Paper Mario Producer: Changing The Combat System Is "A Necessity"

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This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is a fine game by anyone’s standards, but it’s fair to say that long-time fans of the series yearn for a return to the traditional RPG set-up of the N64’s Paper Mario and it’s Gamecube follow-up The Thousand Year Door.

Since those games, each entry has employed a totally new battle mechanic, with The Origami King challenging players to line up enemies in a series of concentric rings for maximum damage. This constant changing of the formula is apparently an underlying philosophy for those behind the game.

Speaking to German website PC Games, Producer Kensuke Tanabe explained how his team aim to keep things fresh with each new entry:

“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 previous entry, Wii U’s Color Splash, employed a card-based mechanic while the 3DS’ Sticker Star used disposable stickers to attack enemies.

Let us know which system you prefer down in the comments below.