Thousand-Year Door has been a point of fascination for me ever since I was a kid, but I never had a GameCube so I was never able to play it. So my love for it was always second-hand, watching let's plays and stuff and being absolutely engrossed by the finale. So seeing this get announced had me really excited, even moreso after I finished the Mario RPG remake and I desperately wanted something to fill that hole. This did not disappoint, I absolutely loved every second. Mario RPGs (in general, not the one game named that) just have a unique appeal and brand of fun. Taking the jumbled up , non-cohesive fantasy universe of Mario and bringing it together into what feels like a fully-fleshed out world with new and familiar creatures, fun writing and a full story. It's such a joy to get to know your partners and everyone else you meet on the way. Even if Mario is just a blank-slate, your actions and the attatchments you form with all these silly fellas make you care all the same when things get dire.

Plus the battle system is so much fun to engage with and master. It's that stacking element of all your actions coming together, from planning to execution which makes defeating the bosses battles such a satisfying endeavour. I put on a power plus badge, a charge badge, a jumpman badge, I charge up in battle, do a power lift, and I go to town. That health bar is cut down in big satisfying chunks and it feels so awesome to pull of. Plus, hitting all the action commands adds a whole other level of mastery on top of all the planning you put into it. There's more to the badge system than just increasing raw power of course, but as an example I just find it very satisfying how much of a beast you can turn Mario into with the proper planning and execution.

There's really not much to say, this is just a super fun, polished and lovable little RPG. I desperately hope this does well enough for the Paper Mario series to return to this format. I just need more of these.