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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
North American cover
Developer	Intelligent Systems
Publisher	Nintendo
Released	July 22, 2004 October 11, 2004 November 12, 2004
Genre	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player
Ratings	ESRB: E (Everyone) PEGI: 3+ CERO: A (All ages) OFLC: G8 +
Platform(s)	Nintendo GameCube
Media	1 × GameCube Optical Disc
Input methods	Nintendo Gamecube Controller

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, released in Japan as Paper Mario RPG (ペーパーマリオRPG, Pēpā Mario Ārupījī^?), is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube and released on October 11, 2004. It is the fourth game in the Mario RPG series, second in the Paper Mario series. It is the sequel to Paper Mario and uses the same gameplay and visual style but with improved visuals, and is also the predecessor of the Wii game Super Paper Mario. It frequently plays on the "paper" aspect of the universe and its characters, in a fourth-wall breach.

Contents 1 Storyline 2 Characters 3 Gameplay 3.1 Unique elements 3.2 Battle system 3.3 Items 3.4 Badges 3.5 Audience and Stage 4 Cameos 5 Reception 6 References 7 External links

The story opens with a short introduction about a prosperous seaside town which was damaged by a cataclysm and then sunk into the depths of the earth. After the site of the town was completely purged of all evidence of its existence, another town, called Rogueport, was built there. A legend about a great treasure soon spread through the town; the ruins of the old city lay beneath Rogueport, including the mysterious Thousand-Year Door, said to contain the fortunes of the lost kingdom.

Princess Peach, on vacation, visits the town and meets a merchant; the merchant gives her a small box, which is said to only open for one with a pure and noble heart, and says that if Peach can open it, she may have whatever is inside. Peach is able to open the box, and gains possession of the magical treasure map. She then sends it to Mario, accompanied by a letter telling him to meet her in Rogueport to join her for a treasure hunt. Mario sets off to meet her, but when he arrives, Peach is nowhere to be found. Upon rescuing a young Goomba girl named Goombella from a group of mysterious thugs, the sassy archaeologist and her mentor, Professor Frankly, take Mario to the ruins of the old city. When Mario holds the map before the Thousand-Year Door, the location of a Crystal Star appears; all seven stars are needed to open the door. Mario, supposing Peach may have gone ahead of him on the adventure, decides to look for her using the Crystal Stars as a sort of guide, hoping to find her along the way.

Unbeknownst to Mario, Princess Peach has actually been kidnapped by a group known as the X-Nauts, led by Sir Grodus; Grodus had heard that she was in possession of the map, and kidnapped her only to find that the map was gone. Despite this, Grodus refuses to release her, claiming that he needs her for an undisclosed purpose. During her confinement in the X-Nauts' fortress, Peach encounters a computer called TEC. Though a computer, TEC seems to have an affection for Peach and gradually provides her with information about the X-Nauts' plot and allows her to send e-mail messages to Mario. Mario, with the help of both Peach and the friends he gathers on his journey, soon collects all seven Crystal Stars.

It is eventually revealed that the "treasure" hidden behind the Thousand-Year Door is actually a demon known as the Shadow Queen, the true cause of the ancient cataclysm. Grodus seeks to recover the Crystal Stars and resurrect the demon, whose power he desires to use to conquer the world (unknown to him, however, the seal placed on the demon's palace can only last for a thousand years- hence the door's name- and that the time limit has nearly expired). TEC, discovering Grodus's true intention, also discovers another horrifying fact; the Shadow Queen, weakened from her imprisonment, requires a physical form to reach her full power- and the X-Nauts intend to use Peach for this purpose. The princess tries to warn Mario about the danger behind the Thousand-Year Door, but Grodus discovers them at this point; he subsequently shuts TEC down for his 'treason', and advances upon Peach. When Mario arrives at the X-Naut's Moon Base to save her, he discovers that Grodus has already taken her back to Rougeport.

Mario returns to Rogueport, and, entering the Thousand-Year Door, heads inside to save Peach and destroy the demon. Upon reaching the entrance to the Shadow Queen's chamber, he encounters Grodus with Peach as his hostage, and engages him in battle. He is defeated, but Mario is attacked by Bowser, who, jealous of Grodus, had been searching for Mario and Peach to reclaim his usual status of being the princess's kidnapper.

