Paper Mario:
The Thousand Year Door

Realease Date:	Units sold:	System:
Jul 22, 2004 (My birthday!!)	1.9 million	Nintento Gamecube

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is regarded by many to be the greatest game in the series. From its extremely distinct personalities and locations, to its grand and investing story, to its tight and engaging gameplay, this game leaves very little room for improvement.

Plot

The game opens with Princess Peach, on a royal trip, taking a stop at the not-so-inviting town of Rogueport. Rogueport is home to many criminals and lower-class individuals, which becomes apparent the second you arrive there. While there, Princess Peach gets given a mysterious treasure, and writes a letter to Mario, with a mysterious treasure map attatched. Peach invited Mario to come and meet her so they could have a look at what it may mean. However, by the time Mairo arrives, the Princess is missing! It is up to Mario to slowly piece together what happened, and save Princess Peach from whoever took her.

Gameplay

Battle System
The battle system of this game has the same root mechanics as its predecessor while introducing many new ones as well that freshen things up. One major difference is that Mario's partners have their own health, and can now also be targeted by enemies when they attack. This adds a new layer of strategy, allowing allies to take hits that Mario would otherwise have to endure, and it also gives the partners a sense of impermanence in battle. Mario's partners can also use items and badges just like Mario could in the previous game, making partners a lot more versatile in what they can do. Another big change is that enemies can use items and badges, adding a new element of unpredictability that was not seen in Paper Mario 64. Sometimes these items can really give you a run for your money. The third major addition to combat is moves. While these do nothing to deal more damage to the opponent, not only are they fun to pull off and discover, but they also provide extra star power, allowing you to execute star moves more frequently. Nearly every move has a stylish timing that you can discover by simply pressing at the right time. They are extremely satisfying and fun to pull off, adding even more engagement to the battle system. And finally, TTYD introduces a new defensive move that you can do with really precise timing, the Superguard. This move is effectively a counterattack, negating all incoming damage, and in turn, dealing one damage back to the attacker. While this is extremely satisfying to pull off, I find that if you really get the timing down, it takes away a lot of the challenge that the game would otherwise have if you could only defend.
Overworld
The overworld gameplay of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is also very iterative upon its predecessor. Because of the upgraded power from the N64 to the Gamecube, TTYD was able to expand the worlds in which you explore, making for much more detailed, immersive, and grand areas. There are also new gameplay elements on top of Mario and his partners' overworld abilities. Throughout the game, Mario gets "cursed", providing him with traversal abilities that take advantage of his paper nature. Mario's curses enable him to transform into a paper airplane, a paper boat, and a paper tube, as well as fold sideways to be parallel to the camera's view. These curses add a lot more variety to the types of puzzles you have to solve to progress, as well as opening up the design of the areas to new possibilities.
Side Content
Perhaps the biggest area of gameplay that TTYD adds to its predecessor is the amount of side content the player gets to do. For one, in Rogueport, there's an entire quest board, called the Trouble Center, taking the player all across the game for them to solve all sorts of problems and get useful rewards for doing them. This adds to the game a whole lot more to do and also really fleshes out the world in which you are exploring. You can even get an entirely optional extra party member for doing a certain quest! Another big piece of side content is the Pit of 100 Trials, which I absolutely love. Effectively, it is a gauntlet of pure battling through 100 descending floors. The enemies get more difficult as you go, and it can become an extreme challenge very quickly. This is especially so because you don't have any way of re-stocking up on items as you go. Once you go down into the pit, there's no pausing and coming back later, you either keep going or exit and restart from floor 1 later. There's also a very tough final boss awaiting you at floor 100, amounting to the ultimate test after you have already endured 99 floors of pure fighting. You also get rewarded with very useful badges every 10 floors, making the trips down feel very fulfilling. My favourite way to tackle the pit is going another 10 floors each chapter, allowing me to reap the rewards of the badges through my playthrough as well as go to the floor that I believe matches the limit of my current strength.

