Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey
Developer	Nintendo EPD
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo Switch
Release Date	October 27, 2017
Rating	ESRB: E

Super Mario Odyssey is a platforming adventure game that was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2017 and is the first big Super Mario adventure for the system.

Story

Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach once again. However, this time he has enlisted the aid of a group of wedding planners called the Broodals to help arrange a forced marriage between himself and Peach. Bowser has also succeeded in defeating Mario and shredding his trademark cap. Mario ends up in the Cap Kingdom, where he is found by a Bonneter named Cappy. Cappy's sister has also been captured by Bowser to be used in the wedding, so Mario and Cappy decide to team up. Operating out of the Odyssey, Cappy's airship, they begin to pursue Bowser and the Broodals across multiple kingdoms in hopes of stopping the Koopa King before the wedding can take place.

Gameplay

Super Mario Odyssey features gameplay similar to the other three-dimensional Mario games. Mario moves around in three-dimensional environments and retains his acrobatic jumping abilities. Most of the new gameplay comes with Cappy, who acts as Mario's substitute hat. Mario can toss Cappy around for a variety of uses such as grabbing things that are out-of-reach or stunning some enemies. However, Cappy's most prominent ability is that he can 'capture' enemies when thrown onto the heads of certain enemies, characters or objects, so long as they are not already wearing a different hat. When this happens, Mario possesses the being or object in question, essentially allowing the player to temporarily control the target in order to progress further. For example, Mario could throw Cappy at a Bullet Bill to capture it and guide its path to destroy obstacles or bring Mario to an out-of-reach area. These act as substitutes for Mario's usual power-ups. Mario's health is measured by a three-point meter, which can temporarily be extended to six points with special Life-Up Hearts. This game also has no extra life system, and instead Mario only loses ten coins with each death.

The areas exploded in this game are divided into different kingdoms. Each kingdom is an open area that can be explored freely, and multiple different tasks can be performed in each area to earn Power Moons, this game's new equivalent to Power Stars which act as fuel for the Odyssey. There are also storyline events to be cleared in each first visit of the kingdom. Normal coins appear throughout the game, and each kingdom has a set amount of its own variation of purple coins. These coins can be used at Crazy Cap shops located in each kingdom to buy Power Moons, Life-Up Hearts, decorative accessories for the Odyssey and alternate costumes for Mario. This game features a wide variety of extra costumes that can be purchased for Mario. Unlike costumes from past games, these do not grant Mario any extra powers. They only change Mario's appearance in a cosmetic sense, although some costumes can be used to earn Power Moons if shown to certain characters. There are also a number of areas where Mario becomes an 8-bit sprite and has to navigate the area with gameplay similar to the 2-D side-scrollers, without being able to use Cappy.

The game has a cooperative two-player mode in which the second player can control Cappy. This game also has amiibo functionality, as scanning amiibos can unlock special abilities, costumes and hints about finding Power Moons. There is also some online functionality; some of the game's minigames have online leaderboards, and in February 2018 a new game was introduced called Luigi's Balloon World. Available after completing the main story, this game involves players hiding balloons around different parts of kingdoms and trying to seek out the balloons of other players.

Continuity Notes

• This game introduces an area called New Donk City and retroactively establishes it as having been the setting of the original Donkey Kong arcade game. Pauline also appears as the city's mayor and makes reference to those events. The city's festival which commemorates its history also features a 2-D area that acts as an homage to parts of Donkey Kong.

Legacy

Super Mario Odyssey was critically acclaimed and quickly became the best-selling game on the Switch.