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Since the release of Paper Mario: The Origami King on the Nintendo Switch last month, series’ producer, Kensuke Tanabe has been discussing the creative restrictions tied to the game – reiterating how it’s been this way since Paper Mario: Sticker Star was released on the 3DS.
In another recent interview, this time with the German website PCGames, Tanabe touched on the battle system in the Paper Mario series and noted how his team strived to change the combat system in each entry to keep things fresh. Here’s the translation (via Nintendo Everything):
Striving to find new and innovative systems is the foundation of the philosophy my team and I are following when developing games. As such, I think it’s a necessity that the combat system changes in every game.
The Paper Mario series started out as a traditional RPG series, and while it maintained this in the second outing, since then it’s continually evolved. In Paper Mario: The Origami King, for example, the focus is on collecting coins in battle, rather than gaining experience points.
Changes to the Paper Mario series over the years have also been previously linked back to Shigeru Miyamoto. Tanabe touched on this in an Iwata Asks interview around the time of Sticker Star’s release, when talking about the creation of new characters:
Aside from wanting us to change the atmosphere a lot, there were two main things that Miyamoto-san said from the start of the project—”It’s fine without a story, so do we really need one?” and “As much as possible, complete it with only characters from the Super Mario world.
But being unable to use new characters is pretty strict. Of course, we could not make any new enemy characters, and as for allies among the Super Mario characters, there’s really only Toad in various colors!
Do you think the combat system in the Paper Mario series should be updated in every game? Do you like the way battles play out in The Origami King? Share your thoughts down below.
About Liam Doolan
When he’s not paying off a loan to Tom Nook, Liam likes to report on the latest Nintendo news and admire his library of video games. His favourite Nintendo character used to be a guitar-playing dog, but nowadays he prefers to hang out with Judd the cat.
Comments (30)
The current system they used for Origami King was awful- dull, repetitive and completely uninspired.
I call BS on this man’s claims…
As much as I enjoyed the ring battle system, I’d like to just see some good old fashioned consistency for each game.
To be fair, if they made it the same each time, people would say they don’t innovate. Look at Pokémon, which does exactly the same things each entry, right down to the story beats. People criticize that for lack of innovation. I think the paper Mario guys are alright, though.
Battle system in Paper Mario (N64) and PM: The Thousand Year Door was far from broke … and they’re still trying to fix it.
I loved Origami King for what it was… But these limitations are hurting the series. They desperately need to return to their roots, or at the very least be allowed to incorporate new characters and more complex stories. Limiting them only hurts the Mario series as a whole. Imagine if every Mario RPG ever made had these same limitations…
@DoktorTotenKopf and so where the battles in PM and TYD. People talk like those systems where not tedious but they were.
I’m mad at the strict rules for the Developers, as it’s fine to add in some unique characters here and there.
But it’s fine to change up the battle system up, I would prefer a style similar to TTYD and also prefer exp, but I like the ring system in Paper Mario Origami King, so as long as there isn’t another S T I C K E R S T A R situation, it’s fine to change the elements of every game. I would just prefer consistency.
I’d just like Nintendo and Miyamoto being less restrictive to the developers.
I understand that they want to try new things, but new is not always better. The ring sliding isn’t bad persee (and the way they have done this in the boss battles is pure genius), but what comes after is just to simplistic: Hammer for a cluster, jump for a line.
I mean, this isn’t the reason why people are hating on the newer titles. I’m open to newer battle styles, but don’t get carried away by paranoia like you did with the characters…
Ah I see, just like they have to change things around with every New Super Mario Bros game, that makes sense.
And yet all we want is another game like the first two,
@jobvd PM & TYD were spectacular and the Mario and Luigi RPG series were stellar as well. Origami King was lazy and devoid of any real innovations.
I would really like it if a demo was available so I could see how the battling feels without spending 60€ only to find out that I do not like the battle mechanics. Currently it is a no-buy because I am not convinced that the game is fun to play in the long run.
@TG16_IS_BAE Look at Xenoblade Chronicles. Each game has its own unique spin on the same formula (auto attacks + cooldown abilities). The spirit of the franchise is present through all games, but they’re not all carbon copies of each other. The first game emphasizes break/topple/daze and chain attacks, X adds ranged bullet weapons for every character so you can auto attack from afar and swap to a melee weapon at anytime. And 2/Torna completely shake things up with the Blade system and Driver combos. Each game has innovated, while still being Xenoblade.
