It's hard to be mad at Nintendo this E3 because of how awesome Zelda is, but this particular game.....still not looking good. Completely tone-deaf to the fanbase's reception to Sticker Star.
I hate what Paper Mario has become. I hate how self-aware it has become of its own artstyle. The original game had the paper-ness look as nothing more than a visual choice. And, unless my memory is failing me, there is absolutely no direct references in the game to its own visual style. Maybe little things like Mario falling down like a piece of paper, but that's about it. Other than that, it was all about going through the story and exploring the world of the Mushroom Kingdom.
The Thousand Year Door was similar, although it did have some mechanics that were a direct homage to Mario being a piece of paper. But they were used sparingly and fit naturally into the puzzle solving of the game. Honestly, though, looking back, that was a sort of warning of what Paper Mario would become.
Flash forward to now, and the entire premise and foundation of Paper Mario as a character and as a franchise is just....paper. Everything is paper, everything revolves around paper, everything acts like paper, everyone in the game talks about being paper, all of Mario's moves are about being paper, all the jokes are about paper.....it's ridiculously excessive. It's like the series has just become a parody of itself. Even in Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam, Paper Mario is just treated more of just a funny object than an actual character from a different universe. I don't know why Nintendo became so obsessed with this. Yeah, maybe its funny and clever once in a while to break the fourth wall and knowledge the paper-ness, but now it's just the entire reason the series exists. All mechanics and gimmicks, with no substance.
