YMMV / Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

• Awesome Boss: Shiny RoboBowser, the Final Boss. He's a fusion between both Bowsers and many of Paper Bowser's minions, resulting in a giant Bowser clad in cardboard Powered Armor. In fine series tradition, the boss is quite hard and quite long, and the party has to damage the armor sufficiently to reach Bowser himself and use Trio Attacks: he also has a pretty impressive array of attacks that challenge the player in various ways, some of which copy the motif of the Trio Attacks. The whole thing is set to a somber Kingdom Hearts-like epic battle theme by Yoko Shimomura^note Who has been involved with all Mario & Luigi games and Super Mario RPG., just like Dreamy Bowser's.
• Base-Breaking Character: Both Bowsers, since this is the third Mario RPG in a row where Bowser is portrayed as the Big Bad. Some enjoyed their darker (if still humorous) role and epic final boss fight, and don't mind him being the final boss of RPGs since at the end of the day, he is the Big Bad of the Mario franchise, while others are tired of Bowser constantly being reused.
• Breather Boss:
  • Between the Wiggler and Paper Kamek duo, and Ludwig and Larry with their dark Battle Cards, comes the Chargin' Chuck Corps. A majority of them will go down quickly with a Dropchopper or Trio Whirligig, and they run out of extra troops fast.
  • Lemmy, Iggy, and Morton Jr., who appear at the end of the Boss Rush against the Koopalings. Their attacks aren't hard to counter, and successfully doing so will cause the trio to incapacitate themselves, making them easy to defeat.
• Broken Base:
  • While the general opinion of the game has been a positive one, a few Paper Mario fans are rather annoyed that the game focuses more on the Mario & Luigi side of things, especially after the lackluster reception Paper Mario: Sticker Star got.
  • The removal of being able to increase a stat bonus during a level-up. Some don't mind its removal because it was a Game-Breaker before, and Beans and Rank Up bonuses which have similar effects are still present, while others think it's still unnecessary and removes a level of strategy in the game.
  • Whether the lack of original characters makes the crossover a missed opportunity or gives AlphaDream a chance to flesh out the personalities of old ones; general consensus veers more towards the former. This was addressed directly by the developers, who stated that including original characters and finding the right time for them to appear would have been difficult due to the sheer number of paper and duplicate characters and the need to communicate the contrast between them.
  • The idea of the main Mario world and Paper Mario world being entirely seperate places has caused some disappointment from fans (mostly from Paper Mario), who point out that every game and character appearance is always supposed to be in the same continuity and consider it a pointless Retcon. Not helping matters is that Shigeru Miyamoto has stated in an interview that Mario and Paper Mario were supposed to be the same character. Meanwhile, others who don't mind both series being seperate continuities point out that the interview was held years before Paper Jam released, and Nintendo has always been out of place with Mario continuity every few years.
• Contested Sequel: Fans are divided as to how Paper Jam stacks up compared to past Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario games, with some accusing the game of "playing it too safe" due to the lack of original characters and formulaic plot, although the gameplay^note In fact, the core gameplay of normal battles is likely the best in the entire series, it features much more elaborate attacking and defensive actions than prior games and it's just as strategic and fast paced, writing, music and characterization have been generally praised like with the rest of the series. There's some debate in the fandom about whether Paper Jam or its predecessor Dream Team is a better game; supporters of Paper Jam cite its better pacing, core gameplay, and lack of Forced Tutorials, while supporters of Dream Team cite its more original characters, locations, and plot. There are also those who like both just as much.
• Damsel Scrappy: All the Paper Toads as a whole, where some of the missions you go through to rescue them are going to get on your nerves, really fast. Especially when they are running from you and actively make things harder. Those that tend to run in chase missions are a special mention, where when you finally catch them some would ask what took you so long to find them.
• Demonic Spiders:
  • Layered Paper Shiny enemies. Single Shiny enemies aren't too bad as it's a single enemy, but when a paper enemy that has more than one layer becomes shiny, you're basically fighting a boss in the form of an enemy...that can One-Hit Kill most of your party.
  • The Paper Piranha Plants have a tricky fire attack that's very hard to dodge, which either deals heavy damage to Paper Mario or causes Mario and Luigi to get burned, meaning that you have to waste a turn using a Refreshing Herb. They can either appear as one or multiples (depends on how many times you hit them), but unless you've been level grinding, they'll attack multiple times. They're weak against Fire moves, but the Fire Flower is too weak, being Luigi's first Bros. Attack, and because of the fact that they're spiked foes, Rocket Blast will always fail due to the fact that it opens with a jump. Thankfully, moves like the Dropchopper and Trio Whirligig are effective against them.
