Super Mario Odyssey E3 2017 Impressions

Super Mario Odyssey was one of the many Nintendo Switch games I got to play at E3 this year and one of the most impressive games of the show. I say that in the sense of loving 3D Mario as opposed to the 2D ones and that sense of open world was in full force. It was a nice sense of scale seeing a city with just a small Mario running through and bumping into folks. The environment of the city was completely open and filled with little activities to do. I was urged to do a quest, just grabbed one and spent most of my time wandering around instead. I jumped along some roof tops taking advantage of the new verticality elements and hopping along with the magic of the hat. The hat itself is an item of mystic assistance since you can use it to help scale the area and to hop off it for higher spots. It should be rather interesting to see that hat in full force and just what sort of special moves players can pull off with it.

Super Mario Odyssey Screenshot E3 2017 Impressions
I didn't exactly see a ton of the game since it was restricted to the area and I more or less got a feeling of the area. It's an odd mix of an era time piece in the olden town with our friendly modern Mario. He almost sticks out in what comes across as a dreamscape area and I'm curious how this fits into the full narrative if there is one. It's going to be a very different sort of Mario game since it's the first 3D title in awhile and they appear to be embracing the insane. This isn't in a crazy way, but just in how bold the visuals of the game look. It's vibrant and looks solid on the Nintendo Switch, it was slightly rough around the edges on the TV though I imagine that will be polished up for launch. It had that fun of taking Mario out into an open space and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the fantasy worlds. The hub was a nice tease to showcase what's possible for the game and I was really wanting to see more of what this entry has to offer.

Read our Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle Preview (E3 2017)
Our E3 2017 Hub

Gamerheadquarters Reviewer Jason Stettner