Trailers, gameplay, and interviews for the new “Super Mario Odyssey” have revealed that the Nintendo Switch game will be similar to classic 3D Mario games, which has people of all ages excited for the release happening on October 27. Although “Super Mario Galaxy” and “Super Mario 3D Land” are top-selling games, Nintendo is going back to the winning formula that caused “Super Mario 64” and “Super Mario Sunshine” to be sensations, which fans have begged for 15 years.
Nintendo hit gold when they released “Super Mario 64” in 1996, which continues to define future games. “64” is an early “open world” game, where you could choose where you wanted to go and what you wanted to do, all while solving highly interactive puzzles. By combining new elements with old, Nintendo will be able to please current, younger players while regaining older players who have lost interest with the current direction recent games have taken. Nintendo fans also hope that having a variety of quality game releases for the Nintendo Switch will lead to more Switch console sales, which in turn will hopefully lead to the funding and development of more top-notch games.
The official trailer for the game, which was No. 1 trending on YouYube, has unanimous love and support. Badass Toad commented, “I’m not gonna lie one bit.. This looks like it has the potential to surpass every Super Mario game to this day.” Another YouTube comment supports the theory that this will help sell consoles, as Mojo Reanimated said, “For the first time in my life, I will buy a console for one game.”
Nintendo is known for groundbreaking video games and ideas. This is how they have so many smash hits—they create games with unusual innovation and charm. This also means some games within a series can be drastically different. The greatest example of this is “Paper Mario” (2000) and its sequel, “The Thousand Year Door” (2004). They are both unique RPG-style games with battle sequences more akin to Pokémon than Mario, with an art style and sense of humor unique to any other Nintendo game.
Then, with the release of “Super Paper Mario” in 2007, they essentially scrapped the beloved formula for “Paper Mario” and created a runner-style Mario game based on both 2D and 3D elements, with a “Paper Mario” skin. Many “Paper Mario” fans say these innovations ruined the series, straying so far from the original that they are not the same style of game.
The main series of 3D Mario games are comprised of “Super Mario 64,” “Super Mario Sunshine,” then “Super Mario Galaxy,” and most recently, “Super Mario 3D Land.” Even though “Mario 64” and “Sunshine” were similar in game-play and configuration, “Sunshine” still adds more and different puzzle and setting elements. “Galaxy” and “3D Land” are quite linear, and you cannot go back to certain points after completing them, where “Mario 64” and “Sunshine” are more of an “open world,” where a central location leads you to large themed sections of the game.
“Super Mario Odyssey” will be reverting back to open world, while creating new puzzles and updating setting elements. The different levels, called “Kingdoms,” in “Odyssey” are supposed to be the largest yet, which will be quite an undertaking considering how vast levels of some other Mario games are.
The official trailer on Nintendo’s YouTube page opens to a beautiful field, gentle waterfall, and…ferocious T-rex? Then it is revealed that it is wearing Mario’s hat. A feature in the game is that you may control whoever, or whatever, is wearing Mario’s hat. This is similar to F.L.U.D.D. in “Sunshine,” a machine (and character) created by Professor E. Gadd. It’s a water tank backpack with a hose that is necessary to complete certain missions and progress in the game. People who have demoed “Odyssey” have shown you can “possess” nearly any object in the game with this feature, which will surely add the Nintendo humor characteristic of earlier 3D Mario games.
Something that is new, but unexpected, is that the Entertainment Software Rating Board has rated this game E 10+. Since no other mainline Mario game received anything but an E rating, people are questioning what could possibly be in this game. As more leaks are revealed, we may catch hints about why it’s rated this way. Audience rating aside, gamers are preparing themselves for what may be the greatest Mario release in more than a decade.
