Paper Mario: Sticker Star
| Paper Mario: Sticker Star | |
|---|---|
 North American packaging artwork | |
| Developers | Intelligent Systems Vanpool |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Directors | Naohiko Aoyama Taro Kudo |
| Producers | Kensuke Tanabe Toshiyuki Nakamura |
| Designers | Yukio Morimoto Toshitaka Muramatsu |
| Programmer | Junya Kadono |
| Writer | Taro Kudo |
| Composer | List of composers
|
| Series | Paper Mario |
| Platform | Nintendo 3DS |
| Release | |
| Genres | Action-adventure, role-playing |
| Mode | Single-player |
Paper Mario: Sticker Star is a 2012 role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. Following Super Paper Mario (2007), it is the fourth installment in the Paper Mario series and part of the larger Mario franchise; it is the first game in the series released on a handheld console. The story follows Mario and a new ally named Kersti as they travel across the Mushroom Kingdom to retrieve the six Royal Stickers scattered by Bowser.
Unlike previous Paper Mario games, Sticker Star uses a distinct papercraft visual style, which is heavily incorporated into its gameplay mechanics. Sticker Star introduces stickers, which are littered throughout the game world and serve as single-use items or power-ups, aiding the player in turn-based battles against enemies or in solving puzzles. Game designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto insisted that gameplay should be distinct from previous Paper Mario games, which led to Sticker Star placing greater emphasis on gameplay and combat, with less focus on story. Allies alongside Mario were cut due to complications with sticker mechanics, and there was a large decrease in characters with unique designs.
Sticker Star was released in November 2012 in North America, and December 2012 in other regions. It received generally favorable reviews, with praise for its graphics, writing, and strategy. Criticism targeted its unbalanced difficulty in combat, lack of traditional role-playing game elements, minimal story, and abundance of identical Toads instead of the original fictional races the series had been known for. Reception for the sticker mechanics was mixed. A sequel, Paper Mario: Color Splash, which carried over many ideas introduced in Sticker Star, was released for the Wii U in October 2016.