What Makes ‘Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door’ So Special?

I have never been much of a Nintendo fan, only purchasing my first Nintendo console on Black Friday in 2018, several years into my adulthood. I grew up inheriting my uncle’s teal GameBoy Color, my first games being Q-Bert and Wario Land 3, which, in retrospect, are some bizarre first games to own. And I remember the envy in my belly every time I spent the night at a friend’s house who owned a GameCube. Some of my fondest childhood gaming memories involve the fat green “A” button and meaty trigger buttons, not to mention the comically small disc of the GameCube. But somehow, between Pikmin and Super Mario Sunshine, I was not exposed to any of the Paper Mario games until I was writing about games on this website around two decades later. Thus, last summer, on the eve of the release of the newest Paper Mario game, Origami King, I played my first ever Paper Mario game, which is often considered a masterpiece within the Mario series: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. 

Though the Paper Mario series completely missed these childhood memories, I was fully aware of the reverential, nearly cult status that The Thousand-Year Door (TTYD) occupied for many Mario fans. Considering there are entries to the Paper Mario series on either side of TTYD, I found it peculiar that I almost never heard about the original or the sequels but for how they compared to the purported genius sweet spot formula of TTYD. There are a few die-hards out there who will stress the importance of playing the original Paper Mario game, which first develops some of the ideas that would later be refined in TTYD. But I have never encountered a Paper Mario fan who wholeheartedly recommends pursuing the latter games in the series like Sticker Star, which is a bit sad and strange considering how important the Mario games tend to be both for Nintendo and their fans.  

Still, the overwhelming word-of-mouth preceding TTYD was enough to get me in the door, even if I wasn’t a massive Mario fan at the time. Before playing TTYD, my only real exposure to Mario games had been semi-recent playthroughs of Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Sunshine, both of which were decidedly average experiences for me. I had also played Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars a year or two prior to Paper Mario, which easily became my favorite Mario game at the time, and was probably the best contextual point of reference for the absurd (and loveable) journey that I was about to embark upon with TTYD.  

A Genuinely Funny Experience

I think the aspect of the Paper Mario experience that many fans of the series forget to mention when recommending these games to fans is just how funny they are. At least in my roughly 50 hours with TTYD, the game put a smile on my face at least once every few minutes, causing me to erupt with involuntary laughter at many story beats. TTYD is as funny as it is cute, which was astonishing to me because the one thing I knew for certain prior to playing was how adorable the aesthetic of TTYD was. The humor of TTYD shines through most clearly with physical, slapstick-style gags. Whether the game energetically toys around with the concept of these Mario characters as 2D paper figures in a 3D world, or it’s simply the writing, TTYD always had a sense of playfulness that feels unique when lined up against the other Mario games I’ve played. Sure, all Mario games have their jokes, but somehow the jokes – sometimes about foot fetishes and other times simply a barrage of clever puns – held the test of time for my playthrough which took place about 20 years after release. Considering how poorly comedy tends to age, as well as how rare humor is intentionally written into major first-party games, it’s remarkable how funny TTYD still is today. 

Since I mentioned how adorable the aesthetic in TTYD is, it’s worth exploring just a few features of these aesthetics before delving into why I’m willing to side with Mario fans and describe TTYD as a pinnacle gaming experience. One of the most striking elements of Paper Mario is obviously the visual contrast between 2D and 3D characters, props, and environments. Looking at the character designs specifically, one of the charming features of the game is how expressive and emotive these characters are. Their simple paper animations like walking feel surprisingly alive considering the visual minimalism. And the way these characters interact with the otherwise traditionally rendered, standard looking environmental objects works surprisingly well. In TTYD, no stone should be left unturned, as there are little gems, Easter eggs, and whimsical secrets densely packed into the landscape. I personally felt like every interactive experiment that I tried rewarded me either with items and coins or charm and panache. 

A World Worth Exploring

The idea of the environment being packed with little rewarding details extends throughout the game’s main hub world, Rogueport, which is a sort of shanty town filled with docks. It didn’t shock me in my playthrough, but a number of TTYD fans were quick to point out the centerpiece of Rogueport, which features a detail that would never make it into any Mario game these days: a noose. The centermost courtyard of Rogueport has gallows of sorts, presumably because Rogueport – as the name suggests – is the fleeting destination of many shady, sketchy pirate types who might have good reason to evade the law and who might need an example of the consequences for wrongdoing. Fittingly, Rogueport is filled with hidden locations, items, and interconnecting underground tunnels (pipes) that serve both as secret passages and necessary avenues of exploration. Like all good hub words, I felt like I had ample opportunity to revisit Rogueport throughout my playthrough, learning the ins and outs, gradually seeing the layers of complexity inherent to the location over time.  

