Friday, January 13, 2017

Super Mario Odyssey Trailer, My Thoughts

Yesterday, Nintendo did a big presentation of their next console, the Switch. And with it came some teasers for some upcoming games for the system. One of them is of course, a Mario game. It's called Super Mario Odyssey. Here's the trailer!


With a title like Super Mario Odyssey, I can't help but get the idea that maybe this game involves Mario going on an epic journey. The description dos say Mario will go on an epic journey, and this will be a sandbox-style game. A Mario sandbox game. Can't wait to see how Nintendo will pull this off.

The trailer begins with the camera panning over a city. Heh heh, New Donk City. Makes me think that we'll see a giant Donkey Kong climbing the Mushroom State Building with Pauline in his hand. Get it?

The camera then goes down to a city street, focusing on a manhole. A taxi drives over it, the cover twitches, and Mario pops out from the sewers. He probably smells awful after that journey. A smiling Mario twirls his cap in his hand, puts it on, then runs through the city. I have to admit, it is insane to look at.

A nice touch is that the traffic lights look like question blocks. Maybe they are question blocks. Although I can't help but wonder, how do the people in NDC avoid traffic accidents with traffic lights like that? Do the question marks change color? Can Mario get items out of them? And it seems every car we see is a taxi. That's weird.

One bit that made me chuckle is that Mario then jumps on a taxi's hood and bounces off it like it was a trampoline. If Nintendo wanted to make it more realistic, we should hear a driver cursing Mario out for that, ha ha!

Mario shows us he still has his moves, he can wall kick, hang off ledges, all that stuff. I wonder if this city is some sort of hub world, like Station Square in Sonic Adventure. We see Mario do a long jump off a building, and I don't see that ending well.

Mario then gets into a floating airship, leaving New Donk City, and going to a desert. One neat new thing he shown to do is the ability to curl up into a ball like an armadillo and roll down hills. I wonder if that's supposed to be an evolution of the sliding he can do in the 2D games. He rolls into what looks like a possible Western-style town painted by someone with a neon fetish.

One interesting note: He bounces up to a building, and we see Mario on a roof, collecting these purple triangle things. They're arranged like coins are, and they make sounds like coins when Mario collects them. Are these what the coins in this new game will look like? It's an odd change if so.

The trailer next goes from the desert to a jungle, where we see Mario run past these yellow robot watering can-looking things. What are those?! He next runs on a river, and during his running, I noticed his arms were out like he was about to fly. Traditionally, if Mario makes that pose when he's running, that means he's getting ready to fly once he gets the right power-up. Mario may be able to fly in this game, there may be a power-up that can accompany that.

We see some gorgeous scenery, and one sticks out to me: The one world? Level? That looks like a giant fruit bowl. Mario is carrying a turnip on his head. Shades of Mario 2! All that turnip needed was a face on it, like this one.



We see Mario encounter a Hammer Brother, but instead of hammers, it appears to toss frying pans at Mario. Maybe that one ran out of hammers. Those frying pans are poorly constructed, though. They shatter when they hit the ground. Then a pot explodes on a neon volcano. Nintendo's directive to the level designers clearly was, "Go nuts. Go completely nuts."

Mario shivering, Mario jumping rope with some New Donk City citizens, and Mario talking to what looks like a fork in a chef's hat. Yup, the designers were allowed to just go nuts with this game. Dancing with a boombox, burning his butt on what I think is hot soup, yeah, this is crazy.

In Western Town, we see Mario go into a building called Crazy Cap. A billboard appeared of it in the first shot of New Donk. It's important.

Next is Bowser, actually looking quite slick in his white suit and top hat, which he pitches at Mario like Oddjob's bowler from Goldfinger.

We then see that Mario can toss his own hat like a boomerang. I'm guessing this'll be the big mechanic of the game, much like the cat suit in Super Mario World 3D. Got that game for Christmas, a LOT of fun! The mechanic has a practical use, as it seems when he tosses his hat, Mario can use it to jump higher and over longer chasms by bouncing off it. Pretty cool.

Mario rides a lion. That's awesome, but I hope Yoshi doesn't get jealous.

Some gameplay footage, and Mario spots a billboard, Bowser's going to force Peach to marry him. Bowser stomps on Mario's hat. Maybe that's a preview of the final battle?

We get some brief glimpses of what may be new characters in the game, possibly bosses. I wonder if we'll get any previous characters returning. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Mario 2 bosses making a surprise comeback.

Mario's hat has eyes. It has eyes. Of its own. Maybe that's how Mario can toss his hat like a boomerang? It would make sense.

This trailer was epic. I am excited to get the Switch and this game. I hope that like with 3D World, it'll be one of those games I can't put down. It does look like it. Shame this isn't a launch title, but based on what I saw of Breath of the Wild, I think the Switch will do fine.

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