Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is an upcoming platform game for the Nintendo Switch set to release on October 27, 2017. It is the sixteenth title in the Super Mario series, the seventh original 3D Mario title, the eighth 3D Mario title overall, and the sixth 3D Mario title on a home console after Super Mario 3D World. The game revolves around Mario exploring unknown open world-like settings, similar to Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. These settings have been stated to bear resemblances to locations in the real world.

The game's story will involve Mario preventing a forced marriage of Princess Peach to Bowser, while also rescuing Tiara, the sister of a ghost wearing a top hat named Cappy.

A Super Mario Odyssey themed Nintendo Switch bundle will also be available on launch day, consisting of a download code for the game, "Mario Red" Joy-Con controllers, and a themed carrying case.

Gameplay
Unlike recent 3D titles such as Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D World, which were more focused on platforming, Super Mario Odyssey will return to the explorative open-world gameplay seen in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, where Mario will explore various areas in order to collect Power Moons. Mario will maintain his moveset from previous 3D titles, including the Long Jump, Roll, Ground Pound, Spin Jump, the Triple Jump and the Dive, the last of which hasn't appeared since Super Mario Sunshine. In addition, a new character called Cappy allies with Mario, and takes possession of his cap. Mario can throw Cappy as if he were a boomerang, and it can also "capture" certain objects and enemies to take control of them.

Mario's life meter also returns with three health, similar to Super Mario Galaxy. Additionally, there does not appear to be any lives, as Mario will instead lose ten Coins upon dying. There will also be a new amiibo line based on Super Mario Odyssey, with a formal Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser, which will unlock more costumes. Other lines are also confirmed to be compatible.

Unlike Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, the game will not have a central hub world. Instead, Mario will pick a location on the globe, and the Odyssey ship will fly there.

Co-op mode is also confirmed, with player one controlling Mario and player two controlling Cappy.

Playable

 * Mario
 * Cappy

Supporting cast

 * Princess Peach
 * Tiara, Cappy's sister
 * Captain Toad
 * Pauline, serving as the mayor of New Donk City
 * Jaxi, a jaguar-like statue found in Tostarena that comes to life when ridden
 * Sphinxes, omniscient statues that block certain pathways until a riddle is answered
 * Hint Toad
 * Bank Toad

Villains

 * Bowser
 * The Broodals, a group of rabbit wedding planners that were hired to plan Bowser's wedding
 * Topper, a short egg-shaped Broodal in a green suit
 * Harriet, a female Broodal who wears a purple dress
 * A stocky Broodal in a blue suit physically similar to Morton
 * A tall, lanky Broodal in orange trousers and slate suspenders
 * An obese female rabbit in a red dress with a golden Chain Chomp pet

Non-playable characters

 * Local residents
 * New Donkers (found in New Donk City; one can be seen in Tostarena )
 * Tostarenans, skeletal townsfolk overwhelmed by ice in their region (found in Tostarena; one can be seen in New Donk City )
 * Steam Gardeners, robotic teapots that water the flowers in their region (found in Steam Gardens)
 * Volbonans, fork-like beings in chef attire (found in Mount Volbono)
 * Snail creatures (found in Bubblaine)
 * Koopa Troopas (found in Tostarena)
 * A quartet of Koopas wearing caps that race Mario (found in the tropical kingdom)
 * Rabbits
 * Birds exclusive to each region
 * Pigeons (found in New Donk City)
 * Green birds with yellow underbellies resembing vireos (found in Tostarena)
 * Little Birds (found in Steam Gardens)
 * Red birds resembling s (found in Fossil Falls)
 * White birds wearing top hats (found in Bonneton)
 * Sheep wearing sombreros (found in Tostarena)
 * Dog (found in Bubblaine)
 * Talkatoo, a hint-dispensing parrot
 * Uncle amiibo, a device used for connecting amiibo
 * Purple and yellow Dorries wearing Crazy Cap hats

Enemies
Certain enemies will wear different gear depending on the area they are found in.

