Paper Mario Color Splash is basically the black sheep of the Mario world, which is saying something because the Mario franchise is full of weird experiments. It’s colorful. It's funny. Honestly, it’s probably one of the most visually stunning games Nintendo ever put on the Wii U, but people still argue about it in Reddit threads until their fingers bleed. If you ask a hardcore fan about this game, they’ll either tell you it’s a misunderstood masterpiece or the moment the series lost its soul.
The game arrived in 2016. The Wii U was basically a ghost ship at that point. Everyone was looking toward the horizon for what we now know as the Switch. Yet, here comes Mario with a giant paint hammer.
The Reality of Paper Mario Color Splash
Let’s talk about Prism Island. It’s being drained of its color by Shy Guys with straws. Yes, straws. That is the level of humor we’re dealing with here. The writing in Paper Mario Color Splash is arguably the best in the entire series. It’s sharp. It’s self-aware. It knows that the plot is ridiculous.
The game isn't a traditional RPG, and that's where the friction starts. There are no experience points. There are no leveling-up mechanics in the way you’d expect from The Thousand-Year Door. Instead, you collect Hammer Scraps to increase your paint capacity. It’s a progression system, sure, but it feels different. It’s more about resource management than grinding for stats. You're constantly worrying about your paint levels—red, blue, and yellow—which you use to color in the world and power up your combat cards.
Why the Battle System Divides Everyone
The combat is weird. There’s no getting around it. You use cards. You find them, you buy them, or you win them. You pick a card, you paint it to make it stronger, and then you flick it onto the TV screen from the Wii U GamePad. It sounds tactile and fun, and for the first five hours, it kinda is. But then you realize that every battle uses up your resources without giving you traditional XP.
✨ Don't miss: Why Mario Odyssey for the Nintendo Switch Still Beats Every Other Platformer
This leads to a strange phenomenon: players start avoiding enemies.
In a game about a hero saving the world, you find yourself sneaking around Goombas because fighting them feels like a net loss for your inventory. It’s a bizarre design choice that Shigeru Miyamoto and the team at Intelligent Systems doubled down on after Sticker Star. They wanted to move away from complex RPG elements. They wanted something "accessible." Whether they succeeded is still a massive point of contention in the gaming community.
The "Thing" Cards and Boss Logic
If you’ve played the game, you know about the "Things." These are real-world objects—like a giant fan, a lemon, or a fire extinguisher—rendered in high-definition 3D. They look jarring against the paper aesthetic, which is the point. They are the ultimate weapons.
But here is the catch. The bosses, the Koopalings, basically require a specific "Thing" card to defeat. If you reach Wendy O. Koopa and you don't have the Instant Camera card? You’re probably going to lose. It’s a puzzle-based combat system masquerading as a turn-based RPG. It requires a specific type of logic. Some people love the "aha!" moment of figuring out which real-world object counters a boss's gimmick. Others find it frustrating to have to backtrack across the world map just because they didn't know they needed a giant pair of scissors.
🔗 Read more: Why BioShock Explained Matters More Than Ever in 2026
The Visual Identity of Prism Island
Visually, Paper Mario Color Splash is a triumph. Period.
The developers leaned into the "paper" aspect harder than ever before. Everything is made of cardboard, tape, and construction paper. You can see the corrugated edges of the hills. You can see the white edges where the paper was "cut." When a Toad is drained of color, he becomes a white, lifeless cutout. It’s haunting in a Nintendo-sort-of-way.
The lighting engine is phenomenal. You’ll see the sun reflecting off the "plastic" surfaces or the way shadows fall across a folded paper bridge. It’s one of those games that makes you stop and just look at the scenery. Even the music, which is heavily jazz-influenced, creates this upbeat, slightly chaotic atmosphere that fits the "vacation gone wrong" vibe of the story.
The Toads... So Many Toads
One of the biggest criticisms of the game is the lack of original character designs. In earlier games, you had unique partners—a Goomba with a hat, a Bob-omb with a mustache. In Paper Mario Color Splash, you get Toads. Red Toads, blue Toads, yellow Toads. They all look pretty much the same.
💡 You might also like: Why 3d mahjong online free is actually harder than the classic version
However, the writers gave these Toads distinct personalities through dialogue. You’ll find a "Rescue Squad" of Toads who are perpetually incompetent. You’ll find a Toad who is just trying to enjoy a coffee while the world ends. They are hilarious, but it’s understandable why fans miss the diverse cast of the older titles. Huey, your bucket companion, tries his best to fill the void. He’s sarcastic and actually has a surprisingly emotional character arc by the time the credits roll.
Is It Worth Playing in 2026?
Honestly, yes. But you have to go into it with the right mindset. If you’re looking for Stardew Valley levels of progression or Final Fantasy depth, you’re going to be disappointed. It’s an adventure game. It’s a comedy. It’s a gorgeous, interactive piece of art that happens to have some clunky card mechanics.
The Wii U is a dead console, which makes this game a bit of a relic. It hasn't been ported to the Switch (yet), which is a shame because the colors would pop even more on an OLED screen. If you still have a Wii U plugged in, or if you find one at a garage sale, this is one of the "must-play" titles just to see what Nintendo was thinking during their most experimental era.
Practical Tips for New Players
- Don't hoard your cards. The game throws coins at you. You will never be poor. Buy the big cards, use the "Things," and don't worry about "saving them for later."
- Talk to everyone. The dialogue is the real reward. The NPCs have better lines than most modern sitcoms.
- Pay attention to the environment. Often, a "missing" piece of the world is just waiting for you to use the "Cutout" mechanic. If you see a line that looks like a dotted path, pull out your scissors.
- Backtrack with purpose. If you find a "Thing," take it to the Wringer in Port Prisma immediately to turn it into a card. You don't want to be caught in a boss fight without the right tool.
Paper Mario Color Splash isn't perfect. It's stubborn. It's beautiful. It's occasionally annoying. But it’s also one of the most creative uses of the Mario IP we’ve ever seen. It’s a reminder that Nintendo isn't afraid to take a beloved formula and throw it at a wall just to see what color the splatter is.
To get the most out of your time on Prism Island, focus on the exploration and the jokes rather than the efficiency of the combat. Treat the battles as a means to an end—the end being the next gorgeous location or the next witty line of dialogue from a depressed Toad. If you can move past the lack of traditional XP, you’ll find a game that has more heart and craft than almost anything else from that console generation.
Check your local used game stores or online marketplaces; since it was a late-life Wii U release, physical copies are becoming increasingly rare and might actually hold some value for collectors later this decade.