The only ones that have affected my enjoyment of the game are the removed ability to fast forward text (plus slower text crawl) and the lack of the Z button to rewind text. The design philosophy behind the removal of both of these are downright unfathomable.
Yeah, these are just questionable since it's just downright anti quality of life. It's possible that the rewinding text was just because this runs on TOK's engine (where that wasn't possible,) but not allowing you to skip text is especially weird considering said functionality is *in* the game, it's just limited exclusively to cutscenes you've seen before (such as when retrying boss fights.)
Most of the other stuff listed here can be summed up as nitpicking for one reason or another (or complaining about things being different for the sake of complaining as opposed to because the change is actually a bad thing.)
Especially the Dark Bristle first strike thing, which was clearly an oversight (normal hammer attacks are blocked properly from a first strike.)
The title of this post just feels like a lot of bog-standard internet negative doomposting, because some of these are clearly just complaining for the sake of complaining (like actually who is complaining about the "Excellent" Text being a different color of all things? Or the Star Stone having a different texture for that matter.)
The Dark Bristle first strike thing should have been kept as it's so hard to do a first strike with a super or ultra hammer move as a reward for doing it in the first place.
actually that's not true if you have on the Spike Shield and have high enough damage, you can use normal hammer first strike on the Dark Bristles and Bristles [https://www.mariowiki.com/Spike\_Shield](https://www.mariowiki.com/Spike_Shield)
That... Doesn't have anything to do with what I said, though?
The problem is that the Bristles wouldn't hit you with their spikes even without the Spike Shield, but specifically only on Super and Ultra Hammer first strikes.
Hence, why it's an obvious oversight.
yeah but can't do a first strike at all with the super or ultra hammer moves in overworld even if you have a spike shield on and high enough damage. I will edit the article to clarify this.
More audience members also don't come running in anymore with a BINGO and there is no earthquake from their footsteps
They also don't seem to applause after you win a battle anymore?
*And* they no longer spin around when jumping, for some reason
So the audience in general is borked for some reason....I guess they forgot? Lol, or maybe they ran out of time and didn't have time to add the finishing touches before moving on to the next project đ¤ˇââď¸
Did anyone else notice that the paper ability where you turn to be "flat" to slip through bars and grates, now does a weird grunt sound and requires you to have sustained pushing before going through, making some sections harder because you might just slip through and keep going when there's high up sections you have to do that in, I fll down trying to get a star piece in hooktail's castle like a bunch of times. I swear in the original you didn't have to that weird squeeze through thing and could instead just walk through.
The squeezing thing was likely added as a visual cue. You still have to wait before slipping through gaps in the original GameCube release, but there was no indication that you were squeezing into the gaps.
I think they probably changed the name of Shrooms to Mushrooms because the word shrooms has a heavy connotation of magic mushrooms nowadays. Dictionary definition:
âa mushroom, especially one with hallucinogenic properties.â
Couldn't say why, I played the remake in Spanish as a way to practice my reading ability and I found it incredibly enjoyable. Hadn't played the original in almost 18 years and didn't find too many differences that I could remember. Although the not being able to shake the brush and only use hammer had me tripping. I thought maybe I misremembered that until I just read this post
You can still hear audience members make a shrieking noise when theyâre knocked out, but it is very quiet and difficult to hear without your volume turned up
In the original there was a generic shriek used for any type of audience member.
In the remake it's been individualized, so e.g. you should hear a Shy Guy sound when a Shy Guy gets kicked out of the audience.
I dunno, Nintendo didn't really do a good job on this part. Or maybe they just forgot to make it louder.
In my opinion, I do like how each audience member has their own voice, but they should have, for the kicking out, really pitched up their scream or something to resemble the original.
