4.5/5 ★ – SaturnMunchies's review of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

On a personal level, this game is one of my all-time favorite games. I adore it. Mario has the problem of having a very uninteresting and disconnected world, with very few memorable characters or locations present. In most Mario games, every species that isn't a Toad or a Yoshi is a minion of Bowser, every level looks like something you've seen before in 100 other Mario games, and there's no lore to speak of. The worlds of Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door do not have this problem in the slightest. TTYD has one of the most rich and interesting worlds and one of the most memorable casts of characters in the entire series. The world of Mario is inhabited by such a diverse range of races here. Goombas and Koopas aren't all just bad-guys, every area you explore feels beyond unique, and the world has history and lore that makes it worth exploring. I can't speak for everyone but by the end of the game I truly felt there was a world worth saving. I felt there were characters I actually cared about. The story itself is good. I feel the overarching narrative is quite weak and generic, but the individual chapters and the stories they tell are the real highlight. To make things even better, several chapters switch the gameplay loop up and this both strengthens the narrative oc that chapter, but it also allows the game to flow as smooth as butter. For example, Chapter 3 sees Mario entering a fighting tournament. Instead of visiting a village, walking down a trail to a dungeon, and fighting a boss, Mario must fight his way up to win one of the 7 Crystal Stars. Of course, fighters start going missing, and you need to investigate the facility during in-between matches. It's thrilling and unique, and I can't get enough of it. Chapter 4 is my favorite, though. Here, Mario has his identity stolen and isn't recognized by anyone. Even the pipe back to Rogueport rejects Mario. Vivian, a trans girl whose identity is invalidated by her sisters, is the only one willing to help Mario. It's a touching chapter, and the aesthetic is gorgeous. Speaking of, this remake is beautiful. I love the paper aesthetic here. In previous games, I feel the crafty paper look gets taken too far, and we see things like real-life scissors and fans, and it just takes me out of the story. But here, the aesthetic is no more than an aesthetic, and it looks great. I love how glossy so much of the paper looks, it's just really satisfying. The original version on Gamecube still holds up just fine, though. The new OST is great and the new visuals are great, but I don't think they're an improvement (or a downgrade) from the GameCube Original. It's just a new (and perfectly fine) way to play it. So if you're looking to pick it up, play whichever sounds more appealing to you. (The original also runs at 60fps, as opposed to the remake's 30fps. It's a nice plus, but I personally don't think 60fps makes much of a difference. It's just smoooth.) The battle system is also fantastic. It is the epitome of doing more with less. Theres so many insane ways you could approach battles and because stats are almost entirely tied to the badge system, you can switch what kind of playstyle you want in-between battles. (I.e. if you started with an offensive build with low defense, you aren't screwed because you leveled up attack all game. You can just switch out some badges!) Using action commands in battle and getting Stylish! points by timing your presses at the right time is also an absolute blast. There's so many ways to go about this game's battles, you can tell this was made by Intelligent Systems (who also make the tactical roleplaying Fire Emblem games.) Overall, if you're on the fence, I'd say play a bit of the N64 Paper Mario and see how you feel. If it's something you enjoy, definitely pick up TTYD in some form or the other. It's a fantastic game.