Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Written by Chris Reiter  on January 28, 2005

Review: Flatter than Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's careers, Mario's back and paper cutting evil's ass.

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Back and forth, the turn-based brawls throughout Paper Mario are actually staged. I mean literally, they're staged as in they take place in a 2D/3D theater surrounding. Mario has himself and his partner on the left side of the screen, and enemies are adjacent to the right. An audience, who can affect both you and your foes for better or worse, sits on the bottom of the screen in rows of chairs. Since enemies can appear in greater numbers at most points and sometimes also have distinctive attributes on their body that can block certain attacks if Mario or one of his partners isn't equipped for the right offense, there's the swap option that allows Mario to switch any of his partners in and out of battle when his or his partner's turn comes up. These conflicting elements certain enemies have arranged come in spikes protruding from their heads to armored shells covering everything but their bottom halves. Mario's body is soft and squishy, so figuring that touching anything pointy is going to hurt this Italian stallion. And just how that goes, whenever Mario performs a jumping onset onto a sharp-topped being of some kind (i.e., piranha plants with pointy teeth, or little armored guys with horns), he's going to feel the hurt. This is where part of using your brain comes in. Not forgetting about the hammer attack, instead of squashing these pains with his butt, Mario can rid them with his mallet. Not forgetting about Mario's partners either, certain team members have ways of getting through these barriers themselves. Take for example Bobbery, a bomb-omb Mario partners with at one point. His skill is walking up to an enemy and exploding in their face. He doesn't have to touch any spikes on top -- just stand next to an enemy and blow them to smithereens. But therein lies a problem factor for some allies. Mario can both jump on top of and whack at his foes. Not every enemy lies in wait on the ground. Some enemy types will wait in the air to be beaten. Some will shift their stances back and forth between airborne and ground attacks. This means that not every ally can help Mario out using their normal attack patterns, as some are focused on ground attacks permanently. Thus, using the partner switch system and being able to determine which attack measures work best against all diversities of enemies is one whole part of managing through the sometimes tough but definitely entertaining and interesting battle mechanics.


The other portions of battle management develop with raising Mario and his partner's stats. Across the top half of the screen in every fight within the game depicts gauges for HP (health points), FP (flower points), and a star meter for what is called special moves (these are timed attacks only Mario can use to deal greater damage to all opponents or regain lost stats). The way Mario actually gains experience in Paper Mario is by collecting more star points from defeated enemies. Whenever one or more enemies in battle are beaten, stars are tallied and submitted to a growing number also shown at the top of the screen. Each time this continuously ascending amount reaches 100 stars, Mario is given three options to pick from. He can choose to increase his health or flower points by five digits, or he can up his badge rankings by three. Badges are special items that can be equipped to affect Mario's or the partner's chances in battle or otherwise, by aiding them in one way or another. Basically these things are the armor, weapons, or whatever that better the defenses or options like in any RPG game. The catch, however, is that upgrading Mario's badge slot number alone doesn't let you have everything. There are 85 badges that can be gained throughout the game. Every badge requires a certain amount of badge points that must be freed up before it can be equipped. Where some badges only use one or two badge points, there are those that ask for up to five or six in all. And the thing about that is, it's not a frequent thing that you'll be given the opportunity to increase your badge points. Beating enemies into the ground can relinquish around 10 or more star points at a time, but more often than not it's fewer than that, especially when you're returning to past levels to uncover its secrets you couldn't access the first time through. Experience is gained very minutely in Paper Mario, but the wait is worth it no matter.


