The Nintendo Switch has had an absurdly strong first year, building a library of must-have games since its March 2017 release. I was impressed by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's unfolding gameplay and narrative, a combination that made the Hyrule adventure stand out as the Switch's no-brainer game of the year. Then I played Super Mario Odyssey. This $59.99 Switch game is the best Mario title since Super Mario Galaxy and stands out not only as an Editors' Choice, but as the best game on the Switch so far. And one of the best games of the year.
Stop Bowser's Wedding!
Odyssey's premise is the same as most Mario games: Princess Peach has been abducted by Bowser (this time with intentions to marry her), so Mario must save her. Mario's already fought through a castle (Super Mario 64), tropical islands (Super Mario Sunshine), space (Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2), and a series of seemingly detached worlds connected by pipes (Super Mario 3D World), and now he's come to Earth. Or at least the Mario version of Earth, a big blue planet with oceans and continents, and a single orbiting moon. Mario's Earth has no nations, only a series of "kingdoms," and Bowser has been rampaging through the different kingdoms to get the greatest catering and decorations for his forced wedding.
One of the first kingdoms that Bowser pillaged was the Hat Kingdom, taking the hat-person Tiara for Peach's headwear and laying waste to the kingdom's hat-shaped airships. That's why Mario joins forces with Tiara's brother, Cappy, who becomes Mario's signature red hat and gives him a variety of new powers.
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This isn't an epic saga. It's Mario chasing after Bowser through a bunch of different worlds. Don't expect deep lore or world-building that means anything. Between Super Mario Galaxy and this game, it's clear that the main series Mario games simply don't have any continuity beyond Mario being the hero, Bowser being the villain, and Peach being the strangely optimistic perpetual damsel in distress. So, if you were hoping for some explanation about why the residents of New Donk City look like normal humans and Mario looks like a weird cartoon next to them, you're going to be disappointed.
Bowser's children/lieutenants are absent from this adventure. This means no Bowser Jr. (Yay!) or Koopalings (Boo!). Instead, Bowser is assisted by four Broodals, evil rabbit wedding planners handling all of the logistics for the upcoming wedding. They're fun enemies in a Beagle Boys kind of way, and they're still better than Bowser Jr.
Run, Jump, and Capture
On the surface, Mario controls similarly to his previous 3D games. He can run, jump, and perform a variety of tricks, such as triple jumping, wall jumping, backflipping, and ground pounding to get past obstacles. Mario can't throw a punch anymore, though. Instead, he can throw his hat, and that's where Odyssey's new mechanics kick in.
Cappy tags along with Mario, disguised as his hat. Pressing the Y button throws Cappy, who can spin in place at a distance or whirl around Mario with a flick of the Joy-Cons or Switch Pro Controller ($57.95 at Walmart) . While Cappy is spinning in the air, Mario can run forward and jump on him to spring higher. Cappy can even knock out weaker enemies. These mechanics alone add some new movement and offensive options to Mario's repertoire. But that's just a tip of the hat-shaped iceberg, which you'll find out once you find a character who isn't wearing a hat.
Cappy can "Capture" enemies, characters, and certain objects by flinging onto them. Capture isn't a form of trapping; it's possession. Mario takes over whatever Cappy lands on (causing it to not only wear his hat but grow a mustache in the process), letting the plumber move around as the object and use its special abilities. Capturing a Hammer Brother lets Mario throw hammers. Capturing a multi-colored Wiggler lets Mario stretch across gaps. Capturing a tyrannosaurus rex lets him stomp around as a big dinosaur.
There are 52 different characters and objects to capture, most with their own unique mechanic to solving different puzzles or reaching new areas. Yes, there are classic Mario enemies, such as Hammer Brothers, Cheep Cheeps, and Bullet Bills to capture and control. There are also tanks, rockets, and Easter Island statues with cool sunglasses.
Besides 3D platforming and Cappy-powered puzzle solving, there are retro 2D sequences to run through. Occasionally, you'll find graffiti of the original Super Mario Bros. on walls. That isn't just art; a nearby pixelated pipe will send Mario into that graffiti, which plays like old-fashioned 2D Mario platforming. They're fun treats that can become very complicated and challenging in their own right, with some surprising mechanics added to the sequences, such as variable gravity and moving backgrounds.
![Super Mario Odyssey: One Cool Thing](https://assets1.ignimgs.com/thumbs/userUploaded/2017/10/27/super-mario-odyssey-one-cool-thing-thumbnail-1509114773896.jpg)
Because Mario transforms using Cappy, he doesn't have any transformations of his own. That means there are no fire flowers, raccoon leaves, or mushrooms, and Mario doesn't shrink or grow. Instead, he has three health points, like in Super Mario Galaxy (and can temporarily get a total of six with special heart items).
Quite the Odyssey
Super Mario Odyssey turns away from the fairly direct obstacle courses of Super Mario 3D World in favor of larger, more complicated worlds filled with secrets to uncover, like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy. It isn't a single, massive open world, such as the one in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ($79.88 at Amazon) , but instead many individual kingdoms, each filled with its own challenges.
As Odyssey's story progresses, Mario is given a primary task to accomplish before he can move on. This usually involves reaching a certain point in each world and then fighting a boss to eliminate a threat to that kingdom. They're mostly justifications to lead you around the world and get a good sense of the layout and gameplay options. On your way to your objective, you can find dozens of optional puzzles to solve, challenges to beat, and corners to explore to get Power Moons, the game's version of Stars from Super Mario 64/Galaxy and Shines from Super Mario Sunshine.
