Yesterday during their Nintendo Spotlight: E3 2017 presentation, the company blew loyal fans away with an all-new Super Mario Odyssey trailer. We already knew this wasn’t going to be your typical Mario game, but the variety, and sheer wackiness, on display was impressive.
Videos by ComicBook.com
For those who missed the trailer, you can check it out here, or read my description, below:
“We open on a rampaging, realistically-rendered T-rex. But wait, what’s that on his head? Yup, it’s Mario’s cap, specifically that weird one with the eyes on it. The trailer reveals the purpose of that strange hat, as tossing it onto the head of an enemy or other creature lets you possess them and use their powers. We also see a wide variety of with see dinosaur, city, Mexican, ghost, and underwater world themes, as well as a bunch I can’t even really describe! Nintendo’s gone completely off the tracks, and I love it!”
Well, that was just the beginning. Yesterday Nintendo’s Treehouse Live stream showed off a full hour of Super Mario Odyssey gameplay, split over two videos. Let’s dive in, shall we?
This first video delves into two areas, New Donk City and the Sand Kingdom. It also explains some of the game’s concepts and mechanics. The basic drive of the game is collecting Power Moons, which you need to power Mario’s new airship, named the Odyssey. In addition to all his regular moves, Mario can now toss his hat, which he can use to destroy enemies, collect items, or possess things. And when I say “things,” I mean pretty much everything. Enemies, people, and even inanimate objects like cars and traffic cones.
As for the levels, New Donk City is actually the location of the original Donkey Kong. In fact, it’s revealed Pauline has become the city’s mayor! Never let a giant ape kidnapping keep you down! Sand Kingdom looks a bit more like a typical Mario level, with a large castle to explore. In a neat twist, at certain points you can turn yourself into an 2D sprite and engage in some old-school platforming on castle walls. Oh, and we also catch a glimpse of The Brutals, the evil rabbit wedding planners that will serve as Super Mario Odyssey‘s secondary antagonists. Have I mentioned this game is kind of weird?
In our second video, we see the Treehouse crew explore the tranquil Wooded Kingdom. You can now use the coins you collect to actually buy outfits, with each world having its own currency in addition to the standard gold coins. Oh, and we also get a look at that T-rex from the trailer, but he’s sleeping, and the Treehouse folks leave him that way. Darn.
During the Treehouse livestreams, Super Mario Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi laid out the game’s basic design philosophy:
“Super Mario Odyssey has a theme of going on a journey, but we also try to give the player a lot of surprises. The dinosaur is a really big surprise. We want to balance that surprise with emotional resonance, giving people something that’s familiar, attractive, and cute from other Mario series, then bounce people back and forth between the familiar and the surprising.”
Well, consider me successfully surprised.
Super Mario Odyssey leaps onto Nintendo Switch on October 27. You can check out WWG’s coverage of all the big Switch games, right here.
