Nintendo has shared a video preview of details on the latest chapter of its Paper Mario series, which releases July 17. Paper Mario: The Origami King will be available for the Nintendo Switch, bringing an even more interesting take to the already unique video game.
The trailer gives a rundown of Mario’s latest adventure. The heroic plumber is facing a new foe, King Olly, who has captured Princess Peach’s castle. Mario must navigate and overcome challenges at several locations, including a forest spring, an autumn mountain, an underground sewer, a desert oasis, and a ninja mansion. Much like the prior games, Mario will have several companions, including Bobby, a Bob-omb who has lost his memory, Olivia, King Olly’s sister, and Professor Toad.
The Paper Mario game style takes on a new form for this series with battles being orchestrated in a 360-degree style. An homage to old school Mario RPG, each turn rotates the battlefield and moves enemies around. Mario’s attacks will be more powerful if players can line foes in a row and tackle them in one turn. When fighting bosses, they are in the center of the battle ring rather than Mario and our hero has to strategize staying out of the way of his foe’s attacks.
The trailer definitely does simply tease what we can expect from the game, and currently has left many fans underwhelmed as to how boss levels will unfold. Typically accustomed to very charismatic boss characters, the most powerful foes in The Origami King are all stationary themed and include tape, rubber bands, and colored pencils.
Currently, we don’t have many details on their exact gameplay. Ever the faithful critics, many have taken social media to share memes expressing their opinions on what we’ve seen so far.
Other aspects of the game also push forward the origami theme. Throughout his journey, Mario must find Toads that have been transformed into folded paper items, including a cicada, flower, fox, and fried egg.
Pricing for the game had not yet been announced but we’re sure to hear more about its launch in the coming weeks.
