Review of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Paper RPG

The RPG Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door from Intelligent Systems, the creators of not only the Paper Mario series but also Fire Emblem, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The original game, the second installment in the franchise, was released in 2004 on the Nintendo GameCube and was warmly received by more than just reviewers. Players themselves simply fell in love with it, and many still remember it as one of the best RPGs they’ve ever played. That’s why there was almost universal enthusiasm when a remake for the Nintendo Switch was announced last fall, promising mostly modern audiovisuals, as well as some tweaks to the gameplay. So how did it all end, and is TTYD still worth it 20 years later?

• Platform: Nintendo Switch
• Publication date: 23.05.2024
• Developer: Intelligent systems
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Genre: RPG
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data for download: 5 GB
• Play time: ~40 hours
• Price: 1349 CZK (Alsa)

Paper Adventure

It all starts when Princess Peach sends Mario a map that will lead to a mysterious treasure hidden beneath the criminal city of Rogueport. Mario heads there, but soon discovers that Peach herself has been kidnapped, so his goal is not only to uncover the secret of the treasure, but also (again) to save the princess. But he has a long way to go, because in order to open the 1,000-year-old door that guards the treasure, he will have to obtain 7 crystal stars located in different parts of the world. And he is far from the only one who wants them.

As for the story, you certainly shouldn’t expect anything too complex, as we’re used to from Nintendo. However, by its standards, it’s definitely one of the more interesting stories, with several directions to explore. In addition to Mario, you’ll also play as Peach between chapters, and also as Bowser, although he plays a fairly small role overall.

The main plot is fairly predictable, but some aspects still offer interesting twists. In any case, the story is greatly helped by the dialogues, which are therefore text-only (like most other Nintendo games, there is no voice acting at all), but they are excellently written and full of pleasant humor. Although the vast majority seems lighthearted, the game still manages to touch on deeper themes that affect reality even 20 years later.

The visuals are pleasing both aesthetically and technically.

Not only the story, but almost every other aspect in any case benefits from one of the main strengths of this game – variety. During his journey, Mario will visit several extremely diverse locations, be it a castle inhabited by a dragon, a huge tree full of cute little creatures, an air city, a dark village, a desert island or even a luxury train.

It is in these contrasting places that the modern visuals come into their own, which looks great in interiors and exteriors, in colorful and dark places. This is facilitated not only by the beautiful visual style, but also by the technical side of the graphics. The characters and environments are full of detail, which is complemented by excellent lighting and exceptionally good and smooth animation in motion. Unfortunately, as is usually the case with Ninted, there is no anti-aliasing, so you cannot avoid flickering and sharp edges. This does not spoil the impression much, but it is definitely a shame, because it is the only drawback in an otherwise excellent visual image.

Lower but stable frame rate

In any case, frame rate is related to visuals, which has been a subject of some debate. While the original GameCube game ran at 60 frames per second, the Switch remake only ran at 30 frames per second. Sure, you’ll feel it, but since you don’t control the camera, it’s not a major issue in terms of smoothness.

A little worse might be the lag, which is quite high considering the frame rate. The combat would definitely be better if it ran at a higher frame rate, but at the same time I can’t say it would make the game noticeably more difficult for me. In short, 30 FPS for this game feels fine to me, mainly because the frame rate is stable. The only noticeable drops I encountered were maybe two or three times, and that was during transitions between animations and cutscenes, so it didn’t even affect the gameplay.

Creative battles and puzzles

Now that I’ve mentioned combat, it’s time to finally get to the gameplay. Fighting enemies is, of course, an integral part of it. The combat is turn-based, but not quite classic. The game requires your constant attention, and if you complete the ongoing quick-time events, you will be rewarded for it. Mario will jump twice on an enemy if you press the button at the right time, the hammer will do more damage if you time it right.

Some of the more advanced abilities depend on successfully completing a QTE, and then there’s the fact that the fights take place on a theater stage and the audience can throw things at you (either useful items or, on the contrary, rocks, for example), so you have to react to that too. Overall, this adds a lot to the combat, and I never got bored of it during my time playing.

