The Paper Parable is a Paper Mario 64 Game Mod based on its inspiration The Stanley Parable, an Environmental Narrative Game.
The story follows our protagonist Mario, who's typically jumping and hammer-ing his way through his adventure on order from Princess Peach. But one day, the letters stopped coming by, leading Mario to investigate the oddly absent castle to discover what happened. While that's the set up in terms of story, it being based on The Stanley Parable means there's more to it than that. Especially when you choose to defy the Narrator.
Spoilers inbound for most of the story
Tropes:
- Dying to Be Replaced: In one ending, the Narrator tries to invoke this by killing off Mario and restarting the story with Luigi as the main protagonist. Unfortunately for them, Luigi's not a Silent Protagonist, and thus subsequently gets repeatedly ticked off by his narration being interrupted until deciding to work with what's best and bring Mario back.
- Fake-Out Twist: Choosing the red mushroom in the dungeon leads to this type of scene. The Narrator is revealed to be Princess Peach, who trapped Mario in a dream of her own creation after the whole of Mushroom Kingdom was plunged into nightmares by the Dark Lotus, and Mario is soon to awaken to what the Dark Lotus had done. Shortly after she closes her speech, she suddenly turns into the Dark Lotus, with the Narrator calling "sike" on that actually being the true ending.Narrator: Honestly, "it was all a dream"? Is that the kind of drivel that gets people excited these days?
- Foul Flower: The Dark Lotus, found in the "Good Ending" path and discussed in another ending. While there's no hint of outright villainy, the narration describes it as the cause behind everyone's disappearance in one path, while another suggests that it put everybody in a coma state and that Mario's just one of many, but that was a Fake-Out Twist courtesy of the Narrator.
- Giant Space Flea Out Of Nowhere: Upon reading any of the books in the library, the narration will subsequently lead to Mario facing off against a giant pig in a pseudo-battle that ends with the former curb-stomped by the latter.
- Irony: The "Good Ending" narration makes note that Mario had done his quest without the aid of anyone telling him where to go or what to do. This is the path that involves following the Narrator's words to a T.
- Morton's Fork: Upon reaching the library, the Narrator advises grabbing a book of your choice and taking it to the chair in the middle to read out. Regardless of what book is chosen, it'll inevitably lead to Mario facing off against a giant pig.
- Multiple Endings:
- Doing everything the Narrator says — going through the door on the left, grabbing the key and entering the right door, then hammering the "Dark Lotus" — leads to the "Good Ending" The lotus gives off an anti-climatic "ow", which is followed by triumphant narration detailing life returning to the castle and the princess emerging from the decayed remains of the lotus, all while the setting remains static throughout said narration.
- Choosing to go through the door at the far back of the room where the Dark Lotus resides leads to Mario going through a pseudo-endless curved hallway, with the Narrator eventually having his patience reached when Mario keeps doing that, leading to Mario trekking through the darkness alone with no guidance.
- Oblivious to His Own Description: The Narrator's remark in the "No Key" route:Narrator: If only I had some sort of guiding voice, telling me where to go or what to do get the most out of the story of my life.
- Overly Long Gag: The Pit of 100 Trials, unlocked after getting five of the bad endings, is essentially a watered down version of the dungeon without any enemies. Meaning you'll be going through each of the hundred floors while the narrator is singing "100 Tasty Mushrooms" for most of the descent.
- Shout-Out: Descending to the dungeon floor on the right side has the narrator give Mario the option of taking either the blue mushroom, or the red mushroom.
- Silent Protagonist: Mario, as per usual. Ends up proving to be the one factor the Narrator wants out a protagonist, when Luigi's more talkative nature ends up testing their patience.
- Stylistic Suck: At one point when going through the endlessly generating hallways, the Narrator struggles to generate more walls with Mario's constant walking, rending one wall texture stretched out.
