#papermariosuggestion
It’s-a-probably time for an update.
It’s been about a year and a half since I posted anything on here, and that’s way, WAY longer than I was anticipating. This was never really meant to be a hiatus (I was originally hoping to post something within a few weeks), it just kinda turned into one. I’m definitely not done here, and if that day ever comes, I’ll be sure to tell you guys.
There are so many online content creators that I’ve seen “take a break,” and then disappear entirely, without ever providing any kind of explanation for why they left or responding to any questions. It’s understandable; I’m posting this so that you know I’m not gone, but I’m also calling attention to the fact that I haven’t been posting on here, which means I’m probably making some people aware of that for the first time.
At the same time, I don’t want to leave people in the dark, so…
There are several reasons I’ve been away. I’d say the big two are that I’ve been busy with work and other projects and that I’ve set the bar too high for myself:
• I love making free content, and it’ll be a cold, dark day in Eeby Deeby before I ever use something like Post+. At the same time, I kinda have to focus my attention on making things that further my career and, like, allow me to live indoors and not starve to death because CaPiTaLiSm. I’d like the content I create as Paper Mario Suggestion to be free, so it kinda has to take a back seat when my day job and other projects are weighing me down.
• Just about everything I’ve ever posted on here has been easy for me to make; with this blog, I wanted to see if I could consistently create content that people would enjoy, not necessarily content that would push me to achieve more advanced and challenging things. Eventually, that got stale, to put it plainly. I started to feel like I was doing the same thing over and over, like more and more of the content that I was making wasn’t worth posting (and based on some of the comments I’ve gotten, I’m sure some other people would agree). I had some great ideas stashed away that were just too much for me to turn around in a day or two… apparently they were also too much for me to turn around in a year and a half. All of the Paper Mario content I’ve worked on during this unintentional hiatus has either been too complicated for me to successfully complete on my own, totally out of my wheelhouse, or simply impossible given the circumstances. I have a bunch of ideas, it’s just a matter of figuring out when and how to execute them in a way that’s enjoyable and purposeful.
I appreciate everyone who’s ever supported me in any way, especially those of you who’ve stuck around while I’ve been inactive.
If you’re new here, then welcome to PaperMarioSuggestion! I make content, I think.
I wish I had an estimate for you guys, but I honestly don’t know when or what I’ll post next. I still have things in the works, I just don’t know if/when any of them’ll be ready, so… until then, uh… keep on keepin’ on ✨
This post right here is technically the 1000th post on this blog, in the way that Tumblr measures it. I was gonna wait until I reached 1000 original posts (excluding asks) to make this announcement, but for a number of reasons, now feels like the right time.
I started this blog in October of 2016, partially as a challenge to myself to see how long I could riff on the same subject, partially as a way to keep active while in an extremely debilitating situation (which I’ve been out of for a couple of years now), and partially just to get a better sense of what being a content creator entails.
Before this blog, I’d made a lot of short-form content over the years, but most of that never even saw the light of day, and what did was always scattered, not centralized like this blog is. This blog has been my first real journey into making content for a specific audience on a specific platform, and it’s been really interesting to see all of the positive and negative feedback that it’s inspired.
I realize this might sound like I’m leading up to “goodbye,” so to clarify, I’m definitelynot. This isn’t me leaving or even me going on a “hiatus.” With any luck, this is actually the start of a new era.
The “catch” that comes with constantly producing short-form content is that I find myself shelving bigger ideas (both for this blog and for other endeavors) in favor of working on more immediately attainable ideas, and to put it plainly, those figurative shelves have gotten really, really full. I find myself wanting to make bigger and better content, and that might mean posting infrequently.
There might be long gaps between posts, but I’m hoping that what I make is worth the wait (I’m gonna be going for a quality-over-quantity-type deal here, in case I haven’t made that clear). I won’t just disappear forever on you guys without letting you know, and your support means a lot, so I hope you’ll stick around.
In the meantime, I’ll still be involved in the community- I love seeing the Paper Mario content you guys create and hearing your thoughts on things- so feel free to keep those anon hate-messages cool and polite asks coming. See you soon.
Real talk, if you want to know why Paper Mario fans are upset that Paper Mario “changed,” please play Bug Fables and note how it’s different than Paper MarioandTTYD, yet simultaneously in the same vein. This is how you make a sequel, by iterating on and enhancing an idea rather than throwing it out and making something entirely different. Had Paper Mario gone this route, the fandom would not be the divided mess it is today, and I’ll stand by that statement.
I know that now isn’t a great time to be buying things, given the state of the world, but if you’re fortunate enough to have a spare $25 for something fun, please support Moonsprout Games by getting Bug Fables. If the past of video games must die, let us build a brighter future.
