Paper Mario: The Origami King producer – Kensuke Tanabe – hasn’t decided if they want to keep to the non-RPG path or if they want to return closer to the spin-off’s roots. During an interview with Eurogamer Germany, they asked about the transition away from the traditional RPG and closer to the 3DS and Wii U models, which took a larger focus on action and accessibility.
As translated by Nintendo Everything, it all started with Paper Mario: Sticker Star where their goal was to move away from RPG and into solving puzzles. They haven’t completely dropped the idea, but they want to keep the spin-off “innovative and unique.”
“When developing Paper Mario: Sticker Star, one of our goals was to move away a bit from the traditional RPG style. 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.”
Tanabe also tacked on his own personal beliefs and indicating the wise words that no matter what, if they kept to the same formula, it’d grow stale and the fanbase would turn into a shell of its former self.
“The game development philosophy I’ve adopted from Mr. Miyamoto is developing innovative and unique gameplay systems. 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.”
While it seems like the formula is never going to revert back to its former glory, fans can hope, and maybe one day, just maybe, they’ll return and make an entry with an RPG focus again.
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