Paper Mario was originally slated for Nintendo’s 64DD add-on for the Nintendo 64.
The project began as Super Mario RPG 2, a follow-up to the 1996 Super Nintendo role-playing game Super Mario RPG. Nintendo initially envisioned it for the 64DD, a disk-based peripheral designed to expand the Nintendo 64’s storage and enable features such as writable data, persistent worlds, and downloadable or episodic content.
The 64DD suffered repeated delays and launched only in Japan in December 1999, so the game was shifted to a standard Nintendo 64 cartridge. It was released in Japan in 2000 as Mario Story and internationally in 2001 as Paper Mario. The final cartridge version retained the paper-like visual style that had evolved during development.
The add-on is easy to confuse with the Expansion Pak, which increased the Nintendo 64’s memory, or the Rumble Pak, which added controller vibration. Neither was the original target platform for Paper Mario. The 64DD was a separate disk drive attached beneath the console.