Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door takes place as the the Mario RPG standard for 20 years. Along with its N64 predecessor, it captured what fans wanted from its alternating plumber-starring adventures – silly humor, epic adventures, fantastic combat, and charm. Purists often view the GameCube original as the end of the ‘true’ Paper Mario style – perhaps a bit unfair, when both Super Paper Mario and The Origami King are great, though undeniably different from that original formula.
It should come as no surprise that the Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was celebrated upon its announcement. Even if you like the other Paper Mario titles, it’s hard to argue that Thousand-Year Door wasn’t a pinnacle for the plumber, not just in the RPG space but in the larger Mario canon. Two decades later, that still holds true, and now the best Mario RPG is finally available.
What sets Thousand-Year Door apart from other Mario RPGs is, well, all. It expands on what the first Paper Mario did in every way, giving you more options in combat, a much larger story where each chapter is connected to the larger story, and a larger world to explore. Rogueport itself is one of the best hub cities in any game we’ve ever played: teeming with scrappy individuals and brimming with lore and history that the game fully explores. Thousand-Year Door also feels and game like a great RPG, with wrinkles fit for a Mario game, like walls waiting to be broken, hidden pipes waiting to be unrolled, and Peach and Bowser playable sections that add charm and humor.
The story is unchanged from the original GameCube version, except for a refreshed, renewed localization. Things start when Mario receives a treasure map from Princess Peach, who is visiting the shadowy city of Rogueport. Mario follows the map only to find that Peach is gone. Thus he encounters the myths of Rogueport, the Millennium Gate and the dangerous adventure of collecting Crystal Stars that will encompass the world.
Thousand-Year Door is full of twists and turns, and there’s just the right mix of spectacle and silliness throughout. From Hooktail’s grand entrance at the top of the game’s first dungeon to the hilarious ‘whodunnit’ on Excess Express, everything is bursting with personality. What other Mario game has the Pianta mafia running the casino? Or a flirtatious mouse thief who’s ready to get a little sassy with Mario? Perhaps the silliest and best example of writing involves Luigi, who is on his own little adventure. We insist that you talk to him every time you see him; you will not be sorry.
The real star of Thousand-Year Door has always been the combat, and thankfully the gameplay here is the same as it was on the GameCube. Mario and one of his partner characters will reach a literal stage to fight enemies in turn-based combat. Using time-based mechanics, you can deal more damage, defend against damage, or counterattack with superguard. It builds on the foundations laid by Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, giving you more tools, enemy variety, and partner versatility. Badges are also returning, some of which give Mario new attacks like Power Hammer or Multibounce, while others can boost his health, Flower Points (magic) or stats. Mario seems infinitely customizable, and you can go to town and experiment with whatever playstyle you want.
You need to play to crowd using the Summon command, landing perfect hits, and sometimes even adding an extra luscious mid attack to dazzle onlookers, all to generate more Star Power to use the Special. The crowd can shoot useful healing items at you, although on other occasions the X-Nauti or some of Bowser’s minions can throw rocks and you can knock them out of the crowd. Other times they will burst into the stage and throw items at you or your enemy. It’s simple, but every battle is incredibly fun.
Each partner character has their own strengths and weaknesses that they also bring to the table. Goombella, a sassy college student, is a solid offensive and defensive option that can tell you an enemy’s weaknesses or attack for more hits. Everyone loves Yoshi, but what about the newly hatched baby Yoshi who wears a mohawk and tons of attitude to go with it? Physically, he might be the best character in the game, with fun button-based commands that make him powerful.
These are some of the best Mario characters ever — some are just plain funny, while others have sob-worthy stories. But we want to focus on Vivian, a fan favorite and member of the Three Shadows who eventually joins Mario. We loved her in the original, and she’s just as great here, with fantastic fighting skills and a heartwarming story, made even better by the updated localization. In Japanese and several other languages, Vivian was always a transgender woman, but in the original English text this was left out. Now, in English, Vivian talks about embracing her true identity – specifically, her gender. It’s only one or two scenes, but it’s a pivotal moment that should have always been there, and we’re glad it’s been ‘restored’ for the Switch version.
The characters are great, but so is the world, and the beautiful new visuals, revamped for the Switch version, really help bring areas like Boggly Woods and Pirate’s Cove to life. Even at 30 frames per second, this is a beautiful – and smooth – game, and we only experienced frame drops once or twice, when there were many characters on screen during cutscenes. There’s also a completely redone soundtrack, which pulls a bit from the Origami King book, and now each individual location provides a unique twist on the main theme of the battle — Glitzville gives you a rock-heavy performance, while Hooktail’s Castle brings something a little more sinister. Rogueport even has multiple variations on its theme, with a sea shack in the harbor or a jig in the inn. We can’t praise the new music enough, and it breathes freshness into the adventure.
The locations are a bit smaller than the N64 original, but one of the biggest criticisms of the Thousand-Year Door was the amount of backtracking required. This is still a bit of a problem in some places, like in Chapter 2, but in other cases – like Chapters 4 and 5 – a new warp tube has been added to Creepy Steeple and a spring to Keelhaul Key to make the process easier. Along with the rebuilt warp pipe hub in the Rogueport Sewers, this helps only then.
Ironing out creases is the name of the game with all the additions of the Switch version. Mario’s partners come with above-ground skills – Koops, the shy Koopa, can hit switches and grab objects from a distance, while Admiral Bobbery can lunge forward and blow up walls with cracks. These skills are necessary to progress and unlock secrets, but before you had to jump into the menu to switch these characters. You can now access the partner wheel to switch between partners in the blink of an eye. It saves a click or two, but it also just helps make exploring a lot smoother.
There are lots of little things like this everywhere. A new hint system helps you figure out what to do next. Separately, when you receive a Problem Center request, Ian Foomus (the new NPC) can give advice on how to complete that request. If you die during a boss fight, you will have the chance to start over from the boss room and skip the cutscenes – and this goes for that infamously long final boss as well. Other things that have been added or tweaked include a few new in-game save blocks, a slightly larger inventory, and an unlocked art and sound gallery.
However, our biggest gripe remains the Trouble Center. This is how the Thousand-Year Door solves the side quests and they gradually unlock as you progress through the game. The problem is that you can only take one of them at a time, and you have to go back to the center in Rogueport to pick up the other quest. This seemed like an obvious solution to us, especially since you have a journal where Mario stores hints for collectible Shine Sprites or Star Pieces. However, this is a minor drawback, especially given the newer trackback system.
If there’s one thing we’re a little disappointed with, it’s the lack of new content. The Super Mario RPG remake from last year sure didn’t add a ton, but it did only enough – and made it more challenging. We can’t go into details, but players returning to TTYD for the first time in years might be a little disappointed, despite everything else this remake does right.
