Super Mario Odyssey

is a 2017 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. An entry in the ''Super Mario'' series, it follows Mario and his new ally Cappy—a sentient hat that allows Mario to control other characters and objects—as they journey across various kingdoms to save Princess Peach from his nemesis Bowser's plans of forced marriage. In contrast to the linear gameplay of prior entries, the game returns to the primarily open-ended, 3D platform gameplay featured in '' Super Mario 64'' and ''Super Mario Sunshine''.

In ''Odyssey'', Mario explores various kingdoms and collects Power Moons hidden inside them, used as a fuel source to power an airship known as the Odyssey to travel to new locations. Cappy's main function is the "capture" ability, letting Mario possess enemies and other objects, helping him solve puzzles and progress in the game. After completing the main story mode, other post-game kingdoms are unlockable and an additional minigame, "Luigi's Balloon World", is playable. The game supports multiplayer and virtual reality with a Nintendo Labo virtual reality kit.

Developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development division, ''Odyssey'' entered development soon after the release of ''Super Mario 3D World'' in 2013. Various ideas were suggested during development, and to incorporate them all the team decided to employ a sandbox-style of gameplay. Unlike previous installments such as ''New Super Mario Bros.'', and ''Super Mario 3D Land'', which were aimed at a more casual audience, the team designed ''Super Mario Odyssey'' to appeal to the series' core fans. The game also features two voiced theme songs, "Jump Up, Super Star!", and "Break Free (Lead The Way)!"

''Odyssey'' was released on October 27, 2017. It received universal acclaim, with praise for its inventiveness, originality, and for improving on concepts introduced in prior ''Mario'' games. ''Odyssey'' is cited as one of the greatest video games ever made. The game won several awards and has sold 23 million copies, making it one of the bestselling Switch games and the fastest-selling ''Super Mario'' game.

Gameplay

''Super Mario Odyssey'' is a platform game in which players control Mario as he travels across many different worlds, known as "Kingdoms" within the game, on the hat-shaped ship ''Odyssey'', to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, who plans to forcibly marry her. The Kingdoms in the game return to the exploration-based level design featured in '' Super Mario 64''. Each Kingdom has Mario searching for and clearing various objectives in order to obtain items known as Power Moons, which are the power sources of the ''Odyssey'' and grant access to new Kingdoms. Checkpoint flags littered throughout each Kingdom allow Mario to instantly warp to them once activated. Certain levels feature areas called "flat" zones, where Mario is placed in a 2D side-scrolling environment similar to his appearance in the original ''Super Mario Bros.''

In addition to his existing moves, like triple-jumping and wall-jumping, Mario can throw his cap, the physical form of a hat spirit named Cappy, in multiple directions to attack enemies and use as a temporary platform. When the cap is thrown at certain objects, enemies, or non-playable characters, Mario is able to take possession of them, referred to as "capturing", allowing him to use unique abilities. For example, Mario can capture a Bullet Bill to fly across large gaps, a Tyrannosaurus to trample things, a bolt of electricity called a Spark Pylon to climb up electric wires, and a tank called a Sherm to fire at enemies and break blocks for passage. Some actions can be accelerated by using motion controls in the Joy-Con controllers, but the game is otherwise fully playable when the Joy-Con are attached to the Switch console. Throughout the game, Mario can pick up coins, including purple ones unique to each kingdom, to spend on items such as new hats and outfits, some of which are required for completing certain objectives. The game uses a health system similar to the ''Super Mario Galaxy'' games, although Mario has unlimited lives; the only penalty for dying is paying up to ten coins. The player can also collect items known as 'Life-Up Hearts' which grant three extra hit points. The game also features cooperative play, in which a second player takes control of Cappy and can attack enemies independently of Mario.

The game requires a minimum number of Power Moons to be collected from each Kingdom to move onto the next, though these may be obtained from any source, making major objectives largely optional. Once Bowser is defeated, each kingdom is repopulated with more Power Moons. Collecting enough Power Moons allows for additional outfits to be purchased and unlocks two bonus areas. One of these areas is a boss rush called Dark Side, with 250 Power Moons required to enter. The other is a level called Darker Side that combines many elements of the game, and requires 500 Power Moons to enter. In addition to this, there is also a level based on Peach's Castle from '' Super Mario 64'' unlocked by beating the game. This level allows Mario to face harder versions of previously defeated bosses and earn additional Power Moons by completing in-game achievements.

The game features a photo mode that allows players to use a free-moving camera to take and save screenshots, with additional options such as filters and stickers. Use of the ''Odyssey''-themed Mario, Peach, and Bowser Amiibo figurines allow for special in-game abilities and unlocking special costumes which are otherwise unavailable until after the player completes the game and collects enough Power Moons. Other Amiibo can be scanned to provide hints to finding Power Moons.

