Paper Mario: Color Splash

Paper Mario: Color Splash
Developer(s)	Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Naohiko Aoyama Taro Kudo
Producer(s)	Kensuke Tanabe Risa Tabata
Designer(s)	Yukio Morimoto Shingo Igata
Programmer(s)	Junya Kadono
Artist(s)	Masahiko Nagaya
Writer(s)	Taro Kudo
Composer(s)	Takeru Kanazaki Shigemitsu Goto Fumihiro Isobe
Series	Paper Mario
Platform(s)	Wii U
Release	NA/EU: October 7, 2016 AU: October 8, 2016 JP: October 13, 2016
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Paper Mario: Color Splash^[a] is a 2016 cross-genre video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Wii U console. It is the fifth installment in the Paper Mario series, and is part of the larger Mario franchise. The story follows the protagonist Mario and Huey, on a quest to retrieve the six Big Paint Stars to save Prisma Island and rescue Princess Peach from Bowser.

The idea for a paint-themed game came from Atsushi Isano, the director for Intelligent Systems. The game was developed to take advantage of the Wii U hardware, such as the GamePad. The developing team implemented a card-based battle system to utilize the GamePad's touchscreen to sort, paint, and flick cards. The artists heavily focused on making the in-game paper textures to appear as realistic as possible. The game was released worldwide in October 2016.

Upon the game's reveal, Color Splash was met with controversy for continuing the genre format introduced in Sticker Star. On release, however, the game received generally positive reception from critics, praising the game's graphics, soundtrack and improved dialogue. The combat system and lack of character variety were also criticized. The game was followed with Paper Mario: The Origami King in 2020.

Gameplay[]

Mario using his paint hammer on an uncolored flower. In the top left is his paint meter, showing how much paint he has left.

Paper Mario: Color Splash has elements of both action-adventure and role-playing genres, reiterating previous gameplay in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. The player controls a two-dimensional version of Mario using the Wii U GamePad, and explores a paper-craft world designed to look like craft materials.^[1] The player's objective is to retrieve the missing six Big Paint Stars stolen by Bowser, all of which occupy a different portion of the world.^[2] Players traverse levels through a world map containing levels; the goal of each level is to reach the Mini Paint Star.^[1] Upon reaching a Mini Paint Star for the first time, the player unlocks access to new stages.^[3] There are multiple Mini Paint Stars in some levels.^[1]

In these levels, Mario can collect items and coins, talk to non-player characters (NPC), complete puzzles and platforming challenges,^[1] and consult Huey, Mario's ally, for assistance. New to Color Splash is the paint hammer, which can fill in colorless spots found throughout the world.^[4] Upon filling in the spots, Mario is awarded items such as coins.^[4] Paint is required to use the hammer, and comes in red, blue, and yellow varieties, which can be obtained by striking objects with the hammer.^[4] The type of area the player is filling in determines the color and amount of paint used. If the player collects "hammer scraps", they can increase the maximum amount of paint they can carry.^[3] Players can use an additional new ability called the "cutout" to reach otherwise inaccessible areas in levels.^[2] To use the ability, the player traces a dotted line on the GamePad's touchscreen, causing part of the environment to peel off, exposing secrets and new areas.^[5][3]

Mario in the middle of combat. In the top left are cards that pre-determine how Mario will attack the enemies.

