Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Two decades. It took two decades for the Paper Mario franchise to release another good game. Waiting and speculating about when it might happen and watching the franchise degrade in the meanwhile has been an ordeal. Although it might be a re-release, The Thousand-Year Door (TTYD) is the first good Paper Mario game in two decades since its original release. Since I’ve already ranted about what made Paper Mario great, I’m going to dedicate this post specifically to TTYD and simply rant about my reexperience of the remake.
Initial Thoughts (Prologue-Chapter 1)
So, the first thing I noticed was the music. All of the music from the original TTYD has been transcribed to live instrumentation as opposed to the original’s more electronic and synth-y soundtrack. I don’t hate nor (much) dislike the new musical arrangements, but it does feel like a downgrade. At least, Rogueport’s theme, one of the main and integral pieces of music, is not as good. It’s too bombastic and busy. Some melodies are overshadowed. There are additional music pieces for certain events as well, like when Goombella joins your party. I was disappointed the old music for when a partner joins was removed, and I’m not much a fan of the added songs. I’ll have more comments on the rest of the game’s music as I progress. Right now, the ‘Nostalgic Tunes Badge’ for turning on the original soundtrack is for sure the MVP.
The graphics look up-to-date with some neat new effects like reflections off surfaces like the ground, mirrors, and puddles as well as tattered papers blowing by in the air of Rogueport. Additional character emotes and angles, namely the partner character’s back, are also neat (though some look kind of awkward). Other details like Hooktail flying to her castle in the background look more—well, detailed. There are some other changes to visual effects that neither look better or worse in my opinion like scene transitions when going through a pipe or the black chest monster cursing Mario. Two effects that I do think look worse than the original TTYD are when Mario holds up the map or a crystal star in front of the Thousand-Year Door (the shining light is less cool and the screen ripple is gone) and the crystal stars themselves (they look weird and out-of-place now). Not a big deal, but I noticed. Overall, the visuals do look enhanced.
There are thankfully not many changes to the core gameplay and story so far. Some dialogue is a bit different like when the goombas in the sewers hit on Goombella before attacking no longer happening. That was the main one I noticed, though I didn’t think much of it other than it being odd and likely a change to be more politically correct. There are some additional “tutorial” events that seem to weave in information about things that I found to be cool albeit slightly hand-hold-y. An interesting exception is when the bandit steals 50 of Mario’s coins and Goombella no longer makes a comment on it. Otherwise, it’s been fun. Slight spoilers: it’s interesting they changed the ‘Attack FX’ badge in Hooktail Castle to be a frog sound rather than a cricket sound. It’s further interesting that, researching this change, the original Japanese sound was actually a frog sound but it was more similar to what westerners would recognize as sounding like crickets.
Mid-Game Thoughts (Chapters 2-5)
I continue to prefer the original soundtrack over this remake. The newer music pieces sound like remixes that would be used in Super Smash Bros. which, while cool-sounding, don’t fit with the atmosphere or context of the scenes and events in the game. Most songs feel off, like the Boggly Woods music. It lacks the serenity of the original (and, frankly, sounds kind of dumb in a canon style that sounds like a grade schooler repeating the same notes on a vibraphone with some delay). Some are just downright bad (e.g., Glitzville, the Glitz Pit, Doopliss Battle). There is at least one piece I think is good if not an improvement which is the Cortez Battle music. The Nostalgic Tunes Badge remains the MVP.
The graphics continue to be nice and an overall improvement over the original TTYD (minus the crystal stars being held in front of the Thousand-Year Door and the crystal stars themselves—and also, I noticed, the partner upgrade animation). Not really anything else to say about graphics.
The gameplay and story remain relatively the same with some added expedited options of traveling and dialogue changes. I overall feel like the faster traveling methods are helpful, particularly the pipe leading from Rogueport’s square to the general warp pipe hub in the sewers. This is probably contrary to many people’s opinions, but at least one instance I felt like faster traveling was a bit detrimental was in chapter 4. There’s a new pipe that gets Mario between Creepy Steeple and Twilight Town to cut out one of the original game’s most notorious instances of backtracking. The thing for me is that trekking back and forth through the woods posed a unique and necessary challenge in surviving alone—without partners. Was it annoying? For sure, but with the ease of going between the places Chapter 4 felt unnaturally quick. The time and emotions of it all in the original also added to the investment in the twist in the story, though now that there really wasn’t that much time to let Mario’s isolation settle in it felt lacking.
