Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GameCube) Review

As is quite the norm for most of the Mario RPG series, it is not actually Bowser who is the low-down, dirty rat (koopa?) behind the dastardly kidnapping of Princess Peach. The foolish woman has managed to get herself embroiled in a quest for treasure. Obviously on her own she is rather hapless, as has been proven in the past, and when Mario comes to meet her in Rogueport he finds she is not anywhere to be found. If Mario can collect seven secret stars to open the mystical Thousand Year Door that leads to the treasure, then perhaps he can reclaim his Princess...

Let us quickly move on from the weak storyline...Think back over the years...Super Mario RPG wowed many by having arguably the best graphics on the SNES, taking Rare's Donkey Kong Country ACM trick and bumping it up a notch to look like next generation stuff. Then there was Paper Mario on the Nintendo 64, another late-in-the-day game that took advantage of the 64bit power like no other game had ever done, but not in the traditional way, but a Nintendo-centric one. Finally there was AlphaDream's completely wacky, yet pure genius Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, which went down the cartoon route, with eventful moments like Luigi being turned into a surfboard! But now Intelligent Systems has picked up the mantel once more and reverted to the paper-esque style that impressed us back in 2001. But is it really the look they should have stuck with?

For the most part, the answer is definitely yes. There is no doubting how beautiful this game looks. The flat characters are so brightly coloured, have so much personality to them and look so damn like a real cartoon it is actually quite scary at times. Then, thanks to the power of the GameCube, we get all of this, plus the chance to witness so many enemies on-screen at once that things become extremely daunting (witness the early fight against 'Gold Fuzzy' who surrounds himself with about a hundred bouncing regular Fuzzies and you will see exactly what I mean!). Yet the paper effect is not quite...'paper' enough in all honesty. Yes, there is the story-book effect of bridges building in layers and Mario turning into a paper aeroplane. But paper crumples and tears, and when reformed still has creases present. This sort of detail could have been implemented, but clearly IS wanted to go for the smooth paper look. A technical marvel none-the-less, although a change next time would be appreciated...

The regular battle theme you encounter time and time again is always a stickler for RPGs – if a developer gets it spot on then there will never be any quibbles with prolonged fights. However, should the tune prove to be too repetitive and you can kiss the game's longevity goodbye! Thankfully Paper Mario 2 hits the nail on the head, sampling the string section of the traditional Super Mario tune and mixing it in with some suitable new music. Then there are the little ditties that are played whenever a new character, such as Koops the Koopa, joins your team – a happy, bouncy little tune that lifts the spirits after a particularly nasty section of the game. As well, the general music played throughout the main playing fields, dungeons and towns that you pass through is a complete joy to the ears. Intelligent Systems certainly know how to take classic tunes, shake them around until all the dust is removed and then sew in a few ‘chords’ of its own!

The Mario RPG series has never been a serious one, rather a pastiche of all Mushroom Kingdom-related paraphernalia, culminating in an enjoyable 'RPG Lite' experience that includes little platform sections (in this case you control Bowser of all people!), action elements such as your hammer to hit trees to uncover hidden items and the whole 'First Strike' idea, where jumping or hammering an enemy that is wandering around gives you a major advantage in the battle arena. But just as the turn-based fighting begins and you think everything might become slightly more serious, the game progresses to somewhere like the fight with a large Thwomp. The ominous scene quickly turns 180 into something quite comedic, and the pattern continues, making this not only a strong game to play through in terms of great mechanics, but also one filled with hilarity most of the time!