Paper Mario Is Yet To Face The Origami King

Would you believe that a spin-off series of the Mario franchise that introduced our red-hatted plumber in paper and embraced the essences of the role-playing genre is two decades old now [24]? In association with a great 20^th anniversary celebration, there is a brand new addition to the series that is set to be released for the Nintendo Switch in July 2020 [6] [11] [26], which seems like another way to bring Super Mario into the beginning of a new decade, along with the upcoming LEGO Mario sets for Nintendo nerds who are fond of LEGO and interested in re-creating a run-of-the-mill platforming adventure with Mariobob Plumberpants [32]. Some of us may believe the Paper Mario series jumped the shark to a degree [17] [25], but at least the next time could be the charm. It was interesting enough that the Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi series did a crossover together for the Nintendo 3DS back in late 2015 and early 2016 [20]. As a Nintendo nerd, I am more than interested into analysing what a new chapter of the Paper Mario has been cut out to show in order to bring the series to the Switch era in quite a refreshing way.

Besides stickers from Sticker Stars and colours from Color Splash [17] [25], we shall take a look at something new from Origami King. [26]

The trailer begins rather in a suspenseful manner [6] [11], even in the majestic interior of the main hallway in Princess Peach’s castle we have recognised and admired since the release of Super Mario 64 back in the Nintendo 64 days [8]. The princess of Mushroom Kingdom in her new origami form for the upcoming chapter of the Paper Mario series acts quite out of character and bleakly asks Mario to be an origami too. Unfortunately, when he simply refuses, she tells him that his answers are all “paper thin”. Ha ha! Get it? But puns aside, she bids him a rather compassionless goodbye and watches him fall through the floor art of a sun that is now suddenly a trapdoor, which honestly made me believe he could become an origami at first just before I watched the rest of the trailer. At least we do not have to listen to the River Twygz music from Super Paper Mario during such tension and at least we did not have to witness Shadow Queen possessing Peach [22] [27], which was an E for Everyone video game equivalent to The Exorcist [5]. Aside from those, let us keep analysing the trailer with strong hopes...and caution.

Ba dum tiss! [6] [12]

“I’ll see you in another castle [9].” [6] [12]

I like how the upcoming instalment is introducing interpretations of iconic characters as origami. First we saw Yoshi in his own world of yarn back in late 2015 [11], now we see several enemies as origami who call themselves “Folded Soldiers” [18]. It brings out the creative aspect of origami coming to life from the fantastic stop-motion film from 2016, Kubo and the Two Strings [2] [3]. The only difference is that the origami thing is mostly from the dark side. Additionally, it has proven that creativity can always come out of the designers’ noggins, besides a few duds [30] [31]. It was quite ironic to witness a yellow Shy Guy fold into a mysterious new character, which would explain Peach’s out-of-character attitude towards Mario we saw at the beginning of the trailer [6] [11]. Wait a minute! That means the origami of Peach must be an impostor, meaning the real Peach must have been kidnapped (again) [9] [10]! Who could have been disguised as her? On second thought, is the Origami Peach the real Peach…who is brainwashed [18]? As long as there is something new to bewilder plenty of Nintendo nerds, The Origami King ought to do the series justice in Summer 2020 with marvellous designs of the origami characters [6] [12] [26].

Since the usual cartoony style for the paper cast is still present [24], it looks like the game’s premise is “Paper Cut Outs VS. Origami.” [6] [12]

Wow. I did not know that oversized Goombas like to eat wooden houses. Anyway, there are also characters as papier-mâché creations, which can enrich the premise of a Paper Mario featuring a new type of art form to a degree. [6] [12]

Let us look further into some other hints about the overall premise. The giant ribbons of paper may be colourful, but they seem like some seriously bad news as they were summoned to imprison Peach’s castle by the new character who was disguised as a Shy Guy, King Olly [6] [12] [19]. As for Mario suddenly rising the Koopa Clown car with a flying image of Bowser, this must mean that the two arch enemies will suddenly team up in the situation. I suppose they have no choice but work together as a paper plane crashes into Bowser’s doom ship at some point [6] [12]. Surely Bowser...as a folded sheet of paper...kind of gets a taste of his own medicine, but we are yet to find out if King Olly can be just as bad as he is. We are also introduced to Olivia, another new character [23]. How she appears to be a new ally of the red-hatted plumber, even if she is the younger sister of King Olly is a sign that not all origami folks in the game are evil [6] [12] [23]. According to the forthcoming chapter’s title, the new antagonist is a king who is referred to as “The Origami King” [19].

