Update 07/22:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/0RKJt2wxots?wmode=opaque
IGN posted a new video titled "Paper Mario Color Splash is the Big Wii U Game You Need This Fall."
Confirms:
Original post follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMFg7Xm_PQk
Thought this was a really good preview/impressions from Altano and Sliva. I'm glad to see the game turning some of the initial negative impressions around. I think it's going to be a gem of an exclusive swan song for Wii U.
BTW, if you're interested in other recent footage of the game, check out Mpl90's thread with Dark Bloo Inn footage. The Title Screen is in the second post for those interested. In addition, I also posted some other footage in that thread.
And Calm Mind kindly made a .gif to remember, of one stylish Breakdancing Pig:
I'm also going to repost Mr. Waluigi's excellent recent posts on the game, he's got a great analysis going of how Color Splash is a major step beyond Sticker Star.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/0RKJt2wxots?wmode=opaque
IGN posted a new video titled "Paper Mario Color Splash is the Big Wii U Game You Need This Fall."
Confirms:
Original post follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMFg7Xm_PQk
Thought this was a really good preview/impressions from Altano and Sliva. I'm glad to see the game turning some of the initial negative impressions around. I think it's going to be a gem of an exclusive swan song for Wii U.
BTW, if you're interested in other recent footage of the game, check out Mpl90's thread with Dark Bloo Inn footage. The Title Screen is in the second post for those interested. In addition, I also posted some other footage in that thread.
And Calm Mind kindly made a .gif to remember, of one stylish Breakdancing Pig:
I'm also going to repost Mr. Waluigi's excellent recent posts on the game, he's got a great analysis going of how Color Splash is a major step beyond Sticker Star.
Here's a little information breakdown I made. I made it for /v/ and I'm too lazy to make it look better so deal with the greentexting please.
Color Splash is to Sticker Star what TTYD was to Paper Mario 64
>PM (SS) simplified SMRPG (PM)'s system for something that's less like a traditional JRPG
>Bowser is the bad guy again
>Story about Bowser messing with a wish-granting artefact and wishes not being granted anymore
>That aside, a straight-up "Peach got kidnapped by Bowser" story
>Toad Town = Decalburg
>TTYD (CS) takes what PM (SS) did and makes it better
>Story is about Mario going to a faraway country to solve a mystery
>TTYD (CS)'s villains are after the Crystal Stars (Big Paint Stars) for nefarious purposes while the heroes are after them to prevent said purposes, while the stars themselves were dispersed by a third party (4 legendary heroes in TTYD, ??? in Color Splash)
>Both games do something different with Peach being kidnapped (she is kidnapped by someone else than Bowser and her location is kept unknown in TTYD, while she seemingly does not get kidnapped in CS as far as we know)
>Rogueport = Port Prisma
Game has an actual story
>only main Mario characters appear but Bowser apparently being the main villain could be a red herring; as they are keeping the main villain a secret, and it wouldn't be the first time his troops got hijacked: see SMRPG, M&L1, M&L3, SPM
>there is still a mystery to solve: what are Bowser's troops gathering the island's colors for? who sent Peach the blanked-out Toad? if bowser is not actually the villain and instead his assets are only being used, where is he and who is the actual villain (assuming they are a regular mario character)? both mario and the koopalings are after the paint stars, meaning that they are not guarding them but rather looking for them at the same time, meaning that a third party spread them over the island
>developer said some people cried at the end, and hinted that had to do with huey and mario's relationship. is it a do-over of kersti's "sacrifice" in Sticker Star, or is there something actually unexpected? the developer also did not want to tell much about the story because there would be a plot twist
>goombella and parakarry both got cameos in Sticker Star in the form of text, and Goombella was going to appear in SPM as a proper characrer too. they've been trying to have these characters become paper mario regulars, could they make an appearance again at some point?
