As if a page ripped from a novel, Mario is back to star in Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door. Gamers will remember that fateful release that began a new franchise for the mustached plumber nearly ten years ago. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was quietly released at the very end of the Super Nintendo’s life cycle, but gamers took notice. From that moment, Mario RPG began a journey that has taken it through four games, four platforms, and three developers. This voyage has brought Mario RPG to the Gamecube with the release of the second Paper Mario. But is history destined to repeat itself as it so often does? The original Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 only managed to sell through a mediocre one million units worldwide. Will the first Mario RPG to be released on the Gamecube fare better than the first Paper Mario?
Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door throws you in control of Mario himself, as though that is a big surprise. The opening scene is immediately reminiscent of Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance. Luigi trots out of the brothers’ front door to check the mail. Inside is a message from Princess Peach. Once back inside, Luigi begins to read the message to Mario. Thankfully, there are no scarring pictures of Mario in his underwear, but there is no need to digress.
Peach begins by telling of her travels. She is roving through her Mushroom Kingdom on a bit of a holiday when she encounters an old merchant in Rogueport. Rogueport, as the name might suggest, is a filthy den of crime, gangs, and poverty. Why Peach actually chose to stop here is never exactly explained. The salesman tells Peach of a mystical chest that can only be opened by the pure of heart. Naturally, as story progression demands, Peach is pure of heart and is given access to the contents of the chest. Inside lies a mystical treasure map. Unsure of what the treasure is or how to actually find it, Peach decided to enclose the map in this very letter. She requests that Mario quickly join her in Rogueport where the two can set out on their treasure hunting expedition. But when Mario arrives, he finds that the Princess is not waiting for him. Unsure if she was kidnapped or simply decided to press on without him, Mario decides to set out in search of the elusive treasure.
Now that's power!
Paper Mario 2, as with previous installments from the franchise excluding the first, is very much a somewhat unconventional role playing game. Action is always at the center of every encounter, and reading is a skill gamers must be ready to use. As the title suggests, Mario is paper thin which really becomes the center of this title in a greater fashion than seen in the original Paper Mario. The entire game is broken into chapters with Rogueport acting as the connection to all areas. To keep overachieving gamers from progressing to new levels before the appropriate time, the different passages to new chapters are blocked. As Mario and his cohorts (more on them shortly) gain new skills, these roadblocks will, in correct, begin to become accessible. Do not mistake this to mean that Paper Mario 2 is locked into a linear flow. The game actually branches at many times due to side quests and requires backtracking. But the game is set in an overall linear progression simply to prevent the player from getting lost or confused.
For the first time, Mario and his surroundings actually seem made of paper. Many of the skills that Mario will gain as he progresses through the story are all features of paper such as a paper airplane or paper boat. In addition to Mario’s many paper skills, the different environments and their inhabitants also have many paper features. The first time that such attributes are apparent is during the first chapter. Mario reaches a river that is impassable. On a nearby ledge he finds a switch. When he hits the switch, a pop-up-like animation is triggered. As the “pages” turn, a bridge is constructed piece by piece. Such things become somewhat commonplace but also play into the gameplay. Different hidden areas or secret objects are hidden under paper. What looks like a wall may actually be a piece of paper when blown. Thus much of the game features areas that actually are not as they appear.
Most of the character designs are highly original
So what of these cohorts? Paper Mario 2 features a host of teammates that will join Mario throughout his journey. But in typical fashion, one partner can accompany him at any given time. This is not unusual because Mario RPG has never featured large teams during battle. The only exception is the original Mario RPG which featured a team of three at any given time. But the original was developed by Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) and was tailor-made to play similar to their Final Fantasy series. Your partner choice can be quite critical not only in battle but also during game progression. The first two partners that Mario will encounter are Goobella, a young goomba studying archaeology, and Koops, a somewhat shy koopa in search of his father. Goobella is able to provide general clues to Mario about his surroundings, while Koops is about to blast out from under Mario’s foot, grabbing things out of Mario’s reach. Each character, of which there are quite a few, becomes vital at some point to game progression, mainly due to their innate skill.
Learning to use your partner wisely is half of the key to beating Paper Mario 2. By collecting Shine Sprites, there is even a way to upgrade your partners with better skills and stats, but it is up to you to find the Sprites and where they are to be used. Partners can also have an influence upon Mario’s dialog with other people and creatures. Not only do they spurt out their own nifty lines, but they also can bring out important information during certain instances. For a more fulfilling game experience, change partners often!
