The wait is over. After nearly five years since Super Mario RPG, Mario and all his friends are returning to the RPG scene. The only difference is, this time they're paper-thin. Paper Mario shipped yesterday, and is in stores now, so Nintendo 64 owners, long deprived of RPGs, can breathe a sigh of relief. Paper Mario features 2-D characters on 3-D backgrounds, as the game follows Mario's quest to retrieve the stolen Star Rod from the evil Magikoopa Kamek. While this graphical style hasn't always been successful in the past, all indications are the game should be an improvement graphically over most others that have tried this approach.

Paper Mario will retail for a suggested price of $49.99 US, and Nintendo is offering a website supporting the game, www.papermario.com. The site offers a strategy guide as well as other general information, and there's also a section where paper cutouts of the game's characters can be downloaded and printed. Paper Mario promises to be one of the better games released this month, and is definitely worth picking up. For more information, see RPGamer's preview.