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Road To Nintendo Switch 2: ‘Super Mario Odyssey'

Super Mario Odyssey Credit: Nintendo Yesterday, in my new Road to Nintendo Switch 2 series, we took a look at Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Today, in the second entry, we're tackling 2017's excellent Super Mario Odyssey, the last mainline 3D Mario game to have been released. Unless you count Bowser's Fury, that is, even though it's more of a half-game than a full Mario experience. A Mario sampling, if you will. A dash of Mario. No cap. (Please refer to the joke I made in the last article, for the love of God, before you judge me on the internet). Let's get this out of the way: Super Mario Odyssey might be the best platformer I've ever played. It's so incredibly fun to control and experience that it could possibly be illegal in some states and countries, so please check with your local government and law enforcement before partaking. It's honestly one of those games wherein proper progression seems superfluous; you can simply run around as Mario and feel utter joy without the need to collect anything or beat a level or, let's face it, rescue the princess. All this time later, the visuals are still stunning and make great use of the Switch's aging hardware. Super Mario Odyssey Credit: Nintendo I guess what I'm trying to say is Super Mario Odyssey is proof of Nintendo's enduring reputation, at least in my mind, as the video game industry's Disney. This is a game that's impossible not to play. The mechanics and colorful world are enticing in a way that simply isn't present in most games, and I do wonder what creates such a gravitational pull. I guess it has something to do with the way Nintendo approaches game design, how they zero in on what makes a video game fun. Fun comes first, and then they build experiences around this feeling, and the resulting quality is undeniable. I guess this is why they can charge $450 for what is basically an upgraded Switch. People will pay for that Nintendo seal of quality, as it were. In Super Mario Odyssey, Bowser kidnaps Peach to… marry her? I think that's the story. There's various mentions of wedding dresses and weddings and general sacred promises. Just a dinosaur trying to recite his heartfelt vows to a helpless princess. A tale as old as time, really. So you follow Bowser and his bunny henchmen (I'm not joking) around the world in Mario's trusty spaceship, the Odyssey, in an effort to save the day. Grabbing a design page from Pikmin, you help Mario gather moons in different environments to power said spaceship so you can globetrot and save Peach from her dreaded wedded bliss. Super Mario Odyssey Credit: Nintendo Mario's hat Cappy is the star of the show here, and you can throw it at an assortment of enemies and objects to transform our heroic plumber into myriad forms. This includes everything from a literal t-rex, to a manhole cover, to a giant slab of sirloin, a caterpillar, and even everyone's old green pal, Yoshi. The transformations play a huge role in the game, and it feels damn good to use the hat, almost as if it's always been part of the gameplay. In this sense, Mario has a permanent weapon to use, rather than needing to seek out power-ups for projectile offense. There aren't any power-ups in Super Mario Odyssey, by the way, not in the transitional sense. No fire flowers or mushrooms to grow, basically. So yes, you're globetrotting and using your hat to transform into all manner of in-game things, and collecting ubiquitous Power Moons, and it's a total blast. Like Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Super Mario Odyssey feels completely handcrafted. The attention to detail oozes out of every pixel, and there's a real sense of discovery and adventure permeating every lush location. Within each level, you can collect coins to upgrade Mario with different outfits, and this gives the game a welcome RPG-lite flavor. One of the later outfits is a Super Mario 64 polygonal getup and it's glorious. Plus, it foreshadows a visit to the classic Nintendo 64 Mushroom Kingdom hub later on in the game, and that's just downright rad. The nostalgia, it burns. Super Mario Odyssey Credit: Nintendo By the way, this game is another showcase for the Pro controller. Man, it drives like an absolute dream, minus any of the finicky motion controls. It's weird that Nintendo was still forcing waggle inputs into a game back in 2017, and playing Odyssey now, it's very apparent how annoying they still are. I can only hope that they're less keen on implementing motion stuff with the Switch 2. This said, it took me around 15 hours to complete my initial playthrough of Super Mario Odyssey, though I'm already going back in to grab more coins and Power Moons. I really want to buy the elusive Skeleton Suit, as well as more stickers for my Odyssey. I do wish you could further customize the spaceship, but at least you can decorate the sitting room with statues and trinkets. I also wish there were some gameplay segments that let you directly control the Odyssey, maybe in the vein of Star Fox, but it's a nitpick. The bottom line is, Super Mario Odyssey could be the best platforming game ever made, at least until Mario officially hits the Switch 2 in the coming years. There isn't a better controlling, better looking (even at 1080p!), better designed platformer around, in my humble opinion. I just wish Nintendo had released some DLC for the game, as it's ripe for expansion. I'll have to content myself with Bowser's Fury for the time being, though it couldn't be more different than Odyssey. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Super Mario Odyssey Credit: Nintendo Maybe we'll get a remaster for Switch 2, because playing this title in 4K would be marvelous. Or maybe Nintendo will issue one of those controversial upgrade packs for the game, allowing owners to bring Super Mario Odyssey over to the Switch 2 with new bells and whistles. Only time—terrible, horrific time—will tell. Well, that about wraps up this edition of Road to Nintendo Switch 2. Stay tuned for the next installment, which should slash expectations, if you know what I mean. (How could you know? It's a surprise!)