Credit: Nintendo

Call it the Spanish Inquisition, because it was pretty unexpected.

Nintendo doesn’t usually do surprise announcements, at least not in the traditional sense. They do like to release things on the same day they reveal them, but that’s usually limited to indie games or Smash characters rather than their own stuff. But I guess they decided to take us by surprise this time, because Nintendo has a new big-box game coming in about two months that nobody knew about.

In a surprise trailer released this morning, Nintendo announced the newest entry into the Paper Mario series, Paper Mario: The Origami King. In this game, the Mushroom Kingdom (or rather, its paper-world equivalent) is suddenly captured by King Olly, the eponymous Origami King, who wants to fold the entire world and its inhabitants into slightly unsettling origami minions. With Peach folded to the enemy’s side and Bowser creased into submission, it once again falls to Mario to figure things out, aided by friendly origami person Olivia.

Credit: Nintendo

Details are understandably sparse about the game since we had no idea it even existed before this morning, but from the announcement trailer and promotional materials, a few things can be inferred. The game seems to be taking cues from all over the series, from the beloved Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door to the decidedly less beloved Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash. Mario’s signature ability is the “1,000-Fold Arms,” which allow Mario to stretch his arms into an origami accordion and manipulate the environment. Combat touts a new ring-based puzzle system that encourages you to line up enemies for maximum damage. We’re still missing some concrete information, such as whether partners will return, or whether combat will still use consumable abilities.

Paper Mario: The Origami King will release in both physical and digital formats on the Switch on July 17, 2020. The game will retail for the usual $59.99 USD, and pre-orders are already open on the Switch eShop.