Nintendo seems to be all in on the nostalgia at the moment, as it recently announced a remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Ye▨ar Door during the latest Nintendo Direct, a game that some consider to be the pinnacle of Mario's RPG outings. The announcement came with a chunky gameplay trailer, in which we see multiple location from across the game gussied up for Nintendo Switch.
One of these locations was Rogueport, the port city that is run by bandits that players are introduced to in the opening of the game. Those who've played The Thousand-Year Door will be more than likely aware of the infamous noose that sits in the center of town, a disturbing piece of scenery considering Mario is a franchise that markets itself as family-friendly.
Given that times have changed slightly since the original release of The Thousand Year Door, which was for the GameCube way back in 2004, most people probably expected for the noose to be cut from any potential remakes. However, it seems to have survived the remake process, having been immediately spotted by fans of the original that were both stunned and excited by Nintendo's decision to keep it in the game.
While it's a pretty inconsequential feature in the actual game, acting more as set dressing than anything else, it does imply that Nintendo hasn't touched any of the darker elements of The Thousand-Year Door like fans may have feared. Mario has obviously been extremely popular for quite a while, but there was always this lingering fear that a remake of The Thousand-Year Door would be prettied up to appeal to younger audiences that may have become fans of the series between now and the game's original release.
At the very least, fans are just happy that they can now pretend to hang Mario like they could in the original release. It's become an iconic part of the game thanks to all of the memes and jokes surrounding Mario's potential execution, and it's nice to see the noose stay when fans would have definitely been upset had it been removed. Now we just need to find out if Nintendo has been brave enough to keep the bloody chalk outline of the Toad murder victim that was included in the Japanese version of the game to see if it really means business.