This is also due to the extremely high variability of enemies, which differ not only in appearance and statistics, but also in the way they attack and what they are related to. This depends on whether they are in the air or on the ground, whether they have spikes or even a shell. Each type of enemy plays differently, and this also affects how you fight.

On another level are boss fights, which can be quite tedious and you will have to use everything you have. In addition to attacks from Mario and your partners, these are also items or special abilities. In any case, you will be able to adapt the style of play to your taste. You gradually collect various icons that can improve the stats of your party, but it is often a question of a certain balance.

Unique characters that you will quickly fall in love with

However, the various abilities are useful not only in combat. Most of the gameplay consists of passing through locations, where you will often find environmental puzzles. As the name suggests, the world here is made entirely of paper, and this is what the name says the most about it. Mario will gradually gain the ability to turn 90 degrees and thus pass through narrow gaps, turn into a plane that can fly over chasms, or into a small boat with which you can cross places full of water.

You will also use your friends’ abilities, whether it’s blowing away the paper covering a secret entrance or perhaps knowledge of the locations and creatures you’ll encounter during your travels. Each partner has something different to offer and is completely different in both abilities and personality. My personal favorite is Gombella, who is with you from the start and is basically a walking encyclopedia of sorts, and then of course Vivian, who is probably the most popular character for most fans.

Her story is quite interesting, both in-game and in the real world. She is part of the “Shadow Sisters” trio of antagonists, and only joins Mario later because her older “sister” Beldam bullies her. In the original Japanese version and several other localizations, she is indeed a trans woman, but any hints to this fact from Beldam were completely omitted in the English translation. This is changed in the remake, and while it is never stated outright, it is implied several times that this is indeed the case.

Strength in diversity

In any case, the variety does not end there. As I already mentioned, the individual locations are extremely diverse, and this is reflected not only in the appearance, but also in the gameplay. While the first chapter is still played quite traditionally, in the second you will have to solve special puzzles, and the third, which takes place in the flying city of Glitzville, completely changes the gameplay for a while. Since you become a professional wrestler, you have to reach the highest level and defeat the champion. The remaining chapters have a lot to offer, too, be it a Mario replacement or the already mentioned train journey, where you become a detective for a while.

And all of this is complemented not only by excellent sound, but by a particularly fantastic soundtrack. It retains the melodies of the original game and improves them to a significantly modernized form. But the creators did not stop there, because the remake offers a number of new tracks. Once again, there is no longer one main route for classic battles, and each location (and sometimes parts of locations) has its own variation. You can go from the classic to a darker and more cheerful version and to an absolutely excellent jazz version. I fell in love with it, as with many other tunes, so much so that out of the total 40 hours announced on the opening screen, I spent about 2 hours exclusively listening to the music in the menu.

Roundtrip

By the way, those 40 hours are definitely not the maximum figure. The game offers quite a large portion of additional content, be it small side missions or various challenges, headed by the “Pit of 100 Challenges”, where you have to fight your way through 100 floors without dying, otherwise you have to go back to the beginning. There is more than enough content, so it’s a shame that the game sometimes unnecessarily tries to stretch out the playing time with annoying backtracks. And this applies not only to side missions, but also to the main story.

There are a few times where you have to go through a forest full of enemies, only to have to go back and then back to the other side. It’s just tedious, and while it doesn’t happen all the time, it can definitely ruin the experience.

Likewise, 20-year-old game design sometimes draws attention to itself because it may not be entirely clear what you actually need to do to advance. On the other hand, there weren’t many of those moments, so I’d like to point out that the game hasn’t aged much in those 20 years.

For fans and new players

Overall, I really enjoyed it, even though I’m not one of those players who knows the original. It’s a slightly different RPG, original in many ways, and focused primarily on very fun gameplay in and out of combat. It may not impress anyone with a complex story, but thanks to the well-written and drawn world and characters, it doesn’t matter at all. The strengths here completely prevail, and I can’t recommend it enough to Switch owners.