Do you like joy? If you answered yes (and if not, who hurt you?) then you'll probably like Super Mario Odyssey and I could stop right now. Unless someone had a childhood trauma involving Mario that still scars them to this day, or they have an acute allergy to video game gold coins, I can't think of a reason I wouldn't at least recommend this game to anyone, let alone actively preach about it. For something as old as the Mario franchise is, it's hard to keep it fresh and exciting from game to game to avoid treading the same ground once too many times. Yet again Nintendo have found that secret sauce to make almost inarguably their most recognizable and well-known tent-pole feel just like new again.
As the core Mario series has gone on - and your definition of what falls in that group may vary from person to person - there have been very few true sequels, in name or in spirit. Yes, the 2D games all featured Mario running, swimming, hopping, etc. through a series of obstacles from left to right, but the various evolutions found within were always substantial enough to separate them from the others, especially in the West with the Super Mario Bros. 2 that we got. The move to 3D was a revelation all on it's own with the sandbox-like environments of Super Mario 64. After focusing on water backpacks, micro planetoids with their own gravity, and co-op horseplay, Mario has circled back around to where these games were twenty-one years ago.
Invoking a game from 1996 may not be the best way to start explaining what makes Super Mario Odyssey so different - nor would mentioning it's 'classic' Bowser-kidnaps-Peach set up - but the little things are all there to add up to something so much greater than the sum of it's parts. Mechanically, the newest addition to the game is Cappy, some kind of hat/ghost/thing that Mario can throw out as an attack either offensively or defensively. The hook is that Cappy can possess or "capture" enemies and objects and allow the player to use whatever special properties that come with them. Ranging from fireballs to travel through unfriendly terrain, to shades-wearing statue dudes that can see invisible platforms, to adorable seal people to take part in a bouncing race, there are dozens of things to inhabit and utilize in creative ways. Every level, referred to in the game as kingdoms, has something that is unique to that world to capture and play around with making it so no two kingdoms play the same.
The general structure you'll be running through is that of a series of small sandboxes with myriad power moons (read: stars) within. Where this structure mildly deviates from Super Mario 64 is that there's only one order you unlock the kingdoms, with the minor exception of a couple times the game asks you to make a binary choice on where to travel next (the other kingdom will then be the level immediately following that). Other than jumbling up the paintings - world to world warp points found in each area - this changes nothing about the game, and doesn't allow for much freedom in what order you do the kingdoms as there is no over-world to navigate, just a level select screen. This is okay, however, as each world is large and has a ton of stuff to do. And I mean a lot of stuff.
Each kingdom, when you arrive, starts with a series of missions as you solve the small dilemma caused by Bowser and his new associates the Broodals as he prepares for his wedding, usually culminating in a boss fight. After this, the kingdom then becomes yours to explore as you try to find more power moons to supply your new hat shaped airship The Odyssey. However, if you're anything like me, what should take around 30 minutes in each world might take you upwards of an hour as you get sidetracked by every little thing to see and do. That's where Super Mario Odyssey truly shines, in the sheer amount of tasks/quests/stuff there is to do. The smaller kingdoms have around 30-40 moons to find in them in total, while the larger, meatier kingdoms can have upwards of 60-80 moons to discover (granted some of these are not available at first). The game may be telling me to climb the top of the observatory in the Steam Garden of the Wooded Kingdom, but I'll be distracted by fifteen or so shiny things and speed challenges on my way from point A to B and I'll be having a blast the whole time.
Truly, its the feeling of being rewarded that makes you want to keep coming back, and that's what Odyssey does so well. Everything feels rewarding, or like you've accomplished something, and you never feel punished. Gone is the antiquated lives system in place of a cost of ten coins for every death or fail-state, and coins are never in short supply. That's not to say that the game is easy, there are still numerous tough platforming challenges to try and conquer, including a ridiculous gauntlet of a final level unlocked after completing the game.
Everywhere you go, you'll almost assuredly find something, from moons, to regular coins, to world specific purple coins used to buy costumes and collectables. Thankfully, those are really the only things you'll be searching out, as having too many different types of crap would lead to the game feeling like too much of a collect-athon. This discovery is also aided by several ways to travel through the levels very quickly, including actual honest to goodness fast travel in a Mario game. And even when you think you're done with the main story after the inevitable final boss fight with Bowser, there's a post-game that adds a couple new levels, and adds anywhere from ten to twenty new moons to the existing levels that keeps the fun going for hours and hours. There almost 900 moons to acquire throughout the game - not even counting the option later to wholesale buy moons - and I spent over 45 hours before I was tapped out.
I could go on and on about the small individual joys to be experienced, but I'd rather people discover them for themselves than be told. From musical numbers to references to old games, there's always some new smile to be brought to your face on the horizon. The tight controls and platforming of the series is still present, even in the inclusion of the somewhat publically maligned motion controls, which never personally bothered me or held me back and at all regardless of how I chose to play. The dress-up and costume stuff is fun, the music is great, the colour and visuals pop and delight no matter where you are, there just isn't anything negative I have to say about the game. Not to say that everything that came between was bad - far, far from it - but Super Mario Odyssey really feels like the most direct sequel to Super Mario 64 that we'll ever get. Fitting then that one of my favorite games ever would be followed with another classic, and probably the best game I've played all year.