03.09.2007 GDC 07: SUPER PAPER MARIO GAMEPLAY VIDEOS

Here's more gameplay footage from the floor of the Game Developers Conference, or, if you're too lazy to watch both of them, just check out the GDC 07 trailer of the game here. As awesome as Super Mario Galaxy is looking, I might actually be looking forward to this game more. Maybe it's just because its release is so much more closer (we only have to wait until April), but the two different dimensions of gameplay looks more interesting than running around spherical objects. The video above shows how it's basically the original Super Mario Bros. game, but with hit points for life and tools as weapons. No more turn based battles like the rest of the Paper Mario games, it's all in real time as you attack multiple bad guys.

The person playing even says that this gameplay setup is one of the best Mario games ever, and that's not even including the extra dimension of gameplay - whenever you reach an obstacle you can't pass or an area that's off limits, just hit the A button the Wiimote and the screen flips from a 2D sidescroller to a 3D terrain with depth for a short period of time. Using this can be as simple as getting past tall warp pipes, or as devious as using the background for hidden passages across the level.

The video below answers a few more of the ways the old Paper Mario gameplay meshes with the new style. Instead of using items as a one time attack in an RPG battle, pulling out a fire plant can bring an inferno that devastates a dozen enemies on screen all at once. The guy playing also confirms that you can temporarily play as giant Mario, or late in the game as Bowser or Princess Peach. You also get to see a few more dimensional tricks - coin blocks look finished after one jump, but turn the screen sideways and there's a row of hidden blocks still untouched.

And to keep things simple the game lets you switch off from playing the Wiimote NES style, and if you use it to point to the screen the game pauses and turns into a help screen - just point at something you want more info about the butterfly that follows you around will give you some tips. It's alo mentioned that there's a lot of wacky bosses, but we don't get to see any yet. Just one more month, I can't wait.