What are Coins for in Paper Mario: The Origami King?

Usually when it comes to making money in JRPG games, you have to spend time and effort to fill your coffers. At least until the end game, when you don’t need to spend anything anymore. But in Paper Mario: The Origami King, you get thousands upon thousands of coins from the get-go. What could Mario possibly need all that dosh for? Presumably it’s safe to assume he isn’t doing anything illegal, despite his friend Yoshi’s documented run-ins with the IRS. Unsurprisingly, the Paper Mario: The Origami King gameplay loop involves spending a ton of coins. Here’s what you can do with all your riches.

How Coins are Used in Paper Mario: The Origami King

We really aren’t exaggerating about the cash flow in this game. As we’ve mentioned before, Paper Mario is often a series about bucking trends and traditions, sometimes to the chagrin of the fanbase. This time around, while battles are turn-based and more JRPG-flavored than recent games, it does forego experience points. So if you aren’t always getting stronger through battles, what’s the point of engaging with them for so many coins? Some of it is about the different items you can buy, but there are also systems in place that encourage you to just dump coins out of your pockets, literally.

Related: How Combat Works in Paper Mario: The Origami King

Perhaps the biggest use for coins is paying your Toad buddies to hop into combat and rough up your foes a bit before Mario has to get his gloves dirty. If you hold Y in battle before you mess with the rings, Mario will hunch over and a coin counter will pop over his head and count. Hold it for a few hundred coins and the counter will change color, indicating you’ve hit the maximum effect. Mario will toss the coins out, and the Toads will rush the arena from their bleachers and join the fight. They’ll throw damaging trash at the enemies for bonus damage, toss Mario some healing items, and even mess around with the rings a bit to give your puzzle-solving a boost.

Mario can also pay to get more time to solve those puzzles. The timer normally gives you around 30 seconds to start making moves and solve the puzzle for bonus damage and easy attacks. In some cases that 30 seconds goes fast, and a little extra time would be nice. If you press + you can buy extra time, converting coins to seconds. If timers stress you out, you can bribe the game’s primary punishment mechanism to look the other way while you take your time.

Of course being a JRPG, there are plenty of opportunities for shopping. Mario can buy items to heal and hurt, including convenient bundles of mushrooms and fire flowers. Mario can also purchase stronger equipment that enhances his normal jump and hammer techniques. For example, buying Iron Boots gives you extra damage and defense against spikes. These upgrades aren’t as expensive as you’d expect, but turns out they eventually break down. So you’ll be buying lots of extras to keep them on hand. It is what it is, but there are also accessories that can be equipped permanently, which do things like boost your HP or defense. These items cost thousands of coins, practically coming off as a check to make sure you aren’t rushing past fights and other chances for goodies.

Be sure to check out our coverage of Paper Mario: The Origami King for other guides as we make our way through this strange and silly JRPG. We have a few already, which you can check out via the links below:

• How Combat Works in Paper Mario: The Origami King
• How Long is Paper Mario: The Origami King?
• All Paper Mario: The Origami King Bosses

As you can see from how coins are used in Paper Mario: The Origami King, it makes sense to see those crazy high coin numbers so early in the game. Do you think this level of craven coin collectiing adds to the Paper Mario charm? Or would you rather just have experience points? Let us know what you think on our Twitter and Facebook pages.