Considering how good the first game did, this one is simply breathtaking.
The story involves mario recieving a treasure map from princess peach. She requests that mario meet her in Rougeport to help her find the treasure. However, upon arriving, mario discovers that princess peach has been kidnapped and now he must find the crystal stars before the x-nauts, a secret group of bad guys bent on world domination, find them!
The gameplay is amazing. The frame rate in the original paper mario was good, but now it's perfect in this version! You explore the many towns and areas, looking for each crystal star. You battle enemies to gain experience and level up your stats: HP(health), FP(flower points for special moves), and BP(badge points that let you equip badges for abilities). Again, it's up to you to decide what to increase. You can use items, special moves, and even your partner attacks and has health! The game is completely free roaming, so you can do what you want! With lots of variety and tons to do, there's no end to the possibilities in this game.
The environments are top-notch and the graphics are paper-quality, which looks great and is very unique! The music is always catchy and once again some enemies and boss fights are taken from past mario games and applied to this game. Even the levels with peach and bowser are fun to play. Everything comes together beautifully!
Overall, the first game was brilliant, and this game makes everything even better! I recommend this game to everyone! Cheers!