Super Mario Odyssey
Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Platform: Switch Release: 2017 Genre: 3D Platformer Rating: 9.7 \ 10.0: Masterful
Above is Mario sprinting towards the town of Tostarena in the partially frozen Sand Kingdom.
Whether they're 2D or 3D, Mario platformers have been regarded for decades as some of the best in the genre. While the series may be better known for its linear titles, fans had been yearning for a return to the exploration present in Super Mario 64 and Sunshine for 15 years until Super Mario Odyssey arrived, thus marking a return to Mario's 3D roots, and I doubt that a better collectathon platformer will be released for a long time.
The game begins in an unexpected manner -- Peach has already been kidnapped, and Mario is onboard Bowser's airship and is about to battle him. Bowser is dressed in a white tuxedo and top hat, and Peach is in a wedding gown -- his plans have been made clear. However, the battle is swiftly ended when Bowser knocks Mario off the ship, and his hat floats into the ship's propeller and is torn to shreds. Mario is followed by a top-hat shaped ghost as he descends. He then lands in a strange black and white area, and is awoken by the ghost who reveals himself to be Cappy. He explains that his sister Tiara has been kidnapped by Bowser to use in the wedding. Cappy then takes the form of Mario's hat, and fits himself onto our hero's head.
After walking through Cappy's hometown which has recently been just by Bowser, you are introduced to the capture mechanic. Mario throws Cappy at a frog, and then possesses the agile animal. Odyssey’s primary new feature is Cappy’s possession ability. Throughout your travels you will encounter several dozen creatures and objects that can be controlled. Soon after taking control of the frog, Mario encounters the Brudals, a group of wedding-planning rabbits hired by Bowser, who he chases into the Cascade Kingdom, the first truly open area in the game.
This is also where you'll truly be able to put Mario's massive moveset to the test. In addition to the usual long jump, triple jump, side-flip and backflip, a new roll move has been added that can be used to travel at high speed , and a whole host of new moves are possible with Cappy, as you can hold the Y button to keep him in place after throwing him and bounce off him. My favorite way to gain distance is to long jump, throw Cappy, bounce off him, and then dive with LR+Y (Cappy can only be bounced off of once while you're in the air, but this still covers tons of distance). The ways in which Mario can traverse the environment easily outshine every other game in the franchise, and once you master the controls, you can reach practically any visible spot in the game. There are stashes of invisible coins hidden on top of countless surfaces that the vast majority of players will never even attempt to reach, which shows that developers either fully understood the potential of Mario's moveset or simply placed coins in every hard to reach area without knowing it they would ever be collected. It doesn't matter whether this was intentional, as it serves to reward the player for experimenting with their abilities. These great new moves come with a slight catch -- some actions are much easier to perform when holding one Joy-Con in each hand. For example, swiping a Joy-Con horizontally will throw Cappy in a circle that can clear groups of enemies, shaking after throwing Cappy will cause him to automatically strike a nearby enemy, shaking while rolling further increases speed, and shaking while controlling various creatures enhances their abilities or performs a special move. Some of these can be done with button combinations and some can by performed by shaking the Switch (when it is being used in handheld mode) or the Pro Controller but shaking with these control modes is much slower and some actions cannot be performed at all without the Joy-Cons. While these moves are never necessary, I was disappointed that they were harder or impossible to use for those who primarily use their Switch in handheld such as myself.
Odyssey's equivalent to SM64's Power Stars and Sunshine's Shine Sprites are green Power Moons. This time around, there aren't 120 of them to collect -- there are 999. Fully completing this game is a massive undertaking, and one that will require exploring every corner of the game's 15 kingdoms. Because there is such a large number of Power Moons, you no longer are forced to exit a level after collecting one like you would be in this game's predecessors, eliminating potential backtracking that could be caused by moons being near each other. Some of them are hidden in plain sight or in secret rooms, or acquired from advancing the story. Many of the moons must be collected by completing small challenges such as herding sheep into a pen, racing Koopas, repeatedly hopping over a jumprope, or throwing golden vegetables into a pot of stew. Each kingdom has a unique set of these challenges, and many of them involve using Cappy's possession powers. As mentioned previously there are several dozen enemies and objects to possess and all of them are used at some point to collect moons. You can control a handful of classic Mario foes including Goombas, Chain Chomps, and Cheep Cheeps, as well as some new creatures like the Uproot, a plant with extendable legs; the Pokio, a bird with a long beak that can be thrust into walls to stick to them; and a realistic-looking (but scientifically inaccurate) T-rex. These were all fun to play as, but many of the creatures unfortunately have moves that can only be performed using motion controls.
