Proto:Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GameCube)/Paper Mario 2 Demo
This is a sub-page of Proto:Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GameCube).
 | This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article? |
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Paper Mario 2 was an early English name for Paper Mario RPG, before Treehouse opted for the slightly more attention-grabbing subtitle of "The Thousand-Year Door". A demo with this title, containing three different areas and the first side-scrolling Bowser level at the end of the first area, was released as one of the games on the USA "Interactive Multi-Game Demo Disc Version 18" for the 2004 Christmas holiday. If the date in the internal name is to be interpreted as a build date, and is accurate, then the demo was built on June 21, 2004, which puts it four days after the Japanese retail build and about two-and-a-half months before the game's English translation was completed for the US. However, the demo contains content clearly predating the Japanese retail build.
Contents
Sub-Pages
 | Text & Dialogue Early names, grammar fixes, and pronoun shenanigans. |
Graphical Differences
Used
Normally used in the demo.
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The title screen is completely different, which include the following changes:
- The background was completely redone in the final.
- The "Paper Mario 2" logo is used here.
- Mario is seen walking with the first three Partners.
- The "PRESS START/PAUSE" button uses a white color instead of the rainbow colors.
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In the final version, the Hooktail Castle background has an extra blob of cloud at the top-right, as well as two extra cloudy lines at the bottom. The blob enables the background to appear seamless when tiled horizontally, while the additional lines prevent the bottommost cloud line from ending abruptly in the middle of the sky.
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The kerning is more squished in the demo compared to the final. Also, the added dialog how to become a paper airplane was recontextualized from when the player opens up the black chest in Rogueport Sewers during the Prologue.
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The "STAR POINTS!" graphic isn't capitalized in the final. There are no "You got" or "Star Point!" graphics in the demo. The layout was adjusted accordingly. Strangely, the number still uses the early style. The audience count icon is slightly larger in the demo than the retail release.
Unused
Not normally used in the demo, but these are present on the disc.
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The game icon has a bevelled yellow background unlike the plain gradient background of the final, and a left-facing, more pixelated Mario, closely resembling his sprite from the first game.
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The text on the game banner is higher up and is in a different font in the final. The final banner also has some character images on it.
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The Champ's Belt has a (fake) gold star on it in the final, which is missing in the early graphic. The early graphic is shaped more like a traditional wrestler's championship belt.
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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.
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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 requiring the player to equip the L and yellow W Emblems.
Area Differences
Star Crystal Fields
- 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.
- Can't check sign in shop.
- Shopkeeper doesn't tell you the number of points you have.
- General White is absent in the demo.
- In Mayor Kroop's house, both the coffee table and the dresser don't have shadows.
Hooktail Castle
- Dull Bones are called Koopa Skeletons in the demo.
- No Save Blocks.
- It isn't possible to leave Hooktail Castle.
Boggly Woods
- When you use the Puni Orb to raise the pipe, the sound is different.
- X-Nauts are called Boomer Gangers.
- No Save Blocks.
Unused Music
Petalburg Event
Internal Track Name: BGM_EVT_NOK1
File Name: evt_nok1_32k.stm
This has leftovers in the final versions of the game. It's meant for an event in Petalburg.
Sailing to Rogueport
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File Name: evt_sil1_32k.stm
A work-in-progress version of the song that plays in the opening, when Mario is sailing to Rogueport. It seems to have been mistakenly left on the disc, as this demo skips over the opening.
Unused Graphics
These two graphics, removed from the final game, depict earlier names for Twilight Town (top) and Creepy Steeple (bottom), which are also reflected in their internal designations.
Art Attack Debugging Feature
 | Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: The retail codes don't work on the demo. |
Using Art Attack in the demo shows a hitbox around every enemy. You can't use Art Attack (or any other Crystal Star Power for that matter) in the demo without hacking.
