What's so good about the Paper Mario series?

[xenosagaluvr]

I want some information for a project I'm doing regarding Paper Mario, and so I'd like you to list your favorite Paper Mario game(s) and what were the good things and flaws with it.

Example: PM: TTYD was good because of the in-depth story and creative characters but it had a lot of backtracking.

 

[axemblue4]

1. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year door

Pros: Overarching story, individual chapter stories and settings, characters, dialogue, gameplay evolution
Cons: A bit of stale backtracking at times (though maybe not as much as people let on)

2. Paper Mario

Pros: Gameplay
Cons: None that really come to mind, mostly everything is done well but done as well or better in PMTTYD

3. Super Paper Mario

Pros: Overarching story, some of the characters, some individual story/setting/gameplay concepts
Cons: The gameplay/individual story/setting concepts are often executed without inspiration and are at times gimmicky, the sidescroller format is not as good as the traditional RPG format, the music is less memorable

4. Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Pros: Some gameplay concepts
Cons: Some crucial gameplay elements are sacrificed at the expense of the new concepts which fail to compensate for incentive, lack of story, dull settings and chapters, lack of characters, the "level" format of the areas gives too linear of a feeling, forgettable music

 

[nhkawaguchi]

I agree with the above's order.
1. PM:TTYD I loved both of these games (1 &2) for their gameplay format, TTYD expanded and polished it a bit more. Both games had comical asides in the story, absolute favorite would be Peach's short story with tech in TTYD. (i believe that is his name)
cons would be slight navigation issues and repitition in adventures.
2. PM (64)
3.SPM -Issue is that they changed the format, story was slow at parts.
4. PM:SS I didn't play because they threwout the EXP system entirely amongst other things.

 

[ultra_shadowcannon]

Admittedly, I've only played The Thousand Year Door (didn't finish this one) and Super Paper Mario, but here were my thoughts...
Thousand Year Door
Pros:

• Interesting, non-traditional gameplay elements mixed in with the turn-based RPG style
  
• Clever uses of the "paper" aspect of Paper Mario
  
• Big, overarching story with mostly enjoyable characters
  
• Funny, clever writing

Cons:

• Slow pacing
• Backtracking and occasionally vague direction

Super Paper Mario
Pros:

• Use of multiple playable characters
• Neat dimensional switch mechanic
• Again, the sense of humor is prevalent in most of the game's dialogue and storytelling
  
• Maybe this is just me, but I liked the side-scrolling gameplay. Not as much as the RPGs, mind you, but I didn't think it was bad by any means.

Cons:

• Too easy overall
• As I recall, it also had some issues with backtracking
• While the dimensional switch was neat, it did wear thin near the end of the game.
• Tippi reminded me too much of Navi from Ocarina of Time (though she was a lot more helpful, at least)

 

[Dreamy]

It's fun and creative. I always have a fun time playing it. I wonder how Nintendo comes up with those cool puzzles. Also, the game is funny. The characters says really fun things that have me laughing. The series is very attractive.