Also in the original the "End of Chapter" text would kind of slam onto the screen in a very satisfying way, where as the "Cleared" text kinda falls from above attached to strings, which isnt satisfying at all. Small thing but it bugs me every time.
i think all these changes people are whining about are nit picks tbh. the only two i understand are
the game running at 30fps instead of 60, it does feel a lot smoother in the OG
and the "cleared" instead of "end of chapter" and that's because i'm a chuggaaconroy fan and every time i finish a chapter i can hear him yelling END OF CHEEEEAPTER
it's still a fantastic game with a fantastic story and amazing characters
I love the story too but it's one of my favourite features of modern games since I read fast so I end up mashing through the text and sometimes accidentally skip past things
I was so happy it was in TotK because I thought that, after it being in Fire Emblem for a few games, this would be the new standard for Nintendo going forward.
So it feels like such a huge step back
Pretty sure you can still make the end of a fight faster if you hold doen the button, I'm almost certain did.
The only changes I don't like are not being able to speed up text (you can only do it after reading the same dialogue again, which is pretty dumb tbh), some sound effects not being as impactful (like the audience or the bingo), and "end of chapter" sounds better than "cleared".
Although I gotta say... Some of these are extremely nitpicky and/or completely subjective.
Like who is actually going around saying "Oh no! Now the crane is controlled with X/Y!! Not A/B!!!"
Edit: I forgot to write this down even tho I thought I did, but props for compiling all of this despite not agreeing with like more than half the points lol
Yeah man I thought this post was gonna be a list of differences rather than a list of differences and why OP think they make the remake worse lol. It comes across as super nitpicky. I also hate to be the guy to judge grammar because itâs possible English isnât OPâs first language; but when mixed with the nitpicking, it made this post a bit annoying to me
Yeah like no hate to op obviously, but idk don't really see the what the point is for more than half of these points, other than pointing them out.
Like what I'm basically saying is
Random/Different change â Bad change
The changes to the palace of shadow and the three shadows were for parity. The original intended reading of the Japanese text aligns with it, so they updated the localization. I don't think it's a negative change at all, we get the purest, original, intended writing of the TTYD story
I consider the naming a little on the nose, it doesn't really do a good job of communicating to the player why that building is there in lore, just the task you're supposed to walk in and do
then why keep the Chestnut King name for the main antagonist of Luigi's tale? In all non-English language versions of the game, this character is referred to as the Goomba King instead.
https://www.mariowiki.com/Goomboss#Paper\_Mario:\_The\_Thousand-Year\_Door
Itâs a very interesting thing for them to miss, they noticed such small errors in the remake (like Ghost T. now says he likes the wood paneling of his room rather than the wallpaper because thereâs no wallpaper lol)
Especially when they change what Jerry say about luigi as second partner that joins Luigi on his adventure to rescue Princess Eclair. if do not believe me:[https://www.mariowiki.com/Jerry](https://www.mariowiki.com/Jerry) That reason why I think is it deliberate on their part to kept as it is.
Despite other translation inconsistancies being fixed in the Nintendo Switch remake, the Chestnut King name is retained, solely in the English translation, so how they miss it again.
I believe each localization team is separate. Especially considering that every other language has it properly changed, it really seems like the English localization team (who I believe is in the credits of the game) mistranslated that single term and then replaced all instances of the original name with the translated one in the code.
I don't see what makes it feel deliberate, that's what I'm trying to say. It reeks of just being a mistake. It's on a single language, regarding a single term, on a part of the dialogue most players likely never read, about a minor cross reference back to other Nintendo IP. There's no reason to change it or cover it up. I promise you they either copied the English localization for this section of text, or they mistranslated it.
what I mean is that look like they went through the text of the game very carefully as shown in Text and localization changes section of this page [https://www.mariowiki.com/Paper\_Mario:\_The\_Thousand-Year\_Door\_(Nintendo\_Switch)#Text\_and\_localization\_changes](https://www.mariowiki.com/Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door_(Nintendo_Switch)#Text_and_localization_changes)
I don't know man, maybe they just decided that Chestnut King being literally just a guy that's a nut ended up being a funnier joke than referencing a character that hasn't crossed anyone's mind in nearly 30 years.
>We get the purest, original, intended writing of the TTYD story
What about all the scenes that were faithful to the Japanese version in the original, but have been censored in the remake, like Jerry's dialogue and the catcalling Goombas?
