And after too many platformers with repetitive scenarios one after the other, I was so relieved and ecstatic to see them go down this brand new path. Bowser’s Kingdom, for one, has such a strong visual identity that I won’t be forgetting that place anytime soon. The stark contrast between incredibly colorful and lively fantasy worlds (such as Mount Volbono), tangible and realistic locations (New Donk City) and eerie and desolated areas (Crumbleden) really highlights this game’s aesthetic, which I wholeheartedly believe is Mario’s best one to date.
I would even go as far as to say this is one of the best visual experiences the Switch has to offer. Visually, this is the best Mario has ever looked. In the end, this capture gimmick managed to make this game a thousand times more interesting than it would’ve been if it was just Mario and a bunch of new power-ups. Special shoutout to the Pokios, the Gushers and the Tropical Wigglers, my absolute favorites to control. Their abilities being a deciding factor in solving puzzles and collecting Moons in the kingdoms they were found on was something that I greatly appreciated. They really went above and beyond on the creativity of their controls to really make each capture feel super unique. I could not have been more wrong! Journeying through these places, you discover a new incredibly fun enemy to possess at every other corner. You can do some crazy maneuvers with the help of this little hat! And without really knowing how it actually worked, I sincerely thought that the whole hijacking enemies thing sounded kinda lame. The removal of the spin from Galaxy 1 and 2 kind of led me to believe they sort of “nerfed” him early on, but that was just until I fully mastered Cappy’s abilities. Mario controls fantastically and I truly don’t expect any less in future games. There’s just so much to see, so much to grab, so many places to look through… Granted, some late game Power Moons can be really tricky to get (fuck Hint Art Moons, by the way) but I can confidently say that I enjoyed probably 95% of this adventure.
This game is just plain addictive, really. I gotta say, I was very partial to the mission structure of the Galaxy games, but Odyssey really hit the nail on the head with the Power Moons.
Never once in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would spend nearly 50 fucking hours in an open world Mario game just having the time of my life. What can I say about this game that hasn’t been said already? It’s hard to describe just how much pure joy this game offered me.
Finally, and I’m not even surprised to say this, a worthy opponent has stepped up to challenge it for the throne. 47h 27m PlayedFor many, many years, Super Mario Galaxy 2 has comfortably held the title of my favorite Mario game of all time.
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