Paper Mario: The Origami King

Paper Mario: The Origami King[lower-alpha 1] is a 2020 cross-genre video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch console. It is the sixth game in the Paper Mario series, part of the larger Mario franchise, and the sequel to Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016).

Paper Mario: The Origami King
Developer(s)Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Masahiko Nagaya[1]
Producer(s)Kensuke Tanabe
Atsushi Ikuno
Designer(s)Yukio Morimoto
Shingo Igata
Programmer(s)Tadao Nakayama
Artist(s)Isamu Kamikokuryo
Benoit Ferrière
Writer(s)Taro Kudo
Composer(s)Yoshito Sekigawa
Shoh Murakami
Yoshiaki Kimura
Hiroki Morishita
Fumihiro Isobe
SeriesPaper Mario
Platform(s)Nintendo Switch
ReleaseJuly 17, 2020
Genre(s)Role-playing, action-adventure,[2] puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player

The story follows Mario and his friends as he sets on a journey to prevent the Mushroom Kingdom from being transformed into origami. To do so, Mario must free the castle from five streamers across all the Kingdom. The gameplay blends elements of action-adventure, role-playing, and puzzle games, featuring a large overworld with turn-based enemy and boss encounters that utilize a ring-based puzzle system.

The game was released on July 17, 2020, and received positive reviews from critics, with many praising the graphics, soundtrack, new mechanics, story, and writing. However, others criticized the combat as unrewarding and, at times, frustrating.

Gameplay

As with the previous Paper Mario games, in The Origami King the player controls a paper version of Mario in a 3D world that fuses other paper and three-dimensional constructs, including origami sculptures. The player explores the game's overworld to collect coins and items, encounter non-playable characters (NPCs), solve various puzzles based on the paper world concept, and upon encountering enemies, enter into combat to defeat them. Mario can gain various companions over the course of his journey that help to solve puzzles and join in battle for a time. For example, Olivia helps give Mario "1000-Fold Arms" that can reach up to tear back parts of paper environment to reveal secrets.[3] Travel Buddies make a comeback, but unlike older entries in the franchise they will attack enemies when they get the chance, the player will not have any actual control over them.[4] The game uses a ring-based combat system: with the player as Mario at the center of multiple rings, they will need to line up enemies that sit on sections of these rings within a short period and then choose an attack to strike at those enemies that fall within the same arc across the ring, after which the enemies will have a chance to attack.[5][6][7][8]

Plot

The game begins as Mario and Luigi are invited by Princess Peach to an Origami Festival near her castle in Toad Town. When they arrive, however, the town is abandoned and Peach has been turned into origami and brainwashed by King Olly. Many of Bowser's minions have met a similar fate, being transformed into Folded Soldiers, while Bowser has been folded into a square and many Toads have been folded in origami. Mario rescues Bowser as well as Olivia, the sister of Olly, and the three attempt to escape. However, Olly wraps the castle in five multicolored streamers and rips it off its foundations, transporting it to a nearby volcano. Mario, Olivia, and Bowser barely escape on a Koopa Clown Car, but the trio are separated.

Mario and Olivia land in a forest near Toad Town. They rescue Luigi, who sets off to find the key to Peach's Castle, while Mario and Olivia set off to unravel the streamers. In Overlook Mountain, they encounter and defeat the guardian of the red streamer, Colored Pencils. The two head to unravel the blue streamer; along the way they meet an amnesiac Bob-omb without a fuse that Olivia nicknames "Bobby". After defeating the Water Vellumental, the three travel to Shogun Studios, a Japanese-themed amusement park, and defeat Rubber Band to destroy the blue streamer and rescue the park's employees. As the park holds a celebration, Bobby regains his memory.

The three head to Scorching Sandpaper Desert to unravel the yellow streamer. However, Olly blocks the path with a giant boulder, which Olivia is trapped under. Bobby and Mario visit the ocean liner The Princess Peach to recover a box containing a fuse. Bobby sacrifices himself to destroy the boulder; a distraught Olivia breaks down, but Mario is able to cheer her up.

In Sandpaper Desert, Mario and Olivia find that the sun has disappeared from the sky. They encounter Professor Toad, who joins them to help them solve the mysteries of the desert. In an ancient temple, they find dozens of Toads that have had their faces punched out; they defeat Hole Punch, restoring the sun to the sky as well as the faces of the Toads, and they destroy the yellow streamer. The three find Captain T. Ode, an ancient and legendary sea captain, frozen in ice. Captain T. Ode helps Mario and Olivia navigate the Great Sea, where they find the Origami Craftsman responsible for the creation of Olly. At the Sea Tower, Mario and Olivia defeat Tape and destroy the purple streamer. They gain access to Shangri-Spa, a spa located in the clouds.

