Paper Mario: The Origami King

Paper Mario: The Origami King sends the paper plumber into a world someone else began folding. King Olly, the ruler of origami, has taken over the kingdom, his folded legions have transformed the inhabitants, and Princess Peach's castle is wrapped in five giant streamers that need to be cut. You're accompanied by Olly's sister Olivia, whose enthusiasm and naivety offset the story's surprisingly melancholy moments. The series abandons its classic node-based map here in favor of semi-open areas—a desert, a sea dotted with islands, a forest, and a mountain road—which you move through freely while hunting for hidden Toads and secrets.

The biggest new feature is combat. Enemies stand on a circular field divided into rings and wedges, and the player has a few turns to slide and rotate the pieces so the enemies line up in a row or a square. Only then do you strike—and lining them up correctly means far greater damage. It's a puzzle reminiscent of a Rubik's Cube, with time pressure added on top. Boss fights work in reverse: you move Mario along the rings toward a goal in the center, looking for a path that activates the right tiles. On top of that come giant paper hands for big attacks, and a number of situations solved outside combat by patching paper holes.

Technically the game is flawless: a clean, colorful image, smooth performance, and plenty of small animation gags that turn the paper world into one big tabletop scene. The soundtrack is unusually rich, blending jazz, orchestral pieces, and catchy battle themes. Reception was good, with criticism aimed at the series continuing to forgo a classic RPG with leveling and permanent partners. But anyone who accepts that this is more of an adventure with puzzles gets one of the most wittily written games on Switch—and an ending that surprised many players with its seriousness. It's also worth noting how well the game works in short sessions: each area has its own self-contained story, so you can return to it after half an hour without losing track, making it one of the most pleasant handheld games around.