This morning, Nintendo surprised fans with the announcement of Paper Mario: The Origami King. The upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive is the latest in the paper-inspired RPG franchise, and sees Mario and a handful of new characters forced to take on mysterious origami opponents. Alongside the game's trailer, Nintendo has released a slew of new screenshots for the game. In the screens, fans can see some of the new partner characters, opponents, locales, and more. While details are fairly slim at this point, there's a lot of information that can be gleaned from the screens that Nintendo has released, thus far.
One of the things that stands out the most with the new screens is just how varied the game's new locales are. Players will find themselves exploring vast oceans, lush jungles, fiery caverns, and more. Origami King marks the Paper Mario series' first foray onto Nintendo Switch, and it looks like a stunning upgrade from Color Splash on Wii U. There's certainly a massive sense of scale that recent series entries were missing.
Previous Paper Mario games have seen Mario allied with characters that are traditionally considered villains in the Mushroom Kingdom, and Origami King is no exception. While those games introduced new characters that happened to be Goombas, Koopa Troopas, or other enemy types, Origami King seems to partner Mario with some of his more iconic enemies, including Bowser Jr. and Kamek. It seems that a partnership has formed between the paper characters, as they attempt to prevent themselves from being turned into origami. Seeing how Mario and his opponents work together should prove to be rather interesting, throughout the game. Of course, long-time Paper Mario fans will be happy to know that there will be some brand-new allies as well, including a Bob-omb character.
While the screenshots reveal a lot about the new game, there are still a lot of questions left unanswered. Fans of the Paper Mario series have been less than pleased with the combat system in the last few games, and few details have been revealed about combat in the game, thus far. Thankfully, fans won't have to wait much longer to learn more. Paper Mario: The Origami King is set to release on July 17th. Pre-orders are now live.
Do you plan on checking out the next installment in the Paper Mario series? What do you think of the screenshots released thus far? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