At Shangri-Spa, Mario and Olivia find that Bowser's Castle has crash-landed. They team up with Kamek and Bowser Jr. to gain access to the castle, where they rescue Bowser and defeat Scissors. After destroying the green streamer, Mario, Bowser, and his minions use an airship to head to Peach's Castle, but crash-land in the volcano after being attacked by a squadron of paper airplanes. Mario, Olivia, and Bowser escape and head to face Olly. Olly refolds Peach's Castle into Origami Castle; the trio pursue him into the castle, defeating Stapler and returning Bowser to his original form.

The three confront King Olly, who has folded Peach into a mural for the castle. He reveals he has folded 999 paper cranes, one away from the 1,000 needed to grant him ultimate power to create his origami kingdom and turn all Toads into normal paper. He reveals that his hatred of Toads comes from the Origami Craftsman, who disrespected the art of origami by writing on his paper. A fight ensues, and Mario, Olivia, and Bowser manage to defeat Olly.

As he dies, Olly apologizes for his actions. Olivia reads the writing on Olly's body and realizes that the Toad who wrote it actually only sent his wishes that he would be a good king. At Olly's request, Olivia uses his paper to fold him into the 1000th crane, which allows them to grant any wish. Olivia commands the cranes to undo all the origami King Olly has folded, which includes herself. The Origami Festival resumes, and the residents of Toad Town as well as Bowser and his minions celebrate together.

Development

The Origami King was developed by Intelligent Systems,[9] the developer behind previous Paper Mario games.[10]

Plans for a Nintendo Switch Paper Mario game were leaked in early 2020. According to Eurogamer, Nintendo planned to reveal the game at E3 2020 as part of a presentation celebrating the Super Mario series' 35th anniversary but had to change plans after the convention was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11] The Origami King was announced via a trailer on May 14, 2020 before it was released two months later on July 17.[12] The announcement did not come with the prior two day notice that Nintendo traditionally releases.[13] VentureBeat wrote that the sudden announcement came because Nintendo was still adjusting to the transition to working from home.[9]

The game's producer from Nintendo's side, Kensuke Tanabe, stated that he "challenge[d himself] to create something new" to "deliver new experiences and surprises to our fans." He explained that The Origami King's gameplay being different from Paper Mario: Color Splash is because "[w]hen continuing a game series, it's much easier to carry over the basics from an existing game system rather than building new systems for each new installment. But that's not how you create new experiences or unexpected surprises. To be sure, I will sometimes use the same system in a subsequent game to further develop that system until I feel it has reached its full potential. But my goal is to continue to tackle new challenges as much as possible."[1]

Since Paper Mario: Sticker Star, characters in the Paper Mario series could not be modified versions of existing Mario characters such as in age or gender, and any original characters had to had no involvement with the Mario universe.[14][15] To establish a new non-Mario direction for the game, confetti and origami became two major themes in The Origami King. Tanabe thought of paper-based ideas that had not been done in the series, and came up with origami, while Intelligent Systems had the idea for confetti. Soon, Tanabe had the idea of Princess Peach approaching Mario while turned into origami, which was later used as the game's opening sequence. To ensure characters would still be recognizable while in origami form, the artists "worked with each individual character to analyse whether a side-on or front-on view would be best to bring out their individuality." They created real-life mockups to make sure the in-game forms would be similarly realistic.[15]

Tanabe spoke with the director of Color Splash, Naohiko Aoyama, who wanted "a battle system in which the enemies surround Mario to attack from all sides." They collaborated to form the game's ring-based battles, and Tanabe later added the idea of players being able to slide enemies across the circles. He compared this idea to a Rubik's Cube and described that it "it worked well. That is the moment I was convinced we'd be able to build our battle system."[1] In The Origami King's boss battles, a boss is in the center of the arena and Mario must form a path to get to it. This concept was described as "the opposite of regular battles." To demonstrate it, Tanabe "drew concentric circles on a whiteboard, put mock-ups of some panels using magnets with arrows and other things drawn on them." He worked with assistant producer Risa Tabata to simulate how the battles would work in-game, then proposed the idea to Intelligent Systems.[1]

The Origami King uses open world navigation, as opposed to the "chapter"-based style of previous games. Tanabe recalled that the design team were "careful [...] to make sure there is always something in the player's field of vision to catch their attention."[1] When asked if The Origami King was considered to use a group of permanent party members like the first three Paper Mario games, Tanabe answered that they had "never considered" the idea. He described that having partners exclusive to certain areas "create[s] more memorable moments," and that "[the design team] first determines what elements are needed in a game and then figure out how to implement and program them." The first partner conceptualized for the game was Bobby, a Bob-omb. Tanabe continued that "from there[,] we chose the characters that would be the best fit for the events in each stage of the game." Bowser Jr. "was an exception," being added as a character before the team had figured out what role he would play, as director Masahiko Nagaya from Intelligent Systems "personally had strong feelings about including a storyline where a son sets out to save his father."[1]

