The first video game I ever played was Super Mario Brothers on the NES and I have played pretty much every iteration of a Mario game since then.
I've always been a fan of the series and with the release of Super Mario Odyssey. It's been getting insane review scores people seem to be loving the game. It's one of the highest-rated games of all time on Metacritic.
But Super Mario 64 has always been my jam. It's always been in my opinion the pinnacle of the series. Especially in the 3D aspect of things. I felt that the first time. They did it. It perfectly and it was just a great game to begin with. So with Super Mario Odyssey getting such high scores of course much like Legend of Zelda breath of the wild.
People are saying that the game is overrated. People are finding flaws in the game and these are things worth discussing. So in this article, we're going to take a look at both the negative and the positive aspects of Super Mario Odyssey and come to a conclusion is Super Mario Odyssey overrated. Is it one of the best games of all time or is it just hype and nostalgia that are leading people to feel this way.
Let's get into it. So with these article, I like to look at the negative aspects of the game before getting into the positive aspects. Because you can't have good without bad.
You can't have bad without good. So most of these are things that I've seen from other reviewers and a couple of them are personal to myself now.
One of the things, I've been seeing a lot of people complain about is
the lack of a central hub world now. The way Super Mario Odyssey is sort of
broken up into.
It's broken up into kingdoms you spend a time in a kingdom and then move on to the next kingdom.
People seem to like that hub world aspect you had it in other 3D Mario Games such as Super Mario 64 such as Super Mario Sunshine and of course The Galaxy series.
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It does feel kind of weird at first, I can admit to not have a central hub world. Because it's sort of pigeon holes. It back to the 2D style of games where you know. It's a little bit more closed. But I don't really think that that's you know a bad thing. Because of how big the kingdoms are which we will get into.
So the lack of a centralized hub world is a bit of an interesting decision. I think a lot of people wanted the city level of new dog city to sort of be that hub world aspect of the game. But to me personally, it is not a big deal. Super Mario Odyssey sort of acts as the hub world itself which is the ship that you use to transport from level to level from world to world.
So it's not really that big of a deal in my opinion some people are a bit upset with it now. One thing that a lot of people seem to be talking about is sort of the deviation from the classic Mario elements. There are no you know mushrooms to make yourself bigger.
There are no 1up mushrooms. Because they sort of ditched the life system, the life system is dependent on your coins now. The amount of coins you have pretty much is the amount of lives. You have the more coins, you have the more lives, you essentially have. I never felt in the game that I was running out of coins to the point of where I was going to get a game over.
I don't even know if there is a game over in this game. So that is sort of interesting much like breath of the wild was a big departure from the Legend of Zelda series with the removal of dungeons. These are pretty much staple elements, you know the 1up mushroom, the fire mushroom you know there's.
These are staple elements of Mario games and it does feel a bit weird to not have these available anymore.
One thing that I personally felt with Super Mario see was the music. I
didn't think there was as many memorable music moments in this game as opposed
to other Mario games.
There were two amazing tracks both with vocals in the game that I thought were just you know top-notch phenomenal. But as far as you know the kingdom music. It didn't really resonate with me.
Maybe I just need to play these kingdoms more to sort of start humming these tunes. But there wasn't that many memorable music moments in Super Mario Odyssey for me. The final two complaints that I have seen from other reviewers and other youtubers are camera controls.
The fact that there are some shoehorned in motion controls now. As far as the camera is concerned, this wasn't an issue for me.
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I had literally zero problems controlling the camera. I have heard some people say the default is a bit too slow. They didn't like that I guess just adjust it like the cameras are gonna be for everyone in these types of games. This is a 3D platformer. Obviously you're gonna have to make some adjustments to you know meet your gameplay style me.
Personally I had zero issues with the camera throughout the entire game. But I can't see people you know potentially having issues. I don't know it just depends on the player really now another aspect that I sort of agree with.
I could definitely see a viewpoint of is the motion controls. There are some motion controls that are included in this game.
There's like literally two moves that you do with that require the motion controls. A lot of people are upset about that. Because they want to sort of move on from the motion control era. But to me it wasn't a big deal.