As for dialogue changes, the ones I mainly noticed were involving Beldam, Marilyn, and Vivian. I was bummed when I saw their name change from ‘The Shadow Sirens’ to ‘The Shadows’ as it sounds a lot more lame. Plus, the dialogue line Vivian has when they reveal themselves to Mario as “Shadow Beauties” is absent. I liked that line. Boo. Anyway, I’m guessing these changes had to do more so with topical politics…
All right, to address the contentious topic of Vivian’s character, the contention is unnecessary. Vivian is a fictional character. Whatever politics being brought to the table are irrelevant. People can think whatever they want about Vivian. As for me, I’ve always thought of Vivian’s character as a girl. Because the topic became so contentious, I was forced to research it. I found that Vivian is apparently a boy who dresses like a girl, or an otokonoko (男の娘).
This remake very briefly emphasizes Vivian viewing herself as a girl (i.e., sister) and being bullied for it. That moment and screenshot in question has subsequently led to Vivian’s character being viewed as transgender which has become many people’s headcanon (and sort of sparked backlash against the game for being Woke).
Personally, I think whatever anyone thinks is completely fine. I always viewed her as just a girl—not an otokonoko, nor a transgender woman—and that’s my headcanon. I repeat: she’s a fictional character. Her gender identity and sex were never an important point of her character or the general story. I think it’s weird to complicate, politicize, and overthink these things, particularly when, in addition to being fictional, she’s a vaguely humanoid purple blob.
Back to the topic of gameplay and story changes, I’ve found myself becoming a bit bothered by the flow of battles. In this remake there are more pauses for when health points, flower points, star power, or star points are acquired. At first I didn’t really notice it, but now that I have it’s kind of annoying. The pace of battles simply felt much more fluid in the original. Maybe this also has to do with this remake running on 30 frames-per-second (FPS) as opposed to the original’s 60 FPS. I’ve yet to get the timing for the superguard which felt a lot more easier in the original. I guess this is where my muscle memory is messing me up, though apparently the frame rate change should make guarding and superguarding easier. I’m aware the purple toad could help me practice, but I prefer to keep attempting it through real battles. Anyway, the slowing of time when a boss is defeated adds to the dramaticism but also interferes with the flow of battles. I’ve found that sometimes when I want to do stylish moves and gain more star power the slowdown messes my timing up. Eh. Some sound effects both in and out of battles like audience members fleeing or TEC’s dialogue sounds are gone. These are minor things that I don’t think are too bad but are missed.
Oh yeah, some random other things I noticed: the Pianta Parlor has a faster option to buy more Pianta tokens which is nice since the original game required many repeat dialogue boxes and a lot of button presses to buy as many Pianta tokens; Lord Crump’s button that starts the countdown timer in the Great Tree is YELLOW (it used to be red—the button he uses to summon the Magnus von Grapple is still red); and when leveling up, if you press the control stick to the left the option that lights up is HP instead of BP (and if you press the control stick to the right the option that lights up is BP instead of HP).
End-Game Thoughts (Chapters 6-8)
I have the same thoughts on the music: the original soundtrack is the better soundtrack. Some additional and both unnecessary and detracting song tracks play during Chapter 6’s Riverside Station and certain events that override what was originally there. For Riverside Station, it was this weird light rock track that was totally out of place. And certain events like before the Smorg fight in chapter 6 have a bombastic drum thing that unfortunately took the place of the original TTYD’s panic-inducing song “Danger!” (that is also replaced in several other places when something bad is happening). Nostalgic Tunes Badge MVP.
I have the same thoughts on the visuals: they’re an overall improvement over the original.
There was another slight contention about a change in this game regarding the Pit of 100 Trials. The remake has an option allowing players to “retry” a fight after dying as opposed to starting from the last save point, and this option is available throughout the Pit. Obviously, this undoes the entire concept and point of the Pit of 100 Trials—it being a gauntlet or series of back-to-back trials without any interwoven save points or retries. Some defend the inclusion of the “retry” option, arguing players can “just not press it” and that the option is an “accessibility feature.” Others, like myself, find this change to be bad. I also find the arguments in favor of the change ridiculous. I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here, so if you’re not interested in the psychology and value systems of play you can go ahead and skip the next few paragraphs past the pictures of pizza.
