
While it’s certainly stale, it allows the creators plenty of leeway when it comes to designing the world and levels around Mario. The creators decided to not break tradition and went with the tried and true damsel in distress storyline. The story of the game isn’t anything too spectacular, but that is not what Super Mario games are known for anyway. Cappy can be thrown as an attack weapon, twirled around him, jumped on, and much more. Mario can throw Cappy in a few different ways that work to extend everything he can do. The pairing allows Mario to do a whole lot of new things that are brand new to the series.

In Odyssey, the gimmick that Mario uses throughout the game is in the form of his hat, aptly named “Cappy.” Cappy is the combination of Mario’s hat and one of the kingdom’s sentient hat-like creatures, and it is a match made in heaven. In Super Mario Sunshine it was F.L.U.D.D, and in the Galaxy games, it was the inclusion of the luma, giving Mario a spinning attack. With each and every iteration in the Super Mario series, the game has some sort of physical hook that is easier for incoming players to grasp. Moreover, instead of traveling in one town or across the universe, Mario has to find his way around an earth-like planet in Super Mario Odyssey. Instead of the usual 120-ish power stars to discover, there are 880 power moons to discover, bringing a change to the traditional use of stars. Right off the bat with these two facts the game is different than its predecessors.

To that effect, Odyssey is exactly like it sounds in that Mario is traveling all around the world in his search for Princess Peach, and the numerous power stars spread throughout. Sure we had Super Mario 3D Land and 3D World, and while they were both amazing, they didn’t feel like the true world-traveling adventures that were the Galaxy games, Sunshine, and 64.

Super Mario Odyssey is the first original entry into the series since Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario Odyssey is a crazy amalgamation of everything the Super Mario series has to offer, as well as a pleasant surprise in the way of new mechanics waiting for players to discover.

As the last game we will be discussing in the Super Mario series, it is fitting that Odyssey contains a little bit of every single game that has come before it. It is also the biggest innovative jump in the series since the original Super Mario Galaxy. This game is the most recent release in the Super Mario series, it is currently the only release of the series on the Nintendo Switch, and it is quite possibly one of the best games that players have seen yet. We have spent the last few months traversing the vast landscape that is the Super Mario series, and now we are at the very last game we need to discuss: Super Mario Odyssey.
