 This video is sponsored by the pause button, a weekly video game newsletter that you should definitely check out. Watching the trailer for Paper Mario the Origami King, it's clear that this game has a very different tone to a traditional Mario title. Princess Peach has been possessed by some kind of terrifying origami force, transforming into an origami monster. She casts Mario into a pit, and it seems that the challenge this time is not just rescuing the princess, but fighting to avoid losing your very soul. Even if these elements from the trailer don't make up a large part of Origami King's actual narrative, there's no denying it. The game looks downright creepy. You might think that Paper Mario is a strange game series to embrace horror tropes, a la invasion of the body snatchers, or get out. In reality though, the creative teams behind the Paper Mario series have been pushing for creepy gameplay for a long time. All of the Paper Mario games have played with spooky environments to some degree, because the developers genuinely think it's funny. In a New Water asks interview from all the way back in 2012, the developers of Paper Mario Sticker Star explained how they'd been trying to incorporate horror elements into their game, and how it hadn't exactly been well received. While working on an area which would become Drybake Stadium, the character design group, which produces and supervises all Nintendo characters, wanted to make some Egyptian mural-inspired characters for Mario to meet. This led to the creation of mural Koopers, mural Gumbas, and mural Toads, which all have exaggerated long limbs, a little like real humans. They fall squarely into the Uncanny Valley, which the team felt was part of the joke. When they showed them to other people, the response was gross. First the team was pleased, as this had been the response they'd been hoping for, but then they realised that, no, people weren't enjoying this. The designs were creepy and off-putting. So the team experimented with a lot of different designs, but nothing felt right. They really wanted to go the creepy horror route, it just felt funniest. In the end, they decided to try and get their original designs approved by showing them to Shigeru Miyamoto. When they showed him one of the designs, Shigeru thought it was very funny. He even said, why don't you make it even more disgusting? Producer Kensuke Tanabe said, The Super Mario games have an orthodox lineage that Miyamoto-san thought up as its creator, so while Paper Mario as part of that must preserve certain things, I think there is a point to tackling new and unusual things. As such, it makes sense that Paper Mario the Origami King pushes this kind of joke even further. With overly cute Paper Cutout characters, there's room for experimentation, and that includes giving a game creepy undertones that even outspook Luigi's Mansion. So why use Origami monsters as villains? Well, this ties into the core Paper Mario design philosophy. In the same Iwata Ask's interview, Taro Kudo explains that the driving mentality behind a Paper Mario game is, use as many Paper ideas as you can. The teams who make these games think about all the different ways that people use and play with Paper in order to inform the game's mechanics. For example, Taro says, For battles, we thought about how you could do damage to Paper, like by folding it, getting it wet, and burning it. Folding Paper takes centre stage this time, as Mario faces off against King Oli, the eponymous Origami King. This villain possesses Princess Peach, uproots her castle, and seals it shut with Paper Streamers. In true horror story style, Mario and his friends have to avoid Oli's magic, or else have their free will overpowered as they turn into folded soldiers. It's an interesting use of the concept of Origami, and how folding Paper in a certain way can turn it into something completely different. Now, to be clear, from official Nintendo sources, it's evident that the Origami King isn't actually meant to be scary. This is a parody of a horror story, poking fun at its tropes by showing how ridiculous they look when applied to colourful Paper characters. When asked about the future of the Paper Mario series back in 2016, Kensuke Tanabe reiterated the design philosophy that had been taught to him by Shigeru Miyamoto. When you develop a new game, the game system has to be novel and creative. At this point, it's impressive that Nintendo are still finding new ways to make Paper Mario games stand out, and the idea of using horror tropes in this setting is sure to make a unique entry in this beloved long-running series. Before you go, we wanted to talk briefly about this video's sponsor. If you enjoy our videos, you probably like learning about the ins and outs of the gaming industry. The pause button is a weekly newsletter covering game news, reviews and analysis. It's completely free to sign up, and it provides a lot of fascinating content covering exciting developments and trends within games culture. In addition to the free service, there's also a paid subscription service that provides access to even more content. These include critical analysis of the popular games, essays on game design, and discussions on upcoming industry trends that might impact the kinds of games that enjoy popularity in the near future. 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