But with Paper Mario, it doesn’t feel like that at all. It feels like change for the sake of changing something, rather than actually bothering to innovate. Tanabe has gone on record stating that he dislikes RPGs yet Paper Mario is still turn based. Why? Why not innovate off of Super’s gameplay and go for something in real time? This just comes across as empty words. Just because you can change something, doesn’t mean you should.
I’ve enjoyed the ring battle system so far in my experience with Origami King. Most battles have felt fresh by mixing up enemy placement and in that sense I find this system more engaging than the battles present in the rest of the series. I don’t think they need to reinvent the battle system with each new entry though. I think they’re in a good spot now and hope that they expand upon puzzle elements influencing battles in the future.
I really hate to be so blunt, but maybe he should try acquiring some talent before he tries to innovative. He is without a doubt the worst creator at Nintendo now and has been for years. I’m frankly amazed he still is allowed to work on anything, considering how often his ideas have driven franchises into the ground. He’s definitely got a big head and thinks his ideas are better than they are. If you want to have a “People don’t actually know what they want, I do” attitude, you’d better have talent to back it up and Tanabe has shown time and time again he does not.
Sticker Star and Color Splash felt like FF VIII to me where the attack commands are stacked like items.
@Tupin I think that’s a rather sour perspective. Most of the games he’s produced (NOT INCLUDING MODERN PM, of course) have done pretty well.
Let Toad shoot his spores on everything have them all become tiny toads, then he sheds his mycodermis and becomes an actual toad that accidentally infects the tinytoads with warts!!! Then Luigi licks Toad and has a trip out that cures him and so the toads licks themselves for a psychedelic cure .And Toad dies.
@N00BiSH He killed Chibi-Robo, Mario Vs. DK, and Dillon as franchises. He made Federation Force. He added stupid ideas like the slam move to Luigi’s Mansion 3 that made what could have been a great game much less good. He wanted any legacy of Rareware and DKC kept out of the new DK games. I’m sour on his involvement with things because I think he is pretty much a hack who has delusions that he’s as good of a dev as Miyamoto or something. His work at this point is like if Miyamoto constantly kept trying to make Wii Music or Star Fox Zero work instead of dropping them as the failed experiments they were.
The combat system is why I didn’t buy the game. I wanted to try a Paper Mario game, but this one was not for me.
When the reviews came out all I heard was: battle system sucks. Playing the game I found I actually really enjoyed the different ways in which it was spun, it’s a simple idea but executed with a lot of creativity around it. Especially having to figure out how to attack the different bosses is a challenging but fun puzzle. In my opinion this is way more enjoyable than a default RPG turn based system.
@JR150 The original Xenoblade Chronicles was a great game. I couldn’t stand Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I think I am done with that series.
Translation: You might as well give up on this series if you think we are gonna give you what you want.
@DoktorTotenKopf I still can’t believe what Nintendo did to AlphaDream. After four incredible Mario & Luigi RPGs they lumped a forced Paper Mario tie-in on them … and then had them remake their own games (which were not that old and perfectly fine as they were) to release on the 3DS/2DS which was beyond dead at that point … and then let them go bankrupt after those games sold poorly (what else did they expect?). How I would love a new Mario & Luigi on Switch!
Look, I’m all for innovation, but if 3 out of 6 games in your franchise are this divisive, you’re doing something wrong.
Maybe he should just stop talking about the rules they have for paper mario
I don’t think Miyamoto really gets RPGs
@Tupin His gameography is free to see: if you can look at this list and say he has no talent I don’t know what you’re on.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensuke_Tanabe
Over 100 games and like 3 (Sticker Star, Federation Force and Chibi-Robo Ziplash) people get upset about.
I can deal with every entry being different and even not having the same combat system every game but what i can’t figure out is these lame restrictions on characters. Why from 1995 (Mario RPG) to 2004 TTYD was it perfectly okay to have the likes of Geno, Mallow, Bow, Watt, Sushie or that one with the Giant Rack Flurrie?
Those games had the charm and fun that they did because of those made up non Mario universe characters. Suddenly now that’s not allowed? Nearly a whole decade of made up not specifically mario characters in these games. I don’t get it.
Way to suck the fun right outta paper mario.
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