Super Mario Odyssey: The Complete Guide to Nintendo’s Best 3D Platformer

Super Mario Odyssey sold over 27 million copies worldwide since its launch in October 2017. That makes it one of the best selling Nintendo Switch games of all time. But raw sales numbers only tell part of the story. Critics gave it near perfect scores across the board, and players still talk about it years later as one of the greatest platformers ever made.

So what makes Super Mario Odyssey so special? Why does a game about a plumber in a red hat continue to capture the hearts of millions of players? The answer is simple. Nintendo built a game that feels fresh at every turn, rewards curiosity at every corner, and never stops surprising you from start to finish. Whether you are a longtime Mario fan or someone brand new to the series, this guide covers everything you need to know about one of the most important games on the Nintendo Switch.

What Is Super Mario Odyssey?

Super Mario Odyssey is a 3D platforming game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It launched on October 27, 2017, and quickly became a system seller for the console. The game follows Mario as he travels across multiple unique kingdoms in a hat shaped airship called the Odyssey. His goal is to stop Bowser from forcing Princess Peach into a royal wedding.

The game plays differently from most recent Mario titles. Instead of linear levels with a flagpole at the end, Super Mario Odyssey gives you large open sandbox areas to explore freely. Each kingdom is packed with secrets, challenges, puzzles, and collectibles called Power Moons. You need these Power Moons to fuel your airship and travel to the next kingdom. Think of it like a massive treasure hunt where every rock, rooftop, and hidden cave might hold something valuable.

What truly sets Super Mario Odyssey apart from other Mario games is the capture mechanic. Mario has a new companion named Cappy, a sentient hat that sits on Mario’s head. When you throw Cappy at certain enemies or objects, Mario takes control of them. You can become a Goomba, a Chain Chomp, a T-Rex, or even a tank. This one mechanic changes everything about how you play and think about the game.

The Story Behind Super Mario Odyssey

The plot of Super Mario Odyssey is straightforward but charming. Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach again, but this time he plans to marry her in a grand ceremony. He travels the world stealing precious items for the wedding, including a dress, a cake, flowers, and a ring. Mario must chase Bowser across the globe to stop the ceremony and rescue Peach.

Along the way, Mario meets Cappy, whose sister Tiara has also been kidnapped by Bowser to serve as Peach’s wedding headpiece. Mario and Cappy team up with a shared goal. This partnership gives the story a buddy adventure feel that previous Mario games lacked. Their dynamic is light and fun without getting in the way of gameplay.

The story takes you through deserts, forests, oceans, cities, and even food themed lands. Each kingdom has its own mini narrative tied to Bowser’s wedding plans. The Broodals, a group of evil rabbit wedding planners, serve as recurring bosses throughout the game. They are quirky and memorable, adding personality to each kingdom you visit. The story wraps up with a finale that manages to be both epic and genuinely funny, which is hard to pull off in any game.

Gameplay Mechanics That Make Super Mario Odyssey Shine

Movement and Controls

Mario has never controlled better than he does in Super Mario Odyssey. His movement is tight, responsive, and loaded with options. You can run, jump, triple jump, long jump, ground pound, wall jump, dive, roll, and backflip. Wait, let me rephrase that last move set. You can perform a forward aerial toss to cover distance quickly. Combining these moves together creates a flow that feels incredibly satisfying once you get the hang of it.

The controls work well with both Joy Con motion controls and a Pro Controller. Motion controls add some extra hat throwing options, like tossing Cappy in a circle or throwing him upward. These moves are helpful but not required. You can play the entire game without motion controls and still access almost everything.

Advanced players can chain moves together in creative ways. A long jump into a cap throw into a dive into another cap bounce can send Mario soaring across huge gaps. The skill ceiling is surprisingly high for a game that looks so family friendly. Speedrunners have found incredible routes through levels by mastering these movement options.

The Capture Mechanic

The capture mechanic is the heart of Super Mario Odyssey. When Mario throws Cappy at certain enemies or objects, he possesses them and gains their abilities. This is not just a gimmick. Nintendo designed entire sections of the game around specific captures, making each one feel purposeful and fun.

Some captures are simple. Possessing a Goomba lets you stack other Goombas on your head and walk around as a wobbly tower. Capturing a Bullet Bill lets you fly through the air at high speed. Others are more complex. Taking over a Pokio, a bird enemy with a sharp beak, lets you poke into walls and fling yourself upward. Capturing a piece of electric current lets you zip along power lines to reach new areas.

The variety is staggering. There are over 50 different things you can capture in Super Mario Odyssey. Each one has unique controls, abilities, and uses. Some appear in only one kingdom, making them feel special and tied to that location. A Lava Bubble in the fiery Luncheon Kingdom lets you swim through lava. A Sherm tank in the Wooded Kingdom lets you blast through walls. Every capture teaches you something new about the world around you.

Power Moons and Exploration

Power Moons are the main collectible in Super Mario Odyssey, and there are over 800 of them scattered across all the kingdoms. You need a certain number of Power Moons to power up the Odyssey airship and travel to the next kingdom. But the real fun comes from trying to find as many as possible.