One of the fun parts of streaming my playthrough of TTYD was that long-time fans of the game were able to save me time by pointing out little secrets that, let’s be honest, I never would have found without guidance. My favorite of these secrets leads me to my favorite aspect of TTYD: its memorable characters. One of these lovable characters doesn’t explicitly join your party through the course of the main story. Rather, you might never even encounter her character but for some of the early story beats where she is presented as a foil character to Mario and his party. This character is Ms. Mowz, who, as far as I am aware, is the only optional party member in TTYD.  

Ms. Mowz is a Sexy Character? There, I Said It!

I’ll go on record and be the one to say it: Ms. Mowz is kind of a sexy character? I don’t feel embarrassed for describing her as such, even though she is a mouse (or a Squeek, according to the lore) whose only real anthropomorphic features are her red heels and masque, making her feel anachronistically like a Phantom Thief. Her tail curls up into the shape of a heart, and she winks as often as she flirts with Mario – which is to say, all the time – so Nintendo clearly authored her character with the intention to titillate. But considering that the main story of TTYD presents Ms. Mowz as the flighty, flirty character who swoops in to steal the treasure before Mario’s eyes, I didn’t remotely suspect that TTYD had potential plans to include her in my journey to open the Thousand-Year Door.  

Ms. Mowz is a peculiar character in terms of how she joins the party. She is introduced as early as Hooktail Castle, which serves as the first real dungeon of sorts, leading up to a boss fight. Her character primarily serves as comic relief and a plot device to extend and prolong Mario’s quest, appearing once again in The Great Tree in Boggly Woods, and later again in the Glitz Pit. It would not have surprised me whatsoever for these sparse encounters with Ms. Mowz to be the extent of her character, but you can continue her storyline and thereby integrate her into your party by accepting an optional task from the source of side quests in TTYD: the Trouble Center.  

The Trouble Center serves as a sort of bounty or bulletin board where Mario can accept requests usually involving the return to a previously visited location, obtaining an item or defeating an enemy, before returning to Rogueport to collect a reward. One of the in-game tips you will encounter while engaging with the Trouble Center is the idea that you should probably avoid accepting anonymous requests from the Trouble Center, for Mario has no reason to trust these people. In the case of Ms. Mowz, Mario receives a request from “???” who we later learn is his sexy mouse companion-to-be. Ms. Mowz’s request involves a return to the location in which you initially met her, Hooktail Castle, where you apply a new wind ability to blow away a piece of paper that covers a hidden badge that Ms. Mowz has been seeking: the Attack FX B badge. (This badge just changes various attack sounds to sound like a flute.)  

Why Ms. Mowz is Worth Adding to Your Party

Upon returning the requested badge to Ms. Mowz, she reveals that her request for this badge in Hooktail Castle was actually an assessment of Mario’s skills. Ms. Mowz had actually hidden this badge in the Hooktail boss room herself, and Mario’s badge-finding prowess is enough to prove his worthiness to Ms. Mowz. She resultantly joins his party.  

I tend to lean towards all-women parties in the JRPGs I play, especially when doing so is a viable option. Adding Ms. Mowz to my party in TTYD was as natural and instinctive as hitting the attack button in combat. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the visual design and character dynamics that Ms. Mowz presented to the overall RPG party, but I found her quips and interactions to be satisfyingly sassy and smart. Ms. Mowz’s out-of-combat ability also involves item sniffing, which is to say that she can detect things like Badges and Star Pieces when exploring environments. Regardless of her immediate effectiveness in combat or her visual design and writing, Ms. Mowz was worth adding to my party simply because she was like a metal detector for the secrets that make TTYD feel so alive. Even though her ability is a bit vague, providing more riddles than proper clues, I still found myself using this ability at nearly every screen when entering a new location.  