  • The Paper Dry Bones' main difficulty comes from the fact that (like many paper enemies) they stack up, and if you don't defeat the entire stack quickly enough, they'll just keep resurrecting themselves. They have two main attacks, both of which can be tricky to dodge. The first attack has one of the Dry Bones turn the rest into a tower of large bones to throw at a brother; the tower will sway back and forth rapidly and unpredictably, and either waiting too long or hammering the Dry Bones when the tower is leaning towards the left will result in the tower getting dropped on the brother for tons of damage. The other attack has the Dry Bones split up temporarily to start hurling small bones one by one at the brothers; the bones are small enough that it can be hard to tell which brother they're actually going for, and if all the bones are dodged, the Dry Bones finish the whole thing off with a second volley in which they throw multiple bones at once, some of which won't even hit the brothers and only serve as a distraction. Thankfully, you can hit them with any attack you like, unlike the Paper Piranha Plants.
  • Paper Boomerang Bros can potentially clone themselves infinitely if you don't counter their That One Attack perfectly, see below. They also hit fairly hard.
  • Paper Spikes can potentially become this if you're underleveled, as their attacks hit hard and require quick reflexes to properly dodge. Special mentions goes to the attack where they roll multiple spike balls for you to jump over, as they move much slower than the normal Spike's spike balls, making the jumps much tighter.
• Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: Particularly for a Mario RPG, the gameplay, though rather fun, is largely an easier rehash of Dream Team with three party members instead of two (except on Hard Mode) with a few Paper Mario elements thrown in, while the worlds are less unique than in previous RPGs. Arguably, the main draw of the game is how it fleshes out existing characters and takes them to places they've never been, especially the previously one-dimensional Koopalings and Nabbit.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Toadette's return has been very well-received, despite being a fairly minor character in this game.
• Evil Is Cool: Bowser — or rather, both of him. As noted elsewhere on this page, the game gives him tons of personality and even more menace than in previous Mario games while still keeping him as the Laughably Evil, macho Large Ham fans know and love. Plus, Shiny RoboBowser makes for one hell of a Final Boss fight complete with an epic musical theme.
• Fanon Discontinuity:
  • The fact the Koopalings are explicitly Bowser's minions and not his children was met with much contempt, and a large number of fans choose to still see them as a family.
  • The "Paper Book" does not have a title and while its contents and occupants resemble the designs of Sticker Star, they don't match up exactly (No Kersti, for example). Didn't stop fans from claiming it IS Sticker Star, and using this game as an excuse to write it off as an AU and therefore "non-canon", franchise's explicit Negative Continuity be-damned. Color Splash frequently gets lumped in as well, with some going as far as to throw the first three Paper Mario games in there too, but they're generally beloved enough to avoid this.
• Game-Breaker:
  • The amiibo cards. You get them pretty early in the game (right after facing Petey Piranha) and depending on your luck, you can get effects from damaging foes, getting slightly more coins, getting random item drops (of items like Ultra Mushrooms even early on), and such. They can make enemy battles into complete jokes, especially the Hammer Bro challenge where they steal your action commands...but not your amiibo ones. Even better, there is only one enemy in the entire game against whom the amiibo cards are ineffective: Morton, who screws with your Battle Cards and turns off the amiibo cards.
  • The Farmer/Wellington Boots. A pair of boots that most of the time will replace coins for beans from defeated enemies by being jumped on inside...and outside a battle. Go have a field day at the Sunbeam Plains one-shoting enemies with a mere preemptive jump blow. The Absurdly High Level Cap becomes meaningless!
  • A couple of Battle Cards, especially if they're used in conjunction with the amiibo, can be extremely dangerous. Two Battle Cards in particular can lower the levels of the Bowsers (father and son) and the Koopalings. The only real deal is that both of them are really expensive, but shiny enemies have a small chance of dropping them (and sparkling versions at that) after you defeat them...meaning that you can really sweep through the Koopalings (except for Iggy/Morton/Lemmy), Bowser Jr., and possibly even Dry Bowser very easily.
• Goddamned Bats:
  • Paper Bob-ombs from Doop Doop Dunes. Relatively simple enemy to deal with, but they are extremely abundant and if you KO them, they counterattack with an explosion, which really adds up at the early part of the game.
