Are Paper Mario 1&2 Books or Plays?

[Evil Yoshi Toes]

Something weird goes on with the Paper Mario series. The first game opens up as a play, but battle arenas appear more like dioramas or pop up books than stages though they do have some staged quality to them. Paper Mario 2 opens up as a book but battle arenas are very obviously stages.

It seems very odd to me that the sequel would change the opening from a play to a book while also changing the in game battle arenas to look less like books and more like plays.

[Mario]

I suppose it's something like someone reading the book of a Paper Mario (2) play and imagining what the play would look like, but they can't really get the thought that they're just reading a book out of their head.

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[YoshisIsland3]

I think that the Paper Mario games are books. As seen in Paper Jam and the fact that each new part of the story is listed as a chapter.

[GamerInGeorgia]

Dioramas and pop-up-book-like settings could be made in a play, and maybe the book in TTYD is a script for the narrator. So I guess that they could both be plays. Then there's also the fact the Miyamoto confirmed that Super Mario Bros. 3 was a play, so it extends to the main Mario series as well for all we know. Maybe Mario isn't a hero after all. Maybe everything is just a popular series of plays and/or movies and/or books in the Mushroom Kingdom.

[Evil Yoshi Toes]

Those are very interesting theories that all make sense.

[Nutshell]

Paper = Book

[Mariotroid]

This thread is all kinds of mind blowing. Ccazy theories.

I think they're pop up books. Most likely explanation to me.

[Zero Kirby]

Neither. They're video games.



In-universe, too (that Toad kid in Petalburg plays both games, after all, and even finishes TTYD before you do), but I believe, in both games, a writer you can talk to says they've written a book about your adventure. I know in TTYD the writer even calls the book "Paper Mario" and the epilogue shows that it was adapted into a play.

Falcon Punch is the result of the Sun heating fists. It drives the Blue Falcon. Heating causes destruction of water into the pain, where it then hurts, creating rain. Rain creates flowing water in tears, which can then be converted into other forms through more pain.



This fight has only just begun...

[Nutshell]

Paper Mario (at least N64) is a book since the japanese name is "Mario Story". Also Super Paper Mario is a book too since it is a narrated story.

[Evil Yoshi Toes]

Plays can also be narrated though, but I agree that the games after TTYD are all definitely books, especially sticker star and maybe color splash though I have not played that one.

I had forgotten about the mention of the book during the ending to Paper Mario 2. That clears things up a bit, though I still find the fluctuation between play and book elements odd. Not that I dislike it at all, it's just an interesting choice. Maybe the battle sequences in TTYD are meant to be sequences from the stage version while the other parts are from the book? Not sure but these are all interesting theories you all have brought up.

[Syaxamaphone]

Personally I liked the idea that the Paper Mario series were just stylized and I considered them part of the canon.

I guess M+L proved me wrong though. A shame.

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[Fun With Despair]

What we see in Paper Jam is most likely just Sticker Star and Color Splash, considering that literally only the basic characters from those games came out when the entire book exploded. Paper Mario 1 and 2 have too many things linking them to the world, and references in later games.

The Goomba King from PM1 for example, shows up in Mario 64 DS, with a grudge against Mario, and in Mario Kart Super Circuit, Bowser's Castle from the first game is seen. Additionally, a physical block from PM is seen in Superstar Saga, as well as some Beanbean stuff in TTYD.

Considering all of this, we can safely declare the first two canon at least, with Sticker Star and Color Splash being books, probably.

As for SPM, who even cares.

[Zero Kirby]

Personally I liked the idea that the Paper Mario series were just stylized and I considered them part of the canon.

Yeah I never really thought about "but is it a book or a play" because it's a video game

I liked the novel presentation and just considered it all part of the style and in terms of the audience, game mechanics, like of course there aren't 150 people following Mario to the bottom of a giant underground labyrinth just so they can cheer him on as he fights the bad guys

Falcon Punch is the result of the Sun heating fists. It drives the Blue Falcon. Heating causes destruction of water into the pain, where it then hurts, creating rain. Rain creates flowing water in tears, which can then be converted into other forms through more pain.



This fight has only just begun...

[Evil Yoshi Toes]

I also like to consider the first two games canon in the Mario universe. I always thought of them as someone telling a story about something that happened in the Mario universe, whether it be in the form of a play or a book. It's not that important since it is just a video game and the game looks beautiful either way, it's just something I find interesting to overthink about.