Paper Mario: The Origami King

Paper Mario: The Origami King
Developer	Intelligent Systems
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo Switch
Release Date	July 17, 2020
Rating	ESRB: E

Paper Mario: The Origami King is an action RPG with puzzle elements that was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2020. It is the sixth game of the Paper Mario subseries.

Story

Mario and Luigi have been invited to attend an Origami Festival at Toad Town. They arrive to find that Princess Peach has been turned into origami and now spreads the will of Olly, an origami being who calls himself the Origami King. He has been folding various denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom and Bowser's forces into Folded Soldiers, and his goal is to make the whole world into origami beings who follow his will. Mario manages to rescue his sister Olivia, and the two embark on a quest to stop Olly.

Gameplay

This game features a unique puzzle-based battle system which are set in arenas consisting of several rings. In normal battles, Mario starts off in the center of the ring, and the player has to move the rings to line up the enemies, which will grant Mario an attack boost and allow him to attack multiple enemies in one turn. For boss battles, the boss is instead at the center, while Mario starts off on the outside of the arena. The rings contain various objects including directional arrows which dictate the direction of Mario's movements, items and icons which must be landed on to launch attacks. In those battles, the player's goal is to forge a path for Mario to make through the rings to attack the boss, and the boss may also launch obstacles that interfere with the arena. For both normal battles and boss battles, the player has a limited amount of time in which to decide ring arrangements, as well as a limited amount of times that they can move rings.

As in the previous two games, Mario does not earn experience points or level up from battles, and instead Mario's health and strength can be increased by collecting Max Hearts. Winning battles earns coins and confetti, the latter of which can be launched by Mario to fill in Non-Bottomless Holes that are found throughout the game. There are also Toads trapped in various areas of the game, many of whom are trapped in origami forms. Some of them provide rewards for Mario or are needed to progress the story, and Mario will also earn Toad Points from rescuing them which can be put towards unlocking artwork at the game's museum. Rescued Toads also fill in the audience in battles and can provide help to Mario. There are also some battles that are fought in the overworld, mostly against giant Paper Macho enemies. Those battles involve dodging the enemy's attacks and hitting them with the hammer at the right time until they are destroyed. There are also some other abilities that can be used at special pads in the overworld and in battles: the 1,000 Fold Arms is an ability controlled through gyroscope controls in which Mario's arms extend and can be used to reach faraway places, as well as to grab and/or strike enemies or objects. There are also Vellumental powers that can be unlocked through the game for Olivia to use, which consist of employing various elements to have effects on the environment or to attack enemies.

This installment also provides some partner characters beyond Olivia, although in a limited sense compared to the early games. These partners only accompany Mario temporarily and in certain areas, and only some of them have an ability that can be used in the overworld. In battle, a partner character acts as a helpful NPC character that will launch an attack after Mario that has a chance of missing the enemy. The game is also known for featuring expansive environments, as well as various collectible items and achievements that can be earned.