#So I've been playing origami king again | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blueberryfruitbat · 5 months

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Thinking about more recent paper Mario games because of TTYD coming out next year and I thought of something...

Now note I am critical of recent paper Mario games but I am not the end all be all of the games and those who enjoy them I'm glad you can find something in these games I couldn't, I know plenty of people that don't like SPM or TTYD and while I love them to death I see those games with their own flaws as well.

The more recent games, sticker star, color splash, and origami king have very specific plot elements and mechanics based around the concept of the world being paper. Stickers, paint, and origami of course, with some added irl items used for crafts and I think that's one of their downfalls.

The original trilogy while yes the world is paper was mostly just an aesthetic look of things and never really contributed to the game's mechanics in super major ways except in little details and puzzles that don't overstay their welcome.

I'll stick to TTYD examples the most here because it's the game of the og trilogy I played the most as a kid and even as an adult, but this applies to the og Paper Mario and SPM.

TTYD's extent of the world being paper being part of gameplay is needing to blow away flaps of paper on the overworld walls and floors to reveal secrets with a party member, it's only required maybe 3 times and then it's optional for secrets here and there. Then there's the folding powers Mario gets to turn into things like a paper airplane, turn flat, a paper roll, and a boat. All of which are required 3-4 times each in a 40 hour game, and then are just there for minigames and secrets, not pushing it on you at every turn. Mostly being used as progression checks rather than the main name of the game. Lastly just visual gags, like characters laying flat on the ground, falling like a scrap of paper, or objects folding/unfolding to appear.

The older games focuses more on just having it's own story that could exist outside of the paper world, the story doesn't rely on the world being paper. The plots can boil down to:

-Bowser lifted peach's castle in the sky and has infinite power from the star rod

-The X-nauts are collecting crystal stars to open an ancient door under the town of rogueport for nefarious reasons

-Count bleck wants to bring the end of all ends across all worlds and needs to be stopped

None downright rely on the world being made of paper, and could be a game on their own with standard Mario.

When the games started to focus on the world being paper it started becoming ham fisted and repetitive, even SPM where the main mechanic was flipping 2D and 3D and is used everywhere wasn't exclusively an idea that could exist only in the paper series.

Now making a plot based on the paper world isn't impossible but it needs a good balance, and in the recent games didn't get that balance. So I think that's one of the biggest things I've come to acknowledge of the newer games, that the games are focusing too much on making stories based around the world rather than a world based around the story like in the original trilogy. With TTYD coming back I'm hopeful this is the direction they take again because I do want that return to form for them, I want that creativity to shine bright again, and I want the players, but also the developers to have FUN with what is created.

I've been with the series since I was five years old, and I know its hard to let go of the past, we will all have those rose tinted glasses of childhood but I will say for myself, AND ONLY MYSELF; that the storytelling shift was a big part of my more critical mind for the recent additions to the series.

#batty babbles #negative #kinda #mostly just me letting out my brain thoughts #paper mario #long post #anyways goodnight and stay scrungly

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alissaming · 11 months

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Paper Mario The Origami King

So we're on the most recent Paper Mario game to be released, and it's actually very good.

The story follows Mario who, along with his brother Luigi, has been invited to an Origami festival. When they arrive, they find Toad Town abandoned. They go to the castle to find out what is going on, only to find an origami version of Princess Peach talking about how much better an origami world would be and how Toads need to be crumpled. No matter what you answer to her questions, the floor becomes a trap that deposits Mario into the castle dungeon. It's here we kinda learn what's going on. With the help of Olivia, an origami girl who's excited by everything, we get out of the room, and find out that the minions are being turned into origami soldiers, forced to serve the Origami King, Olly, who is Olivia's brother. The actual story is explained throughout, but I won't talk about it here. Mario and Bowser are forced to flee the castle and Mario and Olivia go on a quest to undo the streamers.

Olivia is a lot of fun as a Navi character. She wears her emotions on her sleeves, and is incredibly endearing. Though she brings up one of the now clear differences between the first three Paper Mario games and the other three. That being in the original Paper Mario and Thousand Year Door (less so in Super Paper Mario) we see a lot of different kinds of creatures. Goldbob and his family are gold. General White is silver/white. Yeah, there are the normal instances of NPCs looking the same, more or less (especially true of the Mario universe) but still some differences. In the newer Paper Mario games, outside of the toads having different colors, all the races look exactly the same. Like yeah, I get it, they always have, but part of the fun of Paper Mario games is getting to see some different kinds of the same species. At least in my opinion. But at least I got a good chuckle out of there being multiply Bobbys by Olivia's standerds.

