If you ask gamers what has been frustrating about Paper Mario over the last several entries of its life, outside of a recent remake/remaster, they’ll tell you that the games lacked the charm and fun of the original N64 and GameCube titles. Nintendo decided to “steer away” from the RPG aesthetics and the other elements that made the OG titles so much fun. The Big N even said they intentionally did this because they didn’t want to keep “doing the same thing” and wanted to keep it “fresh.” However, by doing that, the franchise suffered, and fans have been screaming at them to make a true return to form.
The good news is that, according to GoNintendo, players are getting sent surveys that have several questions tied to the Paper Mario franchise. One of the biggest ones is about the companion characters that Mario gets along the way. In the original two titles, Mario would get various companions based on creatures that people had already met throughout the series, such as a Goomba or a Koopa. Then, throughout the game, they would battle together, and Mario would even be able to improve their skills over time. Sometimes, there would even be an all-new species or type of character introduced, such as with Watt or Vivian.
Starting with the Wii era, those companions went away, and fans have been asking for them back ever since. Even when Nintendo tried to “placate” fans via the inclusion of Bobby, his design wasn’t that unique. He had a unique story via his amnesia, but that’s it.
The survey asked people if they wanted the unique stylings of companions, and one answer stated: “I like characters that look like other familiar characters, but have a unique appearance or personality.”
We’re going to guess that many people will go and answer that one because that’s part of the charm of these titles. It’s not simply that Mario has companion characters but that they look and sound different from the ones players are constantly fighting.
Admiral Bobbery, for example, looks like an old salt and talks like one, too. It just so happens that he’s also a Bob-omb, but that’s not what matters. Cases like Vivian or Flurrie are entirely new characters that add more depth to the world and create something fresh that can be used in later games if they want.
Hopefully, these surveys will make Nintendo take a hint and go back to what worked before.