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How it all began…
Here at Nintendo®, “RPG” stands for “Revolutionary, but Prepare to Grieve,” so it’s only a matter of time…
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Imagine you go to the store and pick up a bag of M&Ms, but when you get home and open it up, it’s full of Skittles. You check the front of the bag, and it says “M&Ms,” but instead of chocolate candies that melt in your mouth (and also low-key melt in your hand), you’ve received fruit-flavored, chewy rainbow candies. Now, Skittles aren’t bad by any means, but they objectively aren’t what goes in an M&M bag, so presumably there was a mix-up at the factory. You return to the store only for the same thing to happen again… and again and again; there are no M&Ms to be found, just lots of bags of Skittles that say “M&Ms” on the front.
After years of this, you start to wonder if M&M bags will ever actually contain M&Ms again. People who prefer Skittles and people who enjoy both candies equally don’t understand what’s wrong; they think you’re entitled for expecting M&M bags to contain M&Ms, they think that you hate Skittles and want to see them eradicated, they think you’re being mean and selfish and resistant to change, but all you really want is for the bag to match its contents.
It’d be one thing if they just stopped making M&Ms and M&M bags altogether- that’d be upsetting, but tolerable- making M&M bags full of Skittles, however, is confusing for people who’d never tried M&Ms before this changed, as they’re being led to believe that M&Ms are fruit flavored and chewy, a constant reminder that M&Ms no longer exist (in this hypothetical scenario), and a sign of either incompetence or deliberate deception on the part of the manufacturer.
Paper Mario fans aren’t “rabid” or “entitled,” we aren’t “hating on” games because we expect Intelligent Systems to cater to our every whim, and we certainly don’t expect everyone to have the same taste in video games. Whether you do or don’t like Skittles, and whether you do or don’t like M&Ms, I think we can all agree that they’re two different things, and as two different things, they shouldn’t be lumped together under the same name.
Series /ˈsirēz/
noun. A number of things, events, or people of a similar kind of related nature coming one after another.
Despite having “Paper Mario” in the name, Sticker Star signified a dramatic shift in genre, cannon, narrative structure, setting, atmosphere, casting, characterization, tone, visual style, sound design, gameplay, length, UI design, UX design, and other of the various attributes that comprise any individual game.
The nature of Sticker StarandColor Splash, and evidently The Origami King, is barely even tangentially related to that of Paper Mario andTTYD, and the games aren’t remotely similar to Super Paper Mario either, so they’re just completely separate.
Do games need to change over time to stay relevant and fresh? Of course, but as with most things in life, it’s about balance, it’s about hitting that sweet spot between too much and not enough change. How do you know when you’ve hit that sweet spot? Well, it’s hard to say, because there are so many variables at play when you’re creating a sequel to another work of art, but chances are, if you’re changing more than you’re leaving the same, you’re crossing the line from staying relevant to totally rebooting the series. Taking two steps back when you crossed that line twenty miles ago isn’t going to win back the fans that you betrayed when you quite possibly destroyed the future of something they love.
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Me: What if there was a new game that somewhat resembled the defining games of the Paper Mario series and made changes to improve and revitalize the experience?
A disappointedly large number of people on the Internet:
Looks AMAZING! Can’t wait to play more of my favorite mobile puzzle series!
SO GLAD we didn’t get a SMG2 clone like the hater-Stans wanted
It’s important to keep things FRESH
AU where this blog started in 2012:
Nintendo:Check out this cool new game! It’s called Paper Mario: Sticker Star!
Me:Paper Mario fandom, grab your Ultra Hammers!
John Green: I just wanted to say Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is one of my favorite games. Not only that, but the original game, Paper Mario, was amazing. Super Paper Mario makes me a little crazy to be honest. Like, I cannot play these three games enough to be satisfied. I’m only satisfied when I see those intense, powerful dramatic arcs come to fruition. When I sit back in my Mario chair with my 3DS, look at my new Chain Chomp, Wiggler, and other diverse partners with distinct personalities, and feel a genuine, positive emotional connection to the heavily embellished and polished content of the RPG I just completed after days’ and weeks’ and months’ worth of thumb-numbingly epic adventure….. That’s when I’m satisfied.
Bad game. Good game.
It matters not. Your resemblance to a Paper Mario game is
thinner than the toilet paper in a public restroom.
• ♡, the secret to defeating Tubba Blubba ❤️
• ♪, an eighth note (used in the Melody that Chanterelle sings)
• ! = an indication that there’s something nearby to interact with
• ? = my favorite type of block
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Me:I promise I won’t rant about why Vivian is Best Girl™ tonight.
Me, two and a half Strange Leaves later:
