Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Understands That Toads Need Personality

Early on in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, you stumble across a Toad who has been busy playing classic Game Boy Advance games. He references Fire Emblem and tells Mario how this old-school RPG absolutely rocks his socks. I found out after the fact that this cool dude was also in the original game, and fans were🧔 thrilled to see his return in the remake, complete with the same now-retro dialogue.

Intelligent Systems’ beloved classic is filled with characters and moments like this, and now millions of players can experience it for the first time. Ever since its release on the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo GameCube a couple of decades ago, The Thousand Year Door has never been remastered, ported, or released digitally on any other platform. It was a legendary relic, and one that has finally been unearthed. From the couple of hours I’ve played, it was well𝓰 worth the wait.

But this isn’t my first ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚPaper Mario rodeo. I started with Super Paper Mario on the Wii before Sticker Star and Colour Splash on the 3DS and Wii U. All solid games, but the consensus is that they lack the magic that made Thousand Year Door so special. They weren’t filled with nearly enough personality or freedom to experiment with the Mario universe, while solid RPG progression systems that undermined their gameplay were sanded down to the point of irrelevance. They also made most of the Toads incredibly boring for no go🌞od reason.

This all stems from the so-called ‘’ which asked that following the release of Thousand Year Door, only established character designs from the core Mario universe could be used in future titles. This meant that when it came to Paper Mario, sports titles, and other side projects, developers were limited in everything they could do. It’s why nearly every e♍ntry in the Paper Mario series that followed felt so lifeless in its characters, because every Toad, Goomba, Boo, or Koopa Troopa you stumbled across had to fit within strict parameters.

Paper Mario - Toad That Plays Fire Emblem

The writing had to do so much heavy lifting, while the beautiful papercraft aesthetic was hindered by characters ಞwho didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of matching its whimsy. It was a strange rule for a universe as vibrant as this one, especially when Thousand Year Door and Super Mario RPG had long proven how freedom can lead to tremendous results.

But with the release of 🌟this remake, I’m hopeful this rule has been lifted, and future games in the Mario universe will be free to broaden their horizons, because if they fail to capitalise on their inherent personality, many end up feeling forgettable. Thousand Year Door certainly is not, since from the opening moments you are bombarded by a variety of characters who resemble base designs we already know, but aren’t afraid to experiment with new outfits or personalities that reflect the world they reside in. A sleezy seaside town is filled with Koopa Troopas who won’t hesitate to mug you, while Petalburg is ripe with delightful Toads who do nothing with their time except touch grass and smell flowers.

The writing is much more memorable as a consequence, with regional di🎶alects, slang, and a smattering of fourth-wall breaking jokes making it abundantly clear you are playing a game. I love how Mario is also treated as a celebrity in this land too, renowned for saving Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom again and again, but he isn’t in Kansas anymore, and nobody cares.

You must prove yourself all over again while recruiting a laundry list of party members which range from sassy archaeologist goombas to depressed tracksuit wearing Koopa Troopas to a transgender ghost who has now finally been cemented in canon. Every town and dungeon is defined by a distinct personality anওd character designs that show how The Thousand Year Door is not your average Mario game, which is precisely why people love it so much.

Instead of Toads and Koopa Troopas hav🐠ing a limited gamut of colours with little personality, they can be and do anything, and it’s clear that the developers were given free rein several decades ago to create a game that wasn’t afraid to push the boundaries of this world. While the end result might have scared Nintendo into reeling them in to protect the Mario brand in some way, I’m relieved to see that the tides are finally starting to change.

I want this to lead to more exciting games and daring experimentation in the future, not keep Mario trapped in some box when🏅 history has proven he shines brightest whenever he’s free. A remake of this magnitude for a game which goes against so many established rules is hopefully a positive sign of things to🌜 come.

Paper Mario TTYD gang in a hot air balloon

Toads deserve to wear cool outfits, have funky attitudes, and feel like a living, breathing part of whatever world they exist in, not act like brand-adjac𝔍ent set dressing that never steps out of line. The Thousand Year Door has always felt rebellious in its identity, but after decades in the dark and years of forgettable installments𝐆, it hasn’t aged a day.