Paper Mario: The Origami King

Paper Mario: The Origami King[a] is a 2020 cross-genre video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch console. It is the sixth game in the Paper Mario series, part of the larger Mario franchise, and the sequel to Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016).

The story follows Mario and his friends as he sets on a journey to prevent the Mushroom Kingdom from being transformed into origami. To do so, Mario must free the castle from five streamers across all the Kingdom. The gameplay blends elements of action-adventure, role-playing, and puzzle games, featuring a large overworld with turn-based enemy and boss encounters that utilize a ring-based puzzle system.

The game was released on July 17, 2020, and received positive reviews from critics, with many praising the graphics, soundtrack, new mechanics, story, and writing. However, others criticized the combat as unrewarding and, at times, frustrating.

Plot
The game begins as Mario and Luigi are invited by Princess Peach to an Origami Festival near her castle in Toad Town. When they arrive, however, the town is abandoned and Peach has been turned into origami and brainwashed by King Olly. Many of Bowser's minions have met a similar fate, being transformed into Folded Soldiers, while Bowser has been folded into a square and many Toads have been folded in origami. Mario rescues Bowser as well as Olivia, the sister of Olly, and the three attempt to escape. However, Olly wraps the castle in five multicolored streamers and rips it off its foundations, transporting it to a nearby volcano. Mario, Olivia, and Bowser barely escape on a Koopa Clown Car, but the trio are separated.

Mario and Olivia land in a forest near Toad Town. They rescue Luigi, who sets off to find the key to Peach's Castle, while Mario and Olivia set off to unravel the streamers. In Overlook Mountain, they encounter and defeat the guardian of the red streamer, Colored Pencils. The two he'd to unravel the blue streamer; along the way they meet an amnesiac Bob-omb without a fuse that Olivia nicknames "Bobby". After defeating the Water Vellumental, the three travel to Shogun Studios, a Japanese-themed amusement park, and defeat Rubber Band to destroy the blue streamer and rescue the park's employees. As the park holds a celebration, Bobby regains his memory.

The three head to Scorching Sandpaper Desert to unravel the yellow streamer. However, Olly blocks the path with a giant boulder, which Olivia is trapped under. Bobby and Mario visit the ocean liner The Princess Peach to recover a box containing a fuse. Bobby sacrifices himself to destroy the boulder; a distraught Olivia breaks down, but Mario is able to cheer her up.

In Sandpaper Desert, Mario and Olivia find that the sun has disappeared from the sky. They encounter Professor Toad, who joins them to help them solve the mysteries of the desert. In an ancient temple, they find dozens of Toads that have had their faces punched out; they defeat Hole Punch, restoring the sun to the sky as well as the faces of the Toads, and they destroy the yellow streamer. The three find Captain T. Ode, an ancient and legendary sea captain, frozen in ice. Captain T. Ode helps Mario and Olivia navigate the Great Sea, where they find the Origami Craftsman responsible for the creation of Olly. At the Sea Tower, Mario and Olivia defeat Tape and destroy the purple streamer. They gain access to Shangri-Spa, a spa located in the clouds.

At Shangri-Spa, Mario and Olivia find that Bowser's Castle has crash-landed. They team up with Kamek and Bowser Jr. to gain access to the castle, where they rescue Bowser and defeat Scissors. Mario, Bowser, and his minions use an airship to head to Peach's Castle, but crash-land in the volcano after being attacked by a squadron of paper airplanes. Mario, Olivia, and Bowser escape and head to face Olly. Olly refolds Peach's Castle into Origami Castle; the trio pursue him into the castle, defeating Stapler and returning Bowser to his original form.

The three confront King Olly, who has folded Peach into a mural for the castle. He reveals he has folded 999 paper cranes, one away from the 1,000 needed to grant him ultimate power to create his origami kingdom and turn all Toads into normal paper. He reveals that his hatred of Toads comes from the Origami Craftsman, who disrespected the art of origami by writing on his paper. A fight ensues, and Mario, Olivia, and Bowser manage to defeat Olly.

As he dies, Olly apologizes for his actions. Olivia reads the writing on Olly's body and realizes that the Toad who wrote it actually only sent his wishes that he would be a good king. At Olly's request, Olivia uses his paper to fold him into the 1000th crane, which allows them to grant any wish. Olivia commands the cranes to undo all the origami King Olly has folded, which includes herself. The Origami Festival resumes, and the residents of Toad Town as well as Bowser and his minions celebrate together.

Characters

 * Olivia - Tomoko Akiya