Bosses

 * The Broodals
 * Harriet (found in Tostarena)
 * Topper
 * Blue Broodal (found in Steam Gardens)
 * Mechawiggler (found in New Donk City)
 * An Olmec head-like being with disembodied hands, similar to Eyerok (found in Tostarena)

Unknown

 * Cookatiel, a pink Wingo-like bird in chef attire (found in Mount Volbono)
 * White ghosts wearing black hats (found in Bonneton)
 * A pink female Goomba wearing a red hat similar to Pauline's
 * A well-dressed, giant, purple octopus (found in Bubblaine)
 * Round, bouncy polar bear-like creatures wearing winter attire (found in Shiveria)

Kingdoms
Currently, there are eleven known locations Mario can explore, which are known as "kingdoms". Each kingdom will be based on a real-world location (e.g. Metro Kingdom's main area, New Donk City, is based on "New York City"). Bowser will be after various items in each of the kingdoms, which all tie to his preparations for his wedding.

It is currently unknown if the game will have any more locations that haven't been revealed yet.

Development
As part of the "Treehouse Live" event on January 13, 2017, Shigeru Miyamoto was hosted as a special guest, and interviewed for the Super Mario Odyssey segment. When asked about "coming home" to the Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine style of gameplay, Miyamoto explained that when he was developing Super Mario 64 with Yoshiaki Koizumi, they realized that the title would be more directed towards the "core gamer", rather than the casual, pick-up-and-go gamer. After Super Mario Sunshine, their focus reshifted to more accessible, casual gamers, hence encouraging them to make Super Mario Galaxy.

Then in recent years, we made Super Mario 3D World and even though that's a 3D game, it's a little more accessible to everybody. And so speaking of casual gamers, we have Super Mario Maker out, and we also have Super Mario Run. So when we thought about making a Mario for Switch, we wanted to make it [...] something a little bit more on the core side, that people who like action games can really get into.

Miyamoto discussed how the 3D camera in Super Mario 64 worked very well, as it had the joystick as well as the C buttons to adjust the automatic camera. Super Mario Sunshine had the C stick in order to "control the camera freely", although they received feedback that the camera control was "a little bit difficult". With later 3D titles such as Super Mario Galaxy, the minimal control of the camera also attracted some negative feedback. Miyamoto added that it's "very difficult to find the right balance". With Super Mario Odyssey, we made sure that the camera controls are really really smooth and easy to use, and the Switch controllers can really serve to that. [We] really made a sandbox-style game that's really easy and feels good to control.

With all the different ideas that Miyamoto received from other, "younger" developers and programmers, some actually worried him about how well Mario would "fit in" to these different worlds, although he was "open minded" to all ideas that were presented. Miyamoto also sought more senior developers and staff teams who had been involved in past 3D Mario titles, such as Yoshiaki Koizumi, in order to really "go back to the roots" of Super Mario Sunshine.

Vocal Theme: Jump Up, Super Star!


A unique aspect of this title is a vocal main theme, sung by Pauline. The song is big-band jazz style, and details an adventure across the worlds from this game, with Pauline referring to herself as Mario's "1-Up Girl".

