"Paper Mario: The Legend of the Aeon Gate" preview: The Switch remake shines with revamped graphics and sound

I'm a big fan of the "Paper Mario" role-playing games. Compared to the "normal" games with the chubby plumber, the RPG spin-offs dare to tell crazy stories with a lot of humour and self-irony.

Despite my love of Mario RPGs, I never played "Paper Mario: Legend of the Aeon Gate" on the Gamecube. The Switch remake is the perfect opportunity to fill this Nintendo knowledge gap.

I have already played the first three chapters of the remake before its release. In addition to my first impressions of the game, you can find out here how the Switch remake compares visually to the Gamecube original.

Welcome home

As an old Mario RPG fan, I feel at home right from the start. The game fits perfectly into the role-playing game series with its colourful paper look, chirpy soundtrack and wacky story.

In search of a treasure, Princess Peach disappears in the town of Rohlingen, which is overrun with petty criminals and sinister mafia figures. Naturally, it's up to the most famous moustache-wearer in the Mushroom Kingdom to find and rescue the lost princess. What begins as a simple "Mario rescues Peach" story quickly escalates into an epic tale about magical artefacts that lead to a mysterious treasure behind the "Aeon Gate".

The story is, objectively speaking, rubbish. It's a pretext so that Mario can go on his adventures and beat up numerous enemies in the process. But that doesn't bother me at all. On the contrary. The game knows that the story is just an interchangeable alibi exercise and plays with it in the excellently written dialogues.

Example wanted? At irregular intervals, I meet Mario's brother Luigi, who tells me about his adventures. But his story sounds exactly like Mario's story, just with the names changed. Instead of saving Princess Peach, Luigi has to save "Princess Eclair" (whoever that may be). And instead of collecting "magical artefacts", the green-clad plumber has to find "magical compass parts", which should also lead him to a "great treasure". Mario finds Luigi's babbling so exciting that he dozes off while listening. A nice meta-commentary and side-swipe at himself - "Paper Mario" is full of self-irony and doesn't take itself seriously for a second.

I also experience such creative dialogues, which often break the fourth wall, in seemingly random encounters with "unimportant" characters. After beating up an opponent in Blanks, I'm reprimanded by him: "Just because you have the lead role in a video game, you think you can solve everything with violence". Great cinema and exactly my kind of humour.

Familiar RPG battles with a theatre twist

The level design in the first three chapters is linear. I know this from other "Paper Mario" games. Apart from a few unnecessarily long backtracking passages, this linearity doesn't bother me (yet). After all, there's plenty to discover even without an open game world. And anyway: the highlight of the game is the fun battles and not exploring the world.

The turn-based battle system is typical Mario RPG. Together with a companion, I face off against a plethora of enemies. In addition to familiar Mario opponents - Gumbas, Koopas and Stachis - I also fight against characters that I have never seen before in a Mario game.

In attack and defence, I can either increase my defence or deal more damage to my opponent with perfectly timed button presses or movements of the analogue stick. This makes the battles more interactive and unpredictable - I never know whether I'll get the timing perfect or whether I'll fail completely and miss my opponent.

I find the companions that I have been able to recruit for my team particularly cool. Apart from the fact that they are also excellently written and provide a laugh in the dialogues, they are quite helpful in the battles and provide a breath of fresh air. In the case of my favourite so far, the lascivious wind spirit Aerola, I mean that literally. With her special power, she blows opponents away from the battlefield. Very funny.

Speaking of the battle area: This differs from the other "Paper Mario" spin-offs with a decisive twist. I fight on a theatre stage in front of an audience. Why is that? I have no idea. But this twist is fun even without a meaningful story context. The audience cheers Mario and his team on. The more spectacular the attacks, the more they applaud. I use the applause to replenish energy for powerful special attacks. From time to time, I receive items from fans in the audience or have to beat up troublemakers who throw stones at me. The effects of the theatre battle stage on the turn-based gameplay are not earth-shattering - but I'm still excited to see what surprises await me here as the game progresses.

How the game compares to the Gamecube original

The Switch re-release of "Paper Mario: The Legend of the Aeon Gate" is a full remake of the original, not just a remaster. This means that the graphics and sound have been completely overhauled. These differences are particularly noticeable

Higher resolution and more space on the screen

In general, the remake boasts a higher resolution and a new 16:9 format. This means that more details fit on the screen and the 2D character models are shown to better advantage. Also visible in the screenshot below: The game characters now cast "real" shadows. However, there are no major changes to the character models. I assume that many of them were taken directly from the original.

There are always scenes in which hundreds of enemies are on the screen at the same time. These situations look even more epic with a higher resolution and more space on the screen.

Better lighting

The lighting in the game has received a major upgrade. The environments and characters look much more vivid thanks to beautiful natural and artificial light sources.

Reworked game environments

A lot or very little has changed in the game environments, depending on the level. Falkenhausen - the floating city where spectacular wrestling matches are held - has benefited in particular. The plaza is bursting with small details that are missing in the Gamecube version. Functionally, however, the levels have so far remained the same - there is no new content or gameplay mechanics to be found.

The interior areas of Falkenhausen have also been fundamentally revised. For example, in addition to more attractive lighting in the "Wardrobe of Champions", there are also many new details to discover.

Other areas, such as blanks, look very similar to the original.

Tidy battle screen

The battle screen looks much tidier thanks to the extra space.

Intermediate sequences with new settings

Some cutscenes have been provided with new camera settings. However, the content of the cutscenes remains the same.

Interim conclusion: I am optimistic

All in all, my first foray into "The Legend of the Aeon Gate" has convinced me. The humour fits and the combat system is good as usual. This is exactly what I want from a Mario RPG. I think the fact that the game is a one-to-one remake of the original and not a reinterpretation is perfect. That way I can close my Mario RPG gap. But fans of the Gamecube game might also find a return trip to Rohlingen worthwhile thanks to the completely reworked graphics and soundscape.

"Paper Mario: The Legend of the Aeon Gate" will be released on 23 May for the Nintendo Switch. The game was provided to me by Nintendo for testing purposes. A detailed review will follow.