Finding the different toads turned into origami animals is actually a lot of fun. It's one of the few things I've tried to some degree to complete. Find all the toads. Find the different origami bugs, flowers, etc.

The attacks are pretty well done here. You can only cary so many and you have to equip the not basic ones. Oh, and those will break after a certain number of uses, so make sure to carry extra of your favorites.

The bosses are interesting. It's stated in the game that these are tools used in Origami. Things like colored pencils, tape, staples, and rubber bands. Now, to the best of my knowledge, the art of Origami is the making of creations using only a single piece of paper. But I do want to ask, is any of that stuff actually used in the art of Origami? And Olivia's transformations seem like they should be taking more than one piece of paper. If for no other reason than several have multiple colors. The fire Vellumental has both orange and red, as well as detatchable feathers. And the Earth Velumental is green and brown, with the brown head, tail, and feet coming out of the green shell.

The only real issue I have with this game is Luigi. In the other two games, he either wasn't really a presence or was a fun joke. Here, he just kinda gets in the way. He's on a quest to find the Key to Peach's castle and is CONSTANTLY, and I do mean constantly, getting the wrong key and making things more difficult for us. Once he gets the Shogun Studios key, meaning we have to track him down to get it and get the streamer here. Later, he takes the room key we need to know how to access the Fire Velumental's temple, so we, again, have to track him down. It only happens one other time, but seriously I wouldn't even need to keep going out of my way if he would just stop grabbing just any key and assuming they're all the key to Peach's Castle.

All in all, definitely give this game a play if you like the series. I give it solid 4/5.

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literallymymind · 2 years

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Genuinely cannot play origami king without triggering my rejection sensitivity so bad that I want to hurt or kill myself. It's genuinely not a fun game for me, but I can't stop playing it cause I want to be able to enjoy it without feeling like I'm going to kill myself.

I've been hurting myself every time I lose a battle, and the fucking scissors boss keeps making me dissociate every time I get a game over and I just want to be able to lose like a normal person, just laugh it off or just be a normal amount of angry that I have to go through these stupid fucking dialogues and cut scenes again.

#rejection sensitivity

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cartographers-office · 2 years

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Marioverse Sightseeing - Ancient Kingdoms

For this edition of Marioverse sightseeing, a recent question on the subreddit inspired me to do an in-depth post exploring the ancient past of the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom!

Let me start by crediting @seandwalsh, who came up with most of the things here, I helped along the way and compiled everything.

So with that out of the way, let's begin this history lesson!

The ancient past of the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom is still shrouded in mystery to us, but we've had glimpses of a few major kingdoms that could've played a part in their history.

Dry Dry Kingdom, Kingdom of Bask and the Koopa Kingdom

From Paper Mario, we know of the Dry Dry Kingdom. Once ruled by King Mousta (a Nomadimouse), the Dry Dry Kingdom was located in the Dry Dry Desert, as the name implies. However, King Mousta was overthrown by his subjects and exiled, along with his followers, from his kingdom. He later returned, along with allied thieves and bandits, and the ensuing war lead to the fall of the kingdom. What is left of it is now known as the Dry Dry Ruins.

But that is not where the story ends. One of the courses in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is called Dry Dry Desert. In it (specifically in it's Retro iteration in Mario Kart 8), numerous statues and sphynxes featuring Hammer Bro. faces can be seen. These same statues can also be seen alongside the ruins of the Kingdom of Bask, an ancient kingdom found in Mario Tennis Aces, and probably depict their ruler, King Bask.

This leads me to believe that the Kingdom of Bask is the successor that arose from the ashes of the Dry Dry Kingdom, populated by those who revolted against King Mousta, while his followers went on to create the Dry Dry Outpost.

Furthermore, given that:

- King Bask was a likely Hammer Bro., which is a type of Koopa.

- Other ancient Koopa structures can be seen in deserts, such as the Koopaseum in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Bone-Dry Dunes in Mario Kart 8.

- Reptiles are known for basking in the sun (from which the Kingdom of Bask is named after), with Koopa-built fortresses being noted to have roofs "perfect for napping in the sun".

