Developer Intelligent Systems
Publisher Nintendo
Format Switch
Release Out nowPaper Mario: The Origami King
the head of a Goomba or Shy Guy to deal extra damage.
But that’s less important than simply manoeuvring
them into position in the first place, since that gives
you a crucial 50 per cent damage boost. With the
number of enemy groups determining the number of
actions you get to perform, often that means (assuming
you’ve followed the optimal steps, that is) finishing
them all off in a single go.
In one sense, it’s overly prescriptive. When you’ve
arranged the enemies appropriately, there’s little choice
in how you finish them off. Sure, you’ll want more
powerful (but degradable) variants of hammers and
boosts, which you pick up on your journey or buy
from Toad vendors. And yes, you need iron boots to
leap across spiked enemies, but otherwise once you’ve
lined them up there’s not much to think about – unless
you fancy a change by using Ice or Fire Flowers, or
a Tanooki Tail for groups. When it goes wrong, you
need to block attacks, again pressing buttons at the
right time to minimise damage – and that’s more
concerning in wave battles, when you face up to three
groups of enemies in a row. Even so, by then you should
have a stock of mushrooms to recover health if needed,
which flattens out the challenge somewhat. Still, it’s
satisfying to nail an arrangement that requires three
spins or pushes to get right within the narrow time
window you’re given – even if what follows is all but
a foregone conclusion.
And if you’re not especially enamoured with the
new style, there are ways to make things easier for
yourself. Though some encounters are enforced, and
others nigh unavoidable, for large part you can simply
give any wandering minions a wide berth, or else wait
until their backs are turned. You can pay to extend the
timer – and you’ll soon amass enough coins that you
can do that for every battle and still come out with an
overflowing wallet – should you find the gentle stress
of repositioning those rings a little too much. Better
still, you can throw coins around the edges to ask
friendly Toads for help. Normally they watch from the
sidelines, but a bribe will call a group of them over.
They’ll throw items that do negligible damage to
enemies, toss you a heart if you’re running low on HP,
and even shift the rings to help you solve the puzzle.
Their role becomes more significant in the boss
fights peppered throughout the adventure. These also
take place on a series of rings, but the roles are reversed:
Mario is on the outside looking to plot a route to the
large enemy in the middle. You need to move rings to
align arrows to get him there – and with more than 100
coins, you don’t need to mentally trace the path because
the Toads will draw it in for you. This takes some of the
pressure off, letting you focus on the other icons en
route to the segment containing the attack command.
You might pass a token that lets you attack twice,T
here’s a hole in the world. In fact, there are dozens:
gaps where the Mushroom Kingdom’s paper
wrapping has been torn away to reveal the wire
framework beneath. Sometimes these impede your
progress; elsewhere, they’re merely a cosmetic concern.
You’ll be keen to fill them all either way, not least for
the gleeful look on Mario’s face as you press ZR and
another fistful of confetti erupts from his hands,
steadily covering the cavity until the messy, rainbow-
hued pile magically becomes one with its surroundings.
On the face of it, this would be seem to be little more
than an analogue to repainting Color Splash’s blank
spaces, though it never feels like menial work; rather, as
in Okami, you feel like you’re fixing a broken world.
This single action is a reminder that Nintendo has
a habit of making even the simplest things feel joyful,
but it speaks volumes about the game itself, too. Here,
Intelligent Systems – with the help of another
outstanding Treehouse localisation – simultaneously
pokes holes in the Mario universe while celebrating it in
the most charming and colourful way possible.
Which, in keeping with series’ heritage, means
Bowser isn’t the villain of the piece. Instead, it’s the
self-proclaimed King Olly – a kind of origami
supremacist, if you will – who believes the Mushroom
Kingdom and its inhabitants would be much better
folded into angular new shapes rather than remaining in
their current 2D forms. (When you reach the splendid
final area, you might well think he has a point.) Pressing
Goombas, Shy Guys and various other minions into
service as ‘folded soldiers’, he whisks Peach’s castle
away, albeit not before wrapping it up in a series of
coloured streamers. Naturally, it’s Mario’s job to unravel
them, with the help of Olly’s more benevolent sister
Olivia and a few other allies besides. Anyone hoping for
a return to the partner system of the first two games,
however, will be disappointed. They’re good company,
particularly a Bob-omb called Bobby and an unlikely
alliance in the latter stages, though their input in battle
is limited to automatic attacks that have a seemingly
random chance of landing.
Even before release, The Origami King’s radial
battle system was a bone of contention. In practice,
despite a long-winded introduction followed by
a succession of overly simple early encounters, it works
rather well. Combat takes place on a large circular arena
split into rings and sections that can be rotated or
pushed in or out. Each battle is effectively a single-
solution puzzle, the object being to line up groups of
four enemies in either a two-by-two cluster or a line of
four, in order to defeat them with a swing of your
hammer or by bouncing across them respectively. In
time-honoured tradition, you press A as you reach the
apex of your backswing or as your boot connects with
It pokes holes
in the Mariouniverse while
celebrating
it in the most
charming
and colourfulway possible
PLAY