May 222020
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.
“Did this happen when Color Splash was announced?”
It might’ve. I don’t remember. If it did happen, I purposefully avoid the fanbase anyway. They’re toxic wretched people. >_>
And as you imply in the article, there’s little point to this hunt, since it didn’t uncover any concrete facts anyway.
What does the fanbase do that’s so bad, aside from arguing over which of the games are good and which are bad?
I’m thinking back on the Paper Mario subreddit before Color Splash came out, and they were the most humourless (especially upsetting given that the series is known for its sense of humour) bunch of angry people you could meet.
I mean, they were alright—great, even—back in 2005. I was there. Super Paper Mario wasn’t announced yet. They even got along with fans of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
They’ve just been kind of weird and victim-y since. It’s either that or they’re speed-runners.
https://www.reddit.com/r/papermario/comments/gllg9l/a_muchneeded_reminder_to_be_civil_and_respectful/
Like, the fact that this is needed to be a sticky post isn’t a good sign…
I’m not sure that’s anything specific to the Paper Mario fanbase… seems to me any subreddit that sees the fanbase divided over something turns into an angry mess of arguments. Even the Yakuza subreddit, which was one of the friendliest, least toxic places I’d seen on Reddit, exploded into people arguing and insulting each other when Yakuza 7 was revealed.
Eh, it doesn’t need to be unique to them for them to suck.
My point was more that every single fanbase can come across that way if you go by their Reddit communities.