Topic: Super Mario Odyssey

I feel the "Fly Me To The Moon" vibe from the music. Something about Moon Power, going to the Moon or perhaps Moon Cosmic Power Make Up (Oopsie... Sailor Moon reference )

I think the newest places might be Japan city (Shogun Mario), Kung Fu city (Dragon from Super Mario Galaxy 2, Kung Fu Lakitu, Imperial Mario), India city (Elephant, Turban Mario), etc...

@rk3388
I don't think they have shown so much - remember last year with Zelda? People were saying they were showing too much with the Great Plateau, and look at how huge the game is. Even if they've showed "all" the kingdoms, I don't doubt they've only shown a small part of them.

I mean, I don't think New Donk City is all there is in Metro Kingdom for example. I don't doubt EAD has all under control.

This point hasn't probably been made before, but I've been thinking about the 'level' structure of Odyssey, and despite the game being compared to Sunshine and 64, it's not quite the same.

While those games had a single hub world and a bunch of open-but-still-structured levels branching off from it, it's almost like Odyssey's 'levels' could be considered hub worlds in their own right. Or at least, certain areas of them seem to function like hubs, but get more 'levelley' as you move to the edges.

However you look at it, it definitely looks like the boundary between 'hub' and 'level' has been blurred compared to past games.

@Maxz

I know what you mean. To me, from the little I have seen(no spoilers man!), these "areas" seem like several different Delphino Plazas where you can find missions/levels in.

@Spanjard Yeah, it's like levels within levels within... well, you get the idea. I'll be interested to see how it affects the rhythm of the game, but after several titles with very compartmentalised level structures, I'm quite looking forward to a change of pace.

If anything, it seems a bit more like Banjo-Kazooie than Sunshine or 64 did, with an even softer emphasis on issuing the player explicit directions.

The 'open' approach worked wonders for Zelda, so I can only hope Mario has the same success. Really though, I'm excited that Nintendo is experimenting with game structure on this scale again, and breaking some of its own conventions. It's easy to say "we invented this genre, we know how it works", and the chuck out a number of games in a similar mould, but it's obviously more exciting being reminded that the rules that shape video games are still being written and rewritten.

Reminds me of Banjo Kazooie game design

With Odyssey coming out so early in the Switch's life,I hope this means we'll get a sequel to it in 3 or 4 years?Although I haven't played it, I already know I wan't more of it..

I would be happy with a sequel, but I would also be happy with Super Mario Galaxy 3 or Super Mario Sunshine HD. I would even love a sequel to Super Mario 3D World cause I loved the couch co op

@rk3388 Sunshine HD is a possibility.I doubt we'll see Galaxy 3 of SM3DW 2 this gen though just for the fact they've never released 2 different styles of 3D Mario on the same console before.Saying that with the Switch being a home and portable console,maybe they will go for 2 styles.I'm hoping they will do that with Zelda,I'd love a proper overhead Zelda in HD.

Funny,as I was writing this comment Odyssey briefly appeared on the TV.

@Maxz It's similar to Sunshine and its sub-levels (those without FLUDD, or those extra missions in Delfino Plaza), except the transition between them a way more fluid, and the sub-levels are way more in theme with the rest of the level. From what I've seen (I don't want to get spoiled too much, so I didn't watch a lot of Treehouse), I like how these sub-levels are implemented.

I wonder if we even get a HUB world or not. There are hints that the Mushroom Kingdom is going to be a kingdom in the game. That makes sense as a first area, and it could maybe act as a HUB world too.

One thing I'd like to see are unique bosses. Stuff like Petey Piranha, Gooper Blooper or King Kaliente. Boss enemies that are in theme with their levels. I hope they don't rely too much on those rabbits. They give me a Koopalings vibe. Generic boss characters.

@Octane Well that's the thing. Having watched all the Treehouse streams (at the risk of spoilers), it seems much less like Sunshine that I'd originally thought. Which is interesting.

I'm hoping the same will be true with Zelda, Xenoblade and Mario Kart too.

They said they want to reuse that Zelda engine. Takahasi said Xenoblade 2 was much quicker to develop because they reused the Xenoblade X engine.

And Mario Kart's pretty much Nintendo's biggest selling franchise so they'll surely be making another.

@Octane We've seen two unique bosses and got to say, while one is a floating head and hands again, the other looks great

@BLP_Software Right! Forget about those. The Nintendo Land centipede and the pyramid boss.

I have a theory I thought might be of interest.

As we know, the New Donk City of the game is a sort of more realistic reimagining of the original Donkey Kong game. What if ALL the levels are like this? The Egypt level could be like Sarasa Land in The Gameboy game, the forest level with the Dinosaurs may be a call back to Super Mario World with Yoshi and the other Dinosaurs in that game, and the Mexican level might be related to the American SMB2 (that's a little tenuous I'll admit). There's even a line in the song about going to the moon which seems it could be implying a Mario Galaxy level. With all the costumes you can wear from the older games, it would make sense that the game is a love letter to Maria's past.

Make sense? Or just out there?

@MrGawain I've had a vague feeling something like this was happening. That wonderfully cohesive theory ties it together really well. But isn't the Mexican level and the Desert level the same, though? And what about the food level and the forest level? The Forest level reminds me of a part of Super Mario Land 2, I guess. But there is definitely an old-fashioned, classical vibe I get from New Donk and Dinosaur Land.

"Mexico" is part of the desert kingdom.

The dinosaur land is part of the techno-forest kingdom.

@Meowpheel Dino Land is part of the Cascade Kingdom, the forest is the Wooded Kingdom. They're separate levels.

Hm I could swear I saw a scene with the t-rex and there were purple hexagons around.

@Meowpheel There was a T-Rex in the forest as well.