Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Encyclopedia
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, or Paper Mario 2, released in Japan as , is a console role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems
and published by Nintendo
for the Nintendo GameCube
. The Thousand-Year Door is the second game in the Paper Mario series.
The Thousand-Year Door borrows many gameplay elements from its predecessor, the Nintendo 64
game Paper Mario
. These elements include a turn-based battle system with an emphasis on action as well as a paper-themed universe. For the majority of the game the player controls Mario
, although Bowser and Princess Peach
are playable at certain points. The plot follows Mario's quest as he tries to retrieve the seven Crystal Stars and rescue Peach from the X-Nauts.
The game was well received by critics, with an average score of 88 percent from Game Rankings
. In general, critics praised the game's engaging plot and gameplay, but criticised it for not being a big progression from its predecessor. The Thousand-Year Door won the "Role Playing Game of the Year" award at the 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards.
The Thousand-Year Door has a unique 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 a paper airplane by standing on a special activation panel, and roll up into a scroll of paper or become paper-thin. The game's environments also follow this theme; for example, illusory objects that conceal secret items or switches can be blown away by a gust of wind due to the environment's paper-like qualities. In certain parts of the game, the player controls Bowser in multiple side-scrolling levels based on Super Mario Bros.
. Additionally, the player controls Peach in the X-Naut Fortress at the completion of most game chapters.
Battles in The Thousand-Year Door borrow elements 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 can result in substantial attack or defence bonuses when performed correctly. A similar "action command" was also used in all released Mario role-playing games. In The Thousand-Year Door, each of Mario's party members now have their own heart points (HP) and may receive any attack that Mario can receive. When a partner's heart points are reduced to zero, the partner becomes inactive for the rest of that battle and later battles until recovery. If Mario's Heart Points are reduced to zero, however, the game ends. Flower Points—which are required for special moves—are shared among 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
. Mario can choose to upgrade his heart points (HP), flower points (FP), or his badge points (BP). The battles take place on a stage in front of an audience; if the player performs well in a battle, the audience can assist Mario by replenishing star points, throwing helpful items on-stage, or inflicting damage on the opponent. Conversely, the audience may throw damage-causing items at the player or leave if the player performs poorly in a battle.
Outside of battle, the game contains some strong console role-playing game traditions. For example, Mario's strength is determined by multiple statistical fields and status-boosting items that can be used in and outside of combat. The effects of these items range from healing Mario or his partner to damaging the opponent. Mario can also purchase badges from non-player character
s or occasionally obtain them from defeated enemies; when equipped, these badges can permanently enhance a particular skill or aspect, or, in some cases, give Mario new moves, including Sleepy Stomp and Quake Hammer. Throughout the game, Mario is permanently assisted by a party member. Each party member has a specialised skill, some of which are required to solve puzzles to advance progression in the game. More party members are gained as the player advances through the game.
s, although many are used in the game's various subquests. In particular, the Goomba Professor Frankly, who knows the most about the mysteries relating to Rogueport, must be visited every time Mario retrieves a Crystal Star. The game continues the tradition of Paper Mario
, in which Mario can be accompanied by one assistant character at a set time. There are seven party members in total: Goombella the Goomba
, Koops the Koopa, Madame Flurrie, a Yoshi
(named by the player), Vivian, Admiral Bobbery the Bob-omb, and Ms. Mowz, who is available as a optional character. All of these can assist Mario in combatting the game's primary antagonist, Sir Grodus, leader of the X-Nauts.
Mario is the main character of The Thousand-Year Door, although the game will frequently cut to Princess Peach in the X-Naut Fortress. Much time is spent on her interaction with the computer TEC, which has suffered from a glitch and has fallen in love with Peach to her surprise. The main antagonist of the Mario series, Bowser, tries to collect the Crystal Stars before Mario does instead of directly opposing Mario. Luigi
's role in the game consists of recounting his adventure, which also involves the use of secondary characters in the form of party members.
The game opens with an introduction about a seaside town which was damaged by a cataclysm and consequently sunk into the depths of the earth. A town named Rogueport was later built at this site, with the fortunes of the lost kingdom fabled to exist behind the eponymous Thousand-Year Door, located in the ruins of the old town. Mario
becomes involved when Princess Peach
contacts him about a treasure map that she bought in Rogueport, but becomes part of a larger adventure after learning that Peach has gone missing. With the help of Goombella and Professor Frankly, Mario learns that the map can potentially reveal the location of the seven legendary Crystal Stars, which are required to unlock the Thousand-Year Door. Under the assumption that Peach herself is trying to find the Crystal Stars, he uses the map in an attempt to locate her.
