Yeah, it’s another anniversary celebration blog at the Dojo! And it’s another one involving Mario. It seems the Super Mario series has had a lot of milestone anniversaries this year. Today, we’re celebrating Super Mario Odyssey, which was released five years ago, on October 27th 2017!
That’s right, somehow it’s been half a decade since Super Mario Odyssey was released on the Nintendo Switch. On one hand, that makes me feel old. But on the other hand, Super Mario Odyssey is amazing, so let’s celebrate!
The Nintendo Switch really did have an unprecedented first year (the best of any console in history, if I say so myself). Not only did the system launch with the long-anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but within months you also had games like Splatoon 2, ARMS and Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (a crossover that shouldn’t have worked but somehow did), to name just a few. But the Switch capped off its first calendar year with the newest release of gaming’s most venerable series, Super Mario Odyssey.
And damn, what a game it was! Super Mario Odyssey is a game of constant invention, bountiful imagination, and non-stop fun!
What set Odyssey apart from other Mario games is that it abandoned Mario’s usual power-ups in favor of focusing on a singular, ever-changing ability: Cappy!
Cappy is a sentient hat who’s also a ghost (it’s Mario, don’t worry about it), with which Mario can “capture” enemies, objects and friendly NPCs, taking control of them and the abilities that come with them. This leads to so many creative ideas, with most of them being enough to carry most other games in their entirety.
Super Mario Odyssey also brought back the more open-level game design of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, after the series had taken an extended hiatus from the format. Though you could also claim that Odyssey’s structure was even closer to Banjo-Kazooie than its own predecessors (making it the closest thing we’ve got to an actual Banjo-Kazooie 3. Sorry Yooka-Laylee. Not so sorry, Nuts & Bolts). Odyssey features some of the best open 3D stages in gaming, while also housing many classic 3D platforming gauntlets in the vein of Super Mario Galaxy and 3D World. Odyssey is a master of all trades.
Interestingly, Odyssey is still the most recent “mainline” Mario game five years on (unless you count Bowser’s Fury. Though seeing as that was a bonus game released alongside a re-release of 3D World, and re-uses 3D World’s assets, I don’t think it does count as a mainline Mario game, even if it was a new game). So unless you do count Bowser’s Fury, this is the longest drought between mainline 3D Mario games since the gap between Sunshine and Galaxy!
Granted, Odyssey was always going to be a tough act to follow, and maybe Nintendo knows that, and is taking their time to figure out where the series goes next. Suffice to say, the hype is real!
It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Super Mario Odyssey was released. In that time it’s proven itself to be one of gaming’s all-time greats. It’s still the best game on Switch (Sorry, Breath of the Wild). And as much as I absolutely love Elden Ring, it can only claim to be my second favorite game of the past number of years, because Super Mario Odyssey exists.
Super Mario Odyssey has built up quite the reputation in these past five years. It’s one of Mario’s finest adventures, one of Nintendo’s greatest triumphs, and one of the best video games ever made. A modern classic!
Happy fifth anniversary, Super Mario Odyssey!
Wizard Dojo 
I remember taking the day off so I could play it as soon as possible. I also remember I woke up at 6am to start my journey, and that an adventure that was! It’s crazy to think it’s been five years.
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* what an adventure that was!
This thing need an Edit button.
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* needs! =P
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Super Mario Odyssey really is something special. I’m well overdue to play it again. It was quite the journey.
And yes, we definitely need an edit button.
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Super Mario Odyssey was a good one, alright. I especially like how each world manages to be very unconventional examples of their archetypes (e.g.: the lava world is made of boiling stew while the water stages aren’t set in the tropics). Even Bowser’s castle foregoes the Western design in favor of a Japanese style.
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