Every once in awhile, a game comes along that will absolutely captivate players. Paper Mario for the N64 was one such time bandit. The game arrived in February 2001, and it ruined my spring break plans. I had a grand vision of sitting around doing absolutely nothing, but I found myself glued to the controller, collecting badges, hitting things with a hammer and laughing at poor Luigi who had to sit at home while Mario went off adventuring.
Needless to say, when I found out that Nintendo was planning on releasing a sequel to the popular Mario role playing game, I was pretty psyched until fellow staffer Alkaiser convinced me that it was an April Fool’s joke. After I found out that it was not a joke, I waited patiently for release day, hoping that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door would be just as fun as its predecessor.
Like many epic adventures, the story begins with Mario receiving a mysterious treasure map from Princess Peach. The map shows the location of the seven crystal stars; once collected, the seven stars will open the door to a legendary treasure. Meanwhile, Princess Peach has been kidnapped by the X-Nauts, who are a group of aliens also looking for the stars. Naturally, Bowser is furious that someone else would dare to kidnap his princess, so he sets off in pursuit of the kidnappers. During the course of the game, the player will have the opportunity to play as Mario, Peach and Bowser in three separate storylines. Princess Peach’s segments are fairly stale; there is some humor value in her interactions with a creepy computer who wants to be real, but for the most part, they come off as a little weird. There are several instances in which Princess Peach is taking off her dress for some reason or another; of course, she is always behind a curtain, but it is still creepy that the game devotes as much time as it does to Peach disrobing. On the other hand, the Bowser segments are a lot of fun; several of them have Bowser completing a Super Mario Bros level. Instead of mushrooms, players can collect chunks of meat to make Bowser grow bigger and bigger; when Bowser gets to the end of a level, instead of jumping to the top of the flagpole and sliding down, Bowser just knocks the whole thing over. The Peach and Bowser segments are a small part of the game, but they add a lot to the gameplay by offering something different.
The majority of the game is devoted to Mario’s quest for the Crystal Stars. In order to collect these stars, he must travel to different lands, solve RPG-ish puzzles and defeat some sort of a boss. However, it should be noted that there is a lot of variation in the quests. One of my favorites involved Mario joining a professional fighting league that has its members battling it out in a stadium for cash prizes. Another quest had Mario solving mysteries on a train en route to an upscale resort town.
Of course, Mario does not complete his quests alone. As the game progresses, he is joined by a multi-ethnic entourage, which includes a Goomba coed studying archaeology, a Koopa who wears a Band-Aid on his face (just like Nelly!), a sassy baby Yoshi, and several others. Each of these supplementary characters has a move set that is advantageous both in battle and in the field. For example, Mario can kick Koops the Koopa’s shell to make it spin across the room and access hard-to-reach areas.
Combat functions on a turn-based system. Mario enters into a battle by attacking or being attacked by an enemy in the game environment. If Mario hits the enemy first, he gets a first strike advantage, which is pretty much a free hit. Mario has two basic attacks: he can jump on enemies and he can hit them with a hammer. Like in the original Paper Mario, these attacks are interactive; the player must press a certain button or sequence of buttons at the right time in order to inflict the attack’s full damage. Mario can also collect badges, which allow him to do special moves. It costs badge points to wear the badges and it costs flower points to use the special moves; the badge configuration can be adjusted at any point Mario is not actually in battle, but once flower points have been used up, Mario must use an item (or take a nap at an inn) to replenish them. There are also super powerful moves that use the power of the Crystal Stars; the star points are one of the rarer resources, so these moves have to be used sparingly. Mario is joined in battle by whichever of his companions he was with when the battle began, but partners can be swapped out anytime Mario is on the offensive.
There is a lot of strategy to battling but the system is rather intuitive and easy to pick up. The most innovative part of the battle system is the staging; the environment Mario has been walking around is quickly transformed into a stage complete with audience. This audience actually becomes willing participants in the battle; they will occasionally throw things at Mario. It is a little annoying to have to figure out one’s strategy while deflecting rocks and soda cans, but I applaud the innovation. Also, the stage itself can turn the tide of a battle: The background set can fall over and damage the battle participants or the fog machine can cover the stage in fog, making everyone’s attacks miss.
In addition to battling and solving puzzles, there are numerous side quests such as a 100 level dungeon and a “worry center” that is similar in nature to the letter delivering side quest in the first Paper Mario game. Upon returning to Rogueport after collecting each star, players can look around for Luigi, who is on his own epic quest. Luigi, who is the perpetual underdog, is always good for a laugh. A player can easily get almost thirty hours of gameplay out of this game, not including the side quests.
Graphically, the game is very unique. As the title suggests, instead of being a 3- dimensional character, Mario and everyone in his environment is made out of paper. This leads to lots of quirky little touches like the way buildings unfold themselves when Mario goes inside. The graphics are cel-shaded and they are not that much more advanced than they were in the first Paper Mario, but that’s okay, because the simplistic graphics are part of the game’s charm. The background music always fits the mood and it never gets irritating. There is no voice acting; Mario grunts and occasionally mumbles if he has something to say. This lack of voice acting is actually a positive thing; I don’t know how much of “It’s-a me, Mario!” I could tolerate.
Overall, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is very solid; it is a great adventure game that gamers of all ages can enjoy. Older gamers will appreciate the nostalgic touches and the 30 hours of gameplay make the game worth the $50 price. The only negative thing that I can say about this game is that it is extremely addictive; players can expect to find themselves completely engrossed, blissfully unaware of how much time has passed since they picked up the controller. Frankly, every GameCube owner should consider purchasing Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It’s just that much fun.
