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PAPER MARIO: COLOR SPLASH (WIIU)
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Publisher: Nintendo.
Developer: Intelligent Systems. Released: October 2016. Genre: RPG. Posted 20th February 2024. By Shane Battams © 2024 |
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As Nintendo’s long-time figurehead, Mario dips his toes in a myriad of genres. His racing outings are regularly great, but he has also dabbled in RPGs. Paper Mario was considered one of the N64’s highlights and The Thousand Year Door on the GameCube was even better. Color Splash, the plumber’s papery debut on the Wii U, proves a curious beast. Featuring much of the charm and humour the series is known for, it’s a shame that unfulfilling combat and a lack of tangible progression leaves the experience feeling a bit long in the tooth.
Prism Island has been robbed of its colours, leaving both its citizens and parts of the city a ghostly white. Mario and Peach head to the island in order to investigate, only to find a more far-reaching problem than they initially feared. After Peach is (predictably) kidnapped, it’s up to Mario and his paint can companion Huey to save the princess and return the colour to the land, through reacquiring six giant paint stars. Thanks to snappy writing and humour which can easily bring about a chuckle, this simple story will keep you cheery for the most part, and some of the meta humour and references to Nintendo’s past are genuinely clever.
Mario visits a host of inviting settings, recolouring characters to bring them to life
Paper Mario’s unique gimmick is the hammer. This allows you to colour the world around you, as splotches of white and colourless characters zapped of life are just waiting to be filled. This aspect is cool, in that it’s satisfying to see the world return to its normal state. NPCs left robbed of their colour often return with a witty line, while objects in the environment often utilise this mechanic. Outside of these, there is also a cut-out feature, which allows you to slice parts of the world to create either a new path around blockades, or place a Thing item to clear the path. It’s a touch limited in its use, but still offers a nice break from standard gameplay.
Color Splash also offers a personality-filled world. While the paper craft style isn’t wholly new, lively animations mix with colourful environments to create an attractive set of vistas which bare great variety. From a beach-party to a haunted inn, it covers a great range of themes. The rich look, which melds real-world objects with Nintendo’s charm, also proves a winning combination. Little touches, such as how corrugated card looks and Mario’s paper body beginning to flop as he takes damage, are cool. Perhaps the most eye-catching (and technically troublesome, as they cause performance dips) sight are the Thing Cards used in battle, which utilise objects like a plunger, barbecue and basin to destructive effect. Papercraft has never looked so charming.
Color Splash also offers a personality-filled world. While the paper craft style isn’t wholly new, lively animations mix with colourful environments to create an attractive set of vistas which bare great variety. From a beach-party to a haunted inn, it covers a great range of themes. The rich look, which melds real-world objects with Nintendo’s charm, also proves a winning combination. Little touches, such as how corrugated card looks and Mario’s paper body beginning to flop as he takes damage, are cool. Perhaps the most eye-catching (and technically troublesome, as they cause performance dips) sight are the Thing Cards used in battle, which utilise objects like a plunger, barbecue and basin to destructive effect. Papercraft has never looked so charming.
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It's just a shame that one key element of this Paper Mario, the combat, feels very lukewarm in comparison. Still a turn-based affair, this game utilises Cards for every action, be it attacking, healing or even summoning enemies for aid, with unpainted cards requiring colouring before use for maximum effect. Cards are then swiped into battle using the Gamepad, and actions such as jumps can be repeated with a well-timed button press or tap on the screen. The idea isn’t terrible, but it never offers much growth outside of health upgrades and more turns being rewarded through story progression. Enemies require strategy as, for example, some will wear spike helmets that damage Mario should he use jump attacks. However, combat is generally straightforward, overly frequent and grows tiresome as you progress.
It's a lengthy game too, which proves somewhat detrimental to Color Splash. Doubling down on the concepts introduced in Sticker Star, this game features very little in the way of RPG mechanics, such as levelling. The world map now resembles a Super Mario game, with Mini Colour Stars opening paths between each stage. The removal of growth systems and slowly stagnating combat ensures the 30-hour length feels a touch bloated towards the end. Each level features a number of spots to recolour, cards can be donated to a Museum on Prism Island, Roshambo Temples test your rock-paper-scissors luck and some hidden secrets like Luigi cutouts add more time. But some might struggle to even reach the end, let alone explore the ancillary activities.
It's a lengthy game too, which proves somewhat detrimental to Color Splash. Doubling down on the concepts introduced in Sticker Star, this game features very little in the way of RPG mechanics, such as levelling. The world map now resembles a Super Mario game, with Mini Colour Stars opening paths between each stage. The removal of growth systems and slowly stagnating combat ensures the 30-hour length feels a touch bloated towards the end. Each level features a number of spots to recolour, cards can be donated to a Museum on Prism Island, Roshambo Temples test your rock-paper-scissors luck and some hidden secrets like Luigi cutouts add more time. But some might struggle to even reach the end, let alone explore the ancillary activities.
