Without the big E3 Direct, Nintendo had to find new ways of announcing their games. Paper Mario: The Origami King was one of those big surprises, revealed to the world with a sudden trailer. As if that wasn’t enough already, the game is launching next week and there are plenty of reasons to get excited! Nintendo invited me over to their office to play the first couple of hours of this beautifully crafted adventure and I’m here to tell you all about it!
Your princess is in… a different shape?!
Paper Mario: The Origami Kings kicks off like any other great Super Mario adventure: with a visit to princess Peach in her gorgeous palace. There’s a big festival going on and Mario and Luigi are racing to meet the princess in her castle. Once arrived, things seem a bit off. There are no Toads guarding the palace, instead, it’s all empty. Soon you’ll learn that Peach has been refolded into a weird origami shape and she wants to reshape the world to her perfect new vision. Needless to say, things aren’t exactly what they seem and without spoiling too much, the castle will get transported to a distant mountain where it’s tightly strapped together with colored streamers, all created by the new main enemy, the titular Origami King, named Olly. It’s time to travel to distant lands and save the Mushroom Kingdom once more!
Olivia to the rescue
Pretty fast after the story unfolds (pun intended), you’ll meet Olivia, the good sister of King Olly. Olivia wants to stop her brother as much as you so you’ll team up rather instantly, together with Olivia, you’re ready for everything that crosses your path. During the first hours, Olivia will explain everything, from combat to exploration. When you’re stuck, you can easily call in her help with a push of the button, which of course, is never mandatory. Although it’s fun to have a helpline at any time, it makes the adventure a lot easier than the traditional Paper Mario games. But, I’m guessing this is only the case at the start of your adventure as every new mechanic has to be explained by Olivia before you can actually use it. The more I advanced, the more the pacing picked up and the freer I was to explore the environments on my own terms. Just keep in mind that there’s a lot of guidance during the first couple of hours but you’ll need those to master the new mechanics.
Since this is another Paper Mario game, it introduces a lot of new mechanics. For example, at some times during your quest, you’ll find glowing symbols on the ground. With the help of Olivia, you can transform your traditional paper self to a modified origami form. The first of those special powers is the 1.000-Fold Arms which stretches out Mario’s arms to new lengths. With those arms, Mario can reach special spots in the world that he can peel off to reveal secrets or new paths. It’s a fun gimmick that’s even better thanks to the motion controls of the Switch Pro controller. Tearing off the paper is extremely satisfying with a swoosh of the controller, but this can always be turned off if you’re not really into that. Besides these special powers, Olivia also introduces you to the renewed combat mechanic, which is unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Every battle is a different puzzle
First things first, Paper Mario: The Origami King doesn’t come with a traditional battle mechanic. Unlike the older games, you won’t gain experience from combat and you won’t level Paper Mario while fighting. Instead, the battles combine traditional RPG elements with the puzzle genre. That’s right, you’ll have to think before you act! This time, combat takes place on a circular stage, with enemies spread over different smaller circles. Before you attack, you have the option to twist or shift these circles, trying to line up the enemies in one line. If you’re successful, you can attack them all at once. If the enemies are standing in a line, one attack can easily take them all out. Meaning you can quickly become victorious if you move the correct circles before the time runs out. This is an extremely easy mechanic to learn but the more you’ll advance, the more complex it will become. During the first hour, it’s all pretty easy and you’ll destroy all your enemies without ever taking damage. Later on, enemies will be standing farther away from each other, making it harder to create a new line by moving the circles before the time runs out. It’s a fun new mechanic that will get a lot deeper later in the game, judging from what I’ve played until now. Although I never saw it in action during my first hours, I’m pretty sure the game will deliver pretty complex puzzles where you’ll need to spend a lot of your coins to increase the timer.
Coins seem to be the main ingredient during combat as you can use them to increase your timer, giving you more time to solve the puzzle. You can also use your coins to call in the help of the Toads you rescued during your adventure. Needless to say, coins are valuable and they can be found literally everywhere you look. This will come in handy during boss battles, where you’ll have to move the circles to create a new path to reach a specific spot to attack. It’s good to see that the team managed to come up with such a unique mechanic, as it truly gives the game a completely new challenge.
Early conclusion:
Paper Mario: The Origami King isn’t your traditional Paper Mario adventure but adds in new mechanics to keep it entertaining. The exploration and combat both are extremely fun and rewarding, I can’t wait to see how challenging it all gets when I spend a couple of more hours with the game. The start is rather easy but thanks to the gorgeously crafted world, you won’t mind spending some extra minutes reading the quirky dialogues. This one feels like the perfect marriage of the old and the new and I literally can’t wait to jump back in. Come back soon for our final judgment in our review!
