Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is one of the many GameCube sequels Nintendo made in 2004. Only instead of being a sequel to a GameCube game like most of the other special 2004 sequels, this is a sequel to a Nintendo 64 game.

Regional Differences
A few of Zess T.'s recipe items' effects were changed. The Icicle Pop recovers 10 FP in the Japanese version, while it recovers 10 HP in the international versions. The Zess Frappe was similarly changed from 20 FP to 20 HP. The Koopa Bun's effect was reduced from 20 FP to 15 FP.

The cover was re-colored from orange to red.

The Wrestling Magazine has some barely-visible kanji that got changed to scribbles in the international version. Also, the Japanese version has "プロレス" (Pro Wrestling) while the international version has "wrestle".

The Power Rush badge has a different letter for every language. Shown above are the Japanese and the English versions.

Peeka has bunny ears in the Japanese version. These were changed to cat ears in the international version, likely to tone down the resemblance to the Playboy bunny.

The Chuckola Cola, known as the Vintage Red in the Japanese version, was re-colored from red to purple, probably to make it look and sound less like wine.

Demo Title
File Name: sys_mmc1_32k.dsp

This is used in demo versions of the game (for E3 and kiosk Interactive Multi-Game Demo Discs) as the title screen. It's still in the retail game's disc, though.

Riverside Station
File Name: stg_eki1_32k.dsp

eki is the three-letter abbreviation used for Riverside Station, so that's probably where this would have been used. In the final version, the inside of Riverside Station has no music at all, just ambient sounds.

Lost Tracks
A list of internal track names that are either undefined, or reference files that are no longer on the disc.

Mystery of the Smorg


The Smorg enemies are more interesting than they appear. This early Smorg design is found in the file test_bom, dated October 7, 2003. It is referred to as test_h in the file.



These two odd creatures are in files c_moa_a and c_moa_b, respectively. Their files are also dated October 7, 2003.



So what's the connection? Well, the Japanese name for the Smorg is Moamoa. Theory: these creatures were the original designs for the Smorg, not the enemy found in tst_bom.



The final Smorg designs appear in files c_n_moa_a and c_n_moa_b. These are dated later than the previous moa files, at January 8, 2004 and December 17, 2003. Inside the files, the enemy is referred to as new_moa! This concretes the previously stated theory.



So what happened to the old Smorg design? It was used for Screamy, one of Luigi's partners, whose species was stated as "unknown". Perhaps the staff just wanted to use the old design somewhere in the game.

As for what the enemy in test_bom was originally supposed to be, that's still a mystery.

Green Cheep-Cheep


File Name: c_puku

An unused Green Cheep-Cheep. Given the tie, this is either an early version of the blimp conductor or an entirely different, unused character.

Spinia Partner


File Name: c_lp_hannya

An unused partner for Luigi. Two designs for this partner exist – a hamburger and an ice cream cone. The file for this partner was last modified April 21, 2004. The other partners were finished on May 17, meaning this was abandoned about a month before that. Mathematics!

Paper Mario Partners
All of the partners from Paper Mario are on the disc, though only Parakarry and Bow appear in-game.

Unused Enemies
Enemies in differing stages of incomplete...ness.

Hyper Bob-Omb
File Name: c_bomhey_m

Internal Name: btl_un_hyper_bomhei

Enemy Name: Hyper Bob-Omb

Ultra Bob-Omb
File Name: c_bomhey_m

Internal Name: btl_un_ultra_bomhei

Enemy Name: Ultra Bob-Omb

Red Buzzy Beetle
File Name: c_met_h

Internal Name: btl_un_crimson_met

Enemy Name: Red Buzzy Beetle.

Red Buzzy Beetle

Red Parabuzzy
File Name: c_met_h

Internal Name: btl_un_crimson_patamet

Enemy Name: R. Parabuzzy

Red Parabuzzy

Red Spiked Parabuzzy
File Name: c_met_h

Internal Name: btl_un_crimson_patatogemet

Enemy Name: R. Parabuzzy

Red Spiked Parabuzzy

Dark Atomic Boo


File Name: c_atmic_trs_p

The only thing ever completed of this boss was its texture file. It doesn't have an assigned name or any code present on the disc.

Lord Crump (Type #2)
File Name: c_kanbu

Internal Name: btl_un_kanbu2

Enemy Name: Lord Crump

An unused battle with Lord Crump. The internal name appears in the Great Tree's level data. He was meant to be faced either in addition to, or in place of, Magnus von Grapple.

