Name: Paper Mario
Platform: Nintendo 64, Wii (Virtual Console)

NOTE: For those who have never played this game it may contain spoilers, if you don't wanna read them I suggest you just skip to the final verdict down the bottom of the post!

Introduction:
Mario receives a letter from Princess Peach asking him and Luigi to join her and the Mushroom Kingdom at her Castle for a party. As you can imagine, Bowser has planned on crashing the party with a new surprise for Mario! Bowser reveals that he has stolen the Star Rod, a magical wand from the Star Haven that grants wishes which is protected by 7 Star Spirits, all of which Bowser has imprisoned! With this wand, Bowser quickly wishes for immortality and receives it, making it impossible for poor Mario to fight off the Koopa King. Mario is then quickly cast aside and Bowser begins taking over the Castle. It is now.... that Mario's thinnest and one of his greatest adventures begin now.... again.

Story
You will play as Mario as per usual, but this time you won't be collecting Power Stars or Shine Sprites! You will be battling you're way through many worlds to track down the 7 Star Spirits of Star Haven that were imprisioned when Bowser stole the Star Rod. Along you're way, Mario will come across many new friends that will help him on his adventure, such as a hard headed Goomba, a bomb-happy Bob-Omb and even a Paratroopa. But ofcourse, you will also come across many new enemies, the main one ofcourse being Jr Koopa, a naughty little Koopa Kid whom you meet early in the game. The story is laugh out loud funny and built with plenty of depth, it's obvious Intelligent Systems really paid good attention to this title, especially since it took 3 years to develop.

Gameplay
For those who don't know, Paper Mario is an RPG. Do you know what an RPG is kids? Well, just think Pokemon and you will get the idea, you go around battling people. Mario and a friend who has joined his party will both take the stage when a battle begins. Mario has 4 main Stats, Health, Flower Power, Badge and Star Energy. Health is self explanatory, you lose it all and you Game Over. Flower Power is put simply you're Attack Meter, so long as you have some Flower Power you can do more damaging and more thrilling attacks. By equipping Badges, you can learn more moves; for example instead of doing the standard "wack the enemies with the hammer attack", you can use the "throw the hammer at the enemies attack". Star Energy allows you to use Star Spirits you have saved in battle. Some abilities may heal you, some may damage enemies, of course don't expect to get any "really" good ones until you beat some of the harder temples.

Graphics
Paper Mario believe it or not, looked very nice on the Nintendo 64 and 6 years later, still does so on the Wii. The paper thin characters look very nice and work very well with the games story-book like presence. Special effects such as magic powers and abilites do look very nice aswell.

Sound
The game boasts very entertaining cartoon sound effects that are executed perfectly with the mood on what is happening. Music is the same story, original and fresh tunes that really suit the moment. The game lacks any voice acting however, but really I honestly can't see putting voice acting in this series being a good idea at all!

Replay Value
The main story itself is pretty long with 7 temples and Bowser to defeat, but when you consider there are plenty of side quests, badges and secrets to find through this game it will last you ages, even after the story mode itself is finished.

Overall
This pretty much proves Mario can make a game about pretty much anything and still make it fun and lengthy. If you haven't played this before I say boot up you're Wii, got to Shop Channel, buy some Wii Points and make the purchase because this game is an absolute gen that needs a place in you're VC collection. Might I also add that a sequal to this game was released on the Gamecube a few years ago Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door. If you Wii owners never played that go to a local game outlet that sell cheap GC games and look for it because it only expands beyond this game in terms of..... everything pretty much.

Story: 5/5- Laugh out loud funny and very long. This is a true Mario RPG.
Gameplay: 4/5- This game is always challenging, using you;re abilities wisely is the only way you're gonna beat it.
Graphics: 5/5- The paper-cut design really does suit this game, enviroments are 3D so don't panic!
Sound: 4/5- Catchy music and creative cartoon sound effects.
Replay Value: 5/5- Side Quests, hidden secrets.... oh and the Story mode. Plenty of stuff to keep you going.

Overall: 23/25