Nintendo’s first rumored Mario game for 2020 has come true: Paper Mario in July

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  Something about Princess Peach seems different. [credit: Nintendo ]

After a Mario-filled game-rumor bonanza earlier this year, Nintendo appears to be paying those rumors forward with its first Mario game announcement of 2020. Thursday morning saw Nintendo issue a YouTube announcement-without its usual 48-hour tip-off to fans-for its first Paper Mario game in four years.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is slated to launch digitally and physically on July 17 for Nintendo Switch consoles, and it sees the series wildly expand upon its action-RPG roots-as opposed to the more straightforward 2016 Wii U game Paper Mario: Color Splash.

Unlike a "mainline" Super Mario action game, Paper Mario games stand out with an emphasis on plot, dialogue, and family-friendly humor, and today's Origami King reveal sees the series continue that streak. One minute, a "flat," sticker-shaped Mario is leaping and flying over an overwhelmed Mushroom Kingdom castle, which is being attacked by an origami warlord set on "folding the world," along with Bowser as an unlikely ally (apparently already origami-folded to assumably tamp down his evil abilities). The next moment, Mario is chilling on a train while a classic Bob-omb sits near him as a passenger, dryly remarking, "Me? Well... I'm Bob-omb."

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