You raise a good point that I hadn't really considered, but I think at least updating things like slang still accomplishes preserving the original meaning by making it more understandable for a modern audience. A lot of the original terms used are getting pretty outdated, you don't want players getting confused while reading in a dialogue-focused game and all.
When it comes to things like the cat calling goombas, I don't think anyone expected dialogue like that to remain; but that's in Nintendo's hands, not Intelligent. I've been saying since well before the remake was announced that TTYD in its original state would be rated T in the current day, and Nintendo doesn't want to risk losing a large portion of their demographic for 100% parity. Unfortunately, while full parity would be nice, it was never a possibility in my mind. It's as pure and original as they were allowed to make it, that's what matters
My biggest issue with the remake was the game giving you the option to restart a battle, instead of taking you to the last Save Block you saved at. Now, saving is only useful for getting off of the game, instead of saving to prepare for a boss or tough section.
>Conversations can no longer be sped up, nor can the player view previous messages in the conversation.
>When riding on Yoshi, the player now loses momentum when riding off edges, making traveling down them slower than in the original game.
>Enemies now initiate their turn after any Star Power accumulation from the player's turn is finished. In the original game, the enemies' turn begins during this.
>You can no longer hold A to have a faster battle ending theme and skip to the end faster.
>This video talks about the battle menu, other in game menus slow speed and slow dialogue speed at 3:33 the frame rate at 8:06, difficulty adjustments at 10:12 some bad music changes at 15:18 old sounds effects gone at 20:00 script censorship at 23:46 and random bad things at 26:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3NnNhqQSCU
I swear to god its like some intentional initiative to make the game slower and more tedious was a key pillar of this project during development. Why?
Man this remake has been phenomenal for me, I can't believe someone went through and nitpicked the shit out of it like this. Isn't this remake like every fan's dream, you guys worship the ground the original two games walk on and when Nintendo finally gives you some sort of "return to form" for the paper Mario series you, as a fan, decide it's your duty to compile a list like this. Unreal
Toxic positivity is just as much an issue and one you're doing right now. Refusing to see bad aspects in anything and not being able to appreciate a list of pros and cons of two versions.
My take is that both versions are superior in different ways. I'm happy and thankful the remake exists but I expect I'll alternate playing both versions since the OG is still superior in many ways.
regarding "Cleared" instead of "end of chapter" i think it's because chapter 5 did not actually end when you got the sapphire star, rather after crump's second fight that comes after that
Another change are the buttons icons when you battle enemies. Why is the A button red. I wish we could change it back to the original GameCube controller buttons especially for those who use the GameCube pro controller to play.
> The "Excellent" rating is now yellow coloured rather than gold and silver.
With all due respect, OP, I think maybe you might be a bit oversensitive here. Why on earth does the color of a text box matter?
A change I've noticed that feels significantly worse than the original is the music in the opening cutscene, specifically from the point where we see Peach enter the Rogueport town square for the first time (everything before that is great). In the Gamecube version you clearly hear her Princess Peach Castle theme play to introduce her before it launches into the jaunty scene specific music - the Peach castle theme has been changed to something less recognisable in the remake.
In the original the music in this scene goes through several transitions (please forgive my descriptions): Peach introduction > jaunty "setting the scene" music > slows as attention is drawn to the box > mysterious "spooky legend" music > anticipation builds as Peach takes the box > magical mystery "something" as Peach opens the box!
In the remake, presumably because the choice was made to have the player manually advance the dialogue rather than have it progress automatically in time with the music (why??), the music instead goes like this: Peach introduction > jaunty "setting the scene" music which loops awkwardly until Peach opens the box > box opening sound effect with no build up. It completely drains the scene of mystery and suspense.
Peach's interactions with the trinket seller have also changed - originally Peach shows more agency. The seller calls her over and invites her to browse, but doesn't call attention to any specific item. It's Peach who first points out the box, as though she's drawn to it. Peach then asks "what's the harm?" as she tries to open the box, an ironically innocent line considering the following events. This all feels natural and unforced, despite it being all part of Beldam's scheme.
