My PDP Riffmaster finally arrived after a nearly three month wait; so now I can truly play the game. While the base game's tracklist isn't exactly a standout within the genre, luckily Harmonix honoured every purchase I made across Rock Band 2, 3, and Blitz. So now I have over 300 songs to play until my fingers are sore. Not to mention they re-implemented the audience singing along which was sorely missing from RB3. I do wish there were more customization options for your musicians (seriously, no tattoos or body types?) but the game excels where it truly counts.

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Well they significantly reduced the backtracking in Chapters 4 and 5 so this is easily the definitive version of the game.

The Thousand Year Door has always been one of my all-time favourite games, ever since I was a kid. Still to this day I would say it's my favourite JRPG and that's likely not going to change any time soon. I already played through the original Gamecube version once every year or two, so I couldn't tell you how happy I was when this remake was announced. As much as I did enjoy Origami King, finally seeing Nintendo bring Paper Mario back to its original form was a delight in and of itself.

I don't want to ramble here too long because I think the game already gets the praise that it deserves. And judging by the ratings here on Backloggd, it seems most of the fans are incredibly satisfied with this new release. While the game remains essentially the same, there are some new additions that make this the version to play from here on out. Firstly, there's the aforementioned backtracking; which was always a big point of contention with the original. Unlike the first Paper Mario on N64 which had more wide-open level design and exploration, TTYD instead opts for a "hallway-like" structure. I'll be the first to admit you spend a good deal of this game walking back and forth, from left to right and vice versa in most areas. And Chapters 4 and 5 were especially egregious with this. But the simple placement of a pipe in the Creepy Steeple and a spring in the jungles of Keelhaul Key made a world of difference. A few quality-of-life improvements, such as the partner wheel and Goombella's hints, also help to prop up this remake as the superior release. Oh, and there's unique battle music in every chapter now. That's definitely new and really caught me off guard, as someone who has been accustomed to hearing the same battle theme for the last twenty years. And I would be remiss not to mention the updated visuals, which are simply stunning. Framerate be damned, this game looks and runs how I always imagined it would in high definition.

Normally when I play TTYD I just rush through it, skip most of the dialogue and beat the game in a little under twenty hours. This time I really wanted to savour the experience and take my time; I didn't rush the story, I did all of the troubles, and collected not all, but most of the shine sprites and star pieces. When all was said and done my playthrough was just shy of 32 hours, which feels like the perfect length for a JPRG of this kind. I know some people aren't happy that dialogue is unskippable now, and I'll admit I was mildly annoyed at that too; but the text still scrolls at the speed at which I read and I'd argue it allows for stronger characterization. Now the dialogue is paced appropriately and the Banjo-Kazooie-esque voice clips add a new level of charm to the game that didn't exist prior. Will the slower text boxes be a little annoying upon replaying it? Probably. But that's a minor blemish on an otherwise stellar experience.

I can't wait for everyone to finally try this masterpiece; now that it's on a console that people actually own. One of the definitive Mario experiences is back and better than ever.