In actuality, Peach has been kidnapped by the Secret Society of X-Nauts ("X-Nauts" for short), a group led by Sir Grodus that are also searching for the Crystal Stars. While held captive, Peach uses e-mail
via the main base's computer, TEC, to inform Mario about the quest and consequently help him to attain all seven Crystal Stars and locate the treasure. However, the "treasure" is actually the Shadow Queen, a demon responsible for the ancient cataclysm that destroyed the original town 1,000 years ago. The X-Nauts had kept Peach so that her body could be possessed by the Shadow Queen in a bid to recover her full power. This happens, but the arcane power of the Crystal Stars is then used to separate Peach from her possessor. The game ends when Mario defeats the Shadow Queen and subsequently returns to his house. Then a scene pops up in which Mario is telling his brother Luigi what had happened.
Additionally, Luigi, at various points in the game, talks about his own adventure that took place in the Waffle Kingdom. This was a kingdom which owned a compass that could tell the future. While this compass brought the kingdom much prosperity, it was soon abused. As a result, the kingdom was cursed and was struck by a great cataclysm 1,000 years ago.
Luigi's account of his own adventures is meant to be a humorous parallel to the adventures of Mario. Luigi is accompanied by a different partner, and has a new story roughly each time the player finishes a chapter in the main story line of the game. Luigi's tales often drag on, usually putting Mario and his partner to sleep. Luigi's partners offer a more disastrous account of events, which usually entail a near-fatal blunder by Luigi, and his subsequent rescue by the companion at hand.
first revealed The Thousand-Year Door at the Game Developers Conference
of 2003; before release, the game was known tentatively as Mario Story 2 in Japan and Paper Mario 2 in North America, and was revealed to be a direct sequel to the N64 game Paper Mario. A preview of the game was available at the E3 of 2004 with the playable stages including Hooktail Castle and a Bowser bonus stage. The game was released on October 11, 2004 in North America
. The Thousand-Year Door was met with controversy in 2008 after Morgan Creek Productions
filed a lawsuit against Nintendo alleging that they illegally used the song "You're So Cool" from the film True Romance
in an advertisement for the game. Morgan Creek dropped the case six days later, after Nintendo revealed that the advertising agency, Leo Burnett USA, Inc., had licensing for the song.
A sequel to the game, Super Paper Mario
, was developed by Intelligent Systems
and released for the Wii
in 2007. The game has a stronger emphasis on platforming than its predecessor. Super Paper Marios plot is unrelated to the story of The Thousand-Year Door, but contains many easter eggs
referencing past characters from the previous two games.
's Greg Kasavin stated that "each one provides a thrill of discovery" when referring to the game's individual chapters. Similarly, Eurogamer welcomed the whimsical storyline in comparison to traditional role-playing games, commenting that "[it is] something closer to Finding Nemo
than Final Fantasy
, which is very much a compliment." The game's characters were also well received, with reviewers complimenting the use of NPCs and text. Despite this, some reviewers did complain that the story developed slowly in the beginning stages of the game. Eurogamer also rated the high level of text as "the only major stumbling block" of the game.
One of The Thousand-Year Doors main features, the use of a paper-based universe, was welcomed by reviewers. When referring to the paper theme, 1UP commented that "It's a cohesive, clever approach that turns the game's visual style into more than just a look". Critics also commented extensively on the game's battle system, which deviated from traditional RPGs. GameSpy
praised the use of timing in the battle system, stating that "these twitch elements were designed to be fun and engaging, and they succeed wonderfully at this". Reviewers also praised the concept of having an audience to reward or berate Mario during battle.
The game's visuals received a mixed response from critics. GameSpot enjoyed the game's presentation, writing that "it exhibits a level of visual artistry and technical prowess matched or exceeded by few other GameCube games". Conversely, other reviewers complained that the graphics were not much of a visual upgrade from its predecessor, Paper Mario. For the game's use of audio, IGN declared it "game music at its purest", but proceeded to question the absence of voice acting
in the text based game. RPGamer commented that the music "for the most part is done very well", but that the perceived repetitive battle music was "one of the biggest flaws" of the game. The game won "Role Playing Game of the Year" at the 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards. The game was ranked 56th in Official Nintendo Magazine's "100 Greatest Nintendo Games" feature.