When encountering an enemy while exploring, the player will enter a battle sequence.^[4] Depending on how the player collided with the enemy, the player or the enemy may be able to attack immediately. The combat system in Color Splash is a turn-based battle system; the player's possible attacks are represented by cards the player can either collect from levels or defeated enemies, or purchase from shops with the in-game currency of coins.^[6] Cards can be used to attack enemies, prevent damage, or heal Mario, and can be painted to increase their strength.^[7] They range from basic jump and hammer attacks to 'Thing' cards which resemble real-world objects, such as a fire extinguisher.^[8] The type of card determines the amount and color of paint to use, as well as how Mario attacks the enemy.^[4] Players choose, paint and sort cards with the GamePad's touchscreen.^[2] Enemy attacks cause the player to take damage. If the player loses all their HP, it will result in a game over. If the player defeats all active enemies, the player returns to the level and is rewarded with a random assortment of coins, cards, paint, and hammer scraps.^[4]

Plot[]

Mario and Princess Peach receive a letter from Prism Island, which they discover is a color-drained Toad, causing them to sail to Prism Island to investigate. Upon arriving at Port Prisma, the three travelers find the town deserted, noticing colorless spots and objects. The fountain in the center of the island is dry, missing its famed Big Paint Stars. A vault appears in the fountain, containing a paint can. After Mario tries to open it, the can is revealed to be Huey, Prisma Fountain's guardian. Huey explains the fountain is usually powered by six Big Paint Stars, which supply the island with infinite paint and color. He asks Mario to help recover them, to which he agrees. While Mario is scouting the island, Peach is kidnapped by Bowser.

Mario traverses six areas to retrieve the Big Paint Stars while helping the local Toads and fighting various enemies, including the Koopalings, who serve as bosses. As Mario collects the Big Paint Stars, each one incrementally reveal their memories of an attack on Port Prisma. Once Mario recovers all six Big Paint Stars, they reveal Bowser attempted to dye his shell using the Prisma Fountain, but inadvertently created black paint, a toxic substance which possessed him and transformed him into "Black Bowser". He proceeded to steal the Big Paint Stars and drain the color from Prism Island. It is also revealed that he was the one who sent them the color-drained Toad in order to coax them to come to Prism Island.

With the Big Paint Stars, and later Luigi, the group reaches Black Bowser's Castle. Upon entering, they discover that Bowser is mass-producing weaponized black paint, aiming to paint the world black; Mario and Huey then halt the factory's operations. The duo defeat Black Bowser, and rescue Peach, and the factory's destruction causes the castle to fall apart. Peach, Mario and Luigi escape, but Huey stays to stop the black paint and absorbs the castle. Huey flies into space, taking the black paint far away from Prism Island and sacrificing himself in the process. In a post-credits scene, if the player has filled certain requirements, Huey falls back into Prisma Fountain.

Development and release[]

Paper Mario: Color Splash was developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems; the game was announced as a 2016 release during a Nintendo Direct presentation on March 3, 2016, and released worldwide on October 7, 2016. The game was available for pre-purchase on the Nintendo eShop on September 22, 2016. However, it was quickly discovered Nintendo of America had accidentally made the full game available two weeks before its intended launch date.^[9] Nintendo later pulled the pre-load option from the North American eShop, but people who downloaded the game were able to keep their copies.^[10]

Design[]

Color Splash was created to express new control experiences specific to the Wii U.^[11]

Producer Kensuke Tanabe explained that the idea of repainting the world originally came from director of production Atsushi Ikuno in 2012. Ikuno was inspired by his children having fun while coloring. According to Tanabe, a lot of trial and error was required before coloring with a hammer felt comfortable.^[11] Co-producer Risa Tabata explained that because the Wii U hardware was more powerful than previous Nintendo consoles such as the Nintendo 3DS, the artists were able to make realistic in-game paper. The game's art style was achieved by using different types and textures of paper for different environments, and purchased and reviewed different types of paper to determine which style expressed paper craft the most.^[11] Taro Kudo was the lead writer; Tabata showed pride in his work, stating how he was good at coming up with jokes and story design, and how during play testing "there really were people who cried at the end".^[12]

