Super Mario Odyssey made its grand entrance on the Nintendo Switch today, and reviewers can’t get enough. The game has been one of the most anticipated of the year, and just like the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Odyssey is being hailed as one of the best reviewed games ever, at least according to Forbes. (Take a look here and here.)
In short, the hype has been SO REAL in the days leading up to this release.
If you haven’t yet read any of the glowing reviews, take a gander at Chris Kohler’s over at Kotaku. Kohler praises the game for triumphantly bringing Mario into the HD era, but he also takes the time to point out some aspects of the game that could stand for improvement or innovation in the future. He does a phenomenal job of offering his opinion about the game while at the same time managing expectations about the things that don’t quite sit as well as he would have liked, as well as the parts of the game that Nintendo didn’t really talk about.
Nintendo’s attention-to-detail and the utterly breathtaking beauty of Super Mario Odyssey has been a common theme in the outpouring of love from the pre-release reviewers we’ve seen so far, but none have gone as in-depth as John Linneman over at Eurogamer. In his more technically minded review, Linneman delves into the techniques that allow Nintendo to achieve a steady 60 FPS in Odyssey, both docked and in handheld mode, without compromising any of the kind of details and intricacies that bring the game to life (hint: it has a lot to do with something called a “dynamic resolution scaler”).
There’s no telling whether or not the love will remain as strong now that the game is available to rest of the general public, but it’s clear that Nintendo has scored another home run with Super Mario Odyssey. Personally, I’m excited because this is the first 3D story-driven Mario I’ve played since Super Mario 64. I never got around to playing Super Mario Sunshine, and for whatever reason I was never tempted by Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Galaxy 2. But Super Mario Odyssey wasn’t something I was prepared to miss, and it could not have come out soon enough.
Looking back at the events that have brought us to this moment, it’s both astonishing and relieving that 2017 has been a phenomenal year for Nintendo. I know I’m not alone when I say that I had worries about how well the Switch would do, and how far Nintendo would really go with their pledge to keep games coming more quickly than they did with the Wii U. Now, the Nintendo Switch is the only console I really want to play anymore. Odyssey only furthers my love for Nintendo’s comeback console, and the critics are only helping my case. Everyone’s loving the Switch, we can’t get enough of Nintendo, and Super Mario Odyssey has already proven itself as a strong indicator that things are only going to get better in 2018.
Super Mario Odyssey is available now exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
Joy+Sticks Gaming 