#bro I had to fight the sellers for this one it was in high demand KKDODKDK😭😭

[spicyliumang]

The second batch of Don Quixote cards came in the other day!!😭🩵🩵

[easy-win-games-blog]

SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY REVIEW

I’ve always liked Mario. Like a lot of people I grew up with him and associate him with a special part of my childhood. Super Mario Odyssey took me back to that time with its charming visual style and creativity in the characters that occupy its many worlds.

Spoilers

From the second Odyssey starts the game establishes its core theme as momentum. The story picks up in the midst of yet another battle between Mario and Bowser with a fun fight sequence (the cinematography and exaggerated style of which reminded me of moments from Metal Gear) throwing you overalls first into this world.

From here, depending on how you play, the pace is tight throughout with only a few minor snags. Overall, however, it’s clear that this tight pacing was a focus for Nintendo in a similar way to how freedom was central to The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.

The worlds themselves have been criticised for largely sticking with the tried and true Mario format: Desert World, Ice World, Beach World, Water World and fiery Bowser World. I do agree with this to some extent - I would have preferred more variation - however I also believe some of the twists made on these mainstays and the welcome additions of the Cascade and Metro Kingdoms keep the overall game feeling fresh.

My personal favourite world, the Sand Kingdom, is a huge, sprawling desert populated by Day of the Dead-inspired skeleton people and a fun and very Mario remix of Egyptian aesthetics. Without going in with a ruler, I would guess this world to be the largest in Odyssey and maybe the most spacious world in any Mario game to date.

I sincerely hope the Jaxi makes an appearance in the next Mario Kart.

As a kid I played Super Mario Bros 3 on my Gameboy Advance for years, only making it as far as World 3. Even now I have never finished it. Classic Mario can get seriously hard. Even parts of Super Mario Galaxy kicked my ass before I saw the final credits. But for whatever reason the toughest part of Odyssey comes in collecting bonus Moons - the currency for progression through the game’s story and on to 100%. The levels themselves are fairly straightforward and the punishment for failure is a measly 10 coins, which can be recouped in a matter of seconds. I didn’t mind all that much that the fail state of Odyssey was lax - at no point was I screaming at my Switch to punish me harder - but I did find it lost that edge of Mario games past. There was no sense risk or danger, especially with the liberally placed fast travel points. If you fall from the top of the highest building in New Donk City, you can just throw your hat into the sky and teleport straight back. No fall damage, no loss of progress.

This is nitpicky as hell, and I understand that Nintendo and the Mario franchise generally put family level accessibility first, but it feels strange going from something as demanding as Breath Of The Wild last year to something that could probably be finished in a few hours with minimal deaths. Maybe none if you had played it through once before.

On this point, there were moments in the game where it did feel like I had played it before. At first introduction, Bowser’s malevolent Wedding Planner rabbits feel like a fun addition to the Mario family, acting as a substitute for Bowser’s Koopalings. They quickly fall flat, however, as each of the five rabbits returns over the course of the game. With painfully obvious weaknesses and, in certain cases, attack cycles taken directly from the Koopalings, I honestly do not want to see these characters again. It’s a shame that in a game so focussed on momentum these characters appear only to grind the action to a halt.

Personally, I played Odyssey as a completionist. Before shipping off to New Donk City I went back through each of the previous worlds to find as many moons as possible, and it’s in this type of exploration that Odyssey really shines.

Mario feels good. Plain and simple. And the worlds are designed to make the most of both his standard abilities like triple jumping, wall jumping and ground pounding, as well as the new features now achievable with Cappy. How have I not talked about Cappy yet?

Real quick, Cappy brings a whole lot of fresh jazziness to this game and updates the Mario formula in a way that it’s needed for a long time. The character himself is pretty uninteresting - he’s basically Mario but in ghost hat form and with a fully developed vocabulary - but the design and the powers he brings are maybe the high points of Odyssey as a whole. But back to what I was saying.

I honestly don’t know how much time I’ve spent zipping about the Sand and Metro Kingdoms hunting down all the moons, exploring the weird little secret pockets and helping the loveable characters that populate these areas. Some of the super stereotypically New Yorker dialogue from the sharply dressed gents of New Donk City (“Me head into the city?! Fuggedaboutit!”) actually made me laugh out loud. It’s hard for games to be actually funny, but Odyssey does good. Likewise, many of the callbacks to Mario’s history threw a big fat smile on my face.

If you have a Nintendo Switch I imagine you will have already bought Super Mario Odyssey. If you haven’t, what’s wrong with you? Why do you have a Switch? I’m very confused.

If you don’t have a Switch? It’s tough to call Mario a game worth buying one for, just for the sheer fact that Switch’s are still very expensive. If you have the disposable income, go for it. Honestly, I would say even now that Breath Of The Wild is a more worthy system seller than Odyssey, but if you’re a long time fan of the Mario franchise, have the money and are somewhat interested I advise you go in. Especially now that third parties are ramping up Switch game development.

SCORE

799.2 Moons/999

Did I miss anything important in my review? Did you like Super Mario Odyssey? Leave your thoughts  and any feedback you may have.

You’ll like this if you liked:

Any previous Super Mario Games

The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Voodoo Vince

- Review & illustration brewed in-house -