  • Paper Scaredy Rats on the first visit to Twinsy Tropics Dungeon. Very abundant, but as long as you've been maintaining your strength, they shouldn't be too difficult.
  • On the second visit of said dungeon are Horned Ant Troopers. Total pain to deal with due to the fact that they spawn in tight corridors which makes them almost impossible to avoid, appear in large groups and their attacks, while not that powerful, are tricky to dodge and can quickly add up with that many enemies zerg rushing at you.
• Goddamned Boss: Papercraft Kamek has a shield that protects it from rushing attacks, though you can still jump on it if you gain a good opportunity.
• Good Bad Bugs:
  • Hard to say whether it's a bug or just a fluke, but in the Papercraft Bowser battle, if you manage to get the boss on its back, with part of it resting on the edge of the ring, the minions will keep trying to pick it up again but never can, leaving you free to charge up and deliver a good Ground Pound.
  • You can fast forward cutscenes in this game, but if you enter a loading zone to exit a room while a cutscene is in progress, you can keep the fast forward effect in normal gameplay, which lets you move faster, get more distance with the Trio Glider, and clip through floors with the Trio Drill.
  • There are multiple locations where you can go out of bounds by walking in a certain way.
  • You can fling yourself through walls and out of bounds with Trio Drill by drill dashing towards an open edge while holding the opposite direction.
  • If you escape a Paper Toad rescue mission by clipping out of bounds and activating a loading zone that's been blocked off, you enter a glitchy state where you're still in the mission but you can explore the overworld. While you're in this state, if all 3 Bros. die to a boss or scripted battle and you choose to return to the title screen, instead of going to the title, the game thinks that you've won the battle and the game will proceed as if you did.
• He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: IGN's review of the game gave it a 5.9, just barely above average. Especially when they panned the game's writing; something that's commonly been considered one of the best aspects, and even more so in that the score is far worse than the 8.3 given to Paper Mario: Sticker Star, which is near-universally considered an inferior game. This unsurprisingly led to a ton of backlash against the site.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The title sequence of the game features both Peaches casually walking away from a Mirrored Confrontation Shot between the Bowsers and their juniors vs. the Marios and Luigi. Something similar happens at the end of Super Mario Odyssey where Peach tires of the Mario/Bowser rivalry and finally puts her foot down, going Screw This, I'm Outta Here.
  • At one point, Roy asks why are there are no Paper versions of the Koopalings. Come the next Paper Mario game, and we learn that, in fact, there are Paper versions of them.
  • The marketing partnership between Nintendo and Nickelodeon for the 2016 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards saw, as part of advertising for this game, Mario express his longtime desire to get slimed. Come Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and as a Wubba, Mario effectively gets to be the slime and go inside slime itself.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: It was noted in the videos that depending on who the enemy attacks, a crosshair appears. Some people feel like it makes attacks more predictable, but it looks like some attacks are harder to avoid than others. This became mitigated when it was revealed the crosshair could be turned off in the options. Compared to previous games, Paper Jam doesn't have many tough bosses or difficult encounters, straightforward dungeons with easy puzzles, and the card system that can easily snap the game in half.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Due to the fact that it reuses several graphics from Dream Team with most of the paper aspect coming from Sticker Star, many just call the game "Dream Team with Sticker Star elements (though it lacks direct references to Sticker Star) and without the Dream World" as opposed to a proper crossover between both series.
• Jerkass Woobie: Both Bowser Jr.'s come across as very sympathetic and endearing Anti Villains. In both universes, Bowser Jr. had very few friends, so when both versions of him meet, they become inseparable. They even consider throwing the book in the garbage so that Paper Bowser Jr. can stay in the "real" world with his friend, but decide against it in case the book comes in handy. And by the end of the game, their ultimate fate is unknown, but one can assume that their worst fear has become true. Paper Jr. may be very unhappy to be back home, and the normal Jr....let's not even get into that.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some Bowser fans are merely interested in the game because of how well his character was handled, along with his awesome final boss fight complete with an amazing battle theme; the final boss fight in particular is considered a highlight in an overall okayish game.
• Mis-blamed: It was thought by a number of people that the reason many of the original Mario & Luigi characters (such as the Beanish people, the Hooskis, etc.) didn't appear in this game was the result of Executive Meddling mandating that only the standard Mario characters could be used, much like with the Paper Mario games from Sticker Star onward. But in an interview with the directors on Miiverse, when asked about the lack of these original characters, the directors responded that, no, this wasn't actually the case. They were mostly focusing on the main plot involving the two worlds colliding and just couldn't find a good plot-important place to put the original characters in the game. (Similar to why Mario and Luigi failed to appear in Wreck-It Ralph.)
