While not a blockbuster success like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Nintendo's Paper Mario: The Origami King has been mostly well-received by fans and critics. Despite concerns about moving away from the original design of the series, The Origami King carved out its own niche with puzzle-based gameplay that complimented its strong writing. Nintendo has even set up crossovers like a Paper Mario-themed Tetris 99 Maximus Cup to accompany its release. However, many are still upset that The Origami King is not a "true" successor to titles like Paper Mario 64 and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Those games have stood the test of time as entry-level RPGs with engaging action commands, diorama worlds, and unique inhabitants to fill them. Since Paper Mario: Sticker Star, the series has downplayed introducing new races and emphasized the paper-craft nature of their worlds. Yet, the fan community behind the original games are prevalent enough that calls for a Thousand-Year Door port were trending on Twitter when The Origami King released. As such, The Origami King's positive reception could mean good things for the return of those older titles.
Why The Origami King is Good for Paper Mario Remakes
The original Paper Mario was released on modern hardware through the Wii U virtual console. However, the Wii U's commercial failure means many were unable to play the Nintendo 64 game, and fan-favorite The Thousand-Year Door was nowhere to be seen. Because the Nintendo Switch has no virtual console, instead relying on the subscriber-based Nintendo Switch Online to provide NES and SNES games, it seems unlikely for either to be ported.
They could appear as remakes or remasters, a la titles like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Paper Mario remakes could piggyback off the assets or engine of The Origami King — adjusted to work more with traditional RPG elements. Given the current Paper Mario spotlight, it would make sense for Nintendo to capitalize on its older properties, especially with lingering rumors about remastered Super Mario games coming for the series' 35th anniversary.
Why The Origami King is Not Good for Paper Mario Remakes
There is one big detail going against the prospect of Paper Mario remakes.
The shift in design for Paper Mario games from Super Paper Mario on Wii to Sticker Star on 3DS was blatant. It wasn't until The Origami King that fans finally had a good idea as to why this shift occurred. Leading up to the game's release, Series Producer Kensuke Tanabe said in an interview that Paper Mario developers have strict rules to follow regarding how older Mario entities can be altered and how new races can be introduced. Thus the franchise has moved away from unique partners like Lady Bow the Boo and Vivian the Shadow Siren.
Unfortunately, that does not offer fans a lot of hope regarding the possibility of Paper Mario 64, The Thousand-Year Door, and Super Paper Mario returning. Nintendo does not seem interested in expanding the bizarre universe of Paper Mario the same way as it used to, even if The Origami King takes steps in the right direction with individualized partners like Bobby the Bob-omb and Professor Toad.
This is a shame for fans of the classic games, but it is even more tragic for younger audiences and Nintendo Switch fans who may want more Paper Mario after finishing The Origami King. Preservation is also important to consider, as it becomes harder to access games like The Thousand-Year Door as Nintendo moves away from the GameCube era and backwards compatibility on the Wii and Wii U. Given how much buzz the original titles receive, even spawning Paper Mario-inspired independent games like Bug Fables, Nintendo should consider opening the door to those older games.
Paper Mario: The Origami King is available now on Nintendo Switch.