Super Mario Odyssey (2017)

Super Mario Odyssey may well be the best game of all time. What sets it apart is its accessibility: easy to pick up, difficult to master. It offers an extraordinary level of creativity that works for players of any age. It captures the classic 3D Mario feeling I remember from Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64, but refines it with precise controls and consistently satisfying design.

The hat mechanic is a brilliant idea. While the second-player role controlling Cappy is not especially demanding, it functions well and adds an inclusive element. The core concept—capturing and transforming into a wide variety of characters, each with unique abilities—is executed with remarkable creativity throughout the entire game.

From start to finish, it is joyful. The music is outstanding, the visuals vibrant and charming, and the overall presentation irresistibly colorful. It pulls you in and maintains momentum. I felt compelled to collect as many Power Moons as possible and experience it as completely as I could. I could easily imagine playing it a second time.

Having played video games for many years, I have rarely encountered a title that feels so cohesive and polished in every aspect. It is a complete package in a way few games achieve.

I do find it somewhat disappointing that the same team’s more recent Donkey Kong Bananza did not reach the same level, for reasons I have discussed elsewhere. I can only hope that the next Mario installment on the Switch captures that same sense of surprise, vitality, and craftsmanship.

If someone unfamiliar with video games asked me which title they should try first, I would recommend Super Mario Odyssey without hesitation.

I hadn't played this game since it first came out back in 2017. I had a long road trip so I figured I would revisit this while stuck in a car. This is definitely a fun game, featuring one of Mario's most robust move sets to date. Finally an entry that rivals Mario 64s moveset. Took them long enough though.

The game does make some notable improvements but there's also plenty of stumbles along the way. For one thing, the game finally doesn't kick you out of the world when you get a star, though the animation it plays for each star (I mean moon) can get a bit tedious. The game soft pushes you out though after achieving critical moons. This is to load a new instance of the levels. Early on, most levels have a bit of a linear progression. Where you need to beat a boss to unlock the next instanced version of the level and unlock a new phase. Eventually, you unlock the final instance of the level and at that point most moons will spawn in. Early instances will just not contain certain moons. In fact, you have to beat the game to fully unlock all moons which is a bit frustrating. Also most moons do feel pretty lazy in their challenge.

Most moons in fact are just kind of floating there out in the open or require you to ground pound a spot, break a block or notice something. There isn't a challenge at all to getting them. Which is a pity how little moons require an interesting or engaging challenge to obtain. The boss fights are clear exceptions and mostly are quite fun to beat. The game does contain some really great gauntlets too, in particular, a lot of the late game 2-D challenge rooms are not only among the most challenging but also fun and creative. Sadly though, these are the exceptions, not the rule when it comes to Odyssey.

This isn't a critical problem if you don't plan to 100% the game. But the game does lock the true ending behind getting 500 moons which is tedious and ridiculous.

The game is still fun to be sure, and while most moons lack any semblance of creativity, it does mean you are very likely to stumble upon enough moons to progress through the main levels. The art style is also noteworthy. The game looks great, even if the levels themselves feel by the books by Mario standards.

Where this game shines is in its mobility. It is fun to move around the map, sequence break and engage with the environments as Mario. There aren't a ton of platforming challenges, which sucks for a mario game, but it is nonetheless still fun. Certainly not my favorite Mario nor the best in the series IMO, but it would be a solid entry point for most people. To be fair, I think this was Nintendo's intent from the beginning, so they certainly succeeded on that front. Just a pity that most levels and moons (inbare not that interesting.

As a side note, this is probably the darkest Mario game ever. You are literally possessing people and animals and forcing them to do things for you. Grim.

Can't praise this game anymore than others already have. I enjoyed the heck out of it and of course this title is comparable to games like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, the other two 3D Super Mario games I have played. While the difficulty in this game is turned down compared to those two (at least I found), it more than makes up with it with new abilities via the character, Cappy, allowing you to do some cool movements, and more importantly get new powers by controlling enemies. This alone makes the game so much fun to play arounnd.

The story is pretty wacky and it involves Bowser trying to marry Princess Peach. He has you going around traveling around the world in order to earn Power Moons, to undo the damage that Bowser has done in those areas. The worlds are pretty varied and the inhabitants can range from quite realistic looking to your classic mario weird and zany characters. I loved that feeling of exploring new worlds, and meeting the inhabitants of each place, reminding me of Sonic Unleashed in that regard.

