How Paper Mario is Muffles’ key ingredient

Hello gamers,

Well, well, well. If it isn’t BOSSY, doing a new Devlog.

It’s been a while- where HAVE I been exactly? Working on Muffles’ Life sentence Episode 3? A likely story!

(But really I’ve just been working on Episode 3 a lot.)

To commemorate the BossyPino Discord Paper Mario stream (happening May 2nd in the discord!) Bossy is THRILLED to make a Devlog sharing why Paper Mario is such an important blueprint for Muffles. Bossy played Paper Mario and its sequel (the Thousand Year Door) a lot growing up and its balance of quirky humor, simple and effective RPG mechanics, and unique art direction made a HUGE impression on him.

At that young an age, brains are like sponges, and Paper Mario got aaaaaall up in there and made Bossy an RPG fan for life.

What practical RPG-isms are best taken from Paper Mario? What does Bossy remember most? Is Bossy a thief who steals from the classics? Let’s get into it!

Why Paper Mario is different

Even removing nostalgia from the equation, Paper Mario stands out in the sea of early 2000s RPGs.

  • Streamlined combat that leverages staples of the genre
  • Confident storytelling using a wide range of Mario characters and adding many new ones to the world
  • An art style with exceptional branding and charm that perfectly fits the tone
  • Very approachable difficulty wise with excellent pacing and difficulty spikes
  • Zone-based narrative arcs with real stakes and characters we invest in
  • Companions as helpful and fun to play with as they are interesting to learn about

When it comes to Nintendo polish and ability to create unique IPs, Paper Mario is an amazing showcase that stands up today. It gave young Bossy days and days of enjoyment, meeting new characters and exploring a whole new world.

The right kind of goofy

Let’s forget narrative structure for a minute and zoom in on TONE. Deadpan NPCs, absurd situations, weird side quests, unexpected punchlines- the creators of these games clearly had a love for RPGs they wanted to be front and center, while at the same time keeping themselves from becoming formulaic or restricted by the genre.

Paper Mario backs up its excellent writing with visuals that fit the humor- pairing different characters with the perfect jokes. An example that comes to mind is with Doopliss, the ghostly doppelgänger who steals Mario’s body and leaves you controlling just Mario’s shadow. The way body-swap Mario and shadow Mario are illustrated means you’re never confused about who is who, and the contrast leads to hijinks aplenty.

A CRITICAL point- the absurd and goofy situations of Paper Mario do not undercut the sincere emotion and stakes on hand. Characters take themselves seriously and aren’t just there to tell or take a joke. A situation can feel genuinely dire, but when you take a step back to look at the whole thing you can say ‘huh it’s a Italian man and a bipedal tortoise spending flowers to fight a grasshopper-nauseated paper dragon on a theater stage.’

Some Muffles examples

But how does Muffles specifically learn from Paper Mario? The answer is complicated- I don’t REALLY know. Bossy’s brain is a soup (ew) of influences that he’s been pouring games into since he was the wee-est of lads and it all soups together into one soup cacophony that roars so loud it’s hard to hear sometimes.

But here’s a few things that come to mind:

  • Classic, simple RPG combat that requires managing HP and MP.
  • Zone-based pacing and narrative set in vastly different settings with characters and companions specific to that setting
  • A silent protagonist
  • Companions that puzzle-solving abilities outside of battle and combat ones in battle (this is a big one actually!)
  • Comedic tone that is self-aware of the game’s own RPG-ness, but keeps grounded stakes
  • A broad mix of music with simple but strong motifs

Maybe the biggest single ‘steal’ was choosing to have the first MLS companion have an ‘Analyze’ ability. In Paper Mario, it was so fun to start early with the ability to gain special insight into your environment and the new characters you brush up against, and in the bleak world of MLS full of strangely converted characters it turned out to be a pretty cool match.

Join the watch party!

For all of you reading this the day-of, the discord event is happening tomorrow May 2nd! The amazing Nomad will be playing while Bossy goes ON and ON and ON rambling about how much he loves RPGs or probably something like that. The emulation is all set up, the time’s been set, and all that’s left is to chill out with you lovely fans and have some quality time.

Episode 3 is coming soon. There’s just so much to do. But the release date still is looking good. I hope. No it is, for sure. Oh crap I have to make a trailer for it like at least a week before release don’t I??? IT’LL BE FINE BOSSY CALM DOWN.

Until next time~

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