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There are plenty of different scenarios, but the game feels bloated and over-long
It feels like a really uneven experience at times. The Dark Bloo Inn proves a highlight, seeing you trek around the haunted estate trying to solve the problems of several toad ghosts causing havoc. Filled with charming jokes and emphasising puzzles over combat, it’s genuinely compelling. Another highlight sees you attempting to please a gaggle of hungry tourists through pizza-making mini-games and an odd fight with a slab of meat, which requires certain Thing items. This leads to a frustration with Color Splash: its bosses. While not tough in a pure gameplay sense, each usually requires a specific Thing card to beat. Should you lack this card, you’re forced to backtrack and acquire said card. A hint Toad can clue you in beforehand, but it proves a bit tedious when some of the Thing cards are seriously well hidden. While progression allows you to hammer certain enemies without needing combat, the early part of the game forces you into a lot of fights and it proves hard going after a few hours.
As something of a last hurrah for the Nintendo Wii U in 2016, Paper Mario: Color Splash proves a mixed bag. While an abundance of charm, funny-bone tickling humour and colourful presentation make for a strong first impression, weak combat hurts the experience in the long run. Those struggling with the card-based system will despair at how little it grows through the lengthy experience, and it can leave impatient players bored even if colouring the drained world offers quite the addictive activity. Those with a fondness for the series and Mario’s misadventures might be able to look past these issues, and the charm does cover over a lot of these foibles. However, it proves that perhaps the Paper Mario series would need a rethink.
As something of a last hurrah for the Nintendo Wii U in 2016, Paper Mario: Color Splash proves a mixed bag. While an abundance of charm, funny-bone tickling humour and colourful presentation make for a strong first impression, weak combat hurts the experience in the long run. Those struggling with the card-based system will despair at how little it grows through the lengthy experience, and it can leave impatient players bored even if colouring the drained world offers quite the addictive activity. Those with a fondness for the series and Mario’s misadventures might be able to look past these issues, and the charm does cover over a lot of these foibles. However, it proves that perhaps the Paper Mario series would need a rethink.
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VERDICT
"While its charming presentation and addictive colouring prove enjoyable, Paper Mario: Color Splash is let down by weak combat and a bloated length, though series aficionados still will find plenty to like." OVERALL: 6/10 |
PIXEL SECONDS: PAPER MARIO: COLOR SPLASH (WIIU)
Color Splash is a frustrating venture, squandering oodles of potential through persistently torturous design and patchy levels. The visuals prove a resounding success, thanks to its sparkling, clean and bright appearance and endearing paper sprites. The developer deserves credit for concocting a likeable story with surprisingly modern and mostly on-the-money dialogue. Things begin quite nicely, as Mario is encouraged to recolour a variety of locations, but this RPG/platformer quickly runs out of impetus. Endless interruptions, occasionally awkward platforming and demoralising quantities of backtracking all serve to undermine the fun, and I spent the last 15 hours wishing it would end. Purposely obtuse design sees the player frequently being walked into unwinnable boss fights, as the game forces you to then search for a specific item somewhere in the world or, if you’ve already discovered it, pay a large sum of coins to acquire another. The combat system, which mixes turn-based elements and timed prompts, has plenty of potential. However, the system never quite develops as it should, and combat soon becomes samey and laborious. The painting mechanic is also underdeveloped, marking another missed opportunity. Colouring bare patches of floor and walls feels boring and inconsequential, as such a function would have been better utilised bringing to life far more in the way of interactive elements. There are still lots of highlights, including the Sunset Express train sequence, a creative and amusing pizza-cookery level, some parallel world shenanigans and 2D/3D Mario retro throwback. It isn’t a bad game, but by Mario’s sky-high standards, Color Splash is surprisingly short on entertainment. [6] – Tom Clare © 2024
Color Splash is a frustrating venture, squandering oodles of potential through persistently torturous design and patchy levels. The visuals prove a resounding success, thanks to its sparkling, clean and bright appearance and endearing paper sprites. The developer deserves credit for concocting a likeable story with surprisingly modern and mostly on-the-money dialogue. Things begin quite nicely, as Mario is encouraged to recolour a variety of locations, but this RPG/platformer quickly runs out of impetus. Endless interruptions, occasionally awkward platforming and demoralising quantities of backtracking all serve to undermine the fun, and I spent the last 15 hours wishing it would end. Purposely obtuse design sees the player frequently being walked into unwinnable boss fights, as the game forces you to then search for a specific item somewhere in the world or, if you’ve already discovered it, pay a large sum of coins to acquire another. The combat system, which mixes turn-based elements and timed prompts, has plenty of potential. However, the system never quite develops as it should, and combat soon becomes samey and laborious. The painting mechanic is also underdeveloped, marking another missed opportunity. Colouring bare patches of floor and walls feels boring and inconsequential, as such a function would have been better utilised bringing to life far more in the way of interactive elements. There are still lots of highlights, including the Sunset Express train sequence, a creative and amusing pizza-cookery level, some parallel world shenanigans and 2D/3D Mario retro throwback. It isn’t a bad game, but by Mario’s sky-high standards, Color Splash is surprisingly short on entertainment. [6] – Tom Clare © 2024
OTHER GAMES STARRING PLUMBERS REVIEWED
Super Mario Land (1990, Game Boy)
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Super Mario Galaxy (2007, Wii)
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