Emulator and Console Guide
There are various ways to play a randomized rom of Paper Mario. However, some will cause more issues than others, so we'll go over some of the common options in this guide.
M64P (now named simple64) is a great choice to play the game on a computer. Recent releases don't user GlideN64 however, which may cause a few graphical issues. For best compatibility, get this version.
Bizhawk is also a common option for Linux and Windows. You should grab the latest release from this page. You will need to enable the expansion pack by clicking on N64 > Use Expansion Slot in the top menu.
Note that the N64-button in the top menu only appears while an N64 game is already running!
Retroarch, with the Mupen64Plus-Next core, should work out of the box on most platforms where it's available. You can download it for various platforms on this page. The Mupen core might not be available on some less common platforms however.
OpenEmu is a common option for Mac OS users. You can find it here
We do not recommend using Project 64 to play the Paper Mario randomizer for various reasons, although it may work for some users:
- The latest official release of the emulator has a bug with Paper Mario and Windows 11. The game will crash for various actions, such as jumping on an enemy, which makes the game basically unplayable. If you are on Windows 11 you will need to pick a different emulator.
- Using the recompiler seems to cause issues with some specific rando changes. A currently known issue is required star spirits not having their holograms appear on Shooting Star Summit, as they should when playing with the option to require specific spirits. You will need to go in the advanced settings and check Always use interpreter core to fix the issue.
Other emulators that are Mupen64 based should work decently but are to be used at your own risk.
Playing on an N64 console with a flashcart such as the Everdrive is fully supported. You will need an expansion pack, however. We are not aware of any flashcart that does not work with the randomizer; please contact us if you have an old or niche flashcart and encounter issues so we can update this guide.
Sadly, like every other mod created with the Star Rod classic modding tool, this will not work on the Wii due to the Wii Virtual Console not offering enough RAM.
Injecting the randomized ROM into the Wii U Virtual Console using a tool like Phacox's Injector should work just fine.
