Paper Mario Series Analysis: Sticker Star (Too Sticky) - Article
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 20 August 2018 / 3,487 Views
I have long felt that the Paper Mario series is one of the best video games series out there, at least based on its roots, but many - especially those outside of the Nintendo family - probably have no idea why it's talked about quite so much. The idea behind this five-part analysis of every Paper Mario game currently available is to work through each game quickly sifting through the pros and cons of each title for fans and non-fans alike.
If Paper Mario: Color Splash was the earthquake, then Nintendo’s Paper Mario: Sticker Star was the epicenter of the bad direction initiative. While it isn’t as unoriginally bad as Color Splash, it is the single leading reason we had Color Splash in the first place.
The Negatives
With Paper Mario: Sticker Star being the first game to move to a portable platform it naturally suffers in the graphics department, although a handful of changes that were made to the art style somewhat make up for this, albeit with one glaring exception: the toads. This entry marked the start of the toad invasion that would continue on into the sequel and so is the origin of Nintendo's shift away from unique, risky, and entertaining characters for safe, redundant, and boring ones.
In previous entries, when you met a Paper Mario character they tended to stand out from other characters in the game's universe. Indeed, the first three titles all had ridiculously unique-looking beings that you interacted with, all with different goals and perspectives. In Sticker Star everything is as bland as a sandwich with no filling.
The story is also the worst since the original. While the original Paper Mario doesn’t have the most mind-blowing narrative out there, it is at least mostly original, especially when compared to Sticker Star, which is basically a copy-paste of the first game’s story. The crown that Bowser seeks is, more or less, the same thing as the star rod, and the setting is just as derivative.
The lack of partners also is a huge blow; one that is made worse thanks to the introduction of an inferior (albeit unique) combat system involving stickers. People loved interacting with partners in the past games, so their removal made little sense.
As for the stickers, which are literally the entire foundation of the game, while they were unique they were also wildly unpopular with fans of the series. The sticker system is tedious and replaced a far more enjoyable and humorous traditional RPG system. Using the stickers is annoying enough, but having to collect them when you run out is tedious in the extreme. Gone are the days where you can just sleep in a bed for a minute to fully recover and go toe to toe with anyone - in Sticker Star you have to spend 10-30 minutes harvesting stickers (depending on how depleted your reserves are) in order to fight bigger bosses. The grind isn't as bad as the one in Color Splash, but it is a chore nonetheless.
The Positives
While the stickers proved annoying to many traditional RPG players, some found that they loved new combat system. And while I personally found it to be unique but unenjoyable, I eventually became used to it and didn’t have to grind as much for stickers as I did in Color Splash.
Overall the title is lot more colorful and brighter than past entries in the series, and the fact that you're playing on a 3DS with a 2D papery image makes it quite the novelty. The trailers you may have seen for the game on YouTube and the screenshots included in this article truly don't do this entry justice - it was superbly designed for the platform's small handheld screen.
At first I was unconvinced by the removal of the open world feel of past entries (replace instead by ordinary levels), but after a while I came to change my mind. While I do still prefer the original formula, it soon became clear that the system employed in this entry has its uses. This is not least because having an overview map with quick travel certainly speeds up transitions between areas (in the original two games you had to do a lot of back and forth traveling, possibly bumping into enemies that provided little experience gain and so were a waste of time to fight). If Sticker Star had been open world, with each level having to be navigated through in order to get anywhere, then traversal would've been a huge pain.
Conclusion
Paper Mario: Sticker Star is certainly not a bad game, but it most definitely is a sub-par Paper Mario entry. Despite having one of the most unique and interesting combat systems I've encountered in any game, the sticker system had one clear flaw: it just wasn't enjoyable (in stark contrast with the combat systems found in previous entries) and was poorly received by most fans. As a result Sticker Star, while not quite the worst Paper Mario game in my opinion, is undoubtedly near the bottom of the pack.
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