Mario’s
newest paper adventure is almost here. To pave the road for the game’s launch, Nintendo released a “Closer Look” video presentation in addition to updates to the game’s official website. Here are some important details concerning Paper Mario: The Origami King.
Story Details
The Closer Look video briefly touched base with Mario’s ultimate quest in Origami King. It is the standard Mario fare of uprooting the evil threatening the Mushroom Kingdom with a paper-crafted twist.
When King Olly took over the kingdom, he unleashed five massive colored streamers from Peach’s castle, spreading them out to the corners of the world. Only by eliminating these streamers and the bosses that guard them can Mario restore the Mushroom Kingdom to its two-dimensional self.
The video detailed Mario would travel to lush forest springs, radiant autumn-decked mountain-scapes, ninja-filled mansions, and more.
Each locale is charmingly crafted to be distinguishable from one another, acting as virtual jungle gyms for Mario’s adventure. With enough exploration, Mario could find a secret or two; Maybe even special minigames!
Every Hero Needs a Party
No Mario adventure is complete without some sort of companion. The video officially confirmed four companions that will aid Mario at some point in the game.
Olivia, King Olly’s sister, has been confirmed since the first trailer. She is an origami subject bent on foiling her brother’s plans for world domination, sticking by Mario’s side for most—if not the entire—journey.
Bobby the Bomb-Omb was also briefly in the first trailer. He’s an amnesiac bomb-omb wandering in lieu of his absent memories.
Professor Toad, the ancient history professor from the deleted Chinese trailer is now confirmed.
Kamek the koopa wizard was the last character revealed as a companion for Mario.
Bowser, Bowser Jr., and Luigi were also shown throughout the video but not titled in any official capacity as Mario’s travel companions, leaving their current status unknown.
Revamped Combat
The Closer Look video gave important insight on ring combat.
It was already established that the player adjusts the ring’s layers at the start of battle in a certain order to maximize damage output on enemies inhabiting those rings. The video taught viewers a new way to adjust rings: sliding.
On top of moving rings to the left and right, layers can also slide to the opposite side of the enemies’ starting position. While this seems like an arbitrary option given earlier videos promoted stacking enemies behind each other, the video showcased two different attack options.
Mario has two primary weapons: his boots and a hammer.
Boots are capable of plowing through an entire row of enemies provided they are stacked in order by ring layer and enemy type.
Hammers, on the other hand, don’t have as much reach . Instead, they hit a wide arc in front of Mario, capable of hitting up to four enemy blocks if the enemies are adjusted perfectly. The slide feature comes in handy for this particular attack.
Multiple boots and hammers can be found throughout the game, some promoting better stats and damage output than Mario’s stock weapons. However, there is a catch. Weapons break from overuse, prompting Mario to purchase replacements. The Origami King UK website detailed this.
Along with his weapons, Mario also has access to accessories to turn the tide of battle. The accessories and what they can do have not been detailed yet. However, they are akin to the badge system from older Paper Mario games that provided boosts during combat. This degree of customization sounds promising.
Exciting Boss Battles
Boss battles take ring combat to another level. Instead of being a straight-forward, mano-a-mano brawl, it’s a puzzle disguised as a combat-ring.
Players must rearrange the rings to design a path letting Mario reach the boss. Once this path is established, he can wreak havoc. Finding a single working path isn’t the only thing rearranging can do. Certain paths allow Mario to exploit boss weaknessesThe Closer Look video showed Mario sneaking behind the 12 Colored Pencils boss and using his 1,000 Folds ability to shut the pencil case shut, making the boss damage itself.
This focus on combat as well as puzzle solving will make boss battles an exhilarating test of on-the-fly wit and ingenuity.
It’ll be exciting to see what else Paper Mario: The Origami King has in store.
Paper Mario: The Origami King
unfolds on July 17, 2020 for the Nintendo Switch.
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