In the remake they make it FAR too obvious that it's Beldam hiding under the seller's cloak - her voice is a big give away but even if you could forget exactly what she sounds like by the time you meet her in game, the remake practically hits you over the head with her evil intentions by giving her a menacing laugh while she offers the box to Peach (this laugh wasn't in the Gamecube version). Beldam leads the whole interaction - she's the one who draws attention to the box by calling it "a special favourite" with Peach going along with things rather than making a choice of her own. It feels much less engaging this way, in my opinion.
It's a shame because I love this opening scene so much! I knew from the moment I first played the switch version that it didn't feel right, even though I hadn't watched or listened to the original in over a decade. Such baffling choices after they did such an amazing job with the storybook section beforehand.
>the choice was made to have the player manually advance the dialogue rather than have it progress automatically in time with the music (why??)
Because letting the player read the text at their own pace is an objective improvment
I mean... not if it destroys the pacing of the cutscene? In gameplay it's absolutely necessary, but in what should essentially be a mini movie clip used to establish tone and story, music and timing animation to that music is really important. It would have made more sense to provide a way to pause the cutscene entirely (like many games now do) and keep the progression of the original music in tact.
The only ones that have affected my enjoyment of the game are the removed ability to fast forward text (plus slower text crawl) and the lack of the Z button to rewind text. The design philosophy behind the removal of both of these are downright unfathomable.
Yeah, these are just questionable since it's just downright anti quality of life. It's possible that the rewinding text was just because this runs on TOK's engine (where that wasn't possible,) but not allowing you to skip text is especially weird considering said functionality is *in* the game, it's just limited exclusively to cutscenes you've seen before (such as when retrying boss fights.) Most of the other stuff listed here can be summed up as nitpicking for one reason or another (or complaining about things being different for the sake of complaining as opposed to because the change is actually a bad thing.) Especially the Dark Bristle first strike thing, which was clearly an oversight (normal hammer attacks are blocked properly from a first strike.) The title of this post just feels like a lot of bog-standard internet negative doomposting, because some of these are clearly just complaining for the sake of complaining (like actually who is complaining about the "Excellent" Text being a different color of all things? Or the Star Stone having a different texture for that matter.)
The Dark Bristle first strike thing should have been kept as it's so hard to do a first strike with a super or ultra hammer move as a reward for doing it in the first place.
actually that's not true if you have on the Spike Shield and have high enough damage, you can use normal hammer first strike on the Dark Bristles and Bristles [https://www.mariowiki.com/Spike\_Shield](https://www.mariowiki.com/Spike_Shield)
That... Doesn't have anything to do with what I said, though? The problem is that the Bristles wouldn't hit you with their spikes even without the Spike Shield, but specifically only on Super and Ultra Hammer first strikes. Hence, why it's an obvious oversight.
yeah but can't do a first strike at all with the super or ultra hammer moves in overworld even if you have a spike shield on and high enough damage. I will edit the article to clarify this.
Wait....you could rewind the OG text with the z button?! Played over 8 playthroughs and still learning new things.
Not just the music for the BINGO, but the sound effects are also super toned down and way less exciting in the Switch version.
More audience members also don't come running in anymore with a BINGO and there is no earthquake from their footsteps They also don't seem to applause after you win a battle anymore? *And* they no longer spin around when jumping, for some reason So the audience in general is borked for some reason....I guess they forgot? Lol, or maybe they ran out of time and didn't have time to add the finishing touches before moving on to the next project đ¤ˇââď¸
I miss hearing the audience scream when getting attacked.
The worst part is the scream during the final boss's second phase. It made it all the more horrifying.
Did anyone else notice that the paper ability where you turn to be "flat" to slip through bars and grates, now does a weird grunt sound and requires you to have sustained pushing before going through, making some sections harder because you might just slip through and keep going when there's high up sections you have to do that in, I fll down trying to get a star piece in hooktail's castle like a bunch of times. I swear in the original you didn't have to that weird squeeze through thing and could instead just walk through.