Here comes trouble! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUN! [6] [12]

It appears we will also see allies from the previous Paper Mario games return in a new chapter, including Bob-omb [26]. [6] [12]

Since gameplay and creativity are the most important aspects of a Nintendo game, I can see that there are at least some new aspects the Paper Mario experience has to offer [6] [12]. There seems to be a section of Mario driving a shoe-shaped car across purple hills, which could be a sign of some gameplay variety. We also get a few glimpses of the usual battling against foes we see in RPGs [15] [24]. The difference is that the origami Hammer Bros are surrounding Mario in an arena that can be rotated under the player’s control [6] [12] [26]. The same applies for a gang of origami Boos who have the confidence to not look away, compared to how the regular Boos were in the main Mario games [7] [8], but they simply get pounded on by Mario. It is bewildering to see Paper Mario’s arms become origami-like after springing out from his white papery force field [6] [12] [26]. They can be used to pull down a piece of a house’s wall to use it as a platform, which I think is a great example of thinking outside the box [6] [12]. Lastly, there might be the return of experience points for those who were disappointed in Sticker Star and Color Splash [17] [25].

It looks The Origami King may still have a hold of those RPG essences [24]. Trust me, I played Angry Birds Epic on my iPad Air a few years ago [15]. [6] [12]

[There will also be some gameplay that involves steering a boat to increase the sense of adventure in Paper Mario: The Origami King. [6] [12]]

The way the majority of the graphics were made out of paper used for origami is outstandingly beautiful. The location that highly resembled an Abraian desert with eye-catching neon signs on the buildings reminds me of The Sand Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey [10], even though the culture within that location was inspired by Mexico [21]. Even the waterfall that a boat rowed by a Toad goes down and a splash in the ocean made by a Cheep Cheep capture that creatively majestic element of an origami world in splendidly cartoonish detail [6] [12]. Other pleasing details include:

•       Mesmerising flames of candles
•       Origami paper planes soaring in the sky
•       Some good shading and lighting in a temple
•       Some ancient Egyptian-styled artwork of a Toad’s head on a realistic body
•       An island that is shaped like a question mark
•       A pile of gravel that covered up a giant origami being

And what the heck?! Paper Mario gets to wear an oversized papier-mâché version of Samus Aran’s helmet at some point in the game [6] [12] [26]?! What a remarkable Easter egg! With colourful and detailed graphics, the new chapter of the Paper Mario series ought to further enlighten the library of first-party Nintendo Switch games [26].

No argument here, Olivia. [6] [12]

As for the scene of Mario being chased by a cog-shaped boulder, it screams “Indiana Jones” [4]. [6] [12]

It will not be long until plenty of Nintendo nerds out there unfold the secrets while our fellow Western Pokémon trainers who are proactively striving in the eighth generation of the Pokémon franchise watch the English dub of Pokémon Journeys on Netflix [13] [14]. Despite my slight disapproval of Dr. Fire Mario and Dr. Fire Peach from Dr. Mario World [30] [31], I suppose that maybe Nintendo will not always be scrapping the bottom of the barrel in this new decade. Despite the ongoing determination from the company to this day, I wish they would at least have kept many fanmade games based on their franchises legal a few years ago as I strongly believe fanmade games are under fair use, as long as credit goes from the developers to Nintendo for the use of their properties and there is strong acknowledge of them being fanon [16] [28]. Nevertheless, along with how I wish the glamourous and timeless cartoon starlet, Betty Boop a happy 90^th anniversary [1] [29], I wish the Paper Mario series a delightfully happy 20^th anniversary as a longtime Nintendo nerd and it is highly likely that I will always be one [24].

Look at the striking origami-styled font below that Paper Mario logo. It sure is stunning. [6] [12]

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