Just in time for Mar10 day, I thought it would be best to talk about the newest Mario game: Super Mario Odyssey (newest as in all-new content, and not a remake/remaster). Let's dive in!

As usual, Princess Peach has been captured by Bowser with the intent of forcibly marrying her, and Mario has to rescue her. Bowser is one step ahead of Mario at each kingdom you travel to, all the while collecting wedding-based artifacts and wreaking havoc in his wake.

Synopsis

At the beginning of the game, Mario's hat is destroyed by Bowser/his airship, and Mario is knocked off into Cap Kingdom. Here, Mario meets a new companion named Cappy to help him on his journey (or, some might say, Odyssey), who uses a piece of Mario's old hat to transform into a new hat.

Cappy is a sentient hat who has the ability to take control of enemies and allies, leaving enemies stunned for a moment and allies asking what just happened. Which is a little creepy, if you think about it too hard. Cappy can also be used to activate certain platforms and time trials, as well as be used as a platform to jump off of.  Now that you have joined forces with Cappy, you acquire an airship called the Odyssey, which you use to follow Bowser in hopes to rescue Princess Peach.

The Odyssey is powered by Power Moons, which are essentially stars from previous games. You will need a certain number of power moons to advance the game and travel to the next kingdom. After collecting moons (a minimum of 124) through 12 kingdoms, you finally arrive on the moon itself to fight Bowser, and rescue Peach - destroying the moon in the process (revealing new moons to collect in the previous kingdoms you traveled to).

My Thoughts

Super Mario Odyssey is an amazing entry into the Super Mario franchise. The gameplay is a ton of fun, the story (while technically more of the same from other games) is done in a new and entertaining way, and the replayability is very high. Once Bowser is defeated and the day is won, there are still hundreds of Power Moons to collect. 880 unique moons, to be exact.

Super Mario Odyssey received several awards between 2017 and 2018 for gameplay, sound design, overall quality for action/adventure games, and 2 for Best Family Game. It's an excellent game for younger kids who are new to Mario, all the way to those that like to 100% complete games.

Collecting all 880 unique moons and purchasing all outfits will be at least a little challenging for even the most hardcore gamers. Super Mario Odyssey is actually tied for 3rd best game of all time by Metacritic with a score of 97, and is listed as a "must play" game by them. I don't know if I would call it one of the best games of all time, but I absolutely agree that you should play this game if you have not already.

The only negatives I can think of would be that the motion controls are a little...unrefined, and that in 2 player mode, the second player can only control Cappy. While this can be good if a parent would like to play with their young child, it's not much fun with two adult players. Overall, I would give Super Mario Odyssey a 9/10.

Worth Investing In?

It's no secret that Mario games have set their share of auction records over the years. What are the sales numbers looking like for Odessey?

VGA has seen a smattering of sales over the last couple years. A graded 90+ sold in 12/2021 for $320, down from the grade's one-year average of $460. 90s are faring better, with a 90-day sales average of $340 and 1-year of $295. (Most recent sale 03/2022.)

Super Mario Odyssey was released on October 27, 2017, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. Want to hear more about Super Mario Odyssey, or other Nintendo games? Let us know in the comments!

Have you visited our Video Game Price Guide yet? Check it out!

*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not reflect investment advice on behalf of GoCollect.