In its first week of release in Japan
, The Thousand-Year Door was the best-selling game, with approximately 159,000 units sold. It proceeded to sell 409,000 units in the country, and 1.23 million copies in North America. The game has since been included in the Player's Choice
line.
Intelligent Systems
is a Japanese first-party video game developer and internal team of Nintendo Co., Ltd. It has its headquarters in the Nintendo Kyoto Research Center in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture....
and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
. The Thousand-Year Door is the second game in the Paper Mario series.
The Thousand-Year Door borrows many gameplay elements from its predecessor, the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
game Paper Mario
Paper Mario
Paper Mario, known in Japan as , is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 game console. It was first released in Japan on August 11, 2000, in North America on February 5, 2001, and in Europe and Australia on October 5, 2001...
. These elements include a turn-based battle system with an emphasis on action as well as a paper-themed universe. For the majority of the game the player controls Mario
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
, although Bowser and Princess Peach
Princess Peach
is a character in Nintendo's Mario series of video games. She is the Princess of the fictitious Mushroom Kingdom, and often plays the damsel in distress role within the adventure series. In 2007, Princess Peach landed on Forbes magazine's Wealthiest Fictional People list, with a fortune upwards of...
are playable at certain points. The plot follows Mario's quest as he tries to retrieve the seven Crystal Stars and rescue Peach from the X-Nauts.
The game was well received by critics, with an average score of 88 percent from Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
. In general, critics praised the game's engaging plot and gameplay, but criticised it for not being a big progression from its predecessor. The Thousand-Year Door won the "Role Playing Game of the Year" award at the 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards.
Gameplay
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
environments and two-dimensional
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
characters who look as if they are made of paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
. 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 a paper airplane by standing on a special activation panel, and roll up into a scroll of paper or become paper-thin. The game's environments also follow this theme; for example, illusory objects that conceal secret items or switches can be blown away by a gust of wind due to the environment's paper-like qualities. In certain parts of the game, the player controls Bowser in multiple side-scrolling levels based on Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...
. Additionally, the player controls Peach in the X-Naut Fortress at the completion of most game chapters.
Battles in The Thousand-Year Door borrow elements from the original Paper Mario
Paper Mario
Paper Mario, known in Japan as , is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 game console. It was first released in Japan on August 11, 2000, in North America on February 5, 2001, and in Europe and Australia on October 5, 2001...
and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, often shortened and officially known in Japan as , is an action role-playing game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . It was originally released on March 9, 1996 in Japan and on May 13,...
. The turn-based system, in which players select an attack, defense, or item from a menu, is augmented by timed button presses that can result in substantial attack or defence bonuses when performed correctly. A similar "action command" was also used in all released Mario role-playing games. In The Thousand-Year Door, each of Mario's party members now have their own heart points (HP) and may receive any attack that Mario can receive. When a partner's heart points are reduced to zero, the partner becomes inactive for the rest of that battle and later battles until recovery. If Mario's Heart Points are reduced to zero, however, the game ends. Flower Points—which are required for special moves—are shared among 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
Level Up
Level Up was a UK children's TV programme that was broadcast on CBBC. It was launched on the 3rd April 2006, replacing Xchange. The show was an hour long and during the school year broadcasting from 7:30am until 8:30am...
. Mario can choose to upgrade his heart points (HP), flower points (FP), or his badge points (BP). The battles take place on a stage in front of an audience; if the player performs well in a battle, the audience can assist Mario by replenishing star points, throwing helpful items on-stage, or inflicting damage on the opponent. Conversely, the audience may throw damage-causing items at the player or leave if the player performs poorly in a battle.
Outside of battle, the game contains some strong console role-playing game traditions. For example, Mario's strength is determined by multiple statistical fields and status-boosting items that can be used in and outside of combat. The effects of these items range from healing Mario or his partner to damaging the opponent. Mario can also purchase badges from non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s or occasionally obtain them from defeated enemies; when equipped, these badges can permanently enhance a particular skill or aspect, or, in some cases, give Mario new moves, including Sleepy Stomp and Quake Hammer. Throughout the game, Mario is permanently assisted by a party member. Each party member has a specialised skill, some of which are required to solve puzzles to advance progression in the game. More party members are gained as the player advances through the game.
