E3 06: Super Paper Mario First Look

LOS ANGELES--Those watching Nintendo's Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006 press conference were likely all atwitter about the various Wii and Nintendo DS titles announced. But what about the GameCube? Watching that conference, you'd think Zelda was the only GC game from now until the end of time. Well, you'd be wrong. Shortly after Nintendo's conference, Nintendo released press materials on its upcoming GC lineup. And while the pickings were admittedly slim, one big, glaring omission from the conference stood out: Super Paper Mario.

Super Paper Mario is, in fact, a side-scrolling platformer in the vein of the classic Mario titles but with the aesthetic qualities of the Paper Mario series. However, it's not just a 2D side-scroller. The game fuses elements of 2D and 3D gameplay together, shifting back and forth between dimensions. Watching the brief video for the game, you can get a pretty good idea of how it plays. The paper version of Mario runs to the right, stomping on koopas, punching bricks, collecting coins, and whatnot. However, you won't just be playing as Mario, it seems. Both Princess Peach and Bowser are shown as playable characters in the video. And in perhaps something of a nod to Nintendo's newest Mario title for the DS, the video also shows all characters getting severely gigantic, blowing through enemies and bricks with reckless abandon. Even more hysterical, the giant characters are actually versions of the original Super Mario Bros. sprites, blown up to epic proportions.

Other highlights of the video include Mario swimming through outer space with an adorable little space helmet on, him going antigravity by running up and down walls, and Princess Peach using her precious little umbrella to glide down from a tall jump. All told, the 26-second video made Super Paper Mario look very appealing, and we suggest you check it out, as well as the latest screenshots from the game. Why this didn't hit Nintendo's conference, we'll never know, but you can bet we'll bring you the latest details on the game as soon as they become available.