Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is the latest entry in the Mario series and returns to an open world approach like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, to explore levels inspired by real-life locations. It will launch on the Nintendo Switch on October 27, 2017.

Plot
The plot seems to be about Bowser stealing Princess Peach and attempting to marry her. He travels across the world and Mario chases after him in his flying hat airship. Mario comes across Cappy, who possesses his hat to help him fight Bowser and save his sister Tiara, whom Bowser has also kidnapped.

Bowser enlists the help of the Broodals to help plan his wedding and beat Mario. Each level is a part in preparation for Bowser's wedding. For instance, the Wooded Kingdom is holding a greenhouse where Bowser is growing the bouquet.

Gameplay
It is known that Mario will retain his moves from the previous 3D games, among them the Long Jump, the Roll, the Ground Pound, and the Dive, the latter of which hasn't been in the series since Super Mario 64 DS. He will also be wearing Cappy, which he can throw like a boomerang, and he can also jump off of it in mid-air as if it were a platform. However, Cappy's main feature is turning Mario into whatever Mario throws him on including enemies. Coins have changed wildly in this version. Regular coins are now used to buy costumes and items at Crazy Cap stores. Each Kingdom also has 100 of their own purple currency.

Multiplayer Mode
A second player can join the game anytime. Player 2 controls Cappy, who can move freely without Mario's control while spinning to hit anything he crosses. Cappy can jump with the X button, and with Y look around.

Costumes
Mario can wear a variety of costumes with most purchasable in Crazy Cap stores. These are listed in the List of Costumes in Super Mario Odyssey.

amiibo Support
The Super Mario Odyssey series of amiibo will be released alongside the game, as well as all previously released amiibo being compatible. The following are:
 * Mario (Wedding Outfit) - Grants you invisibility for a short time.
 * Peach (Wedding Outfit) - Gives you a Life-Up Heart.
 * Bowser (Wedding Oufit) - Indicates the location of local currencies.

Kingdoms

 * Mushroom Kingdom (Peach's Castle)
 * Cap Kingdom (Bonneton)
 * Cascade Kingdom (Fossil Falls)
 * Sand Kingdom (Tostarena)
 * Lake Kingdom (Lake Lamode)
 * Wooded Kingdom (Steam Gardens)
 * Cloud Kingdom (Nimbus Arena)
 * Lost Kingdom (Forgotten Isle)
 * Metro Kingdom (New Donk City)
 * Snow Kingdom (Shiveria)
 * Seaside Kingdom (Bubblaine)
 * Luncheon Kingdom (Mount Volbono)
 * Ruined Kingdom (Crumbleden)
 * Bowser Kingdom
 * Moon Kingdom (Honeylune Ridge)

Playable

 * Mario
 * Cappy (Multiplayer)

Assisting

 * Cappy
 * Tiara
 * Princess Peach
 * Pauline
 * The Toad Brigade
 * Captain Toad
 * Hint Toad
 * Banktoad
 * Jaxi
 * Sphinxes
 * Glydon
 * Talkatoo
 * Uncle amiibo

Villains

 * Bowser
 * Broodals
 * Topper
 * Harriet
 * Madame Brood

NPCs

 * Local residents
 * New Donkers
 * Tostarenans
 * Steam Gardeners
 * Volbonans
 * Koopa Troopas
 * Rabbits
 * Dorrie
 * Little Birds

Enemies

 * Goombas
 * Paragoombas
 * Micro Goombas
 * Goomba Towers
 * Sherms
 * Chargin' Chucks
 * Urban Stingbies
 * Bullet Bills
 * Bill Blasters
 * Banzai Bills
 * Cheep Cheeps
 * Lakitus
 * Fishin' Lakitus
 * Spinies
 * Moe-Eyes
 * Chinchos
 * Fire Piranha Plants
 * Poison Piranha Plants
 * Big Poison Piranha Plant
 * Soirée Bouquet
 * Uproots
 * Fuzzies
 * Fire Bros.
 * Magmatos
 * T-Rexes
 * Chain Chomps
 * Big Chain Chomps
 * Burrbos
 * Frogs
 * Gushens
 * Barrels
 * Oil Drums
 * Unagis
 * Spike Bars
 * Ty-Foos
 * Komboo

