Summary
- Both Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Mario RPG have excellent remakes, but one stands above the other as the better title.
- While both titles have their similarities, they provide vastly different takes on the RPG genre.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Mario RPG have long been celebrated as two of the best games in the genre. Both titles showcase the series' boundless creativity while delivering unique combat, endearing characters, and delightfully bizarre ideas.

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From the good to the Stick𝄹er Star, there is a lot to parse through with The Paper Mario series that even Nintendo itself seemed stumped by.
Thanks to the remakes on Nintendo Switch, newcomers can enjoy these legendary RPGs for the first time, and long-time fans can revisit the magic that made them fall in love with these adventur📖es. However, since video games are more expensive than ever, buying both titles can really break the bank. If you must choose only one, which game should you go with?
5 Story
The importance of a good story in an RPG can't be overstated. In some ways, both titles share similar narrative elements. But which one does it best?
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's Story
Princess Peach has gone missing, and Mario's only clue is a treasure map containing the secret to opening a thousand-year-old door. What lies behind it is a mystery. To save the world, the plumber must slay a dragon, solve a whodunit, become a wrestling champion, and much more.
Each chapter is a thrilling adventure with unique locations, ple𒀰nty of twists, and imaginative new ideas. The overarching mystery is accompanied by two side plots starring Peach and Bowser, which nicely break up the pacing with heartwarming and silly moments.
Super Mario RPG's Story
What starts as your usual Bowser kidnaps Peach plot turns into something far more exciting when a giant sword crashes into the Koopa's castle. The nefarious Smithy Gang has destroyed Star Road, and they're after the Mushroom Kingdom next. Mario and Bowser must form an unlikely alliance to save their world from ruin.
The plumber encounters many comedic scenarios, including interrupting a wedding to destroy a sentient cake and saving a kingdom f🔥rom a tyrannical dodo bird. A perfect balance between comedy and epic adventure elements, Super Mario RPG has one of the funniesꦏt and most engaging stories in the series.
The Winner - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
The plot of Super Mario RPG perfectly showcases the series' creativity and humor. However, it's hard to top The Thousand-Year Door's mysterious, twist-heavy narrative. Both stories are great, but Paper Mario offers the most exciting ideas of the two.
4 Gameplay
You can't have a good game without solid gameplay. An RPG should have a nice balance between engaging combat and fun overworld exploration. Which title handles it best?
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's Gameplay
Paper Mario's combat expands upon its predecessors while adding new twists. The action commands are more varied than ever and constantly keep you engaged. You can even perform stylish moves to fill your Star Power faster, creating a new layer of strategy and challenge.

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The battles fully utilize the stage play concept, requiring you to interact with the audience and watch for falling set pieces. The minigames, secrets, and Bowser's side-scrolling levels also add plenty of depth. The only downsides are the excessive backtracking and occasional tedious side quests.
Super Mario RPG's Gameplay
Super Mario RPG takes a more traditional approach than Paper Mario. The turn-based combat is accompanied by a more familiar leveling-up system that doesn't require hunting down Shine Sprites to upgrade party members. Each character has a diverse moveset and many customization options, providing plenty of room for strategy.
In addition to combat and exploration, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:you can play several minigames to break up the pacing. Plus, the world map makes it a breeze t൩o return to previous areas, significantly reducing the amount of backtracking.
The Winner - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
While Super Mario RPG offers much better fast travel and a more intuitive leveling-up system, Paper Mario's varied action commands and theater elements make for a slightly more entertaining experience.
3 Charac🍬ters 🌸
Both games are famous for their memorable casts. Good characꦫters sho𓆏uld have distinct personalities, clear motivations, and meaningful arcs.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's Characters
The Thousand-Year Door's cast shines thanks to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the exceptional partners. Everyone from the shy Koops to the gritty Admiral Bobbery ha�🐈�s a unique personality and engaging character arc. Vivian, in particular, stands out for having the best story out of all party members.
As the cherry on top, the supporting cast is just as memorable. While Doopliss and Bowser provide tons of hilarious comedy, characters like Tec and Jolene add much-needed 🐠emotional depth to the narrative.
Super Mario RPG's Characters
Super Mario RPG has a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:legendary roster of party members. The childish Mallow and stoic Geno make excellent ad💧ditions to the cast, providing fascinating backstories and touching journeys that unfold as the game progresses. Other new characters, like Booster and Dodo, are the funniest i꧒n the series.

Where Super Mario RPG truly shines is its depiction of existin𒆙g Mario characters. Bowser is portrayed as a lovable goofball yet still competent in battle. Meanwhile, Peach gets to fight alongside the team instead of solely being a damsel in distress.
The Winner - It's A Tie
Both games feature some of the best characters in the Mario universe. While Geno, Mall🅠ow, and Booster are pretty hard to top, characters like Vivian, Bobbery, and Doopliss more than step up to the plate.
2 Content
Let's face it - both games are pretty expensive. If you must pay full price, which title gives you the most bang for your buck?
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's Content
The Thousand-Year Door's main campaign takes around 30 hours to beat and closer to 60 if you're going for 100 percent completion. On top of the eight main chapters, you can tackle the Pit of 100 Trials, dozens of Trouble Center side quests, and the Pianta Parlor minigames.
In addition, the Nintendo Switch remake 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:adds two post-game bosses. While there's not as much new content as fans had hoped, what's here provides a decent challenge if you want to keep playing after the credits.
Super Mario RPG's Content
Super Mario RPG takes about 12 hours to beat and roughly 20 hours to 100 percent complete. In addition to the main story, there are plenty of side quests, a few minigames, and on꧃e secret boss to keep you busy.
Regarding 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:post-game content, Super Mario RPG triumphs over The Thousand-Year Door. There are six new boss rematches after the credits, and they'll put your skills to the test. However, even with the additional content, the game is still relatively short, especially compared to other Mario titles for the Switch.
The Winner - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
There's no contest here. Even without the side quests and post-game bosses, Paper Mario's main campaign is significantly longer and offers far more content than Super Mario RPG.
1 ෴ The Winner - Pape✃r Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Recap
Game |
Winning Categories |
---|---|
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door |
Story, Gameplay, Content |
Super Mario RPG |
None |
There's a reason why Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is widely considered the best in the series. It builds upon the foundation set by Super Mario RPG, creating a bigger adventure, a more exhilarating story, and better combat.
That said, Super Mario RPG is still a phenomenal experience with engaging gameplay, excellent characters, and some of the best humor in the series. You can't go wrong with either one, but if you have to pick, check out Paper Mario first.

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