New Super Mario Odyssey Details Given in Nintendo Direct Stream

One of the most anticipated games of the year is Super Mario Odyssey, which will be Mario’s main series debut on the Switch. The game’s release date is coming up and Nintendo’s recent Nintendo Direct stream spent a good amount of time discussing some of its features.

The stream explained that Cappy’s motivation for helping Mario is to save his sister Tiara, who has been captured by Bowser, probably because she will somehow further Bowser’s plan in the game to marry Princess Peach. The video then went on to list a bunch of the areas that Mario will visit in the game, along with the kingdoms each area resides in, including announcing some new levels. The full list of known levels as of now includes New Donk City in the Metro Kingdom, Tostarena in the Sand Kingdom, Mount Volbono in the Luncheon Kingdom, Steam Gardens in the Wooded Kingdom, Bonneton in the Cap Kingdom, Fossil Falls in the Cascade Kingdom, Shiveria in the Snow Kingdom and Bubblaine in the Seaside Kingdom.

Also discussed is Mario’s cap-shaped ship called The Odyssey. This ship runs on items called Power Moons, which are needed to get from kingdom to kingdom. Power Moons can be obtained by solving puzzles, defeating certain enemies, beating mini-games or by just running into them. Power Moon locations can be discovered or hinted at by talking to the characters Talkatoo, Hint Toad or Uncle amiibo. This Power Moon-collecting mechanic seems to imply that there will be a collect-a-thon quality to the game, possibly reminiscent of Banjo-Kazooie or Jak and Daxter.

Players will also be able to use coins to purchase new outfits for Mario to wear. Each level has its own themed outfit, but there will also be outfits that refer back to previous Mario games, such as the builder outfit from Super Mario Maker or the Dr. Mario outfit. Super Mario Odyssey will also have a Snapshot mode, which will allow players to stop time in the game at any time to take pictures. When time is frozen, players can even edit the photo by doing things such as tilting the camera, zooming in and out or changing the color palette before taking the picture.

Super Mario Odyssey hits stores on October 27. There will also be a Switch bundle for the game that also contains a Switch console, red Joy-Con controllers and a Mario-themed Switch case.