I have played Super Mario Odyssey. Absolutely amazing how Nintendo always reinvents its old series! Crazy how much Mario changed over the yeras! [irony off]

Mario and Zelda are the most overrated video game series of all time. They are both decent - just highly overrated.

As someone who grew up with Mario 64 and who hasn't played the series apart from replaying the classics over the years, I am absolutely amazed by how SM Odyssey differs from Mario 64 in almost nothing.

In one thing they differ - M64's castle had a more open world feel to it. It's crazy to me how Odyssey is praised for exactly that - having an open world feel - the absolute opposite was the case for me. I travel from one planet to the next, and within those planet there's one possible path to take. How is that open worldy? Not that I take that as a positive criteria, but still ?!

The moveset was 100% the same as in M64. The level design 99% the same. Well yes, you can take over certain enemies and it does feel great. The game feels great - no word on that, but it's not like you roam through an open world where you can take over any enemy.

There is one platform where you're supposed to take over one enemy to get to one next platform. There's no open world and no choice. That's not as such bad, but this is for what this game is praised for and didn't feel like that for me, at all.

Nintendo receives false praise for its mediocre repition of the same ol' formula. Really makes you think - has Nintendo ever been innovative? Even in the 90s? The false and way too loud applause it got over the years makes me question if even the 90s classics where as such so innovative as everybody says.

In my conclusion, they weren't. Nintendo delievers polished, smooth experiences of something you already know. That's cool and great and I like to play it. But it's definitely not the pinnacle of game design as everybody says it is.

3/5

Good Mario game. Top tier level design and a lot of fun figuring out how to get those hidden or hard-to-get moons. Gameplay is also top-tier, Mario controls like a dream and has a good variety of moves to get around. Using the hat to do double jumps is fun and challenging. Stuff like changing costumes is an added bonus to help keep things fresh.

The possessing mechanic is also varied enough to stay fresh and is combined with classic platforming. The story is non-existent but that's not what you're here for. Unfortunately put the game down due to boredom / it not being my cup of tea.

All in all Super Mario Odyssey is as good as you’ve heard. Playing it is pure gaming joy the likes of which I haven’t felt since the Nintendo 64 and GameCube days. Every kingdom is packed with charm, endless discovery and a stellar soundtrack. It’s the kind of game that reminds you why you fell in love with video games in the first place.

Im gonna start off with saying that i know im in the minority of this. But i didn't love Mario Odyssey. It was a fun time all the way through, but something about the game had me constantly thinking "this could have been a really cool new IP".

There was something about Mario Odyssey that didn't make it feel "Mario" to me. Enjoyable levels and such, but to me it kinda felt like a Mario skin slapped onto another game for some reason.

On the other hand; if it wasn't a Mario game i could not have enjoyed the New Donk City celebration bit, which was very charming. It was also very fun to meet Pauline again and i enjoyed the interaction between her and Mario.

Found the ending kinda odd and unsatisfying, but i guess it worked.

The short of it i guess is that it's a fun game throughout all of it as far as gameplay go.

Nintendo continues to demonstrate the supremacy of its 3D Mario games in the platforming space. Odyssey is probably my favorite Mario game to date, due to its creative and addictive structure that allows for deep exploration and near-constant surprises. There are so many games with huge overworlds; it's a huge relief to play one that has more than a dozen smaller but still sprawling levels that feel tailored at every inch. The hat-throwing mechanic offers innovative ways for players to interact with enemies and the environment. Different worlds have different creatures, and what's great is that as the game progresses (and even after it ends), the levels bleed into one another, with NPCs and enemies from other locations appearing in new places. If you are willing to look just a bit deeper in each level, you will almost always be rewarded. I love that this game scales based on your level of involvement.

When Odyssey first came out in 2017, I played probably about ten to fifteen hours before getting sidetracked. Returning to it recently, I was concerned it may be too challenging to pick up towards the endgame. I think of Mario titles as very precise and difficult to master; fortunately, the game is just so fluid and accessible I could pick it up as if more than two years hadn't passed, and be surprised all over again.

Played physical copy on Nintendo Switch.