Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door[a] is a 2004 role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the GameCube.

The Thousand-Year Door borrows many gameplay elements from its predecessor, such as a drawing-based art style, and a turn-based battle system emphasizing correctly timing moves.

[1] In these locales, he is tasked with retrieving seven Crystal Stars which involves Mario completing puzzles and defeating enemies to proceed.

[2] Mario can also purchase "badges" from non-player characters (NPCs), find them hidden in the environment, or occasionally obtain them from defeated enemies.

Mario is also "cursed" with abilities that allow him to fold into a boat or a paper airplane; these are performed when he stands on a special "activation panel".

[5] During the interlude between the game's chapters, the player controls Peach in the X-Naut Fortress and Bowser in multiple side-scrolling levels based on the original Super Mario Bros.[1] Similar to its predecessor, combat in The Thousand-Year Door follows a turn-based battle system.

[6] When Mario comes into contact with an enemy in the overworld, the game transitions to a battle screen, taking place on a stage.

[10] 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.

[13] Mario is the main character of The Thousand-Year Door, although the story also rotates between portions where the player plays briefly as Princess Peach and Bowser.

Princess Peach agrees to teach TEC about love in exchange for the ability to contact Mario via e-mail.

Learning of the X-Nauts' leader Grodus' intents to obtain the map, Peach informs Mario of her findings, but is eventually caught.

Mario successfully collects the Crystal Stars and reaches the X-Nauts' base, only to learn that Peach has been transported behind the Thousand-Year Door.

In the ensuing confrontation, Grodus reveals his plan to use Peach as a vessel for the Shadow Queen, the supposed treasure which is actually a demon who was sealed millenials ago.

Days later, Toadsworth informs Mario that Peach has found another treasure map and invites him to Rogueport once again, much to his dismay.

[21] Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was well-received, with review aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings both giving the game an 87/100.

",[5] while Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell 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.

[5][26] 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.

[5][26] 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.

[60][61] These include an updated fast travel system, increased item and coin capacity, the ability to toggle the original GameCube soundtrack using a badge, a gallery for viewing art and music, and two additional secret bosses.

[67][68][69] Nintendo Life reported that the game runs at 30 frames per second as opposed to the original's 60, but noted that it did not majorly affect their gameplay experience.

Many critics directed praise that had already been given to the GameCube original, including the story, battle system, locations, and cast of characters.

[71][72] By June 2024, the remake sold 1.76 million copies worldwide, nearly matching the original version's lifetime sales in a single month.

[74] In 2008, 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.