Okooru


File Name: c_oko-ru

Internal Name: btl_un_okorl

Enemy Name: オコール (Okooru)

This is an odd case. While Okooru does have a texture file, the only texture present is this reference image. He has not been broken up into parts like the other enemies, so he can't possibly function as one. This was one of the first image files to be entered into the game, and it hasn't been modified since it was first put in.

Okooru means "to get angry". It looks quite calm how it is now. The battle probably changed when the meter on its head got to red.

Unused Enemy Groups
Five enemy groups are defined in the game but aren't used. Most of these are in rooms that don't have enemies otherwise.

Twilight Trail
Room: Twilight Trail Transitional Room

Empty Room?: Yes

Enemy List: 2 Hyper Goomba / 2 Paragoomba / 2 Paragoomba, Crazee Dayzee

Unique Formation?: Yes

Room: Boulder Area

Empty Room?: No

Enemy List: 2 Hyper Cleft

Unique Formation?: Yes

Pirate's Grotto
Room: Sluice Gate Room

Empty Room?: Yes

Enemy List: Bill Blaster, Bulky Bob-omb

Unique Formation?: Yes

Riverside Station
Room: Clock Room br /> Empty Room?: No

Enemy List: 2 Spiked Parabuzzy

Unique Formation?: No

X-Naut Base
Room: Potion Laboratory

Empty Room?: Yes

Enemy List: 4 X-Nauts, X-Naut PhD

Unique Formation?: Yes

Mario's House Full Interior


The interior of Mario's house in the opening scene contains a full recreation of the bedroom as it was in Paper Mario, plus a bunch of extra little details. Only the tiniest bit of it is visible in the opening, and this room is never seen outside of a cutscene. Sadly, Luigi's secret basement is not present.

Other Unused Graphics
Miscellaneous stuff that somehow escaped the above categories.

Test Graphics
Dated October 7, 2003, these files were among the first graphics to be put into the game.



File Name: kadono_test2

Crude images of two stars and one Mario.



File Name: nakayama_test

This file contains two 32&times;32 Kanji. 表 translates to "surface", and 裏 to "interior".



File Name: nakayama_test3

Only one 16&times;16 texture is in this file. This says "omote", or "surface".

Bonetail
File Name: c_gonbaba_z

An eye texture is present in Bonetail's file. This was not used in the final game, leaving Bonetail eyeless.

Dummy Texture


File Name: stg_03_0

This placeholder graphic translates to, appropriately enough, "dummy".

Green Boots


File Name: icon

Either this is an alternate boot color that went unused, or there was planned to be a third boot upgrade for Mario. Note that there is no fourth hammer image.

No Hit


File Names: EFF_nohit, EFF_nohit_us

Text that translates to "No Hit". This would have been used when the player / enemy misses their target. The files are identical - EFF_nohit_us was never translated.

Posters


File Name: stg_06_3

Four unused posters can be found in Riverside Station's outdoor stage. These two seem to be scaled down versions of existing pictures.



Translation:

Mario Story

The Popular Game Now On Sale

Super-Soakin' Mario's Livin' Large!!



Translation:

Happy New Year

Star Rod


File Name: c_koopa

Strangely, the Star Rod from Paper Mario is present in Bowser's texture file. It even has an updated design!

Status Icon


File Name: battle_common

An unused status icon of a nervous/fearful/nauseous-looking face.

Teaser Screen


File Name: OFF_d_four_meku_5sec

A teaser screen that should be used for demo versions of the game, but it's not used there either. Odd, that. An earlier version of the title screen can (barely) be seen behind the old game logo.

8-Bit Peach
It seems Peach was supposed to be able to use the 8-bit dressing room in the X-Naut Fortress.

Unused Partner Attacks
Koops, Flurrie, and Ms. Mowz have descriptions for unused attacks.

Koops
Attack an enemy with a flaming shell.

Flurrie
''Drop lightning on all enemies. As a bonus, you might become electrified.''

Ms. Mowz
Check behind the stage for hidden items.

Unused Star Power
The game references a handful of unused special attacks:
 * Hirahira Mekuuru (Hirahira means "flutter", Mekuru means "to turn over; to turn pages of a book")
 * Rakkii Booru (Lucky Ball)
 * Deka Mario (Dekai means "huge")
 * Haato Shuuto (Heart Shoot)
 * Kagenui (Shadow-stitching, a legendary ninja immobilization technique)

Test E-Mail
This was originally in Japanese text.

Designer Paper Mario and Paper Mario 2 3-D Level Designer. Big gamer. Gets restless when not gaming. Can`t tell difference between Brett and Bert.