Nintendo’s new Paper Mario remaster doesn’t mess with perfection

Paper Mario: The Millennial Door originally launched on the GameCube in 2004 to great acclaim, and the upcoming Nintendo Switch re-release won’t ruin the perfection. Nintendo and Intelligent Systems’ remaster of the groundbreaking role-playing game – which also represented the Paper Mario series at its peak – will instead give Mario fans a better-looking version of the original game, with a few welcome tweaks. It also gives the huge Switch audience the chance to experience this classic Nintendo game for the first time.

Unlike the major graphical overhaul of Super Mario RPGreleased last year on Switch, Paper Mario: The Millennial Door will be more like your memories of the GameCube original, based on a hands-off demo Nintendo showed to Polygon last week. Characters like Mario, Peach, and Bowser are still rendered as flattened 2D paper cutouts, and the game’s world is still constructed from chunky cardboard objects. But everything looks sharper. Stages are bathed in warm, realistic light, and characters cast shadows and reflect realistically in pools of water. There’s also updated music, along with streamlined controls and menus. That’s all well and good for Switch players, but fans of the original GameCube will also get a few new toys to play with.

For newcomers, Paper Mario: The Millennial Door sends Mario and a handful of his friends on an adventure to – what else? – save Princess Peach. Her captors here are a group of aliens known as the X-Nauts, led by the evil Lord Crump. Mario enlists allies along his journey such as Goombella, the archaeologist Goomba, a shy Koopa named Koops, and a lustful cloud spirit known as Madame Flurrie.

Outside of the battles, which take place mainly in arenas presented as plays (complete with fickle audiences), players explore overworld and underground areas in a side-scrolling style. These sections are filled with hidden power-ups and collectibles to find, and environmental challenges and puzzles to solve. Mario can use special abilities, funnily enough called “curses,” to transform into a paper airplane or swing through paper-thin gaps to reach new areas as players explore.

Like other Mario role-playing games, battles in Paper Mario: The Millennial Door are turn and timing based. The game offers an enjoyable balance between turn-based action and platform combat, where pressing a button at the right time will determine whether Mario succeeds or not. There is depth to the fight against it The millennial door in addition to well-timed button presses, with a host of attacks, items and power-ups known as badges, which players can equip to modify Mario’s abilities.

Mario’s various party members add layers to the game’s tactics and action; each also has unique abilities that complement Mario’s signature attacks (e.g. jumps, hammers, fireballs). For example, Goombella has a special attack called Tattle, which exposes the enemy’s strengths. In a new addition to Paper Mario: The Millennial Door on Switch, she also offers gameplay hints and guidance on what to do next outside of combat. In another quality of life update, a new “Partner Ring” pop-up will make it easier to instantly switch between partners with a single button press, eliminating the need to delve into game menus.

Image: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo

The game also adds another new feature called the Battle Master, a Toad martial arts expert that players can visit to practice moves and try out badges without having to get into combat. There’s also at least one new badge: the Nostalgic Tunes badge, which allows players to hear the original background music from the GameCube version.

Outside of exploration and turn-based combat, one of the strongest aspects of Paper Mario: The Millennial Door is writing the game; the role-playing game is full of humor and meta-jokes about the Mario franchise. Nintendo says some of the game’s script has been updated in line with modern sensibilities for the remaster. Nintendo hasn’t said what changes have been made in terms of dialogue, but expect some refinement of the script.

Nintendo teased additional unannounced updates for Paper Mario: The Millennial DoorSome of which Switch owners will apparently have to discover for themselves when the role-playing game releases on May 23.