Because I never used these moves you know, if I needed to use the moves I would simply use the move in the Dogface controller setup and just do the move.
It wasn't a big deal to me. But some people felt like it was just a bit shoehorned in and I could see that you know point of view. A lot of people want a more standard experience with their video games now.
The motion control era the you know PlayStation Move the Kinect era has moved on. So to see motion controls included in the game can be a bit disparaging for people.
But it's definitely not something that's you know forced upon you. You
can definitely complete the game without using any motion controls.
It's just there if you like motion controls. Because there are you know a group of people out there that still enjoy motion controls.
So pretty much that's the negative aspects of the game and as far as the pause of aspects of the game good.
So as I mentioned in the negative aspects of the game there is no hub world you are on the Odyssey. Which you can't decorate with things from different kingdoms. But the Odyssey sort of serves as your little hub world as you move from Kingdom to Kingdom.
But let's talk about the kingdoms folks. Because these kingdoms are massive kingdoms like there's.
So much to do there is, so much to see you're not just simply trying to get to the end of the level or get you know X amount of stars and then move on from those level like in Super Mario 64 or in Super Mario Galaxy like.
There is tons of stuff to do, there's tons of secrets within these kingdoms . Each one of these kingdoms feels like a living and breathing world.
It's just amazing the amount of you know time and care and detail that goes into these worlds our kingdoms. Each Kingdom has its own costume set that you can purchase from a store and it's just it's honestly mind-blowing the amount of stuff to do simply beating Super Mario Odyssey is just the tip of the iceberg.
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Which we will talk about at the end of this video but the Kingdom size is just amazing and speaking of the kingdoms new Dog City. My god that is the best level in a Mario game ever. It may be one of my favorite levels of all time. I did not want to leave new Dog City. I spent a good 3-4 hours just messing around in new dog city not completing everything.
A lot of people were sort of against you know Mario in a real world aspect. But they did a great job balancing the real world aspect and still the Super Mario aspect. It doesn't feel as shoehorn as you know something like Sonic Adventure which I didn't think was that bad to begin with. But I could see why people were sort of against that.
Because there was a lot of interaction with the humans, the humans are more just set pieces here. You know Mario is the sort of you know sore thumbs sticking out and but he blends in well and you get your little suit. Your little you know fedora on it's just new dog city was an amazing level I loved exploring new dog city.
I still have moons to collect in new dog city and there's just so much to do and so much to see. There's a huge level of interaction, there's minigames littered throughout you know not just new dog city. Other levels that have online leaderboards and stuff like that. So it really continues the game as well you know.
Once you beat that main storyline there's more than just one reason to keep playing which we'll get into at the end of this article. But you have these mini games with high scores things like jumping rope and stuff I honestly loved new dog city.
At the end of this article, I'm going back to new dog city just to mess around. Because it's just unlike anything you've ever seen in a Mario game.
They did a great job combining New York City with Donkey Kong elements. It's just amazing, it's absolutely amazing and the fan service in this game a top-notch I have never seen such good fan service. People might say you know oh it's playing into your nostalgia of previous games.
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But it's not it's more of the accumulation of the series when you do that final battle in new dog city amazing that is one of the best things I've ever seen in a video game.
I'm not gonna spoil it for you guys. But it's just it was breathtaking,
it was absolutely breathtaking. How amazing that sequence was and you know sort
of playing onto that there's stuff that you do at the end of the game after the
credits roll absolutely amazing. There's so much fanservice and once those
credits roll, there's still tons of stuff to do really.
When the credits roll is when the game sort of gets started. It sort of opens up and there's so much additional stuff to do there's. So many hidden costumes, there's so much customization that you can do in this Mario game and really the best aspect. In my opinion is the fact that they freshened up the gameplay much like in breath of the wild.
You know Zelda games sort of fell into this formula where you would you know, you would have to do something you go to a dungeon, you get a new item. So you can go to the next dungeon and it was great it was a tried-and-true thing.
But it did get a bit stale at times. I mean really when it comes to Zelda games you had been playing the same one since ocarina when it comes to 3D Mario games.
There have been you know differentiations and stuff like that. But you've really been playing the same one since Super Mario 64, you know galaxies, sunshine these were all pretty much built on the Super Mario 64 premises and Odyssey takes that next step.
