Hey so this video ended up way longer than expected, and was taking way longer than I'd like, so I've decided to split it into 2 parts to get it out quicker. This part covers the story, the next part which hopefully shouldn't take too long, will cover everything else.

Oh my god, when you stated “Mario as a concept just leaks of creativity and imagination & it shouldn’t be limited to standardization- especially not for genre of storytelling.” Oh my goodness. I felt this and I ABSOLUTELY agree with this!! If anything these just make the series stronger! Thank you for staying this in words I couldn’t put it myself.

It means so much that this game uses the phrasing "'til your games be over" instead of "'til you're crumpled up and thrown away" like the new games would certainly do.

It is funny that TheRedGuy talks about how Count Bleck refers to himself in the third person until the end of the story because in this case it is a clear sign Blumeire/Bleck is suffering from dissociative identity disorder, which is the same thing Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader has because they can't cope with their pain so they create another personality to act out their innermost darkest thoughts and desires, in this case, to make everyone as miserable and empty as they are after their great losses.

At least Luvbi's random survival was a secret. No one tells you about it unless you decide to visit the place again. So it doesn't feel like they added her back in JUST to avoid the game from coming across as too sad.

I just noticed that once he became blumerie again, bleck's eyes went from orange to blue for the first time 👀

I feel like I'm the only one thay enjoyed the gameplay

I'd argue this story is actually very Mario. For god sakes, the original game is about a guy that hits blocks to gain money and strength to beat an evil turtle king and save a princess. Mario in my opinion is literally built upon creativity.

Alright you all know the drill When Red uploads a video: Viewer proceeds to warm up a bag of popcorn in the microwave. Viewer proceeds to get excited at the same time.

i just realized every time Luigi in this story has Death or Near Death Experience it's always because of Dimentio

I love how for a person from the Tribe of "Darkness", Count Bleck’s real name contains the words "blue" and "lumière", which means "light" in french So his name means "blue light"

Wish we could atleast see bleck's dad's soul in the underwhere, lamenting his son's outcome after finding out what he did (also would be nice to see the souls of the sammer kingdom as well 😂)

It saddens me that we'll never see a Mario game with a story this ever again.

Luigi goes in and jumps on bowser and jumps on the chaos hart What a brave guy

While I could talk about Blumiere and Timpani, as well as a few other tragic couples that _really_ didn't end well, I'd instead like to mention Luvbi. Depending on how you look at events, Luvbi could be seen as the only chapter-specific partner who actually stays with you after the chapter concludes, but not for very long. Under this interpretation, she would have been less dead and more sleeping. She also raises the question of whether or not the other pure hearts, or even the chaos heart, are also sentient regardless of form. It would be really interesting if in the post game she'd recognize Count Bleck's minions like o'Chunks, Mimi, and Nastasia, even if she never actually met them. It's also interesting to think about how her status could have shaped her personality or even view of the world. It can be fun taking an object that a character is equated with and then substituting one for the other. It's technically not incorrect to basically put Luvbi herself into every cutscene where the pure hearts appear in Chapter 8, and they would certainly give a different feeling. Probably not _as_ ridiculous as imagining Link literally swinging Fi around by her feet, but not far off.

One of the greatest stories ever told in a nintendo game, personally for me it's up there with the likes of Mother 3, Majoras Mask, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers Of Sky and so on. I always do ponder what this game would have been like had it had TTYD/64 like gameplay and generally was more 3D as those games were, I do appreciate the action rpg gameplay but still would have personally perfered an even furthur expansion on TTYDs combat. But i'm overall quite happy how this game came out as a whole, you really did a phenomenal job tackling the intricacies of this monumental game, forever home to my favorite mario story / mario villain. Fantastic work as always.

Every scene Carrie is in, she looks like she's totally rocking out, pointing her fingers and jiggling them. -I'm not sure how to describe it better, you've either seen people do this or you haven't.- I mean, I know they're supposed to be her wings, but they just look like 'finger guns' now, and I'll never unsee it.

Sammer kingdom in 3D : I sleep Sammer kingdom in 2D : real shit

This is probably the best story in a Mario game. It’s clear they put tons of effort into it. Amazing video. You definitely put your heart into this one and noticed the ins and outs of this game. Never in a million years would I have known about the heart rate monitor that flatlines during the world of nothing in the music.

