Date played: December 8th
Platform: Switch
I finished Super Mario Odyssey! Or at least, I saw the end of the main story and credits... because the game is FAR from over.
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| Yippee! |
I chased Bowser and Peach all the way to the moon, where they would get married inside a beautiful church. As soon as I got off the Odyssey to roam the lunar surface, I noticed that the gravity was much lower than usual, so I was able to make huge jumps! This opens up a lot of new challenges, as many power moons are hidden in areas that would be inaccessible with normal gravity. I navigated the dry, empty lands of the rocky satellite, fighting or avoiding some giant floating octopus. The best moment was a 2D sequence that incorporated the low gravity mechanics.
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| I morph into Chargin' Chuck during the gauntlet |
To reach the chapel, I had to enter a dark tunnel that led to a genuine gauntlet sequence! I had to navigate through some fiery areas by capturing enemies and using their abilities to traverse. This included some Hammer Bros, some Bullet Bills and even some Chargin' Chucks! At the end of it, I had to fight one of the earlier bosses again, the Broodal queen (mother?). She had upgraded her Chain Chomp to wear more hats and to have more dangerous attacks, so it took me a few tries to win this one.
Finally, I was ready to challenge Bowser himself directly. The ceremony looks surprisingly classy, with beautiful decorations and lots of guests, but still, it's clear that Peach is being forced into this... Mario jumps into action and attacks, but somehow, the floor collapses and the trio fall down a giant hole in the middle of the moon.
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| Smacking Bowser in the mouth |
I fought Bowser head on, which was similar to the Cloud Kingdom battle, but harder. I still had to knock his hat off, then wear it to attack with punching gloves. Bowser attacked with stomps that shot out fiery rings around him, threw a number of large objects at me, breathed fire at me and even attacked with his tail. It took me a few tries to nail down the timing, but after a few deaths, I knocked him out!
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| Bowser with a mustache. Hot. |
To my surprise, this was not going to be good enough. With Bowser knocked out, Mario heads towards Peach when once again, the floor collapses! I don't understand why this is happening, but either way, the three of us end up stranded in a cavern, imprisoned by walls of rocks and bricks. Desperate times call for desperate measures... Mario does the only thing he can think of and "possesses" Bowser himself!
This segment was just fucking great... There's an upbeat J-pop song playing, with lyrics and all, as I control Bowser with Peach riding on his shoulder. I smash dozens of walls and bricks to find a way out to the beat of the awesome song! This level felt a lot like the last levels in Halo games, where there's usually some kind of crazy vehicular segment. It was a fitting end to a masterful video game.
All is well that ends well. We found a way out by smashing into a large metal cube. This revealed how to open the rare metal cubes I've found in various levels. Mario and Bowser make one last attempt at gaining Peach's attention by offering her some flowers. She doesn't give Mario the traditional kiss or cake, instead, she just leaves both of them there to nurse their blue balls. Cue credits.
That's not all though. Of course, there's still hundreds of power moons for me to hunt and find all over each level, but I was surprised to find myself in the Mushroom Kingdom! The fuckers actually did it, they recreated the castle from Super Mario 64! This isn't just a small little place either, it's got a whole set of power moons and purple coins to find. Shit, they even give you a star (oops, I mean a moon) when you look at the light in the ceiling of the castle in first person view, just like when that triggered the bonus level in the N64 classic.
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| The Mushroom Kingdom was the best surprise |
Like shit, they even put in Yoshi, which I can control and use to gather fruit! There's a ton of new items to buy at the store, including an epic Mario 64 outfit that makes Mario look like his original 3D model. I don't want to complete this level yet, I want to keep it for later because it's so good... I think I'll go back to other levels and gather some random moons.
Super Mario Odyssey is an absolute masterpiece and an instant classic. It will live on as a unforgettable video game, and it still holds many, many secrets for me to discover. I fucking loved Super Mario Odyssey.
