Paper Mario: The Origami King Unfolds on Switch Soon

Talk of a new Paper Mario Switch game was swirling about as part of the Super Mario 35th anniversary rumors — and it turns out that talk was right. Nintendo dropped a surprise announcement trailer for Paper Mario Origami King, coming to Nintendo Switch on July 17.

The Paper Mario Origami King trailer serves as a story teaser. We see Princess Peach get an origami makeover and turn very sinister indeed, while the mysterious Origami King’s crinkled plot starts to unfold. Bowser becomes a postcard, Peach’s and Bowser’s Castles are transported in a flurry of paper strips, and Mario is left with some unlikely allies as he journeys to set things right once more.

There’s a lot to unpack in the Origami King trailer, like the Bowser’s Inside Story-style pairing that sees Bowser — always more fun in the Mario spinoff titles — still take center stage. Origami King‘s world looks better realized than Paper Mario‘s two recent outings as well, more expansive and less built around gimmicks like color and stickers.

Paper Mario‘s trademark humor returns in full force too, with a fun little tongue-in-cheek virtual reality joke at the trailer’s end involving Samus Aran’s helmet (which is probably the closest we’ll get to Metroid this year.)

Most important for traditional fans is what looks like the return of partners alongside Mario’s constant companion. We didn’t get much of a look at the battle system in the trailer. But the game’s official page on Nintendo’s website says it’s a ring-based combat system where you “strategically line up enemies to maximize damage.” The Paper Mario Origami King website adds to that and says battling “requires both puzzle-solving skills and a quick wit.”

A short video from Nintendo Japan (courtesy of @Stealth40K) shows the action in more detail, where enemies are on a rotating ring and your goal is trying to rotate the battlefield so your attacks do the most damage possible.

Our interest in Nintendo’s summer lineup has in-creased ten-fold with this announcement, so stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Paper Mario Origami King news as it comes out of the pulp factory.