It’s been a little over 4 years since the surprise Twitter announcement of Paper Mario Origami King back in 2020. The world was on fire during that time, and this was the first major sign that those rampant Mario 35th anniversary extravaganza rumors were true. I didn’t put much time into it (mainly stuck with RPGs during lockdown times), but I sure did pay attention to the discourse among the Paper Mario fandom about it. The game came out in July 2020 to better reception than its two predecessors, Sticker Star and Color Splash, but longtime fans lamented the continued direction the series was heading in for these past three games. And this time there wasn’t a sister Mario RPG series to fall back on, since that studio filed for bankruptcy the year prior. I’m still salty about that to this day.
And then there was the infamous VGC interview with Tanabe, in which he spells it out that “it is no longer possible to modify existing Mario characters or create new ones” for the Paper Mario series. Even though one cursory glance at Mario Odyssey and all its various brand new characters, locations, and so on should tell you otherwise. Imagine the looks on the faces of those who gave up hope for a ‘proper’ Paper Mario game when the Thousand Year Door remake was announced last September. I’ve already put 25 hours into that game and I’m not slowing down anytime soon. I get the hype now.
Posted by Asad_Farooqui
44 Comments
I think it was a step in the right direction – a lot of the humour was on point – but the combat system gets old very quickly. I’m glad people who never got to play TTYD can do so and realise it wasn’t just people with rose tinted glasses.
It was better than Color Splash, which was better than Sticker Star, but I just want another one like 64 and TTYD goddammit!
longtime fan of the series and it wasn’t quite the return to form i was hoping for but i still enjoyed it quite a bit. after 64 and TTYD, it’s the next best PM.
It honestly would have been the best Paper Mario to date, if it had a different battle system. Turn based, or something else. What they chose was incorrect. Amazing the playtesters and everyone else didn’t pick up on that.
I am in the minority and I loved The Origami King!
Easily one of the most underrated switch exclusives. I do prefer the traditional paper Mario style (ttyd is one of my favorite games of all time) but it was a very fun game in its own right. It does not deserve the hate it gets (I can’t speak for its two predecessors because I never played them).
I think that it had a very weak start that felt incredibly handhold-y but it really picked up steam and became a very fun game once you’re out of the first two hours or so.
The graphics and lightning were great and it has an incredible soundtrack. Just lacks the RPG elements, even though the combat system was decent for what it was.
The open world approach was awesome. It felt like an alive world that would function regardless if I was there, which TTYD lacks a fair bit. And the OST is still the best in the series to me. And the humor was great, TOK just lacked an engaging battle system and story. It was many steps in the right direction compared to SS/CS, but it isn’t perfect yet.
I absolutely LOVED this game. There were elements of the battles that were frustrating at times, but the ring mechanic was really cool especially for the bosses. The game had such a grandness to it, and it really felt like an adventure. The environments were creative and polished, and the characters + dialogue were witty and hilarious the whole time which was such a treat. And man, the soundtrack. Easily in my top five Nintendo OSTs, it’s just fantastic. To be honest, this was the first PM game I ever completed and it also being one of my quarantine hyperfixation games made me grow really attached to it, so I still think highly of it to this day.
Right now I’m early on in my first playthrough of Thousand Year Door via the new remake. That game has unquestionably the superior RPG battle mechanics, but I do find myself missing the grandiose nature of many of Origami King’s areas and vistas. I personally think that a certain mixture of these 2 games would create the ultimate Paper Mario experience.
While playing TTYD I ended up really missing the wide open environments Origami King had. They were just so fun to explore and breath taking to look at.
Of course TTYD still looks good and they couldn’t have done much since it’s a faithful remake, but it made me wonder what Paper Mario 7 could be like.
I wish I could enjoy TTYD as much as I did with Origami King.
I really enjoyed it, and I liked the combat system. That being said, I’m playing TTYD now, and I like that system as well.
This was the first one I played and I love it.
It was fantastic. The regular battles could have used more patterns if I’m being honest, but otherwise it was a great experience.
Loved the game.
Although I loved the characters I still would have enjoyed them being more fleshed out and unique.
