Paper Mario: Color Splash: Difference between revisions

|media={{media|wiiu=1|wiiudl=1}}

The game follows [[Mario]]'s adventure across [[Prism Island]] where, after he receives a color-drained [[Toad (species)|Toad]] in the mail, he heads to [[Port Prisma]] to find out what is going on. Eventually, he meets up with [[Huey]], who teams up with Mario to collect the six [[Big Paint Star]]s. After saving the first Big Paint Star, [[Princess Peach]] gets kidnapped by a [[Black Bowser|possessed Bowser]], and is taken to [[Black Bowser's Castle|his castle]] high in the sky. While kidnapped, she sends Mario [[Holo-Peach]]es along his journey to inform him about Bowser's plans. After saving each Big Paint Star, a memory is shown, with each one detailing an event leading up to Bowser being possessed.

{{rewrite-expand|elaborate more on the events of the story|section=yes}}

The events that caused Port Prisma to be damaged and the black paint's creation are explained through the Big Paint Stars' memories told throughout the game. One day, a group of Toads were playing at the [[Prisma Fountain]], where they were throwing buckets of paint at each other. [[Bowser]] observed the Toads playing from above, and jumped down into the fountain because he wanted to have a rainbow shell. However, while splashing in the Prisma Fountain, Bowser mixed the colors around, creating black paint which possessed him. Shortly after this, a swarm of Slurp Guys attack Port Prisma, with hundreds falling from airships to slurp the paint out of it. During this invasion, a specific Toad is drained of its colors, folded into an envelope, and sent to [[Princess Peach]] to lure her to [[Prism Island]]. When the Slurp Guys are done draining the area of its color, they leave on the airships.

One stormy night, [[Princess Peach]] and [[Toad]] meet [[Mario]] at [[Mario Bros.' House|his house]] to deliver a strange [[letter]]: [[Toadmaster General|a Toad drained of his colors]]. Mario, who is initially shocked by the revelation, then realizes that the stamp on the letter points to [[Prism Island]], where the three then travel to. Upon arriving, they find [[Port Prisma]] deserted and full of [[Colorless spot|spots drained of color]]. After some exploration of Port Prisma, They activate the fountain, which releases a 3D paint can. After Mario tries hammering the paint can, it wakes up and is revealed to be [[Huey]], who is initially annoyed by Mario hitting him in his sleep. Huey calms down shortly after, but he, Mario, and Princess Peach are then startled by the sound of Toad screaming. The three head to the yellow district of [[Port Prisma]], and find Toad being drained by a [[Slurp Guy]]. Toad, just before being fully drained, gives Mario a set of [[Battle Card (Paper Mario: Color Splash)|Battle Card]]s that they found. Mario and Huey then proceed to fight the Slurp Guy, but then realize that they do not have any paint. Realizing this, Huey asks Mario to wring him in order to gain paint to battle the [[Shy Guy]]s. This results in Huey turning into paper. Mario later uses this paint throughout the entire game to repaint the colorless spots across Prism Island, including the local Toads. After defeating the Slurp Guy and repainting Toad, the group head back to the central district of Port Prisma, where Huey discovers that the [[Big Paint Star]]s at [[Prisma Fountain]] are gone. Huey, initially sad, then sees a Big Paint Star at the top of Port Prisma. After climbing up there, and unwinding the roll blocking the Paint Star, it is revealed that the Paint Star was actually a [[Mini Paint Star]], not a Big Paint Star. Mario and Huey then set off to find the actual Big Paint Stars.

After saving Port Prisma, Mario and Huey set out to find the red Big Paint Star. First, they pass through [[Ruddy Road]] and [[Cherry Lake]], learning the [[Cutout]] ability and collecting 3D real-world objects called Things. They find out that Bowser has stolen the paint from [[the Crimson Tower]], where {{Morton}} is keeping a Big Paint Star captive. To open the gate, they must find the three [[Chosen Toads]]: [[Justice Toad]] at Cherry Lake, [[Surfing Kinopio]] at [[Bloo Bay Beach]], and the [[Mountain Sage]] at [[Daffodil Peak]]. Additionally, Mario learns about the [[Unfurl Block|Unfurl]] ability and assembles the green and purple [[Rescue Squad]]s at [[Indigo Underground]] and Ruddy Road to help him reach more Mini Paint Stars. When all the Chosen Toads have been found, Mario defeats Morton at the Crimson Tower, painting in a large gate at [[Sunglow Ridge]]. When they return to Port Prisma, they discover that Peach has just been kidnapped by Bowser, and decide that the only way to track them down is by collecting all the Big Paint Stars and they set off.

