Paper Mario’s producer has said it is undecided if the series will continue to move further away from its RPG origins.
Rather than offering a return to the series’ hardcore RPG roots, recently releasedNintendo SwitchgamePaper Mario: The Origami Kingmore closely resemblesthe divisive 3DS andWii UPaper Mario titles, with a stronger focus on action and accessibility than stats and levelling screens.
But whetherNintendocontinues to apply this design approach to future series instalments is uncertain, Nintendo’sKensuke TanabetoldEurogamer Germany(translated byNintendo Everything).
“When developing Paper Mario: Sticker Star, one of our goals was to move away a bit from the traditional RPG style,” Paper Mario’s producer said. “Nintendo has another RPG series starring Mario and we wanted to distance ourselves from it by making an adventure game with a focus on solving puzzles.
“Even though we’ve stuck to that decision so far, we haven’t decided yet whether or not we will keep doing so in the future. Personally speaking, I want to keep developing Paper Mario games that are both innovative and unique.”
Further Reading
In aPaper Mario: The Origami King interviewwith VGC in July, Tanabe andNintendo EPDassistant producerRisa Tabatasaid the game creation philosophy handed down to them byShigeru Miyamotois to challenge themselves to create new gameplay to continually surprise players.
Tanabe, a Nintendo veteran who oversees several franchises including Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong, elaborated on this topic in his chat with Eurogamer Germany.
“The game development philosophy I’ve adopted from Mr. Miyamoto is developing innovative and unique gameplay systems,” he said. “I’m not opposed to the fans’ opinions. However, I view my game development philosophy as separate from that.
“If we used the same gameplay system wanted by the fans again and again, we wouldn’t be able to surprise them or deliver new gameplay experiences. We always try our best to exceed expectations in surprising ways. At the same time, there’s no guarantee that we’ll always succeed in doing that – so it’s a real challenge.”
