Paper Mario X Fire Emblem

[Rend Keaven]

I have been playing Fire Emblem Heroes for almost a month now and one of the features of the mobile game that not alot of people mention is the chibi artwork for the sprites. I find this choice of art style to be very fitting for the mobile game as it makes the game look lighthearted, engaging for new or younger players and it's kind of a breath of fresh air since the last time we had 2D battle sprites was in Sacred Stones almost 13 years ago. As much as I praise this art style, I don't see it as the "go to" art style for mainstream Fire Emblem titles. Can you imagine if FE15 had a darker story, mature characters but had a cutesy chibi like characters designs? Not saying it couldn't work (I've seen some RPG with chibi character models) , but its a huge step.

So I thought if we can't get a main Fire Emblem title with this art style, why not a spin off? That's when I thought of a Paper Mario and Fire Emblem crossover. I may not be a true spin off since Intelligent Systems has worked on both of these franchises, but this is a kind of spin off I would like to see. The Paper Mario games (at least the first 3) were lighthearted, beginner friendly and also challenging at the same time. I would love to see some FE Legends in paper form. Mario can be an axe user with his hammer and recruit new or former partners from the older Paper Mario Titles, supports between FE and PM characters and even classic villains arriving.

Feel free to post your thoughts or your ideas of this potential or ludicrous cross over. 

[KoimanZX]

I would dig it. The Paper Mario aesthetic is pretty fun and the small number values of the series would fit well with Fire Emblem. My only concern would be Intelligent Systems over-relying on the paper aesthetic and messing up the tone of the game. The first three Paper Mario games have plots that have the right balance between whimsy and substance; too much seriousness would be incredibly jarring, while too much whimsy would make for an experience as hollow as the last few Mario RPGs.   

[Zapp Branniglenn]

The last Fire Emblem title to use sprites in battle scenes was New Mystery on the DS. Granted, I'm pretty sure the Donkey Kong Country style of sprites, where a 3D model is rendered, then posed in each frame of animation that they want to convert into 2D images. Looks more detailed than a sprite, and is animated easier than a model.

Ah, I don't think either of these series would benefit from a crossover. Paper Mario's not yet out of its identity crisis. Mario & Luigi Paper Jam and Tokyo Mirage sessions are both good games, but nobody would tell you that they are legitimate Paper Mario or Fire Emblem games respectively, instead conforming to the gameplay of Mario & Luigi and Shin Megami Tensei. If this crossover did happen, it's reasonable to assume it would be a Fire Emblem title played straight in the Paper Mario aesthetic with a handful of playable Mario characters alongside standard FE human classes. But I can imagine a few Mario characters standing in for classes: Toads riding yoshis as Cavaliers, hammer brothers as Fighters, Toadettes riding winged yoshis as Pegasus Knights, whomps as armor knights, magikoopas as mages, ninji as ninja/thieves, etc.

Maybe they also use the game as an excuse to have you playing as previous Fire Emblem characters, but whether they do or not doesn't have impact on gameplay. Action commands during battle would be really refreshing for Fire Emblem players if such a system were subbed in place of hit rates. Miss an action command, and your character misses their attack. Action commands for guarding would further add depth to fighting different enemy types. Current paper mario developers (most notably Miyamoto) are strictly opposed to using original characters and enemies in Mario's universe. A playable Mario feels like a given, but seeing the return of previous partners is very unlikely, and Peach seems like the only other character you'd control otherwise assuming she's not kidnapped.

That all having been said, I would absolutely love if Mario performed Ike's Aether attack with his hammer. And Peach as a pegasus knight using her parasol as a lance would be an amazing sight. Fire Emblem: Paper Jam isn't a game I'm asking for, but I'd totally play it.

Edited February 19, 2017 by Gustavos

[KoimanZX]

2 hours ago, Gustavos said:

The last Fire Emblem title to use sprites in battle scenes was New Mystery on the DS. Granted, I'm pretty sure the Donkey Kong Country style of sprites, where a 3D model is rendered, then posed in each frame of animation that they want to convert into 2D images. Looks more detailed than a sprite, and is animated easier than a model.

Ah, I don't think either of these series would benefit from a crossover. Paper Mario's not yet out of its identity crisis. Mario & Luigi Paper Jam and Tokyo Mirage sessions are both good games, but nobody would tell you that they are legitimate Paper Mario or Fire Emblem games respectively, instead conforming to the gameplay of Mario & Luigi and Shin Megami Tensei. If this crossover did happen, it's reasonable to assume it would be a Fire Emblem title played straight in the Paper Mario aesthetic with a handful of playable Mario characters alongside standard FE human classes. But I can imagine a few Mario characters standing in for classes: Toads riding yoshis as Cavaliers, hammer brothers as Fighters, Toadettes riding winged yoshis as Pegasus Knights, whomps as armor knights, magikoopas as mages, ninji as ninja/thieves, etc.

Maybe they also use the game as an excuse to have you playing as previous Fire Emblem characters, but whether they do or not doesn't have impact on gameplay. Action commands during battle would be really refreshing for Fire Emblem players if such a system were subbed in place of hit rates. Miss an action command, and your character misses their attack. Action commands for guarding would further add depth to fighting different enemy types. Current paper mario developers (most notably Miyamoto) are strictly opposed to using original characters and enemies in Mario's universe. A playable Mario feels like a given, but seeing the return of previous partners is very unlikely, and Peach seems like the only other character you'd control otherwise assuming she's not kidnapped.

That all having been said, I would absolutely love if Mario performed Ike's Aether attack with his hammer. And Peach as a pegasus knight using her parasol as a lance would be an amazing sight. Fire Emblem: Paper Jam isn't a game I'm asking for, but I'd totally play it.

Many of those ideas would be pretty cool, especially the action commands. I would think that Mario and Luigi could also act as the Cain and Abel archetypes, but be an axe-using, fighter-type class instead so that they use hammers (as Cain and Abel are pretty much an homage to the Mario Brothers anyway). Of course, you are definitely right about the management of the Paper Mario side of things. Miyamoto has certainly proven to be a major liability for Nintendo as of late with his preoccupation with stupid gimmicks and stubborn unwillingness to accept video games as anything more than toys. Such a project would definitely suffer with Miyamoto present as, even though he has had a more executive position in the company, he still tampers with many projects (Star Fox Zero was the most recent victim; I recall seeing somewhere developers having to push him away from Splatoon to prevent him from screwing it up, or at least something to that effect).