The latest edition of North American magazine, Nintendo Power, is reporting that the Nintendo 64’s Paper Mario will be available on the Wii’s Virtual Console service soon.

The rumour would certainly make sense, in a move that would capitalise on the recent release and mass popularity of Super Paper Mario on the Wii. Although, for PAL regions still waiting for said title, it’s availability could either serve as a teasing precursor to the next-generation title or a kick in the teeth to gamers in regions that Nintendo’s schedulers seemingly love to treat unfairly!

Paper Mario was released towards the end of Nintendo’s last cartridge-based console in August 2000 in Japan and then in February and October in North America and Europe respectively. Developed by Intelligent Systems as the spiritual sequel to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System’s Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Paper Mario marked the beginning of the popular series which also went on to spawn a GameCube sequel with its unique graphical style.

It’s thin-tastic!

Despite widespread critical acclaim*, the onslaught of the Sony PlayStation 2 and SEGA Dreamcast meant that it the title did not receive the attention that it so deserved. Perhaps a release on the Virtual Console will change all that. And hey, even if it doesn’t, we don’t think too many will be arguing with another Nintendo 64 release on the service - so far the most scarcely populated format up there.

And, considering that the game is considered a rarity of sorts in PAL regions (still fetching prices exceeding the original RRP on Internet auction sites eBay), an expected price point of 1000 Wii Points doesn’t seem like a bad deal at all.

*“Underneath its 2D surface, Paper Mario is a fantastically deep, intuitively designed, and wonderfully rewarding experience complete with enhanced takes on old-school turn-based fighting mechanics and a statistic system that would satisfy any RPG fanatic,”, gushed IGN.