Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door preview: A fresh page in an old book
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on Nintendo Switch feels like a dream come true. You don’t have to be a hardcore Nintendo fan to know it’s revered as the greatest Super Mario RPG ever made, and for good reason.
The original release on the Nintendo GameCube was the complete package. It had an expertly written story with a compelling cast of characters, engaging combat that never got old, and heaps of style in its art and sound design.
Check out the Nintendo Switch trailer for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door below
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With all that in mind, I was ecstatic to see it return to the Nintendo Switch with a fresh coat of paint and, so far, it hasn’t disappointed.
After playing the prologue and the first few chapters, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door evoked strong, happy memories of playing the game for the first time, yet it also felt like a totally new experience.
For those who didn’t own a GameCube when they were younger, or weren’t physically alive when they were all the rage, The Thousand-Year Door is the second entry in the Paper Mario series. It follows the same style as the first game, simply called Paper Mario, but takes Mario on an entirely different, and superior, adventure.
Princess Peach is on holiday and finds a treasure map pointing the way to the Seven Crystal Stars, powerful artefacts that will unlock an ancient door that’s been lost to time for centuries. After failing to make heads or tails of the map Peach mails it to Mario, inviting him to join her on the treasure hunt in the new location of Rogueport.
Along the way he’ll see spectacular sights, meet new friends, battle enemies new and old and uncover a mystery hundreds of years in the making.
Upon starting my adventure I was shocked by how much of the game I remembered, such as where to go and who to speak to, and even the timing of the action commands. Make no mistake though, my familiarity with the game hasn’t hindered my enjoyment so far and I can only thank the game’s new graphics and sound for that.
As a remake of an already perfect game, I was curious to see what exactly would be different. After all, each Paper Mario game, whilst sharing the same world and art style, is fundamentally unique, so since The Thousand Year Door is hailed as the pinnacle of the series, any drastic changes to the world or gameplay could be considered a step too far.
With that, I’m happy to report that the game is almost exactly the same as Nintendo left it back in 2004.
The biggest change, and something I noticed immediately, is the incredible upgrade to the graphics and sound. The original Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door still holds up thanks to its colourful picture-book art style but after sampling the remake, it might as well have been in monochrome. New colours and textures breathe new life into Rogueport and its many areas, which felt like I was discovering this new world all over again.
Something else I picked up on was just how expressive the game and its characters had become. Mario, his companions and the rest of the cast all have new animations allowing them to better convey their thoughts and feelings in dialogue exchanges. It’s a simple change, but one that went a long way in keeping me invested in an exposition I was already aware of.
Battles are still as fun as they were back in the day and reward players with perfect timing, but don’t worry the tutorials haven’t been touched so you’ll have plenty of assistance if you’re a new player. Again, the graphics and updated music tracks really dial battles up to 11. Every fight takes place on a stage in front of a live audience, and the funky fresh visuals and battling bops always ensure Mario and his cast take centre stage.
There’s still plenty of strategy to combat as well thanks to the game’s Badge system, and the action/stylish moves. Badges are found throughout the world and can be bought from shops, and can be used to upgrade Mario’s abilities or help him learn new ones. You can only equip so many to start but as you level up you can increase that amount and put together some powerful combat builds. Of course your fancy tools are nothing if you don’t have the skill and flair to use them properly. During combat you can press a button partway through an attack for extra damage or another hit. Press the button again at a specific part of the animation and you’ll trigger a Stylish move, which sees Mario perform some sort of trick that makes the crowd go wild. Timing is also a big factor in negating damage, as with a well-timed button press you can block attacks and even superguard to bounce damage back at an enemy.
The Thousand-Year Door’s combat hasn’t aged a day, and it’s still as much fun now as it was back then. It just makes me wish the following games had somehow built on it rather than going in entirely different directions.
I can tell from just the first few chapters that the game’s personality has been left untouched, and in all honesty, that was the right call. The writing, character designs, gameplay in and out of battles, and more were spot-on back in the day and there really isn’t much Nintendo could have done to improve upon them.
Unfortunately, I can’t speak to any new content as from what I’ve seen so far, there isn’t any just yet but again, the original game was quite literally perfection so its return to the Nintendo Switch to dazzle a new audience is all the reason it needs to exist. In that regard, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is seemingly doing what a remake should, make a game playable for a new group of people, whilst adding just enough to encourage older fans to pick it up again.
The Super Mario RPG remake released last year and provided a stepping stone for players who’ve never played a Mario RPG before, or even an RPG in general for that matter. With that in mind, The Thousand-Year Door was the next logical step. When I put myself into the shoes of people that never played the original, I just know the remake is going to capture the hearts of thousands of new fans.
For the Paper Mario veterans who were there for the original, or played it sometime later, I think up to now the game has done an exceptional job of providing an experience that feels familiar but fresh at the same time. While I feel I can confidently say I know every trick, twist and turn the game has in store for me, it still feels like I’m embarking on this brilliant adventure for the very first time, and I can’t wait to roll credits and see if Nintendo has anything up its sleeve to surprise me with.
Topics: Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Preview, Mario, Super Mario