K.K.Atlas

Game Review – Super Mario Odyssey

K.K.Atlas

a marvellous journey

Developer: Nintendo EPD
Publisher: Nintendo
Release: Oct 27, 2017
Reviewed: Nintendo Switch

Review copy purchased. Disclaimer: Spoilers. Thou hast been warned.

As a first party title due for a 2017 holiday season release, Super Mario Odyssey always had a lot of pressure riding on its shoulders; would it achieve the distinguished, mould-breaking status of its premillennial platforming ancestor, or, inexplicably lose its way and fail to impress the mercurial whims of modern day fans and critics? Traditionally speaking, Mario games have always fared very well—from franchise best-seller and renowned classic Super Mario Bros. to the critically acclaimed Super Mario Sunshine, Nintendo has demonstrated a consistent, almost frightening awareness of the player psyche. But it takes an especially good installment to be tied neck and neck with the multi-award winning The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild over on game rankings website Metacritic; both titles sit perched at the peak of the Switch podium with near-perfect scores of 97. It’s evident Nintendo’s knack for fun-crafting hasn’t atrophied, and gamer feedback is testament to the fact: amused by Odyssey‘s charm, volume and remarkable density, the emperors spared it from becoming a snack for the lions, and thus, it was dubbed an ‘essential’ Switch experience. So it was perfectly natural that I, a Nintendo diehard, exploded with happiness upon realising my sister had purchased it as a Christmas gift. Super Mario Odyssey, I quickly grew to understand, is an amazing physical manifestation of Mario’s legacy—one which successfully blends past, present, and future into a cohesive whole: Mario’s primitive 2D roots are tenderly dusted and restored like a rare painting, and Nintendo, the clever old dog, tweaks the A Link Between Worlds formula for the most eye-poppingly awesome dimensional shifts to 3D you’ll ever witness. Allow me to explain.

HARBOURS SEEN FOR THE FIRST TIME

Piping hot: An upside-down 2D platforming section in the Sand Kingdom’s Mexican-infused Tostarena.

My first meeting with Mario was in the nineties. Casual, after-school sessions at classmates’ homes gave me a fundamental introduction to the core gameplay and taught me the most creative insults for Koopa brothers one could imagine. We laughed. We raged. We fell in love with two-dimensional sprites on a monstrous hulk of a television. I never owned Super Mario 64. I’d only tested it sporadically and very briefly, again at friends’ homes, relishing that tiny morsel of 3D exposure. Empty years followed, but somehow, the fates aligned once more and brought the fantastic Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins into my possession. That it was 2D and lacked colour never once rendered it any less fantastic, although my reunion with 3D came in the form of Super Mario 3D Land, an equally extraordinary platforming endeavour that proved beyond doubt Nintendo excels in whichever dimension it chooses. I had, of course, dutifully avoided major spoilers concerning Super Mario Odyssey, an admittedly difficult task when one works as a game journalist, so—and this may sound incredibly childish—seeing Mario shed his width to transform into a compressed, 2D shape in Cascade Kingdom for the first time absolutely blew my mind. The inter-dimensional transition was so unexpected, I felt like a digital basketball had slam-dunked my brain with the secrets of the universe. Complete K.O. The giddiness eventually subsides, of course; a multitude of enjoyable 2D platforming sections certainly see to that, but that initial wonder never dies.

Cascade Kingdom is one of 17 explorable regions in Super Mario Odyssey. It’s also a breathtaking example of the artistry that will assault your senses along the way. You won’t be served with top-tier graphics, mind you; it’s common knowledge the Switch’s hardware comes with fewer shaders and reduced processor speed compared to Sony’s and Microsoft’s offspring, and accordingly, recorded video playback stutters and wheezes like a cranky old lawnmower that doesn’t believe in frame rates. It’s clear that when it comes to technical specifications, Nintendo can’t eke out anything more than a bronze medal. But to call Super Mario Odyssey‘s environments ‘dull’ would be a gigantic lie. They’re beautiful. Individual grass blades undulate against the breeze, craggy rock formations that seem like they’ve been carved by a master hand (pun intended) show how far we’ve progressed from the 64’s stretched polygon style, and dashing past the waterfall causes tiny rivulets of virtual water to trickle down the screen—and that’s just Cascade Kingdom. With lines that add gorgeous definition to his hair and moustache, Mario’s model is also the best-looking version to date, and his numerous costumes have been seasoned, salted and cured with the same level of devotion.