In addition to all the endearing qualities inherent to Ms. Mowz, she also served my combat team rather well throughout my playthrough of TTYD. Her Love Slap ability, for instance, ignores enemy defense; though not the strongest attack, it cuts through annoyances. Her Kiss Thief ability fittingly steals enemies’ items and badges by timing the “A” button press, both cementing the idea of her as a flirty character and as an effective thief. Ms. Mowz’s Tease ability simply makes enemies dizzy, which I ended up basically ignoring as I do many status effects in JRPGs (sometimes to my own demise). Her Smooch ability, however, is something I used often, which is a move that restores HP to Mario. Whenever possible in JRPGS, I try to stack my party with at least two healers, so this Smooch ability was a godsend.  

Ultimately, I think Ms. Mowz is not my favorite TTYD character – which is more a testament to the stellar writing and character design for each party member rather than a critique of anything inherent to Ms. Mowz herself – but she is probably the easiest to gush about. Her banter with the other party members ended up with founding members like Goombella repeatedly insulting her as a “Floozy.” Her aggressively flirtatious temperament towards Mario is practically unique to the Mario games I had been exposed to previously. And something about wrangling a rogue character – a thief, no less – and adjoining her to a world-saving party like Mario’s was fittingly optimistic and redemptive for a character that I could have easily hit the roll-credits without encountering again.  

My Favorite Character: Vivian

While Ms. Mowz may be the easiest character to gush about from TTYD, I think Vivian is my favorite character in the game. Vivian is a complicated character who is presented to players of the English version of TTYD at the mercy of cultural translators. I typically think of Vivian’s character as a ghost of sorts, but she is described as a Shadow Siren in the game, which is to say one of the major antagonists of the story in TTYD. Her two sisters, Beldam and Marilyn, treat Vivian like an emotional punching bag throughout the story, incessantly insulting and belittling Vivian for a number of things. Some of this mistreatment is humorous, as Beldam masks her incompetence by scapegoating and blaming Vivian, who, as the player will fully realize, isn’t remotely to blame for anything that goes wrong for these Shadow Sirens.  

I think I could have made it to the end of TTYD and still liked Vivian’s character, but she would not have made the indelible impact that she did without long-time fans of the series giving me some background on her character. This background information is not explicitly present in the English release of TTYD, but the subtext is all-but-obvious in retrospect. The more I viewed Vivian’s characters in these terms and through this lens, the more I grew to appreciate and enjoy her character.  

Simply put, Vivian is a transgender woman. I played TTYD in the first two weeks of July 2020, roughly four months before coming out as a trans woman myself. In this still-closeted phase, I had admitted to myself that I was trans but was still keeping that secret protected from even my closest friends. I wasn’t fully ready to accept myself even if I had come to terms with the truth, and I was merely in the initial phases of shrugging off over two decades of internalized transphobia that prevented my self-acceptance. I won’t pretend that I had suspicions about Vivian’s gender identity when first playing TTYD, and this is largely in part due to an uncritically credulous acceptance of the game’s translation into English. But as soon as people told me Vivian was a trans character, everything about her suddenly clicked – from the filial bullying to the idiosyncrasies of her character writing and design.  

A quick glance at TTYD’s wiki page for Vivian describes her as “kind, compassionate, and gentle” when interacting with others. Especially when contrasted against her two Shadow Siren sisters, you can see the ways that Vivian’s kindness manifests only to be squashed by her sisters, how her compassion is twisted and warped into a belittling sense of sibling inferiority, and how her gentleness is exploited as meekness in the face of complex moral situations. When playing TTYD, these three aspects of Vivian’s characterization were not explicitly bouncing around in my head; rather, the thing I repeatedly saw with Vivian – both before and after learning the backstory of her gender identity – was how deliberately nearly every character in the game, but especially Beldam, went out of their way to make Vivian feel inferior, less-than.  

I saw myself as much in Vivian’s inferiority complex as I did in her gender identity. It was this dual connection to her character that drew me towards her with such eagerness. One of the reasons I immediately took a liking to Vivian had to do with the visible internal struggle that she displayed. Vivian is first introduced in an antagonistic relationship to Mario, battling him and his party alongside her Shadow Siren sisters. The game cleverly positions Vivian as a simultaneous antagonist but also humanizes her through the aforementioned toxic relationship foisted on her by her sisters. We develop sympathy for Vivian even as she squares off against us in combat. 