Partners

Goombella
	Goombella is a university graduate with a degree in archeology and is always eager for her next journey. Mario met her within the first minute he arrived at Rogueport. Mario can use her overworld ability to learn more about his environment and get hints on tough puzzles. In combat, she has the following abilities: - Headbonk (0 FP) - A standard jumping ability, behaving the same as Mario's jump. - Tattle (0 FP) - Provides useful information on the selected enemy, such as their health, damage, defence, and their behaviours. - Multibonk (3 FP) - Continues to jump on the enemy until you mistime an action command. - Rally Wink (4 FP) - Gives up her turn and gives Mario a second one.
Koops
	Koops is a somewhat insecure koopa. He joins Mario so that he can gain more self-confidence and feel stronger. Mario can use his overworld ability to reach faraway objects and hit switches to solve puzzles. In combat, he has the following abilities: - Shell Toss (0 FP) - Gets into his shell and hurls himself at the enemy, but is only able to hit enemies on the ground. - Power Shell (3 FP) - Like Shell Toss but hits all enemies on the ground. - Shell Sheild (4 FP) - Provides Mario with a protective shield that protects Mario from all damage until it is broken. - Shell Slam (6 FP) - The same as power shell but pierces enemy defence.
Madame Flurrie
	Madame Flurrie is a sophisticated fashionista who also has a big heart. She joined Mario as soon as she heard people were in danger. Mario can use her overworld ability to blow away fake walls to find secret passages or solutions to puzzles. In combat, she has the following abilities: - Body Slam (0 FP) - Jumps at an enemy, essentially belly-flopping into them. - Gale Force (4 FP) - Blows enemies out of the battle. You do get EXP for the enemies that get blown away. - Lip Lock (1 FP) - Damages an enemy while taking their HP, healing her. - Dodgy Fog (4 FP) - Increases Mario's evasion for a few turns, making him harder for the enemies to hit.
Yoshi
	Mario first met this Yoshi when he was an egg! Yoshi hatched and has been by Mario's side ever since. He's extremely energetic and always ready to fight. Mario can use his overworld ability to ride on him to run faster and hover over small gaps. In combat, he has the following abilities: - Ground Pound (0 FP) - Hovers up to an enemy and bounces off of them for a maximum of 6 times. - Gulp (4 FP) - Eats one enemy and spits them out at another enemy, piercing both their defences. - Mini-Egg (3 FP) - Lays 3 eggs and throws them at random enemies. - Stampede (6 FP) - Calls a herd of adult Yohsie that stampede through and trample all enemies.
Vivian
	Vivian is one of the three Shadow Sirens, which are a group of sisters working against Mario. Vivian joins Mario after having enough of being picked on by her older sister Beldam. Mario can use her overworld ability to sink down and hide within the floor, hiding from enemies and obstacles. In combat, she has the following abilities: - Shade Fist (0 FP) - Punches an enemy and leaves them with a burn effect, dealing damage slowly over time. - Veil (1 FP) - Hides Mario from incoming enemy attacks. Can't be used twice in a row. - Fiery Jinx (6 FP) - Attacks all enemies with a firey spell, dealing damage and lighting them all on fire. Has a special elemental strength against icey enemies. - Infatuate (4 FP) - Blows a kiss at all enemies, possibly leaving them confused, unable to discern between Mario and their fellow enemies.
Admiral Bobbery
	Admiral Bobbery is a tragic washed-up sailor who blocked the sea from his life ever since his wife passed away while he was on a voyage. Upon reading a missing letter containing his wife's final words, he gained enough course to sail once again, alongside Mario. Mario can use his overworld ability to explode cracked walls, gaining access to new areas beyond them. In combat, he has the following abilities: - Bomb (0 FP) - Walks up and explodes next to an enemy. - Bomb Squad (3 FP) - Sets down three mini-bombs that will detonate on the next turn. - Hold Fast (4 FP) - Preps himself to detonate on any enemy who comes in contact with him when attacking him. - Bob-ombast (9 FP) - Explodes and deals massive damage to all enemies.
Ms. Mowz
	Ms. Mowz is a charismatic badge thief that you encounter multiple times on your adventure. She eventually becomes an optional party member whom you can recruit by helping her with her problem posted at the Trouble Center. Mario can use her overworld ability to sniff out any nearby treasures or collectibles. In combat, she has the following abilities: - Love Slap (0 FP) - Slaps an enemy, ignoring their defence. - Kiss Thief (2 FP) - Runs up and steals whatever item or badge the enemy is holding. - Tease (3 FP) - Runs and jumps around frantically, making enemies dizzy. - Smooch (10 FP) - Kisses Mario, replenishing 10 health.

