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Paper Mario: Color Splash
Nintendo doesn’t have much of a lineup for the holiday, but thank goodness for Paper Mario: Color Splash.
Most of the attention is on Zelda at this year’s E3, but Nintendo also let a limited number of people come check out Paper Mario: Color Splash behind closed doors, and I’m glad I got to play, because it just shot up on my Christmas list.
The game begins on a dark and stormy night when Mario gets visited by two mysterious figures who turn out to be Toad and Princess Peach. The Princess is a little unnerved because she got a letter in the mail, but when she opened it, she realized it was really a toad that had been drained of all its color and then folded into a square. It sounds a little macabre, but it actually a pretty cool opening premise. Mario notices that the toad was postmarked from a place called Prism island, so he sets off to get to the bottom of the mystery.
When Mario arrives at Prism Island, he discovers that some of the paint has been drained from the environment. Thankfully, he also encounters an anthropomorphic paint can named Huey (like a paint hue). Using Huey’s paint, Mario can hit the de-colored objects in the world and bring the world back to life.
Repainting objects also produces various playing cards that Mario can collect and then use in battle. Color Splash’s battles play out like the turn-based RPG battles we’re used to, where players can time button presses during Mario’s attacks for extra damage. However, the cards you collect in the world are now Mario’s main form of attack. Some cards are basic one attack cards, but others might allow Mario to attach three times in a row. Mario can also infuse these cards with paint to supercharge them so they do more damage. Enemies no longer have health bars, but as you hit them the color depletes from their bodies, so you know how much life they have left.
Special cards called thing cards act as Mario’s big special attacks. One of the items cards I used was a grill and when I used it on a couple enemies it transported us to a picnic area, and then placed the enemies on top of a grill before generating a giant volcano blast of fire for maximum damage. You can get a good look at the thing cards in action in the game’s E3 trailer above.
Color Splash was a welcome surprise, and I’m glad I had time to play it. I look forward to its October 7 release.
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