A 2D platfomer, no it's 3D, no hang on, it's 2D...
Right, time to try and explain what this 2D/3D thing is all about.Ok, imagine a standard side-on 2D platform game… got it? Right then, walls are walls, obstacles, enemies, spiky bits and all that stuff are all there to one side or another and if you move you hit them, yeah? Ok, now imagine being able to rotate that entire screen through 90⁰ so you now looking along the level… it’ll all be pretty much invisible as it’s a pixel thick.
Except in Super Paper Mario, some things are truly 3D so they exist in both dimensions… and some things are in 2D but are only visible and usable if you’re in the 3D view… and that makes bugger all sense.
Ok, try this. Imagine a cube. In the 2D view you’re looking at the cube from directly on the side, (ignore perspective for now) so all you see is a square. But when you move around to slightly above and from the side, you can now see everything going on the cube and stuff that looked like it was all along one edge actually appears as being staggered back across the width of the cube. But stuff that was only paper thing and not visible end on is now visible as you’re looking at it face on… and vice versa… I’m making a mess of this aren’t I?
Look, take it from me, it’s really very simple once you see it in action and though the idea is startlingly simple, Nintendo have exploited it to the max to give you one of the best gameplay experiences you’ll have this year.
Now, with past Mario games the controls have become more and more complex as different button pushes and stick combos made Mario do different things. But we’re playing on the Wii now and all we’ve got is the D-pad, the A button and buttons 1 and 2. You hold the WiiMote sideways with the D-pad on the left and then button 2 is jump with button 1 being special powers and the A button flips you between 2D and 3D.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that this simplified control system means you’ve got a simple game because although Super Paper Mario might be less convoluted and complex than say, Super Mario Sunshine, it’s still a thoroughly engaging experience.
Now unusually for Mario games, there’s something of an RPG element in Super Paper Mario. As I said earlier, you’ll have a choice of characters to play with, and you can use any one of them at any time, switching between them on the fly as you play through each level. To be honest, there’s only a few instances when Mario won’t do the job… So Peach is handy for getting across big gaps and Bowser’s flame breath is great for clearing the way of loads of enemies. But neither of these guys can flip between dimensions, so Mario is the way forward.
