Paper Mario has suffered under restrictions for a while. However, this game fights that at every turn and produces a really fun time.
The plot involves the origami king Olly, who has folded the paper cast into evil origami and attacked the Toad race. He wraps Peach's Castle in streamers guarded by living desk supplies, and Mario and Olly's sister Olivia must break them at the source. The two origami characters are nice despite being the most "new" ones in the game. Olly's surprisingly cold and serious, and Olivia's an endearing mess: naive, bubbly, and unprofessional like few Nintendo partners before. I adore Olivia. The game has top-notch comedy and silliness, and some effective dramatic moments with real weight. It gets creepy, too, using paper for Body Horror and violence that'd be genuinely horrifying on flesh-and-blood characters. The line being between origami and friendly paper also makes for a refreshing peace between Mario and the unfolded Koopa Troop—all flat paper and Olivia are united against the origami takeover. I was smiling constantly during each wonderful, surprising vignette.
The gameplay is nice. Exploring is fun since Toads have been hidden and folded in tons of ways, and you patch things up with confetti for progress and coins. Battle is the biggest change, using a puzzle format where you must move rows and columns of a ringed board. Enemy battles put you in the middle aligning enemies for easy targets, and boss battles put you on the outside making paths to reach attack spots. It's a weird format and frustrating at first, but you get used to it pretty quickly. Freed Toads form an audience you can pay in battle for ring puzzle help and HP, which is nice. Blocking enemy attacks only reduces damage instead of negating it. Don't like. You get heart upgrades for HP and power, while healing and attack items and breakable high-tier weapons can be selected in battle. The enemy battles feel even more tedious than most turn-based combat, but the bosses are an interesting and fun challenge. There are also papier-mache enemies that are fought on the overworld in real time, which I love. Mario doesn't get new moves or abilities, but Olivia gets magic powers which are used a lot, and she feels really meaningful as a result. The game is a little smoother because there are no explicit separate chapters and the world map feels more connected and seamless.
The soundtrack goes hard always and never misses. It's amazing.
Good Nintendo games make me sad to leave each level and excited to see the next one. Origami King does that, and it's clear the staff tried their hardest to make it a quirky, heartfelt experience. Don't dismiss this for not being like the first PM games. It's not the developers' fault that it couldn't be.
VideoGame An incredible charm-fest despite higher restrictions.
Paper Mario has suffered under restrictions for a while. However, this game fights that at every turn and produces a really fun time.
The plot involves the origami king Olly, who has folded the paper cast into evil origami and attacked the Toad race. He wraps Peach's Castle in streamers guarded by living desk supplies, and Mario and Olly's sister Olivia must break them at the source. The two origami characters are nice despite being the most "new" ones in the game. Olly's surprisingly cold and serious, and Olivia's an endearing mess: naive, bubbly, and unprofessional like few Nintendo partners before. I adore Olivia. The game has top-notch comedy and silliness, and some effective dramatic moments with real weight. It gets creepy, too, using paper for Body Horror and violence that'd be genuinely horrifying on flesh-and-blood characters. The line being between origami and friendly paper also makes for a refreshing peace between Mario and the unfolded Koopa Troop—all flat paper and Olivia are united against the origami takeover. I was smiling constantly during each wonderful, surprising vignette.
The gameplay is nice. Exploring is fun since Toads have been hidden and folded in tons of ways, and you patch things up with confetti for progress and coins. Battle is the biggest change, using a puzzle format where you must move rows and columns of a ringed board. Enemy battles put you in the middle aligning enemies for easy targets, and boss battles put you on the outside making paths to reach attack spots. It's a weird format and frustrating at first, but you get used to it pretty quickly. Freed Toads form an audience you can pay in battle for ring puzzle help and HP, which is nice. Blocking enemy attacks only reduces damage instead of negating it. Don't like. You get heart upgrades for HP and power, while healing and attack items and breakable high-tier weapons can be selected in battle. The enemy battles feel even more tedious than most turn-based combat, but the bosses are an interesting and fun challenge. There are also papier-mache enemies that are fought on the overworld in real time, which I love. Mario doesn't get new moves or abilities, but Olivia gets magic powers which are used a lot, and she feels really meaningful as a result. The game is a little smoother because there are no explicit separate chapters and the world map feels more connected and seamless.
The soundtrack goes hard always and never misses. It's amazing.
Good Nintendo games make me sad to leave each level and excited to see the next one. Origami King does that, and it's clear the staff tried their hardest to make it a quirky, heartfelt experience. Don't dismiss this for not being like the first PM games. It's not the developers' fault that it couldn't be.