Probably one of the best RPGs around this gen

Firstly, what is Paper Mario? For those who don't know, it was an RPG on the N64, where all the characters were made out of paper. (Basically, sprites in a 3D world, however there was more to it than that - the game played on the fact that they were made out of paper.)
Possibly because not many RPG fans were interested in either Mario or the N64, it was largely ignored, which was a shame, because it was one of the best and most innovative RPGs around at the time. It came out towards the end of the N64's life, and no-one was ever really expecting a sequel to it, especially when Nintendo released Mario and Luigi on the GBA (which was a pretty good game that followed similar principles, but still not quite as good as the original).
However, earlier this year, Nintendo announced that there was a Gamecube sequel in production and coming this way. And now, here we are, with this generation's version of the game.

The game has a Zelda like puzzle elements in it, however it has turn based battles. The plot is pretty much the same as the original. (Does it ever change?) Peach has been kidnapped. Mario has to save her, but first he has to collect 7 stars scattered around the world, which make for 7 chapters of the game.
Start playing this, and save a few minor changes, you feel like you're playing the first game. The system in Paper Mario wasn't broke, and nobody else has really copied it, so this isn't really a problem - it's still a pretty unique game. However, while there have been not drastic changes, there are a ton of subtle improvements. The first and most noticeable is the graphics. As you would expect from the Gamecube, the resolution has been upped, the environments are more detailed, and with the move to disk the 2D sprites are more detailed. That's not the only change though. Rather than just being sprites, characters now have multiple parts (arms, legs, bodies, etc) which animate. The effect is very good - you'll be amazed at how nicely everything is animated.
Other changes to the game and the battle system have been made, but they just feel like natural extensions of the first game. For example, in the N64 version, every battle took place on a stage. No explanation was given for this, it was just assumed to be their artistic style. In the gamecube version, the stage has an audience, which is not just another cosmetic thing - wooing the audience is important, because it fills your special move gage. Another example is blocking and countering, which I'll get to in a minute.
Interestingly, despite starting from level 1, many of the tactics/abilities from the first game can be earnt quite early on, possibly making the game more appealing to people who are used to moves from the first one.

If you've played the N64 version, chances are that all you really wanted was an assurance that nothing had been screwed up in this game before rushing out to buy it. (And it hasn't - if anything, it's better than the original.)
But if you've not played Paper Mario before, then you might want to know what makes this game so good that you should buy it? And if you don't play RPGs, then you might want to know why you should play this game as well.
Well, Paper Mario isn't like a normal RPG. It doesn't focus on plot, and annoying you with constantly repeated battles (although it does have quite a good plot). It focuses on being fun to play.
You won't get stuck on a boss because you haven't leveled yourself up enough, nor will you be able to level up and get past a boss you can't beat by brute force - instead, the game focuses on your skills and your tactical ability. Every enemy, be they a big boss, or just a regular monster, has some kind of puzzle to beating them. The game moves away from every enemy just being a walking sack of HP that requires no more thinking than doing enough damage to take that to 0.
Like Shadow Hearts, this game also finds joy that executing an attack is more than just selecting it from a menu and then watching it animate. For each different type of attack, you have to perform some kind of action command to pull it off successfully. Also, rather than just watching your characters take the pain in the enemies turn, you can take action to avoid them. If you time the move right, you can block (which increases your defense a little, easy to pull off but a bit useless in the latter half of the game) and counter (which is harder to pull off, but lets you dodge damage, and in most cases counterattack the enemy).
Purist RPG fans may look at these ideas in disgust, but they are actually a stroke of genius - it makes the battles so much more involving when they use your skill, rather than just selecting Attack over and over again.
Another thing that Paper Mario has over other games is it's stats system and badge system. Rather than give in to the urge to just have really high numbers (ooh, I have 7342 HP!) this game keeps it only as complex as it needs to be - which isn't very complex at all. You start the game with 10 HP, 5 FP (Paper Mario's version of MP), and 3 BP (Badge Points).
HP and FP are pretty obvious. BP determine how many badges you can equip, which can grant Mario special moves, special effects, various immunities, or just plain stat boosts.
The trick is, that when you level, rather than gaining a set amount of each, you only gain some of one stat, which you choose. The way to being a powerful character is to choose which stat you want based on the way you play. If you like to tank it, then you'll probably want to ignore the other stats and boost your HP. If you like to use special moves instead, then FP is the one to go for. If instead you want to boost your attack, defense, or use various other tactics that involve equipping badges, then you'll want to boost your BP. (Most basic abilities are cheap to equip, however the abilities that really change your battles, such as attack boosts, defense boosts, or my personal favourite, an ability that lets you switch party members without wasting a turn, then that will cost a lot of badge points to equip.)

And lastly, despite the strictly for kids appearance, it does actually manage to be funny in many places. Hats off to Nintendo and Intelligent systems for making the game appeal to kids, and managing to make me laugh in a few places.

I give this 9.5/10