A hide-and-seek minigame, called "Luigi's Balloon World", was released as part of an update on February 21, 2018. In it, players have 30 seconds to hide a balloon somewhere in a kingdom, which is then able to be played by others attempting to find it. A leaderboard system ranks the players who have found the most balloons.

The game was updated in 2019 to be compatible with the Nintendo Labo virtual reality kit. In this mode, Mario must complete challenges in a number of Kingdoms to recruit musicians and give them instruments by completing tasks related to musical notes.

Plot

Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach from the Mushroom Kingdom and takes her aboard his airship, intent on forcibly marrying her. Mario, also aboard, attempts to rescue her but is knocked off the ship by Bowser's hat and falls into the neighboring Cap Kingdom. With Mario gone, Bowser stomps on Mario's cap and lets it drift into the ship's rear propellers, shredding it to pieces. A piece of the hat is grabbed by Cappy, one of the Cap Kingdom's sentient hat-like creatures called Bonneters. The two meet, and he explains to Mario that Bowser also kidnapped his sister, Tiara, to be used as Peach's wedding tiara. Cappy joins Mario and takes the shape of Mario's cap, providing him with the ability to throw his cap and temporarily capture other creatures and objects and utilize their abilities. They travel to the nearby Cascade Kingdom, recover an airship called the ''Odyssey'', and begin hunting Bowser down.

Mario and Cappy explore the various kingdoms to collect Power Moons to fuel the ''Odyssey'' and battle the Broodals—a team of anthrophomorphic rabbit wedding planners hired by Bowser—who steal items including a dress, a cake, and a bouquet from each kingdom to set up Bowser's wedding. Eventually, they catch up to Bowser in his own kingdom; however, Bowser subsequently departs for his wedding on the Moon and leaves the two to fight the Broodals in their Mecha-Broodal. They defeat them and follow Bowser to the Moon.

Mario and Cappy fly the ''Odyssey'' to the Moon's surface and confront Bowser inside a cathedral. The two battle in the Moon's interior, where Bowser is defeated and Mario frees Peach and Tiara, but the cavern begins to collapse. Using Cappy, Mario takes control of an unconscious Bowser and escapes to the surface with Peach and Tiara. Back on the surface, Mario prepares to propose to Peach, but Bowser regains consciousness and proposes as well. The two fight over her hand in marriage before an overwhelmed Peach demands they stop, and she boards the ''Odyssey'' with Cappy and Tiara. The rivals are both heartbroken until Peach tells Mario to come home with her. Mario boards the ship just in time, leaving Bowser stranded on the moon.

In post-game content, Mario and Cappy collect more Power Moons that were released from Moon rocks to traverse other parts of the Moon, known as "Dark Side" and "Darker Side", to complete other challenges. Meanwhile, Peach and Tiara travel the world on their own terms, and meet up with Mario along the way.

Development

''Super Mario Odyssey'' was developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development division, with additional assistance from 1-Up Studio. The game was produced by Yoshiaki Koizumi and Koichi Hayashida, the same producers behind ''Super Mario 3D World'', and directed by Kenta Motokura. Shigeru Miyamoto reassumed his role of what he calls the "Creative Fellow", and the developers gave him concepts and he gave feedback in return. According to Koizumi, Miyamoto "left us to our own devices quite a lot."

''Odyssey'' was designed to appeal to ''Mario'' core audience—a departure from the series' then-recent focus on casual players; the game focuses more on dense, open-world exploration rather than the linear gameplay recent ''Mario'' games have taken, following instead the format of games such as '' Super Mario 64'' or ''Super Mario Sunshine''.

According to Miyamoto, after ''Super Mario Galaxy'' and ''3D World'', linear gameplay was focused on less and the game would "go back to the roots, to ''Mario Sunshine''". The game did intend to have camera control that was much easier to use than ''Sunshine'', however. The first concept that came to be for ''Odyssey'' involved Koizumi using motion controls; he pictured motion actions that the Joy-Con controllers could be used for, and the most natural fit was throwing an object. To create a sense of connection to this gimmick, Mario's own hat was the object chosen to be thrown.

Design

In an interview with Koizumi, he stated that every core gameplay concept was decided on very early into the game's development cycle, with the philosophy of creating an entirely new experience for the series; these ideas consisted of traveling between kingdoms, collecting Power Moons, and other settings. Cappy was also created in the first prototype, and motion controls were built off of this. Another goal was keeping the game running at 60 frames per second. Certain locations, such as New Donk City, contained realistic looks and humans; this design choice was to emphasize the feeling of a new location that is different from the normal.

