REVIEW: Paper Mario, The Origami King is a fun paper adventure

Paper Mario It's definitely one of the franchises spin off most famous of Nintendo's mustachioed plumber. The series is known for mixing RPG mechanics with a lot of humor and packaging it all in a world made entirely of paper. Now Mario returns in Paper mario: the origami king for one of his most eccentric and hilarious adventures.

O showmetech had access to a personal copy of Paper mario: the origami king protocols for Nintendo Switch and, after a few days of intense gaming in this paper world and more than 20 hours playing with Shy Guys of origami, we bring a complete analysis of the game.

a lot of cardboard

Despite being a charming franchise with a good fan base, Paper Mario has a slightly worn formula. But surprisingly, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems (developer behind the Paper Mario series) have managed to stitch together all the strange stories of the mushroom kingdom in such a perfect way that there will be many moments in which you will laugh during the several hours of the game.

The plot does not bring anything new to those who already know the series or who are familiar with the Mario universe: the Princess Peach is kidnapped by the mysterious Origami King, which covers the Mushroom Kingdom in ominous bands. However, the story has a heavy comedic aid in classic elements of the franchise, such as the never-ending tug-of-war of Mario e Bowser from Princess Peach. Plus, there are plenty of fun references to Nintendo's vast library of games, ranging from Yoshi's Island a Super Metroid.

But it's a shame that this versatility in comedy and jokes doesn't also apply to the combat system. Even though the game's fighting mechanics are a lot of fun, it quickly becomes repetitive and those looking for a successor to Paper Mario and The Thousand-Year Door (the most influential game in the series), may be disappointed with Origami King.

For those who have never tried a Paper Mario game before, know that, in the same way as previous titles, at its core it is a game with RPG elements that puts Mario and other characters to fight enemies in turn-based battles. In addition, as much as Mario and his friends are creatures made of paper in two dimensions, the player will interact with a completely three-dimensional world, resulting in a crazy but very charming aesthetic that yields several hilarious moments.

From fold to fold

Origami King is a title that introduces a fun new twist to the universe in the form of the evil King Olly, who is bending the two-dimensional residents of the Mushroom Kingdom into origami forms — including Princess Peach — to turn them into mindless slaves. The plot is simple, as in any game in the franchise, but your adventure is decorated with so many crazy moments and crazy characters that you will be involved until the end.

With Princess Peach's castle taken over by the Origami King, Paper Mario must free this villain's kingdom by venturing across multiple worlds, including an abandoned samurai-style amusement park and a desert seemingly trapped in an endless night cycle. Fortunately, Mario has a bag of confetti that he can throw over “broken” elements of the setting to fix them.

Unlike most classic Mario games, the characters talk a lot to each other. luigi, bowser and Mario's new companion, Olive, often punctuating conversations with jokes. But surely who steals the show is the army of Toads that hide in various parts of the Kingdom, waiting for Mario to free them from their origami prisons. 

While saving Toads will increase the strength of a combat-focused special ability, the main incentive for rescuing them is having the pleasure of listening to their dialogue, which in addition to being hilarious often breaks the air. “fourth wall” and speak directly to the player.

Something fans of the series will find strange is the new ring-based battle system that abandons the franchise's old RPG mechanics in favor of puzzle solving. Each combat encounter begins with a puzzle where Mario is tasked with grouping enemies with a limited number of platform-changing turns. 

At the start of the adventure, combat is so easy it borders on tedious, simply requiring you to swap the origami-shaped Goomba into a column of four so Mario can perform a head-slamming hopscotch or square formation to sync up perfectly with the game. your hammer's blast radius.

However, the puzzles become more complex as the story progresses, as additional enemy variations are introduced, such as Boos being able to turn invisible to test their memory skills and enemies with immunity, featuring resistance to Mario's jumping attack. 

Add to that Mario's skill set that doesn't change beyond the tutorial stage and the lack of an upgrade system that provides any sort of progression and you have combat gameplay that in a matter of hours starts to get extremely repetitive. 

Several secondary characters occasionally lend a hand in combat, but unfortunately don't add any new mechanics, simply dealing damage to all enemies you haven't defeated after each turn. This is a huge missed opportunity, especially with the potential skill set many of them possess.

There are very few consequences for errors during combat either. Failure to solve a puzzle before the timer hits zero does not result in a game over, only giving origami enemies the opportunity to attack. At no time will the player feel really difficulty in the game or problems to progress.

Fortunately, boss battles are more fun, with the Intelligent Systems reversing the format so that colossal enemies are in the center of the arena instead of Mario. This means that you must rotate the turntables several times to navigate your opponent, while dodging missiles and trying to step on specific panels that grant additional damage to your attacks. Each boss brings a new twist to the table, requiring you to think about good strategy rather than brute force.

Rock, paper, Mario!

Paper mario: the origami king is an adventure in Mario's paper universe that relies more on its hilarious dialogues and situations than on interesting gameplay mechanics. Combat using puzzles was an interesting way for the Intelligent Systems change the RPG-style system, but that ended up sacrificing all the challenge of the journey. If you're looking for a game other than the classic Mario style and want to have a good laugh, Origami King It's your perfect choice on paper and in the gaming world!

You find Paper mario: the origami king on physical media in Americans for R $ 409.