It’s been weeks since I’m done Paper Mario: The Origami King. I’ve since switched to another replay of Fallout 4, this time immersed in the moral dilemma that plays out as a raider in the Nuka World storyline. But nothing that Fallout 4 (like most other games) makes my experience comparable to the emotional overload that was the storyline in a silly children’s game about folding paper.
Paper Mario: The Origami King is the latest turn-based fighting game from Nintendo that has Mario de Plumber doing his two-dimensional thing in a world that is net paper friendly. It’s harmless fun, full of great Nintendo jokes and nods at the ridiculousness of our daily three-dimensional lives (at one point you fight a tape dispenser that is clearly a parody of Donald Trump). But all the bright colors, fun loving characters, and repeated visits to Shogun Studios do is to lure you into a state of independence, so The Origami King can pull the carpet under you.
After fighting the first great boss (a set of ccolored pencils), Mario and his origami princess companion Olivia take a cable car up to Autumn Mountain. There, they meet a Bob-omb with amnesia, who once lost his fuse for the events of the game and goes up the mountain in hopes of restoring his memories. He decides to join the team – strangely, Mario says nothing despite being fully aware of what a Bob-omb is – and Olivia calls him Bobby because she can not remember his name for some reason.
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Bobby soon becomes a favorite part of the team, helping Mario to fight rows of normal enemies while being too lazy to take out the bosses, and at other times easily fall asleep. He’s slowly starting to regain some of his memories, largely by watching a fireworks show at Shogun Studios, but they do not change who he is at his heart. He is funny, charming and adorant. You want to give him the biggest hug, possible contagious explosion will be damned. But there is always something dark beneath the surface. What happened to this Bob-omb? Why did he lose his fuse, and how can he get it back? And why does it feel like we do not want to know the answers?
On the way to the desert level is where everything turns into a Shakespearean tragedy. Olivia crashes under a giant boulder, something that would require a massive explosion to remove. Bobby moves in frame, narrows his eyes to an unknown horizon and says he knows what he needs to do to save Olivia. It’s not the first time he’s acted like he’s blown himself up, even though it was rather a fakeout. But still you think, ‘Oh no. Not Bobby. “But then he takes you on a cruise ship search, where he says the tool to help Olivia can be found, and for a moment you think everything will go well.
It will not be okay.
This is where we learn the tragic backstory of Bobby, who went crazy out of hell and left me in a pool of tears and depression. It turns out that Bobby was part of Princess Peach’s security force on her cruise ship. They were attacked by an origami Gooper Blooper (giant sea squid), and most of his Bob-omb friends died. Bobby was thrown into the ocean, and in the process lost his fuse. It could not be recovered, but something else could: The fuse of Bobby’s dead friend, which he had kept in a lockbox for years to preserve his memory. When we get back to the present, Bobby immediately turns on his dead friend’s fuse and blows himself up.
He fucking dies, boys.
Mario and Olivia mourn his death, with Olivia so scared that they cannot continue. Bobby actually comes back as a ghost, so he can think of Mario the best way to cheer Olivia up … about the fact that he fucking died. After that, forever away – just in case you were wondering if this whole thing would turn out for a happy ending. Nope.
Here’s the whole scene if you want to watch it, but be warned that it will break your soul.
My husband stepped on me when I saw this scene take place, and let me tell you: that was me screaming. I’m not talking about wiping a single tear from my eye as I sit quietly on the couch, I’m talking about full crocodile tears streaming down my face. I shuddered when I saw one of the franchise’s thousands of Bob-ombs – mostly a film for Mario’s quest – sacrifice himself for his beloved friend, someone who could not remember his real name. This is a game where you fight with staplers and rubber bands, why the hell did you do this to me, Nintendo ?!
It’s been weeks and I’m still not over it. There were many other memorable moments in there The Origami King. The horrific hole puncher incident in the Toad Temple, Princess Peach’s disturbing origami form, as the final scene between Olivia and her evil brother, King Olly. But none of them will ever compare to Bobby, a character death I might never return from … in a video game where you can ride a shoe car and hang out at a party with tuna can mariachi.
It shows how video games with great storytellers can really connect us to their characters – because we do not see them alone, we live a small part of our lives with them. It’s a reminder of how awesome the medium can be as it can make me mourn the death of a character whose brothers I met in a later mission on Bowser’s ship (a scene that still makes me feel like hell) slaughter) slaughter.
But also, The Origami King would be my escape, Nintendo – not my reminder of how horrible everything is and that we are doomed to die. This is my fun time, dammit. Do not make me sad during my fun time!
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