Chapters

Prologue: A Rogue's Welcome
The game begins with Mario arriving at Rogueport, and not one minute later seeing a fight break out between Goombella and Lord Crump. Lord Crump is one of the higher-ups of the group called the X-Nauts, who are a group of high-tech, mysterious, and kinda weird folks. Regardless, it will later be revealed that they are the big bads of the game, and are responsible for taking Princess Peach! After this run-in with the X-Nauts, Goombella takes Mario to visit Professor Frankly, who's an old goomba who is well-versed in history. Mario consults him about the treasure map that Peach sent him and Frankly tells him that it is a legendary treasure map that guides him to the Crystal Stars, which are very magical and powerful objects sealed away long ago. It is said that these crystal stars can be used to open the 1000-Year Door and find the fabled legendary treasure within. With that in mind, Mario embarks on his newest adventure to find and secure the seven Crystal Stars to reveal the truth of the legend of The Thousand-Year Door. Mario then travels into the Rogueport Sewers to have a look at The Thousand-Year Door and holds his map aloft at it to get the location of the first crystal star. On the way, he gets "cursed" for the first time, providing him with the paper airplane traversal ability.
Chapter 1: Castle and Dragon
Being the first chapter of the game, it does an incredibly good job of setting the tone of adventure and excitement. From the music to the visuals, you can tell right away that this journey will be a special one. The first area, Petal Meadows, is similar in nature to Pleasant Path of Paper Mario 64, very introductory and grassy, but that's not a bad thing. This chapter serves as a great introduction to the overworld and battle mechanics. Once Mario arrives at the local town, PetalBurg, it's there he discovers that it's being terrorized by a dragon that lives nearby. Mario takes it upon himself to help the village and defeat the dragon. But before he does, Koops stops him and begs Mario to let him join. Mario of course agrees, and they set off to confront the dragon in Hooktail's Castle. Inside, numerous dry bones roam, showing all the koopas who had fallen before. This castle consists of a lot of puzzles to do with Koops' abilities, and it's a very fun one to make your way through, with many secrets dotted about as well. Halfway through the castle, Mario received his second "curse" from the black chest ghost, allowing him to flip sideways. At the top, Mario faces Hooktail the dragon in a very dynamic and grand-scoped boss fight. It really signifies the step-up in ambition and power that this game has over its predecessor. After defeating Hooktail, Mario obtains his first crystal star.
Chapter 2: The Great Boggly Tree
The next chapter takes place in Boggly Woods. It's a very visually unique location that has a lot of black-and-white environments in it. Mario came here because a Puni, one of the residents of The Great Boggly Tree, called for Mario's aid. Their tree is being held hostage by the X-Nauts. On the way, Mario encounters Madame Flurrie, who is a friend of the punies, and leaps to their aid when she hears that they're in danger. Afterwards, Mario also runs into the Shadow Sirens for the first time, who are three phantom sisters who love to cause trouble. Inside The Great Tree, Mario finds it crawling with X-Nauts and gets the feeling it has something to do with them searching to find the next crystal star. Eventually, Mario finds a way to free all 100 punies from their captivity, and he rallies them all to help him find the crystal star first. Herding all the punies can be challenging and finicky, but they are required for many puzzles within the tree. After travelling through the whole tree, Mario gets duped by Lord Crump of the X-Nauts, who steals the crystal star right out from under their noses and makes a break for it. Luckily, Mario is able to catch up to him and go head to head with him for the crystal star. However, Lord Crump came equipped with a high-tech mech suit called Magnus Von Grapple. Despite this, when Mario emerges triumphant, he recovers the crystal star and sends the X-Nauts away from the tree. This chapter is the moment we discover that the X-Nauts will be a constant threat in our quest for the crystal stars.
Chapter 3: Of Glitz and Glory
Up next is one of my personal favourites. Mario's map takes him next to the town in the sky, Glitzville. Glitzville is a place whose culture is all-encompassed by gladiator matches in the arena called the Glitz Pit. When Mario arrives, one of the first things he sees is the champion, Rawk Hawk, with his champion's belt. And what else would be on it, but the next crystal star. From there Mario's objective was clear: Climb the gladiator ladder and become the ultimate champion to win the crystal star. So yes, a lot of the gameplay of this chapter is battles, however, they are more unique than regular enemies you'd find in the field, making them feel a bit more special. Bowser even crashes the party at one point! And battling's already so darn fun that it's not even a problem. Where the real meat of the chapter comes from is everything that happens between battles. For one, Mario hatches Yohsi's egg. Also, more and more Mario starts getting cryptic messages asking him to go places. After a while, it became clear that something was amiss about the whole place. There have been conspiracies of fighters that went missing, and as the chapter goes on, Mario ends up proving these conspiracies true. The mystery and suspense of this chapter is truly awesome and I can't do it justice just by writing about it here.
