Paper Mario – The Thousand-Year Door

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a Nintendo Switch remake of the 2004 Nintendo GameCube game of the same name, and the first remake in the Paper Mario series. It was first announced during the September 2023 Nintendo Direct and released worldwide on May 23, 2024. The remake features redone graphics, animations and music, along with quality of life changes and some new features exclusive to the Switch version. 

These include an updated fast travel system, increased item and coin capacity, the ability to toggle the original GameCube soundtrack using a badge, a gallery for viewing art and music, and two additional secret bosses. Intelligent Systems returned to develop the remake, with Tose assisting on development. Marza Animation Planet also provided assistance with in-game lighting.However, it remains faithful to the style of the original game: the characters still use their designs from the original release (for example, Princess Peach keeps her pre-Mario Party 4 dress design), rather than the updated designs used in the following Paper Mario games.

Many voice clips from the original game are also reused, despite voice actor changes since the original game’s release, including Charles Martinet, Jen Taylor, and Scott Burns, former voice actors of Mario, Peach, and Bowser respectively. The Thousand-Year Door is a role-playing video game (RPG) with other nontraditional RPG elements. The player controls a two-dimensional version of Mario and explores a variety of worlds designed to look like paper. In these locales, he is tasked with retrieving seven Crystal Stars which involves Mario completing puzzles and defeating enemies to proceed. In the overworld, the player can find items that can be used in and outside of combat.

The effects of these items range from healing Mario or his partner to damaging the opponent. Mario can also purchase “badges” from non-player characters (NPCs), find them hidden in the environment, or occasionally obtain them from defeated enemies. Each badge requires a certain amount of Mario’s badge points (BP) in order to be equipped. When equipped, these badges can permanently enhance a particular skill or aspect, or, in some cases, give Mario new abilities. Throughout the game, up to seven characters are permanently added to the player’s party; one character is present alongside Mario at any given time and can be switched out at any point.

Each character has a specialized skill, some of which are required to solve puzzles. These skills include activating switches and removing physical barriers. The Thousand-Year Door is set in the Mushroom Kingdom. The town of Rogueport serves as the hub world, connecting to all other locations in the game. The story is divided into eight chapters and a prologue, each of which primarily takes place in one of the unique areas. Each of the major locations are designed around a specific theme; Glitzville, for example, is a floating city known for its fighting arena. The enemies and town inhabitants in the game range from recurring Mario characters, like Boo, to characters exclusive to the game, such as the X-Nauts.