Assuming you’ve played a few Mario games, chances are you’ve experienced some salty feelings thanks to Bowser. After all, he basically tried to frame you for biological terrorism in Super Mario Sunshine, stolen your Princess multiple times, and even tried to marry her at one point. In Paper Mario: The Origami King, circumstances force Bowser to be your ally, but before that, there’s a chance for you to get a little bit of payback to the Koopa King.
The first time you run into Bowser in the game, he’s literally quite far from being himself. We’re talking the distance of being reduced to a face in a square here. That’s right, the great beast has fallen victim to the strange practices of the Origami King and his Folded Soldiers. The image of this alone sounds hysterical, but it gets better; he’s clipped to a hanging rope in the dungeon just like your grocery list on the refrigerator. Poor King Koopa watches in his helpless horror as the soldiers turn his minions into Origami creatures and you can’t help but pity the guy just a little. Onward to the trolling though!
You’ll watch the whole thing occur from a secret slot outside the room and enter once the Folded Soldiers leave, where Bowser will try to convince you to let him down, claiming he knows of a secret exit in the room. While you will eventually need to set him free to continue with the story, you have the option of messing with him just a little. After listening to him talk, go outside the room back to that peep slot where you watched the minions transform. He’ll thrash about on his clothespin prison while glaring at you demanding you stop mess around and help him.
Now if letting him hang longer than he wants isn’t satisfying enough for you, note that you can also use your hammer to give him a couple of whacks, where he’ll flatten on the ground and immediately fold back up. The whole thing isn’t that dramatic, but it is pretty interesting to see your once giant fire-breathing arch-nemesis reduced to being a talking Hallmark Card.
