Currently Playing #16

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (GCN)

The second game in the Paper Mario series. I picked this up off Amazon a while back and I'm just now getting to it. It's been a while since I played a Mario RPG, especially one in the Paper Mario series but it feels like I haven't been away for long at all. Combat is mainly the same from the first Paper Mario. Timed Hits come into play so you can do double damage or decrease the damage you take from enemy attacks by hitting A at just the right moment. Combat is never a bore in this game and for the most part, I look forward to getting into battles. And since I can pick and choose my fights by seeing enemies on the field, that makes it so much sweeter.

A new element to the game is the audience. Every battle takes place in front of a crowd. Depending on how well or how poorly you perform in battle determines how many you'll have in your audience. There's even good and bad audience participation. Every now and then, some members will throw you items or power ups. Other times you'll have bad eggs that want to throw things at you to knock off some of your HP. You can catch these guys before they act by pressing X, though.

I know the game has those Paper Mario visuals and even though this game is nearly ten years old, I'm still impressed by how good it looks. Being a GameCube game, it's a huge step up from the Nintendo 64. Everyone sports a nice, smoother paper character model and the colors are more vibrant than ever.

I finished the Prologue and Chapter 1 but The Thousand Year Door is already shaping up to be one of my favorite Mario RPGs. I still need to play Super Paper Mario, Sticker Star, Partners in Time and Bowser's Inside Story but right now, this game is pretty high on the list of Mario RPG favorites.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)

The great thing about Mario platformers is that you can run through them time and again. I recently finished Super Mario Bros. 3 and I was looking for another Mario tile for my run 'n jump fix. I was going to start up Super Mario World, but I thought I'd go for something more recent.

Like a lot of Mario fans, I hold firm in the belief that many of Mario's earlier 2D adventures are better than his later ones, but I still think New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a lot of fun, even when playing solo. I'm gonna try to collect all the Star Coins but I don't think I'll be doing the Special World stages. Of all the Special World levels I've played in a Mario game, NSMBW's take the cake for being the most punishing. No, I think I'll stick to just saying Peach and calling it a day.

New Super Mario Bros. (DS)

It may not look as crisp and clear as it's console versions or New Super Mario Bros 2, but the first installment in this series is still one that I find myself coming back to time and time again. I'm actually unsure of whether I like this or the Wii version more so I'm playing them both to find out once and for all.

Currently, I'm on World 3. I usually play every World of the game so I'll have to go back and fight the boss of World 2 as Mini Mario. I never did like facing World 2's boss this way to get to World 4. Why the developers made worlds 4 and 7 so easily skip-able is beyond me. 

Still Playing: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, Wario Land: Shake It!