To this day I still don't know how SPM managed to make such funny and loveable characters come to life so... seemingly effortlessly. When I was younger, I got stuck on world 1-3, not being able to clear it for a few years. Even so, just the introduction for characters like Count Bleck and Dimentio were so memorable that they stuck with me until I was finally able to progress through the game. Playing the game again recently, every time I see a hilariously witty pun or a shockingly clever insult thrown at Bowser, I just think "Man, it would take me AGES to come up with a single line of dialogue this good!" I just wish more games had such moments that would stick with me so effectively, In that sense, It almost feels like SPM is a sort of... ANTI game. Like the best parts are things you could experience in a simple movie. But no... even though SPM doesn't exactly win any awards in the gameplay department, simply getting to play THROUGH the story instead of just watching it happen is what makes it so endearing for me. Its so easy to imagine yourself as Mario, (due to him being a silent protagonist) And you are along for the ride of the story that truly belongs to Tippi, Bleck, and the rest of the cast of truly wonderful characters. I... think I got a little off topic there, but I guess the point is its a shame Nintendo, (Or more specifically Miyamoto) Discourages story in their games, as they are truly capable of making something incredible.

That "oh ya, it's all coming together" really got me 🤣🤣🤣

The concept of the Void can get even darker than what you went over. If it has the power to erase all of existence… what does that say for us? Here? On Earth? Ignoring the fact that by this logic it could also erase worlds of IPs that don’t belong to Nintendo, this could very well mean that the Void could destroy our universe too. That’s a really grim thought. We know what happened to the Sammer Kingdom, and know that if Mario fails, then all the worlds we see in the game will meet the same fate, but it’s scary to think that this could’ve destroyed us as well.

Also yes, a mainline mario platformer with an in depth/creative story akin to this game would be interesting for sure, I have a hard time picturing a mainline 3D mario game with a plot this in depth and grand, but that indeed would be a treat. Galaxy came a little way in its optional Rosalinas library stories, but ofcourse wasn't the main plot at all.

28:18 that is true, Luigi is not weak

Natasia being a bat would line up with her super hypnosis, giving her a kind of vampire motif. Vampires in many stories can compel mortal beings to do their will… Or a mystified SuperSonics voice speaking to those who can’t hear it. Though I think everyone can actually hear her hypnosis. Also vampires often dress up as royals, but more specifically in suits and capes. Natasia is wearing something close to the female version of that

1:05:12 Don't forget about the interesting animation of Bowser flailing his arms! Besides his dialogue and writing, that was incredibly hilarious!

this is my childhood game, this was my first Paper Mario game I didn't know at first since I was 10 or 12 but now this game has a very dark story, I need to get this game

Your last paper Mario review was as fleshed out and original as the game.

Hey. I just want to thank you really quickly for this video. It really expressed my experience with Super Paper Mario over the years. I grew up with it as my first paper Mario game, and I loved it. But over the years it has been fairly hard to rap my head around it. Because honestly while the story is incredible the gameplay is pretty terrible. Having played every paper Mario game, I wish that SPM had gameplay similar to TTYD. I still go back and play it for the story, but man, if the gameplay was there, it’d probably be one of my favorite games of all time. And these 2 videos perfectly capture that. Your paper Mario videos are the best analyses about Paper Mario out there. I want to just thank you for that. Same with your sticker Star video, which is a game I also grew up with. It’s a terrible game, and I made a 3 hour video (which was not good at all.) trying to explain my feelings on it. It was essentially a 3 hour coping session and I’ve learned a lot from it. Your Sticker Star video is one of my favorite videos on KZfaq and I can not wait until your Color Splash video. I have a large amount of disdain for that game. Anyways, thanks!

Loved watching these for ttyd and super while playing super Metroid, great time all around and I love how in depth you went with the lore and all, so many details covered. Makes me want to replay the games for like the 20th time lmao

56:58 there's one guy who makes series called "Dark Aspects of Nintendo" and in Super Paper Mario he did mention that not even Afterlife is safe.

I think the Japanese theming of the Sammer Kingdom was intentional. Maybe an illusion to the nuclear bombs and the looming threat of war. Showing the damage it does

This was my first Paper Mario gamez and even after playing TTYD, I still love this game. It's story is great, the gameplay while more like generic mario is still fun, and the worlds, music, visuals and characters are awesome.

I think it was kind of a missed opportunity to not have Wario and Waluigi as side characters somewhere in this game or A TTYD.

