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Why is Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door so brilliant? Because it embraces Mario for the blank slate he is

A look back at the quick change genius of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.

There's a badge system that gives you something to mix and match, the RPGs' time-based battles have never been sharper, and while the main storyline sees Peach kidnapped again, you do get to play as her every now and then, and have interesting philosophical discussions with an alien computer. I love the way that The Thousand-Year Door takes the landscapes of an RPG episode here, transforming what would normally be a series of interconnected glades or forests or deserts and turns them into separate carriages all rattling along the tracks together. It's a game about different roles and artifice, so the papercraft world works perfectly, with Mario folding himself into a paper plane to cross gaps, or turning sideways to slot through grates.

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