This review contains spoilers
This game was essentially birthed from that Super Bowser Bros mini game from TTYD where they thought "hey wouldn't this be cool to make a whole game like this?"
Ultimately there is a lot of greatness in this game. Wandering around Flipside and Flopside seeing the ever growing threat of the void in the background juxtaposed with this happy music creates a foreboding feeling similar to the Moon in Majora's Mask. The lore of the Ancients and how they essentially enslaved the Pixls is a really dark take I wasn't expecting to see in a Mario game. So many iconic parts too like having your own brother turned against you as Mr. L and then going to rescue him in hell will forever be memorable.
Having Peach and Bowser show more of their personality is fantastic to see. This game is truly a delight for any hardcore Mario fan. The amount of references to PM64 and TTYD is great to see as well. Fighting against an otaku chameleon who collects retro Nintendo stuff is hilarious. That dating simulator "fight" was just some great comedy. So many little NPCs and minor storylines in both towns too, adds a lot of life to Flipside and Flopside. Tippi has a lot to add to the characters if you bother pointing the wiimote at the screen to tattle. You can tell this game was designed for the GameCube at first, having access only to the Wiimote sideways makes playing it kinda awkward especially with how often you have to switch to the menu to change characters/pixls.
The love story between Bleck and Timpani is a bit cheesy but ultimately it's a good message. Cool idea to have your tutorial companion actually have a relationship with the main villain.
Nonetheless, this game does have a few sour notes preventing it from getting a higher score for me. The tediousness of the gameplay, the basic puzzles, the braindead combat, etc. really add some dullness to the gameplay loop of an otherwise great game. The simple fact is that Mario as a platformer is designed for you to take about 2-3 hits before dying, not like 500 like they've designed for you in this game. The RPG mechanic and the platform mechanic do not mesh that well here IMO compared to the formula used in say Super Mario RPG.
You have so much potential having Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi in your party for great character interactions which do not get used often enough. Due to the fact Mario is the only one with the ability to flip to 3D, it is more efficient to mostly play as him while swapping to the other characters as needed. Which is a shame. I've wanted to play as Luigi in a Paper Mario game for awhile and you barely get to use the man. At least they made Bowser lots of fun to use but he is ridiculously broken, he makes this game go from easy to braindead.
Also if you're interested in 100%ing this game, just don't. Although they've taken lots of steps to make cooking the recipes a lot less tedious with the recipe disks showing you what dishes you can cook and where ingredients are found, I ultimately found the cooking mechanic pretty pointless considering you are always healed constantly in the actual levels. It's really only useful for the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials. Which is a shame because getting craftables from levels and cooking them into something useful should just be a pretty easy gameplay mechanic to implement but it feels pretty much completely optional which is weird (this is an issue I have with the previous 2 Paper Mario games too).
Getting all the cards and maps is a complete drag also. The post-game is an absolute slog fest. If you didn't do the Flipside 100 Trials before the credits you are essentially looking at 400 repetitive battles you must do. Flipside 100 Trials, Sammer Guys tournament, and Flopside 100 Trials twice. The bosses are all completely underwhelming and it's hard not to overlevel yourself just going through the game normally to 100% it.
Despite these complaints, this game is still an absolute treat to play through to the credits at least once. I haven't gone through Sticker Star or Color Splash just yet, but it's a shame this was the last great Paper Mario game. Can't fault it for trying to do something new.
Ultimately there is a lot of greatness in this game. Wandering around Flipside and Flopside seeing the ever growing threat of the void in the background juxtaposed with this happy music creates a foreboding feeling similar to the Moon in Majora's Mask. The lore of the Ancients and how they essentially enslaved the Pixls is a really dark take I wasn't expecting to see in a Mario game. So many iconic parts too like having your own brother turned against you as Mr. L and then going to rescue him in hell will forever be memorable.
Having Peach and Bowser show more of their personality is fantastic to see. This game is truly a delight for any hardcore Mario fan. The amount of references to PM64 and TTYD is great to see as well. Fighting against an otaku chameleon who collects retro Nintendo stuff is hilarious. That dating simulator "fight" was just some great comedy. So many little NPCs and minor storylines in both towns too, adds a lot of life to Flipside and Flopside. Tippi has a lot to add to the characters if you bother pointing the wiimote at the screen to tattle. You can tell this game was designed for the GameCube at first, having access only to the Wiimote sideways makes playing it kinda awkward especially with how often you have to switch to the menu to change characters/pixls.
The love story between Bleck and Timpani is a bit cheesy but ultimately it's a good message. Cool idea to have your tutorial companion actually have a relationship with the main villain.
Nonetheless, this game does have a few sour notes preventing it from getting a higher score for me. The tediousness of the gameplay, the basic puzzles, the braindead combat, etc. really add some dullness to the gameplay loop of an otherwise great game. The simple fact is that Mario as a platformer is designed for you to take about 2-3 hits before dying, not like 500 like they've designed for you in this game. The RPG mechanic and the platform mechanic do not mesh that well here IMO compared to the formula used in say Super Mario RPG.
You have so much potential having Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi in your party for great character interactions which do not get used often enough. Due to the fact Mario is the only one with the ability to flip to 3D, it is more efficient to mostly play as him while swapping to the other characters as needed. Which is a shame. I've wanted to play as Luigi in a Paper Mario game for awhile and you barely get to use the man. At least they made Bowser lots of fun to use but he is ridiculously broken, he makes this game go from easy to braindead.
Also if you're interested in 100%ing this game, just don't. Although they've taken lots of steps to make cooking the recipes a lot less tedious with the recipe disks showing you what dishes you can cook and where ingredients are found, I ultimately found the cooking mechanic pretty pointless considering you are always healed constantly in the actual levels. It's really only useful for the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials. Which is a shame because getting craftables from levels and cooking them into something useful should just be a pretty easy gameplay mechanic to implement but it feels pretty much completely optional which is weird (this is an issue I have with the previous 2 Paper Mario games too).
Getting all the cards and maps is a complete drag also. The post-game is an absolute slog fest. If you didn't do the Flipside 100 Trials before the credits you are essentially looking at 400 repetitive battles you must do. Flipside 100 Trials, Sammer Guys tournament, and Flopside 100 Trials twice. The bosses are all completely underwhelming and it's hard not to overlevel yourself just going through the game normally to 100% it.
Despite these complaints, this game is still an absolute treat to play through to the credits at least once. I haven't gone through Sticker Star or Color Splash just yet, but it's a shame this was the last great Paper Mario game. Can't fault it for trying to do something new.