Super Mario Odyssey 2

It seems almost sacrilegious to say that there are six ways that you could improve upon Super Mario Odyssey.

Super Mario Odyssey is the best Super Mario game period. Art is subjective, video games are an art form and this is my opinion, but having grown up in the 80’s and 90’s and experiencing every title at the time of its release, I feel slightly qualified to make this judgement.

I am unbiased between the 2D vs 3D argument as I think the second best game in the series is Super Mario World and I didn’t fully connect with Super Mario 64 when it released. Super Mario Odyssey just gave the player so much freedom to find the fun on their own terms. There was still some very difficult platforming sections, but there was just an abundance of land to explore and the ability to find moons when you’re ready.

Having said all of that, it seems impossible to suggest that the best Super Mario game ever could be even better? Wrong and here are just a few ways that Super Mario Odyssey 2 could be even better.

CO-OP

This is the easiest and most obvious way to take Super Mario Odyssey 2 to the next level. Co-op felt like an afterthought in Super Mario Odyssey as one person controls Mario and the second player controls happy, which just wasn’t fun. Depending on the player controlling Cappy, this could also be a large thorn in the side of Mario as they could move the hat in mid air when a large jump depends on it. The second player should be able to control someone like Toad or Luigi. It wasn’t right that Luigi was confined to holding balloons.

Games like It Takes Two have mastered the local co op aspect with single screen play when the characters are close together and when they get farther away, it transitions into split screen. It even takes into account when one side of the screen is doing a more important job and compensates for this by making that portion larger. When you consider that when we see Super Mario Odyssey 2, it would be on new hardware, there is no power excuse that could stop this idea from happening

MORE YOSHI

The little green dinosaur known as Yoshi has been such a huge part of Mario since Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo, but sadly he was relegated to just one kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey. Considering that there are 18 different kingdoms, five percent just isn’t good enough for a character who is so popular that he has had numerous spin offs.

To make matters even worse, when you find Yoshi, you can’t even do the thing that you want to do which is to ride on his back, but instead you are only able to become him with the power of Cappy. Not only is more Yoshi needed, but the ability to ride on his back just like we all remember. Obviously, the levels would have to be designed from the ground up with the idea of how to make each kingdom work whether or not you are on foot or are on the back of Yoshi, but it’s do able.

FAMILIAR FACES

The Cappy capture mechanic was incredible, but at the end of the game, the Bestiary, if you will, only included 52 captures and lot of those were inanimate objects. There are a lot more characters that have graced the Super Mario series since its introduction and the possibilities are almost endless not just for characters but for the challenges that could be designed around them. Being able to take control of enemies like Bird-O, Boo, Bob-omb among many other could lead to some pretty jaw dropping moments.

MORE MARIO NOSTALGIA

Maybe this is just speaking for myself and my nostalgia, but some of the best and most joy inducing parts of Super Mario Odyssey was the 2D classic levels hidden around the world. These areas were seamlessly blended into the 3D world and were hiding in plain sight.

Imagine if Nintendo doubled down on this idea and incorporated some other elements from some of the best of the Super Mario series. Things like the Water Cannon from Sunshine, the gravitational pull from the mini planets of Galaxy, the turnip throwing from Super Mario 2 and even incorporate wonder seeds, all which could all make for an unforgettable experience.

CLASSIC NINTENDO

As mentioned, the NES areas were a wonderful trip down memory lane of what made Nintendo part of everyday life. What if Nintendo took this idea even further by going beyond just the Super Mario series. What if there were hidden areas that included some of the earlier first party Nintendo titles that were instrumental in making the system part of pop culture, but have long since been forgotten including games like Excitebike, FZero, Punch-Out and Duck Hunt just to name a few.

Cross Promotion

The opportunity for Super Mario Odyssey 2 to be a hub for showcasing other titles is very existent. The inclusion of Captain Toad in Super Mario Odyssey got me thinking of other possibilities. Wouldn’t it be fun to discover a haunted mansion with a note from Luigi and you need to find a few moons using the mechanics of Luigi’s Mansion 4. What about if you discovered a kart and there is an open world section that sees you drive around to find moons in what could be a taste of Mario Kart 9.

There is a large opportunity to get a lot of casual gamers who only buy Nintendo to play the Super Mario games invested into other first party Nintendo franchises. These could be little sections of each kingdom or each kingdom could be themed around different games.