Paper Mario has seen three installments over the years spanning three separate consoles, and the fourth will be taking the series for the first time to the realm of the handheld.

A trailer was first revealed at E3 last year, showing some basic footage of Mario traversing familiar paper-crafted landscapes such as fields, dungeons and deserts, facing off against familiar enemies from past Paper Mario titles. Along the way he smashed bricks with his hammer, collected coins, entered into turn-based battle screens and bashed blocks and scenery to see varying results.

One of the first new elements showed a Chain Chomp being used on the field to smash multiple blocks at once, and again assisting Mario in battle. This could be taken that the Chomp accompanies Mario in whatever new journey this game will present, but it is not seen following behind him on the overworld like his previous partners did.

It seems players will be able to collect various articles of clothing, as screenshots and footage alike showed boots appearing as items on the overworld, as well as a spiky helmet (much like the ones the Spiked Goomba enemies wear) popping out of a ? Block when struck. Additionally, the touch screen was shown to drag costumes onto Mario while in battle to perform special moves. Notably, the Frog Suit from Super Mario Bros. 3 was used, allowing Mario to bounce across a line of Goombas, hitting each one as he went.

Things were steadily progressing for this game when it was revealed last year, and we can expect to see more details of the game's release this year. What we saw looked very polished, and it's likely that there will be a playable demo seen at the show.