A look back at: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

One of the Gamecube's treasures was Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Basically, take the original Paper Mario and make it miles better. That's what this is. Still a very easy RPG, chapter-based, action commands to use, and the usual Mario-style humor. The storytelling is a little better, the interludes add Bowser to the mix and make him seem like a fun joke as always being behind, and Luigi even gets to have his own adventures while Mario has his. Fun, isn't it? You get newer abilities, changes to old ones, the always wonderful badge and level up system, riddles and puzzles. The Crystal Stars are basically the Star Sprites from the previous game in function, and their specials are far better so long as you use them properly. I guess the Pit of 100 Trials is something too, although I'm not in the mood for it right now.

The partners are so much better too. In the previous game, I felt Goombario fell out of favor later in the game, while Lakilester didn't have good abilities and was acquired too late. Bow had trouble with enemies with defense, and apart from Tidal Wave Sushie wasn't that good overall. Here, we don't see too much of trouble. The first member, Goombella, when upgraded, can give Mario extra turns. Flurrie is often hated, but has a good niche as a healer and lots of HP. Bobbery has the best overall attack, and the Yoshi is incredibly versatile. Koops is a better Kooper, and Vivian is versatile and can pierce defenses. Ms. Mowz probably falls out of favor, being a bit like Bow and also being an optional recruit, but also having a healing move and can steal too. It's all helpful.

Well, one thing I'll be happy to no longer see are the battle stage mechanics. They're annoying. You've got audience members who are dweebs and like to interfere. Random items just fall on combatants, as well as the stage background. The stupid sprinklers do nothing but annoy, and THAT FOG. I hate it so much. It's no wonder Bobbery is a godsend when you get him because you can remove the fog with a bomb attack. Now that I think of it, what is the deal with having an audience for every battle? It's so strange. All in good fun though, this is far superior than other games in the Paper Mario series and I'm glad to have played it.