Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

"A Masterpiece pure and simple."

Once upon a time there lived a princess. This princess was the fairest in the land, and as is the custom with beautiful people, she was extremely stupid and got herself captured again and again. Welcome to Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door, where the princess is still a beautiful imbecile, and our hero is a dashing…plumber? I am not sure when being an Italian plumber became the sheik thing to be, but this game proves that it's not what you do, but how you do it that counts. It is a complete mystery as to why Mario always takes it upon himself to save the princess, but suffice it to say it will be your job (as Mario) to save the world from evil and get the girl.

With all that said, it should be noted that Paper Mario 2 is one of the most fun RPGs that I have ever had the pleasure of playing. The game really has everything that an RPG should have. From an entertaining story, solid graphics and a great combat engine, to good customization and character development. As a total package Paper Mario 2 offers it all. This game is not nearly as dark and convoluted as the Final Fantasy series, nor is it as deep as Tales of Symphonia. But this game has one thing that most of the Final Fantasy series lost long ago: It is pure and concentrated fun to play. From the minute that you pop the game into your GameCube you will be in for an adventure that you will both love and remember.

Story 8/10

Despite the fact that I loved this game I just cannot give this story a nine or a ten. The problem is that this story is pretty much the same story that almost every Mario game has had, save for Mario 2. Stupid Princess Peach is mysteriously kidnapped and has to be rescued by the dashing plumber Mario. Paper Mario 2 does add some interesting twists on the old tale, proving that an old dog can, in fact, learn some new tricks, but it is not enough to constitute a higher score. The story consists of 8 chapters that are each well developed and require the use of your entire team to complete. The game is predominantly played with a singular partner chosen from a team of up to 6 characters. The characters are wonderfully diverse and add a lot of value to this game. The characters all have their own reasons for accompanying Mario on his quest to save the princess. Some of characters are silly, like the overweight torso of a diva, some slightly self-deprecating, and others are your everyday punk. I never really imagined Yoshi as a teenage punk, but in Paper Mario 2 you get to encounter just such a character.

The individual chapters are brilliantly designed. The first chapter is the only one that can be slightly irritating in that it is the ‘introduction' and provides you with the basics on how to play. So for those people who have never played a video game before, or for the extremely elderly/newborns, you'll have a great introduction of this game, for the rest of us, we've all seen this before, and we all know how it works. Click buttons, and figure it out as we go. This is really a minor criticism on the story front though. The introduction does do a great job of setting the story. Your story unfolds with Mario receiving a letter from the princess requesting [ordering] Mario to come to her aid. Enclosed is mysterious map, and some mumbojumbo about a place called the “Thousand Year Door.” Mario sets sail, and lands in the port town of Rogueport. As the name should indicate Rogueport is supposed to be a dangerous place for Mario and company, but I never really got any sense for foreboding from the game. There is a noose hanging in the middle of the town square which seems extremely out of place in the hub town of the game. You meet up with Goombella (yes, a Goomba) and your off to find the Crystal Stars.

The levels are varied. You'll play a WWE style wrestling tournament, fight rogue pirates, and even match wits with King Koopa himself. There is a “trouble center” with all kinds of sidequests, most of which requires you to go back to places that you've visited delivering a package, or completing a simple task. They are not complex, but they do add a fair amount of fun (and money) to your gaming experience.

Gameplay 10/10

Bottom line: this game is fun to play. It's not particularly hard to pickup and you probably will not have to spent much time level building, but you'll have fun every time you pick up your controller. If you played the first Paper Mario, or if you played the great Mario and Luigi Super Saga for the GBA you'll be familiar with how the movement and combat system works. The game is mostly a platformer. The levels are what I'll psudo-3D in that you pretty much progress from one side of the screen to the other, with the occasional jump or lateral adjustment to avoid obstacles. With the 2D character models this level design works wonderfully. It is rare that you'll fall off the side of anything based solely on poor level design, if you fall off of anything it's because you didn't take your time. The controls are extremely tight, there was no noticeable lag between clicking a button and your party executing that command.

The levels are well designed and require the use of your entire team if you want to find every secret, and every item in the game. If you're anything like me you will go back to levels after you've gained a new partner just to see if there are any hidden goodies. You will be well rewarded for you diligence, you'll be able to find things from extra badges, to a hidden character. There are plenty of things that you'll be able to find and customize your character with. Mario can equip badges that will increase various stats, add abilities for Mario and his partners. They can change your appearance, and they can change the sound effects of your attacks. For those of you who don't find it necessary to do excessive amounts of customization you'll be able to power your health up high enough that it will take an extreme amount of damage to even come close to defeating our Hero and his party. If you like to play a specific way, you'll be able to.

You'll want to take your time finding the Shine Sprites because these are the things that allow you to level your partners up. Most of them are in obvious places, but if you spend the time exploring you'll be able to find an extra 3 or 4 which will probably allow you to level up 2 additional characters to the ultimate level. As with every good RPG you'll want to have unique partners to play with, and Paper Mario 2 really delivers the goods here. You'll find such a wide variety of characters you'll be wondering why Sonic fast food change come up with a Paper Mario flavored drink.

Graphics 9/10

Paper Mario 2 looks pretty damn good. It is bright, colourful and full of life. The backgrounds are not excessively ‘busy' and distracting, rather they are very well though out and designed. You never get the impression that the designers of this game got bored with the level design and simply reused textures. Instead each chapter you enter is a new place world full of new wonders to behold. It is like your trip into Wonderland, and instead of playing as a 12 year old girl, you're a mustached plumber. The cell shading looks marvelous. Nintendo has set itself apart as the premiere system for cell shading with games like Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker, Tales of Symphonia, Alien Hominid and Paper Mario 2. Everything about this game looks elegant, and sleek. If you have a TV that can support progressive scan you'll be in for a real treat. Everything looks so smooth, and there is absolutely no pixilization. Ever. It's rate that anyone can ever say that about a game, and this really sets Paper Mario 2 apart from the rest of the games in the genera.

The enemies are wonderfully well constructed. Every detail rendered in as much detail as you can imagine, and the diversity of enemies is great. You'll run into goombas, hammer brothers, dragons, robots, wizards, and much more. There really is no end to the amount praise that I could give to this game. The graphics look brilliant. That's all you need to know.

Overall 9/10

Paper Mario 2 is like a good girlfriend; it's beautiful, fun to play with and not excessively depressing. This game is fun. Fun. Fun. Fun. You need to get this game and play it now. I do not care what is going on in your life; if your parents just died Paper Mario 2 will cheer you up, if you just had your first date this game will help you feel better about your failure tonight, and if you are simply depressed this game is better than prozac and a polo mallet. Nintendo has created a masterpiece in Paper Mario 2 proving, once again, that they are the last developer that we can count on to produce a quality game anytime, anywhere.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/05