The return of Goliath: A T-Rex prepares to devour its prey (that’s a you) in Wooded Kingdom.

The story was another pleasant surprise. Super Mario Odyssey bows in linguistic reverence before Homer’s epic The Odyssey and strives to emulate the burden and grandeur of Odysseus’ long journey home. It doesn’t dare shatter the all important foundation of Peach’s damsel in distress role, Mario’s heroism, or Bowser’s villainy—a move which would be tantamount to breaking the lore (ha)—although it does add a fairly rogue narrative twist at the end that should draw a chuckle. Here’s a quick rundown: Bowser, a wicked green turtle, has for the umpteenth time kidnapped Peach, the resident princess. This time, however, he’s using Tiara—a magical cap—to remove Peach’s free will so she’ll get hitched with him on the moon, and Mario isn’t invited to the wedding. Bonkers? Bonkers. But also brilliant, and the most mature iteration of the cycle yet.

One component of Super Mario Odyssey which didn’t shock me—namely because I’d become so desensitised through watching countless advertisements—is the ability to possess different creatures with Mario’s own cap (Cappy). Cascade Kingdom is a prehistoric-themed playground, so the transformation is a rather on-brand tyrranosaurus rex. Its controls are much clunkier than Rare’s good old Terrydactyland version (forgive me Humba Wumba, I never truly appreciated your magical prowess) and its aesthetic realism seems out of place for a Mario game, however, Nintendo makes up for both drawbacks with a number of fun, T-Rex specific challenges. In fact, none of the transformations in Super Mario Odyssey—of which there are at least 20 anthropomorphic varieties—feel underutilised, and experimenting with their unique skills was generally both delightful and rewarding. In Cap Kingdom, you can turn into a high-leaping frog that manoeuvres like a dream, while Sand Kingdom lets you disguise yourself as goombas, Bullet Bills, and an ancient Aztec vehicle. Yes, you read that right. Lake Kingdom offers cheep cheep up for unlimited underwater adventures, Seaside Kingdom has a water-spewing cephalopod that can dash in mid-air, and even everybody’s favourite green dino Yoshi makes an appearance in the Moon Kingdom. His tongue flick move can be annoyingly inconsistent in terms of latching onto surfaces—still serviceable at the end of the day—but his flutter jump is top notch. It’s tempting to glance at Odyssey’s abundant roster and conclude that, yes, it has totally upstaged Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie and Yooka-Laylee. However, it’s wise to remember the golden rule: quality over quantity. It’s not how many transformations a developer has constructed, it’s how fun they are.

Mirroring the enormity of Super Mario Odyssey‘s worlds are the number of collectibles. In something of a departure from traditional Mario scripture, Odyssey has you gathering not stars but banana-shaped items called ‘Power Moons’. There are 999 of them in total—an astronomically high number—and fetching them ranges from drop dead easy (ground-pound a shiny bit on the floor) to gauntlets that will push your skills to the limit. Catching ’em all, from what I’ve gathered on YouTube, provides you with nothing but a measly fireworks display. To be fair, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy‘s collectathon reward was just as anticlimactic, so neither should be excused. Fireworks are hardly a sufficient accolade when you contrast it with the prize for beating the main campaign; after putting Bowser in his place, additional power moon challenges unlock and bump up the replay value. One of the best designed is the koopa freerunning races, speed-based sprints that require you to determine the most effective route to the goalpost and beat the other competitors. Amazingly, even losing is worth it, because you are gifted with the adorable sigh of koopa disappointment. Obviously the skeptic in me is all too aware that pumping old kingdoms with fresh content is a sneaky way of reducing the workload required to invent legitimately fresh kingdoms—something that would have been ideal as a bonus for one hundred percent completion. Insomniac is on the money in this regard; all three games in the Reignited trilogy acknowledge player effort with fun minigames, hidden bosses and more. So we can only pray Nintendo atones for this wrongdoing in the inevitable sequel.