Bosses

 * The Broodals
 * Harriet
 * Topper
 * Unnamed Blue Broodal
 * Unnamed Orange Broodal
 * Mecha Broodal
 * Madame Brood and Chain Chompikins
 * Mechawiggler
 * Cookatiel
 * Unnamed boss resembling blue Olmec head
 * Unnamed purple dragon boss
 * Unnamed UFO boss
 * Unnamed purple octopus boss
 * Bowser

Items and objects

 * Regional Coins
 * City Coins (Metro Kingdom)
 * Pyramid Coins (Sand Kingdom)
 * ? Blocks
 * Beanstalks
 * Brick Blocks
 * Binoculars
 * Bubbles
 * Checkpoint Flags
 * Lifts
 * Moon Shards / Moon fragments
 * Multi Moons
 * Paintings
 * Power Moons
 * P-Switches
 * Rainbow Notes
 * Safety Bars
 * Rockets
 * Sand Geysers
 * Turnips
 * Treasure chests
 * Warp Pipes
 * The Odyssey

Development
Development began after Super Mario 3D World released in 2013. For example, the team found that throwing a hat was the most satisfying action to perform with the Joy-Con controller, resulting in the hat "capture" game mechanic. The developers emphasize the city environment when deciding which environments to represent in Odyssey.

They wanted a familiar aspect of the series to anchor players in the novel setting, and so chose Pauline, a character who first appeared alongside Mario in Donkey Kong, to be the mayor of the world known as New Donk City. Their character development of Pauline led to Odyssey's theme song, "Jump Up, Super Star!", the first Super Mario theme with vocals, being performed by her voice actress. Some of Mario's costume options reference the character's costumes in prior games of the series, such as Mario's Picross and Super Mario Maker.

The lack of required Power Moons for game progression allows players to explore at free will rather than progressing through the game. Shigeru Miyamoto, the series' creator, was not involved in the game's constant decision-making, but the team asked him on how to express a game concept, so Miyamoto then gave the team very specific advice on such.

Pre-release
Super Mario Odyssey received widespread acclaim when it was shown at E3 2017. The BBC wrote that Odyssey was a capstone on "Nintendo's triumphant comeback", following its success with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild earlier in 2017. USgamer 's editor-in-chief liked the structure of small platforming challenges within the Sand Kingdom's sandbox world but complained that Odyssey lacked in gameplay execution, with missions in the New Donk City level that felt "slow and boring". She praised Nintendo for experimenting rather than re-creating Super Mario Galaxy.

Andrew Webster of The Verge thought that the structure of the game lent itself well to the portable nature of the Switch, which players could play for either long sessions in order to follow the missions, or in short bursts while collecting "Power Moons", which the author compared to the "shrines" in Breath of the Wild, which were hidden mini-dungeons scattered throughout the world. Despite the praise, Webster noted that the motion controls "felt frustratingly imprecise", preferring the accuracy of standard controls. The ability for Mario to turn into his 2D Super Mario Bros. form in certain constrained segments was compared to the puzzles featured in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, while VentureBeat noticed similarities between the game and the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Nintendo Switch Bundle
For a limited time, a Super Mario Odyssey-themed Nintendo Switch Bundle will become available in the games release which includes the following:
 * The Nintendo Switch console
 * Red collored Left and Right Joy-Con controllers
 * A download code for the full Super Mario Odyssey game
 * A Nintendo Switch carrying case
 * A Nintendo Switch Dock

External link
Super Mario Odyssey
 * Super Mario Odyssey at Nintendo.com