I was getting a bit tired of collecting moons when I was approaching 100% completion as many of the challenges that reward you with them are repeated, but for the vast majority of my playtime I was eager to seek all of them out, and this game managed to keep me far more engaged on my road to completion than most other games in which I have finished every available task. One of the main reasons I remained so engaged is that the post-game content is phenomenal, as are the rewards you get for completing it. After Bowser is defeated and Peach is rescued (MAJOR spoiler alert, sorry), a new kingdom is unlocked that is easily -the best piece of fanservice the series has ever had. There is an also ultra-hard gauntlet that is eventually unlocked, which is to be expected as every 3D mario game since Super Mario Galaxy 2 has had one. This one isn't nearly as hard as Champion's Road from 3D World, but it is lengthier and served as a satisfying test of my knowledge of the game's mechanics. These aren't the only two pieces of post-game content, and I was able to have hours of fun even after the credits rolled.
In addition to the Power Moons, there are also either 50 or 100 purple coins to collect in each kingdom (the number depends on the size of the area). These can be used to purchase outfits for Mario that are themed after the kingdoms in which you shop for them as well as decorations for the Odyssey, the ship which Mario and Cappy use to travel across the globe. There are also outfits that can be purchased with normal coins. The live system that Mario platforms have used for decades is gone and you instead lose ten coins when you die. All lives have ever done in the series is inconvenience inexperienced players while being meaningless to those who can effortlessly breeze through levels, so I understand why this change was made.
When it comes to presentation, Odyssey is absolutely incredible. The majority of the game's kingdoms correspond to the level themes that have admittedly been overused in the Mario series (jungle, desert, ice, lava, beach, etc.), but there is a unique twist on all of them. The desert Sand Kingdom contains ice pillars and poison swamps, the jungle-like Lost Kingdom has multicolored vegetation, the lava-filled Luncheon Kingdom is full of sentient kitchen utensils and massive pieces of low-poly food, and there are even never before. On top of having a pleasant art style, the game seemingly pushes the Switch to its limits with incredibly detailed textures (Mario's overalls and mustache are no longer solid colors and have a realistic level of detail) and phenomenal lighting all while maintaining a flawless 60 FPS. Graphics are obviously not as important as gameplay, but Odyssey definitely deserves praise for rivaling the visuals of games Xbox One and PS4 which have double the power of the Switch. The soundtrack is fantastic as well and combines various genres that the series has used; Cascade Falls' uplifting orchestral theme could have very well been from one of the Super Mario Galaxy games and New Donk City's big band style music is reminiscent of Super Mario 3D World. The score also includes the first two songs with fully voiced lyrics that the series has ever had, and they are both so catchy that I hope that more of them will be produced for the series in the future.
My only issue with Odyssey that I have not previously mentioned is that it is incredibly easy. This is true of most Mario games, but they had far more optional levels that were challenging. This game has a handful of secret areas that in that caused me numerous deaths and the gauntlet was quite difficult, but for a large portion of my playtime I was spent without struggling at all. The exploration is still quite enjoyable, but I wish that my skills had been further tested.
Super Mario Odyssey may not be a very challenging game, but it makes up for this in numerous ways. It is easily one of the best games I have ever played, and I am doubtful that anything I play on my Switch in the future will surpass it.
Ups
Incredible visuals and music
Numerous enjoyable to find secrets
Constant satisfying progression
Many hours of post-game content
Brilliant capture mechanic
Large and incredibly fun to use moveset
Rewards players for their curiosity
Downs
Several actions require motion controls
Lack of challenging platforming
Mild repetition
ESRB: E10+ Content: Cartoon Violence and Comic Mischief Price: $59.99 (Retail / Download)
