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 has Mario leaving the Mushroom Kingdom to reach an unknown open world-like setting, like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. This new world has been stated to bear resemblances to the real world.

Judging by posters seen in the announcement trailer, it seems that the game's story will involve, at least in part, Mario preventing a forced marriage of Princess Peach to Bowser.

Gameplay
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 strike certain objects and enemies to possess and 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.

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

Playable

 * Mario
 * Cappy

Supporting Cast

 * Princess Peach
 * 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

Villains

 * Bowser
 * The Broodals, a quartet of rabbits that were hired to plan Bowser's wedding
 * Harriet, a female Broodal wearing a purple dress
 * Topper, the shortest Broodal wearing a green suit

Non-playable characters

 * Humans (present in New Donk City)
 * Fork creatures in chef attire (present in Mount Volbono)
 * Tostarenans, skeletal townsfolk overwhelmed by a flood in their region (present in Tostarena Town)
 * Steam Gardeners, robotic teapots that water the flowers (present in Steam Gardens)
 * Rabbits

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

Unknown

 * A pink Wingo-like bird in chef attire (present in Mount Volbono)
 * Sheep wearing sombreros (present in Tostarena)
 * White ghosts wearing black hats (present in Bonneton)

Items and objects

 * Currency for specific areas, 100 of each are found in each area
 * Coins depicting Pauline's head (New Donk City)
 * Pyramid Coins (Tostarena)
 * Screw nuts (Steam Gardens)
 * Polygonal sphere-shaped objects (Mount Volbono)
 * ? Blocks
 * Beanstalks
 * Bollards
 * Boom boxes
 * Bouncy flowers that make Mario Spin Jump
 * Brick Blocks
 * Binoculars
 * Bubbles
 * Checkpoint Flags
 * Coins
 * Coin Blocks
 * Coin Rings
 * Coin Stacks
 * Crates
 * Doors
 * Empty Blocks
 * Grand Moons
 * Ground-Pound Switches
 * Hearts
 * Hidden Blocks
 * Lever Switches
 * Life-Up Hearts
 * Lifts
 * Moon Shards / Moon fragments (similar to Silver Stars)
 * Power Moons
 * P Switches
 * Rainbow Notes
 * Turnips
 * Treasure chests
 * Warp Pipes
 * The Odyssey, Mario's ship

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. This is why they chose 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

 * 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.
 * Super Mario Bros.: One part of the game allows Mario to walk around in a mural that uses sprites and sound effects from that game.
 * NES Open Tournament Golf: One of Mario's outfits originates from this game.
 * Yoshi's Cookie: One of Mario's outfits originates from the NES version of this game.
 * Super Mario World: A piano remix of this game's overworld theme can be heard on radios in New Donk City. Chargin' Chucks are [[media:Super_Mario_Odyssey_Atlas.jpg|mentioned]] on an atlas released as artwork.
 * Super Mario All-Stars: Mario's wedding outfit resembles one of Mario's outfits originating from 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: One of Mario's outfits originates from this game.
 * 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.
 * Super Paper Mario: Princess Peach and Bowser getting married was also part of the plot in this game.
 * 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.
 * 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 and a building in Tostarena.
 * 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: One of Mario's outfits originates 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.

Trivia

 * This is the first game in which both Princess Peach and Pauline make an appearance in person.