Paper Mario producer is not sure whether the series will continue to distance itself from the RPG style

Paper Mario has not been an RPG series for some time, with games since The Thousand Year Door increasingly distancing itself from how the series originally started. It is fair to say that with Paper Mario: The Origami King, Intelligent Systems has finally figured out how to properly fulfill its ambitions of innovation and gameplay that is further away from RPG, but there are many who want the series to go back to its roots.

Will this happen? It seems that the developers themselves do not know the answer to that question. In an interview with Eurogamer Germany , Paper series producer Mario Kensuke Tanabe said that while the goal of each new edition is to try new and innovative things, the developers have not decided if this is something they will try to do with the next game, or if the series go back to being an RPG.

“When Paper Mario: Sticker Star was in development, one of our goals was to move away from traditional RPG style a little," said Tanabe. “Nintendo has another RPG series starring Mario and we wanted to distance ourselves from it by doing an adventure game focused on solving puzzles. Although we have kept that decision until now, we have not yet decided whether or not we will continue to do so in the future. Personally, I want to continue developing innovative and unique Paper Mario games. ”

Tanabe elaborated on innovation and exclusivity, saying that his personal philosophy as a developer is to continue offering new types of gaming experiences.

“Mr. Miyamoto's game development philosophy is to develop innovative and exclusive game systems,” he said. “I am not opposed to the opinions of the fans. However, I consider my game development philosophy apart from that. If we repeatedly used the same gaming system that fans wanted, we wouldn't be able to surprise them or offer new gaming experiences. We always try our best to exceed expectations in surprising ways. At the same time, there is no guarantee that we will always succeed in this - so it is a real challenge. ”

Many Paper Mario fans will say that the series desperately needs to return to its RPG roots, especially with the other Mario RPG series, Mario and Luigi, apparently without continuations in the near future. That said, if Intelligent Systems decides to keep trying new things, hopefully they will continue the upward path they started with The Origami King.