Paper Mario: The Origami King review — Lovable despite the flaws

Paper Mario: The Origami King is a great game that makes some silly mistakes that echo the missteps from previous Paper Mario installments. The issue isn’t that developer Intelligent Systems ruined the fun with some of its choices (it’s still fun). Instead, it’s frustrating because the studio could have made an even better Paper Mario by paying more attention to the series’ earlier games.

Nintendo is launching Paper Mario: The Origami King for $60 on Nintendo Switch on July 17. Like others in this series, The Origami King is a role-playing adventure that has a flat, paper version of Mario exploring a whimsical world. But like more recent releases, Nintendo doesn’t fully commit to the RPG elements. This is where the game falters the most.