Paper Mario Color Splash adds much needed colors to Prism Island in 2016

There were a few notable surprises in today's Nintendo Direct broadcast, but perhaps the most unexpected was Paper Mario: Color Splash, a new Wii U installment in the Paper Mario series.

Paper Mario: Colour Splash will release exclusively for Wii U later this year.

The game has Mario bringing colour back to Prism Island, with, uh, a hammer. Instead, he can restore the color of any object by hitting it with his recently acquired paint hammer. Once colored, the player will simply flick the card to use them. There isn't a fixed release date yet-just "Coming 2016", so perhaps we'll see it this fall, or holiday at latest. There are special cards available that will deliver devastating attacks.

Color Splash follows Paper Mario's debut in the Mario & Luigi series on 3DS earlier this year, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.

"Whenever we make a Paper Mario game, we always challenge ourselves to offer something fresh", Nintendo of Europe president Satoru Shibata explained.