Paper Mario: Sticker Star is fast approaching, and with a North American release date of November 11, news and information will soon start pouring in for this highly anticipated title. Just like we did in our What’s New in New Super Mario Bros. 2 article, we will be taking a closer look at the information we have, determining what is new, what is old, and what has changed from past games in the series. With little time and a lot to discuss, let’s begin with what is new!
Story
If there is ever a place to find a story in a Mario game, then it’s in the Paper Mario series. Each Paper Mario game has presented an incredible and intriguing story that never disappoints, and Sticker Star looks to follow that path. While we are still shaky on the details, the gist of the story goes like this:
On the day of the annual Sticker Fest, Bowser decides to pull a prank and scatters six Royal Stickers across the land. To retrieve these mysterious, magical stickers, which are now stuck onto Bowser and his underlings, Mario sets off on an adventure with Kersti, a sticker fairy, visiting prairies, deserts, forests, snowy mountains and volcanoes around the world.
While it doesn’t look like we be destroying giant vortexes or trying to pry open thousand year old doors, what we will get is that interactive and humorous story that the Paper Mario series is known for. For the first time since the original, Bowser is set to be the main villain again, but there is always the possibility that another villain will be introduced later in the game. And who knows what happens when you collect the six Royal Stickers?
Characters
As any Paper Mario game would, Sticker Star has and will introduce an array of new characters, all of which will have their own personality. What we know is limited, but we can already start talking about the few characters that have been revealed. The most notable new character is Kersti, a sticker fairy that will accompany Mario throughout his adventure. Think of her as Tippi from Super Paper Mario, or Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. She is not a partner per se, but she is with you at all times.
Next up we have a familiar character showing up in paper form for the first time. Bowser Jr. will be making his first appearance in a Paper Mario game, and it looks like you will be encountering him early on, according to the PAX demos at least. Perhaps he will take a role like Jr. Troopa from the original Paper Mario, getting into several battles with Mario at different times in the game.
We still have plenty of characters waiting to be revealed, but we have already gotten a glimpse of some of the Toad characters scattered in the grasslands. The owner of the stall where stickers are transformed into items has already been seen to have a perky attitude.
Enemies
This one is a given, but new enemies are set to appear in the game. With the information we have, we have assembled a list of newcomers that have never been in a Paper Mario game before:
- Ice Bros. (from New Super Mario Bros. Wii)
- Goomba Towers (from Super Mario 3D Land)
- Snow Spike (from New Super Mario Bros.)
- Whomp (from Super Mario 64)
- Mariachi Band Shy Guys (New!)
Many more characters are expected to join the list, but we also have a few boss characters that have been seen through screenshots and videos:
- Giant Paperized Goomba
- Giant Pokey
- Giant Monty Mole (King?)
Stickers
Stickers will be scattered across the entire game, allowing Mario to pick them up and use them in a number of situations. These stickers will be used inside and outside of battle, helping Mario progress through the game. Stickers are collected and assigned to the bottom touch screen, so be wary when collecting big stickers as they take up a lot of space. Depending on what sticker is used, an effect will happen that changes the environment in some way. Battles are also affected, but we will take a closer look further down the article.
There is also a new technique that is used outside of battle known as Paperization. With the help of Kersti, players can find specific locations that are in need of change. With Paperization, players can use Kersti to paste stickers on the environment, allowing for that change to happen.
Battle System
Fans of the series can give a sigh of relief as the classic RPG styled battle system is returning from the first two games in the series. However, changes have been made to the classic formula. Your move-set is now strictly composed of the stickers you have on hand. Using a shoe sticker will allow you to make a classic jump on the enemy, and the same goes for a variety of different hammer stickers. A health bar for the entire team of enemies appears overhead, as well as your own health meter. Flower Points have not yet been seen. 
Items are essentially replaced with stickers. Using more than one sticker at a time is possible, but you will have to spin the Battle Spinner to achieve this. Matching two on the spinner will allow for the use of two stickers, while matching all three grants you three stickers. Defeating all the enemies in one hit at the start of a battle will get you a Perfect Bonus, awarding you with a few more coins. Players will no longer be collecting Experience Points and instead will receive level up bonuses by achieving certain goals in the game.
World Map
Remember the World Map from the past Paper Mario games? Not so much, right? In Sticker Star, the World Map will not only be used as an overview of the entire world like it was in the past Paper Mario games, but now players will be able to fast travel to any location they have been to on the map. All the locations are connected to one another, and the options to skip over a few locations or to continue on is there.
And it also looks like we will be getting four levels, or four locations, per chapter, just like Super Paper Mario. The first chapter, or World, is set to have four levels displayed as “W1-1” and “W1-2” and so on.
Partners
Unfortunately, Sticker Star does not seem to have partners in the traditional sense. While nothing is confirmed, partners have not been seen in any of the screens and videos released as of now. We do have Kersti who is always by Mario’s side, but partners that join your party and fight with you in battles are not present. Temporary partners, like the Toad that needs help in the PAX demo, are back, but no word on actual partners.
UPDATE: Many have mentioned the Chain Chomp partner seen in the E3 2010 images. Being over two years old, we consider those images beta, and not final.
Locations
One of the most interesting aspects of the Paper Mario series are the locations that Mario will frequent along his journey. We have seen him take trips to floating cities, underground caverns, toy boxes, and more. Things are looking to be a little more simpler in Sticker Star, as the locations that we have seen resemble the world themes from the New Super Mario Bros. series. So far, we have the following locations:
- Grasslands
- Moutain Range
- Desert
- Snow
- Lava
- Dark Forest
We know that we will be collecting six Royal Stickers, and you can bet that each one will be in one of the locations above. But again, what happens when we collect all six Royal Stickers? What location do we go to from there? We still have these locations unaccounted for:
- Castle/Fortress
- Underground Cave (resembles the classic W1-2)
- Room full of Cards
- Wooden Tower
Objective
You main goal is to collect the six Royal Stickers from the six different locations in the game. This isn’t something we haven’t seen before. First we had to rescue the seven Star Spirits, then collect the seven Crystal Stars, and finally obtain all eight Pure Hearts. For Sticker Star, we will only have to collect six of these items, meaning we will have a lot more to do after the main objective, or we simply have a shorter game.
What else is old? Not much else! Everything is either new or has been altered in a way that makes it new again. Paper Mario: Sticker Star is not going completely back to the ways of the original Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. They are trying something new and it will be very interesting to see what will come in the final product. While we wait, check out even more screens from the game below!