"Hey! We can go outside again because the Fuzzies are gone! Stupendous! Spectacular! It's time to bask in the sun! A little music on the radio, a little sunshine on my shell... Does it get any better?" - A Koopa, in Paper Mario

It's possible that the Kingdom of Bask expanded further, eventually making the islands seen in Mario Tennis Aces the center of their empire. King Bask would ultimately bring about the end of his reign after attempting to control Lucien, destroying his kingdom.

That would leave a power vacuum for Bowser's ancestors take control and form the Koopa Kingdom from the remaining territories in the mainland, leaving the now ruined islands behind.

Kingdom of Shrooms and the Mushroom Kingdom

On the other side of this history class, Paper Mario: The Origami King introduced us to an ancient civilization of Toads known as the Kingdom of Shrooms. This Kingdom was founded by the Toad Shroomses after he discovered oil in the Scorching Sandpaper Desert. Evidence of this kingdom can also be seen in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, with similar Toad imagery being found in Drybake Desert (In Japanese also called Dry Dry Desert). Similar structures to Shroom City's palace can also be found in Shy Guy Bazaar, from Mario Kart 7.

Drybake Desert's most recognizable feature is perhaps the large Yoshi sphinx, in contrast to the Hammer Bro. sphinxes mentioned previously. These Yoshi sphinxes can also be seen in Mario Kart Wii's Dry Dry Ruins and probably belong to the ancient Koopa Kingdom I've speculated on earlier, given that the track shares similar statues to the ones found in the original GCN Dry Dry Desert.

Perhaps this indicates that both the Kingdom of Shrooms and the Kingdom of Bask might've been active in Drybake.

If that's to be believed, then it's also possible that these Toads that formed the Kingdom of Shrooms were Dryites, and were the allies that helped King Mousta, looping everything back around to the Dry Dry Kingdom! That would mean the Dryites of Dry Dry Outpost could be direct descendants of this ancient kingdom.

Evidence of the Kingdom of Shrooms expanding beyond the desert region can be seen in other games, mainly Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, where many levels feature their architectural style. Mummy-Mes (a type of ghostly Toad mummies) and the Super Crown could also be linked to this ancient Toad civilization. A huge thanks to @Cad484 for coming up with this theory connecting the Kingdom of Shrooms to Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker!

Eventually, the Kingdom of Shrooms would go on to form into the modern Mushroom Kingdom we know of today.

The Palace, from Super Mario Strikers and located in the Mushroom Kingdom, was the residence of the royal family before being converted into the Battle Soccer stadium it is today. Additionally, it is heavily implied Rosalina was a princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, and an indirect ancestor to Princess Peach herself.

Which finally brings us to the present time, reaching the end of this long rant. Now, to summarize everything:

To make a long story short

The Dry Dry Kingdom of the Dry Dry Desert was ruled by King Mousta, he was overthrown by possibly Koopa traitors and exiled. These Koopas then went on to form the Koopa Kingdom, spreading over the Dry Dry Desert, and building structures such as Bone-Dry Dunes, Wii Dry Dry Ruins, the Yoshi Sphinx in Drybake Desert and the Koopaseum.

Expanding his empire, King Bask would eventually make his reign centered on the islands in Mario Tennis Aces, and bring about his end by Lucien. Now without a king, the mainland territories of the kingdom were then left in control of Bowser's ancestors, forming what is now known as the Koopa Kingdom.

Meanwhile, King Shroomses creates the Kingdom of Shrooms in the Scorching Sandpaper Desert, probably connected to the Dry Dry Desert (due to Drybake Stadium). Having befriended the Dry Dry Kingdom, Dryites from Kingdom of Shrooms went in aid of King Mousta during the war that lead to the downfall of the Dry Dry Kingdom, eventually settling in Dry Dry Outpost.

The Kingdom of Shrooms then expanded beyond the desert, building many towers and palaces, such as the Grand Labyrinth, eventually becoming the Mushroom Kingdom of today.

Thank you!

I hope this post was informative and thank you for everyone who stuck with me until the end! If you enjoyed this type of post, make sure to check Marioverse Discord server and the Subreddit for more theories and discussions on Mario lore! https://discord.gg/ARUSxjmcSS

https://www.reddit.com/r/Marioverse/

See you next time!

#marioverse sightseeing #dry dry desert #paper mario #mario kart

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