Super Mario Odyssey Preview
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[Updated 1/15/17 – Direct Feed Gameplay (Japanese)]:
[Original Preview]:
During tonight’s live Switch Presentation, Nintendo finally took the wraps off of its new Mario game, which is officially named Super Mario Odyssey. We got our first glimpse of the new game back in October when Nintendo showed off about five seconds of footage. Ever since then we’ve been eager to see more.
And more did we see! Super Mario Odyssey is making a return to Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine’s open sandbox world. In fact, this new game sees Mario in a whole new land, not the familiar Mushroom Kingdom that some of us have grown tired of. As a matter of fact, it looks like Mario has found our world, with the new trailer showing him running through a massive city filled with skyscrapers and yellow taxis buzzing here and there. There are even normal-sized humans walking around, so I’m very curious to see what the story is behind this game. I actually got a little bit of a Lego City Undercover vibe from some of the camera angles.
Of course, Mario will have many different worlds to explore, and they all look fantastic. It’s obvious the Nintendo Switch has more horsepower than the Wii U did. Look at the draw distance and the resolution and the detail in the character models. The game is chock-full of little details, like Mario shivering at night and holding his breath as he swims under the water.
One new gameplay mechanic that’s shown off in the trailer is Mario’s ability to throw his hat. In one screenshot Mario is seen by the Crazy Cap shop, so perhaps he will be able to obtain new powers via his different hats? If I didn’t know better, I’d think Rare got ahold of the game and added eyes to his trademark red cap.
I must say I’m extremely excited for this new Mario adventure and can’t wait to give it a try. It looks fresh and I really love the more expansive games in the series. We’ll have much more on this game as it approaches its Holiday 2017 release date.
This is the first sandbox game that allows Mario to fully explore his world since Super Mario 64 on Nintendo 64 and Super Mario Sunshine on Nintendo GameCube. Mario jumps out of the Mushroom Kingdom and embarks on a journey through mysterious new places and new experiences, such as sailing between worlds aboard an airship and the ability to throw Mario’s cap. Super Mario Odyssey is scheduled to launch during the 2017 holiday season.
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
