The Paper Mario series has been a favorite among many Big M fans ever since its debut on Nintendo 64, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Paper Mario: The Origami King arrived with a lot of anticipation. Some of the more recent entries have strayed away from the series RPG roots, leaving fans longing for a true successor to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Mario RPG, and the handheld exclusive Mario & Luigi series which hasn't been seen since Paper Jam in 2015.
While the final release of Paper Mario: The Origami King wasn't quite the successor fans had hoped for, it has been well received across the board and incorporated a number of RPG mechanics including companion character like Bowser, turn-based combat, unique boss battles, and player choices throughout the main story. However, when it comes to different choices made throughout the game, it appears that Paper Mario: The Origami King offers more of an illusion of choice rather than anything of actual consequence and its unfortunate that Nintendo has chosen this route. NOTE: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD.
Choices in Paper Mario: The Origami King
At the beginning of Paper Mario: The Origami King, Mario enters Princess Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom where he finds an evil-looking Princess Peach. The origami Peach speaks to Mario in riddles and asks him a series of questions about his views on the world, however, the conversation always end in the same outcome. Regardless of the players answers, Peach simply states, "Wrong answer. Right answer. It matters not. Your replies are all paper-thin," and releases a trap door that sends Mario into an underground dungeon to be "folded" into origami. After escaping the dungeon, Mario is confronted by Peach a second time and outright given the choice to be folded into origami, yet once again, regardless of the player's decision, the scene ends in a battle against an origami Goomba and origami Peach fleeing.
Throughout Paper Mario: The Origami King, the player is faced with a number of similar choices where Mario can choose to either rescue or ignore characters like Luigi and Bowser, buy specific in-game items, or follow a certain character when reaching a crossroads. The majority of the choices thrown at the player are straightforward decisions between choosing the good option or the bad option, and it's clear that m0st players would always choose the good option. However, the game also forces players to choose the good option by allowing them to progress any other way; for example, not saving Luigi from confinement doesn't result in a game without Luigi, it results in a 'Game Over' screen. Technically, the player is given the choice to save Luigi, but in reality, not saving Luigi isn't an option.
Endings in Paper Mario: The Origami King
When it comes to finishing the main story in Paper Mario: The Origami King, it's true that there are multiple endings for players to unlock. Playing through the main story and reaching the end of the game will result in the standard ending, the one that most players will experience. Paper Mario: The Origami King also has a secret ending, which is described as the game's true ending and requires players to reach 100% completion to unlock. In order to reach 100% completion, players will need to find all the Hidden Toads, fill in every non-bottomless hole, find all 120 Treasures, hit all of the '?' Boxes, and unlock every Trophy from the Shuriken Mini game.
Neither of the endings for Paper Mario: The Origami King take any of the player's choices into account. In the normal ending, King Olly is defeated at the hands of Mario, and his companion Olivia sacrifices herself to undo all of Olly's destruction and return the world back to its former state. In the secret ending, there's an additional post-credits scene that shows Olly and Olivia sitting atop there paper thrones in the newly reformed Mushroom Kingdom. Rather than both characters disappearing once all of the origami was removed from the Paper Mario world, the siblings are together and the Mushroom Kingdom has been saved.
Paper Mario: The Origami King Has An Illusion of Choice Problem
Nintendo created an illusion of player choice in Paper Mario: The Origami King, rather than allowing the player to have any real effect on the larger world. By removing consequence from the player's decision such as the idea that Luigi might not be saved (at least until the final boss is defeated) or resulting in a 'Game Over' screen when choosing to go in one direction with one companion over another, the idea of "choice" no longer applies, and that can become a problem for many players as it means their decision's don't really matter.
Player choices are a driving force in the RPG genre, and even adventure games like Life is Strange and Detroit: Become Human, and for many players, are the reason they return to the genre time and time again. Creating an illusion of choice and then taking it away has resulted in players feeling as if there time and investment isn't valued - a large reason for why the ending of Mass Effect 3 received as much backlash as it did. Regardless, Paper Mario: The Origami King is a great addition to the Nintendo Switch but Nintendo really needed to either go all-in on supporting player choice or remove the option from the game entirely.
Paper Mario: The Origami King is available now, exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