Been looking forward to more PM stuff from you. I've always appreciated SPM but find it the least replayable out of the "original trio." I'm not surprised you spent so long just talking about story and characters. It was really fun to listen to and I appreciate how in depth you went! Is it weird to say listening to the review...kind of makes me sad? I know we'll never get anything as deep from the Mario series ever again since the franchise became so sterilized. Can't wait for part 2!

How great would it have been if one of the Pure Hearts the Ancients placed was in the Mushroom Kingdom? It would really motivate you to spare your own world from Sammer Kingdom’s fate.

44:50 a great possible example of the Chad "men have no feelings" meme with the robed Chad crying/shadowed with his face 😅

The Joke Of Saying Mr L Is Lord Crump Got Me.

I completely agree with the worlds and chapter plots tending to be less interesting than in TTYD while the main plot was much better. Not just in depth but 2 things in particular for me: The main story in TTYD basically doesnt exist until the last 2 chapters, with the villains not even really being in control of the plot and gradually becoming more and more irrelevant besides them having Peach and cryptic hints of their plan. Sure SPM also doesn't really involve the main plot until the last 3 chapters, but the villains are in control of the plot, there's the existence of the void, Peach and Luigi trying to escape Bleck's castle early in the game, the backstory of Bleck and hints that Dimentio might end up being more than just a minion. Speaking of, Dimentio is literally just the Beldam-Shadow Queen twist done right. I feel one of the biggest weaknesses of TTYD's final boss twist is that the twist comes out of nowhere and that Beldam and the Shadow Queen are different characters. The Shadow Queen basically has no screentime until the very end and only is freed because of Beldam's plan and not anything she did while Beldam is framed as a bumbling idiot who loses to Mario as early as chapter 2, so when she's revealed as the mastermind its hard to really feel like thats actually the case, especially when she is immediately overshadowed. Dimentio on the other hand is actually built up throughout the story, is shown to be testing the heroes instead of completely losing and is both the mastermind and the final boss so he never gets overshadowed. Plus Count Bleck being more fleshed out means he actually gets to still feel important and do stuff after the twist, whereas Grodus just gets shelved for a villain that doesn't even feel that different tbh.

i never really understood a big part of poeple hating on this game years ago untill they released sticker star and i played through the old games. since i grew up with super paper mario i fell in love with this story. i do really understand why poeple disliked it more then the first two but if you havent played it dont let the non rpg aspect distract you. the story is amazing and it left a great mark on me

57:59 In Flipside, it was mentioned by one of the locals about their afterlife being destroyed. By the way, about the residents, Flipside has some very fun and endearing characters that the player isn't required to talk to, but if they do, they'd care more about the overall story about their worlds being destroyed. The reason this wasn't incorporated in the main game more is because the game developers didn't want to break up the pace of this action-adventure game. People have criticized this game because of all of the dialogue between the platforming. The is a fundamental issue with the game, where the new genre is at odds with the story this game is trying to present.

1:13:40 So I think there's some interesting theorizing that can be done with Nastasia, not much seems to known of the Tribe of Darkness, but going off of the cloak, charismatic nature, and title of Count, Blumiere isn't lacking in Vampire connections himself, so maybe the Tribe of Darkness, is inspired by or straight up are Vampires? Between Nastasia and Bleck, I'd say there's a possibility at least.

God tier story analysis, good job man!

This game is really impressive considering it was supposed to be a spin-off or non-mainline title which would release alongside ttyd on the Gamecube and be a one-off shift from the series, but do to development going beyond the original time restraints, it ended up on the Wii. In my opinion the games really started to downgrade when the team making the games changed and remade the formula mostly for the worst. If intelligent systems had kept the same director (forgot his name may write it later edit : ryota kawate) and staff members the games would have continued it's rpg formula after Super Paper Mario.

Best movie I've seen in months

1:13:45 it could also be of note that Nastasia uses the same colour palette as Swoops, the bat enemy from Mario. This could link the bat-woman transformation.

This was amazing! Great work as always!!

This video was great! Well structured, well thought out, well edited, funny, and had me entertained all throughout. Unsubscribed

Love your naming of "that bad guy"

Love the edit of Infinite

Considering the fact that Bonechill is the mario version of satan and mario and friends just straight up kill him even though he is a nimbi that got bad meaning he was already dead, I think that's pretty cool. Do you think Dimentio takes up the empty spot left by Bonechill in the underwhere? Something to think about

That bad guy🤣

What kinda surprised me is how scary the game was. Paper mario actually wad pretty creepy.

apparently the thing about bleck and o chunks is just a difference in translation. in the original Japanese version, he actually saved o'chunks.

