Paper Mario Story

Paper Mario Story is the fourth installment in the Paper Mario series released for the Nintendo Wii U in late 2012. Its plot revolves around Mario and Luigi being forced to work together with and against Bowser to stop a satanic lord called Hailtrex from taking over the Mushroom Kingdom with the power of the Year Heart in under 168 Hours before time stands still and fades out of existance.

Battle System
After forgoing the classic battle system in favor of a sidescrolling platformer-style system in Super Paper Mario, Paper Mario Story returns to the turn-based system from the first two installments. In battle, Mario, Luigi and Bowser's attacks are determined by Battle cards, which act similar to badges from the frist two installments. The characters all have exclusive cards that can only be used by them, as well as cards that can be used by any character. Cards can be found in the overworld, in special shops, or even after completing sidequests. In order to use a card, the characters must have the specified amount of card points, which replaces flower points from previous games. They earn card points each turn, depending on their preformances in battle. While a specific card can only be used once per turn, that card will return to their hands at the next turn.

As well as using cards, Mario, Luigi or Bowser can also use one time use healing and attack items called Stickers  as well as preforming strategic actions that don't require a card. The number of actions the characters have  are limited to a certain number that is shown in the upper left corner of the screen. Whlie this number starts at one, it will quickly increase as Mario meets new partners and completes chapters, eventually maxing out at ten. While one character can preform all of the actions during a turn, the audience prefers it when all two or three characters are active together. Unlike the audience from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door which consited of NPCS from Rougeport, this audience consists of Star Spirits and Planet Peeps that act as critcs and rank how well the characters preform their attacks with numbers one to ten instead of words. The numbers will then fill up the characters' Combo gauge which allows all three or two characters to use a special attack that requires teamwork.

By defeating enemies in battle, Mario, Luigi and Bowser will earn Star Points that will be added to their Super Stage, when it reaches 100, they level up. Leveling up is now done in a similar fashion to the Mario & Luigi games, where each stat gets an increase, plus you can choose one stat to boost by ten.
 * HP
 * CP
 * BP

Overworld
Unlike Super Paper Mario, the overworld is now 3D like in the first two games. Replacing save blocks from previous games are checkpoint flags, which act as both save points and warp points, also replacing the sewer system from the first two games. Unlike the first three games, chapters are unlocked in sets of two, this means that they can be completed in any specific order whatsoever with the exception of the fourth and final set.