Paper Mario: The Origami King (if it was an RPG)

Paper Mario: The Origami King is the sixth installment in the Paper Mario series, released on the Nintendo Switch worldwide on July 17, 2020. The game follows Mario opposing an evil army of origami characters known as The Animals of Agony, ruled by the Origami King, King Olly; who have taken over the Mushroom Kingdom, needing to get to Peach's Castle, which has been taken over and moved to a volcano.
The game follows the gameplay style of its two predecessors, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and Paper Mario: Color Splash, focusing around an aspect of arts and crafts. Unlike the entries directly before, however, Paper Mario: The Origami King's theming of arts and crafts is used as a tool for the story development instead of the gameplay.
The story of Paper Mario: The Origami King takes into account only the first three games of the Paper Mario series, featuring serval references to those games specifically. Similar to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario, Bowser is not the primary antagonist in exchange for an original villain. 
== Story ==
=== Opening ===
Mario and Luigi drive to Toad Town for the Origami Festival after being invited by Princess Peach. The brothers arrive to discover the town and Peach's Castle are deserted. Upon entering the castle, they are locked inside and split up, Luigi heading to search for the castle key and Mario heading into the castle foyer. A man in purple enters the foyer, and drops Mario into a dungeon where several of Bowser's minions are being held. Mario discovers a Magic Circle and initiates the 1,000-Fold Arms technique, using them to free an origami girl named Olivia. After escaping their cell, Mario and Olivia free Bowser.
Escaping to the upper terrace of Peach's Castle, Mario is attacked by a group of origami animals. After defeating the minions, the leader of the origami reveals himself: Olivia's father, King Olly. He summons seven streamers based off of the colors of a rainbow, from across the Mushroom Kingdom to wrap around Peach's Castle and rip it out of the ground. Mario, Olivia, and Bowser escape the castle in a Koopa Clown Car piloted by a Shy Guy, but are quickly knocked out of the Clown Car by the red streamer. Bowser is saved by the Shy Guy, while Mario and Olivia fall into a nearby forest. Olly sets Peach's Castle down atop the peak of a far-off volcano.
=== Red Streamer ===
Mario and Olivia land in Whispering Woods and notice that Olly moved Peach's Castle. They set out to destroy the five streams, find Luigi, and defeat Olly. Eventually, they get back to the abandoned Toad Town, now being destroyed by Paper Macho Goombas. After defeating the Goombas and finding some Toad Town citizens, they go to search the remains of Peach's Castle and find Luigi. He quickly sets off the find the key to Peach's Castle.
Following the red streamer, Mario and Olivia travel to Picnic Road. They find the door to the Earth Vellumental Temple, which is locked due to four of the five Shell Stones required to open it being stolen by some Animals of Agony. They rescue the stones and return them to the door, giving them access to the turtle-like god known as the Earth Vellumental. However, the Vellumental had been folded into origami, forcing Mario to fight it. Upon defeating, Olivia gains the ability to transform into the Vellumental and manipulate earth, allowing Mario and her to access Overlook Tower, where the source of the red streamer lies. At the top of the tower, the duo confronts Jean-Pierre Colored Pencils the 12th, one of Olly's generals. After defeating the boss, Mario destroys the red streamer.
=== Orange Streamer ===
Mario and Olivia next follow the orange streamer and take a tram station to Autumn Mountain. On the tram, they meet a sarcastic amnesiac Bob-omb without a fuse, whom Olivia finds cute, and nicknames Bobby. He tags along with them as they travel to the Water Vellumental Shrine. On their way to the shrine, they run into a Spike, a Sombrero Guy and a Bone Goomba, who are holding a three man can party. Olivia gives them nicknames "Billy the Spike", "Arpeggio" and "Goombone" respectively after making good friends with them and offers them to join their travelling circus. To which they agree to seeing as they've nothing better to do after a party over one can of tuna.
