So many stories to be rewritten...
For those closely following the Nintendo modding and fan games scene – like we do here at EarlyGame – one of the most interesting phenomena over the last two to three years has been the sudden increase in new projects concerning one series in particular.
The Paper Mario series has existed for a quite a while now, with the first game being released in the year 2000, but large-scale efforts by fans to improve, redesign or add onto them with their own programming had been rare compared to those for other Nintendo games until fairly recently. That may partially be blamed on the game engine peculiarities which allow the titles to follow through with their signature papercraft art style concept.
Whatever the case, we're glad that the drought is now seemingly over and given how many promising modding or romhacking projects we've seen announced recently, we want to highlight the one we found the most conceptually interesting for each Paper Mario game.
Paper Mario (2000)
Paper Mario: Black Pit (by elDexter)
The first Paper Mario game was easily one of the most unique RPGs of its time; not only due to its distinct approach to art design, but also by having the famous titular plumber enter battles where standard attacks grew in strength based on the timing of your button presses and special attacks, including those of his charming partner characters, played out like small minigames.
Paper Mario: Black Pit elaborates on this system with an entirely new campaign: Mario is thrust into the titular pit and has to find his way out by battling enemies, collecting items and finding partners. Most impressively, there's also a roguelite mode, where players can repeatedly attempt differing runs to gain currency and enable various permanent buffs for the next attempt.
Aside from offering a far-wider degree of customization than the base game, the pit also includes completely new enemies and bosses, along with returning characters from across the Paper Mario series. There's even a surprisingly intriguing plot surrounding the setting, making this 2021 romhack an all-around dangerously addicting package.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Hero Mode (by Reed)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is by many fans considered to be the best entry in the series, feeling like a more mature version of the first Paper Mario in both mechanics and story. Its characters and settings were so different from anything seen in Super Mario games before or since that the title is easily one of the most memorable parts of the franchise.
So how do you improve on perfection? ...Well, not at all really, but you can do things differently. Taking after a mod for the first game called Paper Mario: Master Quest, modder Reed decided to change parts of The Thousand-Year Door with new new puzzles, items, enemies, characters, moves, artwork, story components and harder difficulty.
Calling this fan effort a mere adjustment of some parts of the original – as its name might imply – would be doing it a disservice; Hero Mode instead almost feels like an alternate-universe take on the game. Due to its scope and Reed developing it on his own, it may be quite a while until Hero Mode is finished, but the first two chapters released so far have already been incredible!
Super Paper Mario (2007)
Super Duper Paper Mario (by TheLilyLawliet)
While The Thousand-Year Door felt more mature than any previous Mario game, Super Paper Mario was really were the series hit its peak! At least in terms of villains and storytelling, that is... Gameplay-wise, the title had many unique ideas, essentially trying to bring RPG mechanics to a traditional platforming game, but the concept felt never quite fleshed out.
For fans like TheLilyLawliet, the best way to remedy this was to simply change the combat system back to being action-turn-based like the previous entries. And when we say "simply", we mean a painstaking reconstruction of the game's code and its scenarios, which may take the single developer years of playtesting and bugfixing to complete.
A demo that included the new version of chapter 1 already showed a lot of promise though, as not only did the changes feel very natural, but the mod allows even more freedom of choice in how to tackle fights than the "real" games it was inspired by: Drawing from Undertale, players enter different story paths depending on whether they choose to "kill" or "pacify" enemies.
Paper Mario: Sticker Star (2012)
Paper Mario: The Sticker Comet (by The Sticker Comet Team)
For many fans, Sticker Star marked a turning point in the series. The team at Intelligent Systems felt like Super Paper Mario strayed a bit too far, with its setting and story having little in common with the core Super Mario games. Coupled with Nintendo pushing them toward less original character design and less emphasis on traditional RPG mechanics, it's no surprise that the fourth Paper Mario pursued a direction many oldschool fans were disappointed with.
With this mind in mind, Paper Mario: The Sticker Comet is a modding project so ambitious (and so desperately needed) that we already wrote an article about it when it was first announced in July 2025. Seeking to combine the few innovations and style of Sticker Star with the gameplay and story of the older games, The Sticker Comet will likely feel like a brand-new title.
The developers are intending to include a more elaborate story, new and distinct characters, new enemies and a lot of new mechanics while bringing back fundamental RPG elements like experience points and non-consumable weapons. Partners will make a return as well, along with some content that was cut from the original Sticker Star before release.
Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016)
Color Splash 60 (by SephirothTNH)
Before Sticker Star was designated a "black sheep" by fans, it mostly turned out a critical and commercial success, leading to its sequel pursuing similar design goals. Granted, Color Splash had vastly better writing and more distinct settings (as well as being visually stunning), but the Wii U successor actually regressed in some ways, with gameplay becoming more sluggish.
With it eventually becoming the lowest-selling title in the series and the Wii U modding already being fairly niche as is, there are very few mods for Color Splash. But, when emulating the game on PC, a patch by SepirothTNH at least makes it possible to run the game at 60 FPS, alleviating at least some of the sluggishness of the original.
There are more ambitious modpacks in the works as well, like one focused on editing the game's NPCs, enemies and boss characters, though development on that specific modpack has only begun fairly recently, meaning that there is extremely little public information available on it.
Paper Mario: The Origami King (2020)
Paper Mario: The Origami King Refolded (by HunterXuman & his team)
The first Nintendo Switch entry in the series was mostly seen as an improvement over the previous two, featuring a new if slightly underdeveloped battle system, better writing, more interesting settings and visuals plus unique characters... Though the latter remain boring in design, mostly looking the same as any other member of their respective species.
That last issue especially attracted the ire of fans, with a lot of artwork of alternative designs for these beloved characters popping up shortly after release. Origami King Refolded puts these designs into motion, while making the world feel more alive with completely new characters and enemies as well.
The mod further adds new weapons and items for Mario to use, readjusts the game's balancing and adds the cooking recipes from the first three Paper Mario games. Despite still lacking experience points, meaningful control over the partner characters and keeping the ring-based puzzles for its combat system, Refolded is certainly a vastly-improved way of experiencing The Origami King. The mod was fully completed in September 2025.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2024)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Encore (by Tristify)
When Nintendo surprisingly remade The Thousand-Year Door for Nintendo Switch in 2024, it was an improvement in almost every way, including upgraded visuals and presentation, new secret bosses and various quality-of-life improvements. However, the game famously runs slower than it did on the GameCube (30 FPS) and overall didn't add a lot of new content.
But those feeling like the remake didn't do enough to differentiate it from the original could rejoice with the announcement of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Encore in May 2025. Not only does Encore essentially serve as a new hard mode, with enemies being stronger, appearing in strategic formations and having new attacks, but it also utilizes a 60 FPS mod to run smoother.
Additionally, the locations of items have been changed, Mario and his partners have brand-new abilities, completely new enemies are introduced, the layout of some areas has been modified, and more. The mod was already complete on reveal, but continues to get updates to this day. While not necessarily a full-on replacement of The Thousand-Year Door, those who enjoyed the original should definitely check out Encore as well!