One of the biggest games of the year really has to be Paper Mario: The Origami King from developers Intelligent Systems and Nintendo. This action-adventure RPG single player game is quite fun and the story keeps on a good pace for the player. Origami King is the sixth game in the Paper Mario series following Paper Mario: Color Splash.
Mario and Luigi receive an invite to the Origami Festival in Toad Town near Peach’s castle. After quickly getting to the point (Mario and Luigi practically come out and say they are going to the festival but don’t know what it is, or why it is happening) and proceed to notice that no one is actually at the festival. From there Luigi and Mario search for Princess Peach and find her not acting like her normal self. King Olly comes forth to admit that he wants to rule the kingdom and make it his origami kingdom. Olly wraps the castle in streamers and takes it to a faraway mountain. Mario, who managed to escape the streamer event, sets out with King Olly’s sister Olivia to help Luigi, find the castle and rescue Peach.
Players control paper Mario in a 3D world that has sculptures and other three-dimensional items. I found it to be really neat to look at. The textures are unique as well as the movement of Mario. Jumping and running is standard, but being able to move far toward the background or close to the edge of the screen to make your way around can be tricky. Mario is equipped with a hammer to use and Olivia provides hints. She guides you through a large tutorial as you start your journey.
The battle system is shown as a battle system with waves of enemies. In the beginning the directions didn’t make much sense. The goal is to line up your enemies or get them into groups in order to jump on the enemies or use a hammer blast. You have to use rings within the battle circle to move enemies to group them, lock in the pattern you want and then strike. In some areas of the map the enemies pop up for battle and eventually gets harder. Still, Olivia talks your ears off the whole time while you are trying to get your battle on. Players come across office supplies like scissors and rubber bands too along the journey.
One of the most unique features is the ability to use the “1000-Fold arms” that Olivia gives you. These arms are really long arms that allow you to grab pieces of the environment and rip them down. Doing this allows you to find hidden things (like Olivia) and knock down big items and more. If you play without the JoyCon controllers then getting the hang of moving these arms can be annoying. I chose to use the whole device and move my Switch from side to side and back and forth, that seemed to work better. A lot of people have suggested turning off the motion controls in order to get a better experience.
So far, using the menu in order to access a map or other useful pieces of information has been pretty non-existent. Pieces of the map will unlock when you find hidden origami that holds a folded Toad. Once they are released they will offer you a gift. Another random thing that I like most about the game is the ability to fix holes in the environment but throwing confetti everywhere. You must use your hammer to get the pieces but throwing it all is very stress relieving in a way.
Overall, Paper Mario: The Origami King is fun. I like the environment and how your 3D world is interacting with a 2D character. The story doesn’t have to be super detailed to be interesting. The battle system is not my favorite because in a way it is too easy and too difficult to figure out. I would have liked to have seen a more diverse way of fighting. In the end, I will play this to the end and would have family play too.
9/10
Available on Nintendo Switch
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/paper-mario-the-origami-king-switch/