Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door review: GameCube remake is as iconic as ever

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door MSRP $60.00 Score Details Pros

Hilarious writing
Memorable characters
Approachable RPG combat
Intuitive action commands
Gorgeous visuals

Cons

Lacks ambition as a remake
Battle system gets repetitive

One of the first things players see when starting a new save file in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a gallows in the center of Rogueport, the RPG’s central hub.

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While The Thousand-Year Door isn’t a dark game by any means — it’s actually quite hilarious — seeing a gallows where someone could be hanged to death should be players’ first indication that this isn’t like other Mario games. The Thousand-Year Door stood as one of the boldest Mario games when it first launched for the GameCube in 2004, and the same applies to its Nintendo Switch remake being released now, 20 years later. Although I’ve never played it before (I only watched playthroughs of it on YouTube), it has been a joy to experience for the first time on Nintendo Switch.

This isn’t a remake that completely redefines its predecessor, unlike Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil 4. This is much more in line with Nintendo’s recent Super Mario RPG and Mario vs. Donkey Kong remakes that refurbish and update the visuals with some small quality-of-life tweaks. Those with a working GameCube and a copy ofThe Thousand-Year Door don’t need to worry about picking this up. Still, anyone grabbing it for the first time or in a long while on Nintendo Switch is in store for an off-kilter and memorable experience from the moment they see that first image of a gallows in Rogueport.