The combat system was developed to create controls only possible on the Wii U.^[11] The GamePad's larger touchscreen allowed the developers to implement the card-based battle system so it could be controlled directly from the screen; this was not possible in Sticker Star, as the 3DS's touchscreen was too small. The developers thought that using the gamepad to sort through cards and fling them on screen was fun, so it was implemented.^[13] Tabata also explained that cards were limited to make players think strategically.^[5] Although the gamepad was much more advanced, focus was shifted to single player gameplay, and multiplayer and Miiverse functionality was never considered.^[13] The game did not use a typical role-playing game system but instead focused on puzzle-solving, although he noted paint capacity changed over time as the player collected hammer scraps and was thus a form of 'leveling'.^[11]

Characters[]

Shigeru Miyamoto, the lead designer of the Mario franchise, insisted that only characters from the Mario franchise should be used for the game.^[11] Former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata suggested that the philosophy of development was "when you're limited, that tends to bring out greater creativity." One of the main implementations was changing the color of Toads to represent a personality. When creating characters, major emphasis went towards Toads and other familiar characters in the franchise, yet still keeping variety and interest.^[14]

Reception[]

Pre-release[]

Upon its reveal, Color Splash received negative reception from fans of the series, who criticized the game for its aesthetic similarities to Sticker Star and the decision to continue the action-adventure formula that Sticker Star introduced. Soon after the announcement of Color Splash, a petition on Change.org was created calling for the game's cancellation along with the Nintendo 3DS title Metroid Prime: Federation Force.^[22] Nick Pino of TechRadar called the petition, "a frightening example of how quickly, and harshly, we judge games we know next to nothing about."^[22] Kate Gray, also from TechRadar, noticed the game seemed focused on collectibles rather than plot.^[23] Stephen Totilo of Kotaku believed the Paper Mario series was "in the midst of an identity crisis" and that it faced redundancy because it was one of two Mario role-playing series, the other being Mario & Luigi. When questioned about Color Splash's genre at E3 2016, Tabata reaffirmed that it was an action-adventure game and that Mario & Luigi will continue to fill the niche of Mario role-playing games.^[6]

Post-release[]

Color Splash sold 20,894 copies in its first week of release in Japan,^[24] the following month having sold 37,093 copies.^[25] By July 2020, the game had sold 63,000 copies in Japan.^[26] In 2017, the game was nominated for "Favorite Video Game" in the 2017 Kids' Choice Awards, but lost to Just Dance 2017.^[27]

Upon release, Color Splash received "generally positive" reception, according to review aggregator Metacritic.^[15] Reviewers praised the art style and soundtrack.^[7][16][18] Nintendo Life’s Conor McMahon called Prism Island a diverse environment, with "an endless amount of catchy tunes to keep you engaged from start to finish”,^[7] while Ben Reeves of Game Informer commented how “Every inch of these environments looks as if they tumbled out of an art supply store”.^[16] Eurogamer’s Alex Dale compared the scenery to the likes of a snowglobe, how he wanted to look at the game from every angle.^[28] Miguel Concepcion of GameSpot said the characters had a wide spectrum of personalities.^[17]

Reviewers criticized the combat system^[7][1][18] and the removal of an experience point (XP) system that appeared in previous Paper Mario games.^[16][28][29] Dan Ryckert of Giant Bomb disliked the circular nature of the combat, noting how using cards awards coins, which can be used to buy more cards. "With that system in place, why would anyone ever want to encounter an enemy in the field?”^[18] Other critics described the system as slow and simplistic; Polygon’s Caty McCarthy said it “felt like a chore”^[8] while Alex Jones of GamesRadar singled out the GamePad interface as cumbersome.^[1] Several reviewers disliked the lack of levelling systems, with Reeves stating that combat was aimless without them.^[16] Kotaku's Keza MacDonald called Thing cards "endearingly bizarre",^[29] but IGN’s Terri Schwartz described them as a “win button” for boss battles.^[2] McCarthy and McMahon agreed that Roshambo temples, locations that appear throughout the game, were essentially money farms.^[8][7] The new Cutout ability was criticised as poorly implemented and frustrating, only being used when necessary.^[1][17]

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website