Here is the number of areas in every Paper Mario game:
>PM1: 34 areas
>PM2: 21 areas
>PM3: 34 areas
>PM4: 40 areas
>PM5: 31 areas (as seen on the world map)
Every area seen so far has been more creative than what Sticker Star did for the most part. It looks like this will feel more like a proper console Mario RPG than New Paper Mario 3DS: Home Edition.
Here is the world map as of the end of Chapter 1. Notice how these levels are completed (some aren't seen on this screenshot but you can go look by yourself): Port Prisma, Ruddy Road, that lake level, Bloo Bay Beach, that Warp Pipe (underground?) level, and one "dry land" level. There seems to be more diversity in the areas that require completion to advance through the story, unlike in Sticker Star. Actually, the name convention of both SPM and SS (1-1, 1-2...) is gone.
Here is the entire world map. You can see the diversity in areas and the way paths branch out differently than in SS.
From this picture, we can assume there are 7 chapters and that you complete the areas in this order:
>red
>orange
>yellow
>green
>blue
>purple
>final area that is revealed after collecting all Big Paint Stars
First, because Morton is the first boss, we can guess the Koopalings are the game's chapter bosses. Because there are only 7 chapters, we can guess that the last chapter will have a battle with a Koopaling + the final boss, like in Super Mario World.
Secondly, we can already deduce which area corresponds to which color from the world map. So that means:
>chapter 1 is the plains, with a detour through Bloo Bay Beach, a Warp Pipe area and a mountain area, ending with The Crimson Tower
>chapter 2 is the rest of the mountain area that ends with the volcano and the dragon, although a detour through the forest is apparently made
>chapter 3 is the train ride through wilderlands that seems to end at a tower
>chapter 4 is the forest area that ends with a circus tent
>chapter 5 is maybe a desolated, haunted area? can't really tell
>chapter 6 is the boat ride we've seen, seems to end in a lighthouse
>this is pure speculation, but could chapter 7's area appear to the center-left of the map, since that part is empty? and with the game having a Super Mario World feeling and the final area of TTYD being underground, could it be something similar to the Valley of Bowser? the color theme of the area is without a doubt white or black either way
Gameplay-wise, here are the ways Color Splash improves on Sticker Star
>battles actually matter now: enemies drop items that upgrade your amount of paint.
>paint works similarly to the Star Gauge in TTYD: it gets refilled when you do attacks well. It is also not necessary for every attack, it only powers them up. You can also buy pre-painted attacks.
>Attacks are 1 use only but you can buy attacks while in battle too. Special attacks are much more common and don't require to backtrack to a town to be used anymore, as they become usable directly. Action command for the hammer is more visual but also looks like it is more difficult to perform. You can have enemy cards too, that summon a "partner" who will attack after you and take damage like you do, however the one shown so far (Shy Guy) was extremely weak. Those cards can only be obtained by fighting said enemies too.
>Apparently finding hidden Luigi locations will give rewards of some sort.
>You can attack several times per turn without using the Battle Spinner. It is an upgrade you can get, as well as a higher capacity for cards (up to 99) and higher HP. We know higher paint capacity is obtained by battling but we don't know how HP, inventory capacity and amount of attacks per turn get upgraded (in Sticker Star, you got HP upgrades by finding items in the overworld and inventory upgrades came by going through the story).
>Focus on more open areas in a natural continuation of what TTYD did.
>This is just speculation, but since you can "mark" NPCs by painting them and the developers have been talking about how they're making all NPCs identical-looking Toads as a self-imposed challenge, I wonder if it is possible to "mark" a Toad and to find out later that another Toad in another town is actually the same character.
>More speculation: since the Cat-o-Luck is obtained in Morton's room, I wonder if they will make special attacks more significant by giving out the strongest special attacks after bosses.
Finally, going off what I said previously, we can tell that all the footage we've seen so far comes from Chapter 1, a bit of Chapter 2 and a very short bit of Chapter 6. This makes me excited for what the game has to offer, as what they've shown so far already did better than Sticker Star as far as creativity goes.
M64 has me sold. Cool impressions thanks for posting.
