Paper Mario: Sticker Star is an RPG for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It is the fourth entry in the Paper Mario series, and the first one to be released on a handheld system. It was released on November 11, 2012 in North America, and December 7, 2012 in Europe. The game is a return to the turn-based RPG play style of the first two games, though this time without any explicit level-up/experience system or party members. Instead of having a range of abilities, items, and helpers at his disposal, Mario is this time given an array of stickers which act as his single-use battle actions. Outside of the battle system, Sticker Star also returns the chapter-book elements of the previous games and the numbered-stage story progression of the third game, Super Paper Mario.
The story follows Mario and Kersti, a spirit of the Sticker Star. The Sticker Star passes over the town of Decalburg once in a great while to bestow magical stickers upon an event called the Sticker Fest. Mario and Princess Peach attend the Sticker Fest, at which Bowser steals the Sticker Star and its six Royal Stickers, unleashing terror on Decalburg and surrounding countryside before kidnapping Princess Peach as per tradition. Kersti calls upon Mario to recover the Royal Stickers if he is to defeat Bowser and rescue Peach.
The game was first announced, without any details, at E3 2010. It wasn't until E3 2012 that the game got a proper title, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, as well as a release window of the 2012 holiday season. A final release date was given in a press release in August of 2012.