Vivian’s Character Arc

There’s a relatively short arc in the story leading up to Vivian changing sides and joining Mario’s party, and this involves Mario visiting a place called Twilight Town. Here, Vivian assists an otherwise nameless and bodiless Mario, whose identity has been conveniently stripped away at this juncture in the story. Without the explicit “you-should-hate-Mario” doctrine pounding in her ears, we see an authentic side of Vivian’s character that would not arise if either she or her sisters knew that she was truly aiding Mario. Through this semi-anonymous interaction, Vivian accompanies and assists, later befriending, Mario. These simple interactions starkly contrast the verbally abusive nature of Vivian’s other filial relationships and we see Mario treat her with kindness for the first time. It almost shocks Vivian that she can be treated with dignity and respect, which results in Vivian changing allegiances.  

Vivian eventually learns Mario’s true identity in a confrontation with another, related antagonist, Doopliss, who steals his identity. Upon learning this, Vivian initially feels a bit gullible and betrayed. This identity-stripping series of interactions with Doopliss, however, allows Vivian to overcome her doubts about Mario and soon side with him. United, Vivian’s stellar combat abilities aid Mario to victory, securing Vivian’s acceptance within Mario’s party. Initially, some of Mario’s companions are suspicious and skeptical of Vivian, but Mario is able to quell their concerns – as well as any reluctance I might have harbored as a player – rather quickly.  

Vivian’s Value in Combat

As soon as Vivian joined my party, I don’t think I was ever tempted to cycle her out unless I needed to quickly heal. Not only did I find great sympathy for Vivian’s background as a trans woman, but I found her to be an indispensable asset to my party. Her initial ability, Shade Fist, allows her to slip into the shadows, emerging at a timed moment to wallop the enemy with a flaming punch. Something about the animation of this attack combined with its effective ability was deeply satisfying to me, and I might have used this attack more than anything other than Bobbery’s damage-splashing bomb attacks. Vivian’s flaming Shade Fist attack also bypasses some of the ins-and-outs of combat, able to attack certain flying or defensive enemies with ease.  

Another endlessly useful move that Vivian knows early on is her Veil ability, which pulls Mario into the shadows, thereby avoiding direct attacks from enemies. Especially in boss battles where a dual-phased attack has been charged up, ready to flatten my party, I would sacrifice Vivian’s turn to shield Mario, thereby circumventing what would otherwise be a deeply concerning amount of damage. There are some fights in TTYD where I imagine I’d have to severely reconsider my strategy if not for Vivian’s Veil ability pulling me through.  

Admittedly, I used Vivian’s other abilities less often, notably her Fiery Jinx and Infatuate abilities, both of which are useful but less essential than the two abilities described above. Combined with Ms. Mowz’s abilities to cut through enemy defense and steal crucial items, Vivian’s status-affecting punch and damage-mitigating abilities made for a party that could often breeze through enemy encounters.  

By the end of TTYD, Vivian’s character is further explored with relation to her sisters. Vivian sticks around with Mario’s party until the very end of the game, almost smooching and confessing her love for Mario as seemingly all the women in this game do. (Disappointingly, Mario ends up with Princess Peach as you’d expect.) Somehow, Vivian finds it in herself to forgive her sisters, notably Beldam, for the abuse she has suffered at their hands for the entirety of the game. The sisters promise to treat Vivian more kindly moving forward, but, as far as I’m concerned, the damage has already been done. However troubling, it was somewhat satisfying to imagine that Vivian truly wanted to forgive her sisters, patch up the broken relationship, and move forward together. I couldn’t entirely quiet the voice in my head that wanted Vivian to continue journeying with Mario, however.  

Understanding Vivian’s Transness

It’s somewhat fitting that Vivian, a transgender woman, has the ability to hide in the shadows, because that’s what being a trans woman often feels like, however metaphorically represented in-game. To that end, I have extremely mixed feelings about the decision to rewrite and erase Vivian’s status as a trans woman in the English release. Some quick research reveals that this erasure transpired with the English and German localizations specifically. On one hand, I’m glad that there isn’t excessive and rampant transphobia in the interactions with Vivian and her sisters, as there undoubtedly would have been in the original Japanese game. Part of my relief for this absence of transphobia stems from the fact that, honestly, I don’t need more examples of trans characters on the receiving end of rejection and abuse. But it would be disingenuous to curtail my thoughts there, because another part of me genuinely wants to engage with her status as a trans woman on the original writing team’s terms.  

Digging into a fan-translation of the content surrounding Vivian’s status as a trans character, it appears that Beldam repeatedly misgenders and mocks Vivian, ridiculing her as a “cross-dresser.” This article is far from the place to pick apart the distinctions between cross-dressing and gender expression, but suffice it to say that Vivian’s character doesn’t strike me as someone who is only crossing gender boundaries with regards to fashion.  

