TTYD is poised to remain relevant for another 20 years

Originally released on the Nintendo GameCube in 2004, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door celebrates its 20th anniversary in North America today, October 11th, and is in one of the best positions retro gamers could ever hope for. The fan-favorite title was revived as a Nintendo Switch exclusive last year, surprising many longtime fans with its extremely faithful remake.




It is incredible that this memorable turn-based Mario The RPG gets to celebrate its second decade since its release as a Switch title as it spent its tenth and fifteenth anniversaries lost to the GameCube era, only playable through the original GameCube and Wii through backwards compatibility. That's only if players somehow managed to either keep their original copy working or buy it at the high retro game scalping prices TTYD was known for, but now all types of players can easily get Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door to experience its grandeur, at the same time feeling familiar yet completely new at the same time.

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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – All Charlieton locations

In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Charlieton appears in several areas with various items, but are they worth your coins?

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Absolute deserves its Renewal


Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has remained in the hearts of gamers for 20 years

The fact that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has been a requested port by fans of Nintendo for decades is not without merit. As a sequel, it concretizes important concepts from Paper Mario 64 while delivering on a bigger world to explore, new partners, a more in-depth story and so much more that really elevated the experience. The Millennium Door was so uniquely whimsical and light-hearted, yet a real adventure, so it makes sense why players would want to experience it over and over again over the years.

A combination of factors, from Nintendo missing several porting opportunities over the last twenty years, as well Paper MarioThe overall treatment, which changed with each game thereafter to differentiate itself from the first two titles, had fans dreaming of a return to form for the series, or for Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door should be redone (or at least ported) so they can be played again easily.


The Switch version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door improves on everything gamers could ask for

When the Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door come fans had almost given up hope that a possible re-release wouldn't be TTYD. Even now, with the Switch version hitting shelves with its updated HD graphics, dynamic lighting, and some new quality-of-life features that go a long way, many gamers still can't believe that the remake would be given so much detail in such an unlikely scenario. Even the transgender nature of Vivian's character was fixed in the Switch release, which fans were hoping for, and were pleasantly surprised to see happen after so long.

To be fair, depending on what players like to do in the game, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doors remake isn't perfect. With new timing for several action commands, such as item prices being adjusted, there is a bit of a learning curve that players familiar with the GameCube original will have to adjust to. But beyond that, there really isn't much reason to play the first release over the Switch version, especially since it's such a cheaper and more accessible option for gamers these days.


Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door won't be forgotten for a while yet

Thanks to the Switch version, the original twenty-year-old version of the game can justify its currently hefty price tag as a collector's item, while future fans interested in finally playing it can and arguably should pick up the updated version from their storefront of choice. While the original certainly has its charm and place in players' memories, the remake improves on all aspects of that whimsy, wonder and more. As the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 console is rumored to have backwards compatibility, there's also a good chance that the Switch version will remain readily available for a long time to come, ensuring that this classic will keep gamers happy for the foreseeable future. After years of remaining a stranded title, this relevancy secured is honestly the best anniversary gift in a long time Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door fans could ever have asked for.

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