I bought Super Paper Mario for my much loved Wii about two weeks ago and I’ve fast become addicted to it. A short while ago, I posted how I had rediscovered the original Super Mario Bros. using the Wii’s virtual console. To pair it against the latest installment in the Mario franchise, it’s great to see how they’ve kept many elements that made the first game so much fun while expanding on it without losing focus and quality. I especially like how you turn the Wii remote sideways (making it a super hi-tech version of the original NES controller) in order to play the game.

The main gimmick is the ability to bounce at any point in the game between 2D and 3D. An area may seem a dead-end in 2D, but flipping over to 3D may uncover secret passages, goodies coins or further progress in the game. Add that with tons of sweet power-ups (my favorite is a gold star that makes you as large as the screen, letting you decimate any and everything in your path), the ability to play several different characters in the Mario universe and a very smart, humorous and tongue-in cheek dialogue that while safe for any kid, was clearly written for the adult who’s played video games since the ’80’s.

Super Paper Mario is a great game. It’s surreal, fun, inventive, challenging, nostalgic and introduces new concepts in gameplay. It’s totally worth the bucks.

My only complaint is that the main villain of the game, Count Blech, is one of the crappiest looking bad-guys ever. He looks like a first-draft that somehow slipped past the quality-control radar. Still, that’s a small complaint for an otherwise excellent game.

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