Nintendo America Shares Super Mario Odyssey Tostarena Concept Art

When I was at the point where you were, I totally would have felt you. I had to learn, that Odyssey is a bit different to previous games where you would play through the game over a pretty long timespan and then would have beaten like 50% of the actual game with some things and some then unlocked contents available so you can have some more fun after beating Bowser.

But in Odyssey, that main campaign is way, way shorter compared to the rest of the game. And when I rushed from world to world like you might just have, I always played with a certain ‘that’s it?’ attitude, that left me slightly disappointed and often think back to how wicked Galaxy 1 felt, the first time I played it or how wonderful 3D World was for multiplayer.

But then I finished it and realized, there might be quite a lot of stuff going on in these worlds, that felt so small at a glance but now seem to hold en endless amount of collectables. I gotta mention that I also started another playthrough on a 2nd savegame with my daughter exactly there and when you play something – anything – a second time, it also grows differently on you.
So I got quite deeper into that game and now I’m at the point where I’m finally actiavely hunting for moons. I’m like over 50 hours into that game and have about 55% of all moons. While I also felt, just like you, the need for a more open world environment throughout the first rush through the game, I’m now more thankful it has been ‘limited’ to this carefully considered, traditional leveldesign that you learn to break more and morewith some new shortcuts, moves and so on.

After it took quite some time to grow on me, it’s now totally the greatest Adventure-type Mario game. It feels pretty much like a version of Sunshine where they fixed everything that was wrong. Which is a great thing as I really liked Sunshine for the most part but some things really damaged it.

The funny thing is, that ultimately, while I, just like you, felt underwhelmed by it’s dimensions, I’m now kinda overwhelmed by the variety, the amount of moons, of little extra-levels, of little ideas (like the secret hint-photos or how the globe on the odyssey would play a little song for you when you jump on it), by the sheer amount of collectables that will keep me coming back at least for weeks if not months and of course by the amount of lands that, [litle spoiler ahead] just like in 3DWorld get unlocked even when you don’t expect there’s still something else.

Sorry for the essay, but this game somehow deserved it as I just did it injustice. It really doesn’t happen often that any videogame especially on a AAA level like this one, feels crafted with so much heart, love, attention to detail and obvious fun on the dev’s side. There’s even a good soundtrack to be found there which is also something that doesn’t really happen too often anymore.