Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Review

On July 5th, 2016, I posted my review of Paper Mario on Infinite Rainy Day. Toward the end of it, I mentioned the following:

“Fans can argue as to whether or not this is a true successor to Super Mario RPG, or even if this game’s sequel is superior, but for my buck you can’t go wrong.”

Having offically played through Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, I can verify that claim. But for now, I want to discuss this sequel and see if it’s the masterpiece many exposit.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door begins the same way as its predecessor: with a Lakitu delivering mail to Mario and Luigi. Princess Peach has again invited Mario to visit her, this time in a place called Rogueport. She’s left him a mysterious-looking map in this letter, suggesting it might lead to treasure. Sadly, Mario arrives at Rogueport to not only discover that Peach has gone missing again, but that a group known as The X-Nauts are trying to resurrect an ancient evil. Together with his map, an archeology student named Gombella and an elderly professor, it’s up to Mario to stop these X-Nauts and rescue Princess Peach yet again!

In my review of Paper Mario, I threw shade at the franchise’s willful refusal to craft a compelling narrative. This still holds true. The game does fill in the cracks with fascinating lore and character interactions, but that doesn’t compensate for the lack of a meaningful narrative. Like the title itself suggests, this game’s story’s paper-thin. So don’t go looking for too much.

Fortunately, like its predecessor, story isn’t the focus. The mechanics and presentation are. Like Paper Mario, the game utilizes a paper-like aesthetic, even taking it to an extreme. The game also brings back the battle mechanics, this time changing them from a movie reel to interactive theatre. This means that not only do you battle opponents, you also have to appease your audience. This allows for an additional layer of strategizing.

And give it credit: the game looks and plays beautifully! The paper aesthetic not only holds up visually, but it’s so well-matched to gameplay and controls that it’s easy to pick-up-and-play. It all goes to show that when it comes to turn-based RPGS, which are known for being complex, simplicity’s key. Bless it for that!

Musically, the game’s pretty solid. Like its predecessor, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door utilizes memorable tracks that it loops constantly. The tunes repeat over and over, yet never feel boring to listen to. I’m not sure if it’s because they fit their locations, but I never once got tired of them. And I spent a long time with this game!

So yes, I dug this game. But that begs the question I posed earlier: is it better than its predecessor?

Well, no, for three reasons. For one, the game has copious amounts of backtracking, particularly in later sections. This is most-apparent in Chapter 7, where Mario revisits places he’s already been to for an in-game objective. It feels like shameless padding for an otherwise short game. The game also has minor side-objectives that should feel unnecessary to beat the game, but indirectly punish you for not doing them. Try beating the final boss without first double levelling-up your party members, for example. It’s not quite as fun.

Speaking of, the final boss is a three-part battle that succeeds a two-part battle. It’s unbelievably difficult, as the boss has an unfair amount of health. I’m not sure who decided to make the fight this hard, but I’m unimpressed. Even the final battle in Paper Mario, which wasn’t a cakewalk, was more reasonable than this! What gives?

Finally, the Bowser levels are really repetitive and annoying. They take inspiration from the original NES Mario games, hence they’re side-scrollers. They’re cute at first…until you realize that there are three of them. And while not terribly long, that doesn’t make them any less-frustrating.

There are also minor annoyances that lessen the experience: the game still doesn’t let you exit to the title screen. You still need to pay to replenish health. Your Star Power’s dependent on how entertained your audience is. In-battle stage hazards are frequent and annoying. And the audience themselves are often irritating, occasionally throwing damage-inducing items at you. That last one isn’t too bad, but every-so-often it can be hard to see a hazard incoming.

That’s not to diminish from the improvements, because there definitely are several: the game allows you to level grind with worlds and enemies you’ve already beaten. The Crystal Stars have far better powers than the Stars from the previous game. There are more side-quests. And the game has actual content post-final boss, including a masochistic challenge known as The Pit of 1000 Trials. All of this is a welcomed upgrade from the game’s direct predecessor.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door isn’t better than its predecessor, unfortunately. It takes one too many over-ambitious risks that don’t pay off. But what it does well, it does exceptionally! Perhaps even, dare I say it, better than its predecessor! So while I don’t like it as much as Paper Mario, I still really like it. And who knows? You might end up liking it too!