Paper Mario (character)

Revision as of 20:19, September 16, 2023 by Bowserjr11 (talk | contribs) (Paper Mario actually first appears in the Paper Mario series)
Paper Mario
Mario jumping in Paper Mario: The Origami King.
Artwork from Paper Mario: The Origami King
Species Human
First appearance Paper Mario (2000)
Latest appearance Paper Mario: The Origami King (2020)

Mario, also known as Paper Mario, is the paper version of Mario and the main protagonist of the Paper Mario series.

History

Paper Mario series

Paper Mario

 
Paper Mario starts with dotted eyes, a black cap rim, and visible legs.

Paper Mario follows Mario's attempt at rescuing Princess Peach and the Star Spirits from Bowser. After imprisoning the Star Spirits in cards, Bowser, along with Kammy Koopa, defeats Mario with the Star Rod, forcing Mario to adventure and recover the Star Spirits. With Toad Town serving as the main hub for his travels, Mario travels to various locations and befriends Party Members that assist him in battle. During the events of this game, Toad Town News traces Mario as he tries to save the Star Spirits and posts news about his progress. Peach also in the meantime tries to help Mario through sneaking in the castle and having Twink relay helpful items and information to him for the whereabouts on each Star Spirit.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

"The Great Gonzales" redirects here. For the character from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door sometimes called The Great Gonzales Jr., see Mini-Yoshi.
 
Since Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Paper Mario has been simplified further, and this is the design used for the subsequent games (starting with Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, a texture and a white outline were added to accentuate the paper material).

In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Peach invites Mario to Rogueport to share a treasure map leading to powerful artifacts called Crystal Stars. By the time Mario arrives, the X-Nauts have kidnapped her. The X-Nauts need to use her as a vessel for the Shadow Queen so the leader of the X-Nauts, Sir Grodus, can use her power to aid him in world domination.

Mario meets Professor Frankly, who tells him the history of Rogueport and reveals the secret of the Thousand-Year Door. The Shadow Queen has once controlled Rogueport and trapped many of its citizens after Crystal Stars granted her power. The Four Legendary Heroes have used the power of the Crystal Stars against her and imprisoned her in the Thousand-Year Door for a millennium. After learning this story, Mario sets out to collect all seven Crystal Stars. Gaining many new partners and finding all Crystal Stars, Mario enters the Thousand-Year Door. There he finds Sir Grodus standing before the Shadow Queen's room. Mario defeats Sir Grodus but is then ambushed by Bowser and Kammy Koopa. This gives Grodus time to escape with Peach to the Shadow Queen's room. When Mario arrives, Grodus has awakened the Shadow Queen herself, taking control of Peach's body. Mario has to fight her possessed form, and using the help of the Rogueport citizens' wishes, Mario prevails.

In the Glitz Pit, Mario and his partner's team is named The Great Gonzales (also known as the title The Merciless Executioner) by Grubba. Additionally in the Glitz Pit, when Mario optionally returns to the Glitz Pit to fight Rawk Hawk a second time, someone in the crowd yells, "Jumpman! Wait. Who?" referencing Mario's alternate name in Donkey Kong arcade materials.

Mario can wear two badges that change the colors of his clothes. The L Emblem makes him resemble Luigi, and the W Emblem makes him resemble Wario, but when they are worn together, Mario resembles Waluigi.

Super Paper Mario

In Super Paper Mario, Mario and Luigi sit in their house one day when they hear the news that Princess Peach has been kidnapped. The Mario Bros. rush to Bowser's Castle, thinking he has the princess, an assumption to be proven wrong. Later, a new antagonist named Count Bleck shows up and kidnaps Luigi and Bowser. It is also revealed that Count Bleck has Peach, too.

Mario is transported to Flipside, a town between dimensions. Mario later finds Bowser and Peach, who decide to join Mario in his quest to stop Count Bleck. Mario must go through eight chapters to get eight Pure Hearts, which can counter the Chaos Heart. Mario also encounters new enemies, such as O'Chunks, Dimentio, Mimi, Nastasia, and even his brother, Luigi, now called Mr. L because Nastasia, an assistant of Count Bleck's, has brainwashed him (however, he joins Mario once he is freed by Dimentio and sent to The Underwhere).

Mario's special ability is the flip, which allows him to travel between 2D and 3D plains, which is necessary to progress and solve puzzles. Unlike the other playable characters who have their special abilities unlocked from the beginning of the game, Mario cannot flip until Bestovius teaches him the technique in Chapter 1-1.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Mario, along with Princess Peach and many Toads, is celebrating the Sticker Fest, a holiday where six Royal Stickers ride in on a comet that allows wishes to come true. Bowser, however, takes the comet for himself, releasing its Royal Stickers to him and his minions. Mario attempts to jump on him, but his efforts fail and Mario is knocked out. Shortly after waking up, he meets a sticker guardian named Kersti, and with her help, he saves some Toads hidden around the town and takes back the Royal Stickers. Mario then pursues Bowser by traveling through various worlds. Along the way, Mario must collect various stickers to aid him in defeating enemies and progress through levels.

