PAPER MARIO: THE THOUSAND YEAR DOOR (2004)

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let's lay it all flat: paper mario: the thousand year door has much less interesting level design and enemy variation than its predecessor on the n64. while paper mario 64 goes all in on a diorama aesthetic, ttyd's stylistic choice is the stage, the drama, the theater, and the long rectangular hallway design that reflects such, as if it's all continuously moving before a curious audience. i appreciate this, but much less so do i when backtracking is so prevalent--it's like the worst aspects of shy guy's toybox and flower fields back for round 2. and let's be clear--i'm not complaining about the backtracking in, say, chapter 4, because your circumstances differ (almost) every journey. but it's that last backtracking, and it's the backtracking in chapter 2, and it's the monumental one all done for a piss-take towards the end, and it's everything else--it's cruel and stupid, a transparent attempt at lengthening out the game. and with the enemy designs, it's disappointing to face so many recolors when even paper mario 64 was able to pull out some unique final creatures to spar with in its finale.

and on one more negative comparative point: ttyd is so fucking easy. like, leaps and bounds easier on the player than paper mario 64 is, although i hesitate to describe whether or not this is a legitimate problem. why? well, a lot of the ease of access to ttyd comes in the form of skillbased timing--press well and defend against attacks, but press perfectly and you'll completely negate damage. that much is all on the player and an interesting way of forgoing standard jrpg grinding. but then there's just general cheese, like power punches and charges and multibonks. and then there's fucking danger mario, although that's hilarious so whatever.

... lots of negatives, right? and yet, 5 stars. paper mario: the thousand year door is one of the few examples i can point to where a game's writing and aesthetic can more than make up for its faults, where the story progresses with a great flow and rhythm, complemented by well spoken characters not content to stay in the background like mario's 64 bit partners. the game's easily my biggest writing inspiration: when characters speak, i pay attention because it's always funny or interesting. when the plot develops, it does so with simple, tangible consequences and causes and effects. when new chapters start, there's such an indescribable amount of excitement that wells up within wanting to know just what could be in store next... and how can it disappoint when locations vary from wrestling goons at an arena in a bid to win the champion belt or leading a revolution within a massive tree against its invading occupants or solving agatha christie novels aboard a train in a doubling down of shiver city from paper mario 64?

that last bit is important, because something i've noticed between replays of these two initial paper stories is a series of parallels: thousand year door does so much of what 64 does, but grander. both games see mario sailing to an island, but one has it off the back of a whale you briefly meet before while the other has you paired up with a crew you've assembled, then besieged by ancient spirits and shipwrecked onto what is ostensibly deserted. both games see peach baking an item, but while 64's is a cake, ttyd's is an invisibility potion to help her infiltrate the head office of the head goon of the head terrorists, dude. they both have trains and trainrides, murder mysteries and penguins, a goomba who'll prattle off about every npc and location in the game... but ttyd does it better.

aesthetic's incredibly unique, too, and also a big inspiration on myself. while 64 could best be described as a binary tool heaven a la mspaint, ttyd is the now defunct macromedia flash 8, every character a saturated in color motion tweened black outlined standout. combat felt stiff in 64, but ttyd contrasts such with the smoothest you could ever anticipate. and the designs! 64 has a goomba with... a hat. and a koopa with... a scarf. and a bobbomb that's... pink with angel wings. exciting. thousand year door has a goombella decked out in archeological gear, a koopa covered in bandaids and casual wear, and a sea-salty bombomb donning an admiral cap. pretty fucking stark.

also the music fucks an insane amount.

no need to worry about spoilers, but goodness, ttyd concludes so satisfyingly. it's a story you can tell was thought out right from the start, and the way it reflects all your journey up to its ending... yeah, that's ttyd for you. a game with something to prove, a sequel that wanted to not only build off the foundation of its predecessor but carve out an entire world for itself. that's ttyd for you. oh, but also, some villains should never be forgiven, you know. not everyone changes. anyway...