Many fans of the Paper Mario franchise feel it has lost a lot of appeal, focusing more on paper gimmicks and sticking to Super Mario aesthetics rather than creating their own unique RPGs that happen to look like crafted dioramas. Paper Mario: The Origami King may have been better received than its predecessors Sticker Star and Color Splash, but that hasn't stopped people from asking Nintendo to port older entries like The Thousand-Year Door. Thus it was a big deal when the original Paper Mario was confirmed for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack's N64 library.

Older games can be difficult to play because of modern sensibilities in the best of circumstances, and the Nintendo Switch's N64 emulation has received backlash for iffy quality on top of the "Expansion Pack" subscription price hike. Still, this version of Paper Mario is a solid way for long-time fans to get their fix of the series' original style, and its quality details should show newcomers why there's such a cult following to this day.

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Paper Mario is Like a Test Run for The Thousand-Year Door

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Anyone who grew up playing Paper Mario on N64 or The Thousand-Year Door on GameCube should be familiar with their similarities. Both feature combat with action commands that has inspired indies like Ikenfell and Bug Fables, as well as quests in which Mario has to collect star-based objectives to defeat a great evil - with cutaway scenes between each chapter. However, it's clear the GameCube title was like an enhanced remake as far as particular details like mechanics and characters are concerned.

The first few partners Mario picks up in Paper Mario are Goombario, Kooper, and Bombette, whose overworld abilities and battle techniques are mimicked almost verbatim by Goombella, Koops, and Admiral Bobbery in The Thousand-Year Door. The GameCube title does iterate upon their presence by making partners full-fledged combatants with their own health bars and added utility. However, the original game's experience isn't far off, even if (by default) using overworld abilities and items with the right Joy-Con's analog stick for the Switch Online port feels a little clunky.

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How Paper Mario's World Feels All Its Own

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Despite the similarities that make Paper Mario a taste for why people love The Thousand-Year Door in particular, it would be disingenuous to call the game a lesser facsimile. The Thousand-Year Door takes Mario to a far-off land with Rogueport as its main hub, but Paper Mario is set in the Mushroom Kingdom. Areas like Shooting Star Hill or Lavalava Island stand out as unique to Paper Mario while also serving as fun nods to Super Mario RPG and Yoshi's Island.

The game's writing has its own brand of charm and comedy too, much of it centered around how famous Mario is across his homeland; leading everyone to be excited or terrified when he arrives. Its overall environmental design also feels a lot softer than the follow-up, which has more sharp lines as paper goods fold in on themselves or chunks of wall explode away. In Paper Mario, doors will gently bounce out of reach, and whenever characters fall from the sky it's by wafting down on the breeze - sometimes even getting stuck like a thrown playing card at the bottom.

Plenty of small details characterize Paper Mario as a special game even 20 years later. When Mario hits something unbreakable with a hammer, a shiver runs up his character model. The game's first big area outside of Toad Town, Pleasant Path, has plenty of quirky images to take advantage of its papercraft setting; from a warning about Goombas where the enemy leaps off its sign to a set of small candy cane-like hills where only one inexplicable follows Mario with its gaze. Little seems wrong with Paper Mario's Switch emulation, so curious bystanders should use it to see what all the hype is about.

Paper Mario is available now through Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.

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