Paper Mario: The Origami King

Game SkinnyRobotsFightingDinosaurs

9/10

Despite a combat system that gets old quickly, Paper Mario: The Origami King's writing, puzzles, and worldbuilding make it the best entry since The Thousand-Year Door.

RPGFanJohn Tucker

85/100

I’ve played just about every Mario RPG, and I’ve reviewed six before this one, but Paper Mario: The Origami King is definitely the one that I’ve had the most difficulty figuring out how to score. The things that frustrated me about it (mainly the combat) frustrated me from start to finish, but I still had a good time with it, and even went back for a set of optional boss battle repeats after I had finished so that I could get an in-game trophy. And perhaps that is the biggest compliment I could pay to this game — I liked it enough that I chose to come back for more of the part I found…

Nintendo WireRicky Berg

8.5/10

For the 20 years since its debut, the Paper Mario series has changed itself multiple times and become something of an anomaly in the plumber’s history.

VGChartzNicholas Taylor

8/10

A definite

Attack of the FanboyDean James

While it may not return to the heights of The Thousand-Year Door, Paper Mario: The Origami King is by far the best entry in the series in over a decade and gives us hope for the future of the series for the first time in awhile.

GameSpewRichard Seagrave

8/10

The saving grace is that combat isn’t all that frequent in Paper Mario: The Origami King, so it doesn’t bring the experience down all that much. You’ll have so much fun exploring its papercraft world and devouring every line of its sumptuous dialogue that you’ll just grit your teeth and persist through the battles you encounter, knowing full well that in a minute or so you’ll be back at the good stuff. It isn’t perfect, but Paper Mario: The Origami King has a huge amount of charm, and those with a keen sense of humour and adventure will find themselves effortlessly falling in love with it.

GameSpotSuriel Vazquez

8/10

A new approach to combat transforms the series' combat from its glaring weakness into one of its biggest strengths.

RPGSiteAdam Vitale

8/10

This sixth entry into the Paper Mario series is not an RPG, and although some issues linger, it's the best adventure game entry yet.

Digital TrendsJon Silman

“Paper Mario: The Origami King is a charming Mario adventure marred by a difficult and tedious battle system.”

Twisted VoxelSalal Awan

7/10

Paper Mario: The Origami King is another enjoyable game in the Paper Mario franchise that is more of an adventure than a proper RPG.

GameGrinAnna Duncan

6.5/10

If you’re a fan of the series then you can’t go wrong, but it’s not the strongest game in the franchise with its plain bad battle system, regardless of how charming and beautiful it is.

RPGamerAlex Fuller

Our series providing audio-visual versions of our written content continues with Anna Marie Privitere’s review of Paper Mario: The Origami King on Nintendo Switch. Though the series has strayed from its more classic roots, there’s enough of a solid base to crease out a niche between action-platformer and RPG.