Paper Mario Color Splash

[JaidynReiman]

Well, at least they've got SOME original Toad designs.

[Doctor MK]

More fun with the Rescue Toad squads:

 

[Forte-Metallix]

Who's ready to see another classic Mario baddie reduced to an extremely situational boss fight?!

Such a shame. I really dig the colosseum background- a nice evolution of Iggy's infatuation with Chain Chomps.

[Tails spin]

25 minutes ago, Forte-Metallix said:

Who's ready to see another classic Mario baddie reduced to an extremely situational boss fight?!

Such a shame. I really dig the colosseum background- a nice evolution of Iggy's infatuation with Chain Chomps.

I have hardly any words. I 100% prefer Iggy's combined battle with Morton and lemmy in Paper Jam

[MegasonicZX]

Its kind of sad how literally everything i've seen of this game has sold me on it...except for the battle system, it still looks just as bland as sticker star and no matter how many times I try to look at the positives with it I still end up hating the look of it.

[Sean]

Nice to see that Thing stickers are once again required to beat boss battles. Thing stickers were my most hated aspect about Sticker Star, and if they weren't present or at least mandatory to progress and beat boss battles, I probably would have enjoyed it for what it was.  This game is going to suck just as hard as the last one.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

35 minutes ago, MegasonicZX said:

Its kind of sad how literally everything i've seen of this game has sold me on it...except for the battle system, it still looks just as bland as sticker star and no matter how many times I try to look at the positives with it I still end up hating the look of it.

They fixed the regular battles not having rewards by giving you a battle card of your enemy. Also we don't know if more than one card may have an effect on the boss. Although I've never played Sticker Star, I am curious on this one and plan to buy it

[Doctor MK]

12 minutes of gameplay from Massacre at The Golden Coliseum:

 

[MegasonicZX]

16 hours ago, Mando-Whirl-Wind said:

They fixed the regular battles not having rewards by giving you a battle card of your enemy. Also we don't know if more than one card may have an effect on the boss. Although I've never played Sticker Star, I am curious on this one and plan to buy it

I know about all that, i'm just talking about the battle system in general. Like I get that they're trying their best to make this battle system better than before but it honestly still looks and feels like its an afterthought to everything else, I know I shouldn't keep hanging on to the first two games battle systems too much (though i've pretty much accepted that we're never getting those back at this point) but looking at this just makes me want those back.

[Doctor MK]

New story details ahoy! Spoiler alert, although nothing you wouldn't already expect...

So yep, looks like Bowser is (unsurprisingly) the Big Bad again. Although they do keep saying that he seems different besides the black paint... maybe the black paint itself will form some sort of super being at the end and be the true final boss? Eh. Probably not. The important thing is, Bowser actually has dialogue.

Oh, and he kidnaps Peach. Big shock.

[Salamander]

I actually thought that looked pretty interesting.  Maybe no classic Paper Mario, but a step up from Sticker Star, at least.

Spoiler

The black paint effect on Bowser looked genuinely sinister - almost disgusting, even.  Purely as a visual effect, I think it works well in differentiating him as a threat from standard Bowser, and it also suggests there's slightly more to the plot than a standard collect-the-whatsits sequence.

The jokes were on-point, too.

[Doctor MK]

Here's some more footage of the upside down chase sequence while we're at it:

The bit with the Shy Guys right at the end is... kinda dark when you think about it? Looks like it's optional too - morality in a Paper Mario game, who'd have thunk it!

[QuantumEdge]

Really interested in some possible morality choices.  My heart's not cold enough to squish those Shy Guys like that.  Was kinda hoping Bowser wouldn't be the main villain, but things can change, so I'll see how this black paint thing plays out.  So far, still good is all I can say.  Every new video just reminds me how breath taking it looks.

[Doctor MK]

Another look at the Yellow Coliseum with the Rescue V squad:

EDIT: And, more interestingly, a 20 minute live stream showing off some of the game!

Definitely not perfect but a lot of interesting stuff going on. 

[Forte-Metallix]

So Bowser's the main villain, and he's kidnapping Peach. In other news, water is wet, and Nintendo wouldn't know an original story idea if it crawled up their nose and blew up.

On a lighter note, I've noticed a pattern with the Paint Stars and Bowser that ties into my hypothesis of what order we'll fight the Koopalings in:

Of the three Koopalings shown thus far, each guards a Paint Star that's the same color as their wand. And the six Stars are the colors of all their wands- except Roy, whose is black, like Bowser's new power.

