The Origami King’ comes close to the originals

Following the release of the first two Paper Mario games in the early 2000s, a single question has haunted each subsequent release: “Does it play like the first two?”

The answer for each game, from 2007’s Super Paper Mario to 2020’s Paper Mario: The Origami King, is disappointingly simple: No.

Now, Paper Mario: The Origami King is not bad. It has all the excellent writing, humor, and creative design that’s hoisted the series since the beginning and set it apart from both other role-playing games and Mario games. It takes a fresh approach to turn-based RPG combat by turning battles into puzzles. It’s filled with surprises and hidden collectibles that make exploring exciting.

Still, The Origami King doesn’t quite hit the lofty expectations set by the first two games. There are two things early Paper Mario fans are always looking for: One, getting experience points from battles to level up Mario and make him more powerful over time, and two, the loyal companions you meet along the journey who stay with Mario and help him in battle. Those are once again missing.

The Origami King merely teases those ideas. There are some stat-boosting trinkets Mario can buy from vendors to make fights a bit easier, special heart items found throughout the world that upgrade Mario’s health and strength, and a few temporary followers sprinkled here and there who sometimes help in battle. Those just aren’t enough to satiate the desire for a sequel that actually feels like those first two Paper Mario games.

An unfolding adventure

The Paper Mario series is built on a conceit: Everything is made out of paper — the characters, the buildings, the environment. In The Origami King, the evil origami King Olly has descended upon the Mushroom Kingdom to wreak havoc, folding characters into mindless origami minions and ripping Princess Peach’s castle (along with Peach herself) from its foundation with giant streamers to place it atop a volcano, as seen in the trailer above.

Mario must venture around the world with his friendly new origami pal Olivia (who looks like a friendlier version of Olly) to find out where the king’s streamers are coming from, destroy them there, and rescue Peach, repairing holes in the world with confetti and unfurling dozens and dozens of Toads who have been folded up in Olly’s origami fascism.

It’s classic Mario fare, except this time Bowser isn’t a villain at all. He and his lackeys are on a friendly basis with Mario and company; the only enemies are those that have been folded up into evil origami versions of themselves. In fact, Bowser couldn’t be a threat if he wanted to — he’s been folded up into a square and stapled, but isn’t a mindless minion like other enemies.

With Olivia at his side, Mario traverses lush green hills, a mountain in a perpetual autumnal state, a feudal Japanese Shogun theme park, a desert where the sun has gone out, the blue vastness of the Great Sea, and a heavenly spa run by winged Toads. Each area is packed with secrets and collectibles that make exploring consistently exciting.

The adventurous side of The Origami King is a continuously rolling spectacle, with only a few spots that feel truly tedious or lack in imagination (I’m looking at you, Autumn Mountain). But those slower sections don’t drown out the really big moments — the hilarious theater production at Shogun Studios, the grand unearthing of an ancient temple, the game’s surprising amount of dance numbers, and some emotionally gut-punching story beats that sucked the wind right out of my sails for a few minutes.

At the end of each section of the game lies the end of one of the five maleficent streamers guarded by a big boss. But before destroying each one, Mario has to have a one-on-one with what’s known as a Vellumental, a combination of the words “vellum” and “elemental” that is referenced relentlessly throughout the game. Each of the Vellumentals is associated with a force of nature, like earth and water. Once defeated, they grant Olivia the power to fold herself into the form of that Vellumental  for use in world progression, puzzles, and sometimes battle when the game allows.

Once the Vellumental is defeated, the area’s bigger boss battle follows shortly. The bosses are crafting accessories, things like a case of colored pencils or a tape dispenser, brought to life by King Olly and now terrorizing the locals.

The banter that these murderous office supplies dish out is always funny, with threats and disses to Mario — like, “You were better when you were a sidescroller, man…” — that really bring out their personalities and make them memorable.

It’s a kind of humor that permeates the whole game. There are meta jokes and paper puns found all over the place, and almost every character has some humorous side. Every chance meeting on the road is an opportunity for delight.

Well, unless it’s an enemy. Then it’s battle time.

A new way to battle

The battle system in The Origami King transforms turn-based combat into a puzzle by placing enemies on a circular grid that players have to slide and spin in order to line up the goombas, koopas, and other enemies, either in columns of four or 2×2 groups of four, before laying down the hurt.

