The sudden announcement of Paper Mario: The Origami King, a new entry in the series for the Nintendo Switch, prompted a wave of excitement and nervousness among the fan-base, one eager for as many new details as they could get their hands on.
While Nintendo has since provided more clarity about Paper Mario: The Origami King's battle system, which is completely new and another departure from the original games' more traditional turn-based combat, some feel that we're still in the dark concerning some of the more minor details, like party members and such.
Paper Mario: The Origami King is out very soon as well, which means reviews will soon begin to trickle in to provide more clarity on the final product. For the time being, though, we do have a review score from Japanese outlet Famitsu, which has given the game a 36/40.
That's certainly a strong score indicator of high quality, but it has been noted that this is in-line with Famitsu's scores for previous entries in the series. Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS received the exact same score and Paper Mario: Color Splash for the Wii U was given a 35/40.
Those are all good scores, but, while not without their own fans, Sticker Star and Color Splash are considered outliers within the series by a very vocal portion of the fan-base, derided for having unrewarding battle systems, lacking core RPG mechanics like experience points, and having generic plots and character designs.
While Origami King is likely to be a good game in its own right, there is still a high possibility that those who have been eager for a new entry on the same level as the widely popular GameCube game, The Thousand-Year Door, will be left disappointed once again. We have no more details about Famitsu's review, though, so all we can do is wait until reviews from Western outlets are published, hopefully ahead of the game's release.
In the meantime, some Nintendo fans are still wondering what other games the company has planned for this year. Nintendo has been incredibly quiet over the last several months, with the only confirmed 2020 title so far being Paper Mario.
Fortunately, Nintendo's president has stated that games planned for the current fiscal year haven't had their release dates affected by the current coronavirus pandemic. All that's left is for Nintendo to actually announce them.
Paper Mario: The Origami King will release on July 17th for Nintendo Switch.
Source: Gematsu