At Sunglow Ridge, Mario witnesses a black missile cover an area with [[black paint]], which Huey cleans up while Mario's eyes are closed. Afterward, he searches for [[Prof. Kinopio]] at [[Château Chanterelle]], and finds him at [[Mondo Woods]]. The professor gives Mario an [[Excavation Site Permit]], which he uses to enter [[Marmalade Valley]]. Here, Mario finds the professor's pet [[Chain Chomp]], [[Princess (Paper Mario: Color Splash)|Princess]], and brings her back to Château Chanterelle. The professor is happy and gives him the [[Sharp Spike]] as thanks. The spike unlocks the door to [[Kiwano Temple]], which Mario must pass through to reach [[the Golden Coliseum]], where {{Iggy}} is holding the yellow Big Paint Star. Mario defeats Iggy in a stadium battle and the Big Paint Star repaints an oversized coin in [[Mondo Woods]].

Next, Mario investigates the mystery of ghosts haunting the [[Dark Bloo Inn]], and explores [[Plum Park|the hotel's garden]] to find their Teapot to appease them. When he finds their teapot and wrings it out, he realizes that [[Petea Piranha]] was inside it and now has to fight them. After this is done, he appeases the Toads and goes to [[Violet Passage]], where he helps out the yellow Rescue Squad while on a pirate ship. The Rescue Squad goes to the shrunken [[Sacred Forest]] to unclog a pipe. Here, Mario pieces together a Mini Paint Star and gains access to [[Cobalt Base]], where he participates in ''[[Snifit or Whiffit]]''. After this, Mario infiltrates [[Fort Cobalt]] to defeat {{Ludwig}} in his [[Super Ludship]] and [[Super Ludsub]]. The recovered blue Big Paint Star repaints the ocean at Violet Passage.

With the ocean restored, Mario has to join a ship crew and venture to [[Fortune Island]] to find the purple Big Paint Star. Using clues left behind by a [[legendary captain]], they pass through the [[Lost Sea]] and solve all its challenges. They stop at [[Vortex Island]] to calm down a whirlpool, then help out a [[lighthouse keeper]] on [[Lighthouse Island]] to light the way to Fortune Island. Mario makes use of the [[parallel world]] on all three islands to find the treasure but is confronted by {{Wendy}} on Fortune Island before he can collect it. Defeating Wendy and collecting the Big Paint Star repaints a sinkhole at [[Mustard Café]], which the café's owner falls into.

After rescuing the café owner from the hole, including escaping a Snifit jail, Mario hears of the Sunset Express train stuck at Kiwano Temple. The blue Rescue Squad help fix the broken tracks, only for the train to be damaged by a [[Thwomp]]. The Toads push the train to [[Toad Trainworks]], where Mario repairs it. Next, the train goes to [[Tangerino Grill]], where Mario cooks [[Mamma Mia Pizza|pizza]] for the Toads, and serves [[steak]] to a VIP customer who is later revealed to be {{Larry}}. Larry hijacks the Sunset Express, but Mario defeats him with the help of the Toad train conductor. The train stops at [[Starlight Cape]], where Huey makes a wish for the orange Big Paint Star; once it is granted, the Big Paint Star restores an unpainted [[Draggadon]] at Marmalade Valley.

After taming him, Mario guides Draggadon through [[Redpepper Volcano]] and platforms his way through [[Redpepper Crater]] to its hot spring. After returning to Tangerino Grill to get the Magnifying Glass Thing, he battles Kamek in the Sacred Forest. This opens a path to the [[Green Energy Plant]], where Mario ventures into a ''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]''-like world to find a Mini Paint Star. He assembles the last members of the red Rescue Squad at [[Mossrock Theater]], and visits [[the Emerald Circus]], at which he meets {{Lemmy}}. Mario defeats Lemmy atop the circus tent and saves the green Big Paint Star, which then flies somewhere unknown and paints [[Luigi]]'s kart.