One of the main aspects considered was the Switch's capabilities of portability and TV docking, which affected how the game could be played. Motion controls were also implemented, being able to use the two controllers in each hand. The developers were careful in making sure the game was fun to play in these distinct ways. To bridge the two, the game was balanced to allow gameplay in short bursts or long sessions to satisfy both fields. Kenta Motokura mentioned at an interview at E3 that the game was made possible to play in these two ways; the player has the choice of either following a set storyline or can find power moons simply by exploring. They also made sure each platforming stage had numerous ways of completion.

A game the designers considered when designing ''Odyssey'' was the sandbox video game ''Minecraft''. They initially believed a game that had camera movement would be difficult to use amongst children, but they later passed this as sufficient due to ''Minecraft''s popularity and excessive use of camera control.

Setting and characters

The developers constructed prototypes of gameplay gimmicks or platforming stages first; from there, they would discuss what kind of setting or theme the prototype would best fit within, and the locations would be constructed second. Thirdly, the locations would be taken and more ideas were designed specifically for them. The game's locations were built around the themes of journey and surprise, according to Kenta Motokura. The kingdoms have purchasable souvenirs to help make them more relatable and easier to connect to. Since the kingdoms were also open-world areas, the developers filled them with diversity and small details to give them a sense of empathy by making the player feel connected to them. Each kingdom was based on personal experiences from the designers, and they built off these locations by experimenting with how Mario could interact with them. The ability to take in-game screenshots was also considered by the team to be a natural fit.

Cappy was created into a character a little later after the hat throwing mechanic was introduced because the developers wanted a "buddy" to travel alongside Mario. The developers prioritized the city environment when selecting which environments to represent in ''Odyssey''. They wanted a familiar aspect from the series to anchor players in the novel setting, and so chose Pauline, a character who first appeared alongside Mario in ''Donkey Kong'', to be the mayor of New Donk City.

Music

While doing character work for Pauline, they gave her an interest in jazz music. This led her to becoming a singer, with the inclusion of the song "Jump Up Super Star!" ''Super Mario Run'' had previously featured a track with vocals that was added in an update released one month prior to ''Odyssey''. A swing music-inspired song, "Jump Up Super Star!" was composed by the game's lead composer, Naoto Kubo, with vocals by Kate Higgins. The song's chorus was made simple to be memorable and easy to sing along to. Lyrics were written in Japanese by Nobuyoshi Suzuki and translated to English by Rob Heiret. Another theme song, "Break Free (Lead the Way)", followed a similar process. Other music was written by Shiho Fujii and series sound director Koji Kondo.

A sampler album containing 12 tracks from the game was released on iTunes in December 2017. A four-disc soundtrack containing 136 tracks was released in Japan in 2018 by Being Inc. The soundtracks include English, Japanese, and instrumental versions of "Jump Up Super Star!" and "Break Free (Lead the Way)". The discs also include commentary from some of the development staff.

Release

The game was teased via the Nintendo Switch console announcement trailer in 2016; in January 2017 during a Nintendo presentation, ''Odyssey'' was formally announced to be in development, and was followed shortly after with gameplay footage. A section at E3 2017 was themed around New Donk City, and was filled with kiosks that allowed people to play a demo. The announcement at E3 2017 was the most popular part of the presentation on social media and was considered the best part of the show by other attending developers. Critics also noted the game's density of secrets and noted the format of open-world exploration.

Two weeks before the game's release, Nintendo uploaded a Broadway inspired promotional music video of "Jump Up Super Star!", which featured live-action dancers alongside a CGI animated character of Mario. The song was released on the digital music storefront iTunes shortly after and became one of the top 40 best sellers in the United States.

The game officially released October 27, 2017, alongside Amiibo of Mario, Peach, and Bowser in their respective wedding attire. In addition, a limited-time ''Odyssey'' themed Nintendo Switch was released, containing the console, Joy-Con reminiscent to the color of the character Cappy, a Switch console carrying case, and a Nintendo eShop digital download code for ''Odyssey''. Later that December, Nintendo partnered with food manufacturing company Kellogg's to release a limited quantity breakfast cereal ⁠—"''Super Mario'' Cereal"⁠— in the United States. The back of the box contains an NFC tag that can be scanned like an Amiibo toy, which provides exclusive in-game extras.

Reception

''Super Mario Odyssey'' received "universal acclaim", according to the review aggregator Metacritic. As of 2022, review aggregator Metacritic ranks ''Odyssey'' as the joint third highest-rated game of all-time.

