Today is the release date forPaper Mario: The Origami King, the newest entry in Nintendo’s long-running RPG spin-off of the iconic platforming series. The first new entry since 2016’sPaper Mario: Color Splash,Paper Mario: The Origami Kingmarks the return to many of the features that made the original Nintendo 64 title and the GameCube’sPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Dooriconic, including the return of party members. While this has many fans excited, as party members can now finally help Mario in battles and interact with him as part of the story once again, many are still disappointed by their integration.
Party members in previousPaper Mariogames hadunique, distinct designs, such as Goombella, a female Goomba studying to become an archaeologist, and Parakarry, a Paratroopa character who acts as a delivery man in the originalPaper Mario, spinning familiarMarioseries enemies into memorable characters that stuck with the player well after the credits rolled. WhileSuper Paper Mariomarked a distinct shift in the series' direction gameplay-wise, it wasn’t untilPaper Mario: Sticker Staron the Nintendo 3DS that fans to become increasingly disappointed in how the series was losing its charm as it had completely moved away from party members and startedexperimenting with new battle systems.
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Thankfully, fans may finally have an answer as to why Intelligent Systems has moved away from re-imagining iconic characters, asPaper Marioseries producer Kensuke Tanbe stated that “sincePaper Mario: Sticker Star, it’s no longer possible to modify Mario characters or to create original characters that touch on theMarioUniverse.” This means that while the team could create new characters such asThe Origami King’s main villain Olly, these characters have to originate from outside theMariouniverse and cannot change any of the designs or personalities of existing characters as it did in the past. Tanbe continues, stating “We need to create original characters with designs that don’t involve theMariouniverse at all, like we’ve done with Olly and the stationery bosses.”
While many will be understandably disappointed to hear that it is unlikely that Nintendo and Intelligent Systems are unlikely to return to reimaginingexistingMariocharactersin the future, the strangest thing to stem from this interview is Tanbe claiming that new villains cannot even originate from Mario’s existing universe, meaning that any villains introduced infuturePaper Mariogamesmust either already exist in the game’s universe (but not stem from the personalities presented in previous titles) or be completely original and be invading Mario’s universe.
Paper Mario: The Origami Kingis out now, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
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