Timing Action Commands help you dodge or inflict damage, and impress the crowd to give you power for super attacks Fold into a paper airplane and take to the air, turn sideways to slip through narrow passages, and roll into a tube to bounce to safety This time around, more emphasis is placed on the paper abilities of Mario and his friends. He can turn sideways to slip through cracks, fold into a paper airplane to fly, roll into a tube, and much more. He can also use tons of items like hammers and thunderbolts.

In our limited demo copy of Paper Mario 2, the first thing that struck us was the game's great graphics and use of color, not to mention out-and-out whimsicality. You see what looks like a bush, but when Mario walks up to it, it's like a cutout of a bush used for a set. Very creative.

There's plenty of exploring to be done. Finding hidden items and paths always seems to be Mario's specialty. In addition to the unique gameplay, the characters' dialogue is less formal and, dare we say, hip. Mario's not going to "jumpizzle in the pipeizzle zizzle," but the chats between characters are not stiff. (Mario will get a lot of "bling bling," though.)

Mario always wanted a flat stomach. Now he has it. Check back here when the full version of Paper Mario 2 is ready to take off.