Wow, what can I say. I don't often agree with unanimous praise, but every now and again, it is warranted. I've also been a Super Mario fan since childhood, and the series has never once disappointed. I believe both Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World, deserve their GOAT stamps. I played very little of the Galaxy series on the Wii, but I do recall that it was an unsung great series. When I heard they were releasing Mario Odyssey for the Nintendo Switch, I was salivating, and to be honest, that is partially what sold me on the system. I still can't believe the quality of a handheld that Nintendo has produced. I commend them for their effort. It's almost contradictory, but very uncharacteristic of them historically. In fact, growing up a Nintendo handheld fanboy, I grew to resent the way they shut competition down without ever raising their own standards- just using their name.
In fact, if you go online, and look at the sales figures, the Nintendo DS is second behind only the Playstation 2 in global sales. That is absolutely ridiculous. And all the console did was under perform, and release a one-sided library, including horribly watered down knock-off ports of console games. That still blows my mind. Anyway, they have turned over a new leaf as a company. I still support the fact that the Playstation Vita is a legendary handheld that is console quality and well supported by the Indie community. And for all the tech heads that dispute that, I have one simple fact for you to analyze- Why would PS2, PS3, and PS4 take direct ports from the PSP and Vita to release as full fledged titles, if they were incomplete and not console worthy on the handheld? Enough said. However, the Switch is truly breaking ground with the scope of things that it can do. It even has an HD rumble feature built into the game pad itself.
In the preview videos, Mario was shown running through what looks like New York City, and everyone was completely stoked about the release. One of the main new features is the ability to take control of certain enemies using a special hat accomplice that Mario meets in his adventures. Aside from that, the mechanics from Super Mario 64 have been brought back. Every move besides Mario's punches and kicks, is back here again. The swim mechanics have been changed however, and now Mario just falls in order to dive, and cannot swim as long. I guess his conditioning is failing in his old age. There is still the ability to take control of a fish enemy, however, to swim indefinitely during water levels.
In this game, Bowser has kidnapped Peach yet again, and this time, aims to marry her, with the assistance of a Bridal crew, that help him acquire items from various worlds for the wedding, such as a cake, a soup, and flowers. With the help of his new friend, who's sweetheart has also been kidnapped, Mario chases Bowser across all of these worlds, trying to stop him. You face various bosses and challenging enemies, in beautiful, and lush worlds. Each world has several levels and areas, that become available as you complete major missions. The maps themselves are quite big, which was very refreshing. It's as if each world you travel to, is it's own huge sandbox game.
There are puzzles to solve at various points, and bosses to fight, to collect power moons, which are used to power Mario's ship in his pursuit of Bowser and Peach. One thing I have to get out of the way right now, was the criticism I heard about the game, despite its perfect 10's across the board. Most people keep saying that the game's one flaw, albeit forgivable, is that it is too easy. I was relieved to find that they are completely wrong. Whether they are trolls or just autistic, that accusation is way off base. The game's difficulty is perfectly fine, and even has harder levels upon completion. In fact, the game got downright frustrating at times. It's way harder than Super Mario Sunshine, and that game was decent difficulty-wise. They criticized this along with a supposed lack of platforming in the game being the culprit. That is also completely wrong. You will be using the transformation ability often, and you will have many huge structures to platform across. I totally don't understand that criticism, because it isn't even remotely right, so it feels like trolling to be honest. But these same reviewers gave the game a perfect score.
I really enjoyed how musical the game got. The soundtrack is amazing, but moreso, they really paid tribute to classic Mario games in so many ways during the levels, especially the later levels. I heard about surprises later in the game, and at the end, and let me tell you, they are just as amazing as they are said to be. Between the last level/scene's music driven gameplay, and action, and the way it all came together, I was actually fighting back tears at the very end, just for how gorgeous it was, and how special of a game it is. It pays tribute to the series in a way that feels like a perfectly written love letter. And just like Ratchet and Clank on PS4 was a grand tour with more to offer, so does Super Mario Odyssey offer tons more gameplay after you are done with the main story. I will definitely be playing this game indefinitely. During the credits, the song that plays sounded like a remix of an old Mario tune, but as I kept listening, it sounded like the Monster Hunter theme, and then a Zelda theme mixed in. I'm not sure if I'm hearing things, or it it was a combination. Anyways, perfection.10/10
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