will it actually have the paper mario battle style system as well?
or will it be a mario-1 clone?

you are most probably right that you are a bigger fan, i just got the game 6 days ago XD (wanted to buy it actually waaaaaaaaaaaay before, but lack of money etc etc etc).

btw, make sure you dont get legal stuff from nintendo, i heard it a lot before, make sure to replace the mario/goomba's... just a side note

good luck on the project, i'll get a start on my own paper mario clone soon too!
Maybe it's fun to talk about that kinda stuff over msn/icq, plz add me
(details are in my profile)

best regards,

Formerly known as dennis_fantasy
Portfolio - http://www.designorhea.com/
Project - http://randomchance.cherrygames.org/