In regards to criticism about the game's lack of a number of role-playing elements, Tanabe described that "I do think it's difficult to satisfy certain fans with the adventure game direction if they think of Paper Mario games as simply being RPGs. I hope that everyone will play this game with an open mind. [...] Nintendo's philosophy on game creation is that we don't ignore casual players in creating our games. With that in mind, what we've done in the Paper Mario series is to put a lot of work particularly into the puzzle solving elements of the games, so that they can also be enjoyed by core users." He elaborated that "players need to guess the weak points of bosses based on their characteristics and search for the solution to defeat them, otherwise they won't be able to win these battles. This is an adventure game after all, so it wouldn't be right if the battles didn't also have some kind of puzzle solving element!" When asked if he was aware of the criticisms towards the previous games, Tanabe answered, "I do look through the opinions of fans once a game is released. As there are cases where I can't address those opinions exactly as fans want, I try to challenge myself to other new, fun ideas. What I always keep in mind though is to do as much as I can so that players can enjoy new and unique game experiences."[15]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic79/100[16]
Review scores
PublicationScore
4Players88/100[17]
Destructoid8/10[18]
Easy Allies7.5/10[19]
Edge8/10[20]
EGM[21]
Famitsu36/40[22]
Game Informer7.75/10[23]
GameSpot8/10[24]
GamesRadar+[25]
Hardcore Gamer4/5[26]
IGN7/10[27]
Jeuxvideo.com14/20[28]
Nintendo Life8/10[29]
Nintendo World Report7.5/10[30]
RPGamer4/5[31]
Shacknews7/10[32]
The Guardian[33]
USgamer4/5[34]
VentureBeat85/100[35]
VG247[36]

Paper Mario: The Origami King received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. Critics praised the game's visual presentation, writing, and exploration but criticized the battle system for its linearity and lack of depth.

Sales

The Origami King launched at #2 in the UK, behind Ghost of Tsushima. The game became the fastest-selling Paper Mario title in the region, surpassing Super Paper Mario.[37] It was the second best-selling game during its first week on sale in Japan, with 109,092 copies being sold.[38] The game placed #3 on the July 2020 NPD charts, setting a launch month sales record for the series, and doubling the physical launch sales of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in the U.S.[39]

Notes
  1. Paper Mario: Origami King (ペーパーマリオ オリガミキング, Pēpā Mario: Origami Kingu)
gollark: Oh, wait, this *was* it before the beeization of the system in favour of AE2.
gollark: This is one of our main apiaries.
gollark: Also partly missing?
gollark: Although technically those ones are powered off and unfilled.
gollark: Everyone is used to bee storage towers by now.

References
  1. Cork, Jeff. "Paper Mario: The Origami King Folds Familiar Elements Into An All-New Adventure". Game Informer.
  2. "Paper Mario: The Origami King Arriving on Nintendo Switch in July 2020". IGN. Retrieved July 11, 2020. In our review, we said "Paper Mario: Color Splash is a step in the right direction for the series after the 3DS’s Paper Mario: Sticker Star, continuing its shift from RPG to action-adventure game while also introducing some smart changes to its battle system."
  3. Wong, Alistair (May 16, 2020). "Paper Mario: The Origami King Gets More Screenshots and Look at Partners". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  4. Craddock, Ryan. "Paper Mario: The Origami King Combat And Character Details Revealed". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  5. Lada, Jenni (May 14, 2020). "Here's How Paper Mario: The Origami King's Battles Work". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  6. Robinson, Andy (July 9, 2020). "Paper Mario: The Origami King might not be the RPG return fans were craving". Video Games Chronicle. Media Ltd. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  7. Grubb, Jeff (July 9, 2020). "Paper Mario: The Origami King doesn't have experience points". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  8. Stein, Scott. "Paper Mario: The Origami King is Switch's version of a distracting beach read". CNET. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  9. Grubb, Jeff (May 14, 2020). "Paper Mario: The Origami King revealed with July launch date". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  10. Keane, Sean (May 14, 2020). "Nintendo unfolds Paper Mario for Switch, and it looks as charming as you'd expect". CNET. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
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  14. Loveridge, Sam (July 17, 2020). "Paper Mario: The Origami King developers talk origami influences, hidden Toads and celebrating Super Mario". GamesRadar. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  15. Robinson, Andy (July 16, 2020). "Paper Mario's development team lays it all out". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
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  22. "『ペーパーマリオ　オリガミキング』レビュー。ペーパークラフトのような世界は、冒険心をくすぐる遊びの玉手箱だった!!". Famitsu. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
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