Mario and Luigi Paper Jam Blends Nicely

Paper Mario games are great, although have been trending downwards since the release of The Thousand Year Door on the GameCube. The last release, Sticker Star, was lackluster to say the least, borrowing heavily from the 2D Super Mario games heavily by removing the ‘open world’ and replacing it with Worlds and Levels, i.e. World 1-Level 1. On the other hand, Mario and Luigi games have always been strong titles, and even Dream Team – despite its various faults and pacing issues – was still an excellent release. I have to assume that Paper Mario fans were intrigued by Paper Jam while Mario and Luigi fans were disappointed. There was nowhere to go but up for the Paper Mario series, and seemingly nowhere but down for Mario and Luigi. Fortunately, Nintendo and the developers of Paper Jam pulled it off!

Our review of Paper Jam is still a few days away – already written! – but that won’t stop us from pointing out one major thing that people should not forget when seeing Paper Jam on the selves of their local stores. This game, whether you are a Paper Mario fan or a Mario and Luigi fan, is a must own on 3DS. It is an almost perfect amalgamation of both franchises, something that is rarely successful – or even attempted – in modern video games. Outside of racing and fighting titles, you don’t often see two franchises come together like this, successfully. This is still very much a Mario and Luigi game, as the title indicates, but the addition of Paper Mario and how he is used is almost flawless.

Some people are definitly on the fence, as I have seen indicated on social media many times. “Will Paper Mario drag down the Mario and Luigi name?” “How clunky are the controls when you move from two players to three?” The questions are going to exist, but don’t let them stop you from making a day one purchase. This game will get high praise – and has from many European outlets – and we love it too.

It truly is an almost perfect fusion of the two franchises. Don’t miss it!