This was the first video game I ever played that had any sort of deep storyline in it AT ALL. The only other games I had really played up to that point were flash games, other Mario games (none of the other 2 old paper marios though), smash bros, and simpsons hit and run. Nothing with any major story to it, especially not the Mario ones. So I was expecting no real story here as well. Then I watch the opening cutscene where Peach is kidnapped by Bleck, Bleck blocks Mario and LITERALLY ONE SHOTS HIM, then KIDNAPS BOWSER TOO, and I'm just like OH CRAP. Experiencing this bombshell of a story as a FRICKING 6 YEAR OLD??????????? YEA I CRIED MULTIPLE TIMES, ONLY OTHER GAMES SINCE THAT HAVE DONE THE SAME WITH ITS STORY WERE UNDERTALE AND OMORI. THIS GAME IS LITERALLY WHAT STARTED MY ADDICTION TO LORE AND DEEP STORYTELLING IN GAMES. IN ANY MEDIA! So I was pretty happy when, of all games, Origami King decided to bring back some gut punches to its story as well. Gut punches that actually hit hard. But I guess we'll get there when we get there. Great review so far.

This is great and I know part 2 is going to be great.

Dimensio is just Kefka reincarnated

I watched this video a few days ago, and just today remembered the incessant joking about "that bad guy". I watched a few other ppl covering this game too, but couldnt figure out who made the jokes with my brain alone, so i looked up "paper mario that bad guy" and ended up here. 💀💀

I think the best bowser of all time is in mario and luigi bowser's inside story, but you'll get a pass since you stated you never played thata game and you're looking forward to play it

I can’t wait for him to do color splash because I really want to know his opinion on that game but that’s probably gonna take a while

I feel like dimentio (and to a degree fawful as fawful low-key had some moments that made it seem like he'd turn on cackletta, but just... Didn't 😂) is like the joker from the dark knight where he just happened to see some raging lunatic in the distance raving over the lost of his gf and gain of this evil dark book; and just decided to entertain bleck till he can weaponize the chaos heart. To me it's just a coincidence that bleck had the memes to destroy the universe/multiverse, dimentio would constantly be looking for a way

I wonder if it was how this game was received that made nintendo forbid unique characters in paper mario games.

This was, by far, my favorite Mario game, ever!

Holy shit this is an amazing Review Love your work Red Boi!!!

I would comment first but that would be giving attention to the "total shill" that this "Red Guy" is Wait shoot

I am a bit drunk. But I am glad to see you back at it. This game gets over looked a bit too much. It deserves this much of a critique.

Well done mate

this game was good, the story dimentio the goat, the plot twist the fact that you can play as luigi peach and bowser is just so cool mister L the pixel this is just awesome

I always liked this game. I will defend it to the ends of the earth as one of the best Mario games I have seen. The very essence of the game, from the stakes being higher to the story being richer and even the playstyle being overhauled, this game tried so much new stuff at once, and it worked. *really* well. Almost *too* well, even. Which is probably why (among other reasons that I am just frustrated about, to say the least) the subsequent games were so bland by comparison. SPM was the peak of the PM series. The entire trilogy (PM64, TTYD, SPM) was, but this one especially. It was an incredible experience, it even made me *want* to 100% it, it didn't even feel tedious (like subsequent games) and I enjoyed it so much

Really not sure what I think of this game, it was the first PM game I played but the first two are so good. Maybe just as good on different merits?

he's struggling against the... Bleck identity... now that's a soundbyte

I didn't know there was a bar(assuming flopside lol) that has background information on beck's crew lol

good vid

I like how Mario's head is less flat in this game.

One of these days im gonna finish this game. I love it but I always end up playing something else.

Beautiful video. Super Paper Mario’s story is one of the best I have ever played in my life and I hope people actually come recognize how unique and God tier this game is.

Question. At 32:38, is that pure heart not blue? And is it not the purple pure heart? I’ve always been confused abt this

Lol I actually thought this was the Red guy from DHMIS

Wait. I think I just realized how Luvbi could’ve come back to life: she didn’t. When she turned back into the Pure Heart, Luvbi was still alive; she might’ve even retained her consciousness, though I’m not sure. When the Purity Heart was used to banish the Chaos Heart, that would be when Luvbi actually died. Or rather, her game ended. The Overthere is where people who have led a good life go when their games end, and that’s how Luvbi is in the Overthere. Granted, it does seem like she skipped the whole “sins weighed by Jaydes” thing, but the point is, this is Luvbi’s afterlife: being truly loved and cared by the same parents that looked after her when she was alive.