Upon defeating the origami Water Vellumental, Olivia gains the ability to fold into the Vellumental and create water. She uses this power to refill a dry lake and the Eddy River, which the group travel down to reach Shogun Studios, a popular theme park. The theme park itself is lively, filled with cosplayers, zoo animals and fun games. They are tasked with finding the park's master key to rescue the park staff, who are trapped in the high castle tower. After traveling through the whole park, they rescue Luigi in the employee area of the Ninja Attraction, who found the master key, mistaking it for the key to Peach's Castle. The group unlock the tower gates and enter Big Sho' Theatre. After participating in three performances, they face off against Lady Stretchbrain, another one of Olly's general. After defeating her, Mario destroys the blue streamer, saving the park and bringing them closer to saving Peach's Castle. The park celebrates with a fireworks ceremony, which jogs Bobby's memories.
=== Yellow Streamer ===
The group continue down the Eddy River, no longer blocked by the orange streamer, to Sweetpaper Valley and through the tunnel to Scorching Sandpaper Desert, where the sun is cut out of the sky. After traveling through the desert and obtaining information in Snif City, they rescue the ancient historian Doctor Lemons from the insides of a Mega Paper Macho Pokey. The professor is pursuing the legend of Khap'taan Teeowed and tags along with the group, utilizing his ability to reach ancient writings to solve the ruins' puzzles, much to Bobby's jealousy. The group perform an ancient ritual in the desert to open the Fire Vellumental Cave and defeat the origami Fire Vellumental within. Olivia gains the ability to fold into the Vellumental and light fires, which she uses to light fires in three Toad monoliths and unearth the Temple of Shrooms
Inside the temple the group discover many zombie-like faceless Toads and a DJ being held hostage. Finding the "Thrills at Night" disc, the group round up the faceless Toads, and summon the next of Olly's enforcers: Disco Hole. After defeating the boss, Mario destroys the yellow streamer and frees the desert sun. The trio head to the newly-opened Sun Altar, and find Captain T. Ode preserved in a block of ice. Olivia frees the captain, who heads off in search of his old submarine, the Super Marino. Bobby, surprised at Doctor Lemons' complacency in the desert, offers him a place on the team, to which Doctor Lemons reluctantly agrees to.
=== Green Streamer ===
Return to Toad Town, Mario and Olivia find Captain T. Ode, who reclaims ownership of his own submarine. The sub is attached to Sea Captain Toad's ship, and T. Ode and the group, head out into the Great Sea. Bobby tells the captain to steer to the abandoned Princess Peach as he wants to do something there briefly. The group reach the suite that Bobby had stayed in when he worked as a marine on the ship, with a lockbox being inside the suite as well, which is what Bobby was looking for. 
Before opening the box, it is suddenly snatched by Gooper Blooper which Mario fights off at the deck of the ship. Retrieving the lockbox, the group carry on with their quest, on the Great Sea, they discover the source of the green streamer, but are unable to enter without the three orbs located in Diamond Island. They travel between many islands, eventually meeting up with Luigi on Mushroom Island, who holds the key to Diamond Island. The brothers decide to find the island's resident and free the origami craftsman, T-oolsman, from the walls of his workshop. The craftsman reveals he created King Olly and several animals for the origami festival using the forbidden Fold of Life that was banned from the Mushroom Kingdom, many centuries ago due to a serious outbreak with the rich and famous Vellemental Family. Not knowing much about this, Olly had turned on T.oolsman after he thought the signature left on him was a piece of vandalism, and set out to do a better job of folding the world. Creating Olivia in the process. The craftsman shares a set of notes with Olivia before she head back to the ship with Mario.
