Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is the latest entry in the Mario series and returns to a nonlinear approach like Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario 64 DS to explore levels inspired by real-life locations. It was released on the Nintendo Switch worldwide on October 27, 2017.

Plot
The plot is about Bowser kidnapping Princess Peach and attempting to marry her. He travels across the world and Mario chases after him in his flying hat airship named the Odyssey. 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. Most levels provide a part in preparation for Bowser's wedding. For instance, the Wooded Kingdom is holding a greenhouse where Bowser is stealing flowers from to make the bouquet. The exceptions are the Cascade Kingdom, the Cloud Kingdom, the Lost Kingdom, the Metro Kingdom, the Ruined Kingdom, and the Darker Side.

Features
Mario retains his moves from the previous 3D games, among them the Triple Jump, 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 also wears 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 50-100 of their own purple currency named Regional Coins.

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 look around with the Y button.

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 were released alongside the game, as well as all previously released amiibo being compatible. The following are:
 * Mario - Grants you invincibility for a short time.
 * Peach - Gives you a Life-Up Heart.
 * Bowser - Indicates the location of local currencies.
 * Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Dr. Mario, Diddy Kong, Wedding Mario, Wedding Peach, and Wedding Bowser - Provide a costume for Mario to wear.
 * All- Can give Mario a few coins.

Luigi's Balloon World
An update in February 2018 added this new online activity. Players can find Luigi after beating the game. The first thing players can do is hide a balloon somewhere in the Kingdom in the given time. Then, players can talk to Luigi to access other players' balloon placements and racing to find them.

Playable

 * Mario
 * Cappy (multiplayer)

Assisting

 * Cappy
 * Tiara
 * Princess Peach
 * Yoshi
 * Toadette
 * Pauline
 * The Toad Brigade
 * Captain Toad
 * Hint Toad
 * Banktoad
 * Yellow Toad
 * Mailtoad
 * Jaxi
 * Glydon
 * Talkatoo
 * Uncle amiibo
 * Luigi

Villains

 * Bowser
 * Broodals
 * Topper
 * Harriet
 * Rango
 * Spewart
 * Madame Broode and Chain Chompikins
 * RoboBrood
 * Mechawiggler
 * Cookatiel
 * Knucklotec
 * Lord of Lightning
 * Torkdrift
 * Mollusque-Lanceur

NPCs

 * Local residents
 * Bonneters
 * New Donkers
 * Tostarenans
 * Lochladies
 * Steam Gardeners
 * Bubblainians
 * Shiverians
 * Volbonans
 * Toads
 * Goombette
 * Frogs
 * Moe-Eyes
 * Fishin' Lakitus
 * Sheep
 * Koopa Troopas
 * Roving Racers
 * Rabbits
 * Dorries
 * Sphynxes
 * Poochy

Wildlife

 * Native birds
 * Top hat-wearing Little Birds (Cap Kingdom)
 * Red birds that resemble scarlet macaws (Cascade Kingdom)
 * Green-and-yellow birds resembling budgerigars (Sand Kingdom)
 * Pink birds with scaled wings (Lake Kingdom)
 * Blue birds resembling blue jays (Wooded Kingdom)
 * White doves (Cloud Kingdom)
 * Pigeons (Metro Kingdom)
 * Seagulls (Seaside Kingdom)
 * Penguins (Snow Kingdom)
 * Birds resembling dollops of whipped cream (Luncheon Kingdom)
 * Brown birds resembling tree sparrows (Bowser's Kingdom)
 * Small UFO-like creatures that resemble Torkdrift (Moon Kingdom)
 * Little Birds (Mushroom Kingdom)
 * Others
 * Insects
 * Giant dragonflies (Cascade Kingdom, Bowser's Kingdom)
 * Butterflies that resemble large whites (Wooded Kingdom)
 * Monotone butterflies that come in four different colors: blue, green, pink or purple (Lost Kingdom)
 * Giant multi-colored butterflies (Lost Kingdom)
 * Butterflies that resemble swallowtails (Mushroom Kingdom)
 * Lizards (Sand Kingdom)
 * Hawks (Sand Kingdom)
 * Chipmunks (Wooded Kingdom, Mushroom Kingdom)
 * Pink crabs (Lake Kingdom, Mushroom Kingdom)
 * Rats (Metro Kingdom, Mushroom Kingdom)
 * Yellow crabs (Seaside Kingdom)
 * Bats (Ruined Kingdom)
 * Fish
 * Salmon (Wooded Kingdom)
 * Multi-colored lake fishes (Lake Kingdom)
 * Goldfish (Seaside Kingdom)
 * Koi (Bowser's Kingdom)