Plot and setting
The Thousand-Year Door is not set in a paper-based version of the Mushroom Kingdom,, but in a cursed island. The majority of locations are not featured in previous Mario games. Most locations consist of a set theme; Glitzville, for example, is a floating city centred around a wrestling arena. The enemies and town inhabitants in the game range from recurring Mario characters, like Boo, to characters exclusive to the game, such as the X-Nauts. For many stages in the game, the story is presented in the context of a novel, and is divided into eight chapters.Characters
The Thousand-Year Door contains several characters, the majority of whom are not playable. Progression in the game is sometimes dependent on interaction with non-player characterNon-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s, although many are used in the game's various subquests. In particular, the Goomba Professor Frankly, who knows the most about the mysteries relating to Rogueport, must be visited every time Mario retrieves a Crystal Star. The game continues the tradition of Paper Mario
Paper Mario
Paper Mario, known in Japan as , is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 game console. It was first released in Japan on August 11, 2000, in North America on February 5, 2001, and in Europe and Australia on October 5, 2001...
, in which Mario can be accompanied by one assistant character at a set time. There are seven party members in total: Goombella the Goomba
Goomba
Goombas, known in Japan as , are fictional species from Nintendo's series of Mario video games. They first appeared in the NES video game Super Mario Bros. as the first enemy players encounter. They have appeared outside of video games, including in film, television, and other media...
, Koops the Koopa, Madame Flurrie, a Yoshi
Yoshi
, is a fictional dragon-like character who appears in video games published by Nintendo. His debut was in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick , and he later established his own series with several platform and puzzle games, including Super...
(named by the player), Vivian, Admiral Bobbery the Bob-omb, and Ms. Mowz, who is available as a optional character. All of these can assist Mario in combatting the game's primary antagonist, Sir Grodus, leader of the X-Nauts.
Mario is the main character of The Thousand-Year Door, although the game will frequently cut to Princess Peach in the X-Naut Fortress. Much time is spent on her interaction with the computer TEC, which has suffered from a glitch and has fallen in love with Peach to her surprise. The main antagonist of the Mario series, Bowser, tries to collect the Crystal Stars before Mario does instead of directly opposing Mario. Luigi
Luigi
is a fictional character, featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the slightly younger fraternal twin brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, and appears in many games throughout the Mario series,...
's role in the game consists of recounting his adventure, which also involves the use of secondary characters in the form of party members.
Story
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
becomes involved when Princess Peach
Princess Peach
is a character in Nintendo's Mario series of video games. She is the Princess of the fictitious Mushroom Kingdom, and often plays the damsel in distress role within the adventure series. In 2007, Princess Peach landed on Forbes magazine's Wealthiest Fictional People list, with a fortune upwards of...
contacts him about a treasure map that she bought in Rogueport, but becomes part of a larger adventure after learning that Peach has gone missing. With the help of Goombella and Professor Frankly, Mario learns that the map can potentially reveal the location of the seven legendary Crystal Stars, which are required to unlock the Thousand-Year Door. Under the assumption that Peach herself is trying to find the Crystal Stars, he uses the map in an attempt to locate her.
In actuality, Peach has been kidnapped by the Secret Society of X-Nauts ("X-Nauts" for short), a group led by Sir Grodus that are also searching for the Crystal Stars. While held captive, Peach uses e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
via the main base's computer, TEC, to inform Mario about the quest and consequently help him to attain all seven Crystal Stars and locate the treasure. However, the "treasure" is actually the Shadow Queen, a demon responsible for the ancient cataclysm that destroyed the original town 1,000 years ago. The X-Nauts had kept Peach so that her body could be possessed by the Shadow Queen in a bid to recover her full power. This happens, but the arcane power of the Crystal Stars is then used to separate Peach from her possessor. The game ends when Mario defeats the Shadow Queen and subsequently returns to his house. Then a scene pops up in which Mario is telling his brother Luigi what had happened.
Additionally, Luigi, at various points in the game, talks about his own adventure that took place in the Waffle Kingdom. This was a kingdom which owned a compass that could tell the future. While this compass brought the kingdom much prosperity, it was soon abused. As a result, the kingdom was cursed and was struck by a great cataclysm 1,000 years ago.
