Hello everyone, hope you're having a great day, and welcome to my review of Super Mario Odyssey! Anyone who knows anything about videogames will surely be familiar with the Italian plumber and his cohorts. He's been around since the dawn of Nintendo games as a trend setter, and a very important influence on the industry in general. Over the years we've seen him evolve from a simple 8-bit sprite, to the more modern 3-d versions, but always done with great expertise. He's the king of all platformers and has been since the early eighties, now he's back again with a brand new installment on a brand new console.
Mario has been, and always will be one of my favorite game franchises of all time. Not only does it have an important place in gaming history, but it's such an incredibly well done platformer, that no matter what new style it takes on it's still amazingly fun to play for people of all ages. I personally haven't been able to play any of the more modern ones past Mario Sunshine because I never owned a Wii or a Wii U. Those consoles didn't interest me much and I was busy with the Xbox 360. But recently, thanks to Steemit, I was able to pick up a Nintendo Switch and the first game I bought for it was Mario Odyssey.
I remember the first time I played Mario 64 and was amazed by how fun the game was, even in this strange new format. The new mechanics you were able to use were just incredible, and the design of all the different levels was extremely well done. Now after playing Odyssey I have to say that I'm getting that same feeling of playing something I'm familiar with, but in a whole new way that takes it to another level entirely.
This new Mario has blown me away and exceeded every expectation I had about it, and playing it on the Switch just adds to the experience. It really showcases the new hardware and what it's capable of, and the fact that you can play it at home or on the go is great for people who like that sort of thing. Plus the other night when I lost power it was a lifesaver. I wasn't quite sure about the Switch at first, but now after using it first hand I'm convinced that it's going to be a great success for Nintendo and I'll be doing a review of the console itself pretty soon.
The game starts off with the evil Bowser kidnapping the Princess, big surprise right? But this time Bowser plans to marry her and he sets off around the world to plan the wedding. Of course Mario gives chase and tries to rescue her, but he gets ruffed up and Bowser gets away once again. Mario's iconic hat gets destroyed in the process, but no worries because luckily for him he's in the Cap Kingdom, a land of magical living hats, and there's one there who agrees to help you out.
Cappy is your new companion for this journey, he's a living hat that can take control of almost any living thing he touches. He is basically a new game mechanic to bring something fresh to the table, and is easily one of the best parts of Odyssey. You can throw him by pressing a button, or by flicking your wrist at the screen. Either way gets the job done, but I found you have more precision if you use the motion control method.
Cappy can be used in many useful ways throughout your journey and is a lot of fun to play around with. You can throw him forward to collect coins that might be out of reach, or if you hold the throw button he acts like a trampoline flinging Mario into the air. But the most useful part about Cappy is the fact that if you throw him at an enemy you will take control of it, giving you a whole new set of moves and way more options to play around with.
I think there are 50 different things that you can possess, and each one gives Mario different abilities. If you posses a Goomba you wont slip on ice, if you posses a Red Fish you can swim underwater without worrying about breathing. There are so many ways to use this new friend that each level you go to will have something new and exciting to try out. Some of them are more of a novelty just for fun, but the majority of them are practical and necessary for finding all the collectibles.
To catch up with Bowser Mario has an airship called the Odyssey, but to power it you will need to find and collect Power Moons. They are hidden all over the world and every level has an abundance of them. Sometimes they're easily obtainable, all you need to do is climb a hill or pound the ground, but some are pretty well hidden and might require some outside the box thinking.
Luckily you only need to find a certain amount at every level then you can move on to the next place if you wish, or stay where you are and keep looking for more. Every time you find more Moons you get a little bit closer to reaching the next location, and ultimately catching up with your nemesis Bowser to stop his shotgun wedding from happening.
There's quite a few levels in this game, more than I expected there to be, and each one has it's own distinct theme complete with new NPC's and enemies. It's a lot like Mario 64 where you could enter any painting you wanted after collecting so many stars, and each one was completely different. Only now you just get in your airship and choose where you want to go.
All the levels are extremely well done and are so much fun to just explore, and take in all the awesome stuff they have to offer. There's everything from an ice world to a desert world, and even a city similar to New York City. Once you unlock one you are free to come back to it anytime you want just by simply stepping into your ship. As you make your way around the globe Cappy is there explaining everything you will need to know if you ever have any questions.
In addition to the Moons that you have to collect there are also gold coins. When you die instead of losing a life you lose about ten gold coins, so unless you go out of your way to avoid getting any of them you wont have to worry about getting killed. Not only are there gold coins, but every level has a form of purple coins that can be spent at that particular level's shop.
The shops mostly sell different costumes for Mario to wear, but in order to buy them you will need to track down that level's purple coins. There are a ton of costumes to earn if you feel like it and they each have a hat component and a body component that can be mixed and matched in any way you want. I kind of became obsessed with getting all of these and let me tell you, some of those purple coins are pretty hard to find.
This game took me by surprise by just how much there is to see and do, and by how well done the level design is. It's definitely a love letter to the fans of the series and you can tell Nintendo put a lot of thought and effort into making it. There are pieces of every Mario game in here somewhere, but it all gets mixed together in an inventive new way that looks gorgeous and plays fluidly.
Even after beating the main storyline there's still new places to go and new things to do in each place you've already been to. This will certainly keep my interest for a long time and that's great because it's the best Mario game I've ever played. I really can't think of anything Nintendo could have done better. If you own a Switch definitely go out and get this game, if you're a fan of the series you'll love it. I give Super Mario Odyssey a score of....................................
100
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed it!