Enemies

 * Goombas
 * Paragoombas
 * Mini Goombas
 * Goomba Towers
 * Koopa Troopas
 * Sherms
 * Chargin' Chucks
 * Urban Stingbies
 * Urban Stingby Larvas
 * Bullet Bills
 * Bill Blasters
 * Banzai Bills
 * Cheep Cheeps
 * Snow Cheep Cheeps
 * Spinies
 * Chinchos
 * Fire Piranha Plants
 * Poison Piranha Plants
 * Big Poison Piranha Plants
 * Uproots
 * Fuzzies
 * Hammer Bros.
 * Fire Bros.
 * Lava Bubbles
 * Magmatos
 * T-Rexes
 * Chain Chomps
 * Big Chain Chomps
 * Burrbos
 * Gushens
 * Maw-Rays
 * Moonsnakes
 * Ty-Foos
 * Komboos
 * Astro-Lanceurs
 * Bitefrosts
 * Pokios
 * Stairface Ogres
 * Trapeetles
 * Tropical Wigglers
 * Yoofoes
 * Coin Coffers
 * Donkey Kong
 * Kleptos
 * Parabones

Items and objects

 * Regional Coins
 * Purple Coins (Mushroom Kingdom)
 * Top-Hat Coins (Cap Kingdom)
 * Wheel Coins (Cascade Kingdom)
 * Pyramid Coins (Sand Kingdom)
 * Scale Coins (Lake Kingdom)
 * Bolt Nut Coins (Wooded Kingdom)
 * Leaf Coins (Lost Kingdom)
 * Portrait-Stamped Coins (Metro Kingdom)
 * Snowflake Coins (Snow Kingdom)
 * Shell Coins (Seaside Kingdom)
 * Tomato Coins (Luncheon Kingdom)
 * Oblong Coins (Bowser's Kingdom)
 * Star Bit Coins (Moon Kingdom)
 * ? Blocks
 * 8-Bit Pipes
 * Barrels
 * Beanstalks
 * Berries
 * Brick Blocks
 * Binoculars
 * Boomboxes
 * Boulders
 * Bowser Statues
 * Bubbles
 * Cactuses
 * Cap Clouds
 * Checkpoint Flags
 * Coin Blocks
 * Coins
 * Coin Rings
 * Coin Stacks
 * Crates
 * Girders
 * Gravity Walls
 * Ground-Pound Switches
 * Hat Launchers
 * Hat Trampolines
 * Hearts
 * Hidden Blocks
 * Jizos
 * Letters
 * Lever Switches
 * Life-Up Hearts
 * Lifts
 * Manholes
 * Meat
 * Moon Pipes
 * Moon Rocks
 * Motor Scooters
 * Moon Shards / Moon fragments
 * Multi Moons
 * Paintings
 * Peppers
 * Picture Match Parts
 * Poles
 * Power Moons
 * P-Switches
 * Pulse Beams
 * Push-Blocks
 * Puzzle Parts
 * Rainbow Notes
 * RC Cars
 * Rocket Flowers
 * Safety Bars
 * Scarecrows
 * Slingshots
 * Spark pylons
 * Spiked Shells
 * Spike Traps
 * Steel Blocks
 * Taxis
 * Trees
 * Rockets
 * Sand Geysers
 * Seeds
 * Turnips
 * Golden Turnips
 * Treasure chests
 * Warp Pipes
 * Wind
 * Yoshi Eggs
 * Zippers
 * The Odyssey
 * Oil Drums

Development
Development began after Super Mario 3D World released in 2013. For example, the team found that throwing a hat was the best action to perform with the Joy-Con controller, resulting in the hat "capture" game mechanic.

They wanted a familiar aspect of the series to anchor players in the novel setting, and so chose Pauline 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 gives players freedom to explore at their leisure.

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".

Final Release
Super Mario Odyssey received widespread universal acclaim from critics. Metacritic calculated an average score of 97 out of 100 and is the fifth highest rated. Edgemagazine awarded Super Mario Odyssey with a perfect score, directing praise towards the inventiveness of the game's new ideas and the risks Nintendo had taken to deviate from the establish formula of Mario games, which they felt had paid off.

Famitsu gave the game a score of 39/40, the same as Super Mario 64 and the highest score for a 3D Mario game since then. IGN gave the game a score of 10/10, stating that the game "distills the venerable series’ joyful, irreverent world and characters and best-in-class platforming action, and introduces a steady stream of new and unexpected mechanics."

Merchandise
For a limited time, a Super Mario Odyssey-themed Nintendo Switch Bundle is available on 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
 * A Cereal with the box functioning as an amiibo.

Sales
It was revealed that Super Mario Odyssey sold more than 2 million copies worldwide in 3 days on the market. In five days it sold 1.1 million in North America alone. As of the end of December 2017, Super Mario Odyssey sold 9.07 million copies which is almost two third of the install base of the Switch itself at the time. As of the end of April 2018, Super Mario Odyssey sold 10.41 million copies.

External link

 * Super Mario Odyssey at Nintendo.com

Super Mario Odyssey