Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a 2004 role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The Thousand-Year Door is the second game in the Paper Mario series following Paper Mario, and is part of the larger Mario franchise. In the game, when Mario and Princess Peach get involved in the search for a mystic treasure that holds great fortune, Peach is kidnapped by an alien group called the X-Nauts; Mario sets out to find the treasure and save the princess.

The Thousand-Year Door borrows many gameplay elements from its predecessor, such as a drawing-based art style, and a turn-based battle system emphasizing correctly timing moves. For most of the game, the player controls Mario, although Bowser and Princess Peach are playable at certain points between chapters. The game was announced at the 2003 Game Developers Conference, and was released late July 2004 in Japan and late 2004 worldwide.

The Thousand-Year Door was acclaimed at release and has since been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made. It won the "Console Role-Playing Game of the Year" award at the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, and is often considered the best game in the series. A remake was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2024. The game was followed by Super Paper Mario, which was released for the Wii in 2007.

Gameplay

thumb|left|Mario folds into a [[paper airplane to glide across a large gap.]]

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. 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. Mario is also "cursed" with abilities that allow him to fold into a boat or a paper airplane; these are performed when he stands on a special "activation panel". 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.

Characters

The Thousand-Year Door contains several characters, the majority of whom are not playable. Progression in the game is sometimes dependent on interaction with non-player characters, although many are used in the game's various minor sidequests. In the original Japanese and some European translations, Vivian is a transgender woman, while the script in the initial English and German releases were altered to remove any mention of her transgender status. Despite this, she is often cited as a popular LGBTQ+ video game character.

Mario is the main character of The Thousand-Year Door, although the story also rotates between portions where the player plays briefly as Princess Peach and Bowser. Most of Peach's story is spent on her interaction with the X-Nauts' computer AI TEC, who falls in love with Princess Peach despite not fully understanding the concept of love. Princess Peach agrees to teach TEC about love in exchange for the ability to contact Mario via e-mail. The series antagonist Bowser tries to collect the Crystal Stars before Mario does, instead of directly opposing Mario, though his attempts mostly become comedic relief.

Development and release

Nintendo revealed The Thousand-Year Door at the Game Developers Conference of 2003. Before its release, the game was confirmed to be a direct sequel to the Nintendo 64 game Paper Mario and was known tentatively as Mario Story 2 in Japan and Paper Mario 2 in North America. A preview of the game was available at E3 2004; it included Hooktail Castle and a Bowser bonus level as playable stages. The game was released on July 22, 2004, in Japan, October 11 in North America, and November 18 in Australia.

Reception

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was well-received, with review aggregator websites Metacritic and GameRankings both giving the game an 87/100. Eurogamer rated the large amount of text as "the only major stumbling block" of the game. Critics also commented extensively on the game's battle system, which deviated from traditional RPGs. Reviewers also praised the concept of having an audience to reward or berate Mario during battle. and was nominated for GameSpots 2004 "Best Story", "Best Graphics, Artistic" and "Funniest Game" awards. The game was ranked 56th in Official Nintendo Magazines "100 Greatest Nintendo Games" feature. Edge placed the game 93rd on their 100 best video games in 2007. In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list. In 2023, GameSpot writer Brandon Hesse rated the game as the best Mario RPG of all time, describing it as the "pinnacle of the Paper Mario series" and "one of the best RPGs ever made".

In its first week of release in Japan, The Thousand-Year Door was the best-selling game, selling about 159,000 units. It proceeded to sell 409,000 units in the country and 1.23 million copies in North America. The game has since been included in the Player's Choice line. As of December 2007, the GameCube game had sold 1.91 million copies worldwide.

Legacy

The Thousand-Year Door is considered by many to be the best game in the Paper Mario series. Later games to appear in the series, starting in 2007 with Super Paper Mario, began to change the format and genre after each release to fit the scope of an action-adventure series, by removing certain role-playing game elements and other features, such as turn-based combat. The new approach was often critiqued by critics, and most reviewers compare the game to The Thousand-Year Door to highlight what the games were lacking. Paper Mario: The Origami King returned some minor elements that had been removed from the games that it followed, such as Paper Mario: Sticker Star, but most critics still derided the game for missing classic features.

Remake

A remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the Nintendo Switch was announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation on September 14, 2023. 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 new secret bosses. Intelligent Systems returned to develop the remake, with Tose assisting on development. Marza Animation Planet also provided assistance with in-game lighting.

Alterations were made to the game's English script, including some removals such as a scene where Goombella is catcalled by villainous Goombas and defends herself against it, and some restorations to match the original Japanese script, such as restoring Vivian's portrayal as a transgender character. It was released on May 23, 2024. Nintendo Life reported that the game runs at 30 frames per second as opposed to the original's 60, but noted that it did not majorly affect their gameplay experience.

Reception

The remake was equally well received upon release, with an average score of 88/100 on Metacritic, based on 106 critic reviews, giving the game a "generally favorable" review score. While minor criticism was directed towards the game's lower frame rate and lack of substantial additional content, praise was directed toward the improved visuals and quality-of-life improvements made to reduce backtracking, which was a common criticism of the original. Many critics directed praise that had already been given to the GameCube original, including the story, battle system, locations, and cast of characters. By June 2024, the remake sold 1.76 million copies worldwide, nearly matching the original version's lifetime sales in a single month. As of March 31, 2025, the game has sold 2.1 million copies.

Lawsuit

In 2008, Morgan Creek Productions filed a lawsuit against Nintendo alleging that they illegally used the song "You're So Cool" from the film True Romance in an advertisement for the game. Morgan Creek dropped the case six days later, after Nintendo revealed that the advertising agency, Leo Burnett USA, Inc., had licensing for the song.

Notes

References

  • Official website (via Wayback Machine)
  • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door at RPGClassics
  • Official remake website via nintendo.com