Mario and Luigi Paper Jam Set to Release in NA

Mario and Luigi titles have been one of my favorite Mario franchises. My other favorite franchise? Paper Mario. In my personal opinion, the last release for each – Mario and Luigi: Dream Team and Paper Mario: Sticker Star where somewhat of a let down. Dream Team was good, yes, but Sticker Star was pretty bad. Frankly, I had little hope for Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam. However, after playing it a few times at various Nintendo events, and watching a few Let’s Plays on YouTube – the game has been out in Japan and Europe since December – I’m really excited for this latest adventure.

My biggest issue with Sticker Star was that it moved away from the traditional ‘open world’ concept and instead adopted the Super Mario Bros. Worlds and Levels idea. I always had more fun exploring the open worlds rather than having each level and world stand alone. It looks like Nintendo and the developers are turning away from the Super Mario Bros. mechanic and returning to the open concept of past Paper Mario titles.

This title has lots of potential, but the lack of advertising and hype really gets me worried. When Nintendo knows they have a gem on their hands, they advertise the heck out of it. See Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Mario Maker as recent examples. The advertising around Paper Jam has been almost non existent. It doesn’t get pushed to me via emails, it doesn’t pop up on Nintendo’s main site often, and I’m not even getting a sales pitch from the bunny in the Badge Arcade. In the past, Nintendo has often remained fairly quiet on titles they feel might not get the warmest of receptions. Of course, this also could be a result of the game already being available to half the world. Regardless, from what I have seen, it looks like Paper Jam will be an excellent 3DS title.

Now if only they would start working on porting The Thousand Year Door to 3DS or Wii U.