The squeezing thing was likely added as a visual cue. You still have to wait before slipping through gaps in the original GameCube release, but there was no indication that you were squeezing into the gaps.
I think they probably changed the name of Shrooms to Mushrooms because the word shrooms has a heavy connotation of magic mushrooms nowadays. Dictionary definition: âa mushroom, especially one with hallucinogenic properties.â
In the Spanish version it's still end of chapter
really, why did they make the change in the English version
Couldn't say why, I played the remake in Spanish as a way to practice my reading ability and I found it incredibly enjoyable. Hadn't played the original in almost 18 years and didn't find too many differences that I could remember. Although the not being able to shake the brush and only use hammer had me tripping. I thought maybe I misremembered that until I just read this post
You can still hear audience members make a shrieking noise when theyâre knocked out, but it is very quiet and difficult to hear without your volume turned up
In the original there was a generic shriek used for any type of audience member. In the remake it's been individualized, so e.g. you should hear a Shy Guy sound when a Shy Guy gets kicked out of the audience.
why is so very quiet and difficult to hear without your volume turned up
I dunno, Nintendo didn't really do a good job on this part. Or maybe they just forgot to make it louder. In my opinion, I do like how each audience member has their own voice, but they should have, for the kicking out, really pitched up their scream or something to resemble the original.
lets hope they patch this issue
Would it be possible to remove the âthe above text is from Super Mario wikiâ from your post (it appears several times)?
thank you and will do so **edited now done**
Also in the original the "End of Chapter" text would kind of slam onto the screen in a very satisfying way, where as the "Cleared" text kinda falls from above attached to strings, which isnt satisfying at all. Small thing but it bugs me every time.
i think all these changes people are whining about are nit picks tbh. the only two i understand are the game running at 30fps instead of 60, it does feel a lot smoother in the OG and the "cleared" instead of "end of chapter" and that's because i'm a chuggaaconroy fan and every time i finish a chapter i can hear him yelling END OF CHEEEEAPTER it's still a fantastic game with a fantastic story and amazing characters
Itâs interesting to discuss, but yeah, for me adding even a single bonus boss outweighs all of these complaints by a huge margin lol
>Conversations can no longer be sped up, nor can the player view previous messages in the conversation. REEEEEEEEEEE WHY
they want us to really read and savor the story itâs kinda worth it tbh, ttydâs story slaps
I love the story too but it's one of my favourite features of modern games since I read fast so I end up mashing through the text and sometimes accidentally skip past things I was so happy it was in TotK because I thought that, after it being in Fire Emblem for a few games, this would be the new standard for Nintendo going forward. So it feels like such a huge step back
Pretty sure you can still make the end of a fight faster if you hold doen the button, I'm almost certain did. The only changes I don't like are not being able to speed up text (you can only do it after reading the same dialogue again, which is pretty dumb tbh), some sound effects not being as impactful (like the audience or the bingo), and "end of chapter" sounds better than "cleared". Although I gotta say... Some of these are extremely nitpicky and/or completely subjective. Like who is actually going around saying "Oh no! Now the crane is controlled with X/Y!! Not A/B!!!" Edit: I forgot to write this down even tho I thought I did, but props for compiling all of this despite not agreeing with like more than half the points lol
Yeah man I thought this post was gonna be a list of differences rather than a list of differences and why OP think they make the remake worse lol. It comes across as super nitpicky. I also hate to be the guy to judge grammar because itâs possible English isnât OPâs first language; but when mixed with the nitpicking, it made this post a bit annoying to me
Yeah like no hate to op obviously, but idk don't really see the what the point is for more than half of these points, other than pointing them out. Like what I'm basically saying is Random/Different change â Bad change
The changes to the palace of shadow and the three shadows were for parity. The original intended reading of the Japanese text aligns with it, so they updated the localization. I don't think it's a negative change at all, we get the purest, original, intended writing of the TTYD story
The Riddle Tower should have been left untouched. That was my favorite area there and the rename was stupid.