The first argument “just don’t press it” assumes any and all options in a game are good ones. Using this logic, this means that a “win” option at any point in a game prior to actually completing a game would be perfectly fine. I hope the flaw in this logic and argument is clear. In case it isn’t, I’ll give some examples: imagine beginning Minecraft survival mode and being given the option to have diamonds and iron blocks spawn on the surface of the world rather than underground, subverting the challenge of having to go in search of caves or creating the necessary tools to dig down for yourself; imagine playing chess and being given the option to put an opponent’s king in checkmate at the very beginning, subverting the challenge of strategizing a way to reach the king; and imagine placing a $100 bet at a casino and losing yet the croupier gives you the option of going again without losing your money. The first two examples should (hopefully) highlight the flawed logic of “ignore the option” and “all options are good.” The last example may give you pause—who wouldn’t want to gamble without the risk of losing money? That means you can only win, baby! Well, that’s the thing. If you’re given the option to win, you can’t lose—or, rather, losing is optional. And what kind of idiot would intentionally choose to lose? Thus, the choice is perfunctory. This may sound obvious—and it is—but choosing what’s expedient and/or beneficial is largely what humans do. Some general factors influencing the way humans make decisions include the fear of loss, the expectation of gain, the framing of options, and the emotions evoked from options (click here for more in-depth detail). So, given an option where loss is certain, gain is minimal or uncertain, and it is framed with both these factors being clear (e.g., “start from last save” (which a human may translate to “accept the loss and have your progress in the Pit of 100 Trials destroyed”) compared to “retry” (which a human may translate to “erase any mistakes, avoid losses, and keep progressing in the Pit of 100 Trials”)), a human would more likely choose “retry.”
There is a nifty thing games and play have called risk. In a game, there are two outcomes: you win or you lose. Many people understand that if there is little-to-no chance of winning, games aren’t very fun. Less understood is that, similarly, if there is little-to-no chance of losing, games aren’t very fun. Risk is an integral feature of what makes games fun, and games that balance this feature effectively tend to be fun games. Given the above information about an option that virtually removes any and all risk from a game, it can be safely concluded that that option—“retry”—is a bad one. But what really goes into making risk matter? Well, for one thing, experiencing adversity (e.g., losing) is an excellent way of learning, and learning itself can be fun. If you lose in the Pit of 100 Trials, you’ll for sure feel disappointment and possibly anger the closer you are to reaching the 100th floor—yet, if you lose, you also will know why you lost. Maybe you didn’t have enough items or the right items, maybe you misused your items or flower points, maybe you didn’t guard or superguard effectively—whatever the case, now you know what not to do and what to potentially do instead. Should you try again and succeed, you’ll probably experience more fun than if you simply breezed through the challenges. Learning aside, this phenomenon of heightened gratification is another function of risk. Experiencing the negative consequences of risk is one thing that can provide this, but it’s not always necessary. People can have the precognitive knowledge of risk—that, should you lose the 99th trial of the Pit of 100 Trials, you will be taken back to the beginning—and this can provide that gratification or satisfaction as you progress and eventually beat the Pit of 100 Trials. Given the option of “retry,” this risk is gone. Of course, this assumes risk, challenge, and fun are what people value in a game. If people merely value winning, then I suppose “retry” is a good option.
The second argument of the “retry” option being an “accessibility feature” is also ridiculous. Accessibility features refer to game options or mechanics that account for and provide opportunities to people with disabilities. People with disabilities aren’t given any better access or accommodations for any disability they may have with the option of being able to retry after failing in the Pit of 100 Trials. Options that make games easier aren’t synonymous with accessibility features. To be generous and assume that this is what people mean—that “easy mode” options are good—involves the same flaws as highlighted above. That is, having more options isn’t always good game design. It’s also worth noting that the Pit of 100 Trials is late-game and optional content.
