Fans of open-world Super Mario games have been waiting for the plumber’s next foray into a sandbox-style world since 2002’s Super Mario Sunshine for the GameCube. After years filled with traditional Mario side-scrollers, we won’t have to wait much longer for the spiritual successor to 3D Mario games like Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64. At E3 2017, Nintendo announced that Super Mario Odyssey launches on October 27 for the Nintendo Switch.
If you’re as excited about Mario’s latest adventure as we are, we will be updating news, rumors, and everything we know about Super Mario Odyssey right here.
A bigger, more eclectic Mario adventure
Super Mario Odyssey is shaping up to be the largest and most surprise-filled Mario adventure yet. Yes, Bowser still has his sights set on Princess Peach — this time he kidnaps her and plans a royal wedding — but the world itself, and how Mario interacts with that world, appears to be much more free and experimental.
From the initial reveal trailer in early 2017, we learned that Mario was heading to New Donk City, a fictional interpretation of New York City filled with normal size human folks. From there, we saw Mario traversing across the city landscape, jumping off taxi cab hoods and swinging from light poles. Old tricks like double and triple-jumping return, but Mario can also move about the world with a cannonball-resembling roll, and can hang on and shimmy across ledges.
Most notably, and at the heart of Super Mario Odyssey, is the plumber’s (ahem, former plumber’s) iconic red cap that now features a pair of sentient eyes. Cappy, originally appearing as a small ghost, has somehow found its way into Mario’s hat. Mario’s new ally gives Odyssey its most unique gameplay quirk — the ability to temporarily control both living and non-living objects, from Goombas to power lines to dinosaurs, by “capturing” them, throwing his cap onto their heads (or the closest possible thing).
At E3, we received a better look at the worlds that Mario will explore. New Donk City may very well be the starting world for Super Mario Odyssey, but players will explore a variety of different kingdoms throughout the open world adventure. Most recently, Nintendo showed Shiveria, a snowy world, and Bubblaine, a beachy zone during the September, 2017 Nintendo Direct livestream. In total, seven kingdoms have been shown so far, and Nintendo has said there will be more in the final game:
- Bonneton – Cap Kingdom
- Fossil Falls – Cascade Kingdom
- Tostarena – Sand Kingdom
- Bubblaine – Seaside Kingdom
- Steam Gardens – Wooded Kingdom
- Shiveria – Snow Kingdom
- Mount Volbono – Luncheon Kingdom
Each one is vastly different in appearance and style. Cascade Kingdom feels like Nintendo’s version of Jurassic Park, with prehistoric dinosaurs roaming the lands. Partially modeled off of Ancient Egypt, the Sand Kingdom has pyramids, sparse deserts, and ancient ruins. Dancing robots occupy the dense tree-laden Wooded Kingdom sprinkled with scenic reservoirs. Deep blue waters surround the beach at the Seaside Kingdom. Snow, slippery ice, and frigid temperatures await Mario in the Snow Kingdom. Luncheon Kingdom, meanwhile, has large fluorescent rocks, and vegetable-like creatures with fork legs and chef hats. Cappy’s homeland, Cap Kingdom, is a mysterious moonlit world predominantly depicted in a dreary mix of gray, white, and black.
Musical trailer
A few weeks before the release of Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo published a live-action trailer featuring the game’s signature jazzy theme song (Check it out at the top of this post). The trailer throws Mario into a dancing crowd on the streets of New Donk City (he isn’t a human being, fortunately) before he throws Cappy onto a nearby Switch player’s head.
Cappy’s antics don’t stop there, as Mario chucks the hat onto a bulldog, who doesn’t seem particularly bothered by his newfound mustache. The trailer also shows off some of the outfits Mario can where, including his shirtless swim trunks look, as well as the dinosaurs, koopas, and fish he can control in the game.
Mario has plenty of new looks
As shown in the E3 2017 trailer, Mario can switch out of his traditional garb in the Crazy Cap shop. We see Mario wearing a sombrero, a football uniform, a chef’s apron and hat, in swimwear, a safari outfit, and more. Costumes can fit in with specific sections of the game, but players don’t necessarily have to adhere to that. Players will be able to purchase new outfits with coins. As detailed by VentureBeat, certain outfits are required to enter some areas.
In addition to new outfits, you can buy stickers and souvenirs from Crazy Cap. During the September Nintendo Direct, stickers from the Crazy Cap shop were shown to be on Mario’s airship.
This time around, Mario collects moons
In Super Mario 64, it was stars. In Super Mario Sunshine, suns. And in Super Mario Odyssey, Mario will collect moons. In the E3 2017 trailer, we learned that moons power Mario’s airship (they are appropriately called Power Moons). Keeping with the tradition of 3D Mario titles, the more moons you collect, the more worlds you unlock.
Unlike other 3D Mario games, moons can be collected all over, rather than just at the completion of a “level.” They are hidden around the world in a way that somewhat reminds us of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild‘s Korok seeds. During the September, 2017 Nintendo Direct, Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi said each world has dozens of moons, so players will be scouring each world high and low to find them. Koizumi added that there is a reward for dedicated players who collect every moon.