Skip to main content

Paper Mario: The Origami King gameplay video details combat

Get an in-depth look at Paper Mario: The Origami King! (Nintendo Switch)

Just over a month from its release, Paper Mario: The Origami King looks to be shaking up the traditional Paper Mario formula if a new gameplay video is any indication.

Recommended Videos

The latest preview for Paper Mario: The Origami King uploaded by Nintendo provides a more in-depth look at the turn-based RPG’s gameplay mechanics, including combat, use of vehicles, on-foot travel, and origami-related gimmicks.

Throughout the video, viewers can see the diverse environments that will be featured throughout the game. As the trailer highlights, these include locations in the desert, mountainous regions, sewer areas, and places in the sky.

The trailer gives a brief story synopsis: Mario must track down the ends of five origami streamers that wrap around Princess Peach’s castle. Each leads to one of the aforementioned areas and involves puzzles and challenges that require the use of origami-related tactics. For instance, one puzzle requires the use of origami arms that Mario can extend to manipulate hard-to-reach objects.

Clips of vehicle exploration are shown as well, specifically, the use of a raft, a kart, and boat when he’s not on foot.

Most significantly, the preview gives a rundown of how combat will work in the game. Traditionally, combat takes place on a stage, though in the case of The Origami King, the “stage” involves Mario standing squarely in the middle of several rings of enemies. The player can turn the rings like a Rubix cube to line up enemies. If they manage to do so within a set amount of time, they can take out a large number of enemies by using a standard jump attack or assault with a hammer.

Boss battles are given some attention in the video, as well. Each boss, all part of the Legion of Stationary, is a reference to craft-related products. As is standard, these bosses deal more damage than the average enemy and require a bit more strategy in finding weak points to take them down.

The video concludes by showing off some of the game’s side activities, including mini-games, treasure seeking, and finding origami Toads in disguise.

The trailer covers a lot of content that could end up winning the hearts of fans that have lost faith in the series since its widely perceived pinnacle, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

Paper Mario: The Origami King launches on Nintendo Switch on July 17.

Brandon McIntyre
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I thought the Switch 2 couldn’t surprise me anymore. I was wrong
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom runs on a Switch 2 screen.

When I first went hands-on with the Nintendo Switch 2 in April, I thought I had seen everything the console could show me. I spent an entire day playing it, testing close to a dozen games that put every feature to the test. I walked away from that thinking that Nintendo didn’t have many more cards to play. It’s a more powerful Switch; what else is there to know?

Quite a bit, as it turns out. Ahead of the console’s June 5 launch, I spent another full day with the Nintendo Switch 2. While I didn’t have a buffet of games to test this time, I did get a fuller picture of the hardware itself. I discovered several unrevealed nuances in that time, all of which made it clear that this isn’t just a Switch with a better chip. You may be more surprised than you’re expecting come launch day.

Read more
All confirmed tracks in Mario Kart World
Mario Kart World map

The big attraction for Mario Kart World is the fact that all the courses exist in the same open world. For the first time ever, we will be able to roam around between tracks in one seamless world to practice driving, find secrets, or just hang out with our friends. This will easily be the biggest Switch 2 launch game, but exactly how big is the world in Mario Kart World? Or more specifically, how many tracks are there? Nintendo hasn't revealed all the courses we can look forward to racing on, but we combed through all the footage to pick out every new and returning track revealed so far.

Every new track in Mario Kart World

Read more
The Switch 2’s most important launch game isn’t Mario Kart World
Peach jumping on a motorcyle in Mario Kart World.

On June 5, the Nintendo Switch 2 will finally grace us with its presence. Nintendo is rolling out the big guns for the big day too, as it will launch the system with Mario Kart World. The racing game is all but assured to be a hit, giving the console a Breath of the Wild-like water cooler game that everyone will be playing at the same time. A lot is riding on that one game, as it has the burden of being the Switch 2's all-important killer app. If it fails to move millions of units in its first month, Nintendo might have to rethink its whole strategy for its new generation. While those are some high stakes, they're ones that Mario Kart World will realistically clear without issue.

With that in mind, there's another Switch 2 launch game coming on June 5 that's just as important, if not more so, from my perspective. That would be Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition. While it won't be crucial to Nintendo's bottom line, it's the first real test of the hardware, which looks to make a name for itself in a much more crowded portable landscape than the one the original Switch launched in.

Read more