I finished the Paper Mario Remake.
I think it's safe to say that it holds the test of time, it's still not only one of my favorite Mario games, but favorite video games in general of all time.
I legit got emotional during the ending, seeing everyone you've met throughout your journey cheering you on and telling you not to give up, and then saying goodbye to all your partners and them telling you not to forget them. Not just for the writing but the nostalgia as well.
My true wish for gaming is to see another Paper Mario game in this style again, a brand new one. Now that I know what they are capable of, creating a remake with so many positive changes and bringing the GCN game to the modern age, I want to see a true sequel, with the battle system of 64/TTYD and the creativity of the first three games. I truly hope that come the next Nintendo system, we can see a true return to form for this series, the same way Mario and Luigi got a new game with the same battle system.
Just give me a "Paper Luigi And the Milennium Compass."
I realize it's "Marvelous Compass" in the game... but make it parallel the thousand year door.
The Chestnut King kidnaps Princess Eclair as Luigi discovers that each compass piece points to the next and one of them is in princess Eclair's tiara, so to rescue her, he needs to assemble the compass until he is pointed to her. He leaves Rogueport for Rumblebump Volcano by boat (Luigi will have a regular boat because he seems to sail out of Rogueport for each place). He meets Blooey the Blooper, the White Torpedo... who is a jerk. Who basically is planning to betray Luigi at the first opportunity but Luigi is too naïve to realize it. At the end of the first boss fight, in an attempt to backstab Luigi over the compass piece in the moving giant statue boss, Blooey winds up in lava and becomes tan for the rest of the game. He stays with Luigi... thirsty for revenge.
The Compass piece leads Luigi and Blooey to Plumpbelly village the strudel continent where they see a town ruled by a giant snake named Hizza. Hizza has demanded the mayor's daughter as a sacrifice. Despite the two not looking that similar, Blooey insists that she's practically Luigi's twin, and Luigi in a dress is offered as a sacrifice by the mayor, Blooey... and a shy red bob-omb named Jerry who's not really enthused at the deceit. Jerry joins as a companion and is,... horrified by Luigi, who in the fight with Hizza was able to claim a compass piece... but also destroyed most of the town. Luigi blames the stiletto heels he had to wear as part of the mayor's daughter costume. Jerry swears to stay with Luigi to make sure his stiletto clad destruction befalls no one else without warning.
Then Luigi sails from Rogueport to Circuit Break Island, where they hold kart races daily and meets Torque, a green spiny with a wrench top instead of a spike. Luigi realizes he needs a kart to win the next compass piece, begs Torque for his.... and of course totals it in the boss fight at the end of the kart race. Torque joins the party until Luigi can cough up 5000 coins in repair costs.
....and go on from there. Just use the outline Luigi gave us in Thousand Year Door.
If you pay Torque off early, he sticks around, but now has dialogue where he doesn't insult Luigi.
Each partner basically has a sidequest where you can convince them they actually like Luigi and this will change their dialogue for the rest of the game.
But the outline for the game was completely given to us.