Why? Because badges are an essential factor in completion of Paper Mario. Without them, it's likelier a player is going to struggle with the fighting scenarios more than they would without certain badges equipped. You can keep leveling up Mario's life and flower power (which determine the magic points Mario and his mate share within battle), but then you wouldn't be able to gain new abilities and qualities like a stronger defense and attack, the ability to charge (or in other words raise a character's attack power on command), or electricity (adding an electrical defensive shield that harms enemies whenever they bump into Mario or his partner), or even granting Mario the property to finally jump onto spiked or flaming enemies (which really helps out against the harder unfriendlies ahead). These badges also add a nice touch to Mario's extensive collection of some flower point-activated moves. As an idea of what the flower points do, they're based off of the number seen at the top of the screen. If Mario or his partner pick a flower attack in battle, that flower point amount will lessen (unless restored). These specialty maneuvers though can range from having the Yoshi character gulp any enemy type and spit them out into the enemy behind them, to twisting Mario's body with the hammer to twirl into an opponent and knock the one standing behind it (which, in both cases multiple enemies would be injured rather than just the one). Finding badges to wear is a whole 'nother issue, which adds to the lengthiness of Paper Mario in its great array of sidequests. Located in Rogue Port is a shop dedicated to selling badges. While some badges can be bought here, there are plenty of others that can be earned within the depths of enemy territories (provided you have the right partner to help nab it). Other items and subquest secrets in the game include mushrooms and syrups that can refill health and flower points, lighting bolts and frost items to strike all enemies at once in battle, turtle shells that can boost defense, star pieces that can be hunted for through many spaces (and are used for purchasing badges from a specialty shop), and shines. Shines, like these star pieces, are used to level up your partners. Unlike Mario, the rest of the team can only be leveled twice -- costing three shines per upgrade. There is also a spot in Rogue Part called the Trouble Center, which lets Mario accept all manners of problems -- from fetching certain items, to speaking with multiple individuals, to counting the number of chairs different homes contain all for items, money, and even badges. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door really isn't just any meager quest -- there's more than 50 hours worth of fun and adventure to squeeze out of this baby.



Think of a two-dimensional 3D coloring book, and you're on the right track to imagining the world in which Mario's latest adventure in paper revolves around. Starting from the stone and brick layered town of Rouge Port, and reaching all the way to the rocky craters of the moon, Paper Mario has an entirety of distinctive and intriguingly structured levels to wander through. Follow through a grassy meadow path and into a castle that spirals around when Mario reaches for the summit. Journey across an island's jungle and through a ghost-inhabited cavern. Reach across the skies via a fishy blimp ride to enter into a mammoth battle arena where only the strong survive. One of the really amazing parts of the game's environments is how this 2Dish game is able to mix unlike techniques together (you'll notice a cel-shaded formula in the water, as the whites and blues are less paper formatted for instance). While much of the game is viewed from a flat angle, there are many times where the camera rotates as Mario moves upward, and a building all of a sudden becomes 3D. Even certain boss characters show off their boxy and curvy "fatter" angles such as a dragon that looks as if it were made out of perfect cardboard pieces glued together. For the most part however, every character in the game is flat, crisp, and colorful. Characters appear as animated coloring book drawings as each one has a bold line outlining its body. And on these masses are moving bits and pieces. For instance, during story segments, you'll actually be able to tell when Mario's squinting his eyes in anger whenever the two little black dots turn from round ovals into um...squinty round ovals. Mario and his partners of course have bunches and bunches of other moves, cooler ones too. One character on Mario's team in particular (who's named would be best not to be spoiled) can turn Mario and herself invisible in or out of combat by getting sucked downward in a drain of colors, and forming a black shadow on the ground as to hide or avoid attacks. Bobbery the Bomb-omb lights up and uses his slow marching steps to peddle his way over to a foe or a destructible environmental object and blow them up with yellow flashes and everything. Although it wouldn't be right to think of Paper Mario as having the most elaborate and effective visuals seen n the GameCube, just be sure it's of clean, colorful, cute, clever, and creative quality in everything.



For someone who's barely had a voice his entire career, Mario has surely become one of the most popular gaming icons. Outside the usual yelps and the, "It's-a me, Mario!" lines Mario's belted out over the years, Mario hasn't said much of a peep. And that's kind of what makes him special. He's got that quiet cool air about him. Continuing that tradition, this new Paper Mario uses a limited range of Mario voices. You get the yelps. You get the, "Yuh-huh!" But other than that, this fat Italian ain't going to speak for nobody no how. But that's okay, because every other sound element in the game is boo-tee-ful. Suitably with every level Mario and friends encounter, there's a synthesized rhythm throughout the confines of both towns and enemy compounds. Whether on a lighter, cheerier note or of a bizarre or darker key when set in enemy limits, the music in the game is not only very good stuff but it's also something you're going to remember down the line. Thwacking a hammer. Blowing up a wall. Running and jumping. Stomping on foes. These are just some of the sounds you'll hear along the way. With every noise that's made, an exactness follows. Like you'll actually hear the crispy crackling countdown of Bobbery before the wall shatters and the pieces are heard landing on the ground. Sometimes the audio effects can be exaggerated to a cartoon effect (like when you're able to change the FX of Mario's hammer to some odd cricket noises), but nevertheless, excellent harmonics reside in each and every one of them.