You’ll even want to use motion controls, since they make it much easier to pull off tricks such as spinning him in a circle or throwing him straight up in the air. You’ll find yourself chucking him all over the place just to see what happens. You can throw him to collect coins, pull levers, open doors, clean up puddles of poison or take out enemies. This capturing mechanic is often required to navigate a particular part of a level or defeat a particular enemy, but most of the time you’re just regular old Mario. There are 24 different creatures to capture, and each new one is listed like a collectable in the “Capture Actions” section of the menu, but Mario can capture other things too, from zips to manhole covers. It’s also just a joy to capture a new creature, especially if – like the Chain Chomp, Bullet Bill or Goomba – it has been an enemy for decades.

Capturing a creature with different rules for how they can move through the world instantly alters your perspective on whatever level you’re in: the “Cheep Cheep” fish makes the obligatory water level much less annoying, while the T-rex makes quick work of obstacles but cannot jump. A statuesque “Moe-Eye” can put on special sunglasses to see hidden platforms. A “Sherm” – a tank presumably named after the M4 Sherman – can destroy obstacles with its gun, with the help of motion-controlled aim assistance. A frog can jump much higher than Mario can, for example, even though jumping is probably Mario’s key skill. Mario appears to get sucked into the hat, though where that leaves the essences of both Cappy and the frog is an unanswered but philosophically fascinating question.Įach creature you capture has its own moves, which usually come in handy for the ensuing section of the level.

Throw Cappy at a frog and Mario will disappear leaving the frog sporting both a red cap and a moustache. Cappy shapeshifts into a replacement hat, and soon demonstrates that he offers more than a warm head Mario can throw him to “capture” (Nintendo’s approved verb for “temporarily play as”) other creatures. As luck would have it, a hat-shaped ghost-like figure called Cappy is floating nearby and offers to help Mario pursue Bowser and rescue both Peach and Cappy’s sister Tiara. A brief introductory cutscene explains: Bowser – already optimistically dressed for his wedding – incapacitates Mario for long enough to make off with Peach, but not without stomping on his signature red cap. For Super Mario Odyssey, the first proper Mario adventure on the Nintendo Switch, it’s a new sentient hat.

But after more than 30 years of at least one new Mario adventure per Nintendo console, it helps to have a feature that differentiates the latest from the last. In life, a few things are inevitable: death, taxes and the continual kidnapping of Princess Peach.

Super mario odyssey secret world