Power Moons are hidden everywhere. Some are sitting in plain sight on top of buildings. Others require you to solve environmental puzzles, win races against Koopa Troopas, or complete platforming challenges in hidden sub areas. A few are earned by ground pounding a specific spot on the ground that looks slightly different from the terrain around it. The game constantly rewards you for paying attention to small details.

The beauty of the Power Moon system is that it respects your time. You do not need to collect every single one to beat the game. Casual players can grab enough to progress through the story without stress. Completionists, however, will spend dozens of hours tracking down every last moon. The game also adds new Power Moons to each kingdom after you beat the main story, giving you even more reasons to revisit old areas.

A Kingdom by Kingdom Breakdown

Super Mario Odyssey features over a dozen unique kingdoms, each with its own theme, residents, currency, and secrets. Here is a look at some of the standout locations.

Cap Kingdom serves as your starting point. It is a foggy, dark land filled with hat shaped buildings and ghostly residents. The tutorial takes place here, teaching you the basics of Cappy’s abilities.

Cascade Kingdom is where things start opening up. Ancient ruins, a Chain Chomp you can capture, and a massive T-Rex roaming the landscape make this early kingdom unforgettable. The moment you capture that T-Rex and smash through rocks is one of the best early game surprises in any Nintendo title.

Sand Kingdom is the first truly large sandbox area. The town of Tostarena is surrounded by a frozen desert, ancient ruins, and underground caverns. This kingdom introduces the Jaxi, a rideable stone jaguar that zooms across the sand at breakneck speed. There are dozens of Power Moons hidden here, and the area feels enormous on your first visit.

Metro Kingdom might be the most iconic location in the game. New Donk City is a full scale city with realistic looking human characters, skyscrapers, and traffic. Mario looks hilariously out of place among the normal sized people, and that contrast is part of the charm. The festival sequence at the end of this kingdom, set to the song “Jump Up, Super Star,” is widely considered one of the greatest moments in Mario history.

Seaside Kingdom features a beautiful beach area with a giant glass filled with sparkling water. You can capture a Cheep Cheep to explore underwater sections or use a Gushen, a water spouting octopus, to jet around the area. The boss fight here is creative and tests your understanding of the capture mechanic.

Luncheon Kingdom is built entirely around food. Lava is replaced by boiling pink stew, and the architecture looks like giant fruits and vegetables. Capturing a Lava Bubble to swim through the stew is both funny and genuinely cool from a gameplay perspective.

Bowser’s Kingdom takes heavy inspiration from Japanese castle architecture. The area features traditional Japanese aesthetics mixed with Bowser’s trademark style. You fight through waves of enemies and navigate tricky platforming sections to reach the final confrontation before the wedding.

Moon Kingdom serves as the game’s climax. The low gravity setting changes how Mario moves, and the final boss encounter with Bowser is packed with spectacle. Without spoiling too much, the ending sequence involves one of the best uses of the capture mechanic in the entire game.

Post Game Content and Replayability

Beating the main story of Super Mario Odyssey is only the beginning. The post game content is massive. New kingdoms become available after the credits roll, including the Mushroom Kingdom, which is a loving tribute to Super Mario 64. Peach’s Castle is fully explorable, and the surrounding area is packed with references to classic Mario games.

Hundreds of new Power Moons appear across every kingdom you have already visited. New challenges unlock, including some brutally difficult platforming stages that will test even the most skilled players. The Darker Side of the Moon is a lengthy gauntlet that requires mastery of every mechanic the game has taught you. It is considered one of the hardest challenges in modern Mario games.

Coins you collect throughout the game can be spent on outfits and ship decorations. Each kingdom has its own regional currency used to buy exclusive items. Dressing Mario in dozens of different costumes, from a chef outfit to a full samurai armor set, adds a fun layer of personal expression. Some outfits are also required to access certain locked doors, adding a light puzzle element to the costume system.

The game also includes a photo mode, letting you pose Mario with different expressions and filters. Luigi’s Balloon World, a free update added after launch, gives you an online hide and seek mode. You can hide balloons in tricky spots for other players to find, or search for balloons hidden by players around the world. This mode alone added hours of extra content to an already packed game.

Visuals, Music, and Presentation

Super Mario Odyssey is one of the best looking games on the Nintendo Switch. The art direction is colorful, sharp, and bursting with personality. Each kingdom has a distinct visual identity that makes it instantly recognizable. The Sand Kingdom feels warm and ancient. Metro Kingdom feels modern and bustling. The Luncheon Kingdom feels whimsical and strange. Nintendo’s artists did an incredible job making every location feel alive.

The game runs at a smooth 60 frames per second in handheld mode and docked mode, with only minor resolution differences. Performance stays consistent even during busy scenes with lots of enemies and effects on screen. This level of polish is something Nintendo is known for, and Super Mario Odyssey delivers it perfectly.

The soundtrack deserves special attention. “Jump Up, Super Star” became a viral hit, but the rest of the music is just as good. Each kingdom has its own theme that perfectly matches the mood and setting. The Cascade Kingdom theme feels adventurous and grand. The Steam Gardens theme in the Wooded Kingdom is peaceful and mysterious. Boss fight music ramps up the intensity at exactly the right moments. The soundtrack has over 80 tracks and every single one feels carefully crafted.

Sound design is equally strong. Every jump, coin grab, and cap throw has a satisfying audio cue. The sound Mario makes when he captures an enemy is instantly recognizable after just a few hours of play. Small details like the change in footstep sounds depending on the surface Mario walks on show how much care went into the audio design.

Co Op Mode and Accessibility

Super Mario Odyssey includes a two player co op mode where one person controls Mario and another controls Cappy independently. The second player can fly Cappy around freely, attacking enemies and collecting coins without being tethered to Mario’s position. This mode makes the game much more accessible for younger or less experienced players. A parent can control Cappy and help their child progress through tricky sections.

The game also has an Assist Mode that adds helpful features for new players. In this mode, Mario takes less damage, arrows point you toward your next objective, and falling into a pit does not cost you a life. It removes frustration without removing the fun. You can switch between normal and assist mode at any time from the pause menu.

These accessibility options make Super Mario Odyssey a great choice for families. The game is rated E10+ and contains no objectionable content. The humor is clean and clever. The challenge scales nicely, offering easy moons for beginners and extremely hard moons for veterans. Very few games manage to serve such a wide audience this effectively.

How Super Mario Odyssey Compares to Other Mario Games

Super Mario Odyssey draws clear inspiration from Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. All three games feature open sandbox levels with multiple objectives hidden throughout each area. However, Super Mario Odyssey improves on its predecessors in almost every way.

Super Mario 64 had 120 Power Stars spread across 15 courses. Super Mario Odyssey has over 800 Power Moons spread across more than a dozen kingdoms. The density of content per area is significantly higher. You are almost always within reach of another discovery in Super Mario Odyssey, which keeps the dopamine flowing and reduces downtime between rewards.

Compared to the more linear Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario Galaxy games, Super Mario Odyssey offers far more freedom. You choose how to approach each kingdom. You decide which moons to pursue first. There is no time limit pressuring you to rush through areas. This freedom makes exploration feel relaxing rather than stressful.

The capture mechanic also sets Super Mario Odyssey apart from every other game in the series. Previous Mario games gave you power ups like the Fire Flower or Tanooki Suit. Those are fun, but they always felt like temporary boosts. Capturing an enemy in Super Mario Odyssey fundamentally changes how you interact with the world. It is a bigger, bolder idea, and Nintendo executed it brilliantly.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Super Mario Odyssey

If you are playing Super Mario Odyssey for the first time, here are some practical tips that will help you enjoy the game more.

First, take your time in each kingdom. Rush through and you will miss most of what makes the game great. Talk to every character, look behind every building, and ground pound anything that seems suspicious. The game hides Power Moons in the most unexpected places, and finding them on your own is deeply satisfying.

Second, experiment with the capture mechanic constantly. See an enemy you have not captured before? Throw Cappy at it. Many captures have hidden abilities that are not immediately obvious. Try every button and movement option when you take over a new creature.

Third, return to earlier kingdoms after beating the game. Post game content adds substantial new challenges and Power Moons to every kingdom. Areas that felt fully explored during your first visit will suddenly have fresh things to find. Some of the best content in the entire game only becomes available after the credits roll.

Fourth, try the motion controls at least once. They are not required, but they add useful moves that the button controls cannot fully replicate. A quick flick of the wrist to throw Cappy upward or in a circle feels natural once you give it a few minutes.

Fifth, do not feel pressured to collect every single Power Moon. The game has over 800 of them. Finding them all is a massive time investment. Enjoy the ones you find naturally and only pursue 100% completion if it genuinely sounds fun to you. The game never punishes you for leaving moons behind.

Why Super Mario Odyssey Still Matters

Years after its release, Super Mario Odyssey remains one of the strongest arguments for owning a Nintendo Switch. It represents Nintendo at its creative best. Every kingdom feels handcrafted with love and attention to detail. Every mechanic feels polished and purposeful. Every surprise feels earned and genuine.

The game also proved that the 3D sandbox Mario format still works in a modern context. After years of more linear Mario games, Super Mario Odyssey showed that giving players freedom and trusting them to explore is a winning formula. It influenced how fans think about what a Mario game can be, and it set a high bar that future entries will need to meet.

For speedrunners, the game offers an incredibly deep movement system with new tricks still being discovered years later. For casual players, it offers a relaxing and joyful adventure through beautiful worlds. For families, it offers a shared experience that everyone can participate in regardless of skill level. Very few games manage to be this many things to this many people.

Conclusion

Super Mario Odyssey earned its reputation as one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch. The capture mechanic, the brilliant level design, the massive amount of content, and the sheer joy of exploration all come together to create something truly special. Whether you are a first time player or returning for another playthrough, this game has something to offer you.

If you own a Nintendo Switch and have not played Super Mario Odyssey yet, now is the perfect time to pick it up. Grab a copy, throw on Cappy, and start collecting those Power Moons. You will quickly understand why millions of players fell in love with this game and why it continues to be celebrated as one of the finest platformers ever made.