The core of Paper Mario 2 lies within its battle system which is fairly similar to the first Paper Mario with several key additions. If you were looking strictly for a menu based form of play, start looking elsewhere. While Mario and his partner’s moves are selected via a rotating menu, action plays a vital role. By pressing the “A” button right before an enemy attacks, the character will dodge which can effectively decrease the amount of damage done. There are other moves that require certain buttons to be pressed in rapid succession to produce the desire effect. There is even a point during attack where the “A” button will cause the auction to become a stylish action which will elicit a heightened response from the audience. Audience? Yes, audience. But what should be clear is that this will not be your standard menu based RPG, but the constant need for player input during battle not only draws the player more into the battle, but also cause battles to remain entertaining far longer than would be the case in other titles. But what part does an audience play in the battle system? This brings us to the key addition of Paper Mario 2.
Very few games can match this game's artistic quality
Instead of battling in general locations, Mario, partner, and enemy are all transported to a stage, as in theater stage. The stage adds many new factors to the battle sequence. During battle, there are really only three stats that play an important role—heart points, flower points, and star points. While hearts and flowers directly correlate with health and ability points, the last of the three is completely tied to the audience. Within the first chapter, Mario will uncover that there are seven stars that he must collect. Each of these stars grants him a special power as well as another star point. These abilities require a certain number of star points to be used during battle. When Mario runs out of star points, there is only one way to refill them—the audience.
As Mario battles, the audience will react positively or negatively. If the audience is pleased with Mario, they will reward him with praise which slowly recharges his star points. Fast battles where Mario deals heavy damage but takes very little will greatly please the crowd. As the crowd is thrilled with the performance, it will even grow to include additional spectators. If the character is able to complete a stylish attack, the audience will go wild. Additionally, the character can use a full turn to appeal to the crowd to help further refill the star points gauge. As Mario gains levels, the stage will grow larger meaning that more viewers can enter the fray. But be careful! If you displease your audience, they may throw harmful objects at you. And at times, the stage may even fall apart due to particularly destructive attacks. No longer will fighting your enemy be adequate. You must now fight your enemy, be mindful of the stage, and please your audience all while trying to defend yourself. While this all may sound quite challenging, the majority of the game actually features a low difficulty level which may disappoint some gamers hoping for a greater challenge.
The Thousand Year Door offers one of the most visually stimulating experiences of any Gamecube title to date. Intelligent Systems has done a superb job of adding fantastic animations to the many characters and locations. Likewise, the particle effects are also quite stunning. At times, the screen fills will hundreds of characters and effects, but the game never seems to lag a bit. In fact, only once did the game stutter through an entire play through. Many of the characters were actually hand drawn giving them the very precise lines and design evident for most of the game. The artistic quality of some levels is even gripping at times. From a giant castle filled with stained glass to sewers aged with decay to snowy flurries, Paper Mario 2 seems to have nearly every location accounted for in great detail. In addition to these great environments, Mario’s many paper abilities are quite effectively rendered. The only gripe that can be had is with the textures. While everything is brightly colored, nothing seems to have a texture. The most lacking texture is that of paper. Surely the Gamecube is capable of handling more advanced textures.
Super Bowser Bros?
If you have heard one Mario song, you have heard them all. Paper Mario 2 really doesn’t bring anything new to the table either. Sure, there are a few new songs and remixes, some of which are quite good. The lack of live performed music, however, seems to bring the quality down. Instead, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems were more content to grab the old midi machine. This would easily be overlooked if there were a few good vocals thrown into the mix. But in standard Nintendo form, voice acting was left out! Instead, the only thing that you are likely to hear is the occasional squeal or grunt from Mario. It is past time for Nintendo to begin implementing voice acting into their games. In nearly every franchise of the past ten years, when voice acting was added (good voice acting mind you), the game was enhanced. Instead, copious amounts of text are added. The text does do an effective job of conveying emotion as it moves, jumps, changes color, and more to portray the feelings of that particular character. But text can never completely replace the effectiveness of voice acting.
You can expect about 30-40 hours of play from the main story, but if you choose to complete all side quests, collecting all the items, it could balloon into nearly 80-100 hours of play. Regardless of which you choose to complete, Paper Mario 2 offers a moderately lengthy amount of play time. Once the game has been completed, however, you will probably not find any compelling reason to come back for more. It’s fun while it lasts, but offers little appeal after the end.
Mario was always better in 2D anyways
Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door is a must buy for Mario enthusiasts. For everyone else, Paper Mario 2 is a fully developed role playing game—something the Gamecube has had in short supply. Not only has Nintendo published another great game, but Intelligent Systems has successfully developed their second console game. Even though the game lacks quality music, has no voice acting, and has a pretty easy difficulty level, it offers an engaging experience filled with nostalgia and excitement. Gamecube owners hungry for an exclusive to call their own need look no farther than here!
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