Italians, pipes, fire-breathing dragons: what more could you want?
User Rating: 8.9 | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door GC
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is Nintendo's follow-up to Super Mario RPG (SNES) and the first Paper Mario (N64). Nintendo has shown signals of such a project after its popular Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the GBA. Nintendo's latest isn't just cartoonish flash; it packs gameplay that equals it gorgeous looks. The adventure begins when Mario is notified by Princess "Peach" Toadstool of a treasure map she has discovered. The plumber promptly sets off for Rogueport to meet up with the princess only to find out she's gone missing. Mario does find the map and embarks of a quest to discover the map's contents and learn Peach's whereabouts. Mario will slay a terrible dragon, lose his body, and find a sunken treasure trove. As in any RPG, Mario is joined by a party of companions. Each has his or her own reasons for joining and each has unique qualities for solving puzzles, retrieving items, and defeating enemies. And a lot of enemies you'll face. Combat plays a key roll in Paper Mario. Each showdown is set like a stage performance, with curtains and an audience. The audience does more than cheer or boo: their approval can generate Star Power. Star Power fuels specials and you can figure out the rest. It helps that Mario can see baddies before fighting them. This gives players the option of deciding whether to engage in battle or avoid a confrontation. "Badges" are added items that provide Mario with new specials and abilities. Seeing what each badge does adds to the fun mood. Each victory brings Star Points. Collect enough Star Points and you can level up. Paper Mario doesn't have a lot in the way of numbers. HP rarely goes beyond the tens and it's tough to level up past Lv. 25. This keeps the game's statistics and numerics down and make it simple to calculate. Your party does not level up in the way Mario does. Instead, you must collect Shine Sprites and have each member specially upgraded at Rogueport. Dungeons make up a good part of the adventure. This brings in one of the lovable aspects to The Thousand-Year Door. Mario will be "cursed" at certain points in the game; don't worry--these curses serve only for Mario's gain. Intelligent Systems toys with the "paper" theme. The curses are an example. Mario can fold himself into a paper plane to travel over wide distances or roll himself up to go underneath gates and such. It's funny and creative. Humor and creativity are what make Paper Mario so special. Not only does it look fantastic, but the gameplay is so finely crafted, you'd swear it was a modern Renaissance work. The eight chapters Mario explores are fun to take part in and fun to look at. One chapter has Mario becoming a wrestler and investigating the disappearance of other contenders. Another has Mario solving thefts aboard a train. The towns you visit are equally colorful. Twilight Town is a ghostly community taken straight from the mind of Tim Burton. Glitzville is Mario World's take on Vegas. You'll even see the moon. There are added interludes that let you see Peach's predicament or Bowser's antics. (The Bowser Super Mario Bros. mini-games are a blast--Nintendo should have added more.) Mario will even run into Luigi. (Luigi just happens to be on his own quest to rescue Princess Eclair and the Waffle Kingdom.) Mario can also search for items or complete optional tasks. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the finest RPG the GameCube has seen. Missing out on this title is missing out on a lot. There is so much to praise and so little to criticize. RPGs seldom get better than this. 
