I’ve been on many adventures during my life, I have seen different worlds, I have even been beyond our own galaxy. I do everything to ensure the safety of our kingdom, I’ll do anything to save our precious princess Peach. Today, I got a weird letter containing a colorless flat Toad. It appears there are troubles on the island of Prism, perhaps it’s a good idea to end my holiday and prepare for a very colorful adventure.
One of the last big games
Before we start discussing the game, it’s good to point out that this is perhaps one of the last big games for the Nintendo Wii U. The console didn’t sell as many units as Nintendo or the fans wanted to, but that doesn’t mean that Nintendo won’t support it until the NX appears in stores. Paper Mario: Color Splash is the perfect example of this dedication. Instead of just canceling the Wii U version in favor of an NX version, Nintendo decided to release it on Wii U anyway, something we can only encourage of course. It’s great to have this kind of support, especially when you start playing Color Splash.
Color Splash is by far the best looking Paper Mario game on the market, it’s crazy how much the HD graphics mean for a franchise like this. Unlike other Paper Mario games, everything is created with paper and cardboard. You’ll see clouds hanging from threads, multiple layers of waves in the seas and a lot of flat characters. Everything about the world and its characters looks amazing and it’s a pleasure walking into this bright colorful world. It’s one of the last big Wii U games but it’s one of those games that truly demonstrates the power of the console.
Where did all the color go?
Since this is a Paper Mario game, the story is a bit more than your usual ‘oh no, Bowser kidnapped the princess again’. Color Splash starts with an impressive scene of Toad and Peach visiting Mario’s house to deliver a mysterious letter. Once the letter is opened, a colorless Toad falls out of the envelope. Without any leads aside of a Port Prism stamp, the trio decides to investigate this mystery and heads up to the island of Prism immediately. It’s here where they’ll discover the true scale of the problems. It seems like someone is stealing all the color (I guess you know who) and leaves behind ugly colorless spots.
Not traditional, not bad
Not long after your arrival, you’ll meet up with Huey, a floating paint bucket that can transform from a 3D to a 2D character. Huey serves as your local guide and tells you what you need to do in order to bring back the paint to the island. The solution is a big fountain in the center of town where huge color stars made sure everything looks as colorful as it possibly can. Needless to say, those stars went missing and it’s your job to recover them and bring back the color to the world. During this quest, you’ll run into a lot of familiar characters and bosses to defeat. Mario fans will be pleased to see some of those characters return to the screen.
It’s not a mind-blowing story but thanks to the great dialogues, you’ll have a lot of fun completing the story for sure. The Paper Mario franchise has always been known for its humor and Color Splash is no exception. Expect a lot of jokes during your dialogues with other characters and expect to come across some very strange personalities during your journey. The story is a big plus but mostly thanks to the cleverly written dialogues.
Use the paint to your advantage
The big gimmick in Color Splash, is, of course, the paint. First of all, the paint itself looks amazing and can best be compared to the paint you find in Splatoon. That being said, you don’t use the paint to shoot random Inklings, you use to paint to activate battle cards or to paint the world. Let’s talk about the world first. Unlike other Paper Mario games, Color Splash is divided into levels like the traditional Super Mario games. This means you won’t be travelling through one big open world, you’ll be travelling between the smaller levels over and over again. Once you enter a level, you’ll be happy with what you see but to be honest, we would prefer a more open approach. That being said, the levels do offer a lot of exploration thanks to the lost paint. By smashing your paint hammer on a white spot, you’ll color it, granting you extra coins, paint and battle cards. Besides that, you’ll also find a lot of hidden rooms and paths in the levels so exploring them is really something you should do.
As said before, the paint is also used for combat. Unlike other Paper Mario games, you’ll always find yourself alone. The lack of a companion is huge but Intelligent Systems tried to fill this void with battle cards. Battle cards are your new commands but need paint in order to work. If you want to smash your enemies with your hammer, you’ll need to color your hammer battle card on your GamePad, swipe it to your screen and start the attack. It’s a system that’s fun the first couple of times you use it, but the more you use it, the more it starts feeling like a needlessly complex system. Coloring and choosing your cards (there are a lot of defense/attack cards in the game) takes some time so the battles themselves are a lot slower than in previous Paper Mario games. A mechanic that remained the same however are the timed defense and attack moves. By pushing the button at the right time, Mario will inflict maximum damage or block an attack of the enemy, it keeps the battles fun and interactive.
Combat feels too easy
The biggest issue with the combat is that it all feels a little too easy. The Paper Mario games were once huge RPG games filled with stats and improvements to your character. Nothing of that can be found in Color Splash. Without an extra companion or system to increase Mario’ level, all the depth of combat disappeared. Instead, we have a rather generic combat system where you have to use different cards in order to win. Sure, the battle cards themselves are fun and the thing cards, bringing in real-life objects as fire extinguishers are great, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this isn’t a true Paper Mario game. I missed the ability to level my character and increase its stats, preparing for the difficult boss that was waiting for me. In Color Splash, you prepare for combat by collecting the most powerful battle cards before the combat begins. It’s a bit of a shame since combat feels way too easy and way too shallow in Color Splash. It’s even more of a shame if you see how great everything looks and realize the potential of a deeper combat system.
Use of the GamePad
Something the game does benefit from is the use of the GamePad. It’s one of those rare Wii U games were playing with the Wii U GamePad really has some advantages. As said before, the GamePad is mostly used to give the combat cards their colors. Keep in mind that the stronger cards don’t need extra paint but aside of those, you’ll need to stare at the GamePad a lot. Filling the cards with paint is okay, but swiping the cards to your television screen feels epic. Of course, this effect wears off after a while but it’s a fun gimmick.
The painting of the cards isn’t the only thing you’ll do with the GamePad, it’s also used for a special cut-out technique. With this, you’ll transform the entire screen to your GamePad screen and you’ll be able to cut something out of the background, creating a new road for your 2D Paper Mario. This mechanic is used for puzzle solving but it also reveals some hidden objects (cards) if you use it at the right time. It’s great to have those GamePad features.
The Legend of Toad
The last thing I would like to point out is a certain evolution I see in Paper Mario games. Since the release of Paper Mario: Sticker Star on the Nintendo 3DS, it appears that the Toads became the new leading characters besides Mario. The same happens in Color Splash. You’ll see Toads everywhere and some of those Toad mini-games also make a return. Yes, you’ll have to find the hidden Toads in the environments. Yes, you’ll need to find members of the Toad Rescue Squad. And yes, you’ll run into Toads with special powers that will aid you during your quest. The Toad gameplay is something the Paper Mario franchise seems to be evolving into and I can see why not everybody likes it. The little guys offer some fun mini-games but it has nothing to do with what Paper Mario used to stand for. Perhaps it’s a better idea for Nintendo to try out a different name for these kinds of Paper Mario games since I’m sure a lot of fans will be disappointed, even when it’s not even a bad game.
Conclusion
Paper Mario: Color Splash is a lot better than Sticker Star but it still isn’t the return of the traditional Paper Mario franchise with deep RPG elements. Instead, you’ll get a rather shallow and easy combat system and no other playable characters aside from Mario. If you can live with those changes, you’ll find a very enjoyable game. Color Splash features some hilarious dialogues, gorgeous graphics and fun levels to complete. It’s not a traditional Paper Mario game but it’s certainly not a bad game, I’m sure a lot of gamers will enjoy their time on the island of Prism.
