Vue plongeante sur une place de ville entièrement en origami, peuplée de Toads en papier plié

Paper Mario: The Origami King: Fold the kingdom

1476 words | Reading time : 7 minute(s)

GamePaper MarioNintendo Switch

An entire kingdom folded up, and five streamers to cut down. The sixth entry in the series, developed by Intelligent Systems and released on July 17, 2020 as a Switch exclusive, The Origami King is built around a brand-new ring-based battle system. This page covers the plot, Olivia's alliance against her own brother, and the 1,000-Fold Arms.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is the sixth entry in the Paper Mario series, released on July 17, 2020 on Nintendo Switch. The title is kept in English right across Europe: there is no official translated name ("The Origami King" simply means "the origami king").

Developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo, this instalment sends Mario and his ally Olivia off to unfold a Mushroom Kingdom turned into origami by King Olly.

Contents

A 2020 game, the sixth chapter of Paper Mario

Paper Mario: The Origami King launched worldwide on the very same day, on July 17, 2020 (Japan included), exclusively on Nintendo Switch. It is the sixth entry in a series that began on Nintendo 64 in 2000.

The series' long-standing studio Intelligent Systems handles development, with Nintendo overseeing publication. The game blends adventure and turn-based battles, the trademark of this papercraft RPG.

This instalment follows Sticker Star (2012) and Color Splash (2016), both leaning more towards puzzles. The Origami King looks for a middle ground between those recent games and the classic RPGs of the series, while keeping the cut-out paper look that is its signature.

The plot: a folded kingdom and five streamers

The big villain is King Olly, an origami being determined to refold the world his own way. He turns the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom into folded paper and even flattens Bowser into a crumpled square of paper.

A spectacular starting point: Olly rips Peach's castle clean off the ground and carries it away, held up by five coloured streamers that stretch right across the kingdom. The five ribbons are red, blue, yellow, purple and green.

Mario's quest is to destroy those five streamers one by one to free the castle and Princess Peach, herself folded into origami in the very first minutes.

Each streamer is guarded by an unexpected boss: giant office supplies (coloured pencils, a rubber band, sticky tape, scissors…), a comic device that sums up the game's humour perfectly.

Peach's castle ringed by the five coloured streamers
Five streamers tie the castle down: undoing them shapes the whole game.

Olivia, the origami ally facing her own brother

Olivia is King Olly's origami sister: she joins Mario in the opening minutes and stays with him throughout the adventure. She replaces the classic battle partners the series offered back in its RPG days.

Naive and endlessly enthusiastic, Olivia mostly acts as a guide and emotional anchor: she triggers the special abilities and comments on the journey. Her sibling bond with the antagonist carries the entire dramatic weight of the story, right up to an ending often described as genuinely moving.

Other one-off companions back Mario up, such as an amnesiac Bob-omb, Kamek or even Bowser Jr., but none of them works like a permanent old-school partner.

Mario and Olivia lit by a trapdoor, alone in the dark
Olivia stays with Mario from start to finish — the ally who carries the whole story.

Ring-based combat, the game's big idea

The real innovation is the ring-based battle system. Mario stands at the centre of a circular arena split into four concentric rings and twelve sectors, like a dartboard.

Before striking, you get a few seconds and a limited number of moves to rotate and slide the rings. The goal is to line up the enemies scattered across the board.

Neatly arranged, opponents take a damage bonus: a row of four is settled with a single jump, a tight square with one hammer blow. It is a puzzle grafted onto every battle, asking you to read the layout in the blink of an eye.

This system divided critics: praised for its originality, it was also called unrewarding by some, for lack of experience points and any real RPG progression behind the fights.

1,000-Fold Arms, exploration and pure spectacle

Against bosses, Mario calls on the 1,000-Fold Arms , a power granted by Olivia on magic circles. Mario then grabs the scenery with his bare hands for choreographed sequences built on precise timing and heavily staged.

Outside battle, the adventure leans on a zone-by-zone open world: desert, forest, sea, puzzle games, folded Toads to rescue and holes to fill back in with confetti to restore the landscape.

The game is packed with mini-games and highlights, including a long stretch at sea that players still talk about. That generous staging partly makes up for the simplicity of the fights.

A stone wall panel where Mario has to use his 1,000-Fold Arms
Wall panels call for the 1,000-Fold Arms: exploration runs through them.

Reception, tone and commercial success

The press mainly praised the writing and the humour: clever dialogue, endearing characters and a tone that is both funny and surprisingly moving towards the end, seen as one of the game's real strengths.

The reservations focused on the combat, judged too inconsequential, and on the absence of classic RPG mechanics. Even so, the game is still seen as a good middle ground between the RPGs and the recent entries.

On the sales side, it is a clear hit: more than 3 million copies sold within its first months (around 3.05 million by the end of 2020), making it the fastest-selling entry in the whole Paper Mario series.

Paper Mario: The Origami King at a glance

Type Video game (adventure / turn-based RPG)
Series Paper Mario (6th entry)
Worldwide release July 17, 2020
Platform Nintendo Switch (exclusive)
Developer Intelligent Systems
Publisher Nintendo
Combat Turn-based ring system
Sales Over 3 million (as early as 2020)

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FAQ

  • Which console can you play Paper Mario: The Origami King on?
    The game is a Nintendo Switch exclusive, released on July 17, 2020 everywhere in the world on the same day. There is no version on any other platform.
  • Who is the game's main villain?
    King Olly, an origami being who wants to refold the world his own way. He rips Peach's castle away and holds it with five coloured streamers that Mario has to destroy one by one.
  • How does the ring-based battle system work?
    Mario stands at the centre of a circular arena divided into four rings. Against the clock, you rotate and slide those rings to line up the enemies and deal more damage.
  • How many copies has the game sold?
    It passed 3 million copies within its first months, with around 3.05 million by the end of 2020. It is the fastest-selling entry in the Paper Mario series.
  • Do you need to have played the previous Paper Mario games?
    No, each entry tells a self-contained story. The Origami King is the sixth game, but it works perfectly well without knowing the earlier ones.

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