One of the biggest surprises of 2023 was the reveal of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on Switch. Nintendo fans like myself have longed for this GameCube classic to be on modern platforms. And as of this writing, Nintendo has let various outlets get hands-on with it ahead of it’s May 2024 launch.
Specific details pointed out those hands-on with the game reveal Quality of Life refinements and more included in this Switch release.
What is Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door?
Releasing in 2000 on the Nintendo 64, Paper Mario continued where Super Mario RPG left off. The title continued the turn based reaction-focused combat system all the while providing a Paper, almost storybook-esc look. The series continued in this direction with The Thousand Year Door on the Nintendo GameCube.
This GameCube release is a cult classic amongst the Mario community. It iterated on the combat system, bring it to a literal stage. In addition to a refined combat system, the narrative went to places not normally seen in the Mario franchise and it gave players smaller side-adventures for Bowser and Peach to go on.
The series went in a new direction, turning into a 2.5D Platforming adventure with Super Paper Mario and then proceeding to lean harder on the paper theming with Sticker Star, Color Splash and The Origami King. While Super Paper Mario retained the spirit of the prior titles, the proceeding games did not.
Titles in the indie space, like Bug Fables and Born of Bread continued the foundation The Thousand Year Door established. Only fitting that of all the Paper Mario titles to get remade, it was the most beloved release.
New Kind of Paper – Visual/Performance Changes
One of the selling points of this new release is the visuals. Going for a more colorful, less washedout look, the remake pushes beyond what the GameCube iteration accomplished. As covered by Nintendo Life, they have stated the following on the redone visuals after their time with the game;
The arts and crafts paper aesthetic from the GameCube version is all intact, but the Switch version adds tons more detail to environments. The cobblestones of Rogueport are much more defined, meaning the dirty puddles of water are more visible. Little flecks of green in combat backgrounds now have trees or bushes dotted around them, and the foliage of the trees is more defined and colourful.
They also point out that the lighting is greatly updated, supporting the brighter colors and more detailed world.
Wandering through Hooktail Castle, the first major dungeon of Thousand-Year Door, the soft bloom of the light glowing through the broken windows really helped enhance the decrepit, menacing feel of the castle. It also made the dungeon look darker and helped those darker shades of grey pop. We can say the same about Boggly Woods, a beautiful, eerie forest with white foliage and multicoloured flooring. The way the light cracks through the trees makes the floor almost glow, and it makes you feel like you’re walking across a sparkly, leafy rainbow.
However, this all comes at a cost. While the original GameCube release ran at 60FPS, this new release on Nintendo Switch runs at a capped 30FPS. Nintendo Life commented this did not impact their positive experience with the game, but it is worth noting regardless.
It further supports the fact Nintendo Switch is in need of new hardware. Recent releases like Tears of the Kingdom and Princess Peach Showtime both suffer from minor drops at their 30FPS targets. Thankfully, the 30FPS cap is a locked one based on Nintendo Life’s impressions.
You can check out the game in-action below to see for yourself the new visuals and the games pre-launch performance.
Sanding Down the Edges – Quality of Life Additions for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
While the original release is considered a classic by many, most would agree some issues needed fixing. One of those was the backtracking, which was a major issue in the later stages of the GameCube original.
This new release has a re-worked fast travel system, as covered by Nintendo Life;
Each blue pipe is labelled with a number corresponding to the chapter you visited that town in, meaning you can easily get back to Petalburg or the Great Tree by simply following the numbers. It might take a minute to unlock, but it makes those Trouble Center requests much easier to complete. And you can access it straight from Rogueport rather than going through the Sewers each time.
In addition to this major improvement, a hint system is added for players unsure what to do next. And for those struggling with the timing for specific moves for the turn based battles, a new NPC is added. This offers a training room of sorts, letting players freely try out all their abilities and master the button timings for actions.
Lastly, a new Partner Wheel.
First up is the Partner Wheel, which allows you to instantly swap between partners outside of battle at the touch of a button. This is extremely useful and saves a lot of flipping through menus, as each partner has a field skill that you’ll need to navigate the world
Being able to switch between your various allies will make puzzle solving and exploration more streamlined.
Soundtrack
The game also sports a completely new soundtrack, but the option for the original is present via an equip-able badge. As you likely hear from the video above, the new score captures the spirit of the original while adding it’s own unique flair.
Overall Thoughts
This title is a major blind spot for me, with physical copies of the GameCube original costing well above $50 as of this writing. I played the original Paper Mario however and greatly enjoyed it. The title truly took Super Mario RPG and stamped it’s own mark in the RPG genre.
Nintendo also remaking this GameCube classic inspires great hope. Specifically, for fans of Mario RPG’s. It was only recently they partnered with Square Enix on a remake of Super Mario RPG in Fall 2023 and before that release, haven’t done much with Mario and the RPG genre.
Hopefully with this titles success, more Mario RPG adventures will be on the way. But will you be picking this paper craft classic in May? Let us know in the comments below!
