T-Rex

The T-Rex, also simply known as Dinosaur and also dubbed the Prehistoric Tyrant, is an enemy from Super Mario Odyssey that can be controlled by Cappy. It is a with realistic features (albeit slightly outdated due to its lack of a feather coat or necessary musculature, as well as having pronated wrists as opposed to having the supinated wrists of the real Tyrannosaurus and relatives), making it a unique enemy in contrast to the more fantastic designs of most other enemies in the Mario franchise. T-Rexes are indigenous to the Cascade Kingdom and the Deep Woods of the Wooded Kingdom, two of the last locations in the world where they still live.

Two T-Rexes can be found in the Cascade Kingdom: one on a hill in the western half of Fossil Falls, and one in an optional subterranean area called "Dinosaur Nest". These particular T-Rexes are found napping and will not attack Mario or damage him on contact. A fedora-wearing T-Rex can be found prowling a path around a large tree in the Deep Woods of the Wooded Kingdom. This one can either be stunned by tricking it into ramming its head into a rock or wall or throwing a seed at its head to knock it out, making it possible to be captured by throwing Cappy at its head for a little while before it wakes up. A fourth T-Rex in an Aviator Cap can be found in another bonus area within the Metro Kingdom. Unlike the other captures, T-Rexes can only be controlled for a limited time, due to Cappy requiring a lot of energy to keep such a large creature captured. Once the time expires, the T-Rex returns to the spot where it was originally captured. However, this can be circumnavigated by releasing them and recapturing them quickly. The one in the Metro Kingdom cannot be captured and exists solely for a Scooter-based chase sequence, and eventually falls down a bottomless pit.

According to Kenta Motokura, the director of Super Mario Odyssey, the T-Rex's realistic design was influenced by Super Mario World, another game where Mario is alongside dinosaurs. The development team wanted to include a dinosaur never seen in a Mario game before in hopes of surprising the player, causing the developers to steer away from the more cartoonish and caricatured dinosaur designs used in Super Mario World.

In a My Nintendo-exclusive poll conducted during E3 2017, the T-Rex was voted the top enemy that account owners wanted to capture and play as, well above the Goomba, Bullet Bill, Hammer Bro, Chain Chomp, and Cheep Cheep also part of the poll. In an interview with Game Informer, Shigeru Miyamoto likened Mario's ability to capture and control a T-Rex in Super Mario Odyssey to riding Yoshi.

Trivia

 * President Koopa in the Super Mario Bros. film had evolved from a T-Rex, and appears as an actual T-Rex late in the film.
 * Concept art for the film reveals that Yoshi was going to be a young T-Rex at one point in development.
 * A T-Rex was implied to have squished Bowser during the Cretaceous period in the best endings for the PC and SNES versions of Mario's Time Machine.
 * The brochure for the Cascade Kingdom says the T-Rex Mario captures is believed to be female.