There’s another sub-argument to both these arguments I want to comment on, and that’s about Nuzlockes. A Nuzlocke is video game jargon that reductively refers to a player’s self-imposed challenge while playing a game. Though it typically refers to challenge runs of Pokemon games, the concept is more widely applicable to other video games. Some argue that the optional “retry” in no way affects the challenge of the Pit of 100 Trials and refer to Nuzlockes as a reason why. So, the argument in short: players can self-impose the challenge of not using the “retry” option, so it’s not an issue to have the option. An issue here is that this argument equates the majority of video game players to Nuzlocke players. A second issue here is that this argument defends lazy game design. If a game relies on a player to play the game as intended by default, there is a problem with the game. Call me crazy, but I think the game should be responsible for providing the player the experience of the game as intended by default. And that’s what the original TTYD did: the Pit of 100 Trials was intended to be played as a gauntlet challenge, and therefore didn’t give players the “retry” option.
Not to beat a dead horse regarding this point, but consider a final hypothetical: you’re ordering pizza. The worker asks you, “What would you like on it?”
You reply, “Pepperoni, please.”
The worker: “Would you like cheese with that?”
You: “Uh. No, no extra cheese.”
“I mean would you like cheese on the pizza?”
“Well… yeah, I would.”
“And would you like bread?”
“No, I don’t want any extra bread.”
“No, I mean do you want your cheese and pepperoni on bread?”
“I—Yes, I want the pizza to be a whole pizza.”
“And what about the tomato sauce?”
With that rant out of the way, having an option that subverts the inherent challenge of the Pit of 100 Trials is not good game design. Though I didn’t die at any point in the Pit of 100 Trials, knowing I wouldn’t have to worry about failing at any point during the challenge pretty much diminished the thrill while doing it and satisfaction after having done it. To me, it’s a bit odd given there are already features provided throughout the Pit that make it less intimidating like the Mover (a Puni that lets you skip floors in exchange for some money), Charlieton (a big bearded guy who sells items), and “rest” floors (every 10 floors (except the final 100th floor) will have no enemies and instead give a reward in a chest). Something I am more okay with is the remake giving the option via the Mover to skip the first 50 floors once they have been beaten at least once. While it does diminish the challenge of enduring the entire Pit, many of the early floors are more tedious as opposed to challenging.
All right, so, Pit of 100 Trials aside, the game’s story remains as good as the original. There are additional side-quest things like the new bosses. I think the Prince Mush battle is definitely a great addition, as is the additional boss that keeps floor 100 of the Pit occupied after Bonetail’s defeat. There is the bonus menu stuff like the music track list and, most interestingly, concept art for the game which is cool. Some other random differences I noticed: the end of chapter 6 isn’t when Mario exits Poshley Heights’ sanctum but simply after talking to Pennington; the Fahr Outpost Bob-ombs not being Russian; the Shadow Queen taking over Peach’s body has a different animation as well as the shadows enveloping the world; the Shadow Queen not giving any star points; and the ending credits being like a curtain call. I did enjoy the implementation of the theater in the credits and it felt like a throwback to the original Paper Mario, however I did not enjoy the removal of the original TTYD’s credits music. Like most of the new music, it is very unfitting and disappointing to have replacing what was previously great.
Now for my favorite part: ranking the chapters of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door!
#8: Chapter 2: The Great Boggly Tree
In terms of setting and atmosphere, this chapter is really good. If I were only ranking it for those things, I’d place it among the top 3. But, the story here is somewhat slow, or at least not as engaging as the other chapters. It’s strange saying that, as there is still interesting stuff going on such as the turf war between the Punis and Jabbies and the invading X-Nauts. This chapter is by no means bad—it being what I think least of simply speaks to how great every chapter of TTYD is.
#7: Chapter 1: Castle and Dragon
This chapter was all right. I really liked the music for Petal Meadows and Petalburg. You can’t really go wrong with a castle setting. The leadup to the castle gave some good time for prepping Mario with experience and items, and the castle itself has a solid layout and puzzles. The dragon boss is also a neat first boss. While it’s not as complex as many of the other chapters (including chapter 2), overall, it’s a solid first chapter.
#6: Chapter 8: The Thousand-Year Door
The Palace of Shadow is pretty cool and grand and definitely befitting a final area behind the imposing titular door. I wasn’t much a fan of the music, but a pretty cool area in terms of atmosphere is the plaza that provides a break from the other area’s music. The Riddle Tower also is a pretty cool area with its own music fitting the various puzzles throughout the tower. There are several climactic battles that occur, including with Marilyn, Beldam, and Doopliss, Gloomtail, Sir Grodus, Bowser and Kammy Koopa, and finally the Shadow Queen.
