In a surprise announcement with no fanfare, Nintendo has announced Paper Mario: The Origami King for Nintendo Switch, due out on July 17.
In this brand new adventure, Mario will pair up with Olivia, a new partner, and even team up with Bowser and Toads to defeat the “Folded Soldiers.”
Princess Peach has been taken over by The Origami King Olly and appears to be possessed, as she is a folded representation of her traditional paper self. The trailer (above) opens with Mario being dropped beneath Peach’s castle into a cell with Bowser and some goombas.
The castle itself has been bound in coloured streamer and transported to a faraway mountain, but of course, this is just another challenge for Mario.
“Paper Mario: The Origami King delivers a grand new adventure on Nintendo Switch for players to wrap themselves up in,” said Dominic Gross, Nintendo of Canada’s General Manager. “This game marks the debut of the Paper Mario series on Nintendo Switch, expanding the vast library of games with another standout entry in a beloved franchise.”
According to Nintendo, Mario has a new ability called 1000-Fold Arms, allowing players to interact with the landscape and terraform, in a sense, stretch and pulling out the landscape, peeling and revealing new locations, and solving puzzles. The new partner that Mario has along the journey is actually King Olly’s sister, bringing together the unlikely allies alongside Bowser and his minions.
A new ring-based battle system means that battles involve puzzles to maximize damage and break up enemy groups. Little information about this battle system is known at this point, but we’ll hopefully hear more about the game in the coming months before launch.
Paper Mario: The Origami King launches in physical form and on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch on July 17.