Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2024)

There is no remastering of a game that does the soundtrack better. They added new sections onto each track, and added many tracks where there was none. I listen to video game OST's often and I still can't believe they did what they did with this game's soundtrack.

This was also a fun time for visiting a huge favorite for my childhood. It felt a tad bizarre not enjoying it as much as I did before. The backtracking almost killed me! I don't have much patience for it as I once did.

I've wanted to play The Thousand Year Door for a long time. Technically, I did own it for the Gamecube years back and played through the first one or two chapters before dropping it. I eventually sold it probably to get money to buy some other game and it wasn't long before I regretted doing so both because I did really want to see it through to the end and also because of the way it ballooned in value not long after. Thankfully Nintendo had my back with this Switch port and I was finally able to finish my journey.

This is an excellent game.

The world makes excellent use of its paper and craft themed art style and is a joy to explore. From my first steps into Rogueport to my last when I finally departed it on boat in the game's closing moments, I was never bored with what it had to offer. Every locale was packed with secrets and hidden items to discover, the list only growing longer as I gained new abilities allowing for new methods of traversal. The pace at which these new abilities were handed out was excellent as well. I always felt like I had enough time to play around with them and see what new content I could access before being handed something else new.

The characters which inhabit the world of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door are easily the highlight here. Every time I reached a new area I'd spend time making sure I talked to every NPC I could find because they all had dialogue worth listening to, whether it be a hint for where to go next or just fun little quips that left a smile on my face. The dialogue writing is excellent throughout and really deserves special mention. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun just exploring a town in a game like this.

The turn-based gameplay is far from the deepest combat system you'll find out there, but there's still a lot to love here. Attacks are all paired with simple button input actions which are engaging enough to keep you mentally in the fight but rarely difficult to pull off with some effort. The real fun in my opinion comes from the badge system. As you level up, you can choose to prioritize getting extra slots for badges over HP or FP (this game's mana resource). This allows you to equip larger quantities of and more powerful badges that modify your stats, grant new abilities, and counter your enemies. You can really tailor the combat to your desired playstyle with this system. I ended up going a more defensive route with my badges since I felt pretty satisfied with the DPS I gained naturally. But it's important to note that you can swap them around at pretty much any time, outside of combat, so you're free to experiment.

I've seen the game receive some criticism for the required backtracking in a couple late game spots as well as some side quests. I didn't mind it so much when it was optional but there is a particular section before the penultimate dungeon that essentially requires revisiting each of the major towns you went through during the game's story and talking to a citizen so they can point you to the next. It's tedious. I guess it was meant to feel like a funny wild goose chase but it really is not funny enough to justify making the player do all that. Thankfully, this section is far less painful than I've been told it was in the original release because they added a room from which you can warp to each of the towns. Even with this new room though it takes a while and feels largely pointless. I'm less bothered by the side quest backtracking because it almost always only meant visiting one or two towns and of course, was optional.

Even so, I don't feel that this one odd section of the game is enough to drag down how great the rest of the experience was for me. The Thousand Year Door easily takes the top position among the Mario RPGs I've played (not that I've played all that many) as well as a high place among my favorite RPGs ever. If you're a fan of the genre and don't mind a more simplistic battle system, give it a look! It's definitely worth a play.

I only got to play a little bit of the Gamecube original, so I finally got to experience the whole game here. I think it's just as fun as Paper Mario on N64. This was just a victim of overhype as many players said this was one of their favorite RPGs ever. It certainly is better than Paper Mario on the N64 - I felt that the companions were better fleshed out and useful in different situations. Exploring Roguetown and the surrounding areas for Star Pieces and Shine Sprites to upgrade my characters was fun as well. While I didn't do all of the side content, I did a fair amount of it.

For anyone who may have hesitated because of the paper aesthetic, give the Paper Mario series a shot. I had a great time with these two, and while I hear that each game after this gets worse and worse, I'm still curious to give them a try and see for myself. Additionally, if you hate timed inputs for battles like I do, rest assured that this game is not overly punishing for missing buttons.

Finally got around to finishing Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and while I'm not gonna write a long review like I usually would, I wanted to leave some notes on the game.

I have long thought the first Paper Mario is a perfect game, and it holds up extremely well today. I played The Thousand-Year Door on its original release, and did not make it very far into the game. I never revisited the game in the two decades following its release, so I have always wondered what made me bounce off of it. After playing Intelligent Systems' wonderfully crafted remake of the game, It's now clear to me why I did.

The story and dialogue are definitely a consistent highlight, and I don't want to undersell how hilarious and enjoyable this game is from that angle. I love the story, the characters, scenarios and locations. This game might have the greatest writing in any Nintendo game, by far--but these things can't save it from feeling like a slog at times.

Super Mario RPG and the original Paper Mario are perfectly paced experiences, constantly pushing you to the next colorful and funny scenario. But The Thousand-Year Door has several chapters that cross the line and linger way too long. For example: Chapter 3 makes you take part in 20 consecutive battles, negatively highlighting the simplicity of the turn-based JRPG battle system. Chapter 6 makes you walk back and forth in a single location for what feels like hours. I like to think that I've developed some patience over the years, but even now I had to force myself to reach the end credits of this game.

As a remake, this Switch version of The Thousand-Year Door feels like a total realization of the papercraft aesthetic that the original game was hinting at. It's truly beautiful, and the soundtrack has received a great rework as well, with the notable addition of unique battle themes. The gameplay feels pretty much the same, although it does downgrade the frame rate by half when compared to the GameCube original. As a turn-based game, this doesn't affect the experience all that much, but it does highlight the Switch's hardware limitations.

While I do like this game less than the original Paper Mario, I am pretty glad that Intelligent Systems made the effort to revisit The Thousand-Year Door. Perhaps this release can highlight the ways in which more recent Paper Mario games have been lacking, and allow them to take corrective action.