Paper Mario: The Origami King is out today, and if you’ve read Eurogamer’s review you’ll know the game makes several tentative steps back towards its RPG roots – though it ultimately shies away from the series’ old companion system.
Recent entries have sidelined or removed party members – to the chagrin of long-term fans of the series. The Origami King begins to address this by having certain characters travel with Mario in a limited capacity, though these are noticably lacking in their variety.
It’s been a while since we’ve had truly individual companions in a Paper Mario game – the kind fans still remember fondly from The Thousand-Year Door. That game had a university student goomba named Goombella, a genie-like wind spirit named Madame Flurrie, and the popular Vivian, a ghostly being who begins the game as an antagonist.