After getting five of the six Royal Stickers, Mario is allowed to enter Bowser's Sky Castle. Mario defeats Bowser and gets the last Royal Sticker, but Kersti is destroyed in the process. He releases Peach, who thanks Mario for his efforts and allows him to make a wish on the Sticker Star. He wishes for the return of Kersti, and the Sticker Fest is saved.

Paper Mario: Color Splash

In Paper Mario: Color Splash, Mario, Peach, and Toad get sent to Prism Island, which got drained of half its colors. Here, Mario meets a paint can guardian named Huey, and with his help, Mario saves the Big Paint Stars and restores color to the island by collecting them in each level while defeating enemies with his Paint Hammer and Battle Cards.

After getting all six Big Paint Stars, Mario is ready to face Bowser by entering Black Bowser's Castle, but he cannot walk up the rainbow road path. Luigi comes in with his kart, and the duo drives off to face Bowser. Mario and Huey defeat Bowser and paints Peach back, and she thanks Mario for his efforts. They leave the castle, but Huey decides to stay behind to drain the castle and sends the black paint far away. That night, a celebration is held for the return of all of the colors in Prism Island. Peach thanks Mario for everything and realizes that Huey will be all right after everything they have done.

Paper Mario: The Origami King

In Paper Mario: The Origami King, Mario (called Big M by Bob-omb) and Luigi are invited into Toad Town by Peach to celebrate the Origami Festival. Mario quickly notices Peach's change of appearance and demeanor, the result of her being attacked by King Olly, and is nearly turned into origami himself before barely escaping the castle. It now falls on him to restore the Mushroom Kingdom with the help of numerous allies, including several of Bowser's minions and even Bowser himself.

Super Mario Maker

Paper Mario makes a cameo alongside Mario and Luigi as part of the "Mario Trio" costume, one of the many unlockable Costume Mario costumes in Super Mario Maker. The costume is unlocked by clearing the Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Event Course.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

Paper Mario makes his crossover debut in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. He first appears by saving Mario and Luigi from the threat of Paper Goombas. He agrees to help his three-dimensional counterpart and brother gather the Paper Toads, rescue Princess Peach and Paper Peach, and defeat Bowser and Paper Bowser, returning all Paper characters to the book from whence they came.

Whenever the trio encounters an obstacle, Paper Mario will usually be the character to come up with a solution, being the ones to develop the Trio Moves for use on the field. He is also given a distinct role during the return visit to Gloomy Woods, where he and his counterpart are kidnapped by King Boo, and Luigi must face his fears to rescue them. Paper Mario is rescued second, and he is held hostage during the battle with King Boo, who is initially disguised as him.

Once the Peaches have been rescued and the Bowsers defeated, Paper Mario returns to his book, where he immediately re-enters battle with Paper Bowser.

In battle, Paper Mario uses different mechanics to Mario and Luigi. He is the only character able to perform Trio Attacks, in lieu of using Bros. Attacks. He is also the only character able to employ the Copy Block, making six copies of himself (eight and ten if Rank-Up Bonuses are used) to take hits and increase the damage he is able to deal. Thirdly, his dodge commands are more versatile than Mario's and Luigi's, able to hover in the air longer while dodging with a jump, and swinging multiple hammers while dodging with a hammer. Like Mario, Paper Mario has high attack and speed, but he has even lower defense and HP than Mario (though this can be worked around with his Copy Block ability). Along with his low defense and HP, his other weaknesses include his position in formation, the high BP cost of his Trio Attacks (which are lost if either Mario or Luigi faints, while Mario and Luigi can perform Bros. Attacks if Paper Mario has fainted), and a weakness to fire-based moves (a trait shared along with all other paper characters).

The game's main battle theme, Mixed-Up Scramble, only plays after Paper Mario joins the team; prior to him joining the team, the battle theme is instead a cover of the main battle theme from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. However, the main battle theme still plays during Paper Mario's absence in Gloomy Woods.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Paper Mario appears as a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Gallery

Artwork

Sprites and models

Screenshots

Miscellaneous

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning Notes
Japanese ペーパーマリオ[?]
Pēpā Mario
Paper Mario
Chinese (simplified) 马力欧 (纸片马力欧)[1]
Mǎlìōu (Zhǐpiàn Mǎlì'ōu)
Mario (Paper Mario)
Chinese (traditional) 紙片瑪利歐[2]
Zhǐpiàn Mǎlì'ōu
Paper Mario
Dutch Papieren Mario[?] Paper Mario
French Mario de papier[?] Paper Mario
German Papier-Mario[?] Paper Mario
Italian Mario di carta[?] Mario [made out] of paper
Korean 페이퍼 마리오[?]
Peipeo Mario
Paper Mario
Russian Бумажный Марио[?]
Bumazhnyy Mario
Paper Mario
Spanish (NOA) Mario de papel[?] Paper Mario
Spanish (NOE) Mario de Papel[?] Paper Mario
Turkish Kağıt Mario[?] Paper Mario

References

  1. ^ Super Smash Bros. Ultimate spirit list
  2. ^ Official Chinese website for the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary. Retrieved February 7, 2021.