I mentioned how I’m conflicted about what to feel regarding Vivian’s erasure as a transgender character, as the English translation has rewritten her as a cisgender character. (Luckily, however low this bar may be, at least her status as a woman is preserved. The localizers’ own transphobia could have made this character’s position a lot worse.) I have written at length before about how I think games have a moral obligation to respectfully portray trans characters, if for no other reason than the fact that countless children like myself grow up lacking the cultural reference points with which to understand themselves and thus spend endless hours in confusion, frustration, and self-hatred as a result. I genuinely wonder how Vivian’s character – and TTYD more broadly – would have been received if this erasure had not taken place, if the localizers had decided to preserve the original character.  

One of the interesting things about Vivian’s character, specifically how she has been localized, is that some localizers have gone further than the original Japanese release in articulating her gender identity. The Italian version ostensibly embraces Vivian’s status as a trans woman, proclaiming, “I’m proud to have turned into a woman!” The reverse of erasure, pride, coming through this character is somewhat refreshing given how Vivian’s agreeable personality type keeps her from standing up for herself in the English localization. But then my sadness returns when I remember that none of these loveable characters have follow-up entries in future Mario games. For whatever reason, whether we’re looking to cult classics like Geno or Vivian, Nintendo seems content to let these characters die a quiet, nostalgic death. 

Other Memorably Distinct Characters, Fun Combat

I’ve gotten this far into my discussion of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and still haven’t mentioned some of the other characters that, though not reaching the heights of Ms. Mowz and Vivian for me, are fantastic in their own right. Bobbery was a complete powerhouse that I routinely kept in my combat party, as his plethora of offensive moves helped eat away at damage-sponge enemies. Yoshi, or at least the little baby version that hatched from an egg, provided a speedy way to traverse the world, and, in a serendipitous miracle, single-handedly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the final boss encounter for my playthrough. Even Flurrie, who I basically never used unless I needed her wind ability to uncover a secret in the overworld, is compellingly written into the group of characters. If there’s one thing that I agree with lifelong TTYD fans about, it’s how endearing and full-of-heart each character is.  

And though my newly found reverence for TTYD is an extension of the loveably written characters as well as their memorable visual design, I think even detractors of TTYD would agree that the combat is superb throughout the experience. One of the unique aspects of JRPG battle design in TTYD is the necessity of interactive (usually timed) controls. Whether you are simply mashing the “A” button at specific intervals as Mario’s butt pounds on his enemies or you’re winding up an analog stick to mimic the trajectory of a hammer throw, TTYD takes traditional JRPG turn-based combat and flips it on its head. I love JRPGs but I can’t in good faith describe turn-based combat as “engaging” in most cases. Sure, your average JRPG is best exploited by combining your party’s strengths with enemies’ weaknesses, but there’s a reason so many JRPGs feature an “auto” button that rushes through combat cycles at an accelerated rate. Even if TTYD featured an “auto” button, I don’t think I ever would have opted to use it because the combat never got stale, even 50 hours into the experience.  

While I have spent most of this article praising TTYD, the game certainly comes with its problems. The biggest problem I encountered in my playthrough was backtracking, which, if you intend to do anything optional for your party, is basically required. Especially in Twilight Town, where I found myself rapidly swapping between various paper forms for movement, I quickly grew tired of going back and forth. This was doubly so in the labyrinthine tunnels of the underground sewer system, where, even on my dozenth time navigating, I still found myself easily lost around otherwise familiar corners. Ultimately, however, I barely remember these friction-inducing frustrations. When I think of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, I think primarily of the hilarious misadventures, the boundless optimism, and the sincere desire to rectify the evils of the world.  

In my opinion, as someone who does not consider herself a fan of Mario games, I truly love The Thousand-Year Door. It’s a game that embraces the platonic gaming ideal of “fun” to its fullest. Paper Mario: TTYD reminds me of how my favorite Nintendo games are often the weird ones where risks are taken, where new characters are introduced, and where gimmicks reach the Maryland point in which their gimmick-status feels like an authentic feature. Somewhere between the characters overflowing with life and the world brimming with engagement, I found myself able to ignore any criticisms that I might offer for a game such as this. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a true classic, cult or otherwise, and essential for anyone who is remotely interested in what Nintendo games have to offer. 

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