Loved the fights (ESPECIALLY THE BOSS FIGHTS) but hated the combat system and never got the hang of it. I paid off the toads/audience every single fight, and would constantly make mistakes because it was just too fking complicated and unintuitive every time.
For me it feels like the child of Super Paper Mario and Color Splash, both games I enjoyed (mostly.)
I’d rank the series in order best to worst:
PMTTYD
PM
PMOK
SPM
PMCS
PMSS
Started it at launch, did not like it. I decided to pick it back up and enjoying it way more now.
I didn’t really like it. I didn’t like how you had to use the roulette thing. I lost interest in it. You have to line them up and there is a time limit. I didn’t like that and it gets harder and harder as the game proceeds so I stopped playing it.
Best music, best scenery/levels (OMG the theme park one!), excellent writing… the game oozes charm. Honestly, it’s held back by the battle system and office supplies gimmick. I’m sick of office supply bosses.
I really liked it, including the battle system. I’m finding TTYD a bit boring by comparison and I’m hoping it picks up. I like puzzles though so the Origami King battle system felt more engaging.
Still very much dislike it.
I never played any Paper Mario games, so I’m playing through it right now before I play the thousand Year door. I am starting to find myself avoiding the random battles, but really liking the boss battles. I was recommended to play this first so I didn’t start at the top to only go down from there. But the humor is great and I like the game play. Definitely looking forward to play TTYD soon
Really enjoyed my time with Origami King. The paper aesthetic was baked into the storyline and I liked how on the nose it was. The humor was fantastic too.
It was my first Paper Mario game and I had fun with it. But the battle system is the weak spot for sure. I got pretty burnt out with it by the end.
The writing is great and the origami aspect was very cool. Visually it’s a nice looking game too.
About two years later I played the original N64 one and had a lot more fun. I’m excited to really play TTYD.
First Paper Mario I played. Loved it.
First Paper Mario I’ve liked since TTYD. Still suffered from generic NPC designs, and regular combat was just…ok (though, I do think it’s a very overhated) but the level design, bosses, characters, music story were pretty enjoyable. I’d put it around the same level as Paper Mario 64
Love the battle system, love the story, love the gameplay…it’s an awesome game!
I loved it. Some of the pattern battles got old towards the end of the game but I really enjoyed the game overall.
It was my first Paper Mario game and I absolutely loved it. I’m not a huge Mario fan, but it’s easily one of my favorite games
Holy shit it’s been 4 years?
It’s mediocre at best.
The story isn’t good (That ending really put a bad taste in my mouth), characters designs are still restricted and sanitized, the combat system is **TERRIBLE** and only that was enough to make the game unfun the whole way through.
It has a ton of half baby-steps towards being like the first two games, like having “Partners” that do nothing and equipment that offers nothing but straight improvements (You never have to think about what to choose like the Badges).
If the solution to get a better game is to be like PM64 and TTYD just go the whole way through instead of these hollow incomplete additions that mean nothing in the end. Or just go the whole way to Action like Super Paper Mario. Turn Based battles that offer no EXP **don’t work**, and it’s the third time in a row they do the same thing.
I loved it. After playing TTYD, i love it even more. I miss that engaging overworld exploration running around true 3D environments and especially the toad searching with all the funny toads from Origami King. I instinctively hammer ererything in TTYD like i did in Origami King to get paper snippets and secret toads. Helped me find some secrets lol. The story is funny and engaging and Olivia is too adorable (and i miss Bobby and being called Uncle M). You just have stuff to do all the time in Origami Kings overworld its great.
I also really like the battle system. It’s fresh and unique, it’s rewarding to line up tough constellations for that sweet attack boost (I like the hammer timing much more too) and the boss battles are just the best, filled with creativity and challenge. Not to mention the music (my god). You can definitely feel a heavy Origami King influence in the TTYD remake. And regarding the staleness of combat: sure, fighting basic goombas and koopas gets old quickly but at some point you can defeat them without an actual battle just like in TTYD with the badge. They get stale in TTYD just the same, but they throw new enemies at you constantly in both games so you can have new engaging fights constantly too.
