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The six mainline Paper Mario games range from traditional turn-based RPGs to platforming adventures and puzzle-led battles. This ranking puts The Thousand-Year Door first for its partners, customizable combat, story, and writing, while weighing how well each game’s central design works across the whole adventure. The order is subjective: players who prize platforming or story over RPG battles may rank Super Paper Mario higher.
This list covers the six mainline entries: Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Paper Mario, Sticker Star, Color Splash, and The Origami King. The 2024 Nintendo Switch release of The Thousand-Year Door is a remake of the GameCube game, not a seventh entry. The crossover Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is outside this ranking.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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| 1 |
![Super Paper Mario [video game]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51+V1mV0xbL._SL160_.jpg)
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Super Paper Mario [video game] | $61.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Super Paper Mario (Renewed) | $22.53 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Videogioco Nintendo Paper Mario: The Origami King Switch) | $69.00 | Buy on Amazon |
The order considers combat and progression, characters and story, exploration, and how well each game’s presentation and core idea hold up. Because the series changes its battle systems and genre from entry to entry, the ranking is a judgment about the complete experience—not a claim that every fan should value the same things.
6. Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Sticker Star takes the series to Nintendo 3DS and builds its combat around collectible stickers. The system gives the game a clear identity, but it also creates friction between fighting and exploring: stickers are resources you spend in battle, so an ordinary encounter can use up an item that might be useful later. If a battle offers little reward, spending those resources can feel like a poor trade.
#1 Best Overall
- The newest chapter of the Paper Mario story isn't just out of this world ... it's out of this dimension. What at first glance appears to be a 2-D sidescroller ripped straight from the pages of the Paper Mario universe soon turns into a 3-D action-adventure that defies all video game logic. Fusing 2-D and 3-D perspectives, not to mention RPG and platformer elements, the game slips back and forth between dimensions. The action sprawls across eight worlds filled with traps, puzzles, bizarre
That tension is the main reason it lands last here. The problem is not simply that the game departs from the earlier RPG format; it is that its battles can make progression feel less satisfying rather than more purposeful. Players drawn to the sticker concept may still enjoy experimenting with the system, but it is the least consistently rewarding of these six adventures.
5. Paper Mario: Color Splash
Color Splash retains ideas related to Sticker Star, shifting the resource-based battle approach to paint-themed cards. Its strongest qualities are elsewhere: its expressive art, jokes, charm, and exploration give the Wii U adventure a lively personality. The writing and presentation also improve on Sticker Star.
Those strengths do not fully resolve the battle system’s incentive problem, and the story is comparatively thin. The game is easy to appreciate for its humor and visual invention, but its combat and narrative do less to pull the whole adventure together than the entries above it.
4. Paper Mario: The Origami King
The Origami King replaces conventional turn-based battles with a ring puzzle: Mario lines up enemies on a circular grid before attacking. It is a distinctive experiment that asks the player to solve a spatial problem as part of each encounter. Whether that stays compelling is a matter of taste; the novelty can be appealing, but repeated puzzles may not satisfy players who want deeper RPG battles.
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Rank #2
- Disc only. Original case and manual not included. Will come packaged in a generic case.
- This renewed game has been cleaned, tested, and shows minimal wear.
3. Super Paper Mario
Super Paper Mario turns the series toward platforming. Its signature mechanic lets Mario flip between a 2D view and a 3D perspective, changing how he navigates spaces and solves puzzles. That shift gives the Wii game a distinct rhythm and makes exploration feel different from the turn-based entries.
Its story and original characters are frequent reasons to place it higher. The trade-off is combat: it is lighter on traditional RPG systems, so players who come to Paper Mario for turn-based partner battles may find less to enjoy here. On story or platforming priorities, it could reasonably move above the next two games.
2. Paper Mario
The Nintendo 64 original establishes the series’ RPG foundation: turn-based battles, a charming world, and a strong supporting cast. Its straightforward structure gives the characters and adventure room to shine, and it remains a close contender for the top spot in Nintendo Life’s reader discussion.
It ranks just below The Thousand-Year Door because the sequel refines the original’s formula with more ways to shape battles and a particularly memorable group of partners. But the first game is not merely a historical starting point; its compact RPG design and charm still make it one of the series’ strongest entries.
1. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
The Thousand-Year Door is the strongest all-rounder in this ranking. Its turn-based battles let Mario fight alongside partners, while badges offer meaningful ways to customize a build. Varied locations, comic writing, and memorable characters make the journey feel cohesive rather than like a showcase for one mechanic.
Rank #3
- Videogioco Nintendo paper Mario: the origami King
The GameCube original was released in 2004; Nintendo’s Switch remake arrived on May 23, 2024. Nintendo describes the Switch edition as having revamped graphics, an updated soundtrack, and additions including updated quick-travel pipes and a Partner Ring for swapping characters. Those are Nintendo’s product details, not an independent assessment of the remake.
Nintendo lists a physical Switch edition on its official U.S. product page. For this ranking, the remake does not change the count: it is a new edition of the same game, and the original’s blend of battles, partners, exploration, and writing is what earns it first place.
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There is no single series formula that every entry follows. The original and The Thousand-Year Door lean into turn-based RPG combat and partners; Super Paper Mario foregrounds platforming and dimension-flipping puzzles; Sticker Star and Color Splash use consumable resources in battle; and The Origami King centers fights on ring puzzles. A ranking that values story or platforming more heavily can put Super Paper Mario above the classic RPGs.
Other published orders differ too. The Escapist’s 2024 ranking places Color Splash above The Origami King, Super Paper Mario, and the original Paper Mario. Nintendo Life’s reader-rated order is dynamic, so it should not be treated as a fixed consensus. The list above favors how satisfying each game’s core systems feel alongside its characters, exploration, and presentation.
Release dates and platforms
Release dates below are regional where the cited game information distinguishes regions. The Thousand-Year Door appears twice to show the original GameCube release and its later Switch remake.
Quick Recap
| Game | Platform and release dates |
|---|---|
| Paper Mario | Nintendo 64: Japan, August 11, 2000; North America, February 5, 2001; UK/Europe, October 5, 2001. |
| Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door | GameCube: Japan, July 22, 2004; North America, October 11, 2004; UK/Europe, November 12, 2004. |
| Super Paper Mario | Wii: North America, April 9, 2007; Japan, April 19, 2007; UK/Europe, September 14, 2007. |
| Paper Mario: Sticker Star | Nintendo 3DS: North America, November 11, 2012; Japan, December 6, 2012; UK/Europe, December 7, 2012. |
| Paper Mario: Color Splash | Wii U: North America and UK/Europe, October 7, 2016. |
| Paper Mario: The Origami King | Nintendo Switch: North America and UK/Europe, July 17, 2020. |
| Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake | Nintendo Switch: May 23, 2024. |
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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