Odyssey goes above and beyond Super Mario 64 mostly. Because of Cappy is the greatest thing ever.
So Cappy is basically your hat and this is your attack. This is your thing to progress through the game and you know taking over a Goomba or a hammer brother or even a Tyrannosaurus Rex is just so crazy.
There's so many different things that you could be common in the game so something as simple as a manhole. It was like what and there's a whole list of things that you unlock of different.
You can capture Cappy is such a positive addition to the series. Because it freshens it up to a level that we have not seen in a Mario game since Super Mario Brothers 3. Super Mario Brothers 3 obviously was a huge leap for the series.
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Super Mario 64 took the series in a new direction. But as far as just reinventing the series much like breath of the wild did.
Super Mario Odyssey does that and that is probably the biggest thing I took away from this game. I have already had the credits roll. I already have the main storyline done. But I've just scratched the surface once you beat the game.
There are so many things to do, it's literally mind-blowing. It's like you expect the single-player experience to last you anywhere from 6 to 10 hours depending on what you do.
But the fact that the game just really begins to open up the fact that they included little mini games with online aspects. The fact that cappy is so versatile. The fact that there are so many hidden things within these levels, within these kingdoms, within the game.
The fact that the game looks absolutely gorgeous.
It's tough it is very tough for anyone to say that Super Mario Odyssey is overrated whether you have been playing Mario games since NES whether the n64 was your first to the Gamecube.
The Wii this is a game that almost transcends video games as far as its impact because it's one of the best video games I have ever played from start to finish of the storyline.
I loved exploring every Kingdom and of course you know some kingdoms are better than others some kingdoms. I had more fun and than others.
But I never felt bored in the game. I never felt restricted in the game. I never felt like the game was holding me back and like oh I would like to be able to do this. I would like to be able to go there. It has that breath of the wild aspect to it.
It's definitely not an open-world game, it's definitely not Grand Theft. Mario like a lot of people were dubbing it. But you could sort of feel that aspect in it.
Because the kingdoms are so big. I'm gonna talk about new dog city a little bit more. Once you get on the scooter and you just start going around it there's. It's I want a whole game based on new dog city. I want the lure of new dog city.
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How did this come to be why is it here. Who made it, it's just I had such a good time with Super Mario Odyssey and I really felt like I would love the game. But I didn't expect to love the game this much Super Mario 64.
As I said at the start of the article, was my favorite Super Mario game of all time. I love Super Mario Brothers 3, I obviously loved the original game at the Super Nintendo 1.
You know that wasn't a huge part of my childhood. But you know galaxies another amazing game that I, 100% completed. But I have to say the sheer amount of content. The sheer amount of fanservice the sheer amount of quality.
The sheer amount of things to do, the sheer amount of hidden secrets and the sheer size of these kingdoms make Super Mario Odyssey on another level. It pretty much is an amazing game.
It is a game that I think will definitely go down as one of the greatest games of all time much like Legend of Zelda breath of the wild. It takes the Mario franchise and takes those core elements. But takes it in a different direction. It's a beautiful direction, it is really the direction of the Nintendo switch. This new Nintendo.
So it's Super Mario Odyssey overrated know if anything, it's underrated. It should be right next to Ocarina of Time on the top of Metacritic. It should not be sitting at a 97, it needs to be at a 98 or a 99, no game is actually perfect in my opinion.
But you could get joy out of a game to the point of where it is a ten Super Mario Odyssey is 8/10 in my opinion, and I can't wait to explore more.
I can't wait to find more secrets more costumes. I know that there are
so much additional stuff after the credits roll and after I beat the main game
that the game is just getting started. I'm really excited to see what else this
game has in store for me.
If you own a Nintendo switch this is a no brainer. If you don't own a Nintendo switch and you've ever enjoyed a Mario game buy it. It's as simple as that buy a switch by this game.
Because you're going to love this game, it is an absolute masterpiece. So I've talked a lot, but let me know what you think of Super Mario Odyssey am I out of my mind? is it really that good or you know is? I will catch you guys next time later with another article switch game reviews.