I think the paper in TTYD is a bit too shiny but it still looks fantastic! If i could pick and choose a style, id pick TTYD character models (really like the layered models they have) and Origami King environments.
I enjoyed it a lot. The obvious flaw for me was the Battle system, there was something there but it felt like most battles was repeat solutions, some more variety could have made some difference. Absolutely had the Paper Mario charm i play Paper Mario for, and the world felt so good!
story wise it’s really fun. My 5yo son also loves it.
The major drawback is the regular battle itself, except the bosses, holds unnecessary puzzles and doesn’t feel rewarding (with just coins as reward, no level progression). We both can’t stand it.
We hope it’s more like a Mario RPG.
Positives:
-The game looked and felt great. I don’t mind at all that they started to lean more into the paper aesthetic, even though “Paper Mario” was really just born out of a change made in the Japanese to English translation of “Mario Story.” I think the paper thing is cute and unique. I don’t love the white outlines but they don’t bother me a whole lot. The graphics are beautiful
-I love the music
-I think the story, in that there is one, is a step in the right direction from Sticker Star and Color Splash.
-the interconnected world that you can travel between without an overworld map breaking up travel is a huge improvement from Color Splash and even SPM imo.
Now the negatives:
-the battle system is atrocious. I actually think I like SS and CS better on that front. There is also no incentive to battle so I found myself actively avoiding them. I didnt think the boss battles were much better
-the league of stationary is so dumb. Seriously? The Koopalings are better. I hate the inclusion of real life “things” in any fashion, but I can’t stand them as actually bosses. Horrendous
-a “step in the right direction” really isn’t enough for me when it comes to partners. Yeah we had some partners, better than the previous two games. But decades earlier we had like 6-7 permanent , unique partners. Now we have only a handful of temporary partners that you can’t control during battle and who don’t really have unique designs. Lame! Bring back unique variations of traditional Mario species as permanent partners
-four levels isn’t really enough for me, not when we’ve already seen 6-7
Unfortunately I lost interest and never finished it. There were some good moments but nothing to keep me going.
I still dislike it. The combat is not fun to me.
I love it and for me it’s just the best Nintendo game on Switch. I just love everything about this game.
After replaying TTYD this past week, I think I can confidently say that if you took the combat (and combat incentives) from TTYD somehow shoved it into Origami King’s world, it would be the best one they’ve made in years. Obviously there’s a lot more to it than that, but TOK’s world was beautiful and so fun to explore, and big too! Hopefully that sort of mashup is what we can expect out of the next game.
If only the combat wasn’t so awful, I would have loved it.
I returned it without finishing it myself. The world was super cool but the battle system was too slow
Most tedious combat in the series.
I had to stop playing because I absolutely hated the combat. It was atrocious.
Thinking of playing The Thousand Year Door… is the combat better?
a lot of it was good.
The combat was flawed; Either it clicked for you, or it didn’t. But the most egregious part of it, was that the normal combats were ALSO those kinds of puzzles which were pretty annoying. Even if it did click.
The characters were also… not super memorable. I don’t recall much of any of the characters aside from olivia.
The environments and hidden toads were great though.
More of the environments and hidden toads moving forward. More of the thousand year door style story, characters and gameplay though please.
The game had great scenarios and world design. They did a good job of making exploration fun. It was always hilarious, looked great and had solid music.
It’s really the combat system, sterile Mario designs and overuse of paper/real world references that bring it down for me.
I don’t hate the combat, but it’s not nearly as engaging or rewarding as TTYD. Boss battles are more enjoyable. Same problem as the previous two games really.
Playing TTYD you real appreciate all the varied designs and characters you run into. In Origami King its either Toads or generic Mario enemies with little to differentiate them.
Lastly – the tone of the story takes me out of it a bit. 3 games in a row they focused on real world objects being inserted in this paper world – I rrally find it off-putting and boring at times. I liked that TTYD had an actual story that was told in a paper world, but paper/real world objects weren’t the focus. Having all the major bosses be real world office supplies is funny, but also lacks substance.
Overall, I do like the game. I think it had the potential to be one of the best but misses the mark on a few key elements.