Paper Mario Returns in the New, Foldable Format with The Origami King This Fall!

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The Mario saga is long and involved, but we often only get glimpses of the “lore” that ties the Mushroom Kingdom together in the mainline games.

For those of us that need a little bit more time with Mario – as well as the opportunity to get to know him and his universe better – the Paper Mario series has provided a wealth of joy and entertainment ever since it debuted on the Nintendo 64 in Japan back in 2001.

If you aren’t all that familiar with the Paper Mario series, think of it as the RPG counterpart to the platforming classic.

Originally drawing inspiration from the once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between Square and Nintendo that resulted in Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario takes the story elements and general adventure structure of that game and ports it all over into its own unique series of Mario games.

What makes Paper Mario fun for fans is that it is often a game focused heavily on story and typically features witty dialogue and novel situations for our titular hero.

The Origami King looks set to largely continue this tradition when it launches on July 17, 2020.

So what’s the big deal with The Origami King, aside from its unexpected announcement and concomitant imminent release date?

From what we can tell, The Origami King looks set to bring back all of the charm and characters that people know and love but the tone of the story is, at least from the trailer, darker than we’re used to from a Mario game.

It looks like Bowser and Mario will be teaming up against whoever has “creased” the Mushroom Kingdom into an origami-style bondage which is both a nice shift from the typical scenario between the hero and villain as well as allows for interesting storytelling opportunities.

As anyone who has played the Paper Mario games can tell you, Bowser often ends up stealing the show when he’s around.

Aside from its bright and colorful graphics done in a unique “paper” style, Paper Mario is also a compelling game when it comes to combat and interacting with its world.

While world interaction isn’t anything new to these games, the origami effect allows for some unique ways that of doing so that promise to help this title continue the tradition of excellence established by its forbears.

Specifically, Nintendo highlights Mario’s new ability “called 1000-Fold Arms, allows you to interact with the landscape by stretching out and pulling, peeling and revealing new locations, helping you to solve puzzles and uncover unexpected surprises.”

Also unique to The Origami King is what the Big N is calling a ring-based combat system that combines elements of a puzzle with the RPG mechanics we know and love. Again, none of this was expected just in case you were wondering why this hype machine appeared out of nowhere.

While we do know that this is Mario’s anniversary and that Nintendo is pulling out all of the stops to make 2020 a big deal for their mascot, no one really thought a Paper Mario game was in the mix. Now we do and we won’t have to wait long to bring a swift end to the Origami’ King’s reign.