With Bowser distracting Mario, Grodus manages to escape with Peach into a corridor leading to the area where the Shadow Queen is imprisoned. She possesses Peach, and, after Grodus attempts to control her, blasts him to pieces (although his robotic head survives), declaring that she serves nobody. Mario tries to take her down, but she is seemingly invincible; however, just as it looks hopeless, the Crystal Stars channel the wishes of all the people across the land to the palace, weakening the Shadow Queen enough for Peach to momentarily break free of her influence. Peach revitalizes Mario, and, with the Stars having broken the Queen's magic, Mario destroys her once and for all.

Saying a final farewell to his friends, Mario and Peach, reunited, depart Rogueport and head back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Main article: List of Paper Mario series characters

The Thousand-Year Door has some unique elements owing to its visual style. The graphics consist of a mixture of three-dimensional environments and two-dimensional characters, who look as if they are made of paper. At different points in the game, Mario is "cursed" with abilities that enable special moves in the overworld, all of which are based on the paper theme. Mario can fold into a boat or paper airplane when he stands on a special activation panel, and he can also turn paper thin and roll up into a scroll of paper.

A variety of other visual effects also play on this theme. Illusory objects that conceal secret items or switches can be blown away by a gust of wind, as they are actually pieces of paper with the object drawn on them, stuck onto the 'page' of the game world. Some switches cause changes in the world in ways that match the paper theme, such as a bridge appearing by way of a flipbook-like animation or stone stairs being folded out from a single piece of stone-colored paper.

The player controls Bowser in certain parts of the game. These segments are a true side-scrolling environment (reminiscent of the original Super Mario Bros. levels, with a new arrangement of the Super Mario Bros. theme music). The only power-up is a cut of ham, which increases Bowser's size. Several of these can be collected until Bowser becomes gargantuan and invulnerable.

The game also breaks the fourth wall on several occasions.

Battles in The Thousand-Year Door borrow heavily from the original Paper Mario and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The turn-based system, in which players select an attack, defense, or item from a menu, is augmented by timed button presses that, when performed correctly, can result in substantial attack or defense bonuses. This system was also used in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.

In The Thousand-Year Door, Mario's party members now each have their own Heart Points (HP) and they may receive any attack that Mario can receive. When a partner's Heart Points are reduced to 0, the partner becomes inactive for the rest of that battle and later battles until at least one of its Heart Points are restored. If Mario's Heart Points are reduced to 0, however, the game ends even if partners are still available (the only exceptions to this rule are when Mario is defeated during a fight in the Glitz Pit, or if the party has a Life Shroom in their inventory, which restores 10 Heart Points when either Mario or his partner falls). Flower Points are shared between Mario and his party members.

Defeating enemies awards various numbers of Star Points to Mario; for every 100 Star Points, Mario is able to level up, choosing between three character statistic enhancements. Selecting Health Points (HP) adds the specified number of points (5) to Mario's maximum Heart Points, allowing him to last longer in battle; opting for Flower Points (FP) adds the specified number of points (5) to Mario's maximum Flower Points, giving Mario and his partners additional ability to perform special moves; and finally, selecting Badge Points (BP) adds the specified number of points (3) to Mario's maximum Badge Points, increasing the number of badges Mario can equip at any given time. In The Thousand-Year Door, Mario's maximum level is 99, as opposed to 27. Also, there is a limit to Heart Points (200), Flower Points (200), and Badge Points (99) as in the original Paper Mario unless the Action Replay is used to get more than 200 HP and FP.

Eventually, individual enemies may give him no Star Points; however, Mario will gain at least one Star Point after winning a battle.

