Mny have noticed that the Paper Mario series has taken an interesting turn, as it is no longer the role-playing series that it used to be. To add insult to injury, the games are actually top quality products that are usually, and heavily criticised for their gimmicky combat systems that only interrupt the pacing.
This has been going on for quite a while now. One will agree that this began when Super Paper Mario released for the Wii, although most people associate this shift to Paper Mario: Sticker Star, where not only combat was watered down, but original characters were nowhere to be found.
Paper Mario: Sticker Star featured generic Toads and no sidekick characters at all, and its Wii U sequel, Paper Mario: Colour Splash, was also guilty of the same crimes. Players thought that the recently released Paper Mario: The Origami King would be a return to form, although this wasn't the case; not entirely, at least.
Interestingly enough, most of the changes made to the Paper Mario series don't have much to do with developer Intelligent Games wanting to actually make these changes, but them following instructions from the higher ups at Nintendo; namely Super Mario Bros. and Paper Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto.
In a recent interview with Video Games Chronicle, Paper Mario: The Origami King Producer Kensuke Tanabe has revealed the main reasons why they aren't really allowed to create new characters based on the Super Mario bros. series, and why they've had to create characters that have no relation to the series, or reuse already existing characters.
"Since Paper Mario: Sticker Star, it’s no longer possible to modify Mario characters or to create original characters that touch on the Mario universe. That means that if we aren’t using Mario characters for bosses, we need to create original characters with designs that don’t involve the Mario universe at all, like we’ve done with Olly and the stationery bosses," revealed Tanabe when asked about the new villain in Paper Mario: The Origami King.
Miyamoto has mentioned in the past that the only characters that the developers are allowed to use in Mario games, in this particular case the Paper Mario series, cannot be original characters based on the Super Mario Bros. series.
This means that memorable sidekick characters like Goombario, Kooper, and even enemies like the beloved bandana-wearing Koopa Bros are no longer allowed — which is why these days characters in the Paper Mario series are generic, and bosses are pencil cases and giant monsters made of rubber bands in Paper Mario: The Origami King.
The kingdom has been ravaged by an origami menace! Join Mario and his new partner, Olivia, as they team up with unlikely allies like Bowser and the Toads to battle evil Folded Soldiers.
Paper Mario: The Origami King is available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch today.