It’s crazy to think that Super Mario Odyssey is now five years old. One of the first major Nintendo Switch games released back in 2017, this brought back the open-ended 3D platforming styles of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, but took a quantum leap forward and innovated on its concepts in an innumerable amount of ways. It made for what is by far the best entry in the franchise and an all-around top-shelf platformer (and on a personal level, this writer’s favorite video game of all time).
In celebration of the game’s fifth anniversary, let’s look back on some of the most fun, inventive and memorable moments that this incredible game brought us. We’re gonna stick to just five of the best moments, but best believe that we could go into full detail about all the wonderful things and memorable moments this game brought us. Spoilers abound, by the way, so if you haven’t gotten to play this yet and want to go in without knowing anything, turn back now.
5. Capturing Your First Frog
In a lot of ways, a game’s earliest moments can be its most important. You really have to set the tone for players early and give them a hook that’ll make them want to keep playing beyond the first hour. In that regard, Super Mario Odyssey does a fantastic job setting the tone with your first capture.
Throughout the game, Mario’s new sentient hat (known as Cappy) can possess objects when thrown at them. After meeting Cappy in the Cap Kingdom, Mario’s first object that he possesses is a humble frog. He throws Cappy at the frog and then goes through this trippy sequence where his body is pulled into the frog, and then after opening his eyes…there he is; Mario is now a frog.
He can now do everything a frog can, making extremely high jumps that he’d never have been able to reach in his human form. It sets the stage early and shows the player that, truly, anything is possible. A frog is only one piece of what Mario will be able to accomplish as far as transforming.
4. Playing as a T-Rex
Indeed, the very next locale really shows just how much Mario and Cappy are capable of as far as transforming is concerned. Heading to the Cascade Kingdom, Mario throws Cappy onto a tyrannosaurus rex and then…you guessed it: Mario is now a massive, fearsome dinosaur who can destroy everything in his way.
For a moment, it was like Super Mario Odyssey became the Jurassic Park game we’ve all been dreaming of playing. Taking the little Italian plumber and allowing him to transform into such a ferocious, larger-than-life creature was truly breathtaking. It was the kind of moment that showed that no one was too big or too terrifying for Mario and Cappy.
3. Traveling Back to the Mushroom Kingdom
Once you complete the main story of Super Mario Odyssey, you are dropped off in the Mushroom Kingdom, right outside of Princess Peach’s Castle. It’s just as it was back in Super Mario 64, and it’s a visual treat to behold. Having the castle more populated now with NPCs to welcome you feels like a true way to celebrate getting through the game.
It’s also wonderful seeing just how much this particular area remembers the past, as if to show you just how far the Mario series has come since its first 3D outing in 1996. Mario can unlock a 64-bit polygonal costume in reference to his older self, and then use it to enter an area that references the old courtyard where Big Boo’s Haunt was. Hell, throughout the Kingdom, you collect Power Stars as opposed to Power Moons (an obvious reference to the Nintendo 64 classic) and one can be found at the Eternal Star statue, the one that spawned all of those Luigi in Super Mario 64 rumors back in the day.
As if to add more icing on top of the cake, Yoshi’s here, too. And wouldn’t you know it: just like in Super Mario 64 when you collect all 120 stars, you find him here on top of the castle! What’s more, you can transform into Yoshi by throwing Cappy at him. It’s great to see that Yoshi gets to partake in the adventure in some way, and it makes you wonder: when’s Nintendo gonna give us a fully 3D Yoshi game? We finally got a 3D Kirby game; let’s give Yoshi some love!
2. New Donk City…All of It
Another one that could’ve very easily topped this list, everything about New Donk City is easily incredible. At first, it has the appearance of a real-world big city like New York City, but as you play more of it, you see that there’s far more than meets the eye. That title isn’t a coincidence: New Donk City is one big Donkey Kong reference.
Pauline from the original Donkey Kong arcade game is the city’s mayor, streets are named after Donkey Kong characters, and a citizen even tells Mario to “Jump, man,” a reference to Mario’s original name in the Donkey Kong arcade game. As a game that really remembers and respects its history, it shouldn’t get much better than referencing Mario’s first appearance in a video game.
But it does! After completing the level, Mario participates in the New Donk City festival. Pauline and her band perform the game’s main theme, Jump Up, Super Star!, while Mario traverses one long 2D section. This isn’t an ordinary 2D section, though; it’s essentially a level of the original Donkey Kong in and of itself.
Mario has to hop over barrels being thrown by none other than an 8-bit version of the monkey himself, Donkey Kong. Once he reaches the end, he hits four blocks to take down the King of Kong and celebrate New Donk City’s prosperity with Pauline. All the level really needed after that was a fully 3D Donkey Kong to come in (and potentially be playable), but don’t worry, the game had some even cooler up its sleeve.
1. You Can Play As Bowser…Yes, Really.
How could this not be at the top of the list? Imagine explaining to someone in the 1990s or 2000s that a 3D Mario game would one day come along that would allow you to control the King Koopa himself, Bowser. They’d probably look at you like you had five heads. But it’s true: Super Mario Odyssey allows Mario to throw Cappy onto Bowser, possessing him and allowing you to play as him!
While trying to escape from the Moon Kingdom from the Wedding Hall’s underground cavern, Mario must possess a now unconscious Bowser that he’s just defeated. The capture sequence echoes the trippy opening capture of the frog but includes visuals featuring some of Mario and Bowser’s battles from previous games in the series. Once the sequence finishes, Mario is in Bowser’s body, and you are in control of the Koopa himself. Awesome.
Mario (or is it Bowser?) puts Peach on his shoulder and smashes everything in his path to get out of there, and there’s even a sequence that allows you to control Bowser in 2D. Who would’ve thought back in 1985 that you’d ever get to play as Mario’s nemesis in a mainline platformer game? It’s such an epic sequence that brings the main story of Super Mario Odyssey to an incredible close.
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