Most people know Super Paper Mario as not only the first Mario game for the Wii system, but also as one of the coolest and wackiest Mario stories ever told (as we’re all aware), but it wasn’t always meant to be this way!
Much like other games in development for Nintendo’s home consoles in 2005-2006, Super Paper Mario had a pretty tumultuous journey from concept to release.
The Nintendo GameCube. despite it’s retrospective praise, was Nintendo’s worst performing home console up to that point, and with the Wii on the horizon, many projects planned as GameCube exclusives were either made compatible with both systems, as with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, or we’re moved directly to the Wii outright with no GameCube release to be found, which goes for games like Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast, the cancelled 2.5D Kirby game (which eventually became Return to Dreamland), and even Super Paper Mario itself.
We know the game was about 90% complete on GameCube before the decision was made to bring the game to Wii in 2006, and footage exists of that version in action.
The question I propose is, how would the game’s perception have changed if Super Paper Mario released on GameCube alongside its older brother TTYD? I feel as though the gameplay changes made with SPM would have been overlooked and less criticized because it was trying to differentiate itself from it’s predecessor on the game console. Think how WarioWare Move It and WarioWare Get it Together have very different gameplay philosophies despite being in the same series on the same console released 3 years apart. The exact same would have been true for Super Paper Mario in some far off alternate reality.
However, the game wouldn’t have gained the cult following it did if it hadn’t released on the Wii and became one of its best sellers. So who’s to say if things would have really been better off? In any case, i’m happy with the universe we live in, and the one that has HIGH TECHNICAL websites like this!