Items are basically power-ups that help Mario in battle and/or gameplay, such replenishing Heart Points, replenishing Flower Points and attacking enemies. Most of these items can be bought at shops. Items can also be created by "cooking" other items, by themselves or combined with one other item. The cook, Zess T., lives in Rogueport. Items are also occasionally dropped by enemies after beating them in battle.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door retains the "Badge" system introduced in Paper Mario. Equipping a Badge can do various things; some Badges provide boosts in offense and defense, some provide additional attacks, some increase the player's character statistics, and others only cause aesthetic changes to the game. There are many Badges in the game, and each one has a unique power. Each Badge (besides the ones that only have aesthetic effects, such as the Attack FX Badge series, or detrimental badges like Double Pain) takes a certain number of Badge Points, or BP, to equip; as noted above, players can increase Mario's total BP when he levels up. There are also "P" Badges, which have the same name as their standard counterparts but with a "P" tacked to the end (e.g. "Pretty Lucky P"), which affect Mario's partners rather than himself. In The Thousand-Year Door, Badges can be bought and sold at a badge shop, a change from Paper Mario, where you could buy but not sell badges. You can also find Badges in Red ? Blocks.

In contrast to both Paper Mario and Super Mario RPG, battles in The Thousand-Year Door happen on a stage in front of an audience. As the characters perform more advanced attacks, the audience grows, and Star Power is awarded based on the size of the audience. Having Star Power in turn lets the player perform special moves. However, when the player fails to execute a timed button press in time, some of the audience members may run away. Also, by performing a second timed button press during the move (the opportunities are not shown unless Mario wears a special badge), the player can get a "Stylish" action, which triples the amount of Star Power they gain. From time to time, the audience tries to throw items at the player. These can be either helpful items that replenish HP, a coin, or an item that inflicts damage on the players. By pressing the "X" button before the audience member throws the item, Mario or his partner will chase the audience member away, regardless of whether the item the audience member holds is helpful or harmful. This adds the aspect of reflex to the battles; the player only has about two seconds to judge whether the item is useful or not, and if it is not, to press the "X" button and shoo away the audience member before the item is thrown.

• Parakarry is shown in the very beginning of the game delivering a letter to the Mario Bros. similar to the opening of Paper Mario.
• Bow appears in Poshley Heights after beating the game.
• Several hackers were able to open up the game and find all the available image files used within. Interestingly enough, there were new Thousand-Year Door styles of all the previous allies from the original Paper Mario. The only two that actually appear ingame, however, are Parakarry and Bow. ^[1]
• Jr. Troopa appears in the window in the picture attached to Zip Toad's e-mail.
• The email system Mario has is referred to as The Mailbox SP, in reference to the Gameboy SP. When Mario gets the first email from Peach, and the player has Goombella out as an active partner, she will comment on the Mailbox SP stating that it was, "The one with the light," a reference to the Gameboy SP being the first Game Boy to feature a light up screen.
• After beating the wrestling chapter of the Glitz Pit, the player will have the option to go back and work the way to the top of the rankings again. Doing so will result in another fight with the champion, Rawk Hawk. During the scene where Mario enters, most of the members will shout out his name. A sole member of the audience will shout "JUMPMAN! Wait, who?" which is a reference to Mario's original name on the game Donkey Kong.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door received mostly positive reviews from critics, and the game currently holds an average score of 88% on Game Rankings.^[2] IGN gave the game a score of 9.1 out of 10, calling it "an absolute blast to play." ^[3] GameSpot gave the game a score of 9.2 out of 10, calling it "the product of some incredible talent in game design." ^[4] GameSpy gave the game a score of 4 out of 5, saying, "if you have a soul, then this game will make it feel all warm and fuzzy." ^[5] Others were more critical, such as Game Informer; the magazine's two reviewers gave the game scores of 6.75 and 6.00 out of 10, calling it "the million-year bore" and criticizing the game's lengthy dialogue screens and lack of appeal for adults. ^[6] Gaming websites Game Revolution and Videogames NZ also criticized the game, the former accusing it of having a "lack of serious innovation" ^[7] and the latter saying "it’s just too boring and aggravating to bear." ^[8] In 2007, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was named 16^th best GameCube game of all time in IGN.^[9]

The game had won The Console Role Playing Game at the 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards

• Official website-This is the official page that replaced the official page for Paper Mario for N64.
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door guide at StrategyWiki
• Lost Bytes: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
• The Thousand-Year Door page at Mario Wiki

v • d • e Mario RPG series
Original	Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Paper Mario series	Paper Mario • The Thousand-Year Door • Super Paper Mario
Mario & Luigi series	Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga • Partners in Time
Characters • Games by year/by system/by genre