You have a very limited number of spins, usually just two or three, as well as a limited amount of time to figure out the lineup. If time runs out, the battle continues without the advantage that lining up the enemies gives you. The jump attack can hit four enemies in a line, and the hammer impacts a 2×2 square of enemies, so if any aren’t lined up, they won’t take damage. If you do line them all up, Mario also gets a 1.5x damage bonus and can usually take everything out in a single round.

Boss fights have a similar look and idea, but they are executed completely differently. Mario is on the outside of the arena and has to create a path for himself using the grid, which is now covered in arrows that direct his movement toward spots that allow him to perform actions. If you don’t line up a good path, Mario won’t have a chance to deal damage.

There are other nuances thrown into these boss fights that elevate them above other fights, too. Sometimes you need to make Mario end his movement on an action piece located behind the enemy to hit a specific, more vulnerable part of their body, or you need to trigger specific origami actions for an extra-devastating dose of damage.

By flipping the combat for bosses, those fights really stand out and feel much grander than the dozens of minor fights the game throws at you over the course of the adventure, which range from disrespectfully simple in the beginning to seemingly impossible toward the end.

Because this was my first time seeing a puzzle like this, there were a handful of times I had no idea what to do. I’d try a couple shifts and spins only to find the enemies more spread out then when they started, to my dismay. The puzzles only became more difficult later in the game, and by the end, I often relied on the game’s built-in help (see below) to actually get the line-ups right. 

I was never able to truly find my footing.

The Origami King offers two means of assistance in battle. The first adds time to the clock. By holding down the plus button, Mario can spend coins to boost the time, 10 coins per second. The second brings Toads out from the stands to shift the arena around for you and get you closer to solving the puzzle, which also costs coins.

Luckily, coins are abundant in this game. Individual battles earn you hundreds of coins each, and bags containing a thousand coins are littered all over the world. Coins can also be used to buy accessories that do things like boost Mario’s health in battle, reduce the damage he takes on a successful block, and add time to the clock.

It becomes more necessary to add damage to the attacks as the game goes on and enemies get tougher. To do so, Mario can use “weapons” that augment his jumps and hammer attacks. Items like shiny iron boots deal extra damage and protect Mario’s feet from spiky enemies, or there’s the flashy hammer that dishes out extra damage. These items wear out and break after several uses, but as with coins, the world is just chock-full of them, so I never found myself needing to buy any from stores.

While engaging, The Origami King’s puzzle-based combat made me feel like I could never really find my footing. I thought I would master the puzzles by the end, but as they became more difficult, I just found myself paying my Toad audience 999 coins at the start of most fights to set me up better. It felt like cheating, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around some of the puzzles, so I did what I had to do.

At the very, very end of the game, without giving away any spoilers, The Origami King throws more new mechanics into combat, which kept me, aggravatingly, on my back foot. End-game boss fights are usually a way for games to test players on the skills they’ve learned over the past several hours (in this case, roughly 25). Instead, I was thrown major curveballs that felt cheap. Annoying, even.

It gave me the sense that I was never able to truly find my footing with this game’s combat, and the game never really found its footing with it, either.

Too much baggage

The Origami King has so many bright spots throughout its adventure, from its fun puns like “fax travel” — a speedy way to travel using a fax machine — to its rich, enveloping tones, like the mysteriously derelict and damaged cruise ship that Mario has to search out on the Great Sea. Even the combat, though frustrating at times, is a novelty that doesn’t really run out its welcome.

But the game brings a history along with it that sets up certain expectations. It’s been longer than 15 years since we’ve gotten a fully satisfying Paper Mario sequel. There was a core to those first two games that has been absent for so long.

You’d think I’d get over it. You’d think that my expectations would change after three games that messed with that formula. Nope. I still held out hope for the fourth, The Origami King.

Did I enjoy my time with it? I mostly did. I also liked the divisive Paper Mario: Sticker Star on the Nintendo 3DS. But there’s a hollowness to those games. They could be just a little bit more satisfying and engaging if they hit those leveling and partner elements that were so key to Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

It’s not something that’s easy to move on from. If The Origami King was good enough on its own without those features, I’d happily admit it. It’s close, but it’s not quite there.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is available now on Nintendo Switch.