The most important facet of Super Mario Odyssey is, indisputably, Mario’s movement. Nintendo has dedicated an entire interactive leaflet to it under an ‘Action Guide’ menu, and needless to say it is vital players familiarise themselves with the moveset—especially so for tougher challenges. Like Super Mario 64, Mario can jump, long jump, triple jump, ground-pound, backflip and somersault to the side. Shigeru Miyamoto didn’t call him Jump Man for nothing! It’s nice to see the classic kinetic palate make a smooth transition to the Switch, but Cappy’s presence adds hitherto unimaginable gameplay possibilities. On top of using Cappy to possess or ‘capture’ other creatures, Mario can fling him forward like a frisbee then bounce onto his crown to clear gaps while airborne, and this automatically squeezes out a crucial extra centimetre or two. I’m quite positive Nintendo deliberately places Cappy by Mario’s side for the majority of the adventure, because it’s only when you’re forced to complete ‘capless’ challenges—which are generally trickier—that you truly understand his value. Cappy’s integration is so seamless and natural that you’ll be left wondering how he ever could have been absent. Then again, perhaps he never was.

AS MANY SENSUAL PERFUMES AS YOU CAN

Spider-Man did it, Shadow of the Tomb Raider did it. Super Mario Odyssey is but another game that succumbs to the temptation of the ‘Instagram effect’. As a feature, photo mode is so wildly addictive that I’d bet my hat on many more developers adopting this practice. I confess to wiling away hours—hours—that consisted of merely dawdling around buildings, waiting for Mario to fall asleep, performing increasingly bizarre manoeuvres and feats and tweaking the available filters (there’s a Game Boy aesthetic!) just to achieve the desired ‘look’ for my ‘snapshots’. It was all worth it, and I’d do it again. Aside from the impressive dualism of the Cappy mechanic, this is Super Mario Odyssey‘s greatest treasure.

Its only fault is the very rudimentary text feature, which lacks an option to alter fonts, toggle transparency, or anything sophisticated. Back in my Super Smash Bros. Melee days, I would pause the screen experimentally when characters were jumping or enacting special moves; this process, much like enclosing a Sim inside a room with no escape, or pissing off as many guards as possible in Styx: Master of Shadows for the heck of it, was repeated ad nauseam. This immaturity is something I have nurtured very cautiously, so if I may be so bold, Nintendo’s snapshot mode is the validation I never knew I needed, until now. Bravo, Mario. Bravo. If you receive a postcard from me in the near future, well, you know where I’ll be getting my material from.

Power Moons might be the major currency driving progression in Super Mario Odyssey, but the kingdom-specific coins, which come in different shapes and colours, are just as enjoyable to collect—particularly because of what they unlock. Each kingdom contains a couple of shops which allow you to spend your hard-earned cash on costumes, stickers, and miniature statues to decorate your ship interior with. As if that wasn’t amazing enough, Nintendo provides you with gorgeous little tourist maps that give you a rundown of what to expect in the current world. It’s impossible not to adore such attention to detail. Almost two weeks since I started playing, I’m still fawning over the cap-shaped coffee mugs on Mario’s cap-shaped table, and there are even cap-wearing rabbits—on the moon.

There’s a lovely Japanese fairytale about how rabbits came to be on the moon. It begins with The Man on the Moon, a magical being who one day felt curious about which of his creatures on Earth was the kindest. Assuming the form of a beggar, he went down to Earth, and settled on a forest in Japan. There he was met by a fox, a monkey, and a rabbit. Pretending to be frail, The Man asked them for food and shelter, to which they obliged; the monkey returned with fruits, the fox with a fresh fish skewered between its teeth. Each animal bestowed their gift upon The Man, and The Man thanked them for their kindness. The rabbit returned last of all, without a gift. It had searched the forest far and wide, but found nothing, so it beseeched his friends to build a large fire. They both agreed. When the fire was ready, the rabbit turned to The Man and said he would be glad to jump into the flames and roast himself because he couldn’t bear seeing The Man go hungry. Just as the rabbit was about to jump, The Man stopped him and revealed his true identity. He acknowledged the rabbit’s kindness, and promised to take him back to the moon where he would watch over him.

