Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Review

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door isn’t just one of the most iconic Paper Mario games, but one of the most iconic Mario RPG titles that has ever been produced. The second ever Paper Mario game, the 2004 game is brought to the modern day with a new coat of paint.

Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door (PMTTYD) has received the modern-day remake treatment. Twenty years after the release of the original, we get to experience the journey once more. Nintendo seems intent on bringing some of their more iconic RPG style Mario titles to the Switch, and PMTTYD one of the best choices for this modern-day revitalisation. A ground up remake, moreso than a remaster, there are tons of new features, additions and changes to make the game feel as slick as it looks.

PMTTYD may take the crown as one of the most gorgeous Nintendo titles on the Switch. The remake leans super heavily into the paper aesthetic, even more so than the original. Updated lighting and visual effects really play into the Paper Mario style. Addition of back sprites for all the characters is a small change too but makes them feel like actual 2.5D paper characters existing in a pseudo 3D world, rather than a flat image flipping back and forth. The colours pop heavily, and the tearing, warping and scrunching effects of the environments, characters and different stages and the props of the environment itself. The game is beautiful to look at, and all the little visual quirks really accentuate the Paper Mario aesthetic. It also makes the visual cues and storytelling much easier to see and acknowledge and does a great job of guiding you where you should be looking.

PMTTYD makes use of low digit values for combat. Rather than scaling into numbers that lose their meaning, the game follows more the route of Super Mario RPG and even Baldur’s Gate with keeping the numbers within the realm of understanding. As a result, the combat becomes more a matter of strategy and good gameplay rather than a case of over-grinding and stat boosting your way past all the content. This does mean that the game requires you to actually engage in all the different mechanics and careful use of action commands to succeed. The new inclusion of the Battle Master Toad gives you the opportunity to practice your action commands and get the timing down on blocking, flourishes, and action combos to ensure that you are not struggling or falling behind as a result of not being good enough at the game. For the most part the combat isn’t particularly challenging, however there are some enemy combinations that can be brutal to deal with. The bosses themselves are probably the best overall part of the combat. Combining unique environmental effects, with a range of abilities and badges you can pick up in the world. The design of the bosses is generally pretty good at telling you what you need to be doing to effectively combat them.

The quality-of-life additions to the remake are wonderful and well thought out. Simple things like a button press to bring up the partner ring to make swapping between partners quick and easy in the overworld. A hint system implemented allowing Goombella to help guide you if you need help working out where to go next and avoid getting lost. The biggest being a Pipe Room that allows you to fast travel to different areas, with the pipes numbered to their corresponding chapter. This will make side quests/missions infinitely easier to complete as going back and forth between areas is speed up exponentially. Additionally, every boss kill now rewards 100 coins, meaning you won’t feel like you’re scrambling to make coins as often. A couple new badges are introduced too, but they mainly consist of one changing the soundtrack from the brand new and updated one, to that of the original GameCube version, and one that turns you into a golden variant of Mario. For skilled and returning players, the addition of two new secret bosses will also give you something new to work towards and prepare for, both of which reward new items (that are mostly just a bragging right than anything important.)

With the good also comes the not so good. For those familiar with the original version, a major difference players may note is the FPS. For some reason the remake is locked at 30FPS, despite the original GameCube version being 60FPS. Though not much of an FPS fanatic myself, the timings of commands are different as a result of the reduced FPS. It is a minute change, but it is one to mention, as this is likely to bother some players. The decision to lock the ability to change the game’s music from the new to the original behind an in game item is also a strange one. You can pick up this badge at the start of the game, so it’s not super problematic, and does only cost a single gold coin. It is however just a bizarre choice to force an in-game mechanic to change it, rather a simple menu option as is the standard in almost every single other game. A weird choice.

In terms of story, it remains the same as the original. It is a bit of an odd choice for a Mario game. Seeking out an array of stars to unlock a door to what is a pseudo-Atlantis style city. The traditional ‘save Princess Peach’ storyline is added alongside the main progress. At times it can feel a little too much for a game where the focus should really be on the world and the journey, rather than attempting to craft an intricate narrative. The story will click with some more than others, and you can spend more time focusing on the gameplay if you desire. Deciding not to add voice acting is a choice, but maybe giving the option between text only and some VA work would have gone a long way in adapting the game to the modern day.

The partners you encounter throughout the game are some of the more interesting if not slightly less unique than traditionally. Goombella is a fun, witty and actually well-written character. Koops is a pivot on the typical Koopa variant, if not a little bit frustrating to deal with his persistent lack of confidence. There’s not enough character growth in regard to him. Madame Flurrie is funny for the most part, if not somewhat of a strange character. Ms. Mowz is the other most notable partner outside of Vivian, Bobbery and Yoshi Kid. There was potential to perhaps diversify the partners a little more in the remake, but sticking true to the original game does appear to be the bigger point of this game. A remake with additions, rather than a remake of new vision.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door’s remake is a very thought out one. Beautifully updated visuals and sounds, that keep the bones of what made the original game so iconic. There are perhaps areas that got a little too much attention, and other areas that could have benefitted from some more. For the most part however, this is a strong remake of a cult classic. One of the best Paper Mario titles, I hope to see more of this kind of love and attention for the series going forward, and even more focus on the RPG genre from Nintendo, as the Mario RPG titles have been some of the best games they’ve made.

The Score

8.5

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The Pros

Gorgeous updated visuals

Genuinely funny humour

Combat is strategic and enjoyable

The Cons

Badge for soundtrack change is a bizarre choice

Rigidity to the original game hampers new ideas

Some quality of life changes don’t go far enough