Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is a 2012 role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The fourth entry in the Paper Mario series, it retains the franchise's charming papercraft aesthetic, in which a flat, storybook Mario adventures through a world of folded paper and stickers, but significantly reworked its mechanics. Its central gimmick is stickers: Mario collects stickers scattered throughout the world and uses them as his attacks and abilities in turn-based battles, peeling them off the environment and spending them as a consumable resource, while special oversized 'Thing' stickers, based on real-world objects, trigger powerful effects. The story follows Mario as he chases Bowser, who has scattered the pieces of a wish-granting Sticker Comet across the kingdom. The game streamlined the series toward a more puzzle- and exploration-focused, less narrative-heavy design, removing experience points and traditional companions. Critical reception was mixed; reviewers praised its gorgeous presentation, humour and inventive sticker concept, but many longtime fans criticised the shallower combat, lack of meaningful progression and reduced storytelling compared with earlier Paper Mario games. Sticker Star proved a divisive turning point for the series, setting a direction that shaped subsequent, debated entries. Its divisive direction shaped the series' subsequent, much-debated entries, Color Splash and The Origami King.