Nintendo Publishes More Information on Paper Mario: The Origami King

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A couple weeks ago, Nintendo dropped an announcement for a new Paper Mario game coming to the Switch. Although exciting to see the series continue on the company’s current generation console, fans were left hungry for more information. In another unannounced information drop, Nintendo posted a video providing a closer look at Paper Mario: The Origami King.

For starters, this new video provided more information on the happenings in the Mushroom Kingdom. King Olly, The Origami King, descends upon Mushroom Kingdom and captures Peach’s castle by wrapping it in streamers. To save Peach, Mario must find the ends of each streamer to unfurl the castle.

Mario won’t be at this alone. Accompanied by King Olly’s sister Olivia, Bobby the Bob-omb, Professor Toad, Kamek, and Bowser Jr., among others. It’s refreshing to see the partners back in Paper Mario, but it appears that these partners may be limited to certain areas within the larger paper world. When it comes to combat, however, these partners don’t always appear and may simply tag in.

Speaking of combat, it looks rather unique. Mario is placed at the center of four concentric rings while enemies are scattered in one of the rings. For normal enemies, players have to rotate and slide the rings so that goombas, spinies and more are lined or grouped up. Mario can then use classic Mario items like a hammer, POW block, and fire flower to deal damage. Each weapon has its own area of effect, meaning players will have to properly strategize which item to use and how to line up enemies.

Boss battles are a little different. The boss is at the center of the ring and Mario has to spin and slide the ring in order to make a path towards the center. Bosses range from a set of colored pencils, rubber bands, and tape.

Based on this Paper Mario: The Origami King video, the game seems to heavily lean into its paper theme. This has been a big complaint of the more recent Paper Mario games as the developers have prioritized this element rather than the traditional RPG aspects. This information video provides some hope that the team has listened to this complaint, bringing back some fan-favorite elements like partners and a more nuanced battle system.

More information is sure to come out as it gets closer to its July 17^th release date.