Fans were not exactly celebrating when Nintendo first announced Paper Mario: Color Splash. Many feared that it would end up as another inferior title that couldn’t live up to the glory of the likes of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Despite the backlash, development of the title continued with a release date set a few months after it was announced.
In true Mario Style, the story begins with the paper thin version of the plumber getting a letter (that happens to be a colourless Toad) from the colourful Prism island. He promptly decides to set out to the island with his entourage to find out what is going on. Given that the island is famous for its colourful locations and paint fountain, it’s not surprising to find the very colour being sapped out of it. After meeting his latest sidekick, sassy paint bucket Huey, Mario sets out on a journey to rescue the six big paint stars and their various average sized paint stars, so that Prism island can be restored to its former colourful glory.
Despite sticking to the tried and tested formula, to the point that the Princess gets kidnapped by Bowser shortly after Mario sets off on his adventure, the story still manages to make itself feel relevant. This is mainly down to how characters interact with each other. Despite having a borderline obsession with finding the paint stars, Huey is still one of the better sidekicks that Mario takes with him on an adventure. The story also doesn’t take itself too seriously and even cracks the occasional joke here and there that makes fun of various story elements that traditional RPGs tend to use.
Too bad that the fighting system doesn’t fare as well. Like with the Nintendo 3DS title, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, cards are used to fight enemies. Initially, only one card can be used per turn and it becomes possible to use more per turn when getting to certain points in the story. The twist here is that some cards have been drained of their colour. So, it’s necessary to colour them and there are three colour bars that are used to do this. The idea is that colour cards deal more damage, but it’s not particularly important to worry about not having enough colours left to use, since one of the recovery cards is a green mushroom that fills up the colour bars.
Perhaps the real challenge when it comes to fighting is not using up all the cards currently held. Once this happens, it is necessary to pick a card at random in exchange for a certain amount of coins – although later on it’s possible to spend more coins to make it easier to pick a desired card. There’s always the option to do a runner or “flee” as the title likes to call it. Making use of most attack cards requires pressing a button or touching the GamePad touch screen with the right timing to maximise the effect of the card. Performing these actions with the right timing when defending from enemy attacks will also result in Mario losing less health points or blocking the attack.
The simplicity of the fighting system means that it does get repetitive at times. The main rewards for actively defeating enemies are item drops and coins used to buy items. Enemies also drop energy used to level up the hammer so it can hold more paint. The few times the fighting system truly feels like it is coming to life is during boss fights. Fighting bosses usually requires the use of “Things” which are giant versions of ordinary objects, such as a hair-dryer and a washing machine. These special items are used to not only outsmart bosses during key moments in the fights, but to also solve puzzles that are stopping players from progressing. They are also powerful cards and unleash devastating attacks on ordinary enemies and bosses. But the real fun comes from figuring out how to use some of them to weaken bosses so that Mario can beat them or to solve the puzzles.
The same applies to solving the various challenges that Mario must overcome by usually helping the Toads scattered all over the islands which tends to result in gaining new colour stars that unlock more levels. This is a title that is always striving to keep players amused and it manages to keep this up for the duration of the whole story. At one point Mario even finds himself helping to manoeuvre a ship that is on a quest to find a treasure island, by completing objectives cleverly hidden within clues left behind by a legendary pirate. If the fighting system seems lacking, then the delightful exploration and quirky dialogue more than make up for it.
Even so, there are some rare events that at least do add an element of surprise to fights. The wizard Magikoopa will occasionally drop by at the start of a fight to add some restrictions, such as setting the cards down so players won’t know what they are using. A colour thief will also randomly appear on the map and Mario must get to his destination before the colour is sucked from a previously completed level or bump into and defeat the colour thief. It’s clever little ideas such as these that make for an enjoyable experience, given that it’s not possible to know when they will pop up.
Within each level are colourless spots and characters that Mario can colour by hitting them with the hammer. Besides helping other characters and potentially gain new story developments, colouring every colourless spot will result in unlocking content within the title’s museum. Perhaps one of the hardest objectives within the title is finding members of the Toad rescue squad that help complete certain objectives and even the odd “Thing” object. Fortunately there are characters in the town hub that will give players hints on the location of items/characters and which ones are needed to complete the current objectives.
Unsurprisingly, given what the title is about this is easily one of the better looking Paper Mario titles. Although the locations stick to the usual elements in the way of fire caverns and so on, there is no denying that they still make for some memorable places to explore. What is even better is the fact that each location feels unique to the point that it doesn’t even feel like a nuisance having to visit it a few times to fully complete all the objectives and recover every paint star. The soundtrack is also excellent and contains some catchy music tracks.
This is also one of the few titles that efficiently uses the GamePad for various tasks, such as an interface to manage items and as an optional way to use cards or defend in a fight. The whole story can be played by only using the GamePad. Whilst completing the story doesn’t feel as challenging as previous Paper Mario titles, there are optional challenges that become unlocked over the course of the story.
Despite the simple fighting system, this is still a thoroughly enjoyable adventure and easily one of the better Mario titles released in recent years. It’s a video-game with style and it doesn’t even shy away from cracking jokes regarding the child friendly humour that it must stick to. Paper Mario: Color Splash is another solid entry in the Paper Mario franchise and one more reason to keep the Nintendo Wii U plugged in.
