Proto:Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Paper Mario 2 was an early name for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, before Nintendo opted to get a bit more clever and descriptive with the title. A demo with the original title, containing three different areas and the first side-scrolling Bowser level at the end of the first area, was released on Multi-Game Interactive Demo Disc 18 for the 2004 Christmas holiday.

While the game is closer to the final than what was shown in the E3 trailer, at this point there are still quite a few differences.

Graphical Differences
The Champ's belt has a (fake) gold star on it in the final, which is missing in the early graphic. The early graphic has a more trapezoidal shape to it.

The handle of the Strange Sack was changed from a red shade to a browner one. It is also slightly bigger in the early graphic.

The W Emblem was recolored from purple to yellow. It's also likely that the Purple W Emblem would have been used for Waluigi's clothes, rather than combining the L and yellow W Emblems.

Dialogue Changes
Although the dialogue is very similar to the final for the most part, there are still some very interesting differences. The early dialogue, in turn, gives some hints about where the game was in development at this point.

Two things that are interesting to note: Goombella calls the area Petal Plains despite it being called Star Crystal Field everywhere else, and the Crystal Stars are called Star Crystals. This suggests that the dialogue editing was farther along than the other text contained in the demo.

Same as above. Every instance of "Crystal Star" is "Star Crystal" at this point in development.

Same as above.

Now here's an interesting change: Hooktail is referred to as being male throughout the demo. One good reason could be that the translator took the Japanese word "kore" (a gender-neutral way of referring to another person that isn't present) and assigned Hooktail as male despite the fact that you learn Hooktail is female in the game.

This in turn could be because Hooktail's gender wasn't finalized at this point, or the translator didn't know and nobody corrected it (which is understandable, as the player is also led to assume Hooktail is a male considering it's a huge, scary dragon).

Same as above. It's interesting to note that they were a bit lazy with making sure Hooktail was referred to in a gender-neutral way, and as a result the dialogue in the final sounds a bit more awkward than it originally was.

Same as above.

"Chérie" refers to a female "loved one", while "Chéri" refers to a male "loved one". As this dialogue is spoken to Goombella, the demo dialogue is actually correct.

Again, another case of "he" to "it".

Although it's easy to think the editor accidentally used the present-tense word "hear", it's likely to be a typo of "heard".

No idea why this was changed. Possibly they wanted to use "vitality" since the Innkeeper is referring to Mario having full HP?

In addition to another "he" to "it" change, the Bub-ulb also uses the incorrect usage of the word "fortune". In the demo, he's implying that the villagers have forgotten how lucky/wealthy they are, contradicting what he said earlier (talk to the Bub-ulb on the west side of town to see for yourself).

This is the only bit of dialogue that was completely changed for the final. It's unknown if the noises he's referring to are an element that was removed from the final, or a hint at Koops' nature of being a crybaby.

For the record, the Japanese version also uses the same lines as the English version.

Some minor capitalization and punctuation changes, plus a removal of "world" and changing "three" to its numeral form.

A case where the editor really should have worded this differently. It sounds as if Hooktail is some kind of attraction or monument in the final.

Fixed capitalization and punctuation, and another case of "he" to "it".

Koopie Koo doesn't seem very excited to meet you in the final...

...Until she realizes who you are.

This dialogue was split into two bubbles for the final, not to mention Koopie Koo is somehow magically unsure if it's Mario she's speaking to.

The grammar was fixed, and "Ohhhh" was extended by eight H's.

Another case of "Star Crystal" to "Crystal Star".

Same as above.

Another case of "he" to "it".

Same as above. The way this sentence is worded also makes it seem like Hooktail is genderless, which she is not.

Moved the period to the correct place.

Changed the period for the first sentence into an exclamation point.

In the final, the Gatekeeper lets you head to Shwonk Fortress after you speak with Mayor Kroop. In the demo, he'll always say this line and warp you to the first side-scrolling level with Bowser.

Other Changes

 * No save block next to the pipe which leads to the sewers.
 * The pipe which normally leads to the sewers instead takes you right back to Star Crystal Field (pipe animation still happens).
 * The badge you would normally get when Koops joins you isn't present in the demo. The block is, however.
 * Goombella no longer reminds you about her tattle function when entering the area just before Petalburg.
 * It isn't possible to get the horsetail item.
 * Courage Shell is called "Courage Cola".
 * Can't check sign in shop.
 * Shopkeeper doesn't tell you the number of points you have.
 * The toad on the right side of town has an extra dialogue box in the final.
 * General White is absent in the demo.
 * In Mayor Kroop's house, both the coffee table and the dresser don't have shadows.

Dialogue Changes
A piece of text that only appeared in the demo, although it's present in the final game's files. Also, there's a typo in "pedestal".

"Frog" was changed to "cricket" in the final, and the full-stop was moved.

Other Changes

 * "You can't flee this battle!" was changed to "Can't flee this fight!" in the final.
 * Dull Bones are called Koopa Skeletons in the demo.

Boggly Woods

 * When you use the Puni Orb to raise the pipe, the sound is different.
 * X-Nauts are called Boomer Gangers.