One of the best games ever.
User Rating: 9.6 | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door GC
This is the sequel of Paper Mario, a popular RPG where Mario is paper thin (literally). You had to go on a quest to save Princess Peach there. As you might've guessed, you do the same here. There are many twists in this game, and there’s humor in almost every part of this game, even if it's a serious situation. The story is basically this: A long time ago, there was a town where the people there lived very happy lives. Then, one day, a great cataclysm struck the town. And in a single night, the town was gone. After many years passed, people started moving in back to the area where the town once stood. As more time passed, people started to turn that story in a fairy tale. But as more people moved in, the fairy tale became less and less fake. Word around town was that a great treasure lay in a city underground. The city above, was called Rougeport. Then it all starts off with Peach being on vacation. Since she is always being bugged by Toadsworth, her assistant, she decides to take off on her own. During her 'adventure' she is run into by an old person. The old person asks her if she wants to buy something. Being polite, she looks over. Suddenly, a box catches her eye. The lady says that only a person with a pure heart can open the box and offers Peach to open it. She does, and a blinding light surrounds her. Then she sends it to Mario, so he can find the treasure. When Mario arrives to Rougeport, he ends up saving a Goomba named Goombella from Lord Crump, who’ll you’ll find out his story later on. After you save her, you find out that she’s researching on the mystical items known as Crystal Stars, the treasure Mario is looking for too. Mario enters the town and finds Peach nowhere to be found. Since Goombella wants to find the treasure too, they set of to find Professor Frankly. When hey find him, he tells them the Thousand-Year Story (look above) again. He also tells them that they need 7 Crystal Stars to open the door. So Mario sets off, to open the Thousand-Year Door and find Princess Peach. Of course, this is the story at the beginning. Later on, you'll dig in to the story and see it clearly. The battle system is like any RPG, turn-based battles. Meaning that you take turns to attack. You can also dish out more damage if you press the A button at the right moment. Also, the audience is a nifty feature. The audience fills up your Star Power, a item needed to use the Special Moves every time you get a Crystal Star. The more audience you have, the more star power gets replenished. They can also throw stuff at you: From a soda can to a mushroom, you can press X to stop them, but they might throw good stuff, so look what they're throwing before you press X. Also, if you press A at a certain time, you can do a Stylish Move. If you do, the audience cheers more for you and thus replenishes more Star Power. The gameplay is awesome. The environments are really great and the music is cool, yet funny at times. They mix in a bit of the music of the Super Mario Bros. series. In mini-bosses, the music at the beginning was taken from the boss music of Yoshi's Island. My favorite music is the theme of Cortez: The Pirate King. Many of you may not agree, but people have different opinions. This is a long game by the way. It took me about 28 hours the first time, but it will go by a lot quicker if you don't do the side-quests. You should, or else you'll get pummeled easier. Each 'level' is dived into Chapters. There are 8 Chapters in this game and each is long. There is also a boss waiting at the end of each. Some chapters have you believe that it is over, but then a plot twist occurs. That's one of the things that make this a great game. You also get to control Peach, as she finds info about the Thousand-Year Door with the help of a super computer named TEC. This part isn't the most fun, but it helps clear up some info. You also get to control Bowser, in which he also tries to find the Crystal Stars and kidnap Peach back, but is always late. In most of the times you control him, you play in a Super Mario Bros. stage, starting with world 1-1. Mario's partners are creative and their stories are well thought. My favorite will have to be the Yoshi and Bobbery. Their abilities are really useful and they can dish out major damage, for partners. I also liked how they tried to make the environments and other places 3D-ish while still keeping to the original theme: Paper. I think this feature is really awsome, but if they didn't have it, then it wouldn't be called Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, duh. Overall, this is a must have game. No great collection is complete without it. I really think that you'll enjoy this game, really worth your money. 