According to Japanese legend, if you look closely enough, you can see rabbits pounding rice cakes (mochi) with a mortar and pestle from afar. I feel that knowing such stories only enrichens one’s experience with Super Mario Odyssey; not only is there a small colony of rabbits populating the Dark Side kingdom, the Broodal Boss rush battle is another celebration of oryctolagus cuniculus. It still radiates less cultural odour than Bowser’s Kingdom, however—a fantastic stage that is overflowing with temples, ancient gates, jizo statues, and paper lanterns adorned with kanji.  

The music quality in Super Mario Odyssey is without question the best I’ve heard in recent 3D platformers, and this shouldn’t alarm you at all; the great Koji Kondo—responsible for the excellence served in numerous The Legend of Zelda titles—is one of the composers. Though I found Shiho Fujii’s pieces to be consistently magical; I’m frankly fed up with bland, utterly forgettable atmospheric melodies. Why can’t more sountracks be as daring as the dark, discordant violin in Cap Kingdom? The eerie xylophone chimes sounding in unison with cymbals, the slow clarinet trill verse that is replaced by flutes building towards a central attraction that brings the Isle O’ Hags theme to mind—I was utterly speechless, and on the verge of tears because of how suited this track would be for Banjo-Threeie. If you liked Dire Dire Docks, prepare to ascend to that same tranquil heaven in Lake Lamode. Its bittersweet, echoing piano mimics the ebb and flow of the waves and lulls the listener into a dreamy nirvana. The stand out in my opinion is Peronza Plaza, a traditional Italian folk song inspired treat that goes to town on the accordion. Listening to it will give you the wanderlust necessary to book an express ticket to Naples, but don’t blame me if you blow your savings.

do not hurry the journey

Odysseus spent a decade navigating the open seas before his homecoming. In that period, he resisted beautiful sirens, outsmarted a cyclops, and walked through death itself, so the angry storms conjured by Poseidon were hardly trials by comparison. Mario’s tale in Super Mario Odyssey takes on a similarly epic quality; instead of sea, he sails across the sky in search of moons, fearlessly vanquishing wicked beasts that stand between him and Princess Peach. But there’s no timer counting down, urging the player to complete this quest before it’s too late. On the contrary, Nintendo has designed Super Mario Odyssey to be savoured, not wolfed down like an afterthought. At publication time, I’ve managed to accumulate 540 or so power moons; unlike other collectathon platformers, I feel no need to rush, and that rushing exploration would sacrifice much of the special moments each kingdom has in store: cheering up a disillusioned businessman, observing the reactions of Bowser’s wedding guests, revisiting Boss arenas, and so on.    

One power moon in New Donk City is locked behind a playable theatre screening of Super Mario Bros.’s first level. This ‘game within a game’ homage to Mario’s retro roots is an absolutely superb reward for the explorer. The major caveat is its short length. Nintendo missed a sweet opportunity here; if LucasArts could fit the entirety of Maniac Mansion inside Day of the Tentacle, then I’m sure Nintendo could pull it off with a ‘whopping’ 31KB variant, right? Right? If anyone needs me, I’ll be over here, sulking bitterly.

For players who aren’t stimulated by Super Mario Odyssey‘s open-worldish sandbox style exploration, its difficulty will be directly responsible for governing overall playtime. Don’t be deceived by the untroublesome main campaign, though, which requires little skill and unleashes upon you boss battles that are nothing more than simple, overly repetitive butt stomping workouts. The true complexity, and ultimately what amounts to high replay value, lies in the post-game challenges. No conversation about Super Mario Odyssey‘s difficulty would be complete without mentioning the Dark Side kingdom, a place which rehashes earlier tasks into steely cold upgrades that have the capacity to burst your bubble of enjoyment. I’ll briefly discuss three of them: Breakdown Road, Invisible Road, and Vanishing Road.

