The ESRB has rated Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake.
As spotted by the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit community, the RPG has secured an E for Everyone rating from the North American rating board for its mild fantasy violence and mild suggestive themes, and there are “no interactive elements”.
“This is an adventure role-playing game in which players help Mario rescue Princess Peach from an alien group,” the website says. “As players traverse whimsical worlds, they interact with characters and engage in turn-/puzzle-based combat against paper creatures. Players use various attacks (e.g., boot stomp, hammer strike, fire balls) against cartoony enemies that disappear into stars and coins.
“A handful of characters engage in brief flirtatious dialogue (e.g., ‘Aren’t you a fine specimen of a man’; ‘Perhaps if I… grabbed you and gave you a little sugar’), and/or are designed with large chests/exaggerated proportions.”
We already knew that a visually enhanced remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was heading to Switch next year, but the appearance of the game on the ESRB website has some fans hoping this means Nintendo will be releasing the RPG sooner rather than later.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Remake was rated by the ESRB today.
This is a good sign that perhaps release is closer than we think! pic.twitter.com/c1l27wa7eq
— Stealth (@Stealth40k) December 29, 2023
Originally released in 2004, Paper Mario continues the paper origami style of the first N64 game but with new abilities and an expansive story. This remake follows the release of Super Mario RPG last month, of which the Paper Mario series is a spiritual successor. The original N64 Paper Mario game is also available to play via Nintendo Switch Online.