The golden age of Paper Mario comes to Nintendo Switch for our greatest pleasure. After the inclusion of the original opus in the Nintendo 64 catalog of the Online + Additional Pack subscription, here comes the long-awaited remake of Paper Mario: The Millennium Door. This episode, published on GameCube on November 12, 2004 in Europe, truly forged the reputation of the franchise, while popularizing the RPG formula of the Mario spin-offs. This popularity was unfortunately only short-lived. With the exception of Super Paper Mario on Wii, convincing but lacking the usual role-playing dimension, the following opuses never enjoyed such success with players.
As if to get off to a good start, the Kyoto firm invites us to (re)dive into the exciting world of its Paper Mario most appreciated. For the occasion, the title has been spruced up and promises to charm gamers like the first day. This return to the sources that we no longer expected proves to us that this thousand-year-old adventure has not aged a bit and that the license still has everything to please in 2024. As well thought out for nostalgic players as newcomers, this remake of the legendary title could well instill a new positive dynamic for the future of games Paper Mario.
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Discover Paper Mario: The Millennium Door on Switch
You have never played Paper Mario ? Here is your (millennial) front door!
By reissuing this opus of the saga, Nintendo offers a perfect entry point (or return) for all types of players. Paper Mario: The Millennium Door well and truly deserves its reputation. This colorful adventure full of endearing characters does not lack charm and the remake only enhances these existing qualities. This is an RPG where you don’t have time to get bored, worthy of the best titles Mario & Luigi that some players perhaps preferred to Paper Mario until then.
Even today, the journey of Mario and his traveling companions to find the Star Gems is an adventure that hits the mark, both in its mechanics and in its writing. Combat and exploration remain unchanged, as the gameplay was already close to perfection at the time. But a Nintendo remake is not one without some improvements to make the game easier. Now, players can swap the partners of the mustachioed plumber with a simple press of the L button: a real pleasure when several characters are necessary for the solving a puzzle. No longer having to go back and forth with the pause menu is a huge time saver in-game.
If the difficulty of the game remains unchanged (no new mode, nor change in combat timings unlike the remake of Super Mario RPG), new features make the experience smoother for newbies. Even in the absence of Goomelie in the team, the player can press the ZL key to obtain one of his advice to advance in the adventure. In the event of a bigger blockage, a new NPC present at the Port-Lacanaïe hub allows you to obtain a solution to any problem.
This starting area also benefits from a new Toad specializing in martial arts, which allows you to train in the use of the different skills of Mario and his friends, without having to waste them in combat. In short, the experience is identical to that of the time, but benefits from the right dose of improvements to offer the gaming comfort that today’s gamers expect.
Nintendo or the master of remakes
On the Switch generation, the Kyoto firm has not failed to dust off its great classics. The remakes have really flowed, which has earned a lot of criticism from players, time and time again. Is Nintendo really incapable of producing new gems to the point of having to rely on its past successes? If this practice can indeed be compared to laziness in the video game industry, remakes on Switch have always proven that they deserve their place, and Paper Mario is no exception to this rule. In addition to updating universally loved games with modern graphics and comfort adjustments, these revisited versions allow a new generation to enjoy them.
Because yes, it must be admitted that today, a large portion of Switch players have certainly never experienced the GameCube era. The development of these remakes therefore makes it possible to make certain productions which have left shelves for a long time more easily accessible to the general public. Retrogaming is far from affordable and easy to set up, both from a financial and material point of view. Finding a suitable television, an old console and the games that go with it is no longer easy, especially for Nintendo’s big hits.
Thanks to its remake, Paper Mario: The Millennium Door is therefore no longer an unattainable relic, but an adventure to discover whenever we want. Better yet, the title is even more beautiful than ever. Reworked textures and models, new effects, new animations: nothing has been left to chance. Note, however, that the game’s frame rate caused quite a stir before its launch. If the original title ran at 60fps (on NTSC consoles at least), the Switch version is fixed at 30fps, even once the console is docked.
Nintendo has, however, accustomed us to fluidity on its exclusives such as Splatoon And Mario Kart. However, it seems that the efforts applied to the new graphics are pushing the console to its limits, since the resolution of the game even goes so far as to take a hit in portable mode, like the saga Xenoblade, which nevertheless seems much heavier to display. Mystery.
Nintendo ready to bend over backwards for its role-playing games
After the excellent remake of Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario is also back only a few months later. Is this a sign of a return to basics for RPGs? Mario at Nintendo? After the failure of very disappointing episodes at Paper Mario (Star Sticker, Color Splash, Origami King) as well as the disappearance of the AlphaDream studio in charge of the saga Mario & Luigi, fans thought the golden age of these role-playing games was over. However, these two recent reissues could well serve as a test to allow the firm to gauge the impact of this formula on a new audience.
Taking The Millennium Gate in hand 20 years after its original release, it’s clear that the gameplay still works today, so much so that there has been almost no need for adjustments. This timeless appearance proves that this Paper Mario is the best in the genre. But above all, (re)discovering this adventure in 2024 is an opportunity to see to what extent the RPG format needs to be revisited. Studios have largely gotten into the habit of making role-playing games with long adventures, which sometimes seem interminable.
If this feeling of fatigue is particularly obvious in JRPGs, it is also now in certain Western RPGs. Please note: there is nothing wrong with these kinds of games seeing the light of day. After all, Persona 5 And Baldur’s Gate 3 are references that we will not soon forget. But there needs to be something for all players, and the standardization of hundreds of hours of gameplay per RPG is not good for the genre.
As Super Mario RPG last year, Paper Mario: The Millennium Door takes advantage of a format that we would like to see more often in the world of modern role-playing games. With just over twenty hours of play to complete the adventure, this much more digestible construction still allows you to enjoy an exciting adventure, without the risk of getting bored of it. In this way, young people and novices will be able to develop a taste for the genre and discover more substantial productions later. What more ? Let’s hope that Nintendo will serve us new epics of the genre on its Nintendo Switch 2…
Price and availability
The remake of Paper Mario: The Millennium Door will be available from May 23, 2024 on Nintendo Switch, at a recommended price of €59.99 on the Nintendo eShop.
Discover Paper Mario: The Millennium Door on Switch
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