Editing Paper Mario (video game) (section)

== Plot and setting ==
Set in the [[Mushroom Kingdom]], the game begins when Mario and Luigi receive an invitation from Peach for a party at the castle. There, when Mario and Peach are alone, [[Bowser]] lifts her castle, overpowers Mario with his invincibility that he gained by stealing the Star Rod and imprisoning the seven Star Spirits; Mario is thrown away from the castle in the sky and lands in Goomba Village, where he is aided by Goombario and his family. Mario and Goombario make their way to Shooting Star Summit, where the weakened seven Star Spirits' request Mario to find them in order to stop Bowser's invincibility. Mario and his friends go to the four Koopa Bros.' fortress where they save the first Star Spirit. and they find the second one in the Dry, Dry Desert inside a secret fortress ruled over by Tutankoopa. The third one is being kept by Tubba Blubba, a nemesis scaring the Boos and eating them when he is "invincible" (his heart is his true weak point). The fourth one is kept by the General Guy and his minions living in the Toy Box. Mario and his new friends travel to Lavalava Land, an island where its inhabitants are threatened by an impending volcanic eruption. After saving the fifth Spirit, they journey to Flower Fields retrieving the sixth one. Mario becomes a suspect of murder when he finds the Shiver City's mayor unconscious; after solving the mystery (which was the mayor's own accident), Mario gets to the Crystal Palace where he saves the last Star Spirit from the Crystal King. As he has saved every Star Spirit, Mario then departs to Peach's Castle.

Meanwhile, Peach tries in numerous attempts to escape the castle alongside Twink. The player controls Peach in a variety of minigames each time Mario saves
a Star Spirit, such as baking a cake for Gourmet Guy or even cloning the appearance of Bowser's minions with a magic umbrella. At the end of every gameplay segment with Peach, she overhears Bowser speaking about the bosses Mario beats before being discovered and then transported to her room again.

Mario enters the castle and confronts Bowser; with the power of the seven Star Spirits, Mario manages to beat Bowser by stopping his invincibility while Twink, with support from Peach, battles Bowser's sidekick Kammy Koopa. Mario and Peach, alongside their friends, eventually win against Bowser and Kammy. The Star Spirits restore the castle to its spot. On another day, Mario and Luigi receives a letter for another party, which lead to a parade as the game's credits rolls, and Mario and Peach watch fireworks together at his home.

=== Story and characters ===
The game's story centers on Mario as he tries to reclaim the seven Star Spirits, who have been sealed in playing cards by Bowser and his assistant, [[Kammy Koopa]].<ref name="RPGFan"/> Their combined power is required to negate the effects of the Star Rod, which makes Bowser invincible. Once Mario rescues all of them, he uses their assistance to defeat Bowser and rescue Peach. The story is presented in the context of a [[novel]], with each adventure involving the rescue of a Star Spirit denoted as a single chapter. Peach is playable between chapters, where she allies with a star kid named Twink in the castle to relay vital information to Mario regarding his quest.<ref name="GameSpot"/>

Mario allies with eight partners in total, each of whom represents a different type of enemy from the ''Mario'' franchise. These allies are:
* Goombario, a [[Goomba]] who has the ability to tell the player about any character, environment, and enemy;
* Kooper, a [[Koopa Troopa]] with the ability to throw his shell at otherwise unreachable objects;
* Bombette, a [[Bob-omb]] with the ability to blow up weak parts of walls;
* Parakarry, a [[Koopa Troopa|Paratroopa]] with the ability to help Mario cross gaps too large to jump across;
* Lady Bow, a [[List of Mario franchise characters#Enemy_characters|Boo]] with the ability to make Mario become invisible and transparent;
* Watt, a Li'l Sparky with the ability to light up rooms and reveal hidden objects;
* Sushie, a Cheep Cheep with the ability to allow Mario to swim;
* and Lakilester, a [[Lakitu]] with the ability to allow Mario to traverse dangerous environments, such as spikes and lava.

After Peach's castle is sent back to the ground and Mario defeats Bowser, he recounts his tale to [[Luigi]], who had remained at home while Mario went on the adventure. Peach throws a huge party to honor Mario and his allies for saving the entire kingdom, which is then followed by a [[parade]] during the credits.