I know some people don’t like remakes and remasters, but I really like having a chance to play a classic I may have missed in the past, or perhaps even a game I love with some modern conveniences. The Switch has had its fair share of Remakes, Ports, and Remasters that have brought a new audience to certain games and genres and I’m all for it… when they are done well. Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is an interesting game for me to visit as I own the Gamecube version of the game, yet, I was unable to remember anything about it due to my memory loss. So for me, I’m going in fresh so to speak, getting to experience it for the first time… again. What’s It Like? Partner up, bring your hammer, and don’t fold under pressure as I review Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for Nintendo Switch.
The narrative of Paper Mario follows Mario visiting the rough and tumble town of Rogueport after receiving a letter from Princess Peach about a mysterious treasure hunt. Alas, when Mario arrives, Princess Peach is nowhere to be found, and after a rough welcome to the tow, you join forces with one of many plucky sidekicks to uncover the mysteries of The Thousand-Year Door. Most gamers will know that The Thousand-Year Door was originally released on the Gamecube in 2004, but this isn’t a simple port, The Switch Version of The Thousand-Year Door has been lovingly recrafted from the ground up with new quality-of-life improvements like fast travel, partner switching via a wheel, post-game content, and a reworked soundtrack. These additions have been welcomed by the fans, and help streamline the gameplay and narrative for a more coherent and enjoyable adventure.
The gameplay is very traditional RPG-centric, as you explore the world around Mario, meeting and talking with the inhabitants to discover your next course of action. This is also made easier now by being able to summon your plucky Goomba ally, Goombella, by a simple tap of the ZL button, who will provide a rather direct hint on what to do next. I found this rather refreshing, and despite not having to lean on it too heavily, it certainly helped keep me on course of where to go after picking up the game after a brief hiatus. Other Party members also grant certain abilities like hitting things from range and stunning enemies so you can breeze past them or get the first hit in. You will also unlock special paper abilities like being able to fold up into a plane to glide across areas, or shimmy in between small gaps. These minor puzzles do come with minor frustrations, such as backtracking if you happen to fail or make a mistake, forcing you to spend a few minutes heading up the top of a tower, or attempting to get back to a flying plane platform. It doesn’t ruin the game, but certain sections did feel like a chore, especially when the path back to where I failed wasn’t an easy one.
Combat is turn-based and works well. Instead of arbitrary selections, you interact when attacking with timing to help dish out more damage. You can use items and summon special abilities which change depending on who you are partnered with. There’s also an interesting mechanic where a crowd watches as you duke it out, doling out star power the more exciting the battle is. You need to watch out for nefarious and unruly spectators who may throw items at you which can be handled by pressing a specific button when the trouble is about to start, ejecting them from the theatre. You can also master blocking which reduces damage, or a perfect block which damages opponents instead, keeping things exciting even when it isn’t your turn. You can also modify combat by using Badge Power, which depends on finding and equipping badges throughout the world that alter your abilities, some even being necessary to complete chapters. At the end of every successful battle, you will earn XP to go towards leveling up and each level allows you to choose one upgrade out of Health points, ability points, and number of badges equipable, making each level have a real impact on the game moving forward.
And Moving forward the game does with sharp, witty dialogue, which is often humourous and made me genuinely laugh out loud. Chapters are split up into tidy, consumable chunks, meaning you can play for an hour or two and feel some sense of completion. Most characters you encounter ooze style and charm from the bottle glasses-wearing Professor Frankly, to an unlikely ally in Koops, a beat-up Kooper Trooper aiming to avenge his father. While the latter might seem like a heavy theme, it manages to play out as both a heartwarming and humorous endeavor with an unexpected conclusion. Each chapter introduced you to a new teammate with unique abilities which you will need to progress, but thanks to the new “partner ring,” you can effortlessly switch back to your favourite partner outside of contextual situations.
The Thousand-Year Door’s reworked graphics are gorgeous and help build a convincing world around Mario with 2D cutouts of shrubbery, corrugated cardboard trees, and paper characters. There’s variety in each chapter and area with new enemies and strategies on how to defeat them, and the latter chapters are particularly a visual delight. The game uses the 3D space in a 2D world to its advantage, allowing you to transition to the background of the level to change the forefront. Things like bridge construction are handled by pages turning, revealing new stages in construction, and the style and execution are handled exceptionally well. Before starting my adventure, I wasn’t quite sure how I would enjoy the visual style, but this trepidation was done away with quickly, and I found myself thoroughly enjoying this adventure.
For my vision-impaired origami folders, there are no accessibility options outside of screen brightness. The game does feature a lot of high-contrast colours and thick outlines to help differentiate what’s going on in the game, but as always, I recommend doing further research to find out if Paper Mario is for you. Rushing through the story will take you around 25-30 hours, and end game content as well as collecting everything will further pad out that playtime, making it a wonderful Mario adventure that’s great value for money. It’s clear that this is a carefully recrafted labour of love, and not a quick churn and burn cash in.
Despite my minor backtracking and frustrations in failing some puzzles, all of this sounds like I’m gushing, and to be honest, I certainly am. Going into this fresh with no memory of the original, meant that there were so many moments of joy and laughter, and I haven’t enjoyed a story like this in a while. I feel like it captures the same magic that the Super Mario RPG remake did, although The Thousand-Year Door manages to land more consistent hits with its more modern writing style. Paper Mario The Thousand-Year Door is fun, witty, and an absolute delight to play. While the game may be set in a rather two-dimensional world, its depth, mechanics, and the art style all combine to create a wonderful adventure to not only give a nostalgic feeling to those who played the original but welcome in a new generation of gamers in this carefully crafted remaster.
So, What’s It Like? Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is like Octopath Traveller, crossed with Super Mario RPG.
I welcome it among the exclusive ranks of being Certified Exceptional by What’s It Like.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by Nintendo, but this doesn’t influence my score.
