Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Written by D'Marcus Beatty  on August 10, 2004

Hands-On Preview: Don't let it slip through the crackЕ

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Mario seems to be a jack of all trades. He's a plumber, a hero, a racer, a golfer, a tennis player, a lover, a fighter, etcЕ There seems to be few things that the Italian plumber won't try. And soon, he'll try his hand again at a role-playing title that depicts him as a 2-D hero in a pseudo 3-D world in Paper Mario 2, which will add another quality Nintendo title to their roster while simultaneously helping to ease the RPG dearth Nintendophiles have been feeling since the release of the GameCube.

Paper Mario 2 once again squashes Mario until he has all the thickness of a piece of paper, hence the title. Mario's breadth is more than just a gimmick, however, since the aesthetic presentation of the game is based completely around this premise. Mario, along with his companions and his enemies, are all depicted in the same 2-D manner, so that when Mario turns or spins, he seems to disappear for just a moment as his thin side faces the camera. The fact that he is a piece of paper also has utility. Mario can fold himself up into a paper airplane to fly, or even roll himself up and slip through cracks or holes that our overweight 3-D Mario wouldn't have a hope of getting beyond.

Although I didn't personally see any of the 2-D applications in effect, I did sample the battle system very extensively. All battles take place in front of an audience that judges you on your performance. If you please the audience, you will get assorted bonuses that will help you along your quest. Mario can even forgo a round of combat to appeal to the crowd in an attempt to sway them to his side.

The battles, although turn based, are very interactive, much like the Game Boy's recent hit, Superstar Saga. One example lies in Mario's classic jumping, which is used a head stomp attach against koopas and goombas. After choosing the head stomp, Mario launches himself at the foe and obviously stomps on their head. But if the player times the button press correctly, Mario will bounce in the air and stomp on his foe's head repeatedly, which will double and triple the attack damage to the foe. The actual timing seemed tricky, but not too difficult, making the player rely more on skill and rhythm than luck.

There were a few scenarios available to me to try out, as well as a few companions. I was able to play with a goomba, a koopatrooper, and what appeared to be a female hippo ghost as my companions. Each character had different attacks they could use to defeat the enemies. There were also items that anybody who's played Mario will recognize, such as the fire flower, which, when chosen, will shoot a fireball across the screen to the enemy.

The game also presented an interesting blend of Mario gameplay with RPG standards. There were flying paratroopers who had to be attacked in a turn-based fashion by Mario jump attack, which, like the in the game, would clip their wings. There were also foes that came equipped with spines on their shells (like Spinies) and couldn't be attacked at all by Mario's basic jump. Paper Mario seems to be staying very true to the Mario world, even while utilizing a turn based system of combat.