Escape from New Donk: Super Mario Odyssey

One of the biggest requests among Nintendo’s faithful fans in the last half-decade? Asking when the company will make another real 3D Mario game.

By that, they mean a title that gives Mario the option to run around openly in large environments, in either levels or worlds that contain a sandbox-like design. They’d been a dependable constant for Nintendo’s consoles since Super Mario 64, which released over 20 years ago. This continued with Super Mario Sunshine on Gamecube, though some found a good audience despite how some found its insistence on using Fludd to clean up the Isle Delfino tropical resort to be monotonous and obtrusive compared to basic platforming and roamin. But any wounds created by that game were mended with Super Mario Galaxy, and further restored when it became the first 3D Mario title to receive a direct sequel.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 released for Wii in 2010, and according to fans, Nintendo’s consoles have been bereft of a 3D Mario since then. That’s “according to fans” because contrary to what some may think, Nintendo refers to Super Mario 3D Land and 3D World on 3DS and Wii U as 3D games. Among the fanbase, they’re referred to as hybrids since they still require the player to progress to a certain point of each level in a linear fashion, though 3D World was a bit more open-ended.

Now, however, we’re finally getting another “true” 3D Mario game with Super Mario Odyssey for Switch. Upon seeing the first trailer and footage Nintendo has provided thus far, it’s evident the company and its development team was listening to its fanbase — perhaps a little too much. Those fans wanted another open world-style game on par with the aforementioned non-3D Land and 3D World titles, and they responded by adding an ostensible hub world that’s a clear stand-in for New York City, called “New Donk City.” Mario can travel between worlds using a fittingly red airship, though it also partially resembles a blimp for assuredly practical reasons.

New Donk City is also a nod to Donkey Kong, which is no surprise considering his origins. This is further hammered home by the presence of “Diddy’s Mart” and “Dixie Street.” The New Donk name is all it took for a (short-lived?) meme on social media to be created.

While many have acknowledged how good it looks, others immediately compared the juxtaposition between Mario’s cartoony looks and the more (but not completely) realistic New Donk City residents to the Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 reboot — some unfavorably. Given that Nintendo’s finest developers are going hands-on with this title, including longtime director and game designer Yoshiaki Koizumi, there’s no chance it will be as bad as that title. It will be fine as long as Mario doesn’t creepily fall in love with a human girl during his journey.

While the story involves Bowser kidnapping Princess Peach yet again, they’ve added some humorous twists to the formula. You know he wants this to be special when he made invitations, and is advertising it. Also, this still appears to be a way to give Bowser Jr. a mother figure, as seen in previous 2D and especially 3D Mario games. Yet here we have Mario roaming around and potentially harassing fine, upstanding New Donkers. Who’s the real villain here, hmm? You tell me.

Mario will retain many abilities he used in previous 3D (and some 2D) Mario games, including double and triple jumping, long jumping, butt stomping, and wall climbing. The footage shows how the animations for many of those techniques have been altered to make them look more natural, benefits the developers could implement with new technology at their disposal. He can also carry objects and food and potentially toss them, Super Mario Bros. 2 style.

But this wouldn’t be a new Mario game if the developers didn’t give him new actions. Alongside rolling down hills instead of sliding and riding all sorts of creatures beyond Yoshi, Mario has a new hat he can throw for multiple actions, including causing damage to enemies and to create a platform to travel across long gaps Mario can’t usually jump over. The trailer ends with the twist of showing how the hat has eyes, implying that it’s a living being of some sort. Heck, it might even talk, but we’ll find out for sure soon.

With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild being Nintendo’s big Switch launch title, and potential multimillion-seller for the spring season, Super Mario Odyssey won’t be arriving until this holiday season. Keep an eye out for more about Odyssey throughout the year, through Nintendo Directs and a possible Digital Event at E3.

That is, assuming they aren’t skipping E3 this year, but we’ll see how confident Nintendo feels after Switch has been on the market for a few months.