I totally forgot about this game. I love paper mario and was looking forward to this game but ive been busy playing dragon quest builders and world of final fantasy.

Oh yeah, let's show the bad 20% and forget about the good 80% so I can force my totally unbiased point.

And let's pretend a 76 is a horrible score just because reasons.

The game deserves the sales it received. I'm glad it flopped.

Metascores aside, the sales are indicative of a couple of things:

1) The Wii U is dying. Even if the game is crap, the attach rate would have been much better even a year ago. This game released when the Switch rumor mill was at its peak, and people weren't really thinking about the Wii U anymore. After another year of bad game droughts, I'm not at all surprised this title pretty much flew under the radar at release. Wii U owners largely don't seem to be paying attention to new releases and are happy with Smash, Mario Kart, and Splatoon, or are simply jaded and refuse to invest anymore into a system Nintendo failed with.

2) This is not the Paper Mario game people want. I mean, c'mon Nintendo. Since the Wii title, fans have been asking for a return to form, and instead we keep getting games that refuse to meet the standard the first two titles set. Especially after the crap shoot that was Sticker Star, did Nintendo really think anybody would be clamoring for a game that fails in one of the major ways the previous game did? This is a clear example of Nintendo not listening, and I really hope they stop thinking they know better than they did when they made the original games that people actually liked. This is not a case of age crafting wisdom. I don't need a TTYD clone, but a Paper Mario game that utilizes more traditional JRPG combat and growth in fun and active ways would be stellar. No one asked Nintendo to remake the wheel here.

I honestly don't know if we should blame the dying Wii U more for the lack of sales, or the fact that Paper Mario fans largely don't seem to be willing to feed into Nintendo's oblivious approach to game development anymore. At what point do you decide that maybe keeping the series alive isn't worth it if you won't get games like the ones you liked anymore? Even if the next Paper Mario game flops, if it matches up to the first two, I would be okay with it being the last hurrah because at least Nintendo would have finally listened.

I expected Color Splash to sell poorly, and that just makes me sad, since the game is quite excellent. And it makes me more sad people saying the poor sales are deserved, as the game deserved a lot more sales than it got.


Anyways, the main reasons this sold poorly is the Wii U being on its death bed, and the game not being what fans want, apparently. It really isn't bad, far from it.

There are a lot of games that aren't bad as a game, like Dead Space 3, but are bad for being part of the series they are in, like Dead Space 3. If they had found a way to do Color Splash without abusing Paper Mario and the fanbase that has been beat over the head with the wrong type of game three times now, perhaps the game would have sold better, even if the Wii U was dying. I honestly would have bought a Wii U if this was a real Paper Mario game.

It sounds like it does a lot right, but the fact that we are five games deep in the Paper Mario series and that we haven't gotten anything like the original since the second game, TTYD on the Gamecube, is enough to start permanently turning people away. Nintendo has shattered the trust of multiple fanbases now, with Paper Mario hardly being the first. Honestly, how long can one company remain deaf to the games people want? It's like the series that have the loudest and most dedicated fans get trashed and used for experimentation or lower budget filler titles. It sucks, and it shows one hell of a disconnect between Nintendo and their dwindling overall fanbase.

One of the most frustrating thing about being a Nintendo fan is how they seem to go out of their way to ignore everything gamers want. As much as I dislike the direction they've taken this gen, Sony and Microsoft do a much better job of listening to their fanbase and meeting their needs.

I agree there are games I agree are good on their own, but not as part of their series, but Color Splash is not one of those. I find it to be a great game, just overallm and def one fitting the Paper Mario name.

And I have an issue with companies listening to what fans want because it would just be stifling overall, creatively. There wouldn't be more experimentation, more interesting ideas, and probably wouldn't be enjoyable for developers, creatively. Also, it's just hard to tell what people want when sometimes they don't even know what they want. If game series continued being the same thing over and over, there runs the risk of being stale. I've had issues with games being weak in their series because of this reasons, later Megaman games being weak because it was more of the same, as well as the New Super Mario Bros games.

I think it's great Nintendo continues experimenting with their games, as they try out new ideas, but shake the formula of standard genres.

My issue with it is the battle system. There's no reason to battle. If it had a proper level system I'd be ok with it. But as it is, it makes battling boring and a chore. If they wanted to go this direction they should have made the battle system more platformer-like like in SPM. Either get rid of the battle system or make the battling worth something

This is a shame. I'm enjoying the heck out of the game so far. It may not be the best in the series but it still bleeds charm. I hope it makes its way to the Switch and gets a second chance at life. I think it really is mostly the fact that it's at the end of the Wii U's life.