Paper Mario: Color Splash

Mario using his paint hammer on an uncolored flower. In the top left is his paint meter, showing how much paint he has left.

Paper Mario: Color Splash has elements of both action-adventure and role-playing genres, reiterating previous gameplay in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. The player controls a two-dimensional version of Mario using the Wii U GamePad, and explores a paper-craft world designed to look like craft materials.[1] The player's objective is to retrieve the missing six Big Paint Stars stolen by Bowser, all of which occupy a different portion of the world.[2] Players traverse levels through a world map containing levels; the goal of each level is to reach the Mini Paint Star.[1] Upon reaching a Mini Paint Star for the first time, the player unlocks access to new stages.[3] There are multiple Mini Paint Stars in some levels.[1]

In these levels, Mario can collect items and coins, talk to non-player characters (NPC), complete puzzles and platforming challenges,[1] and consult Huey, Mario's ally, for assistance. New to Color Splash is the paint hammer, which can fill in colorless spots found throughout the world.[4] Upon filling in the spots, Mario is awarded items such as coins.[4] Paint is required to use the hammer, and comes in red, blue, and yellow varieties, which can be obtained by striking objects with the hammer.[4] The type of area the player is filling in determines the color and amount of paint used. If the player collects "hammer scraps", they can increase the maximum amount of paint they can carry.[3] Players can use an additional new ability called the "cutout" to reach otherwise inaccessible areas in levels.[2] To use the ability, the player traces a dotted line on the GamePad's touchscreen, causing part of the environment to peel off, exposing secrets and new areas.[5][3]

Mario in the middle of combat. In the top left are cards that pre-determine how Mario will attack the enemies.

When encountering an enemy while exploring, the player will enter a battle sequence.[4] Depending on how the player collided with the enemy, the player or the enemy may be able to attack immediately. The combat system in Color Splash is a turn-based battle system; the player's possible attacks are represented by cards the player can either collect from levels or defeated enemies, or purchase from shops with the in-game currency of coins.[6] Cards can be used to attack enemies, prevent damage, or heal Mario, and can be painted to increase their strength.[7] They range from basic jump and hammer attacks to 'Thing' cards which resemble real-world objects, such as a fire extinguisher.[8] The type of card determines the amount and color of paint to use, as well as how Mario attacks the enemy.[4] Players choose, paint and sort cards with the GamePad's touchscreen.[2] Enemy attacks cause the player to take damage. If the player loses all their HP, it will result in a game over. If the player defeats all active enemies, the player returns to the level and is rewarded with a random assortment of coins, cards, paint, and hammer scraps.[4]

Mario and Princess Peach receive a letter from Prism Island, which they discover is a color-drained Toad, causing them to sail to Prism Island to investigate. Upon arriving at Port Prisma, the three travelers find the town deserted, noticing colorless spots and objects. The fountain in the center of the island is dry, missing its famed Big Paint Stars. A vault appears in the fountain, containing a paint can. After Mario tries to open it, the can is revealed to be Huey, Prisma Fountain's guardian. Huey explains the fountain is usually powered by six Big Paint Stars, which supply the island with infinite paint and color. He asks Mario to help recover them, to which he agrees. While Mario is scouting the island, Peach is kidnapped by Bowser.

Mario traverses six areas to retrieve the Big Paint Stars while helping the local Toads and fighting various enemies, including the Koopalings, who serve as bosses. As Mario collects the Big Paint Stars, each one incrementally reveal their memories of an attack on Port Prisma. Once Mario recovers all six Big Paint Stars, they reveal Bowser attempted to dye his shell using the Prisma Fountain, but inadvertently created black paint, a toxic substance which possessed him and transformed him into "Black Bowser". He proceeded to steal the Big Paint Stars and drain the color from Prism Island. It is also revealed that he was the one who sent them the color-drained Toad in order to coax them to come to Prism Island.

With the Big Paint Stars, and later Luigi, the group reaches Black Bowser's Castle. Upon entering, they discover that Bowser is mass-producing weaponized black paint, aiming to paint the world black; Mario and Huey then halt the factory's operations. The duo defeat Black Bowser, and rescue Peach, and the factory's destruction causes the castle to fall apart. Peach, Mario and Luigi escape, but Huey stays to stop the black paint and absorbs the castle. Huey flies into space, taking the black paint far away from Prism Island and sacrificing himself in the process. In a post-credits scene, if the player has filled certain requirements, Huey falls back into Prisma Fountain.

Paper Mario: Color Splash was developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems; the game was announced as a 2016 release during a Nintendo Direct presentation on March 3, 2016, and released worldwide on October 7, 2016. The game was available for pre-purchase on the Nintendo eShop on September 22, 2016. However, it was quickly discovered Nintendo of America had accidentally made the full game available two weeks before its intended launch date.[9] Nintendo later pulled the pre-load option from the North American eShop, but people who downloaded the game were able to keep their copies.[10]

Design

Color Splash was created to express new control experiences specific to the Wii U.[11]

Producer Kensuke Tanabe explained that the idea of repainting the world originally came from director of production Atsushi Ikuno in 2012. Ikuno was inspired by his children having fun while coloring. According to Tanabe, a lot of trial and error was required before coloring with a hammer felt comfortable.[11] Co-producer Risa Tabata explained that because the Wii U hardware was more powerful than previous Nintendo consoles such as the Nintendo 3DS, the artists were able to make realistic in-game paper. The game's art style was achieved by using different types and textures of paper for different environments, and purchased and reviewed different types of paper to determine which style expressed paper craft the most.[11] Taro Kudo was the lead writer; Tabata showed pride in his work, stating how he was good at coming up with jokes and story design, and how during play testing "there really were people who cried at the end".[12]

The combat system was developed to create controls only possible on the Wii U.[11] The GamePad's larger touchscreen allowed the developers to implement the card-based battle system so it could be controlled directly from the screen; this was not possible in Sticker Star, as the 3DS's touchscreen was too small. The developers thought that using the gamepad to sort through cards and fling them on screen was fun, so it was implemented.[13] Tabata also explained that cards were limited to make players think strategically.[5] Although the gamepad was much more advanced, focus was shifted to single player gameplay, and multiplayer and Miiverse functionality was never considered.[13] The game did not use a typical role-playing game system but instead focused on puzzle-solving, although he noted paint capacity changed over time as the player collected hammer scraps and was thus a form of 'leveling'.[11]

• Official website