Luigi's account of his own adventures is meant to be a humorous parallel to the adventures of Mario. Luigi is accompanied by a different partner, and has a new story roughly each time the player finishes a chapter in the main story line of the game. Luigi's tales often drag on, usually putting Mario and his partner to sleep. Luigi's partners offer a more disastrous account of events, which usually entail a near-fatal blunder by Luigi, and his subsequent rescue by the companion at hand.
Development
NintendoNintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
first revealed The Thousand-Year Door at the Game Developers Conference
Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking...
of 2003; before release, the game was known tentatively as Mario Story 2 in Japan and Paper Mario 2 in North America, and was revealed to be a direct sequel to the N64 game Paper Mario. A preview of the game was available at the E3 of 2004 with the playable stages including Hooktail Castle and a Bowser bonus stage. The game was released on October 11, 2004 in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The Thousand-Year Door was met with controversy in 2008 after Morgan Creek Productions
Morgan Creek Productions
Morgan Creek Productions is an American film studio that has released box-office hits like Young Guns, Dead Ringers, Major League, True Romance, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The King and I, The Crush, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and others. The studio was co-founded in 1987 by James G...
filed a lawsuit against Nintendo alleging that they illegally used the song "You're So Cool" from the film True Romance
True Romance
True Romance is a 1993 American romance crime film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. The film stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with an ensemble cast consisting of Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin...
in an advertisement for the game. Morgan Creek dropped the case six days later, after Nintendo revealed that the advertising agency, Leo Burnett USA, Inc., had licensing for the song.
A sequel to the game, Super Paper Mario
Super Paper Mario
is a platform style console role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. Originally developed for the Nintendo GameCube, it was released for the Wii in 2007. The style of gameplay is a combination of the previous Paper Mario titles and Super Mario Bros. titles...
, was developed by Intelligent Systems
Intelligent Systems
is a Japanese first-party video game developer and internal team of Nintendo Co., Ltd. It has its headquarters in the Nintendo Kyoto Research Center in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture....
and released for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
in 2007. The game has a stronger emphasis on platforming than its predecessor. Super Paper Marios plot is unrelated to the story of The Thousand-Year Door, but contains many easter eggs
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
referencing past characters from the previous two games.
Reception
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was generally well received by critics. Critics praised the game's plot in particular, and GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's Greg Kasavin stated that "each one provides a thrill of discovery" when referring to the game's individual chapters. Similarly, Eurogamer welcomed the whimsical storyline in comparison to traditional role-playing games, commenting that "[it is] something closer to Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
than Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
, which is very much a compliment." The game's characters were also well received, with reviewers complimenting the use of NPCs and text. Despite this, some reviewers did complain that the story developed slowly in the beginning stages of the game. Eurogamer also rated the high level of text as "the only major stumbling block" of the game.
One of The Thousand-Year Doors main features, the use of a paper-based universe, was welcomed by reviewers. When referring to the paper theme, 1UP commented that "It's a cohesive, clever approach that turns the game's visual style into more than just a look". Critics also commented extensively on the game's battle system, which deviated from traditional RPGs. GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
praised the use of timing in the battle system, stating that "these twitch elements were designed to be fun and engaging, and they succeed wonderfully at this". Reviewers also praised the concept of having an audience to reward or berate Mario during battle.
The game's visuals received a mixed response from critics. GameSpot enjoyed the game's presentation, writing that "it exhibits a level of visual artistry and technical prowess matched or exceeded by few other GameCube games". Conversely, other reviewers complained that the graphics were not much of a visual upgrade from its predecessor, Paper Mario. For the game's use of audio, IGN declared it "game music at its purest", but proceeded to question the absence of voice acting
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
in the text based game. RPGamer commented that the music "for the most part is done very well", but that the perceived repetitive battle music was "one of the biggest flaws" of the game. The game won "Role Playing Game of the Year" at the 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards. The game was ranked 56th in Official Nintendo Magazine's "100 Greatest Nintendo Games" feature.
In its first week of release in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, The Thousand-Year Door was the best-selling game, with approximately 159,000 units sold. It proceeded to sell 409,000 units in the country, and 1.23 million copies in North America. The game has since been included in the Player's Choice
Player's Choice
Nintendo Selects is a marketing label used by Nintendo to promote video games on Nintendo game consoles which have sold well; Nintendo Selects titles are sold at a lower price point than other games...
line.