Andrew Webster of ''The Verge'' thought that the structure of the game lent itself well to the portable nature of the Switch, which players could play for either long sessions in order to follow the missions, or in short bursts while collecting "Power Moons", which the author compared to the "shrines", or hidden mini-dungeons, which were scattered throughout ''Breath of the Wild''. Despite the praise, Webster noted that the motion controls "felt frustratingly imprecise", preferring the accuracy of standard controls. The ability for Mario to turn into his 2D ''Super Mario Bros.'' form in certain constrained segments was compared to the puzzles featured in '' The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds'', while ''VentureBeat'' made note of the game's similarities to the '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series.

''Edge'' praised the inventiveness of the game's new ideas and the risks Nintendo had taken to deviate from the established formula of ''Mario'' games, which they believed had paid off. They likened the game to '' Super Mario 64'' and called it the spiritual successor that had previously not yet been achieved. The magazine also complimented the introduction of Cappy and the capturing mechanic, which they called the most versatile ability in the ''Mario'' series to date, and enjoyed how the ability allowed Nintendo to reinvent a number of their favorite gameplay activities. ''Famitsu'' gave the game a score of 39/40, the same as ''Super Mario 64'' and the highest score for a 3D ''Mario'' game since then. Perfect 10/10 scores were also awarded by IGN and GameSpot, who both praised the game's originality.

In contrast, Ian Dallas, the creator of ''What Remains of Edith Finch'', gave ''Super Mario Odyssey'' a lukewarm review. He explained, "My problem with ''Super Mario Odyssey'' is that it's not actually satisfying to finish. This is not to say it isn't worth playing; it absolutely is. I just don't think it's worth finishing". Phil Hornshaw of Digital Trends gave the game 4/5 stars, saying that "Mario's first turn on the Switch is fun, but lacks the innovation and creativity of Nintendo's best." Hornshaw also noted that the "Controls and camera can be imprecise" and "frustrating".

The song "Jump Up, Super Star!" debuted at number 33 on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 for the week of November 11, 2017. In Japan, the song reached No. 1 on the Japanese iTunes Store. On the US iTunes Store, the song debuted at 25 in the "All Genres" category. Kate Higgins performed "Jump Up, Super Star!" live at The Game Awards 2017 ceremony.

Sales

Three days after release, more than two million copies of the game were sold worldwide, with 500,000 in Japan. During its launch week, the game competed with ''Assassin's Creed Origins'', which it was narrowly outsold by in the United Kingdom. In the United States and Europe, it became Nintendo's fastest-selling ''Super Mario'' game ever, with 1.1 million copies sold in the US within five days. According to the NPD Group, the game was the best-selling video game of October 2017, and was listed by Amazon as the online retailer's highest-selling game of the year. By December 2017, ''Super Mario Odyssey'' had sold 9.07 million copies worldwide, making it the bestselling game for the Switch at that time. By August 2022, it had sold 23 million copies.

Awards

''Entertainment Weekly'' and Giant Bomb both ranked the game second in their list of the "Best Games of 2017", and ''GamesRadar+'' ranked it fourth on their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017, while ''Eurogamer'' and ''Polygon'' ranked it third on their lists of the "Top 50 Games of 2017". ''Ars Technica'' ranked the game as their Game of the Year, while ''The Verge'' named it as one of their 15 Best Games of 2017. Readers and staff of ''Game Informer'' voted it as the best platforming game of the year, while the former also voted it as Game of the Year, along with Best Nintendo Game. EGMNow also ranked the game at #4 in their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017.

The game won the award for "Best Switch Game" in ''Destructoid''s Game of the Year Awards 2017. It also won the awards for "Best Platformer" and "Best Original Music" in IGN's Best of 2017 Awards, whereas its other nominations were for "Game of the Year" and "Best Switch Game". It was also nominated for "Switch Retail Game of the Year" and "Overall Game of the Year" by both reader and staff votes in ''Nintendo Life''s Game of the Year Awards. The game won the Game of the Year award at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers award event, where it won all but one of the categories it was nominated for. ''Odyssey'' also won the awards in IGN's Best of E3 for "Best Platformer", "Best Nintendo Switch Game", and "Game of Show"; and in ''Destructoid''s Best of E3 for "Best of Show".

Notes

References

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2017 video games
3D platform games
Cooperative video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development games
Nintendo Switch games
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Open-world video games
Video games about spirit possession
Video games developed in Japan
Video games scored by Koji Kondo
Dinosaurs in video games
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Video games set on the Moon
Video games that use Amiibo figurines
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Odyssey
Video games scored by Naoto Kubo
British Academy Games Award for Game Design winners
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