Nintendo’s hot new Paper Mario game released on the Wii U this week, and we thought it’d be appropriate to celebrate that by talking about our favourite partner characters from the entire history of Paper Mario games! If you haven’t already, check out the review Nantendo wrote for Paper Mario Colour Splash!
My favorite Paper Mario partner is Kooper, from Paper Mario 64. The first time I played Paper Mario 64, I quickly became attached to Kooper. He’s one of the earliest partners in the game, and for some reason I just really digged his design. I originally played Paper Mario 64 when I was 12, so I think I just related to Kooper’s personality and story. His abilities were pretty useful, as throwing his shell could help you gain first strike easily.
I was always fond of Vivian’s fairy-tale-esque story, and especially with the interesting, additional flavor of her being a transgender woman in the Japanese version. I just think she’s great, her story arc is great, and she’s one of the more usable partners in combat. All of the partners had touching character arcs in TTYD, but I think Vivian’s is still my favorite.
My favourite has to be Yoshi. Kind of a boring pick in retrospect but the point in which you acquire him in The Thousand Year Door (my favourite Paper Mario entry) is perhaps the most memorable part of the entire game. I chose to represent that moment in my Games of the Year list for a reason!
Parakarry is the best partner. Well, at least when I played Paper Mario on the N64. For whatever reason, I almost always used him. He just fit for me from a combat perspective (probably because he had a really powerful attack). The characters that often resonate the most with you are the ones you played with as a kid. That is Parakarry for me.
There are so many good partner characters but I am going to be unconventional and say Huey from Paper Mario: Color Splash. I know it is a very bold claim but I love this guy. His character, his humour, his story arc and the way the game makes a paint can feel human is so well done. He may not be playable like the classics but he is certainly the most charismatic.
Do you agree with our choices? Who is your favourite Paper Mario partner? Sound off in the comments!
I definitely have to go with Yoshi with TTYD. The Glitz Pit story and discovering that he has several color schemes depending how long you wait to do a certain task really made me invested in him. Not to mention he’s a fairly useful partner through and through in and out of battle.
The partner characters was all about Paper Mario. Not just what kind of different abilities they can use in both battle and adventuring, but their unique personalities is what really struct in mind. I really loved how unique these characters were as they’ll reveal what kind of relationship they’ll have within Mario and others, and there’s nothing bad about it. I don’t know why the Paper Mario staffs today completely removed this system, it’s nonsense. I just hope they’ll bring the system back if there would be a next Paper Mario. But eventually, maybe this Shy Guy might hint us that sometime it’ll come back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQFBYSr-cPI
Anyways, choosing one partner is quite difficult. I actually like all of them as they’re unique. But in my case, I’d choose Goombella for this topic. I find her personality is really funny. Unlike Goombario, they way she analyse her enemies does make me curious and enjoyable. Making weird jokes and reactions toward certain enemies, she’s even became adored with Buzz Beetle’s cuteness. Besides, she’s quite cute too, almost being a secondary heroine of TTYD aside of Peach. I really enjoyed being with her in every adventures and battles, and I do wish to see her again in the future too if possible.
Vivian, hands down. Reasons are pretty much the same as Soma’s. I also agree with Soma that she’s “one of the more usable partners in combat”, if by “usable”, you mean “literally the best partner in the game”. The only party member that rivals Vivian is Yoshi. Seriously, when using Fiery Jinx for 6 FP, you get 5 points of damage that pierces defense and burns the entire enemy party! And you can make her even more ridiculous by equipping Flower Saver P and Power Plus P badges! I’m playing through TTYD now, so I’m re-experiencing the stupidly good duo of Vivian and Yoshi, to the point that I’ve barely even touched Bobbery, the third best partner.
Goombella is my favourite PM Partner. Her snark and tattle ability complemented each other, and I found myself getting her to describe every single character in an area whenever I visited it the first time.
I always made sure I never missed tattling an enemy.
Looking at the comments, it seems that Goombella, Yoshi, and Vivian are the favored picks. Funny, ’cause I was having trouble picking among those three. Goombella ’cause learning what enemies do is one of my favorite things in a game (I’m the guy who’ll scan *everything* in a Metroid Prime game), Yoshi ’cause of his personality, and Vivian because of her story. Those three stuck out as the most memorable from when I played TTYD, and I haven’t played enough of the first Paper Mario to really get a handle on any of those characters yet.