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Paper Mario Game Review For Nintendo Switch
Posted on August 04, 2020
Paper Mario: The Origami King (2020) Game Review For Nintendo Switch
By Luke.R
Paper Mario: The Origami King is the sixth installment in the long running action-adventure, RPG “Mario” spin-off series, “Paper Mario”. The Origami King, is developed by series veterans Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. The Origami King is rated PG and features mild violence.
Paper Mario: The Origami King is one of the most exciting and fun entries in the long running “Paper Mario” series in years. Featuring the same papercraft world and phenomenal writing and storytelling the series is known for, while also adding in an abundance of new origami themed characters/mechanics as well as an interesting and new puzzle-based combat system.
Story and Voice-Acting
The game's story follows Mario and his new friend, Olivia, the sister of the sinister new threat to the mushroom kingdom, King Olly, and with his power to fold and crease other papercraft into his origami minions, King Olly has turned Princess Peach into one of his slaves and uprooted and sealed shut her castle with magical paper streamers. Now its up to the mustachioed hero, Mario, and his newfound friend, as well as several other partners found along the way, to put an end to King Olly’s reign over the Mushroom Kingdom.
The Origami Kings Story is a masterclass on how to create a comedic and charming story that never feels dull. From the constantly twisting story to the wide variety of unique and equally hilarious characters, The Origami King continually heaps on the charm and wit that the series does best. With a healthy amount of surprisingly somber and emotional moments sprinkled in to change the flow every now and then.
The Origami King’s voice-acting while light, with most characters being silent like most RPG’s, hearing a character spout a catchphrase or one-liners every so often was a delight. With Charles Martinet’s voice bringing characters like Mario and Luigi to life.
Gameplay
For the most part The Origami King had me exploring the papercraft world’s various and wildly different locations with the main goal of destroy all of King Olly’s Magic Streamers. Mario is just as acrobatic as ever with platforming being a must to traverse through the world and find key items, and it feels as good as ever and with some wonderfully designed areas, it’s always fun to platform and explore the areas. But, Mario has some new skills up his sleeve, with help of Olivia, Mario is able to use a wide variety of “Magic Circles”, these circles have the ability to give Mario the ”1000-Fold Arms” elongating his arms and allowing him to pull, tear and hit out of place areas. Only certain Magic Circles can be used after earning an ability from one the many “Vellumentals”, creatures with the power to control certain elements. Though finding the path forward isn’t straightforward, having you go through platforming challenges and finding new friends to help with the adventure, and also having you enter the games new, fun, and initially confusing combat system.
Upon entering a battle through attacking an enemy or being ambushed, Mario will be sent to the center of a ring-based arena, with the ability to twist and pull/push it to his liking. Enemies are placed around the arenas several rings in certain orders, and Mario is given a certain number of how many times he can manipulate the arena. The goal at the beginning of the fight is to either get the enemies in a line or square pattern, after successfully solving the puzzle of sorting the enemies, Your given the choice of 3 types of actions, Boots, Hammers, and items. Each is useful for certain patterns. Boss battles are a nice change of pace, this time having me line up arrows around the arena to guide Mario through certain obstacles to attack the boss. Battles can also happen with “Paper Machos”, larger versions of basic enemies dealt with outside of the arena, these enemies eat holes in the world that can be filled with confetti earned through battles or by hitting various things around Mario with his trusty hammer. Mario’s arsenal of weapons can also be expanded through finding weapons through the world or buy purchasing them at a vendor with coins earned through battle or by finding them throughout the world.
A crowd of Toads is also formed around the arena, these toads not only cheer you on but, can also help with healing Mario or attacking the enemies. The crowd of Toads can also be expanded and upgraded through finding the large and well hidden Toads in some pretty nasty situations, some are simple to find and easy, while others can either have you enter a battle or tackle a puzzle/obstacle. Toads are the only things that can be found though, collectable statues of the games characters or scenery can be found, allowing a closer look at the games highly detailed models.
The Origami King’s gameplay is varied and constantly fun with a never-ending amount of interesting areas to jump through, puzzles to solve and battles to tackle. But it wouldn’t be Paper Mario if it weren’t filled with tons of fantastically written characters to find and set pieces to find yourself in, and luckily The Origami King is filled with it, and it never loses it charm. From samurai cosplayers to a Bob-omb with amnesia, it was always fun to interact with the games vast amount of hilarious wit-filled characters. What really ties it together though is the game phenomenal visuals and soundtrack.
Visuals, Sound and Performance
The Origami King’s visuals are absolutely phenomenal, every piece of paper, cardboard, plastic, and metal that comprise the world you explore is filled with detail. And areas like Shogun Studios a Japanese themed film studio or the neon-lit central of Snif City, truly make you feel like you’re looking a beautifully detailed handcrafted diorama.
And what makes it even better is The Origami King’s phenomenal soundtrack, from jazzy up-beat pop to riff filled rock and roll, it makes the games already stunning areas feel even more alive. The game also puts a heavy focus on its music with fully animated scenes focused around characters singing or playing one of the games amazing themes.
The Origami King also runs great, at a locked 30fps docked and handheld, I never encountered any frame rate issues or graphical and sound glitches. It runs perfectly.
Verdict
Rating: 8/10
Paper Mario: The Origami King is a fun, charming and such an exciting adventure through Paper Mario’s lovingly crafted world. Though featuring an initially confusing though fun combat system that may take time to get used to. Paper Mario’s phenomenal writing and quirky characters are here in an abundance and it never loses its great rhythm and wordplay. The Origami King is a fantastic adventure I couldn’t recommend enough but, its new combat system could stumble even the most veteran RPG, especially newcomers.