[[File:PMCS Black Bowser's Castle Bowser phase 2.png|270px|thumb|left|Bowser under the influence of the black paint]]

Upon rescuing all six Big Paint Stars, they create a [[Rainbow Road#Paper Mario: Color Splash|path]] to [[Black Bowser's Castle]], which Mario and Huey head off to via a [[kart]] ride from Luigi. Inside they discover a factory producing [[Banzai Bill]]s loaded with black paint, similar to the one dropped on Sunglow Ridge. After destroying the factory, they escape the flood of black paint and find Bowser with Princess Peach drained of her colors. As Mario battles Bowser, Huey has himself turned back into his 3D-self to absorb the black paint off and defeat Bowser, who has no memories of the incident. Black Bowser's Castle proceeds to collapse as Mario restores Peach's colors. Mario, Peach, and Luigi return to Port Prisma while Huey stays behind to contain the black paint and release it where it cannot do any more harm, to the skies. Later, while celebrating at Port Prisma, Peach comforts Mario when he laments Huey's disappearance. When all [[Super Flag]]s are achieved, Huey can be seen falling back into the Prisma Fountain in the end screen.<ref>Crunchii. (September 30 2016) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r-6wiSxPvk <nowiki>[Spoilers]</nowiki> 100% Ending - Paper Mario: Color Splash]. ''YouTube''. Retrieved October 30, 2016.</ref>

''Paper Mario: Color Splash'' is an action-adventure RPG that elaborates on the mechanics of ''[[Paper Mario: Sticker Star]]''. Each level requires Mario to collect a [[Mini Paint Star]] or a [[Big Paint Star]] to progress. Some levels contain multiple Mini Paint Stars, though Mario can only collect one at a time. When Mario collects a Mini Paint Star, it opens up the world map and flies to an unpainted area. It then colors in the area, which unlocks a course to explore. Big Paint Stars are only found in the Boss Battles against the Koopalings (excluding {{Roy}}); when collected, they repaint a major area needed to progress in the game.  

The Paint Hammer is the main new mechanic in ''Paper Mario: Color Splash'', and can be used on the overworld to repaint colorless spots, characters, and items. It requires paint to use, which is divided up into blue, yellow, and red paint on the top left of the screen. Paint can be found by hitting overworld objects, defeating enemies, repainting colorless spots, or by sitting in the [[Prisma Fountain]]. Each time the player uses their hammer on the overworld (including when not repainting colorless spots), they will lose a bit of paint, and will be unable to repaint any more spots once they run out of paint. At the start of the game, Mario can only hold 100 units of paint, but this capacity can be increased by collecting [[Hammer Scrap]]s to fill the player's EXP bar. Hammer Scraps exist in four different varieties and are worth either 1 point, 5 points, 10 points, or 20 points, depending on how shiny they are; when enough are collected to fill the player's EXP bar completely, the player will be able to carry more paint at once. However, each upgrade increases the player's capacity by a smaller amount than the last time, and the upgrades will stop once the player's paint storage capacity reaches 600 units. Hammer Scraps are only found by defeating enemies in combat.

On the overworld, the player can use a move similar to [[Paperize|paperization]] known as the [[Cutout]] Technique by pressing {{button|wiiu|Y}}. This technique only works at certain locations; if the player tries using it at a place that does not have any Cutout spots, the screen will flash for a brief moment and nothing will happen. If the player performs the Cutout technique with a Cutout area nearby, but not in the right spot, the screen will flash again but the music will intensify and an outline will appear on the screen. If the Cutout technique is used in the right spot, Mario will ride on top of Huey and a pair of scissors will appear on the screen. The player will then need to move {{button|wiiu|stick}} in the direction the scissors are facing on a dotted line. When the line is fully cut, the player will either need to walk to a green flag, place a card in the slot, or do nothing, depending on the specific area. The Cutout technique is sometimes needed to progress in the game, specifically at times when a Thing Card needs to be placed, and also at the [[Green Energy Plant]] to enter the level.

