A card-based battle system was implemented to use the GamePad touchscreen to sort, paint, and flick cards. The paint theme was conceived by Atsushi Isano, the director for Intelligent Systems, and developed to take advantage of the Wii U GamePad. The development team focused on puzzle-solving and comedic elements, and to make each game different from one another, emphasized an overarching gimmick. Nintendo's vision for the Paper Mario series following Paper Mario: Sticker Star was to differentiate it from their other RPG Mario series, Mario & Luigi. In turn-based combat phases, Mario uses a selection of cards that endow him with attacks and other abilities. Mario is equipped with a paint hammer, which is used to solve coloring-themed puzzles and collect awards in levels.
Players control Mario as he traverses levels made to look like craft materials, reaching endpoints and retrieving each Big Paint Star through linear gameplay.
The story follows Mario and his new ally Huey on a quest to save Prism Island and rescue Princess Peach from Bowser.Ĭolor Splash contains elements of the action-adventure and role-playing (RPG) genres. It is the fifth installment in the Paper Mario series, within the larger Mario franchise. Paper Mario: Color Splash is a 2016 action-adventure role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Wii U console.
