When we discussed the trailer for Paper Mario: The Origami King, I went over a lot of the little details from the trailer and website and figured that would be the end of it until the next trailer or announcement.
I underestimated the fanaticism of the Paper Mario community.
Ever since the game was announced, fans have become obsessed with hunting down tiny details that might point toward unrevealed details about Origami King, from its level design to potential partners to the combat system.
In particular, people began comparing the tiny combat clip across different versions of the trailer. The appearance of a Toad in combat in the Chinese trailer drew the most attention, but soon people began noticing other tiny differences. Mario has slightly more HP in the Spanish trailer. Does this mean there’s a leveling system? He does different amounts of damage in various trailers. Could this mean there are equipment upgrades?
Fans have scoured the trailer for any clues about the as-yet-unrevealed aspects of the combat system. Some have noticed confetti that could function like paint did in Color Splash. Others think confetti is a special currency.
One fan dug into the website’s code in the hopes of learning more from the text used for screenshots. Others have analyzed the origami ribbons and where they appear in the environments to speculate about how many areas there will be.
The most fascinating part is that even as some people see more evidence that Origami King will be another game in the style of Sticker Star and Color Splash, others keep pulling out new evidence to support the belief that this is a return to the series’ roots. With so much still up in the air, everyone is searching for details wherever they can find them.
Did this happen when Color Splash was announced?
When I watched the trailer for Color Splash, I gave up on it as Sticker Star 2.0 fairly quickly, but I know there were fans looking for hints of possible partners. Did it reach this level of obsession, or is this new?
Regardless, the level of obsession sparked by Origami King is interesting. Here’s hoping we get actual news about the game soon – and then it’s worth playing.
Although Sony didn’t intend to have an E3 press conference this year, it looks like we have a big PlayStation event in June to look forward to nevertheless.