The act man sent me

I'm pretty sure this was the first Paper Mario game I played, although I did play the previous ones later. (It's been about 10 years since I played TTYD, damn.) I didn't know SPM was divisive, even if it's different. Anyway, I love it. And I think you analysed the story really well. I'm bad at that, so I don't have much to say other than that I liked the video. 27:37 Do you know those moments when you get an idea of what's happening, but it turns out you guessed wrong? Here I thought there might be a dire remix of the music from the kingdom, which may have been a nice idea, but a heart rate monitor is good as well, I guess. 1:10:48 If I recall correctly, Tippi says that Mimi forgot what her true form even was. And I think the spider is a machine, which can be seen if you switch to 3D. Also, in the German version, Mr. L is called Master L. Mister, master and the German word for it all sound similar, so by changing it they arguably made it more similar, I think. And I noticed that Dimentio asked O'Chunks and Mario and his team whether they want his help or something. Maybe he can only control them after they agreed? 1:18:27 Actually, the story of one villain betraying another one seemed familiar to me. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team Bros. has a similar twist. I wonder if that's a coincidence. Hmm, and maybe Dimentio's name is a mixture of dimension (teleporting) and dementia (mind control)? I'm not sure what to think of that. 1:26:20 It's been so long. I guess I saw that she comes back, but I really forgot it. Thanks, man. Mimi also goes back to the mansion after beating the game.

Never noticed the heartbeat part of chapter 6😅 this game is dark 😂

I wish I had a love like court bleck

I decided to play super paper Mario a few years ago and to be honest I didn’t really like it. I thought the gameplay was just boring as hell but even so I think the game should definitely be appreciated for having the best story a Mario game has ever told (even if the bar wasn’t exactly high). There is no doubt in my mind that a Mario game will never have this level of story ever again so it really should be appreciated. If it wasn’t for this game Bowser Junior’s Journey would have the best Story In the Mario franchise (i’m only half joking about that because Bowser Junior‘s journey actually does have a really good story😂)

Juste trop bien.

Sorry if this has been posted already but Luvbii does come back if you return to the overthere in the postgame.

1:06:32 (sigh) red let me level with You right quick there a clear difference between lord cromp and mr l and that is that lord cromp is round while Mr l is skinny so if mr l was not Luigi lord cromp's rounded fetures would be noticeable and You can easy tell who that is the only why his four eyes disguste works is becuase he looks exactly like lord cromp and mr l is skinny just like Luigi so it makes sense

I respect the amount of effort that was put into this analysis. However, it still hasn't conviced me that this game's story isn't overhyped. And I'll try to explain why. Count Bleck is not that great of an antagonist. He only seems unique in comparison to all other Mario villains, who are just power-hungry archetypes. His motivations for destruction are still very simple and typical. The story could still have been elevated by futher developing the relationship he had with Timpani, but the bits we learn in-between chapters are very little and basic. Plus, the "Two lovers can't be together because their tribes dislike each other" has been done to death. I didn't care about his minions either. Putting all their backstories as an info dump you can miss is a very poor way to flesh them out, If I can even consider it that. Them becoming good because PLOT DEVICE and having an undeserved redemption arc doesn't sit right with me either, specially for characters who were working to erase the world 10 minutes ago. Why do the most aclaimed Paper Mario stories always do this thing? This, combined with over half of the chapters having a very barebones self-contained storyline, (twists coming out of thin air, triying to be sad by killing unlikable characters I met for one chapter, tops), make for a not so special narrative experience, even if it has some good moments like Chapter 6. I'd say my favorite Mario story is TTYD's, which I haven't played but still now a lot about because you know, in this era one often sees people play games instead of playing them directly. It impressed me with how it managed mystery and foreshadowing, many individual chapter's plots and some elements of the main storyline. Even then, the villains are even more lame than SPM's and the epilogue brings the whole thing down, so I don't believe a truly great Mario story has ever been made. Hopefully one day...

hey my name has been stolen!

This game is everything I hate about Nintendo as a company. When they mess up a good idea--they really mess up.

I really liked this game until 1 part which ruined the whole game for me and I stopped playing it. It was a while ago but it was some bowser arena part.

I have the rob

I wonder why you Say that Bad guy becuase it's not funny