20 Essential N64 Games You Must Play Before You Die

By Joe Pring / June 2, 2016

9. Paper Mario

Nintendo

We can all thank Square Enix (then just Square) for the existence of the Paper Mario series.

If it weren't for a one-off partnership between them and Nintendo back in the 90s, Super Mario RPG would never have seen the light of day and Ninty probably wouldn't have even entertained the idea of making a home-grown, turn-based follow-up that swapped pixels for paper.

Paper Mario and its Thousand Year Door sequel on the GameCube are two of the best RPGs ever made for a Nintendo system, effortlessly blending platforming elements with the numbers game of traditional role-playing titles as if they were always meant to be together.