Most of our readers probably played the game Super Mario Bros., released in the distant 1983 for the 8-bit Famicom prefix (in our country known under the guise of the Taiwan clone Dendy) at least once in a lifetime. This game turned the idea of people about what actually should be platformers, and also got into the "Guinness Book of Records" as the best-selling game in history. Since then, a lot of video games of different genres about the plumber Mario have appeared, but hardly many of you know about the existence of a series of RPG with this character in the title role.
The first role-playing game of the series, called Super Mario RPG, was released in 1996 by the studio Square (now Square Enix) for the Nintendo 64 platform. It was Square that was the industry leader in the development of games of the genre JRPG, that's why it was not surprising a game of characteristic elements, such as a carefully worked out plot and step-by-step battles, borrowed from another popular series of the studio - Final Fantasy. The game was developed under the careful supervision of "father Mario" game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, so her style strictly corresponded to the original source. For the first time, the world of plumber Mario appeared before the players in an isometric projection using pre-rendered 3D graphics.
Such an unusual game fell into the audience of Nintendo fans, so the release of its logical continuation was only a matter of time. It happened in 2000, when the game Paper Mario appeared. Its distinctive feature was an unusual visual stylistics: the entire gaming world was created entirely from paper and cardboard, the characters were completely flat in three-dimensional space, and all this was skillfully used by game designers in the design of scenery and game mechanics. To date, there have already been four full-fledged games in this "paper" role-playing series.
In 2003, the following branch of the role game branch of the Mario series appeared. This time, the main characters in the game were two, and the brave plumber joined his cowardly brother in a green cap - Luigi. The new series is called - Mario & Luigi. At once it is necessary to say a few words about the developer who created this game. AlphaDream is a small Japanese studio, founded in Tokyo in 2000. From the first day of its existence, the studio worked exclusively with Nintendo's pocket gaming platforms: first with Game Boy Color, then with Game Boy Advance, and then with Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. By the way, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. for the console Nintendo 3DS, which I'm going to tell you today, is the fifth game in the series, over which experts worked AlphaDream.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. Is a so-called "crossover", that is, a game in which two completely different worlds intersect: a flat paper from the Paper Mario series and a voluminous one from Mario & Luigi. It all starts with the fact that the awkward Luigi, trying to catch a brazen mouse in the royal library, accidentally drops a magic book from the shelf, from which hundreds of paper characters of the universe of the Paper Mario fall into his world. Among them are not only positive characters like the paper princess Peach and the paper Mario, but also traditional for a series of villains, such as the paper Bowser and his army of vicious carnivorous fungi Gumb.
It is very interesting to observe how, under these incredible circumstances, there are inhabitants of two different worlds, for example, the main villains. They begin mutating each other in an attempt to get rid of the impostor, shouting similar insults, because they think alike for all their external differences. In Nintendo games, even such scenes look kind, without causing any negative emotions in the player, only forcing him to smile. In the game you will encounter exceptionally wonderful and very kind humor. For example, when one voluminous character meets his paper double for the first time, he declares: "You are as thin as my life!". Well, how can I not be touched?
Mario and Luigi have nothing to do but to join forces with the paper Mario to defeat the forces of evil and conclude Bowser with his army back into the magical folio. The player will have to manage three characters at the same time, but the mechanics of the game only benefit from this, in my opinion. As it was in the game The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, about which I told you quite recently, you will combine different skills of the main characters to overcome obstacles in their path, solve puzzles and cope with the numerous bowsers of Bowser.
When traveling through a fairy kingdom, do not forget that each of your three characters has its own button on the Nintendo 3DS console. Mario is the button "A", Luigi is "B", and the paper Mario is "Y". By pressing these buttons, you can jump each of the main characters, and Mario, among other things, still can use various objects like a hammer. If you sneak up to the enemy from behind and hit him with a hammer, then a fight begins, at the very beginning of which the enemy will suffer damage from this blow. This will give you a tangible advantage. If you, for example, attack the enemy with a running start - in combat this will also affect the infliction of a small damage to the enemies.
The combat system will be familiar to those who have already played in the previous games of the series. Here everything works in a step-by-step mode. The player goes in turn for each of their characters, and then each of the opponents goes. The sequence of moves depends on the level of speed of the heroes and their opponents, as in any other RPG. Mario and Luigi can attack enemies by jumping on their heads or hitting a weapon like a hammer. Also, you can apply unique joint attacks "doublets", in which both brothers-plumber are involved. In time, pressing the right buttons, you can do impressive damage to the enemy. In general, in this game very much depends on your reaction and the sense of rhythm, since most of the attacks are amplified or weakened depending on whether you pressed the necessary button in time.