Enemies can be found on the overworld, and will pursue Mario if he is too close to one at any given time. While chasing Mario, the enemies may trip or stop searching, giving the player more time to run away if they do not wish to fight. A battle is initiated when Mario comes into direct physical contact with an enemy. If Mario hits an enemy on the overworld with his hammer or jumps on them, Mario will initiate combat with an additional attack to the enemy; the transition screen will have stars and display the word "Nice!" when this happens. Conversely, if the enemy attacks Mario on the overworld, combat will initiate with the enemy attacking Mario first; the transition screen will turn red when this happens. During combat, each enemy's HP is represented by the amount of paint left on their body, as opposed to a number on the screen; Mario's HP is still represented by a number. When Mario's HP drops below a certain number, the music will become quieter and the screen will pulsate red, with Mario appearing to be tired. When Mario loses all his HP, he falls onto the floor, and several [[Slurp Guy]]s drain him of his paint.

At the start of the game, Mario can only play one card per turn. During the course of the game, there are three instances where the player earns [[Card Max Up]]s, which increase the number of cards that can be used in battle by one. They can be obtained by helping a [[Soggy Guy]] in [[Cherry Lake]], by using the [[Teapot (Paper Mario: Color Splash)|Teapot]] in [[Dark Bloo Inn]], and by beating Kamek in [[Sacred Forest]]. Similarly, the maximum amount of Mario's HP is increased by collecting [[MAX UP Heart|HP-Up Heart]]s that are obtained when the player saves a Big Paint Star. Each HP-Up Heart increases the maximum amount of HP by 25 and increases the power of the [[First Strike]] as well.

|[[File:PMCS Paint Meters.png|40px|Paint]]

|The main protagonist of the game. He first arrives in [[Port Prisma]] where he meets with [[Huey]] and begins collecting the [[Mini Paint Star]]s found throughout the game. After beating [[Black Bowser]], Mario heads back to Port Prisma where he celebrates with the others and laments on Huey's disappearance.

|Mario's main companion in this game, Huey is a paint can with the ability to absorb Black Paint. Huey allows Mario to paint uncolored areas by using paint from his hammer. He also introduces the Cutout technique and talks to Mario when the player presses {{button|wiiu|padup}}. At the end of the game, he wrings Bowser's Castle into a card and flies off far away to discard the black paint.

|After Mario saves the big Red Paint Star, she is kidnapped by Bowser in his possessed state. During Mario's remaining adventure, she helps out by leaving [[Holo-Peach]]es with information about Bowser's plans in them. Just before she sends the last one, she is captured and drained by Bowser.

|After Mario rescues the green Big Paint Star, Luigi drives to Port Prisma to give Mario a ride up the newly made Rainbow Road. His kart is the object painted by said green Big Paint Star.

|Yoshi, known in this game as [[It]], is found in [[Dark Bloo Inn]] as the item one of the Tea Party Toads needs to be appeased. Yoshi is initially invisible but can be painted to reveal him. Trying to ride Yoshi results in him fluttering away to [[The Emerald Circus]] later in the game, thanking the player for freeing the other Yoshis.

|The leader of the Blue Rescue Squad. He repairs the train tracks in [[Kiwano Temple]] along with the rest of the Rescue Squad.

|The leader of the Red Rescue Squad. He, along with the rest of the Rescue Squad, watches [[the Emerald Circus]] as half of the audience.

|The leader of the Green Rescue Squad. He helps make a bridge to the Mini Paint Star and the [[Lemon (Thing)|Lemon]] Thing along with the rest of the rescue squad.

|The leader of the Yellow Rescue Squad. He pulls out the giant turnip in [[Sacred Forest]] along with the rest of the Rescue Squad.

|The leader of the Purple Rescue Squad. He makes a staircase to the blue [[Mini Paint Star]] and the [[Fire Extinguisher]] Thing along with the rest of the Rescue Squad.

