Released five years ago, Paper Mario: The Origami King sought to bring the series back to its beloved origins. This article explores the franchise`s evolution and how Origami King attempted to recapture its early magic.
While Mario`s core platforming games are universally lauded, the Paper Mario spin-off series has garnered a more divided reception. The initial two entries, Paper Mario on Nintendo 64 and The Thousand-Year Door on GameCube, are often celebrated as exceptional RPGs, captivating players with their whimsical storybook settings and distinct humor. Yet, subsequent installments progressively moved away from these RPG foundations, discarding many cherished elements. Though the series` direction has never fully recovered, the Nintendo Switch title, Paper Mario: The Origami King, stands out as the closest attempt to recapture the brilliance of those early games.
The Shifting Identity of Paper Mario
The Paper Mario series` shift in identity arguably began with 2007`s Super Paper Mario. Initially conceived for the GameCube as a spin-off utilizing leftover assets from The Thousand-Year Door, its development transitioned to the Wii due to the GameCube`s declining sales and the advent of a new console generation. This move inadvertently introduced many new players to the series through a distinctly different entry.
True to its name, Super Paper Mario adopted a significantly different gameplay philosophy. Unlike its predecessors, which were turn-based RPGs with minor platforming, this title primarily functioned as a platformer with light RPG mechanics. Players could still earn experience to boost stats like health and strength, but the world design consisted mainly of side-scrolling stages. The classic strategic turn-based combat was replaced by real-time enemy encounters reminiscent of traditional Super Mario Bros. titles.
This marked a significant departure, though the game itself remained enjoyable. On its own merits, Super Paper Mario was a charming adventure, preserving the series` distinctive humor while ingeniously altering its gameplay. However, it also foreshadowed a new trajectory for the franchise, emphasizing simplified narratives and more direct gameplay over its traditional RPG elements.
This new direction became more evident with the next title, Paper Mario: Sticker Star on the 3DS. While it reintroduced turn-based combat, it completely removed party members, forcing Mario to battle solo and fundamentally altering combat dynamics. Furthermore, many core RPG features were either simplified or eliminated. Coins served as both currency and experience, and traditional badges and Flower Points were replaced by single-use stickers. Though an interesting attempt to reinvent RPG mechanics, this approach further alienated the series from its beloved roots and was largely rejected by fans.
Much of the fan dissatisfaction also stemmed from Sticker Star`s unconventional world design. To optimize for a handheld experience, the interconnected worlds of earlier Paper Mario titles were fragmented into discrete, map-based levels, akin to traditional Mario platformers. While these levels offered more space and puzzles than Super Paper Mario`s stages, they diminished the world`s sense of cohesion. The early Paper Mario games captivated players with their fantastical, character-rich environments, each possessing a unique identity – a quality Sticker Star`s fragmented levels struggled to replicate.
Paper Mario: Color Splash on the Wii U, the successor to Sticker Star, improved upon some contentious elements, resulting in a generally better-received game. However, it still retained some controversial features, notably its level-based progression and resource-dependent combat. While Color Splash represented a positive step, it remained a significant departure from the series` origins, solidifying the idea that Paper Mario had fundamentally transformed.
The Origami King`s Redemption
Consequently, the announcement of Paper Mario: The Origami King was met with a mix of anticipation and apprehension from fans. Despite initial promising visuals, a central concern was whether it would revert to the series` foundational RPG mechanics or persist with the divisive innovations of recent entries. The final product, however, struck a balance. While Origami King maintained the action-adventure focus of its immediate predecessors, it also evoked the spirit of the original games through its expansive world and eccentric characters, marking it as the series` strongest title in over a decade and a hopeful indicator for its future.
This positive shift is immediately apparent in the game`s world design. The Origami King abandons the level-based progression of Sticker Star and Color Splash in favor of a vast, interconnected environment, much more akin in scope and creativity to the first two Paper Mario titles. Mario`s journey takes him through breathtaking and unforgettable locales, from the vibrant, autumnal papercraft landscape of Autumn Mountain to the lavish Shroom City, a dazzling oasis amidst a sprawling desert. Every region is meticulously crafted and populated by amusing characters, giving them a genuine sense of place unlike the disjointed stages of its predecessors.
Crucially, Mario no longer ventures alone. The Origami King features a dynamic cast of rotating partners. While these companions may not fully replicate the depth of party members from the series` early entries (and are more constrained in combat), they undeniably enrich the world and add emotional depth to the narrative. The endearing Origami sprite Olivia stands out as one of the series` most charming companions, proving essential both in battle and in advancing the storyline. Mario also teams up with various other characters throughout his quest, including an enthusiastic Toad archaeologist and even his long-standing rival, Bowser, who spends much of the game comically folded like a greeting card.
However, the most memorable companion is arguably Bobby, an amnesiac Bob-omb who accompanies Mario in the second chapter. Despite his unremarkable appearance (a basic Bob-omb without a fuse, unlike previous distinct Bob-omb partners), Bobby quickly establishes himself as one of the series` most unforgettable characters due to his poignant story arc, culminating in a truly surprising and emotional moment. This emotional depth is particularly striking for a game centered on paper characters and stationery, making its impact all the more profound.
The battle system also received another significant and positive overhaul. Shifting away from the resource-management focus of Sticker Star and Color Splash, The Origami King introduces an innovative panel-sliding mechanic. This system tasks players with rotating sections of the battle arena within a time limit to align enemies for maximum damage. Each encounter transforms into a fast-paced micro-puzzle, and aside from the classic turn-based combat of the first two Paper Mario games, it stands as the most engaging battle system the series has introduced.
While The Origami King doesn`t entirely reach the pinnacle of the series, its positive innovations bring it significantly closer to recapturing the early Paper Mario magic than other recent entries. The future direction of the franchise remains uncertain: will the next installment build upon Origami King`s foundation, or draw inspiration from The Thousand-Year Door remake released on Switch in 2024? Regardless, the Paper Mario series appears to be in a much healthier state than it has been for quite some time.