Basic Blond Boy
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- Joined
- Dec 16, 2022
I think what helped is that Odyssey had way more ambition placed in it than an entire decade of Mario titles combined. The capture mechanic added a lot to the game and how you can experiment and scope out the world with various abilities and playstyles.I think what helped Odyssey is
>You had a generation of kids that grew up on Mario 64 and this game was a lot like it
>The Switch 1 wasn't just MARIOOOOOOO. It launched with a massive Zelda game and had a good variety of games that, while not "hardcore games for hardcore games" were not sugary sweet enough to alienate young adults. Even 1-2 Switch was made in a way so it could appeal to young adults
More importantly though, the tone and art direction were on point. It was the most cinematic Mario game since Galaxy 1 adding a bit more maturity to the presentation. The art was a nice hybrid of realism and cartoon. Mario looked fantastic with all the details added to his model and the worlds had very distinct and, for lack of a better word, mature presentation. It was a Mario game with a realistic T-Rex you could pilot, a New York inspired city-scape with actual humans, and tons of worlds clearly taking direct inspiration from real-world cultures. This is without mentioning the god damn Dark Souls world with the dragon that everyone has a massive memory of:
This was in a fucking Mario game, it is surreal.
Odyssey just had the developers on something. Hell, even give credit to Bowser's Fury. That side mode cooked with one of the best Bowser designs that added real weight to the world.
They clearly went all out only to never do it again and drop the next Mario title as a cutesy colorful romp with character designs taken straight out of the NSB playbook. The game felt lamer than a New Soup with its overly easy difficulty that got covered up by whatever gimmicks and an overly animated and baby-ish appearance. Mario has had any edge thoroughly removed.