#5: Chapter 7: Mario Shoots the Moon
The X-Naut fortress is probably my least favorite setting of all the chapter’s settings, largely due to the areas looking more or less the same in the way of tech-y hallways and the back-and-forth opening of doors and using of elevators. That said, it has some cool points like the crane machine game and electric floor panel puzzles, and the music is neat. The chapter’s also an interesting turning point in the story, as Peach is absent and we seemingly see the death of TEC. It certainly raises the stakes and intensity.
#4: Chapter 5: The Key to Pirates
I like this chapter for involving sailing, ghosts, pirates, getting stranded on an island, and the idea of searching for glorious treasure. Flavio is a standout character, and Cortez is also cool. The climax of the chapter with the ship battle was definitely a moment I was pretty thrilled with the story. I don’t have much else to say about it.
#3: Chapter 4: For Pigs the Bell Tolls
This is one of the more disliked chapters by people thanks to its backtracking, but, like I mentioned earlier, I’m actually fond of the backtracking. If I were to rank this chapter solely by how the remake did it, I’d rank it 4th behind chapter 5. But, for the purpose of this list, I’m considering the original TTYD’s chapter 4 that I’m ranking here in 3rd place. The reason the original’s backtracking is so important to me is, as I said earlier, pacing and atmosphere. Without it, the chapter goes by like a breeze. With it, the frustration and predicament Mario is in has time to settle in, as does the atmosphere. The unsettling music and sounds of the Twilight Trail create this eerie feeling, like you’re alone but also not alone. Anyway, outside of the backtracking, this chapter overall does a great job with its atmosphere and story. The perpetual twilight, the curse on the town that turns people into pigs every time the steeple bell rings, Doopliss’s character, Doopliss’s battle music, and the chapter’s twist are all really cool. Plus, the Creepy Steeple having so many hidden treasures made it all the more appealing.
#2: Chapter 6: 3 Days of Excess
This is a unique chapter in a few ways. One way is that it takes place primarily on a train as opposed to some sort of intimidating castle, steeple, or grotto with enemies and puzzles putting Mario’s life at risk. The puzzles are instead primarily helping out fellow passengers and sleuthing. There’s also the midway station that sort of serves the usual purpose of fighting enemies and solving puzzles. Another way this chapter is unique is that the boss is not at the end of the chapter.
#1: Chapter 3: Of Glitz and Glory
You’ve got competition. You’ve got mystery. You’ve got dubious cakes. And you’ve got Rawk Hawk. The interweaving of all these elements is very cool and engaging both in terms of story and gameplay. The number of twists and things going on is wild. One sliiiiight weakness is that the ranked matches can feel a touch repetitive or grindy, but it’s very much inconsequential as everything else going on is great.
I have two final thoughts here at the end of my playthrough of the TTYD remake. The first is whether this remake is better than the original. I think it’s both better and worse. The remake’s graphics are better, but its soundtrack is worse. The remake’s additional options that provide efficiency are both beneficial (e.g., Rogueport sewer’s pipe hub, Pianta Parlor token purchasing) and detrimental (e.g., being able to skip Chapter 4’s Twilight Trail, being able to retry the Pit of 100 Trials at any point). The remake’s occasional unique dialogue is both interesting with what was added as well as disappointing with what was taken away. And, a nitpick of mine, the remake’s flow of battle is less fluid than the original. Is the remake the “definitive” version of the game? I don’t really know what that means, but interpreting it to mean “better,” I’d again say yes and no. At the end of the day, personally, I like the original TTYD better. I favor music over graphics, and the music of the original does a much better job with establishing the atmosphere and tone of the game. The slight differences in gameplay are debatable, but I recognize the better gameplay belonging to the original TTYD. I also view the original’s shortcomings and quirks generally positively. Anyway, the second thought I have here is whether Nintendo will get its act together and make a proper sequel to TTYD. Personally, I doubt it. My attitude remains as it was when I reacted to this remake’s announcement.
That’s about it. TTYD is great. I’m glad many people get to experience it.
