Highlights
- Nintendo continues its trend of reviving old games with remakes, remasters, and rereleases, as seen with the upcoming Switch release of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
- The new version of The Thousand-Year Door for the Switch has received a major graphical makeover, sparking a debate among fans about whether it is a remaster or a remake.
- The distinction between a remaster and a remake lies in the code of the game itself, regardless of the redone assets, suggesting that The Thousand-Year Door is likely a remaster. However, more information is needed for a definitive answer.
In terms of recent trends in the world of video games, Nintendo seems to be rather interested in breathing new life into some old favorite games with remasters, remakes, and rereleases. The upcoming Switch release of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is yet another title in this long line, perfectly timed to release after the classic Super Mario RPG has its turn with its own remake. For the fans of the plumber's role-playing exploits, seeing SMRPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door come to the Switch with entirely new graphics may feel like a dream come true.
However, as much as it's been made clear that The Thousand-Year Door has been given an entirely new makeover to match more recent Paper Mario adventures, it's also breathed new life into a common debate when it comes to video games. With what little is known about the Switch version of The Thousand-Year Door, it's hard to understand just what the newer version of the title is, which leads fans to wonder if the game is a remaster or a remake.
What's New About Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door On Switch
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was revealed for the Switch with "enhanced graphics" as the last announcement in the September 2023 Nintendo Direct. While these graphical changes can be noticed immediately when watching the trailer, a few details hint that the game has much more than just a few touch-ups to backgrounds and 2D sprites.
Eagle-eyed fans have noticed that Mario's party members in TTYD now have back sprites that they were lacking in the original version. The translation seems to have been refreshed, as Bowser is seen saying "lunkhead" instead of "airhead." Peach's computer companion T.E.C. has a red light rather than a green one, which was an edit found in by English copies of the game that seems to have been changed back. Among them, a new feature has been spotted called the "Tattle Check" that's activated with the directional buttons in battle.
Is The Switch Version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door a Remaster or Remake?
In movies and TV, the concepts of "remasters" and "remakes" are simple. "Remasters" are where the previous shots of things such as the anime movie Akira are carefully restored frame-by-frame, whereas "remakes" are when the entire project is made from the ground up all over again. For video games, the line isn't always so easy to draw, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a good example as to why.
The biggest distinction between "remake" and "remaster" comes down to what lies in the code of the game itself, rather than the assets used to allow the player to navigate the world it aims to present outside its programming language. While some remasters and remakes can throw in new gameplay features and quality of life changes to blur the line quite often, the code at the end of the day is what defines Super Mario RPG's remake as what it is, and it's why Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is likely a remaster, no matter how many assets were redone.
Of course, there's still quite a lot to learn regarding the new Switch version of TTYD. Fans likely won't know for sure if the game uses the original GameCube version's code until Nintendo itself clarifies the distinction, or once dataminers can look at it through a demo or the official release. Regardless, after the many years of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door being incredibly hard to get, the game is heading to the Switch with everything fans loved about it seemingly intact, which is certainly worth celebrating.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is releasing in 2024 exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
