Is Paper Mario: The Origami King multiplayer?

Paper Mario: The Origami King is the most recent installment in Nintendo’s Paper Mario series. With the increasing push for multiplayer and co-op modes in video games, many new players and returning fans were left wondering if the newest game would break tradition and add a co-op mode. 

So does Paper Mario: The Origami King have multiplayer or co-op? In short: no. 

It’s easy to see how co-op mode could fit. Partners join throughout the journey, and much like Luigi’s Mansion 3, it would be easy for a friend to hop in and take control of the partner for a nice, local co-op experience. This is, unfortunately, not the case. Paper Mario: The Origami King lacks any form of multiplayer or co-op. 

This likely doesn’t come as a big surprise. All of the previous games were single-player RPGs. While Nintendo is known for its stellar local multiplayer games, especially in the various Mario games, Paper Mario is not one of them.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is the sixth game in the Paper Mario series. The first game released in 2000 as a singleplayer role-playing game on the Nintendo 64. Sequels followed over the next 20 years, continuing the singleplayer experience across multiple Nintendo platforms. Paper Mario: The Origami King continues the legacy on the Nintendo Switch. 

While Paper Mario: The Origami King isn’t multiplayer or co-op, there are various other options from Nintendo such as any of the Mario Party games, Luigi’s Mansion 3, the Mario Kart games, and more.