Super Mario Odyssey has been announced for the Switch, and here’s everything we know so far, including the release date, price, and gameplay details.
At its January 2017 Nintendo Switch Presentation, Nintendo not only unveiled its latest console, but also revealed one of its biggest upcoming games: Super Mario Odyssey.
It’s set to be a massive 3D platformer in the vein of Super Mario 64, and ventures into new territory for the Mario games: a realistic(ish) take on New York City. Read on to find out everything we know so far about Super Mario Odyssey, including the release date, price, and how to pre-order it.
Read our Super Mario Odyssey hands-on review .
While Nintendo had promised a release in time for ‚holiday 2017‘, it looks like Christmas is coming early this year: Super Mario Odyssey is out from 27 October 2017.
The release date may be a while away, but that hasn’t stopped retailers from opening pre-orders for the new Mario game. Like other high-end Switch titles it will cost £59.99/$59.99 – and since first-party Nintendo games rarely drop in price after launch, it will probably stay at that price for a while.
You can pre-order it right now from Amazon. If you’re in the UK, Game might be a better option – it has the same price, but will throw in a free Mario hat if you pre-order.
After the Mario Galaxy and Mario 3D World games have focussed on small, contained levels, Super Mario Odyssey is a return to the style of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, with a large hub area and several other worlds to explore for stars and other collectibles.
The most striking new feature of Super Mario Odyssey is its new worlds, as he jumps out of the Mushroom Kingdom and travels round in a giant airship to visit a variety of new settings.
The strangest of these is New Donk City, which looks to be a quasi-realistic Mario take on New York, complete with yellow taxis and the first almost-normal-looking humans we’ve ever seen in a Mario game. It feels very strange to see Mario in anything approximating the real world, and this looks like to be the most talked about element of Super Mario Odyssey.
Don’t worry though, it’s not all realistic. Mario will also be visiting a few more colourful settings, including the food-themed Luncheon Kingdom, first revealed in full at Gamescom 2017 in a special presentation – skip to the 9-minute mark to see the new world in action.
We particularly love the Mexican-inspired desert town shown off in some early screenshots, and the dinosaur world we saw for the first time in the E3 2017 presentation.
That hat store also hints at another of the game’s big new changes: Mario’s hat. Not only can he now use his trusty cap as a weapon to throw at enemies, he can also turn it into a platform and jump on it. And that’s only the start.
The E3 gameplay trailer (see below around 15:30) revealed a whole load of new hats and outfits for Mario to wear, from a Mexican mariachi outfit through to American football gear. These will be purchased with purple coins and you’ll need to wear outfits to unlock secret levels in each kingdom.
There’s more though. Mario can also use the hat to take control of various creatures and objects in the game world. These range from standard enemies like Goombas and Koopas right up to Bullet Bills, a yellow taxi cab, and even a giant T-rex.
The game will also have co-op multiplayer, as producer Yoshiaki Koizumi hinted at during E3:
„Well, the first thing I would want to say about multiplayer is that since this is the Nintendo Switch, and it does have two controllers, it’s very easy for you to imagine handing one to another person, so there’s probably something that you will hear about multiplayer,“ Koizumi said.
We now know that Mario Odyssey will feature a co-op mode where the second player gets to control Cappy and fly around where ever they choose. „What’s more, Cappy is invincible so he can protect Mario from harm,“ said Nintendo
If you want to see more of the game in action, check out this gameplay footage from E3, which shows off both New Donk City and the Day of the Dead themed Mexican area:
As confirmed during Nintendo’s September 2017 livestream, the upcoming Super Mario Odyssey will have a dedicated photo mode entitled Snapshot Mode that allows you to freeze time and capture the perfect in-game snaps.
Move and tilt the camera, add Instagram-esque filters and even change the aspect ratio of the photo before wirelessly sending the finished photo to your smartphone.
First, here’s the game’s initial announcement trailer:
Next up, watch the gameplay trailer from E3 2017, which shows off a few of the new settings and the many, many ways the game will use hats.