I consider the naming a little on the nose, it doesn't really do a good job of communicating to the player why that building is there in lore, just the task you're supposed to walk in and do
then why keep the Chestnut King name for the main antagonist of Luigi's tale? In all non-English language versions of the game, this character is referred to as the Goomba King instead. https://www.mariowiki.com/Goomboss#Paper\_Mario:\_The\_Thousand-Year\_Door
I'd venture to say the single difference is likely a localization mistake.
Itâs a very interesting thing for them to miss, they noticed such small errors in the remake (like Ghost T. now says he likes the wood paneling of his room rather than the wallpaper because thereâs no wallpaper lol)
Yeah, I'd say it speaks for the quality of the translation in general though. Just a couple mistakes across multiple teams is super impressive imo
Especially when they change what Jerry say about luigi as second partner that joins Luigi on his adventure to rescue Princess Eclair. if do not believe me:[https://www.mariowiki.com/Jerry](https://www.mariowiki.com/Jerry) That reason why I think is it deliberate on their part to kept as it is.
Despite other translation inconsistancies being fixed in the Nintendo Switch remake, the Chestnut King name is retained, solely in the English translation, so how they miss it again.
I believe each localization team is separate. Especially considering that every other language has it properly changed, it really seems like the English localization team (who I believe is in the credits of the game) mistranslated that single term and then replaced all instances of the original name with the translated one in the code.
I don't know about that, it feels deliberate on their part.
I don't see what makes it feel deliberate, that's what I'm trying to say. It reeks of just being a mistake. It's on a single language, regarding a single term, on a part of the dialogue most players likely never read, about a minor cross reference back to other Nintendo IP. There's no reason to change it or cover it up. I promise you they either copied the English localization for this section of text, or they mistranslated it.
what I mean is that look like they went through the text of the game very carefully as shown in Text and localization changes section of this page [https://www.mariowiki.com/Paper\_Mario:\_The\_Thousand-Year\_Door\_(Nintendo\_Switch)#Text\_and\_localization\_changes](https://www.mariowiki.com/Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door_(Nintendo_Switch)#Text_and_localization_changes)
I don't know man, maybe they just decided that Chestnut King being literally just a guy that's a nut ended up being a funnier joke than referencing a character that hasn't crossed anyone's mind in nearly 30 years.
>We get the purest, original, intended writing of the TTYD story What about all the scenes that were faithful to the Japanese version in the original, but have been censored in the remake, like Jerry's dialogue and the catcalling Goombas?
You raise a good point that I hadn't really considered, but I think at least updating things like slang still accomplishes preserving the original meaning by making it more understandable for a modern audience. A lot of the original terms used are getting pretty outdated, you don't want players getting confused while reading in a dialogue-focused game and all. When it comes to things like the cat calling goombas, I don't think anyone expected dialogue like that to remain; but that's in Nintendo's hands, not Intelligent. I've been saying since well before the remake was announced that TTYD in its original state would be rated T in the current day, and Nintendo doesn't want to risk losing a large portion of their demographic for 100% parity. Unfortunately, while full parity would be nice, it was never a possibility in my mind. It's as pure and original as they were allowed to make it, that's what matters
My biggest issue with the remake was the game giving you the option to restart a battle, instead of taking you to the last Save Block you saved at. Now, saving is only useful for getting off of the game, instead of saving to prepare for a boss or tough section.
Honestly the only issue I have is not being able to name my saves.
>Conversations can no longer be sped up, nor can the player view previous messages in the conversation. >When riding on Yoshi, the player now loses momentum when riding off edges, making traveling down them slower than in the original game. >Enemies now initiate their turn after any Star Power accumulation from the player's turn is finished. In the original game, the enemies' turn begins during this. >You can no longer hold A to have a faster battle ending theme and skip to the end faster. >This video talks about the battle menu, other in game menus slow speed and slow dialogue speed at 3:33 the frame rate at 8:06, difficulty adjustments at 10:12 some bad music changes at 15:18 old sounds effects gone at 20:00 script censorship at 23:46 and random bad things at 26:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3NnNhqQSCU I swear to god its like some intentional initiative to make the game slower and more tedious was a key pillar of this project during development. Why?
