Review
Played on: Switch
Released: 2017
The Super Mario platforming franchise has spanned over numerous titles and consoles through the years, splitting itself into sub-genres. We have 2D Super Mario Bros., all the way back to the glory days of the 8-bit NES in the 1980s, right up until the modern 3D visual takes on them in New Super Mario Bros. Then we have the isometric 3D style from last generation with Super Mario 3D World and lastly we have the fully 3D Mario titles.
The latter, Super Mario sub-genre, is where Odyssey neatly falls into line alongside Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and the two Super Mario Galaxy titles. It's a familiar affair for those that have played fully 3D Super Mario previously.
Played on: Switch
Released: 2017
Released: 2017
The Super Mario platforming franchise has spanned over numerous titles and consoles through the years, splitting itself into sub-genres. We have 2D Super Mario Bros., all the way back to the glory days of the 8-bit NES in the 1980s, right up until the modern 3D visual takes on them in New Super Mario Bros. Then we have the isometric 3D style from last generation with Super Mario 3D World and lastly we have the fully 3D Mario titles.
The latter, Super Mario sub-genre, is where Odyssey neatly falls into line alongside Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and the two Super Mario Galaxy titles. It's a familiar affair for those that have played fully 3D Super Mario previously.
SMO goes alongside the Zelda: Breath Of The Wild as the two main, heavy hitter, launch titles for Nintendo's latest hardware, the Switch. Nintendo has always tried to launch with at least one of it's own. and strongest. in-house titles to sell hardware.
What better way to do so than with this latest fully 3D Super Mario? It's bigger, bolder and packed with tons of new ideas. It even dares to venture, albeit in a moderate fashion, into the open world sandbox genre. It helps give us an idea of what Mario 64 would have been, if each world was twenty times larger.
Does the old plumber hold up, even with the mighty game creator Shigeru Miyamoto taking a step back from being a producer and taking the role of creative director?
Let's put on a red hat and jump into a green pipe for closer look.
SMO tells the story of Mario and Cappy, the latter is a ghost which can transform into hats, that in turn give Mario the body of the characters you throw the hat at. The story sees them pitched together as a team to take down Bowser and his evil rabbit henchmen. Bowser has kidnapped Princess Toadstool as well as Cappy's sister and you've guessed it: you need to rescue them yet again.
So far, it's all old tricks and Mario traditions, hardly eye openers, but the presentation of cutscenes are done charmingly and beautifully, thanks to the fantastic character and animation design. Alongside Mario Kart 8, Nintendo have really reached that desired Pixar style of 3D animation.
Once you get going on to the gameplay, you quickly realise that SMO feels like what you remember 3D Super Marios are supposed play, but with far more movement options. The hat trick, no pun intended, that allows you to transform into enemies, may seemingly sound like a gimmick, but it's implemented in a fantastic fashion. There are tons of enemies to transform into and each one has a a unique moveset and function! In fact, they're key to traversing the levels and finding all the hidden moons.
Once you get going on to the gameplay, you quickly realise that SMO feels like what you remember 3D Super Marios are supposed play, but with far more movement options. The hat trick, no pun intended, that allows you to transform into enemies, may seemingly sound like a gimmick, but it's implemented in a fantastic fashion. There are tons of enemies to transform into and each one has a a unique moveset and function! In fact, they're key to traversing the levels and finding all the hidden moons.
Being an enemy character allows you to stretch to new heights, throw projectiles, jump further or breathe under water. The whole game and world layouts are cleverly designed around the feature. Bringing a lot of variety too, as you're not stuck with just playing Mario's moveset. You'll quickly find your favourite enemy to transform into in each world!
Every world has a unique theme and design. Pre-historic dinosaur land, a Mexican inspired desert, a cold icy winterland, a tropical jungle and a sunset drenched beach, to mention some. Every world has a large amount of moons to discover, each one being a traversal challenge to reach. Sometimes they're straight up bosses and places to climb to, other times they require an enemy transformation and a good deal of skill and thought to collect.
I appreciate SMO being on one hand a fairly easy to reach the end credits, requiring a low number of total moons, while collecting everything is a huge undertaking. Getting absolutely all the moons will challenge even the most veteran Super Mario players. There's so much fun in the variety of platforming, putting the competitors on the market to shame in it's sheer amount of gameplay value and depth. It's truly unrivalled!
Visually, Mario Odyssey is probably one of the strongest titles on the Switch. The variety in environments and the smoothness of it running mostly stable at 60fps, compensates for the somewhat soft output of 900p. when playing docked on a TV. It would have been nice to see it reach 1080p, but the high framerate helps keep everything crisp and sharp enough considering the resolution. For the handheld mode it reaches the crucial 720p, the native resolution of the Switch screen.
Visually, Mario Odyssey is probably one of the strongest titles on the Switch. The variety in environments and the smoothness of it running mostly stable at 60fps, compensates for the somewhat soft output of 900p. when playing docked on a TV. It would have been nice to see it reach 1080p, but the high framerate helps keep everything crisp and sharp enough considering the resolution. For the handheld mode it reaches the crucial 720p, the native resolution of the Switch screen.
I really enjoyed the colourful visual variety in characters and the worlds you reach. The cartoony visuals make Odyssey a treat to play and a nice step up from previous Super Mario 3D games, especially considering the large size of each world. There's a healthy amount of graphical effects like reflections, particles and surface textures, used to further enhance the visual artwork on display.
In the sound department there's a lovely set of classic Super Mario music and even a huge, grand, jazz theme song to unlock in New Donk City. The level featuring this song is amazing and the lyrics are catchy!
There's really nothing to point out as major negatives here, I mean it's a platformer that's leading the pack when it comes to it's genre. You'll find few, if any, titles like it on PS4, Xbox One or even elsewhere on the Switch. Sure, you can wish there was a more powerful console running SMO, making it look even flashier, but the actual game just does everything you'd wish for in 3D platformer. A genre that's really not as popular as it's glory days of the 90's.
That said, the gimmicky two-player mode though: don't be fooled, it's complete rubbish for player two. It's basically assisting the first player with commandeering Cappy. If you want multiplayer, coop Mario, you need to look elsewhere.
The 3D platforming genre then, is firmly in Nintendo's hand, regardless of it's mainstream popularity or not, and it excels the competition on so many levels. You'll struggle to find a more perfect game to play for the whole family even if you're just remotely interested in the genre.
The 3D platforming genre then, is firmly in Nintendo's hand, regardless of it's mainstream popularity or not, and it excels the competition on so many levels. You'll struggle to find a more perfect game to play for the whole family even if you're just remotely interested in the genre.
Much like how Super Mario 64 was, it's a blueprint for a platformer that appeals to such a vast majority of players. Casuals and hardcore players alike, will be charmed and entertained by the variety and strong focus on good gameplay.
It's an absolute must-buy for the Switch, if not, the one game you simply have to own on the system. SMO is an excellent platformer and once again keeps Mario many a steps above the competition.