• Moral Event Horizon: Paper Kamek crosses it by brainwashing an innocent Wiggler into being evil and framing the Mario Bros and Paper Mario for the damage he has caused to the Wiggler's territory.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Both Mario RPG series have referenced each other a few times. For example, in Superstar Saga, the Woohoo Hooniversity contains a collection of item blocks, with one of them explicitly described as being from Paper Mario. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door also contained Chuckola Cola in one scene and had Beanish bartenders in a few locations.
  • It may be a bit unusual that Chargin' Chucks are considered bosses (considering their role as widespread mooks in Super Mario World and Super Mario 3D World) in this game, but this game is actually not the first one to have them as bosses. A lone one appeared as a boss in Yoshi's Safari.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: After butting heads countless times (with the exception of the brief truce for New Super Mario Bros. Wii), Bowser Jr. fans and Koopaling fans have come to appreciate the other Co-Dragons, thanks to both appearing and being fleshed out more in light of the original RPG characters stepping aside, allowing for more time in the spotlight. See Author's Saving Throw above.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The Paper Toad fetch quests, most of which are mandatory to progress in the game, get annoying real fast thanks to their repetitiveness and lack of creativity, with most consisting on running to catch or find hidden Paper Toads under a time limit with little variety besides some small gimmick, some are rather unforgiving too. They are generally seen as the main weak point in the game's gameplay.
• Scrappy Weapon:
  • While nowhere as bad as the Touch screen stylus spinning from Giant Battles in the prior game, getting an "Excellent" on Bomb Derby requires mashing the Circle Pad much faster than than you'd expect from a game like this. It's much easier if you toss the bombs with the B Button instead of the Circle Pad, but the game never even mentions that this is possible.
  • In terms of executing the attack perfectly, Toad Trail is considered very hard to control. There is very little room for error as you move across the Paper Toad and you have to steer very carefully along with timing your jumps correctly if you want to get an Excellent. Turn too sharply during the first part of the attack and you wasted 11 BP. Bumping into balloons (which is very common as well) will decrease your speed, which can mean the difference between an "OK" and an "Excellent" ranking. Good luck finishing 5 in a row for the Expert challenge.
  • Cannonball Chuck is very tricky to land against average-sized or smaller enemies, as the sloping in the pseudo-3D view gives you a very narrow window between hitting the enemy and missing completely, wasting the attack. Even if you do hit, the boundary between "Great" and "Excellent" is very unclear, so good luck with the Expert challenge.
• So Okay, It's Average: Paper Jam received a mostly positive reception, but is generally considered the weakest Mario & Luigi game, with a score of 76 on Metacritic. General consensus among fans is that the gameplay, writing and mechanics are solid, but that the game suffers heavily from a lack of originality in the character designs, which was affecting the Paper Mario series at the time and received negative reception, and that the Paper Mario elements were underutilized, which diminishes the crossover's full potential, and Paper Jam is overall relatively ignored compared to the vocal controversy of the Paper Mario games of the time.
• Special Effects Failure: The Final Boss, Shiny Robo Bowser, gets a unique pose when he's anticipating a Bros. attack. Unfortunately, the pose isn't animated at all and is at an awkward full-on view instead of the typical profile view, which ends up looking really goofy. Enjoy gazing into his dead-eyed stare as you charge up your Bros. attacks!
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: From the Paper Mario side of things, Paper Jam is considered a much better game than Sticker Star (to which it's even a direct sequel of sorts), if still a highly contested game. While Paper Jam still doesn't reach the standards of past Paper Mario games due to the simple plot and lack of original characters, the plot is more well-developed than Sticker Star, the existing characters are more compelling, unique, and charming, and the gameplay is much more solid. It avoided much of the backlash associated with the game's true successor, Paper Mario: Color Splash, due to its lack of the controversial Sticker Star battle system and the fact that it showed decent writing and characterization from the get-go.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Double Bowsers", the song that plays in the first phase of the Final Boss, reminds some of "Extreme Encounters". Then again, both songs were composed by Yoko Shimomura...
