Super Paper Mario unfolding on Wii April 9

Along with Pikmin 2, GameSpot's highest-rated GameCube game of 2004 was Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. The latter was the sequel to the whimsical Nintendo 64 role-playing game Paper Mario, which was itself a follow-up to Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Today, Nintendo nailed down the release date for the next installment in the Mario RPG franchise, Super Paper Mario. The eagerly awaited title will ship for the Wii in North America on April 9--six months after the GameCube original was supposed to be released. No rating information was available as of press time, but given the series' history, anything other than an E for Everyone label is unlikely.

As evidenced in GameSpot's preview from the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Super Paper Mario was originally a GameCube title. Much like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the game has been ported over to Nintendo's new console and will make use of its motion-sensing controller. Unlike with Twilight Princess, though, Nintendo has not confirmed that it will still release a GameCube Super Paper Mario. Inquiries about the fate of the original edition had not been answered as of press time.