To the uninitiated player, these challenges are akin to Herculean labours. Breakdown Road for example tasks you with leaping across a crumbling topside plateau to collect a key, then input eight successive long jumps over individual pillars. What might be gruelling and unforgiving the first few times, however, gradually reveals to the player important insights on how to succeed: proper timing, and releasing the crouch button after each jump so Mario doesn’t accidentally initiate a forward roll. Occasionally, inconsistent button inputs plagued my attempts, but I enjoyed Breakdown Road immensely. The payoff is much better than typical challenges, and not once did it feel tedious like the Jump Rope or Beach Volleyball abominations.

Invisible Road, like Breakdown Road a capless challenge, is infinitely easier if you employ an aggressive jump/dive approach, as shown below. The two rocks placed at the beginning represent Nintendo’s intended path: attack the piranha plants before they spew light purple slime, and gingerly make your way around the remaining art attacks. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Instead of wearing your patience thin and risking miscalculated throws, I strongly advise the escapist alternative: execute a series of well-positioned long jumps, and rush through the room without hesitation.

Vanishing Road, in my view, leaves little room for error. It a task likely built for the speedrunner who enjoys mastering frame-perfect jumps, flips, rolls and dives rather than casual audiences, although the latter is definitely able to break through the skill ceiling with some practice. I recall fondly the original sensation Vanishing Road gave me: as if Nintendo had splashed my face with a bucket of cold water. But in time, I began decrypting its structure—essentially, three pathways that are temporarily activated by P switches. Most players utilise one of two strategies to get through: (a) quick roll plus dive, or (b) long jump (which causes Mario to run faster than usual for a brief spell) plus well-timed triple jumps during the last two pathways. I employ the second method here:

Needless to say, the mere presence of the sherm blasting projectiles at you is enough to inspire fear, and mistiming by a gross margin increases the likelihood of ‘bonking’ against an edge and tumbling to your doom. Fancy footwork is not optional, it is mandatory. So while Vanishing Road has a bit of a reputation for being a brutal obstacle course, there is a very important consolation when you are eventually victorious: you can exit that warp pipe like a fucking god. Completing this challenge gives you an invisible badge of confidence, and helps you become a better player—something we should all aspire towards. Now, it may sound strange to admit this, and in some circles even be considered heresy, but I am happy to go down on record saying I preferred the challenges in Super Mario 3D Land—a mechanically simpler 3DS game with fewer collectibles and far less glitzy graphics, but a more balanced level of challenge. Completing it with my sister to one hundred percent (save for the final-super-secret-clandestine-bonus level) was sheer joy.

New Donk City’s rhythm based ‘jump rope’ challenge can be much more demanding than it appears.

full of experieNce

Twice in his journey Mario is left battered and bruised on god forsaken islands, waiting for the player to resuscitate him with a button tap. In this way, Super Mario Odyssey fills you with a strong urge to rebuild and repair; it’s almost a cleansing quality that’s never been present to the same degree in another Mario game. Fall. Get up. Fall again. Heal. Keep going, you’re almost there. Beyond slowing down the narrative, it’s undeniable these ‘failures’ impart the player with motivational fuel to reach the final goal. Fortunately, it doesn’t take a decade. From basic jumps and cappy throws, Mario evolves into a triple-jumping, quick-rolling, backflipping ninja warrior that can withstand the meanest of obstacle courses. We finish the game with an important lesson: after charting the globe and witnessing so many strange phenomena, Mario will never be able to look upon his beloved Mushroom Kingdom in the same way. But it will always be home.

Super Mario Odyssey delights, frustrates and soothes, and like its Homeric namesake, doesn’t forget to provide you with a marvellous journey—even if it it’s not quite the Ithaka you’re expecting. Rather than break the mould, Nintendo succeeds by framing challenges against an inventive, mechanically solid core that evokes the spirit of Super Mario 64 and doesn’t take Jump Man’s 8-bit history for granted.

WHY YOU SHOULD PLAY IT:

THE PROS:                       

THE CONS:

Advice: Purchase at full price and get lost in Nintendo’s epic.

Super Mario Odyssey is out now for Nintendo Switch.

GAMEPLAY: ★★★★

GRAPHICS:★★★★

SOUND:★★★★

REPLAYABILITY:★★★★☆

OVERALL:★★★★

92/100