Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door took place as and the standard for Mario RPGs for 20 years. Along with its N64 predecessor, it captured what fans wanted from their turn-based plumber adventures – silly humor, epic adventures, fantastic combat and magic. Purists often consider the GameCube original to be the end of the “real” Paper Mario style – perhaps a bit unfair when Super Paper Mario and The Origami King are both great, though undeniably different from the 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 love 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 wider Mario canon. Two decades later, that still holds true, and now the best Mario RPG is finally more accessible.
What sets Thousand-Year Door apart from other Mario-starring 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 ties into a larger story, and a larger world to explore. Rogueport itself is one of the best hubs in any game we’ve ever played: it’s teeming with decrepit individuals and packed with history and history that the game fully explores. Thousand-Year Door also senses a plays as an excellent RPG, with wrinkles fit for a Mario game, like hardened walls waiting to be torn apart, hidden pipes waiting to be unfolded, and playable sections of Peach and Bowser adding to the charm and humor.
The story is unchanged from the original GameCube version, except for the restored and reworked localization. Things begin when Mario receives a treasure map from Princess Peach, who is visiting the shadowy town of Rogueport. Mario follows the map only to find that Peach is missing. He thus encounters the myths of Rogueport, the titular Thousand-Year Door, and a dangerous adventure to collect crystal stars that spans the entire world.
The Thousand-Year Door is packed with twists and turns and a real mix of spectacle and silliness throughout. From Hooktail’s spectacular entrance at the top of the game’s first dungeon to the hilarious “whodunnit” on the Excess Express, it’s bursting with personality. What other Mario game has the Pianta mafia running a casino? Or a flirtatious mouse thief who is willing to get a little cheeky with Mario? Perhaps the silliest and best example of writing involves Luigi on his little adventure. We insist that you talk to him every time you see him; you will not regret.
The real star of Thousand-Year Door has always been the combat, and thankfully the gameplay here is the same as on the GameCube. Mario and one of his partner characters get to the literal stage of fighting enemies in turn-based battles. You can use timing based mechanics to 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 also return, some of which give Mario new attacks like Power Hammer or Multibounce, while others can boost 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 also have to play on crowd with Summons, perfect hits, and sometimes even adding an extra booming mid attack to stun onlookers, all to create more star power for specials to use. The crowd can throw useful healing items at you, although other times the X-Nauts or some of Bowser’s minions might throw rocks and you can throw them out of the audience. Other times they’ll burst onto the stage and drop items on either you or your enemy. It’s simple, but every single battle is incredibly fun.
Each partner character also has their own strengths and weaknesses that they bring to the table. Goombella, a sassy university student, is a solid offensive and defensive option that can give you an enemy’s weaknesses or take a few hits. Everyone loves Yoshi, but how about a freshly hatched baby Yoshi who dons a mohawk and lots of attitude to go with it? Physically, he could be the best character in the game with fun button-based commands that make him a powerhouse.
These are some of the best Mario characters ever – some are downright 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 adored her in the original, and she’s just as great here, with fantastic combat prowess and a heartwarming story arc that’s made even better by the updated locale. In Japanese and several other languages, Vivian was always a transgender woman, but this was omitted in the original English script. Now in English, Vivian talks about embracing her true identity—specifically, her gender. It’s only a scene or two, but it’s a key moment that should have been there all along, 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 30 frames per second, it’s a beautiful – and smooth – game, and we only experienced frame drops once or twice when there were a lot of characters on screen during cutscenes. There’s also a completely remastered soundtrack that takes a leaf out of the Origami King book, and now each individual location provides a unique twist on the main battle theme – Glitzville gives you a rock-heavy rendition, while Hooktail’s Castle brings something a little more. sinister. Rogueport even has several variations on its theme, with a sea shack in the harbor or a jig inside the inn. We can’t praise the new music enough and it breathes fresh life into the adventure.
The locations are slightly smaller than those of the N64 original, but one of the biggest complaints about Thousand-Year Door was the amount of backtracking required. It’s still a bit of a problem in some places, like Chapter 2, but in other cases – like Chapters 4 and 5 – a new warp pipe has been added to Creepy Steeple and a spring on Keelhaul Key to make the process easier. Along with the redesigned warp pipe hub in Rogueport Sewers help just a little
Ironing out the creases is the name of the game with all the extras of the Switch version. Mario’s sidekicks come with otherworldly skills – Koops, the shy Koopa, can hit switches and grab objects from a distance, while Admiral Bobbery can be thrown forward and blow up walls with cracks. These skills are necessary to progress and uncover secrets, but previously you had to enter a menu to swap these characters. You now have access to the partner wheel to switch between partners. It saves a click or two, but it also makes for a much smoother exploration.
There are lots of little things like that everywhere. A new help system helps you figure out what to do next. Ian Foomus (the new NPC) can independently advise on how to complete the request when accepting a Problem Center 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 that includes the infamously long final boss. Other things that have been added or improved include several new in-game save blocks, a slightly larger inventory, and an unlockable art and sound gallery.
However, our biggest problem remains the Problem Center. This is how the Thousand-Year Door handles side quests that gradually unlock as you progress through the game. The problem is that you can only take on one of them and you have to go back to the Center in Rogueport to take on another quest. It seemed like an obvious fix to us, especially when you have a journal where Mario saves hints for collectible Shine Sprites or Star Pieces. It’s a minor flaw though, especially given the newer backtracking system.
If there’s anything else that disappointed us a bit, it’s the lack of new content. Last year’s Super Mario RPG remake certainly didn’t add a ton, but it did just enough – and it was more challenging. We can’t go into specifics, but players returning to TTYD for the first time in years may be a little disappointed, despite everything else this remake does right.