After Mario makes his way to the top of the ladder, defeating Rawk Hawk in the championship battle, he discovers that the crystal star on the belt is fake! Not long after, Mario finds incriminating evidence of the Glitz Pit's manager and announcer, Grubba. Mario finds out that he's responsible for the missing fighters, and that he is the true possessor of the crystal star. When Mario confronts him about this, it is revealed that Grubba had been using the crystal star to suck energy out of strong fighters to keep himself young and spry. Not long after, Grubba uses the power of his crystal star to become Macho Grubba, in hopes of defeating Mario. After an intense fight, Mario emerges victorious and recovers the crystal star.
Chapter 4: For Pigs the Bell Tolls
Chapter 4 is a lot of people's favourite chapter. It comes with a very cool and creepy area, as well as a very cool sub-plot. Mario's map takes him to the dark and depressing town of Twilight Town. This place has an eerie sense about it, making you feel slightly uneasy as you go through it. The town's inhabitants don't help either. They're mostly friendly, but they also add to the eerie feeling of the place. Shortly after Mario arrives, he encounters a problem. People are sporadically turning into pigs! Every time the town bell tolls, another townsperson is randomly selected to become a pig. Mario goes to confront the source in the nearby Creepy Steeple, which is a big and creepy mansion. Inside the Creepy Steeple, Mario receives his next "curse", giving him the ability to roll up into a tube and roll under small gaps. Not long after arriving, Mario encounters the troublemaker, Doopliss, who's responsible for turning the town into pigs, simply for his amusement. Mario battles Doopliss, finding out that he is capable of shape-shifting. He copies Mario when they fight, but Mario ends up winning surprisingly easily. Or so he thought. Doopliss had one more trick up his sleeve, he changed bodies with Mario! Now all his partners think they've just won with Mario and are off to the next place, but Mario gets left behind, as a shadow of his former self.
Mario leaves the Steeple feeling at a loss as to what to do. But on the way he finds Vivian, who is sad because of being picked on by her sisters again. When Mario decides to cheer her up, she decides to help him get his body back, not knowing he's actually Mario. Together, they confront Doopliss again, this time having to fight him as Mario with all our partners. After succeeding, Mario gets his body back, leaving his partners confused and slightly ashamed of themselves that they couldn't tell the difference. It also leaves Vivian extremely conflicted, because she was actually helping the enemy the whole time, but actually appreciated Mario's kindness. She eventually makes the tough decision to leave her sisters behind and join Mario. Mario also received the next crystal star from defeating Doopliss.
Chapter 5: The Key to Pirates
This next chapter is very thematic to pirates. It begins with Mario recruiting Admiral Bobbery to help him sail across the sea to the next Crystal Star location, Keelhaul Key. As part of their pirate crew, unbeknownst to Mario, was Lord Crump in disguise. While on their way, their ship gets attacked by a large number of fire ghosts, causing their ship to sink. Mario and Co. then wake up on the shore of the island. After exploring the lush island, Mario heads inside the mountain of the island, Pirate's Grotto. Inside Pirate's Grotto, Mario receives his fourth and final "curse", the paper boat transformation, which is used heavily in this area. Exploring Pirate's Grotto is one of the most enjoyable areas in the game I think. Once they reach the end, Mario encounters Cortez, who is a legendary ghost pirate who has been residing here for a very long time. His boss fight can be quite challenging if you aren't careful with your strategy. After defeating him, Cortez actually decides to aid Mario and willingly gives his Crystal Star to him. However, just when they thought everything was done, Lord Crump ditches his disguise and launches an all-out X-Naut attack with their X-Naut battleship. In retaliation, Mario and Cortez use his ship to go head-to-head with Crump and his X-Nauts in an epic clash. Mario, once again, triumphs over Lord Crump, and he flees yet again.
Chapter 6: 3 Days of Excess
This chapter is a bit different from previous ones. It sees Mario and Co. riding a train, the Excess Express, for 3 days to get to Poshley Heights, where the next crystal star is. Because the entire chapter takes place on the train, there's little combat this time around, which some fans don't like as much, but I think it provides a good change of pace. Instead of battling, you get to know all the other characters riding the train, and even get to solve some train mysteries as well. Halfway through, the train makes a stop at the Riverside Station to refuel. It is here where the more classic Paper Mario gameplay comes back for a brief intermission. Battles and puzzles take place here, and Mario encounters weird creatures called the Smorgs, but beats them relatively easily. However, a short time after the train embarks again, it's revealed that the Smorgs had boarded the train, and began multiplying in numbers, eventually engulfing the whole train. Mario has to climb onto the roof of the train to put a stop to them. After that, the train arrives at Poshley Heights, which, as the name implies, is a very prestigious place where rich people live. You even run into Lady Bow there! It is there that Mario retrieves the crystal star.
