Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack launched back in October with nine N64 titles and the tenth will be released later this month: Paper Mario.
The N64 release of Paper Mario debuted to players in August 2000. It was the first game in the now-popular series, allowing players to explore the Mushroom Kingdom and once again rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. In this iteration of the story, Bowser has lifted the Princess’ castle into the sky and imprisoned the seven “Star Spirits.” It is up to Mario to locate the Star Spirits, defeat Bowser’s minions, and save Princess Peach. The game-play involves controlling Mario and a number of other characters while solving puzzles and defeating foes in a turn-based battle system.
Paper Mario is the first title to be released since the messy launch of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. While fans of Nintendo have been asking for N64 games to be added to the subscription service for a while now, the reality of it was underwhelming. Several bugs made the games unplayable, including an issue that reversed the buttons on the Nintendo Switch. The N64 Switch controllers exclusively sold to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers solved this issue but were sold out, leaving many players unable to play the games they had anticipated playing on the Nintendo Switch for so long. The gameplay issues coupled with the expensive $50 price tag for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack angered customers.
With the release of such a classic game, let’s hope it can earn the reception it deserves. Morale is at an all-time low for the subscription service and Nintendo is probably hoping the announcement of Paper Mario coming to the service will change the conversation.
A trailer for the game’s upcoming release for Nintendo Switch was released, starting out with the fitting introduction “Paper Mario unfolds on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.” Subscribers of the service can look forward to the game on December 10. Fingers crossed the game is as fun as it was on the N64. Watch the trailer below:
