The quality of Mario platformers has slowly deteriorated over the past few years, especially for the 3D games. Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World just don’t have the same amount of passion put into it. Fortunately, Super Mario Odyssey breaks this trend and has become one of the best Mario platformers ever, rivaling Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 64.

Super Mario Odyssey brings back the large, wide open levels that were present in the early Mario games. Every world is filled to the brim with both collectibles and personality. Whether it be jumping between skyscrapers in New Donk City or rolling around on the dunes of Tostarena, every kingdom is a joy to explore and jump around in. You can spend hours on just one level tracking down the excellently hidden 800+ Power Moons. Here, the areas can be explored to the player’s liking as there are even dozens of moons can be collected in a multitude of ways. The game encourages exploration and rewards those who go off-the-beaten-path, keeping the worlds exciting and fun.

One of the best mechanics of Super Mario Odyssey is the use of Cappy. This lovable hat is responsible for dozens of new moves to Mario’s jumping abilities. However, the coolest part about Cappy is the power to capture enemies. By throwing your hat at enemies, Mario can possess that creature. Tanks, taxi cabs, and telephone wires are just some of objects that can be controlled. These abilities add a huge amount of variety to the gameplay, yet it never feels forced or unwelcome. Taking over a T-Rex to destroy everything in your path never gets old, and this applies to all of the captured enemies.

The only major flaw with Super Mario Odyssey is its difficulty. There are not many challenging platforming segments and boss fights are laughably easy. Other than that, Super Mario Odyssey is one of the best Mario games released in years and is a must-have for any Switch owner’s library.

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