624: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[DaMonth]

Even General White can't stop this from being one of the best games ever made. It's annoying constantly hearing about how Paper Mario lost its magic after this game, but TTYD makes a good case for it. Nintendo just went ahead with a pretty alright little charming game on the N64 and made Mario a harem protagonist in the sequel, added trans representation, jiggle physics, a voyeuristic love story, foot fetishes, so on and so forth. And don't get me started on the gameplay. You haven't lived until you've done a FP leveling only run where the Superguard button becomes the thin thread between life and death.

Buy the remake so Nintendo finally understands.

[Jobobonobo]

As someone who greatly enjoyed the original I was very excited to see what the Gamecube sequel to Paper Mario had in store and made sure to get it for the Christmas of 2004. It greatly exceeded my expectations with a new world to explore, a diverse cast of Mario mainstays and completely new characters, greatly refined battle system, witty dialogue, catchy soundtrack and surprisingly darker story. I adored how each new chapter was not only in a new locale but oftentimes even changed up its narrative structure from making your way through a wrestling championship to murder mystery to a tale of stolen identity. It remains fresh throughout its entire run and shows the potential for Mario RPGs when he is outside the confines of rescuing Peach from Bowser. My only two complaints are that the backtracking through Chapter 4 gets a bit much and the search for General White goes on far too long. But even then, Chapter 4 makes up for it by having a fun story and one of my favourite partners, Vivian, joining you. General White is also a lead up to the X-Naut’s base on the moon, which is a pretty great dungeon. So the low points are an extremely minor element of this fantastic follow up. The Thousand Year Door remains one of Mario’s finest RPG outings and has aged perhaps the most gracefully visual wise of any RPG from the 6th generation of console gaming.

TWR: Charming, funny, inventive

[Nicktendo]

I missed this when it originally launched for the Gamecube despite owning the console. In fact, Paper Mario as a series only peaked my interest during the Wii era with Paper Mario 64 launching on the Wii Shop shortly before Super Paper Mario's release. I went in and loved it and played every game in the series since. But TTYD alluded me because of it's steep cost to buying a copy.

Fast forward to 2020 the year we stayed home. Having just finished Paper Mario Origami King and with not other game on the horizon, it was ultimately the perfect time to finally get TTYD and play it.

After splashing out on eBay, I played it and could see all the elements that were there in the original and every game since but it was all better. The combat, the characters, the story, the world. All better than every other entry. Why did I wait so long!?

For a game that did so many things so right, it is disappointing Nintendo never went back to this design despite enjoying later entries, the series clearly peaked here. I am looking forward to the HD remake on switch due out in May. I wonder if the noose in Rogue Port will still be there...Will we see Luigi's adventure finally?

TWR: Finally Coming Back

[NoMoreSpearows]

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door feels like a game where the developers were told one thing over and over again: "Make it longer."

In terms of Mario's RPG adventures, only the likes of Mario and Luigi: Dream Team feel like it demands more retreading old ground than this GCN venture. General White is the go-to example, but my personal pick for the worst instance is right after finishing Keelhaul Key... where you're tasked to immediately go back to Keelhaul Key so you can gain access to the next chapter. This is also where a character says "I love you" 100 times, which is a decent enough gag that feels like a kick in the shins being placed where it is.

That said, the characters are lively, the world equal parts playful and sinister, the combat open to imaginative and varied playstyles, and the music iconic. The Thousand-Year Door is not a bad game, far from it! It is simply one that doesn't quite know when it has worn out its welcome, leaving a crease that can't be ignored.