So now we pretty much know the order we'll fight them in:

1) Morton- Red

2) Larry- Orange

3) Iggy- Yellow

4) Lemmy- Green

5) Ludwig- Blue

6) Wendy- Purple

7) Roy- Black

[Your Vest Friend]

Hmm, something I noticed a bit, don't know if it will amount to anything; Bowser's black paint form is wholly black but with his eyes yellowed. The paint can who acts as your guide looks to be black with yellow eyes inside the can itself. Wonder if they're linked. 

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

1 hour ago, VEDJ-F said:

Hmm, something I noticed a bit, don't know if it will amount to anything; Bowser's black paint form is wholly black but with his eyes yellowed. The paint can who acts as your guide looks to be black with yellow eyes inside the can itself. Wonder if they're linked. 

Yeah, it seems more like Bowser is possessed, than actual Bowser, since this one wants to take over the world, maybe it's a play on the shadow queen from TTYD, but this time the dark force has taken over bowser? or perhaps that's  not even bowser but an imposter

[Forte-Metallix]

9 minutes ago, Mando-Whirl-Wind said:

Yeah, it seems more like Bowser is possessed, than actual Bowser, since this one wants to take over the world, maybe it's a play on the shadow queen from TTYD, but this time the dark force has taken over bowser? or perhaps that's  not even bowser but an imposter

Bowser said he wanted to rule the world in Super Paper Mario. 

And given Nintendo's utter hatred of complex stories in Mario games, and Bowser's having/hijacking the role of Big Bad in every Mario RPG since Sticker Star, I highly doubt that's going to change here. Though I'd love it if Huey turned out to be manipulating him, and we end up getting to kill him, like every non-Bowser final boss in these games.

[Chili Dawg]

Game looks pretty good honestly. Boss fights still look a bit lame but the whole Thing system doesn't seem like it'll be as much of a pain in the ass as Sticker Star, so as long as the rest of the adventure is solid enough I think we're good here. 

[Adamabba]

This is a really nice looking trailer, I'm not happy it's a Sticker Star sequel like most of you are but this actually got me pretty interested in the game.

I don't like that the usual guys are the main villains, the lack of new characters, and the issues many have with the battle system, but I think it would be a big waste to write this game off completely because of that, considering all the other cool looking stuff it will feature. There's a ton of variety, creativity, and weirdness in this game (That SPM part OMG), and those are some of the most important things I wanna see in a Mario game. I love how vibrant the world looks as well. Never thought I would but I might actually get this!

[Doctor MK]

Yeah, that trailer looks legit good.

I've definitely mellowed on the game since its initial reveal. It's pretty much the ultimate refinement to the Sticker Star formula, which is what the 3DS game really should have been like in the first place. Of course, the Sticker Star gameplay is inherently not as exciting as the PM64/TTYD formula, but it still looks like it's going to be a decent game in its own right. For all its flaws, Sticker Star was more disappointing than outright bad (although it did have lots of fundamental issues), and Color Splash looks to add the charm and character back in that it sorely missed.

Anyway, new interesting things from the trailer. Here's that Super Paper Mario section that Adamabba mentioned, based on Super Mario Bros. 3:

And if you want to see the untimely fate of Princess Peach... well...

She's had all the colour drained out of her and her blank body is now on display being Bowser's throne! Which does make me question just whether this was really Bowser's doing. I mean, I know he's always out to kidnap her, but to actively hurt her like that? Something don't seem right...

[QuantumEdge]

I sure hope that trailer makes the doubters soften to it.  The game looks wacky, wonderful and really varied in locations.  Thing cards are absolutely nuts and I love them for that simply for the comedy value alone.  I'm really desperate to know how you end up in a paper version of Super Mario Bros. 3.  Gave me some Super Paper Mario vibes, which again is only a positive for me.

[Doctor MK]

Pre-order the game at Nintendo UK Online Store and get a free sticker sheet and keyring

Not a bad deal considering most sites are selling it for around the same price. It still irks me that they didn't localise "Color" to "Colour" for the UK though... even Sonic managed that! I guess SEGA really does do what Nintendon't.

EDIT: GameXplain hands-on preview discussion

 

[Doctor MK]

Sorry to double post, but... another episode of Rescue V is here, this time focusing on Green Squad!

Confirms Lemmy is the boss of a creepy circus in the woods. Also Yoshis.

[-Robin-]

Did Alphadream's writers jump on board for this game?

 

 

I'm thinking they did.