|These six Toads occupy Dark Bloo Inn when Mario arrives. Mario helps them enjoy their promised tea party during the events of the game, after which they ascend after finally being satisfied.

|One of the Chosen Toads. He can be found in [[Cherry Lake]] where Mario needs to collect the clothing that fell off of him when he fell from the big paint bucket. He spends the rest of the game in [[the Crimson Tower]] entrance after he obtains the [[Mini Paint Star]] for Mario.

|The leader of the pirate crew in [[Violet Passage]]. He is initially found stranded in the colorless sea until Mario saves the blue Big Paint Star. He is a recurring character during the voyage to [[Fortune Island]]. After he meets the Legendary Captain, he spends the remainder of the game learning from the Legendary Captain on Fortune Island.

|The conductor of the [[Sunset Express]]. He helps Mario defeat Larry during Larry's battle by stopping the Shy Guy in the train's cabin. The train he is conducting is originally scheduled for decommissioning, but after arriving in Starlight Cape, he, along with another blue Toad, decides it should not be decommissioned. He reappears briefly during the "This Here's Paint Country!" dance.

|The host/waiter of Tangerino Grill. When Mario finishes making the Mamma Mia Pizza, he serves the pizza to the guests and watches them devour it. The host is optimistic for Mario, saying that he is the only one that can satiate the VIP.

|A Toad found in the Yellow District of Port Prisma. If Mario pays him 50 coins, he will tell the player a hint as to where an uncut Cutout is. When the Cutout is found, he will allow Mario to pay again for another hint.

|The third of Piper's friends. They say that Piper offered to take the role of a "down-on-his-luck potted plant" that no one else wanted to take.

|The foreman of [[Toad Trainworks]]. When Mario first meets him, he says he is planning on retiring soon. He takes the Sunset Express as his last job, but before this, he gives Mario a free Mini Paint Star. Later, after the conductor says he changed his mind on decommissioning the Sunset Express, the Foreman says that he changed his mind on retiring as well.

All enemies in ''Paper Mario: Color Splash'' have been redesigned from their previous appearances in the ''Paper Mario'' series. Every enemy has a white outline surrounding them, and the shading seen in all prior installments has been removed in favor of flat coloring. Some enemies have also had their designs changed to better match their most recent appearances, although this varies between each enemy. As the gameplay of ''Paper Mario: Color Splash'' is heavily based on colors, the color an enemy has plays a role in where they appear, and on what color of paint they drop when defeated. This is best seen in [[Ruddy Road]], where a group of red Shy Guys turn blue out of fear, and leave behind large quantities of blue paint when crushed by an angry Toad. The high color variance of Shy Guys may be the reason they are the most prominent enemy seen.

|style="background:ivory"|[[Indigo Underground]]<br>[[Daffodil Peak]]<br>[[Ruddy Road]]

|style="background:lavenderblush"|[[Vortex Island]]<br>[[Redpepper Volcano]]

The Spinning-Door is a three-segmented door appearing in some levels such as [[Daffodil Peak]]. When Mario hits it with his hammer, the segments begin rotating. He can then hammer it again to make the three segments have the same color. When all three segments match, the door becomes usable and leads Mario to a minigame depending on the color chosen; [[Blockstopper!]] for {{color|Red|red}}, [[Flippin' Cards!]] for {{color|Blue|blue}}, [[Prize Pipe Paths]] for {{color|Yellow|yellow}}, and [[Paint Hunter!]] for rainbow.

|Beat all eight [[Roshambo Temple]]s.

|[[Paint Hammer|Paint]]

Upon its reveal during the March 2016 Nintendo Direct, ''Paper Mario: Color Splash'' received negative reception from some fans, the main complaint focusing around the game's similarities to ''Paper Mario: Sticker Star''. Within hours of the game's reveal, a petition on {{wp|Change.org}} ordered the game to be canceled, which TechRadar described as "a frightening example of how quickly, and harshly, we judge games we know next to nothing about".<ref>http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/paper-mario-color-splash-has-been-around-30-minutes-and-people-already-hate-it-1316232</ref>

{{main-media|ingame=Prisma Museum}}