One of the producers behind the recently released Paper Mario: The Origami King shed some light on why the series has moved away from creating original characters, and it's the result of a weird Nintendo policy that fans are still trying to wrap their heads around. Paper Mario's earlier games were memorable in part due to their creative, trope-challenging characters, many of whom were based on previously existing species in the Mushroom Kingdom like goombas and koopas.
The lack of original characters that come from the Super Mario universe hasn't negatively impacted the reception for Paper Mario: The Origami King, which has reviewed well since its launch and adds yet another strong title to the growing first-party dominance the Nintendo Switch has exhibited over the last few years. With other titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons continuing to push the ubiquity of Nintendo Switch devices in family households and broadening the console's appeal further, even more "niche" titles like Paper Mario have a strong chance to overperform in sales.
That doesn't mean that the team behind Paper Mario has been taking its foot off the gas, however, as a recent interview conducted by VGC with team laid out the progression of the franchise from its first game in 2000 to Paper Mario: The Origami King in 2020. While many of the innovations being made in Paper Mario: The Origami King stem from the way the development team has been unafraid of challenging the game's roots in the RPG genre, a few fan favorite qualities have been left behind. The lack of an EXP system in Paper Mario: The Origami King had fans talking, but it's the absence of original characters that stem from the Mario universe that consumers wanted an answer to. Producer Kensuke Tanabe gave a response to a question on how to design characters that hold up when compared to iconic creatures like Bowser, and also shed some light on the lack of original characters in Paper Mario: The Origami King:
"Since Paper Mario: Sticker Star, it’s no longer possible to modify Mario characters or to create original characters that touch on the Mario universe. That means that if we aren’t using Mario characters for bosses, we need to create original characters with designs that don’t involve the Mario universe at all, like we’ve done with Olly and the stationery bosses."
While the quote is a little unclear, what it seems to suggest is that the Paper Mario team is now subject to a Nintendo policy that doesn't let Paper Mario: The Origami King introduce a new villain that is already based upon existing Mario lore. While that was nicely circumvented in the most recent game with the stationery enemies that lent both aesthetic appeal and unique gameplay mechanics to boss battles, it's still a weird rule, and one that Tanabe doesn't elaborate on.
Paper Mario: The Origami King did just fine in spite of restrictions on its ability to introduce original characters. However, given the game's success and the demand for more party-based mechanics and story in future iterations, hopefully that policy will be one Nintendo revisits for the series' next installment.
Paper Mario: The Origami King is available now for Nintendo Switch.
Source: VGC