Super Mario Odyssey is a 3D platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is a Super Mario game that follows Mario and Cappy, a spirit that turns into Mario's hat and allows him to possess other characters and objects, as they journey across various worlds to save Princess Peach from his nemesis Bowser, who plans to forcibly marry her. In contrast to the linear gameplay of prior entries, the game returns to the primarily open-ended, exploration-based gameplay featured in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
Development began 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 World, which were aimed at a casual audience, the team designed Super Mario Odyssey to appeal to the series' core fans. The game also features a vocal theme song, "Jump Up, Super Star!", a first for the series.
Super Mario Odyssey was released worldwide on October 27, 2017. It received acclaim from critics, with many calling it one of the best games in the series. The game was nominated for and won numerous awards, including for Game of the Year. Half a year after release, it had sold over ten million copies worldwide, making it the system's bestseller.
Video Super Mario Odyssey
Gameplay
Super Mario Odyssey is a platform game in which players control the titular protagonist, Mario, as he travels across many different worlds, known as "Kingdoms", on the Odyssey, a hat-shaped ship, to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, who plans to forcibly marry her. The game sees Mario traveling to various worlds known as "Kingdoms", which return to the exploration-based level design featured in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. Each kingdom has Mario searching for and clearing various objectives in order to obtain items known as Power Moons, which can power up 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 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 possess a Bullet Bill to fly across large gaps, a bolt of electricity to climb up electric wires, and a tank called a Sherm to fire at enemies. 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 losing ten coins. Even if the player has no remaining coins, nothing further happens. 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 in February 2018 as part of an update. 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.
Maps Super Mario Odyssey
Plot
Bowser, with the aid of the Broodals, a family of anthropomorphic rabbits serving as his wedding planners, kidnaps Princess Peach from the Mushroom Kingdom and takes her aboard his airship, intent on forcibly marrying her. Mario attempts to rescue her but is ejected from the ship and falls into the neighboring Cap Kingdom, with his iconic hat being destroyed in the process. Mario meets Cappy, one of the Cap Kingdom's sentient hat-like creatures, and learns that Bowser also kidnapped Cappy's 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 temporarily possess, or "capture", other creatures and objects. They travel to the nearby Cascade Kingdom and recover an airship, the Odyssey, and begin pursuing Bowser.
Mario and Cappy explore the various kingdoms to collect Power Moons to fuel the Odyssey and battle the Broodals, who steal artifacts from several kingdoms to set up Bowser's wedding. Eventually, they catch up to Bowser in his own kingdom and defeat the Broodals, but Bowser departs for his wedding on the Moon. Mario and Cappy fly the Odyssey to the Moon's surface and confront Bowser inside of a cathedral. Mario and Bowser enter an underground cavern and battle. Mario wins the battle and frees Peach and Tiara, but the cavern begins to collapse. Mario Captures an unconscious Bowser and escapes to the surface with Peach and Tiara in tow. After Peach thanks Mario for his help, Mario and Bowser, who regains consciousness, attempt to woo Peach, but they are both rejected. Peach, Cappy and Tiara board the Odyssey and begin to depart to the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario boards the ship just in time, leaving Bowser stranded on the Moon.
Development
The game's development began after Super Mario 3D World released in late 2013, and was created by the same development team. Under director Kenta Motokura, the team experimented to find fun concepts based on the series' "theme of surprise". For example, the team found that throwing a hat was the most pleasing action to perform with the Joy-Con controller, resulting in the hat "capture" game mechanic. The brainstorm resulted in a large number of eccentric prototypes, and the developers sought to incorporate them by orienting the game as a series of dense, sandbox environments. This led to the game's varied Kingdom environments, each with unique game mechanics. 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 the world known as New Donk City. Some of Mario's in-game costume options reference his various prior appearances in other games of the series, such as Mario's Picross and Super Mario Maker.
Odyssey was designed to appeal to Mario's core audience--a departure from the series' recent focus on casual players. Unlike prior games which send Mario back to the beginning of the level after finding each main collectible, the Power Moons are designed to be found in continual exploration, with more major collectibles than previous ones in the series. The lack of required Power Moons for game progression gave players a wider liberty to explore at their leisure rather than advancing the story--a new direction for the series and a design challenge for development staff. The developers wanted players to check everything that aroused their attention for secrets. Shigeru Miyamoto, the series' creator, was not involved in the game's daily decision-making, but rather served as an executive producer, with the development team consulting him on the best ways to express game concepts. Miyamoto's feedback was specific, offering suggestions rather than ultimatums, but was highly supportive overall.
Music
A first for the series, Nintendo's character development of Pauline led to them writing a vocal theme song, which eventually ended up representing the entire game. The swing music-inspired song, "Jump Up, Super Star!", was composed by the game's lead composer Naoto Kubo and performed by Kate Davis, who also did the voice acting for Pauline. The lyrics were originally written in Japanese by Nobuyoshi Suzuki, which was later localized in English by Nintendo of America employee Rob Tunstall, who refined them along with Rob Heiret, the game's lead English writer. Nintendo's intent with the song was to create a "fun" jazz track that could be enjoyed outside of the game, but with references to the Mario franchise that could be further appreciated by fans of the series. Additionally, they wanted a chorus that was simple enough for non-English speakers to sing along to. Another vocal track featured in the game, "Break Free (Lead the Way)", was written following the same process. Additional music for the game was composed by Shiho Fujii and longtime series composer Koji Kondo.
Two weeks before the game's release, Nintendo uploaded a Broadway-inspired promotional music video of the song, which featured live action dancers alongside a CGI animated Mario. The song was released on iTunes shortly after, breaking into the top 40 best sellers on the platform in the United States. A four-disc, 136 track complete soundtrack was released in Japan by Being Inc. in February 2018. It includes Japanese versions of "Jump Up, Super Star!" and "Break Free (Lead The Way)", as well as commentary from staff members who worked on the game. In addition to the full soundtrack, a 12-track digital album featuring a selection of the game's music was released worldwide on iTunes in December 2017.
Promotion and release
The game was teased in the 2016 announcement trailer of the Nintendo Switch, and formally announced at Nintendo's January 2017 presentation on the new console. Gameplay footage soon followed. At E3 2017, a New Donk City-themed section with multiple kiosks was set up, allowing attendees to demo the game.
The game was released worldwide on October 27, 2017. White wedding-themed Mario, Bowser, and Princess Peach Amiibo figurines were released to complement the game. Nintendo released a limited edition Switch console bundle, which includes the console, a pair of Cappy-red-colored Joy-Cons, a Switch carrying case, and an eShop download code for the game. In addition, Nintendo partnered with food manufacturing company Kellogg's in December 2017 to release a Mario-themed breakfast cereal in the United States, known as "Super Mario Cereal". The back of the box contains an NFC tag to function as an Amiibo for use in the game.
Reception
At its announcement at E3 2017, Odyssey was the show's most popular game on social media and was considered best in show among developers in attendance. Early impressions from critics noted that the game was dense with secrets and more focused on exploration than progression. 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. It 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".
Upon release, Super Mario Odyssey received "universal acclaim" from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic, where it is the fifth-highest rated game on the platform, tied with a number of others. 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".
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. 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.
Sales
More than two million copies of the game were sold worldwide three days after release, with more than 500,000 of those being in Japan. During its launch week, the game competed with Assassin's Creed Origins, which it was narrowly outsold by in the UK. 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 March 2018, Super Mario Odyssey had sold over ten million copies worldwide, making it the bestselling game for the Nintendo Switch.
Accolades
Notes
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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