

However, these characters turned out to be much more three-dimensional than I expected. In a similar way, I expected characters such as Tippi and Count Bleck to be flat- cool and memorable, perhaps, but flat. In the game, you can flip to 3D and see that some things which looked simple aren't as flat as they appeared, and secrets are hiding in places you would least expect. Let's allow myself from five years ago, right after I had finished playing the game for the first time, do the talking! You will need to use this ability throughout the game, but in the first chapter, where Mario is your only playable character, it is especially important.įunnily enough, this gameplay mechanic is a fitting metaphor for the entire game. Early into the first chapter, you get to experiment with the game's core innovative gameplay mechanic – the ability to flip from 2D to 3D points of view. Its abstract art style signals to the player immediately that this game is pretty out-there, even for a Paper Mario title. Super Paper Mario may just be the most experimental Mario RPG seen thus far. In the Mario role-playing games, ever since Square's Super Mario RPG, developers have experimented with new gameplay styles, humorous writing, inventive stories, and great characters, being able to creatively explore new ideas yet still remain within the comfort of the Mario world, building upon elements with which most players would already be intimately familiar. For decades, since Mario Paint and even edutainment games like Mario's Time Machine or anomalies like Hotel Mario, the heroic plumber has been a guinea pig – his popularity has drawn gamers in to try something that they may have not picked up otherwise, and developers also realize that if any peripheral Mario game is a flop, it won't hurt his overall fame. But because Mario possesses something of an empire in the gaming industry, he can appear in anything from his traditional adventures to tennis games to puzzle games and still make it out alright. The myth that a video game cannot make a person think or feel just as strongly as older forms of media needs to be dispelled, and soon.īut even so – a Mario game? Like, Super Mario? Really, aren't those about running around and jumping on turtles and grabbing coins? Usually, yes. Video games have not traditionally been the most respected vessel for deep philosophical messages, but they are gaining ever more respect as media that have the potential to combine great stories with music, cinematics, moral choices, problem-solving, and more. By viewing things from a different angle, from the eyes of a different character, we can isolate ourselves from the swirling sea of emotions, or sometimes the dead desert of apathy, that might surround each of us in our respective realities, and help us realize how precious things like love and friendship really are. What these stories can do, however, is show us a reflection, however refracted, of ourselves and the people around us, and thus help us to intensify and appreciate the feelings that we already have the potential to express.
#Pure hearts mario how to
No game, book, or movie can teach a person how to love. But it's just a game, right? What could a game teach us about love? Well, nothing in itself, really.

Super Paper Mario claims to be a tale of love. While love is perhaps the most beautiful thing in human experience, it can also be extremely dangerous, and when directed at certain things, quite unhealthy. And moreover, love doesn't even always have to be a good thing. What love really means to us can run the gamut from claiming to love a movie, to claiming to love the child you have raised. Love is hard to define and is often downright illogical. "I love chocolate!" "I love you, mommy." "I… I think I'm in love with you." In the English language, "love" can mean a lot of things. Ahem! Today… I'll tell you the story of the lost book of prophecies.