In using the key given by Luigi, to access the submerged Diamond Island, where three temples stand, housing the Trials of Power, Wisdom, and Courage; and the nearby Ice Vellumental Mountain, the group head up the mountain and defeat the Ice Vellumental at its peak. Olivia gains the ability to fold into it and utilize its ice powers to access the Trials of Wisdom and Courage. After completing all three trials, the group turn to the sea tower and climb up to the top, fight the parents of the Vellemental Family along the way, the Wind Vellemental and the Spirit Vellemental. At the top, the group fight the fourth of King Olly's minions, Tapo Conpaso. Upon the defeat of the mobster, Mario destroys the green streamer
=== Blue Streamer ===
The group look along the trail of the Blue Streamer and see that it leads to a large glacial bowl, walking on the cloudy pathway that leads to the bowl, the group reach Greedy Gulch, a charity amusement park covered in blankets of snow, filled with mimes, casino games, fortune teller tents, Shy Guys Finish Last and melting ice. Walking along the circular bowl and down the stairs to the inside of the bowl, the group notice some water leaking from the inside of the bowl, from little holes. Curious, they explore the bowl more and find the culprits, The Triplets of Endings. After fighting them, Mario breaks the blue streamer and group are relieved to see Bowser and the Shy Guy in the Koopa Clowncar, and he offers them a ride out of the bowl to the next streamer.
=== Indigo Streamer ===
Arriving at Acrylic Aztec, not too far away from the bowl, Bowser tells the group that he's going off to get some snacks and that the Shy Guy will mind the car. The group explore the area, admiring beautiful techniques on the walls, but are in question about the culprit and decide to search for clues. In reaching the basement of the building, they find the culprits, The Triplets of Beginnings. After fighting them, Mario breaks the indigo streamer and the group head back out to Bowser's Koopa Clown car, who tells them that he knows where to go next.
=== Violet Streamer ===
Arriving at Shangri-Spa, high in the skies, via crash landing, Bowser tells them that his castle is located in the main gardens of the area and that someone has infiltrated it and that it would be best to find his reliable trio. In looking around the gardens, the group meet up with Kamek, Bowser Junior and Koopa the Crazy, who know that the key for the castle door landed somewhere. The group searches everywhere for the key, the Spring of Jungle Mist, and the Spring of Rainbows. To no avail.
Bowser Junior has a better idea and tells the group to jump in his clown car to reach the roof of Bowser's Castle, whilst raising an awareness about the intruder in the castle, to form a mob and break inside of the castle. Bowser's minions start a clash with the Animals of Agony while the group head to the throne room to face off against the Scissors, Slay Ming. After defeating him, Mario breaks the final Indigo streamer.
=== Peach's Castle ===
Bowser mobilizes his army, along with Mario and the group, onto a new airship, which they use to travel to Peach's Castle. However, they are intercepted by the Paper Plane Squadron, and one large jet dives into the airship, causing the ship to crash into Hotfoot Crater. Mario, Olivia, Kamek, and Bowser Jr. are chased up the volcano by a horde of Paper Macho Goombas, with Kamek, Koopa the Crazy and Bowser Jr. staying behind to keep back the horde, getting caught in the scraps. The rest of the group meet up with Bowser, and they use the airship cannon to launch to the ground outside of Peach's Castle. Luigi meets up with them, who inadvertently had the key to the castle lodged in his kart's tailpipe. Inside, the group is greeted by Peach in a cage, put to sleep.
The group travel through the castle's four floors, jumping through paintings to turn off certain switches, and eventually reach Olly, who summons The Mutt. After defeating the final Legion of Stationary, Bobby isn't so sure about what is going to happen next and stumbles a bit, admitting that he's had a crush on Olivia for the past few days, not knowing what the future holds for him, he explains that it would be so cool if she could be a part of it when this mess is over. Olivia takes this in and accepts Bobby as a boyfriend.
