Summary
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorwas the second game in thePaper Marioseries and the fourthMario-based RPG overall. First, there wasSuper Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Starson the SNES. This was followed byPaper Marioon the N64 and thenMario and Luigi: Superstar Sagaon the GBA, which were both distinct spiritual successors to the first.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorhad some rich history to cover, then, by its launch in 2004. Mario’s RPGs have always been good about self-references and references to Nintendo games beyond Mario as well.Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Dooris no different, so let’s go through somestandout Easter Eggs.
6Chuckola Cola
A Delicious Soda In Mario RPGs
Chuckola Colais what Admiral Bobbery craves in Chapter 5: The Key To Pirates. He is seemingly in dire straits, and it’s the only thing that can revive him. Thankfully, Flavio has a bottle in his reserves that he begrudgingly hands over. This drink is a reference toMario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
In an early area ofSuperstar Saga, the plumber duo has to infiltrate Chateau de Chucklehuck, which houses large vats of Chuckola Cola. They are following a thief, Popple, who is trying to steal kegs. Chuckola Cola is also referenced inMario & Luigi: Partners in Timeand, besides these three games, that was seemingly it for Chuckola Cola. For reference,Mario & Luigi: Superstar Sagalaunched on the Game Boy Advance in 2003 as opposed toPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door’srelease on the GameCube in 2004.
5Chapter 4: For Pigs The Bell Tolls
A Reference To A Hidden Game
Chapter 4: For Pigs The Bell Tollstakes Mario to Twilight Town to find yet another Star. The title of this chapter could be a reference to another game thatIntelligent Systems worked on.Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, orThe Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls, was a Game Boy game that was released way back in 1992.
It has similar gameplay mechanics toThe Legend of Zeldaexcept with more RPG elements. In that game, a rival kingdom’s citizens are turned into frogs. InPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the citizens of Twilight Town get turned into pigs. Now,The Frog for Whom the Bell Tollsis a reference unto itself, as it was named after Ernest Hemingway’s novel,For Whom the Bell Tolls, which revolves around the events following the Spanish Civil War.
4The Data Disk
A Nod To The Famicom Disk System
In-between Chapter 5: The Key to Pirates and Chapter 6: Three Days of Excess, players will get tocontrol Princess Peachwithin the X-Nauts compound once again. Players can craft a potion to turn her invisible so that she can gain access to Grodus’ computer. In Grodus’ office, Princess Peach will find theData Disk.
Once inserted, the computer will play the Famicom Disk System jingle, along with showcasing the startup screen. In Japan, the Famicom was their version of the NES, and it had this Disk System attachment. Some of the most beloved Nintendo games were made for this add-on, likeThe Legend of ZeldaandMetroid,which were then converted to cartridge form in the West.
3Toads Love RPGs
A Nod To Fire Emblem
In Petalburg, players can run into a Toad child who will talk about the games he is playing. He mentionsFire Emblemwhich is probably referencingFire Emblem: The Blazing Blademwhich was the original Japanese title. When it came to the West in 2003, it was simply known asFire Emblem, andit was the first game to leave Japan since theFire Emblemseriesbegan in 1990.
This Toad child talks about other RPGs if players revisit him throughout the adventure too, includingPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door,which is a very meta joke. Here’s an additional interesting bit ofFire Emblemtrivia:Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, the sequel toFire Emblem, was released in Japan on July 11, 2025, for the GBA, whereas the West gotPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorjust four days later. It was an impressive week for Intelligent Systems.
2Celebrating Nintendo’s Portables
From The Game Boy To The Game Boy Advance
Players who pay attention inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorwill not be surprised to see nods toNintendo’s portable hardware. There is agiant Game Boydisplayed in the Pianta Parlor gambling hall in Rogueport. In Glitzville, the floating tournament-based city in the sky,uses large GBAs for screens.In every locker room, there is a different colored GBA as well.
Finally, Mario’s email reader isa white GBA SPwhich some players may confuse with a DS. The DS launched on June 08, 2025, the first in North America, a full month afterPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door’soriginal debut. While it would have been interesting for Nintendo to preview this hardware ahead of time in the originalPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, that’s simply not the case.
1Mario Costumes
Become “Evil” In This Beloved RPG
Unlike a lot of modern RPGs, there aren’t a lot of ways to customize the looks of the party in the game. Mario can buy twoBadges inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Doorwhich will change his clothes to match his brother Luigi or his evil doppelgänger Wario. If players equip the L Emblem and the W Emblem Badges together, their outfit will look like Waluigi.
In the X-Naut’s base, there is a curtain that will turn the party into 8-Bit versions of themselves temporarily, similar to anEaster Egg found inSuper Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Finally, the last costume-like change revolves around hatching the Yoshi in Glitzville. Depending on when it hatches, Yoshi will be a different color permanently. For example, hatching it anytime before 6 minutes will make it green, while hatching it around 19-20 minutes could turn it white.
