Completely out of left field, Nintendo announced today that Paper Mario: The Origami King will release exclusively for the Switch on July 17, 2020. The first game in the series since 2016 (Paper Mario: Color Splash), the latest entry in the series looks to be equal parts unexpected and zany. One might say that the aesthetic and styling, at times, looks to be reminiscent of Sony’s Tearaway.
Some might say that Nintendo’s 2020 lineup is on the lighter side, and it is from a quantity standpoint based on what we know so far. But The Origami King looks to be the perfect sidekick to Animal Crossing: New Horizons as COVID-19 maintains its global grip.
Prior entries in the Paper Mario series:
- Paper Mario: Color Splash
- Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam
- Paper Mario: Sticker Star
- Super Paper Mario
- Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
- Paper Mario
One of the cooler things about this reveal, apart from the game itself, is that it means we may see the Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy remasters that have been rumored to come this year. It remains to be seen if Nintendo has any other anticipated releases up their sleeve for the second half of the year (for those in quarantine shredding through games right now).
Some quick facts to take note of when it comes to The Origami King:
- Developed by Intelligent Systems
- Will feature RPG turn based battles (referred to as “ring based battle system”)
- gematsu features an exclusive gallery of screenshots that’s well worth a look
- Super Mario: The Origami King will support cloud saves as per the official Nintendo page
- The size of the game is 6.5 GB
- It will not feature multiplayer
Things could change, as is sometimes the case with Nintendo games and cloud save support, but nothing seems to be wavering at the moment as it was with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. As of now, The Origami King definitely supports cloud saves according to Nintendo. Like most Nintendo games, the newest Paper Mario will clock in at a smaller download size (6.5 GB) which is never a bad thing as Nintendo’s infrastructure and the internet at large continue to get hammered from all angles.
Although I’ll personally be entertained with Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the foreseeable future (hope to have a review up soon), I can’t help but smile at a game like The Origami King bolstering the already great Switch lineup (and so soon). I’ve never played any games in the series but know they’re something of a cult hit. On first look, this one looks to bring the out of this world creativity that I love so much about Nintendo, and I know several people who will lose it over this next entry.
Lover of games, tech, nature, and strange electronic music. Shaped by Sega, PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox – platform agnostic ever since. Currently overwhelmed by choice on my Xbox Series X thanks to Game Pass.