Walking into the throne room, the group see Olly, completely messed up on the outside and inside. Realizing Peach has been folded into the rear wall of the throne room. Olly reveals his grudge against Toads originates from the signature, T-oolsman left, which Olly believes was left carelessly. He has already folded 999 origami cranes, and intends to use Mario to create the final crane, which will grant him his wish to turn every Toad into blank scraps. Bobby, Doctor Lemons 
Olly engages in battle against the group, using his own versions of the Vellumentals. After being defeated by Olivia's Vellumentals, Olly folds himself into a large sumo wrestler, which Olivia counteracts by folding Bowser into a giant origami sumo wrestler. Mario assists Bowser in knocking Olly off the platform, but Olly rises again as a giant version of his normal self, his rage turning into a poisonous gas. Knowing what needs to be done efficiently and quickly, Bobby quickly takes out what was in the lockbox and uses it. It is a spare fuse his best friend gave him as a goodbye present. 
In jumping into the ring with Olly, pushing both Mario and Olivia to the side, he uses the fuse to blow himself up, catching Olly's head in the explosion, causing his head to explode as the rest of his body falls into the abyss below. 
Taking in what just happened, Olivia rushes to Olly's aid, who has been unfolded in nothing more than torn piece of purple paper, thanks to the explosion. Realising what she has to do, she decides to fold her father into the 1,000th crane allowing her to grant any wish that she desires. She wishes to undo all the origami her father had folded, including herself. The thousand cranes grant her wish and carry Peach's Castle back to Toad Town. Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Kamek, Doctor Lemons, Koopa the Crazy and Princess Peach land outside of the castle and realize that Olivia is absent.
=== Ending ===
That night, the Mushroom Kingdom and Bowser's army join to celebrate the Origami Festival together. T-oolsman reveals his contribution: the original, scaled-down Origami Castle, complete with thrones for the two origami characters. Mario expresses his sadness over Bobby and Olivia's deaths, but Peach insists that they're still with them, in spirit. To finish the celebrations, everyone releases paper lanterns into the night sky. Afterwards, the Mario Bros. drive home as the credits roll.
If the player manages to 100% the game before beating the final boss, the photos receive golden frames, and a post-credits scene plays in which Bobby and Olivia (now as a beautiful princess) both sit on the clouds of the Overthere, in warm embrace as boyfriend and girlfriend, with Olly watching on, impressed for what his daughter accomplished.
== Gameplay ==
The overworld exploration returns to it used to be in the first two games in the series, with Mario being able to travel to any of the game's locales completely on foot, or with fast travel points.
Olivia, a character new to the franchise, has a role similar to Kersti and Huey from Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash respectively. Once a Vellumental is defeated, Olivia can transform into the Vellumental while standing on Magic Circles, an ability that carries over into battle. Additionally, partners return to ally with Mario and aid him in battles, unlike the first three games however, they're not playable and don't have any overworld abilities (with the exception of Doctor Lemons, Oliva and Koopa the Crazy). Various partners join and leave Mario's party at various points in the story.
Accessories grant Mario benefits both in battle and on the overworld. Toads can be found on the overworld, folded into various shapes. Hitting these Toads with the hammer will cause them to unfold and return to Toad Town, some of which open shops. Mario can gain confetti by using his Hammer on trees, grass, and enemies. This confetti can be used to fill Not-Bottomless Holes torn in the landscape, revealing Coins or a Toad.
=== Battle System ===
Paper Mario: The Origami King's battle system returns to the same way it used to be in the first two games, which was based on timing, taking turns to attack and gaining experience. Taking inspiration from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, apart from the traditional turn-based combat, many things can happen during the battle since the characters interact with the set that Mario fights on, which is a boxing ring, surrounded by an audience of the Toads who would've been already saved by Mario. 
Partners fulfill their same purpose as they did in the first two games. However they're not playable and attack automatically. With this in mind, Mario can do one of three things with the partners, allow them to take the turn to attack before him, swap positions with them so that they can block the enemies' attacks, or have two partners to act as body guards to protect him from getting hurt by the enemies. When Partners get hurt, they're injured for a set of two or three turns and can't be used in that length of time. 