References to other games

 * Game & Watch series: The silhouette of a hat-wearing Mr. Game & Watch appears on minigame icons.
 * Donkey Kong: The location New Donk City looks to be a throwback to Mario's early origins as Jumpman. There are steel girders that resemble the ones seen in this game, and the taxi cabs have license plates reading "1981-ND", referencing the year Mario and Donkey Kong made their debut. The name New Donk City is also a reference to Donkey Kong himself. Pauline can also be found here, who originated from this game. The melody from the 25m theme can be heard halfway through the vocal theme song. The bassist can also be heard playing the 25m theme when Mario first finds him. Also, the sound effect played when Mario jumps over a barrel in the game can be heard at the end of the aforementioned riff. In an 8-bit segment using sprites from this game in New Donk City, Mario must dodge barrels while climbing girders. Oil Drums also appear, along with Coins spelling out "DK".
 * Super Mario Bros.: Several parts of the game allow Mario to walk within walls from a 2D perspective, uses sprites and sound effects from that game, as well as altering the stage music to an 8-bit variation.
 * Family Computer Golf: U.S. Course: One of Mario's outfits originates from this game.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: The music that plays in the slots minigame room is an arrangement of the minigame music from this game. The sound effect that plays when using a rocket flower is the sound effect that plays when the P Meter is full in this game.
 * : The Sombrero and Poncho originates from the Game Boy version of this game.
 * Super Mario Land: Several enemies of the Sand Kingdom resemble enemies from this game. One notable enemy is the Moe-Eye, with glasses similar to the Moai statues found in the Easton Kingdom.
 * Dr. Mario: One of Mario' outfits originates from this game.
 * Super Mario World: A piano remix of this game's overworld and underwater themes can be heard on radios in New Donk City. When controlled by Mario, Moe-Eye sometimes hums the game's ending theme while walking around with its sunglasses on. Sprites of Fuzzies from this game are used when Fuzzies appear in 8-bit segments.
 * Mario Paint: One of Mario's outfits is an artist outfit that was used in this game's artwork.
 * NES Open Tournament Golf: One of Mario's outfits was iconically used in this game.
 * Yoshi's Cookie: One of Mario's outfits originated from the NES version of this game.
 * Donkey Kong Country series: Characters' names from this series appear as street signs all over New Donk City such as Diddy Kong, Cranky Kong, Rambi the Rhino, Expresso the Ostrich, Squawks the Parrot, Dixie Kong, Tiny Kong, and King K. Rool.
 * Mario's Picross: The Explorer Hat and Explorer Outfit originates from this game.
 * Super Mario 64: The structure of the kingdoms in Odyssey carry-over what was established in 64, such as the lack of a time limit and having areas change each time the player visits them, based on what the player previously completed. Super Mario Odyssey is considered a spiritual successor to both Super Mario 64 and Sunshine. Mario relies on a Health Meter rather than Mushrooms. 64 first introduced utilizing variations of Mario's Cap as power-ups. The number on Mario's football jersey is "64". There is a minigame involving foot racing Koopa Troopas, much like with Koopa the Quick. Mario can jump into some paintings in specific kingdoms to get to other kingdoms.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: Super Mario Odyssey is the first 3D main series game since Super Mario Sunshine to feature open sandbox-style levels, as well as Mario's Dive move. Additionally, Mario can once again sidle while grabbing on a ledge. Mario retains his Spin Jump move as well.
 * Super Mario Galaxy: The animation of Mario and Cappy getting a Grand Moon is similar to Mario getting a Grand Star in this game. The low health buzzer sound also plays when Mario is low on health. The Ground-Pound Switches and Rainbow Notes that first appeared in this game also reappear. Captain Toad, together with the Toad Brigade theme, appears in the game. The Life-Up Heart functions exactly like the Life Mushroom from this game. Mario's idle animation of falling asleep is similar to this game.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: The white birds from the game return in the Wooded Kingdom.
 * Super Mario 3D World: Some of the elements and sound effects are reused in this game. Cat Mario's Costume Mario sprite from Super Mario Maker can be seen on the side of one of the skyscrapers in New Donk City, a building in Tostarena, and a pillar in the Mt. Volbono region; and Cat Peach's sprite can be seen behind the right black-colored wall in the New Donk City Auditorium. Captain Toad's design in Super Mario Odyssey was first introduced in this game.
 * Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker: The Jaxi maze in Tostarena uses the same arrangement of the Super Mario Bros. underground theme from this game.
 * Super Mario Maker: The Builder Helmet and Builder Outfit originate from this game. A sprite of Costume Mario's Cat Mario costume can be seen on the side of one of the skyscrapers in New Donk City and a building in Tostarena, and a sprite of the Cat Peach costume can be seen behind the right black-colored wall in the New Donk City Hall Auditorium.