• Tainted by the Preview: The game already drew concern from Mario fans based on its demo over whether or not it will take the Paper Mario: Sticker Star route and lack any original characters, enemies, or general "Mario RPG-ish" elements. This is despite Starlow being confirmed to return and Paper Bowser once again having dialogue. This wasn't helped by later images showing only established Mario characters, such as Bowser Jr. and Kamek, and most of the Paper Mario elements shown off being based on Sticker Star. When the game was released in some regions, some fans noted that the game gives previously unseen depth and characterization to many of the "mainline" Mario characters, alleviating this somewhat.
• That One Achievement:
  • Paper Sombrero Guy Dodge. In addition to them having only one, really annoying attack to do, getting them to even attack in the first place is a Luck-Based Mission, since they're Support Party Members who prefer to buff other enemies, and have a very high tendency to flee the battle (moreso if they're the last thing left on the field), even if you have Boo Biscuits active.
  • Getting an S rank on Trio Racquet in the Attackathon is difficult because unlike the other minigames, this one has absolutely no margin for error (ironic, since it's the first one you unlock): miss the ball once and the game ends. As you get further, you encounter Cheep-Cheep and Ninji targets, which slow down or speed up the ball as it returns, and even worse, Boo targets which make the ball invisible on the return. Getting the 3000 points required involves getting past a lot of these whilst never screwing up.
• That One Attack:
  • Shockwave attacks now that there are three characters to control. Some dexterity is required to dodge them completely, and you can't just press all of the face buttons at once because X will make the Bros. guard instead.
  • Wiggler has an annoying combo that can easily lead to a Total Party Kill. First, he fires off multiple shockwaves followed by spitting out seeds at one of the brothers. He will then repeat that and follow it up by chasing one of the brothers. Failing to dodge the chase part of the combo will kill the unfortunate brother.
  • If you are aiming for Expert Challenges for dodging, the Paper Sombrero Guys will be the death of you. Their only attack makes them target two or all brothers. While avoiding the hat itself may be easy, if you stomp on the hat, the Paper Sombrero Guy who threw it will run at you and hit you as you're landing, meaning you have to make several very tight jumps in a row. Save Scumming is highly recommended.
  • Paper Boomerang Bros. have an attack where they throw one boomerang, then fold themselves into another one and fly at you. The target has two boomerangs circling them at once, and if you don't hammer the close boomerang into the far one, you're guaranteed to take a hit from the latter. This is one of the more obscure dodge methods of an attack up to that point, so it can take a while to realise exactly what you did wrong. Worse, sometimes the boomerang they throw is another Paper Boomerang Bro, who will join the battle if he hits you (though if you're good at fighting, however, you can abuse this to farm EXP points). This attack is a big part of what makes them Demonic Spiders.
  • Petey Piranha in the Battle Ring. He has this nasty grab attack that he will gladly use on the first turn if you're not fast enough. The real issue with this attack? It's almost impossible to dodge. You need precise timing; if you dodge too soon, you'll get eaten, if you dodge too late, you'll get eaten! If either Mario or Luigi failed to avoid this attack with a jump, they’ll get gobbled up, lose a ton of hit points, and that Bro is forced out of battle^note  it's possible to get a Game Over if both the remaining parties are KO'ed while the other Bro is still in Petey's belly. Unlike the first boss fight in the main game, Petey in the arcade will keep either Bro in his stomach for several turns, taking away the heroes' Bros./Trio Attacks. Paper Mario is the only exception that won’t suffer being held in Petey's belly for obvious reasons and he can easily avoid this attack (if not all) with his fluttering paper physics. This attack is so bad that even a Lakitu in the arcade room will lampshade that even he’s having a hard time dodging it. Thankfully, Petey will only use this move once every few turns, but even more thankfully, he's the first boss in the arcade, meaning that if you're about 3/4 through the main story, you can easily end the battle with just one move to avoid suffering through all that.
  • The Final Boss, Shiny Robo-Bowser has his ultimate attack when his armor is on: his own Trio Hammer. This makes him breathe fire that randomly aims at each of the party members, culiminating in a shockwave that threatens all three of them at once. But what makes it dangerous is that it's not just limited to his turn, instead it also counters your own Trio Attacks, always doing so when the armor is on, meaning it's possible to lose all three members on your turn.