Chapter 7: Mario Shoots the Moon
Now is time for the infamous Chapter 7, within it having some of the highest highs of the game, as well as possibly the lowest low. The chapter begins with Mario finding out that the final crystal star is on the Moon. To get there, he confides in the bob-ombs of Fahr Outpost to shoot him to the Moon out of a giant cannon. However, they need a special key that only the bob-omb named General White has, but it seems he is missing. To find him, the game sends you on a wild goose chase to almost all the locations you've already explored, making for a very cumbersome and tedious task that many fans call the worst part of the game, myself included. After we find General White, the bob-ombs explode the cannon in a spectacular fashion, hurdling Mario toward the Moon.
Once there, what does Mario find, but the X-Naut Fortress. This is where their base of operations has been the whole time, and this must mean they have the last crystal star already. Mario heads inside the fortress with no hesitation, into one of the best areas of the game. Not only is it a very cool feeling infiltrating the enemy's main base, but it also has an incredibly good song to go along with it. After making his way through the fortress, not letting anyone stand in his way, Mario encounters, yet again, Lord Crump. This time, he is equipped with an upgraded version of his mech, Magnus Von Grapple 2.0. This boss fight is similar in difficulty to that of Magnus Von Grapple's previous iteration. Once defeated, Lord Crump drops the crystal star and Mario retrieves it. But, Mario thought he would also be able to find Peach here, but she had already been taken away from the main base by the X-Naut higher in status than Lord Crump. Mario then learns that Peach has been taken to the Palace of Shadow, which is the realm beyond the Thousand-Year Door. The chapter ends as Mario sets off for the door posthaste.
Chapter 8: The Thousand-Year Door
The final chapter of the game ties the story up incredibly well. The legendary Palace of Shadow beyond The Thousand-Year Door adds so much mystery, lore, and intrigue to this game's story. I absolutely love it whenever stories incorporate legendary locations that were significant so long ago, and have the protagonist find them millennia later. This game does it extremely well. From the moment you walk inside the door, all you can feel is intrigue and wonder as to what events occurred in this place. The atmosphere is dark and abandoned, and emanates a sense of "we shouldn't be here." Also as you make your way through, you encounter enemies that are other-worldly and very strong, only adding to that foreboding feeling. The atmosphere of this place is even cooler because it's in a Mario game. Mario games aren't known for deep stories or unhappy locations, so it's very cool to see this game break conventions and try something new with Mario. Much like the final chapter of Paper Mario 64, this entire chapter is one big dungeon-like journey, making it super engaging and fun to explore the entire labyrinth. Also adding to the fear factor of this place, the further and deeper you go in, the more it begins to feel like "How am I ever going to get back out?" because it is such a large place. Eventually, Mario encounters a dragon, who has resided in the Palace of Shadows for who knows how long! It turns out this dragon is the sibling of Hooktail, called Gloomtail. This fight is a very challenging one, but once you defeat Gloomtail, the way forward is unveiled.
At the very end of the dungeon, Mario runs into the leader of the X-Nauts, Grodus, who has Princess Peach with him. Grodus is truly powerful, but always sounds very calm, making him feel very intimidating when fighting him. Despite this, Mario emerges triumphant, but Grodus runs along ahead with Peach, taking her to a sort of altar. He then uses Peach as an offering to the demon, the Shadow Queen, who is an uber-powerful being who had been sealed away in the Palace of Shadow 1000 years ago. The Shadow Queen possesses Peach, using her as a host. And when Grodus tries to boss the Shadow Queen around like his pet, she outright kills him! Again, it's crazy (and awesome) the places this Mario game goes! This boss fight is intense. It is the most difficult, high-stakes boss fight of the game, and possibly of the entire Paper Mario series. It is extremely thrilling, with Mario and the Shadow Queen trading blows back and forth. Eventually, Mario breaks Peach free of the Queen, revealing the shadow queen's true, even more powerful self. In the end, it takes Mario using the power of the crystal stars, along with all the people he's met on his journey, to defeat the Shadow Queen and save Princess Peach, and the world!