Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door took place as on a Mario RPG standard for 20 years. It, along with its N64 predecessor, captured what fans wanted from their plumber turn-based adventures – silly humor, epic adventures, fantastic battles and charm. Purists often view the GameCube original as the end of the “real” Paper Mario style – perhaps a little unfair when 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 other Paper Mario titles, it’s hard to argue that Thousand-Year Door wasn’t a high point for the plumber, not just in the RPG space, but in the wider Mario canon. Two decades later, that’s still true, and now Mario’s best RPG is finally more accessible.
What sets Thousand-Year Door apart from other Mario RPGs is, well, everything. 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 ties into the larger narrative, and a larger world to explore. Rogueport alone is one of the best hub cities in any game we’ve ever played: it’s teeming with lowlifes and full of lore and history that the game fully explores. Thousand-Year Door also feels and plays as an excellent role-playing game, with Mario-friendly wrinkles like walls waiting to be torn apart, hidden pipes waiting to be unfolded, and Peach and Bowser playable sections that add to the charm and humor.
The story is unchanged from the original GameCube version, aside from a refreshed, reworked localization. Things begin 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 has disappeared. Thus he stumbles upon the mythos of Rogueport, the titular Millennium Gate, and a perilous adventure to collect the crystal stars that will engulf the world.
Thousand-Year Door is full of twists and turns, and there’s a real mix of spectacle and silliness throughout. From Hooktail’s grand entrance at the top of the game’s first dungeon to Excess Express’ hilarious whodunnit, everything is brimming with personality. What other Mario game has a pianta mafia running a 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 going on his own little adventure. We insist that you speak to him every time you see him; You will not regret this.
The real star of Thousand-Year Door has always been the combat, and thankfully the gameplay is the same here as it was on the GameCube. Mario and one of his partner characters will take to a literal stage to battle enemies in turn-based combat. Using time-based mechanics, you can deal more damage, protect yourself from damage, or counter with a superguard. It builds on the foundations laid by Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, giving you more tools, enemy variety, and partner flexibility. Badges also return, some of which give Mario new attacks like the Power Hammer or Multibounce, while others can increase his health, Flower Points (magic), or stats. Mario feels infinitely customizable and you can go to town and experiment with whatever playstyle you want.
You should play too to the crowd by using the Appeal command, landing perfect hits and sometimes even adding an extra powerful attack in the middle to wow the spectators, all to generate more Star Power to use on Specials. The crowd can throw useful healing items at you, although at other times the X-Nauts or some of Bowser’s minions can throw rocks and you can throw them out of the crowd. Other times they will burst into the scene and throw items at you or your enemy. It’s easy, but every single battle is incredibly fun.
Each partner character has their own strengths and weaknesses that they bring to the table as well. Goombella, the sassy university student, is a solid offensive and defensive option that can tell you enemy weaknesses or attack for multiple hits. Everyone loves Yoshi, but how about a newly hatched baby Yoshi sporting a mohawk and tons of attitude? 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 fun, while others have cringe-worthy stories. But we want to focus on Vivian, a fan favorite and member of the Three Shadows who ends up joining Mario. We adored her in the original, and she’s just as awesome here, with fantastic fighting prowess and a heart-warming story arc made even better by the updated localization. In Japanese and several other languages, Vivian was always a transgender woman, but in the original English script this was omitted. Now, in English, Vivian talks about accepting her true identity – specifically her gender. It’s only a scene or two, but it’s a key moment that should have always been there, and we’re glad it was “restored” for the Switch version.
The characters are great, but so is the world, and the beautiful new visuals reworked for the Switch version really help bring areas like Boggly Woods and Pirate’s Cove to life. Even at 30fps, it’s a beautiful – and smooth – game, and we’ve only had framerate drops once or twice when there were a lot of characters on screen during cutscenes. There’s also a completely revamped soundtrack that takes a leaf out of The Origami King’s book, and now each location provides a unique twist on the main battle theme — Glitzville gives you a rock-heavy performance, while Hooktail’s Castle delivers something a little more sinister. Rogueport even has multiple variations on its theme, with a sea shack on the harbor or a jig in the inn. We can’t praise the new music enough and it breathes fresh life into the adventure.
The locations are slightly smaller than the N64 original, but one of the biggest criticisms of Thousand-Year Door was the amount of backtracking required. This is still a bit of a problem in some places, like Chapter 2, but in other cases – like Chapters 4 and 5 – a new warp tube has been added to the Creepy Steeple and a spring on the Keelhaul Key to make the process easier. Along with the revamped warp pipe hub in Rogueport Sewers, they help just a little.
Smoothing out the creases is the name of the game with all the additions on the Switch version. Mario’s partners come with skills from the overworld – Koops, the shy Koopa, can push switches and grab items from a distance, while Admiral Bobbery can be thrown forward and blast walls with cracks in them. These skills are necessary to progress and reveal secrets, but before that you had to go into the menu to trade these characters. You can now access the partner wheel to switch between partners on the fly. It saves a click or two, but it also just helps make research a lot smoother.
There are lots of little things like this everywhere. The new hint system helps you figure out what to do next. Separately, when accepting requests from the Trouble Center, Ian Foomus (new NPC) can give advice on how to complete that request. If you die during a boss fight, you will have the option to start over from the boss room and skip the cutscenes – and it works for that infamously long final boss too. Other things that have been added or changed include several new save blocks throughout the game, a slightly larger inventory, and an unlockable art and sound gallery.
However, our biggest problem remains the Problem Center. This is the Thousand-Year Door’s way of dealing with sidequests, and they gradually unlock as you progress through the game. The problem is that you can only get one of them at a time and you have to go back to the Center in Rogueport to get another quest. This seemed like an obvious solution to us, especially since you have a journal where Mario keeps hints about collectible Shine Sprites or Star Pieces. However, this is a minor drawback, especially considering the newer backtracking system.
If there’s one thing we’re slightly disappointed with, it’s the lack of new content. Last year’s Super Mario RPG remake certainly didn’t add tone, but it added just enough – and made it more challenging. We can’t go into details, but players returning to TTYD for the first time in years may be a little disappointed, despite everything else this remake does right.
