- Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
- Available on: Gamecube
- More information: wikipedia
- Cover scans: mobygames - covergalaxy
- FAQ's/cheats: gamefaqs
- Press reviews: ign - gamespot - 1UP - gamespy
Content review for this game:
Pertaining to content listed in the upper left corner of this site.
Mild cartoon violence: Mario receives a letter from Princess Peach, informing him she has been vacationing around the Mushroom Kingdom and has stopped at a place called Rogue Port, where she has learned of a treasure and a map to its location. She asks Mario if he will come to Rogue Port and help her find it. Upon arriving at Rogue Port, Mario finds out that Princess Peach has vanished. Now to find her...
Well, violence-wise--as the name implies--the characters are made of paper, so the worst it gets is when, during combat, Paper Mario jumps on paper mushrooms' heads, resulting in them disappearing in a puff of white smoke. Also, the overall tone of the story is cleverly sarcastic, but only lightly so. The worst dialog consists of the word idiot, but it's all done in text so you don't hear it. All of the characters are basically paper cartoons, so many of the situations they are put through could be lightly compared along the lines of Looney Toons and such. But, beyond this, there's nothing to worry about.
Content-wise: For kids 6-, it's completely okay to watch. But, the entire story is in text, and the majority of the gameplay elements are too complex for this age group. Kids this age could run around the main hub, in the form of a town, but there's not much else to do than that. This game is also very long, long-winded (lots of dialog), and takes lots of skill and patience. Get them Super Paper Mario instead.
Difficulty-wise: The game starts you out in the city of Rogue Port, which is the main hub, and leads off to the game's 7 chapters. Rogue Port also has many useful facilities, like a shop where you can buy health and items; an inn where you can pay to sleep and regain your health; a fortune teller's, whose purpose is to give you hints on where to go and what to do next in the game; and a save block where you can save your game by jumping underneath and hitting it with Mario's head. There are many more cities scattered between the game's levels with the same facilities.
Your main objective is to find and collect the 7 Crystal Stars. To do this, Mario will explore the side-scrolling environments (with 3D elements), solve puzzles, fight enemies, and talk to the game's many characters. Throughout the game, Mario will gain new abilities to counteract the ever increasing complexity of the game's environments, like turning into a paper boat and floating across the water, becoming razer thin and passing through tight spaces, flying in the air as a paper airplane, and more as you progress.
The game's combat system is what you call turn-based, and is typical of the RPG genre. What this means is, when Mario (and his party) come across an enemy, the game takes you out of your current environment and (in this game) places you on a stage, with Mario (and party) on the left, and the enemy on the right. You now have the option to pick commands from a menu, like the jump command, which will have Mario jump on the enemy's head; the hammer command, which will have Mario attack the enemy with a hammer; the item command, which will have Mario use an item to restore health or use a power-up; or the Tactics command, where Mario can either defend himself for the turn or flee the battle. Once you choose, Mario will automatically perform (yes, you don't have actual control over his movement) the command, and then return to his starting position. The enemy will then take its turn (hence the name turn-based combat), and attack Mario. You then wait for your next turn, and repeat, until the enemy is defeated. After defeating the enemy you get Star Points, and when you've acquired 100 Star Points you'll level up, which in turn will increase your total health and combat skills. In addition to leveling up, you'll come across Badges. These Badges can then be equipped in the main menu and used to boost specific skills for use in combat.
Also throughout the game you'll come across certain people who will join you on your journey. These characters have specific abilities in battle, and you'll sometimes have to use their unique abilities to destroy bosses and enemies. These abilities can also be used in the game's environments, and are required to progress further in the game. Examples of your parties' abilities are: Bobbery, who is an actual bomb, and he can be used to destroy barriers blocking your path; Koops the Turtle, who can use himself to spin in his shell and reach normally unreachable objects like items and switches--and many more characters that join you through your quest.