The Toads that have been saved can help in battle if the player spends coins using the Cheer command. These Toads will fight enemies, heal Mario, and give some items to him. Acting as an audience for Mario's performance, cheering him on if he preforms his attacks correctly, and cheering on the partners. This level of reaction to the performance can build up a meter that allows Oliva to activate her ability to morph into one of the Vellementals, giving Mario the option to pick one or pick a random one.
Boss Battles function very differently to regular battles, as they rely on a puzzle solving aspect. Mario and the partners are placed within a circular battle arena, and have to slide a series of rings that have marked arrows and other panels on them to reach the boss in the middle of the ring or to reach an Attack Panel. Mario and the partner take up to three turns to attack the boss, if they get too close to the boss, they take extra damage, the further away they are from the boss, the less damage they take. 
Levelling Up returns from the first three games, and functions the same way as it did, with the three stats that Mario can upgrade being HP, Accessory Points and Confetti Bag Size. 
== Characters ==
=== Playable ===
=== Partners ===
* Olivia acts as the main voice, emotional core for the story and support character for Mario, giving information on different things in the overworld. She is available from the moment Mario meets her in the dungeon of Peach's Castle. Her ability in battle is "Morph", which is only available provided Mario can fill up the Velemental Meter.
* Bobby is the secondary emotional core of the story as he grows a friendship with Olivia as the story moves along. He is available after boarding the cable car to Autumn Mountain and is unavailable after his sacrifice in Peach's Castle. His ability in battle is "Bomb Bump".
* Billy the Spike is the leader of the canned party trio, and is available after finding the other three members of the trio in the straw field in Autumn Mountain. His ability in battle is "Up Chuck"
* Goombone is the uneducated mob boss of the canned party trio, and is available after finding the other three members of the trio. His ability in battle is "Skullbonk".
* Arpeggio is the rookie of the canned party trio, and is available after finding the other three members of the trio. His ability in battle is "Forte".
* Doctor Lemons is the tertiary emotional core of the story and is the second partner with an overworld ability (the first being Olivia), where he can dig up objects from a soft surface. He is available after defeating Mega Paper Macho Pokey. His ability in battle is "Dig This". 
* Whipit is a shopkeeper on the pier of Toad Town and is the only optional partner in the game, who can join, provided Mario pays him 20,000 Coins in debt in exchange for a collectable trophy of the Fire Vellemental. His availability is after clearing the third streamer. His ability in battle is "Snag Bag". 
* Koopa the Crazy is a half brother of Koopa the Quick who joined Bowser's army in the hopes of paying rent, who works temporarily with Kamek as a physician for the times Kamek is stressed out about his job. He is available until the chase sequence leading to Peach's Castle, he is the third character in the overworld who has an overworld ability, where he can use his shell to reach unreachable objects. 
* Kamek is the wizard who has been around, longer than Kammy Koopa herself. Still bummed over her loss six years ago he acts the fourth emotional core of the story, sacrificing himself during the chase sequence to Peach's Castle, being unavailable since then.
* Bowser Junior is the son of Bowser who is known for being a spoiled brat, causing trouble for Mario and his friends in the past. Being babysat by Kamek. He is available until the chase sequence leading to Peach's Castle. His ability in battle is "Tantrum".
=== Supporting ===
File:Paper LuigiBTFMK.jpg|Luigi
File:Paper Peach Color Splash.png|Princess Peach
File:Paper Bowser.png|Bowser
File:SPM Merlon.png|Merlon
File:Paper Birdo1.png|Birdo
File:240px-PMCS Sprite - Green Yoshi2.png|Yoshi
File:Kyota.png|Kyota
File:Buk lau.png|Buk Lau
File:Mickey Rick.png|Mickey Rick
File:Origami Craftsman PMTOK sprite.png|T-oolsman
== Enemies ==
== Bosses ==
== Locations ==
== Items, Objects and Accessories ==
== Gallery ==
Category:Paper Mario (series)
Category:Paper Mario Games
Category:Mario (series)
Category:Role-Playing Games
Category:Nintendo Switch Games