Nintendo surprised a lot of fans recently as, without warning, they dropped the trailer to a brand new Paper Mario game called Paper Mario: The Origami King. The newest installment of the iconic franchise, which is slated to release on July 17, will hope to re-capture the hearts of many fans of a series that have distanced themselves from newer installments.
In the two-minute trailer, we got to see plenty of gameplay footage. Some scenes looked like what you could expect out of any Paper Mario game, and some scenes surprised us with new features and characters. Here are 10 things that stood out in the trailer.
10 The Origami Plot
According to the video, a folded, crowned figure that many assume to be the origami king seems to wrap Princess Peach's castle in streamers and turn the princess, as well as many of Mario's allies, into origami. On Nintendo's website, they go into greater detail. After being invited to the origami festival, Mario and Luigi find that "Toad Town" has been deserted, only to realize the terrible deed done by King Olly of the "Origami Kingdom." The streamers supposedly transport the castle to a "distant mountain" as part of the evil plan to "re-fold the world."
9 Princess Peach Is Different
The trailer begins as a tall double door eerily opens up and an origami Princess Peach slowly walks out to greet our hero. She says how nice it is to see him and then asks "will you crease yourself and be reborn, like me?" When Mario says no, Peach says that his replies are "all paper-thin" and opens a trapdoor beneath him. By this scene, it could be assumed that, in addition to being turned into origami, those turned by King Olly seem to be brainwashed into thinking that the king has saved them by turning them into these new forms.
8 Bowser Teams Up With Mario
It's not unlike other Paper Mario games where Bowser has to work in some capacity with Mario to stop other evil-doers that have impeded his plans to be evil. But it seems that The Origami King is going to have Bowser right by Mario's side. Unfortunately for Bowser, it also seems like he'll spend a good chunk of the game being completely folded up, likely because of King Olly. Some of Bowser's allies seem to be on board with helping as well, including Bowser Jr. and Kamek.
7 The Battle Ring
One of the more important aspects of the Paper Mario series for fans is the battle system. According to the video, the turn-based element of the system returns. Battles take place on a ring in which you try to line-up enemies so you can deal the most damage across a bunch of them. After lining them up, you will have the chance to choose how to attack them.
There doesn't appear to be anything that needs to be collected in order to use certain attacks in battle like the previous two Paper Mario games, but nothing has been confirmed on that front.
6 The Long Arms
In terms of abilities Mario has while walking around, it seems the mustached hero has been doing some arm stretching. Using his "1,000-fold arms," Mario can find secrets throughout the environment in order to collect treasure or find hidden entrances to other parts of the level. You can also use the arms to hit out-of-reach buttons or other elements of the landscape that regular Mario can get to. In the trailer, he uses the arms to peel paint off of a house to activate something.
5 Unique Stages
The scenery is always nice to look at in the Paper Mario games, and for what has been shown, that doesn't seem like that's different, luckily. There seems to be an emphasis on mountain levels and European-style homes in valleys. There is a scene in the trailer that shows Mario walking through tall wheat bundles and a scene where Mario is in an Egyptian-style temple, which may be within a desert village that is shown in the trailer as well. Even the puzzles look fascinating, with one room illuminating six colorful pipes.
4 Transporation
Usually, Mario is walking around a level, going up and down pipes or through doors. But there seem to be a lot more ways you can travel with Mario in this game. For starters, while traveling in a purple desert, Mario seems to be in a boot driving along the sand dunes. There also appears to be a level where the player will get to steer a boat across a body of water. Mario will also hitch a ride on Bowser's floating ship, but it's not known if the player will have control of the ship.
3 New Friends
A new adventure means new friends to meet. In the trailer, we were introduced to a small, yellow origami girl which, according to Nintendo's website, goes by the name of Olivia. She happens to be King Olly's sister and is going to help you stop him from enacting his evil plot.
We also got to see a scene where Mario and Olivia are traveling on a chairlift when they meet a friendly Bom-omb. There also appears to be an ally next to Mario in the temple that we don't get to fully see in this trailer.
2 Wild Enemies
With new friends also come new enemies, and this trailer was chock full of them. Deep in the trailer, we see a giant yarn creature without a face walking down a set of glowing stairs as if it is a performer. There are also giant paper airplanes that seem to target Mario and his allies while they are in the sky in Bowser's flying ship. One scene also shows Mario and Olivia on top of a giant origami turtle that comes out of the ground unexpectedly.
1 Paper Mache
Along with all of the origami enemies, and apparently one giant yarn enemy, there also seem to be some odes to paper mache placed sporadically in this game. One of the first enemies you see in the trailer is a giant paper mache Goomba eating something out of a home. At the end of the trailer, you see Mario put on the paper mache head of Samus of Metroid and pretend to shoot at things, along with Goomba and Donkey Kong paper mache heads on the side.