• That One Boss:
  • Paper Petey Piranha is a rather high difficulty spike early on in the game, in that he's only the third major boss. What makes him irritating is that he stole Paper Mario's copy ability before the battle starts and gets multiple copies of himself. Because of this, most of his attacks are very difficult to dodge correctly, with the most noticeable one being his attack that concerns Paper Mario in his paper aeroplane form, which is an attack that you will guarantee to get hit when you first fight this boss. He's also very tough, there may be a good chance that you'll get a Game Over on this boss. Worst of all is defeating the multiple copies, while they're generally easy to beat thanks to the trio's Bros. Attacks that concern fire, finding the real Petey can take an awfully long time. The only hint you'll get is that he'll pop his head up for a little while. But thankfully, Paper Petey has low defence, so if you know what you're doing, Paper Petey won't take long at all.
  • Paper Kamek and Wiggler are a pain. Wiggler gets an attack boost every turn or so, meaning that his difficult to dodge attacks hit even harder, but the main problem comes from one specific combo involving repeated shockwaves and seeds followed by chasing one of the brothers; the last part is likely to kill the unfortunate brother if it is not blocked. Combined, this combo can be a total party kill. Thankfully Paper Kamek is easy to deal with if you exploit his weakness to fire but take too long and he will revive Wiggler.
  • The Dual Boss battle against Ludwig and Larry sees them decide to take a page out of the brothers' book and use battle cards to augment their abilities just like the player does. Some of their effects are basic stat buffs, but they have plenty off nastier ones such as shrinking the bros to send their defence into the toilet or dealing 180 points of unblockable damage. Unfortunately there's no real way to prevent them from using the cards short of dodging every last attack, and their attack repertories let them accumulate Dark Star Points very quickly if you're not able to completely dodge or block them.
• That One Level: The third and last visit to Sunbeam Plains can be very frustrating to navigate for beginners, as almost the entire area has been littered with paper terrain which makes it a labyrinth full of dead ends with no indication of where you should go. It's a lot easier to complete this part if one knows what they are doing or with a proper guide, but if none of these are available, prepare to spend a good chunk of your time just figuring out the correct path.
• That One Sidequest: A lot of the Paper Toad missions can be rather frustrating, especially on Hard Mode.
  • Paper Toad Corral, one of the first missions in the game, is absurdly difficult. You have to push Toads into a hole in a fence while they try to run away from you. If just one blue Toad escapes, you have to go and chase him back while the other Toads can keep walking towards the exit. Letting even one Toad escape forces you to start over and you could easily push a Toad in the wrong direction.
  • In Desert Rescue Party, Hard Mode gives you 10 minutes to find ten Paper Toads. The timer counts down while you're in battle and also while you're searching for the Toads, meaning there's a pretty tight timer.
  • Fly Guy Patrol's Hard Mode has you finding a lot of Paper Toads as Fly Guys with binoculars look around. They move very fast and unexpectedly, and if even one sees you, you're out. The small screen makes it hard to know when a Fly Guy is approaching, so you have to move slowly and ensure you don't run into one by accident.
  • Lost Toads Corral is fiendish. You have a small time limit to hunt down Toads (most are found in out-of-the-way places, such as behind rocks you have to destroy first), time is granted in increments of 10, 20, or 30 depending on your timing, and it's very easy to have the Toads run away from the goal when you approach.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Paper Luigi doesn't appear in the main story at all^note Due to the developers believing it would have made the game too complicated to control, never mind Partners in Time. There's also how Paper Luigi was unplayable in Paper Mario games besides Super Paper Mario., being reduced to appearing in the sound test.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Despite this title being a crossover between two long-running Mario RPG series, the appearances of Starlow and a few Sticker Star bosses are the only real sign of this, with none of the other events or characters from either series coming up and the story being another standard Save the Princess plot. While many characters from "mainline" Mario games like Toadette, Nabbit, the Koopalings, and King Bob-omb appear and get more characterization in this game, some fans feel that since the RPG characters are for the most part exclusive to their series, the characters in the story being limited to ones from the mainline games steals the chance from other characters who likely would never appear again. In essence, the choice of characters and the standard story cause Paper Jam to feel more like a "surprisingly good fanfic" rather than the spectacular crossover most fans were hoping for. Many people believe that Paper Jam would have received more positive attention if it was designed as a new spinoff entirely a la Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle^note a more acclaimed spinoff where almost all the original characters were Raving Rabbids, rather than a crossover between two beloved Mario RPG series known for their bold and unconventional direction.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The Papercraft Peach used during the third papercraft battle is deeply unsettling. Compared to Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi, who all have fairly cartoon-like features naturally, Peach's more realistic face just didn't translate well.

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