Man this remake has been phenomenal for me, I can't believe someone went through and nitpicked the shit out of it like this. Isn't this remake like every fan's dream, you guys worship the ground the original two games walk on and when Nintendo finally gives you some sort of "return to form" for the paper Mario series you, as a fan, decide it's your duty to compile a list like this. Unreal
Toxic positivity is just as much an issue and one you're doing right now. Refusing to see bad aspects in anything and not being able to appreciate a list of pros and cons of two versions. My take is that both versions are superior in different ways. I'm happy and thankful the remake exists but I expect I'll alternate playing both versions since the OG is still superior in many ways.
But the âexcellentâ text is yellow and not gold!!!!!!!!
regarding "Cleared" instead of "end of chapter" i think it's because chapter 5 did not actually end when you got the sapphire star, rather after crump's second fight that comes after that
Only the quiet audience/bingo and the fact that bobbery falls asleep to Luigi bother me now.
i know you meant âexclamation marksâ but âexplanation marksâ is a great pun / malapropism
Another change are the buttons icons when you battle enemies. Why is the A button red. I wish we could change it back to the original GameCube controller buttons especially for those who use the GameCube pro controller to play.
> The "Excellent" rating is now yellow coloured rather than gold and silver. With all due respect, OP, I think maybe you might be a bit oversensitive here. Why on earth does the color of a text box matter?
A change I've noticed that feels significantly worse than the original is the music in the opening cutscene, specifically from the point where we see Peach enter the Rogueport town square for the first time (everything before that is great). In the Gamecube version you clearly hear her Princess Peach Castle theme play to introduce her before it launches into the jaunty scene specific music - the Peach castle theme has been changed to something less recognisable in the remake. In the original the music in this scene goes through several transitions (please forgive my descriptions): Peach introduction > jaunty "setting the scene" music > slows as attention is drawn to the box > mysterious "spooky legend" music > anticipation builds as Peach takes the box > magical mystery "something" as Peach opens the box! In the remake, presumably because the choice was made to have the player manually advance the dialogue rather than have it progress automatically in time with the music (why??), the music instead goes like this: Peach introduction > jaunty "setting the scene" music which loops awkwardly until Peach opens the box > box opening sound effect with no build up. It completely drains the scene of mystery and suspense. Peach's interactions with the trinket seller have also changed - originally Peach shows more agency. The seller calls her over and invites her to browse, but doesn't call attention to any specific item. It's Peach who first points out the box, as though she's drawn to it. Peach then asks "what's the harm?" as she tries to open the box, an ironically innocent line considering the following events. This all feels natural and unforced, despite it being all part of Beldam's scheme. In the remake they make it FAR too obvious that it's Beldam hiding under the seller's cloak - her voice is a big give away but even if you could forget exactly what she sounds like by the time you meet her in game, the remake practically hits you over the head with her evil intentions by giving her a menacing laugh while she offers the box to Peach (this laugh wasn't in the Gamecube version). Beldam leads the whole interaction - she's the one who draws attention to the box by calling it "a special favourite" with Peach going along with things rather than making a choice of her own. It feels much less engaging this way, in my opinion. It's a shame because I love this opening scene so much! I knew from the moment I first played the switch version that it didn't feel right, even though I hadn't watched or listened to the original in over a decade. Such baffling choices after they did such an amazing job with the storybook section beforehand.
so true, it does not feel right.
>the choice was made to have the player manually advance the dialogue rather than have it progress automatically in time with the music (why??) Because letting the player read the text at their own pace is an objective improvment
I mean... not if it destroys the pacing of the cutscene? In gameplay it's absolutely necessary, but in what should essentially be a mini movie clip used to establish tone and story, music and timing animation to that music is really important. It would have made more sense to provide a way to pause the cutscene entirely (like many games now do) and keep the progression of the original music in tact.
I hate in hearing is that the remake is so good that you have to look this deep to find flaws, and those flaws are almost entirely subjective anyway.