Summary
- The Switch version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door received an ESRB classification, indicating it may be released sooner than expected.
- The game was originally announced with a 2024 launch window, which made some fans conclude it's aiming to release in the second half of the following year.
- Nintendo titles are usually classified up to half a year ahead of their market debuts.
The Switch version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has received a classification from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), indicating that it might hit the market sooner than expected. Nintendo originally announced the Switch port of the second-ever Paper Mario game back in September 2023.
On that occasion, the Japanese gaming giant said that the new and improved version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will be released sometime in 2024. That vague launch window and the fact that the original game will have its 20th anniversary in July 2024 made some fans suspect that the enhanced edition of The Thousand-Year Door won't reach the Switch until the second half of the following year.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - Is It a Remake or Remaster?
Surprising its many fans, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is coming to Switch with a whole new look, but it's unclear how much of it is new.
However, that assumption is no longer looking safe now that The Thousand-Year Door has been treated to an ESRB classification, as originally spotted by Twitter user Stealth40k. Although the sole existence of this rating doesn't necessarily suggest that the game is on the verge of hitting the market, Nintendo titles have historically been classified by the ESRB fairly close to their launches. For example, the ESRB classified The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom about four and a half months prior to its debut, and most other Switch exclusives in recent memory had even shorter gaps between rating and release.
As for the contents of the classification at hand, there's nothing particularly surprising about them, with the ESRB rating the Switch port of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door with an E For Everyone label. That category matches the rating bestowed upon the original version of the game for the GameCube. Nintendo's original announcement of the rerelease indicated that the Switch version of The Thousand-Year Door will blur the line between a remake and remaster, offering not just improved graphics, but also at least one new gameplay feature called the Tattle Check, as well as a revisited English localization.
More Details About Paper Mario: TTYD Switch Version Are Likely To Arrive by February 2024
In light of this turn of events, the notion of The Thousand-Year Door reaching the Switch in the first half of 2024 no longer seems unlikely. Given how Nintendo has been consistently holding February Nintendo Direct broadcasts for the past half a decade, it's plausible that more concrete availability information about the game will emerge come early next year.
The Thousand-Year Door isn't the only upcoming Switch remaster that was recently rated by the ESRB. Luigi's Mansion 2 HD received the same treatment in mid-December, inspiring hope among the fandom that it will release sooner rather than later, much like Paper Mario: TTYD.