Super Mario Odyssey takes Mario to the “real world” for the first time.
During the Nintendo Switch presentation late Thursday night, Nintendo announced: Super Mario Odyssey, an “open world” 3D adventure that takes Mario to locations that “look familiar in the real world”. The game is slated to launch during the holiday season in late 2017.
A short gameplay trailer for the game opens with Mario running down a detailed city street and jumping over yellow taxis that are familiar in our world but seem slightly out of place in the usual fantastic world of Mario games. Other scenes in the trailer show Mario jumping rope in a city park, dancing on a boombox, running past skyscrapers and swinging on lamp posts. Don’t expect things to get too “realistic” though… Mario was also shown riding a golden lion at one point, throwing giant turnips and fighting cat-shaped enemies.
The game was described as “a big Mario sandbox world… you can run around in” in the style of games like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. That seems to indicate a break from the more linear, hub-based gameplay of many levels in the Super Mario Galaxy spell.
Mario’s pet will also play a bigger role in odyssey, growing to an individual character complete with expressive eyes. Mario can swing the cap like a boomerang to attack nearby enemies.