Plot

Once again King Bowser the koopa King is up to no good not only is he up to his usual antics of stealing princess peach, but he has also stolen the entire Royal castle, uprooting it from the ground and flying it into the upper atmosphere far from the reach of Mario and his friends.

Bowser seems to have managed this with the help of Kame Koopa a magical itch Koopa whom on Bowsers behalf has stolen the magical Star Rod a magical wand with limitless powers. Unfortunately the only beings to stop the Star Rod are the seven star spirits however Bowser's cronies have thought of this also and have them captured in various dungeons and castles across the mushroom kingdom.


Game play

It is pretty hard to describe the gameplay; technically it is both an RPG with platform elements. It is technically 3D but as in the name all the characters are made of paper. It reminds me of those paper dolls in the old days which you used to make paper clothes for and put them up on little scenes, though in digital and Nintendo form which is an awesome idea.

You control Mario in this game and travel around the mushroom kingdom defeating badies by jumping on them in old school manor or bonking them on the head which is inspired by the original Donkey Kong game on the Nes or arcade machine. Though the battle doesn't end there, one you attack an enemy or an enemy attacks you for that matter you are thrown into a little cut scene stage which shifts the whole game play style over to an RPG. You have health, flower power and star power to constantly keep an eye on. Health or hit points are fairly self-explanatory and flower power is a little like magic power in other RPGs which allow you to use special effects. The star power is the most interesting of the attacks options however as it grows and opens up more attack options depending on how many Star Spirit beings you have released and can provide you with an awesome attack or to resume health which can be a battle decider when trying to defeat a major end of dungeon boss.

Not unlike most other RPGs you earn money for your battles to purchase items that refuel your health, flower power or status effects, though some items even give you a multiple attack such as the well-known "pow block" which attacks all enemies on the ground and flips some enemies upside down.
You even have the option to play as Princess Peach when she is sneaking around the castle trying to find clues for Mario which I thought was so much fun, you have to do things like bake cakes for obese shy guys and chat back to Bowser.

You also gain other friends along the way that each have their own individual attacks and abilities, though funnily enough when I first played the game I was very surprised to find that they are the usual enemy species of the Mario brothers such as Goombas, Koopas, Boos and Cheep cheeps. It is explained through this world however that the only bad guys of any species or creature are actually those who follow Bowser. Almost every Mario creature lives in harmony with one another in this game including ones you have not met in previous games which I thought was a fantastic and novel idea.

You also have badge power which allows you to wear badges, these are highly important as they can do anything from add extra special attacks to evade all enemy attacks when you are down to your last few health points. Every time you level up you have the choice of increasing either you hit points, flower power or badge points so you need to choose wisely.

The controls are virtually glitch free also I don't think I have ever played a smoother or more pleasant game to play solely on the ease of control, more to the point it is addictively fun and hard to set down just because of its sheer craftsmanship.


Characters

The characters are fantastic; there are hundreds of unique and individual characters without the game and each with their own individual personalities and characteristics they are even cheeky and say things like "duh!" and even call you stupid if you make mistakes whoever wrote the cast for this game is a comedy genius! Even after playing this game numerous times over I am pretty sure I have missed somebody.


Visuals

In all fairness despite the fact that this was for the N64 the graphics still look better than some of plat formers produced today. The landscapes, environments have aged extremely well with colourful towns, forests and jungles inviting you to play on. The characters all have their own unique little styles and are very cute and colourful in their own right. The visuals could most easily compared to that of Yoshi's Island or similar games on the super Nintendo with the best taken from all the best Mario games ever made and melted into one amazing collage of gaming bliss.


Music/soundtrack

The music and soundtrack takes me right the way back to my childhood too, again it's like all your favourite Mario soundtracks from all the best games ever made melded together and revamped to please your ears. The soundtrack could not be better in my opinion its everything a Nintendo fan could ever hope for.


Longevity

The game easily has 30+ hours of initial gameplay with all the extras and side quests for instance one of your friends is a para-koopa (a koopa troopa with wings) who delivers letters for the post office; however some of Bowsers minions scattered his letters all over the mushroom kingdom so you have to find and deliver all of those. One of the people you meet is a little old mushroom lady who loves to cook so you need to find her loads of ingredients from all over the mushroom kingdom to complete her recipe list. There are also hundreds of star shards all over the mushroom kingdom too which you need to collect to complete your badge list too so there are endless tings to accomplish and achieve.


Availability

Unfortunately trying to find the original N64 version today would be like finding an alligator in your back garden it is very hard to come by. However all the lucky Wii owners can download now as a virtual console game for 1000/1400 Wii points I think and I would highly recommend doing so.