Super Mario Odyssey (One D, Two Ss)

[I_smell]

I agree that Breath of The Wild (a great name, now that I'm looking at it) is a bit gotier than Mario Odyssey, and I think that's a relevant game to bring up.

It felt like Nintendo designed BotW from a new perspective where they crushed the linear path down to dust, and scattered it to hundreds of novel surprises across Hyrule Field. It worked superbly in Zelda and really brought me in as someone who was bored of the old slingshots, boomerangs and boss-keys. Maybe this was influenced by the Switch being a desktop AND a portable device? Maybe???

 

Mario has hundreds of small puzzles too, but they're not often surprising in this game. I can name plenty of the 1,000 things in Zelda that were mystifying or broke the rules of the game, or re-set my expectations, but not here. Playing as a Cheep-cheep or a Paragoomba isn't uniquely liberating, it just trades in your entire move-set for one ability and much slower movement. A moon is usually exactly the challenge it appears to be, and most of my favourite moments were scripted into the critical path. I still liked them- but I'm not blown away. -IGN.com

 

That's STILL GOOD, but I think the Mario team started the project with new goals and executed on them, while the Zelda team started the project with new goals, recognized a great new potential they opened up, and then executed on them. All of the Far-Cry-2 influence in big open fields, burning grass, enemy camps, sneaking and shield-surfing were a GREAT space to bring all those freaky novelties to life too! Super Mario Odyssey basically doesn't bring out the potential of it's pitch.

 

It could be swimming like Ecco the dolphin, swinging like Spider-Man, gliding like Just Cause, skating like Tony Hawk and looking at the whole level from a new perspective every time you switch- but it ain't.

Even a simple mechanic can prove fruitful when you dig into it's potential. Look at Braid, look at SuperHot, Downwell, Portal, Fez, even some of Kirby's abilities are simple tricks that prove to be more exciting in the long-run.

In this game the frog jumps high. It doesn't stick to the ceiling or attract enemies or let you reach a more exciting possession hidden high up in the level. It just jumps high.

 

I have nice things to say about the game too, but I think this is more food for thought.

 

 

The end of the game should be that you can possess two things at once, not more moons.

 

[agorman]

The only 3D Mario game besides this one I have played at any length is Mario 64. I ended up liking this game but ultimately being disappointed. The story of this game being a result of an internal Nintendo Mario game jam definitely makes sense to me, and i think I like it less for that? I sadly still haven't played either Mario Galaxy game, so I don't have a lot of reference points to compare this game to, but ultimately it just doesn't feel challenging in the way I want a Mario game to feel challenging, and the post-end game unlocks have been kinda a let down so far (at least the 250 star unlock was not great). There is a ton to explore, I enjoyed my time with it, and I will continue ot poke at it to get more moons, but ultimately was lukewarm? I likely didn't have my expectations set right.

[dartmonkey]

So over the past couple of weeks I've been dipping back in regularly, hoovering up coins and moons and this evening I 100% finished the game. I really enjoyed some of the 'hidden art' moons and I feel much more nimble with the controls now. One of the last moons I got was the rhythm-based one in New Donk. It took me ages until I tried something and I got it in one:

Spoiler

First I used the scooter. Google suggested it as you have uniform jumps when you're on it. People also said you should jump when you heard the 'Hey' but that wasn't working so I lined up a street lamp in the background and jumped whenever the rope 'hit' it (the apex of the rope.) I got 150ish on the first try. 👌

 

[Roderick]

The post-game of this game is long, people! They add so many new moons to collect. One has me wondering if I'll be able to 100% it though, the

Bounding Grand Prix Iceburn S rank arena. Holy shit, what is it asking of me? Bounding is tricky enough as it is, but I just don't see how I can win this. Can anyone offer me some tips?