Paper Mario: The Origami King – 10 Things You Need To Know Before Starting

Gamers need to know a few tips and pieces of information before stepping into Nintendo’s latest offering, Paper Mario: The Origami King.

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Nintendo Switch owners around the world are happily journeying through the colorful world of Paper Mario: The Origami King. It’s been yet another success for Nintendo’s mustachioed hero, but it may not be quite the game some fans were hoping for.

It has the bright, adorable accessibility and attention to detail of any Nintendo IP, but as with any game, it’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into. There are certain things about The Origami King that will surprise newcomers and Paper Mario veterans alike, so if you’ve just picked up your copy, here are some (story and spoiler-free) things to be aware of before you dive in.

10 It’s NOT An RPG

As far as franchise fans are concerned, this one’s crucial to bear in mind. Those expecting an excellent RPG in the same vein as the beloved Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door—a 2004 GameCube title currently available for a small fortune, a leprechaun’s hat and your earthly soul at an eBay near you—are going to be rather disappointed.

The RPG elements in this new game are very thin on the ground, with no conventional leveling up or anything of that nature. There is equipment to find/purchase and utilize in battle, but only in the most basic sense (more on that later).

9 The Battles Are Very…Odd

Does The Origami King sport a turn-based battle system, as players would find in the average RPG? Well, yes… and very, very no. As was made clear in the game’s early trailers, the battle system in this new release revolves (literally) around some very interesting and fiddly mechanics.

Typically, combat in Mario’s RPGs is characterized by Action Commands, which give players more of an active role in turn-based battles by adding a timing element (your characters will take less damage from attacks if you time a button press to guard just as the enemy’s strike lands, for instance). The Origami King does include this mechanic, but also turns everything we know about the genre on its head with its twisting, pulling puzzles at the start of battles (positioning enemies so as to jump on/hammer them more easily). If this concept doesn’t gel with you, it will only get worse as the game progresses.

8 There’s No Major Incentive To Battling, Either

Clearly, then, these battles are anything but conventional. For the most part, the idea is to efficiently position enemies so you can eliminate them all in one round. It’s a combat system like no other. Unfortunately, there isn’t really any need to engage with it for the most part.

As we’ve mentioned, there’s no leveling up in the game. Without a system like that, the combat seems rather fruitless, rewarding the player only with coins and a burst on confetti for their troubles. Both of these things are valuable resources, granted, but are they enough incentive to take on every Folded Soldier you see? With most enemies being so easily avoidable, perhaps not.

7 It’s A Completionist’s Dream…

If you like hunting down every neat collectible a game has to offer, The Origami King should have you covered for a good while. It’s not an enormous slog that’ll take hundreds of hours, as some content-laden games can be, but it doesn’t skimp in this area either.

There are collectible statuettes to find in hidden treasure boxes, which can be viewed in Toad Town’s museum. There are also hidden Toads to find and rescue, each of which will appear in the stands during battles to support Mario. The Toads in particular are a treat to uncover, offering some of the game’s best dialog and funniest moments. These are just two of the game’s different types of collectibles, but you see our point: be prepared to keep a sharp eye in every environment you pass through.

6 …If You Don’t Mind A Lot Of Busywork

As much as the hidden Toads are each a joy to uncover, achieving that 100% completion is going to require a lot of less fun activities too. The game also records the question mark blocks Mario has activated in each area, so you’ll need every single one of those too. The hidden ones are a particular pain, and the reward is less than stellar.

Even worse are the Not-Bottomless Holes, gaps in the environment that must be filled with confetti. Not only does this require a lot of tree-hammering to get that confetti in the first place, but there are so many darn holes in this world that the entire game may as well be made of Swiss cheese. A smattering of coins each time really isn’t worth the hours spent scouring the world.

5 Weapons Have Durability

We’re not sure what it is about Nintendo lately, but they seem to have decided that their fans just can’t have equipment that lasts any more. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing: New Horizons both love to torment the player with time to find a new sword/fishing rod/bow/shovel/whatever implement you happen to be using there, buddy text boxes, and The Origami King does too.

It can be tempting to use your newly bought boots upgrade for every jumping attack you perform, but they’ll degrade and break. Maybe buy an extra pair and make sure you need to the boosted damage to defeat the foes in question beforehand.

4 Companions Are Back (But Not Exactly)

With the fan base rediscovering their appreciation for The Thousand-Year Door, they were keen to see if some of the best-received elements of the game would translate to the Switch release. One of these was the companions feature, which saw Mario being joined by several other party members with a range of abilities.

While characters like Bobby the Bob-omb and Professor Toad do join forces with Mario, they don’t have active roles in the battle system like the companions of old. The puzzling positioning mechanic takes central stage here, to the detriment of this feature.

3 Boss Battles Are Very Different From Regular Battles

There’s no denying that the battle system is one of The Origami King’s most controversial features. Whether you love or hate it, though, another thing you should know before starting to play is that the boss battles are totally different.

Usually, Mario is in the center of the arena, positioning his enemies who are on the outside. When engaging with one of the game’s big bads, though, the script is flipped: our hero begins on the outside, maneuvering his way to the inside so he stops in a specific spot from which he can attack. It’s a fiddly system within a fiddly system, but it can also be a lot of fun. The major bosses are also pieces of stationery, as seen above, because that’s a thing.

2 It’s Surprisingly Emotional

Needless to say, The Origami King is one of the most whimsical, adorable titles you’ll have played in quite some time. From the soundtrack to the typically hilarious dialogue and setpieces, from the visuals to the little details in the animation, it’ll have you basking in its warm, adorable glow from start to finish. Almost.

A word of warning: your heartstrings and feels will be given quite the workout in this game. There are some incredibly emotional moments throughout. Of course, we won’t spoil them, but be prepared for some major incidents involving some of those companions.

1 It Has A Simple Yet Addictive Fishing Minigame

One thing you may not have seen from the game’s promotional material is the fishing minigame. Mario may be made of paper, but it looks as though he’s going to be spending a lot of time by the water.

During the quest for the Shell Stones, fishing spots will open up. The minigame’s mechanics are far from complex (simply hit the button at the right time after casting, Animal Crossing style), though casting does involve some motion shenanigans if you have those controls enabled. The minigame is tied to progression at first, but if you’re looking to break records and find other collectibles, you could spend quite some time at fishing spots.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/paper-mario-origami-king-tips-before-starting/