Topic: Super Mario Odyssey

This is the game I'm waiting for before I take the plunge and buy a Switch. Gotta give Ninty credit though, they're doing the proper amount of marketing this time around and the game library of the Switch is building up nicely.

Rough translation: "It is "Bouquet of Pac-n-Flower" which Princess Peach caught in Koppa has in hand. It is decorated with "Bouquet's Flower" and Pink ribbon which is cultivated in the forest country. It is a packed flower that Mario attacks when approaching, but is it familiar to Princess Peach ...?"

Well that's just adorable @SLIGEACH_EIRE

Google Translate doing a cracking job there.

Slightly less rough translation:

Maybe 'Bowser-napped' shouldn't technically correct, as with 'kidnapped' it's generally not the kids doing the napping (mind you, it's often not kids being napped, so to hell with consistency). It still sounds less clunky in the wider sentence than taking the subject to be 'Peach who was kidnapped by Bowser', or the very literal 'Kinapped-By-Bowser-Princess-Peach'. It's probably still an improvement on Google Translate's valiantly garbled effort though.

I like the idea that the piranha plants have grown attached to peach.

@Meowpheel They didn't seem to have any problem snapping at her coattails in 3D World, so it seems that one or the other has softened.

#forthecasuals

@Som64 Insert OOT Link screams and fall damage grunts.

@Maxz And yet picking up ones in flower pots makes them completely docile to the holder, despite showing the ability to turn and potentially bite the holder in the face. Those bouquet Piranha Plants seem pretty young, so perhaps they can be domesticated at that age?

@meleebrawler Man, Mushroom Kingdom horticulture is some deep Schmidt.

I suppose it's not as whack as the mushrooms being the actual people of the Kingdom.

@Maxz Or the dinosaurs that can fertilize their eggs at will.

I'm okay with no fall damage. I usually find it to be more annoying than anything else, and I don't think I've ever really had an experience where it contributed much to my overall enjoyment of a game.

How did past Mario games punish the player for losing all their lives and getting a Game Over?

@-Green- Starting over from your last safe. I think it was an alright punishment, especially in Sunshine, where getting to the FLUDD-less stages wasn't always as easy (and those where the levels that would often result in a game over). In Odyssey it wouldn't add much to the game I think, since all the worlds are coherent stages, and all you need to do is walk over there. I think the game even puts you back in the spot where you died, but I'm not sure about that.

I'm not sure I like the removal of fall damage though...

@Octane Im of two minds with fall damage.

On one hand it encourages less careful platforming knowing the only punishment is having to track back up. But at the same time that wasted time is an incentive.

But in 3d mario games of past fall damage is completely negatable.

@Tsurii True, but it's one of those ''if it ain't broke, don't fix it'' things. I had no problem with fall damage, and it's sort of part of the games, so I don't see why they need to remove it. But that's just me. If I had the choice, I would have put it in the games. The removal of fall damage isn't going to ruin the experience for me though.

I'm also okay with no fall damage but, I want to hear Mario scream.

Like he did in Mario 64 and Sunshine.

There are plenty of ways of creating high-stakes platforming other than fall damage. Then most obvious examples being bottomless pots, pools of lava, beds of spikes, sinking sand, acid lakes, oceans of fondue, etc. It's not like gravity is nature's only way of punishing poor platforming. Drowning beneath waves of softly bubbling melted Gruyere can be much more fatal than fisticuffs with Newton's favourite force.

I'm genuinely trying to think whether the fall damage helped lend some past games a more palpable sense of weight. I think it did - a bit. But I've also seen some awesome jumps from NDC Skyscrapers onto other surrounding buildings, and it'd be lame if those epic leaps were accompanied by a substantial loss of health.

Zelda made use of high places by giving you the glider. Judging from NDC's layout at least, it seems Nintendo's working a bit of the 'climb high, jump far' school of level design into Osyssey too. They weren't going to give him a glider, so I guess his already impressive long-jump combined with no fall damage is the closest Mario will get to aerial exploration. Having said that, he has been granted a cape/feathered cap for airborne frolicks in the past, so who knows what his options for flight will be this time.

I suppose you could say the sky's the limit.

@Maxz Well, they could either follow the trend of reviving old powerups like they did with the Super Leaf and do the same with the cape feather. Or go with the hat trend and bring back 64's Wing Cap. On the other hand... levels actually seem relatively devoid of standard Mario power-ups, so maybe they expect you to capture a flying enemy to do that.

@Octane You start from the most recent checkpoint you've touched. They're not just fast-travel points.

I'm ok with no fall damage. Gives the player the opportunity to think creative ways to get around the levels.

Mario never took fall damage until 64, anyway, so this super leg strength is not a new thing.