When you beat a kingdom's main quest, you're warped back to your hat-shaped airship, the Odyssey. By giving the Odyssey the Power Moons you've collected, you can power it up to move on to the next kingdom. A methodical or meandering path towards the kingdom's main objective typically gives you more than enough Power Moons to move on, while a focused straight-run to the boss will have you exploring the environment after you beat the big bad to collect more Power Moons.
Power Moons are doled out pretty freely, with dozens scattered throughout each kingdom. They can be floating in plain sight in hard-to-reach spots, hidden underground or inside objects until you knock them free, given by characters around the kingdom for doing a favor for them, and rewarded from solving puzzles and completing different challenges. There's a good mix between easily found, accessible Power Moons to let players move on without much difficulty, and punishingly hard tasks that will have you running through some brutal sequences filled with bottomless pits, poison pits, lava pits, and plenty of enemies. The number of Power Moons needed for progression is balanced very well, requiring at least some sort of skill to get enough without demanding tedious grinding or taking on unreasonably hard challenges.
Mario's adventure will take him through 14 different kingdoms across the world, like the robot-maintained gardens of the Wooded Kingdom and the tropical paradise of the Lake Kingdom. Most kingdoms are quite large, with loads of challenges and secrets to find. This culminates in a downright epic final sequence that has secured its place as my favorite last level in a Mario game ever. The location, circumstances, and mechanics are all fantastic in this final setpiece, and I don't want to spoil any of the details of them. It doesn't stop after you beat the game, either; there are new kingdoms to explore in the post-game, and a slew of new Power Moons to collect in all the kingdoms you already beat. It took me between 12 and 15 hours to beat the game, and I've kept playing since then. Hunting for Power Moons can easily consume 40 hours.
Cash for Caps
For the first time in the mainline Mario series, there are no lives to pick up. Instead, when you lose your health or fall in a pit or poison, you lose ten coins. This is a minor but appreciable penalty, because, for the first time in a mainline Mario game, gold coins have value outside of lives or health. Gold coins are actually used as currency in Crazy Cap stores, and can be used to buy Power Moons, temporary health upgrades, and new hats and costumes for Mario. Besides gold coins, each kingdom has its own purple-colored currency. These are limited and don't reappear like gold coins, but they let you buy more hats and costumes from each kingdom's Crazy Cap store, along with stickers and souvenirs.
Mario starts with his signature red and blue overalls and cap, but he doesn't need to stay that way. You can dress him in a suit, a tuxedo, a mechanic's jumpsuit, a labcoat, samurai armor, a swimsuit, and dozens more costumes with matching hats as you buy them in different kingdoms. None of these give Mario new powers or bonuses; they're purely cosmetic changes. Which is good, because you can mix and match hats and costumes to give Mario your own favorite look, which is simply tons of fun. Like Link with his different armors in Breath of the Wild, or the main character in any Souls game, playing fashion doll with Mario is its own mesmerizing activity. My "sky pirate" Mario has a flowing pirate captain's coat, an eyepatch, and a leather flying helmet with goggles. There are also several fantastic new costumes that only become available in the post-game, which I won't spoil.
Take a Picture
All of the different kingdoms and costumes look excellent on the Nintendo Switch, both when the system is connected to a big TV and used as a handheld. Unsurprisingly, this is the best-looking Mario game to date, combining the elaborate world design and animation of Super Mario Galaxy with the 1080p TV output of the Switch. It isn't incredibly detailed or realistic like AAA PlayStation 4 and Xbox One games, such as Uncharted 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, but it doesn't try for that. This is Nintendo's aesthetic, and it means Super Mario Odyssey is just as flashy, cartoony, and colorful as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, or Arms.
If you see something particularly beautiful or strange, you can take a picture of it. The Switch can take screenshots with the press of a button, and as of a recent update can now record 30-second video clips by holding the Capture button down for a second. That said, Super Mario Odyssey goes further with its own snapshot mode. By pressing down on the direction pad, you pause the gameplay, but not the camera. You can then freely rotate and pan around a limited area near Mario to frame the perfect shot. You can also apply different filters like sepia tone, oil painting, 16-bit graphics, and my favorite, fisheye lens. With how many things you can Capture and put mustaches on, and the sheer variety of locations and scenes, this is tons of fun in its own right.
There isn't much multiplayer gameplay to be had in Super Mario Odyssey. Luigi is absent, which leaves only a simple same-screen co-op mode where the second player manually controls Cappy. It makes sense for the structure of the game; Super Mario 3D World's obstacle courses invited four players to chase each other towards the goal, but Odyssey's more open-ended exploration and puzzle-solving needs just one main running, jumping character on the screen. There are also online leaderboards for comparing different records with other players, but no direct competition.
Must-Have Mario
Super Mario Odyssey is easily one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch. It's every bit as visually and technically impressive as Breath of the Wild, and as revolutionary in terms of adding new concepts and mechanics to a well-established series. Breath of the Wild impressed us with its massive, open world and the sort of experiences that kind of exploration offers. Super Mario Odyssey is a much more densely packed and quickly paced package that has no lulls in its entire run. It doesn't railroad you to your goal like the last few Mario games, and it doesn't leave you wandering like in Breath of the Wild. It gives you a direction, tells you to go, and then sets up tons of entertaining and varied challenges to overcome. This is the best Mario game in generations, and the best Switch game so far, and it earns our Editors' Choice.
Super Mario Odyssey isn't just the best Nintendo Switch game yet, it's the best Mario game since Super Mario Galaxy.
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