isn't the most creative or entertaining, but BY GOD THE STORY. It is the best I've played in a video game to this game -though I might also be biased because I played this game when I was 6-. I think you really put into words some of the issues that can be found in SPM, but it doesn't really take anything from its usual charm.

I wouldn't agree that the game is about a love story like you said, rather the game is a story about love itself and all the many forms it can take, I'd argue even the early chapters cover this theming, just much less explicitly.

It's so important to me to mention that every other character in their respective boss battle in Count Bleck's Castle has the Pixl's and Tippi while they fight but Luigi doesn't

I watch literally every SPM video essay/retrospective that I can find lol and was just thinking the other day how it'd been a while since there was a new one. Can't wait to watch this!

Also there is a quick menu in the game. You just hit 1 + 2. This opens up a menu that only has the characters, pixls, and I think items. I don't remember how fast it is, but it's what speedruns use, so it is probably faster than just hitting +. Pretty certain some character says you can do this in game.

This game is really good. but if you wanna see it's full potential, there's been a renaissance of Super Paper Mario fan projects that really flesh out the story more, stuff like characters and their personalities. I think other than playing the game, fan work is the best way to experience the games story

Funfact about Bonechill:

If you scan him with Tippi, you'll learn through her that he is related to Grambi and other Nimbis, and considering that most of these Skeleton Monsters were fallen Nimbis, it's very likely that Bonechill is basically the Paper Mario Equivalent of Satan and Grambi is like Michael or Gabriel or some other High Rank Angel with a tiny pinch of God

And Luigi simply slaying Bonechill with ease is probably more than enough proof that he is the Anti-Christ of the Franchise.

Thudley's recruitment dialogue changes to fit which of the party members gets to him, so it's not because of Bowser that he joins. He finds a way to say each member, minus Luigi as he isn't available, is heavy in different way. I believe Mario is about his mustache.

One thing that makes me really sad about how Flipside turned out is the fact that I absolutely love its charm. I'm a big aesthetics guy, and fancy fences enclosing a giant platform to gaze upon the void with with an entire outside area that people don't really tend to go but has a ton of mysterious ruins with exceedingly intricate design? You'd better BELIEVE I'm eating that up for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and every snack in between!

I dare say that the visual aesthetic and design of flipside is better than any other Paper Mario hubworld there is, even TTYD,

... In potential. In execution, I absolutely agree, they screwed it up. I will be mad every single day of my life that they didn't capitalize on the goldmine they had. Especially because the aura of mysticism and ancient history lying just outside the town could have lent itself SO WELL to the overall lore!

12:09 “But maybe the developers thought that people might just play this whole game in this awkward 3D mode” You pretty much foreshadowed one of the things to obtain as a reward. I remember getting it. It’s called the endless 3D perspective (infinite 3D time). In order to unlock this ability, you need to obtain the Mario Card, which is awarded after beating the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials.

You need to beat the final boss, who is Super Dimentio. Go to Flopside and find the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials. You need to clear the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials twice to receive the Mario Card. This card eliminates the 3D-meter limit, allowing you to stay in 3D indefinitely without taking damage.

I kid you not I just started replaying this game for the first time probably in a decade and I forgot how good the story was and it still holds up incredibly well

When it comes to the flower king you actually find out in the post gme that he's actually still alive.

While Flipside isn't the best hubworld out there I do wish you had given it some attention because there are some cute and fuuny storylines you can have with some of the NPCs there

I remember vividly how awesome it was to see Mario just going to his version of Hell and Heaven, while an apocalyptic event was unfolding in the background. It's something so absurd to have in a Mario game but at the same time so cool, you just stroll into the underworld and see Charon, the River Styx, Cerberus, and then you have to climb up into Heaven. Bonechill is also a fallen angel with six wings and an ice theme, making him a clear parallel to Lucifer, and Mario just beats him easily. Your average Bowser fight is harder than the fight against Satan, and that's pretty funny to think about.