Oct 19, 2017 A few weeks before the release of Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo published a live-action trailer featuring the game’s signature jazzy theme song (Check it out at the top of this post).
Super Mario is back. He never really left, actually, but his latest adventure, is released this Friday for the.
As ever with Nintendo's famous mascot, Super Mario Odyssey is bringing in a lot of new ideas. So here is everything you need to know before donning that classic red cap and blue overalls. What’s the story?As is time-honoured Mario tradition, Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach. It’s somewhat more insidious this time around, because it turns out Bowser wants to force Princess Peach into marriage in order to steal the Mushroom Kingdom from her, presumably in some sort of Shrek 2/The Princess Bride-style throne-stealing.To save Princess Peach, Mario is travelling to different worlds to collect Power Moons. He’s being joined by Cappy, a creature from the Land of Hats who acts as Mario’s signature cap, except with big red eyes.
What platform is it on?Super Mario Odyssey is coming to the Nintendo Switch, and is exclusive to the console. What is the release date?Mark October 27, 2017 in your diary, that’s when you’ll be able to get your hands on Super Mario Odyssey. Another example shown off previously is the ability to fix people’s problems in a human-inhabited area called New Donk City. One person is woefully inept at driving a remote controlled car, so you can capture the person, drive the car, and run off with a new Power Moon stuffed in your pocket. Cappy can also activate switches or act as a platform on top of this pseudo-possession puzzle solving, coming back to much more traditional Mario platforming.' Throw the hat at a lamp in New Donk City and you can whizz through the power-lines as a glowing ball of light, attach yourself to the top of a bollard and you can flick Cappy and Mario to greater heights and across buildings, hit a rocket with the hat and you can blast off to another area.
This works as bespoke challenges, using the hat to activate particular objects you need to progress or inhabit certain characters with skills you need.' Another major new change is that lives are a thing of the past. As are “game over” screens: no matter how many times Mario falls off platforms or runs into enemies, you’ll never get a game over. Instead, you lose 10 coins, and get restarted back somewhere nearby. Each world is also no longer separated into levels. Rather than each Power Moon being indicative of completing a level - as in Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy - you’ll get a congratulations and continue moving forward. Mario won’t be thrown back to a hub world, the focus is on being able to keep moving through a world whenever you want, to transition between worlds at will rather than on getting a collectible.
Again,:'Moons could be hidden anywhere, while even in this snippet there was frippery and distraction at every corner. A skipping rope challenge in a park in New Donk City had me bouncing at a breakneck pace until I couldn’t keep up (61 hops, in case you were wondering), while there was the chance to (slightly creepily) possess a guy driving a remote control car around and take over. In Sand Kingdom, I could possess a stomping statue that looked like an Easter Island head on holiday, dropping his shades to uncover previously unseen coins and platforms.'
While most of the game is in 3D, there's also 2D sections to complete - Mario can slap himself onto some specific walls to run along it, offering a new way to get around levels and calling back to the original Super Mario Bros. If you've played The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, it functions similarly. Have you reviewed it?! We think it's one of the best Super Mario games ever, it does everything wonderfully. Our full review gives more analysis, but here's an excerpt for a brief idea.'
Nintendo keep the main narrative of Odyssey brisk, giving you the option to explore somewhere new or delve deeper into the Kingdom you are in. There is an argument that ‘beating’ the game is a little easy, but Nintendo are keen to ensure that all of its players can experience its craft.
But for old hands, the game really begins after the credits roll, with an enormous amount of post-game content that stretches every inch of Mario’s repertoire.' What are the worlds?Mario’s going far beyond the Mushroom Kingdom now - one of the new locations is New Donk City, a parody of New York City.
There’s lots of businessmen, yellow taxis, and skyscrapers across this location, it’s a densely packed place. It also turns out that Daisy is the mayor of New Donk City, who you might remember from appearing in some of the Mario Kart games, and originally coming from Donkey Kong. How will amiibo affect Super Mario Odyssey?This is unclear - there are three special amiibo coming with the game, though. One of Mario in a white wedding suit, one of Bowser is a white wedding suit, and one of Peach in a wedding dress. They will all interact with Super Mario Odyssey in some way, but exactly how is unclear. Some previously released amiibo will also interact with the game, but there's been no announcements on which ones. Some amiibo will give Mario new outfits, while others will give “gameplay assistance” when used.