There are also "triplets" in the game, in which the paper Mario also takes part. But do not be lazy before the first use of these powerful attacks must look into the game prompt, where you can rehearse their performance in advance, so as not to blunder in real combat. Also, remember that each doublet and triplet requires you to spend the so-called "brothers' points" (OB), which are analogous to magic power in the game. If these points are exhausted, then only traditional, less powerful attacks will be available to you. To make up for OB scale, use special items from inventory or find a multi-colored block, knocking which your heroes will restore not only the OB stock, but also their health.
Unique character skills bring a lot of unusual elements to the game mechanics. For example, the paper Mario is able to squeeze into narrow passages and look for treasures where ordinary Mario and Luigi can not reach. Also, the paper Mario is able to turn into a variety of subjects such as a paper airplane, which is very convenient to run away from the infuriated bosses, or into a paper tube through which the plumbers can move across the abyss. The developers gave vent to their imagination, so from all these "design solutions" you definitely will not be bored.
Even in the game there is a system of "Battle cards", using which during the battles the player can strengthen the key parameters of his characters and weaken the enemies. You can collect your own deck of ten such cards, including those from unique ones created using the Amiibo collection figures. However, I could not test this function, because I recklessly installed the digital copy of the game that was provided to me on the console of Nintendo 3DS, and I did not have an external NFC-reader near my hand, although several Amiibo figures are on my shelf. It is quite inconvenient for those who do not have a New Nintendo 3DS console with a built-in reader. But, of course, the game is wonderful and without all these additional functions.
The most important advantage of paper Mario is his ability to copy himself during the battle. He, as if on a copying machine, creates several paper copies of his body, then all these copies are stacked in a thick pack, and during an attack of the enemy, each copy inflicts that additional damage. It is critically important to dodge enemy attacks, otherwise your copies will take damage on themselves and die. To dodge the attacking enemy, you need to press the button in time to match the character on which the villain has aimed. You can and not dodge, but simply put the block on the button "X", but in this case, damage, even a small one, you can not avoid.
In the game, there are other attributes of the role-playing game, in addition to the presence of turn-based combat. Each character is endowed with a number of parameters that increase with each new level. Among the characteristics of the "health level", the "brother points" I have already mentioned, "strength", "protection", "speed" and, of course, the "level of fatigue" of the characters. The bushiness and density of the mustaches of Mario and Luigi directly affect the number of their successful attacks, so that it can be considered a kind of analog of the parameter "luck". In the game there are traditional shops where you can buy or sell items, clothes and weapons. For trade, you will need gold coins, and with particularly rare goods sellers are willing to part with only "points of skill tests." These scores can be earned by performing various tests during fights with opponents. For example, to perform this or that joint attack without a single mistake or to dodge the enemy attack 100 times.
I was very pleased with the scenes in which you are entrusted with the management of a giant papercraft-figure. Managing it, you will fight with the same huge papercraft-bosses. The bosses in the game are simply wonderful, and each of them needs an individual approach. The game is as user-friendly as possible and is equipped with a very convenient encyclopedia, in which you will find answers to any of your questions, as well as find out what you need to do to further develop the story. We can not fail to note the quality translation of the game into Russian, which can not boast of all the major projects of Nintendo. And it is especially pleasant that in Russia the game was released on December 4, while in the USA it will appear only on January 22, 2016. Similar attention of the Japanese company to the European countries simply can not please me.
Pros:
- Favorite characters of Nintendo in an unusual genre.
- Crossover of two completely different game universes.
- Friendly and understandable even child role-playing system.
- Wonderful dialogue of characters and witty humor.
- The mechanics of the game are based on the joint actions of the characters.
- The game is very qualitatively translated into Russian.
- Battles of giant papercraft-figures.
- Very convenient system of training.
Minuses:
- If you do not like JRPG, the game can get you bored quickly.
- Not the most convenient use of Amiibo figurines.
- The rhythm of the game is very uneven.
Despite the fact that the game is unlikely to surprise with something new to those already familiar with the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario series, it combines the best of both franchises. Yes, the rhythm of Paper Jam Bros. places a few sags. Yes, if you are annoyed by frequent turn-based battles with repetitive actions, then the game is unlikely to be able to keep your attention for long. But charming characters, excellent humor, clear game mechanics, tied at the speed of reaction of the player, as well as attractive bright graphics do their job, so it's almost impossible to tear yourself away from the game with rare moments. I put her 8 points out of 10 .
The article is based on materials .
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