Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door finally gets the Switch remake the GameCube JRPG has always deserved

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is getting the remake treatment too, as the incredible GameCube JRPG is coming back for Switch sometime in 2024.

Announced during today's Nintendo Direct, This new version of The Thousand-Year Door features new graphics, but otherwise looks very faithful to the original. I'm not complaining - this is still the best RPG Mario has ever starred in, and arguably the best game of any type to feature the plumber, so it's fantastic to see it updated for a new generation.

If you haven't played The Thousand-Year Door before, you're in for a treat. The game features what's arguably the peak of the hybrid action-turn-based combat system that runs throughout the various Mario RPG subseries, and it's without a doubt the most charming, varied adventure of the bunch. What other Mario game sees you climbing the pro wrestling ranks to face a muscular bird with a certain resemblance to Hulk Hogan?

While this mostly looks to be a faithful remake of the original, Mario trivia account Supper Mario Broth has noticed something that suggests we might be getting new content, too. It seems there's a brand-new Toad with a unique design that appears briefly in the trailer, which may be an indication of some further additional content for this remake.

The Thousand-Year Door is a sequel to the original N64 Paper Mario, which is currently available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service. While you probably won't need to go back to the original in order to understand the sequel's plot, it's still worth checking out - there are few N64 games that have aged as well as Paper Mario.

With a new look at the Super Mario RPG remake also arriving today, fans of Mario's role-playing adventures are positively feasting.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.