Hilarity ensues in Mario’s big return to the papercraft world, with every puzzle and with every enemy blocking his path; Mario always finds his way past these obstacles because there is always a sticker to help him out of these “sticky” situations. The popular Paper Mario series is stepping into the world of the handheld in Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the Nintendo 3DS across Europe on December 7th, 2012.
The game starts out on the eve of the annual Sticker fest in the town of Decalburg (seeing a theme here yet?) in the Mushroom Kingdom, where the ever bothersome pest Bowser has caused the explosion of the wish granting Sticker Comet to explode. The results of this massive explosion cases six Royal Stickers to be scattered all across the land and it’s up to our hero, Paper Mario to take off on an action-packed adventure throughout the land to try and bring back all six stickers.
In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, with the help of Kersti, his crown-shaped friend, Mario travels far and wide throughout the World Map and must explore dozens of incredibly unique locations in his quest to recover all of the Comet Pieces and all six of the Royal Stickers. While on his journey, Paper Mario will be helping out a few friends and battle enemies of all sizes, taking or rather peeling stickers to boost his power levels and give him the best advantage wherever he goes.
If it wasn’t obvious, you should know that stickers are the key to a player’s success in this Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Stickers are used for defeating enemies, and solving puzzles. During a battle every attack Mario performs requires the use of a sticker. The stickers themselves become more and more powerful when the A button is pressed with the right timing.
Battle Stickers give players all sorts of abilities that can be used either offensively or defensively such as jumps. Hammer attacks or POW Block hits. When players come across the strange and unusual 3D objects, Mario can turn those into Thing Stickers which can be summoned into battle for a devastating and often hilarious effect. Players can also spend coins to activate the Battle Spinner and attempt to line up three icons correctly for a special bonus as well as the ability to use up to three stickers in a single turn. Using stickers in different combinations or in totally unique ways can make a huge difference when in the heat of battle.
With Kersti’s help, Mario is able to ‘Papertise’ everything around him. He turns the 3D environment into a flat 2D image which, in certain places stickers can be applied for a variety of helpful effects. Mario can also find and apply Scrap Stickers that can permanently change the surrounding environment by filling in a blank void, often giving players access to areas that were previously unreachable.
Since the game is mostly taking place in the 2D world of papercraft, most would assume the whole purpose of the 3DS is misplaced. But truthfully the 2D world mixed with the 3D capabilities of the 3DS gives the world a certain sense of depth that is reminiscent of looking deeply into a diorama. The trick to success is observation, while many stickers are hidden within plain sight just waiting for Mario to come by others are hidden quite cleverly throughout the world. Exploration can lead players to discovering a powerful new object, a hidden doorway or an alternate exit to the next course.
With peppy, upbeat music to go along with the all-star cast of characters from the Mario universe and a great, and witty sense of humor throughout the game, smiles and delight are ensured to each player from the start of the game all the way to the finish with a few surprises around every corner.
Paper Mario: Sticker Star gives players an engaging and fun adventure that will be hard to peel away from. The game launches all across Europe on December 7th, 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, both at retail or as a download from the Nintendo eShop.
