Case in point: you’ll spend very little time in the game as Mario. At first glance, it looks familiar (there’s even some paint to clean up) but Odyssey soon sets about messing with the Mario formula. After detours into the brilliant Super Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros spin-offs, it feels sublime to be hurtling around another sandbox Mario world. Appropriately, Mario’s traditional move-set has also been restored and, for the first time since Sunshine, he can dive. This is the first truly open-world Mario platformer since Super Mario Sunshine was released on GameCube in 2002. The final version of the game Nintendo previewed before its release on October 27 focussed on three Kingdoms: Cap Kingdom, Luncheon Kingdom and Seaside Kingdom. And there, on his hairless pink chest, sit two nipples. His moustache, curled upwards towards his shiny blue eyes and plump root vegetable nose, is caught fluttering in the breeze. He is, like any good everyman, wearing nothing but polkadot boxer shorts and a chef’s hat. In that frozen moment – face contorted with delight, right arm thrusting upwards, fist clenched in celebration of another perfect leap – Mario is joy personified. The classic everyman character, Mario is a flawed, flabby, glorious creation, just like every one of us. Captivated, you freeze time and zoom in for a closer look. That moment, of course, is when you first catch a glimpse of Mario’s nipples. That moment isn’t when you really get to grips with the inventive sentient cap-based gameplay nor is it your first foray into the beautifully detailed sandbox world and it isn’t the sight of everyone’s favourite plumber romping around New Donk City, surrounded by businessmen in suits and fedoras. There is a moment in Super Mario Odyssey when you realise this is a game quite unlike any Nintendo has ever made before.
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