With the reveal of Mario and Luigi: Brothership coming in November, the Switch has suddenly become a beacon of hope for the RPG side of the Mario franchise, revitalizing old games for the system and giving us new gems. Back in the day, Mario was well known for his side franchises. Since he started to dip his toes into the RPG format with Super Mario RPG, Nintendo created two different RPG franchises to show off Mario’s world more. Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi were two of his most prized game spin-offs in the franchise, being praised for being some of the most creative takes on Mario’s world, expanding the character roster, and providing fun new takes on the RPG formula. While I’m personally more of a fan of the Mario and Luigi style, it’s hard not to feel bad for Paper Mario fans given how the series turned away from the RPG roots it had and turned towards an action-adventure style. This long delay from a proper Paper Mario RPG has caused thousands across the internet to praise Nintendo for remaking Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the Switch. While I’m not as big of a fan of the game as other diehard supporters, I can still say in all confidence that it’s a good time.
On a trip to Rogueport, Peach ends up coming across a map that is supposed to lead to the treasure of a once-great civilization. Sending it to Mario, she promises to meet him there to go treasure hunting. However, upon reaching the docks, Peach is nowhere in sight, and there is a group dressed in uniform causing trouble. Now Mario has to resolve the mystery of the map and treasure, all the while trying to find Peach and what role she has in all of this…
At this point, if you’re reading a review about this game, you probably already know and love the game to bits. It’s been constantly praised and admired online for being the best Mario RPG, in terms of having some of the best writing, characters, gameplay, and charm the Mario series had, period. If you haven’t played it yet, you probably already saw this game and made your own conclusions. All of this is to say while I will be talking about the gameplay and story a bit, nothing I say here would be able to sway the minds of a fanbase that has been desperate for a game like this ever since the series departed from its RPG roots. Instead, I will be talking about how it holds up as a remake, and in terms of being a remake, it’s at the top of the class.
The visuals in the first game were already impressive, putting the GameCube through its paces by not only making each location as pretty and awe-inspiring as possible while holding onto the mixture of the Mario and paper aesthetics without getting too overboard. The team at Intelligent Systems also ensured to show just how powerful the system can be, filling up rooms with loads of characters to show just how much can happen on the screen of a GameCube.
However, this can cause some slowdown, most noticeable during special moves in combat on stage in front of a crowd of well over 100 attendants. In the remake, these graphics have only improved, giving the areas they’re part of a brand-new shine that helps show off how the world of Rogueport looks bigger and busier than ever. The main area looks as dirty and messy as ever, Boggly Woods looks even more gorgeous with the lighting and shading, Twilight Town is more oppressive than before with how shadowy the place is, and so on. Issues with slowdown and lag have also been ironed out, running just as well in handheld mode as in TV mode.
The audio has also been finely tuned and improved. The sound effects are just as pleasant to listen to as always, especially when combined with the new music. Now with more power and more instruments, the songs are able to help portray a more powerful environment for the story, especially during the battles. In each chapter, there’s a separate battle theme for each chapter to really show off the game’s scope and world, with each unique battle theme bringing forth instruments and themes that fit each world. From the spooky vibes of the Twilight Town battles, the tropical fights on Keelhaul Key, and the bombastic stage battles in the Glitzpit, they’re all a grand time to listen to.
Other little helpful improvements include tackling one of the game’s original biggest problems; backtracking. Many gamers remember the trudge of going through each world, especially in the endgame when you’re going to be going around the world to complete side quests. Here, the remake is constantly looking out for these traps the original fell into and offers you ways to go faster than before. There’s a centralized hub of all the warp pipes around the world now, meaning backtracking between the worlds of Chapter 2 and Chapter 6 has been cut down a lot. Even in the locations you’re jumping around, what once would be annoying treks are cut down as you have access to ways to go through the sections faster than ever before. Aside from helping to tighten down the pacing, there are other things to look out for, such as the two secret hidden bosses, the increased inventory load out, faster partner swapping, and more. Oh yes, partners that you can use in the main world and battle; that’s been something the series was missing that the fans loathed…
You also have characters populating the world. Most of these are just NPCs that serve to help give the world more depth and be entertaining all the while, with some select characters even joining you on your worldwide trip to get all the Crystal Stars, with each one bringing something new to the table. From those dealing with personal grief, to characters that are determined to improve themselves, each partner you get also has a unique trait that helps you traverse the world. They can even help you out in battle, aiding you in dealing damage to any enemies you face.
Battle-wise, save from it being 30 FPS instead of 60 FPS which could catch a couple of veterans off guard, it has been left more or less untouched. You still got the standard stage battle with your equipping badges and going out onto the stage to fight against the enemy. The badges you wear will change what attacks you have access to, what attributes you have, any increased damage, and so on. There’s also an audience that loves it when you hit stylish moves to help refill your star meter to use your more powerful attacks. There are also those that can throw items to help you or hurt you, and if you attack the wrong one, they will end up leaving alongside a good portion of the crowd.
As glad as I am that this game’s battle system is the same one that many lost, I can’t say it’s my preferred system. As stated before, I was more into the Mario and Luigi games, and thus their battle systems were what I am used to. Being able to dodge attacks is here somewhat in the form of guarding super guards, but not only is it frame perfect in the form of super guarding, but it also deals damage back to any physical attacks, but it’s not as dynamic as the system in the Mario and Luigi games. Another problem is how the game treats levels up, with it heavily favoring badges with health and flower point-up badges to increase your health and special power reserve, but doing so means no other stats normally upgrade. It ends up feeling like you’re forced to just level up three times to see any effect compared to the instant level-ups of other RPGs. With how powerful badges can be, this can, at least to me, break the difficulty in half like a twig, especially as you get more powerful badges and items.
While I do have other problems with the game that go far beyond the scope of this review and could be seen as nitpicks, the game is still a triumph and I’m happy to see it here. Don’t make any mistake, this isn’t a critical hit piece in the game. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is still a fun game, even if I can’t help but feel like the hype for it, especially in terms of combat, is a bit overblown, but that’s hardly an issue unique to this game. Besides, the world itself in the game is just as grand as ever; taking Mario and his crew to places never seen before with characters never seen before in the series tackling situations the series hasn’t seen yet. It would be foolish to call this bad, and at worst, the big swings it had in trying to reach for something don’t land for me. At best, it helps increase the story and gameplay for tons of players around the world. It’s a worldwide trip that many have taken before and will take again, especially now that the ship has been refurbished and repaired. If you haven’t decided on this game and want to check it out, the ship is always open for you to join the crew!
