I was hearing on a lot of podcasts that Mario Odyssey was a "joy" to play. It was argued that many of the games currently released deal with very heavy topics, but Odyssey was just a happy game. I think it was Ben that referred to it as a palate cleanser between new games that he was playing, which seemed like an odd choice at the time. I thought everyone was simply being hyperbolic since Mario is essentially a non violent and politics free platformer, but then I beat the game with a HUGE smile on my face. The "moments" in Odyssey that people had been slyly hinting at resonated with me. The post game stuff I've seen so far has roused feelings within me that no other game has ever done.

I'm not going to spoil the moment or post ending content I've seen, but I think it's amazing that Nintendo was able to hit such highs with this game. Other games can make me feel accomplished/skilled with the technical aspects of the gameplay or a story can be extremely well written and entertaining, but I've never found joy in any other game. Did you find this same joy? Is this unique to Odyssey? I've never felt this way playing the other Mario platformers so it must be an Odyssey thing right?

A lot of this game is a joy to play but some of the platforming is downright infuriating, mostly caused by camera angles where you can't quite tell if you are above a platform or moving in the right direction to make a jump. Otherwise yes, a happy game

I had an NES, SNES, GameCube and Wiiu, all when they were new consoles, and despite playing all of the entries on those consoles, this was the first and only Mario game I've ever actually beaten.

Its not perfect, but it's a fantastic, bright, no-pressure, genuinely relaxing game. It's so joyful, I didn't even curse on the few occasions I had to use motion controls to get a star or purple coin even though those controls were pointless busywork.

I keep turning it on before I go to bed for "a few minutes of gathering Moons".

Two hours later, I remember I'm supposed to be sleeping.

What sticks out to me about the style of the game is the sheer number of NPC species (nearly every kingdom has a unique one) and they all begin traveling to other kingdoms as you progress through the game. Not only does this feel more lived-in than most Mario games, but many of them are also traveling and having a blast. I'd liken it to the old childhood routine of mashing together a bunch of different toysets and making fun nonsense stories with them.

@wheresderrick: I've got over 500 moons and not once have I had any real issue with camera angles, it's super easy to control and he always has a shadow under him. Now Mario putting is hand on the wall and jumping off in a different direction, that is super annoying.

@wheresderrick: Yes and long wait times between deaths wish it was a bit better about things like that.

@bonelesszombi:

Long wait times? It takes like two seconds to show you how many coins you lost and then puts you right back at the nearest checkpoint!

Apparently, I REALLY need to kick my habit of doing everything in a Kingdom before moving to the next if the game's ending and post-credits stuff is really this awesome.

I had been making Mario more frustrating than it needed to be because of my completionism. I should have known from the 965,456,153 or so moons the game has, but it took the recent Bombcast discussion and this post to snap me out of it - well, the Bombcast did that; this post just reiterated how kick-ass the finish/post-finish stuff is.

Seems like moving forward at a steady pace is the way to go. Luckily, I'm still pretty early on, so I can reverse my bad habit.

I said this in a reply to Alex about Assassins Creed.

I think some games, especially this open world worlds games with a shit ton collect are better if they didn't have a "main plot" or a major bad to defeat. Removing the urgency would benefit a bunch of games, especially when the urgency doesn't mean much anyways.

I began enjoying Mario way more after finishing the main story, there's no imaginary pressure of finishing a game, I can just boot up the game for a couple of months and explore a bit.

@ravelle: I would agree somewhat, but the end to the main plot of Odyssey is pretty spectacular.

How does this game compare to 'A Hat in Time'? If anyone has played both.

It really was, it had me with a big smile on my face.

You should; completing the "main plot" doubles the number of Moons available in each Kingdom, so you'll have to revisit them regardless of how many you pick up the first time. Just grab the minimum number of Moons you need and move on.

You definitely should prioritize just getting to the credits. I thought the game was pretty good before getting to that point, but it really hooked me in the post-credits phase.

@ravelle: Yea, I felt the same way. Outside of the ending of Metro Kingdom, I was going with the flow of the game and had some gripes with certain kingdoms not being very interesting or just being there for padding sakes. Once I got the main story out of the way, I finally started to have a fantastic time with Odyssey and completed it fully on Friday.

I don't know how I am suppose to feel that things get better after the credits as I think it should be great throughout the experience, not just post game stuff.

@chaser324: @mikelemmer: I think because of the way my mobile device handles this forum stuff, only one of you will get a tagged reply BUT REGARDLESS, thanks to both of you. I needed this kick in the ass, particularly with the other games I'm trying to get through in parallel with Mario (not the least of which being Zelda). Good to know I don't need to force myself through the worlds' Moon list just to have fun.

Now on the other hand, I will say I have not found anything in these early Kingdoms to be subpar or "just fine" as some seem to. There's already been super-creative, challenging stuff at this point and I only just beat the Lake Kingdom. It's more that I was making the mistake of hard focusing on one or two Moons I wanted for WAY too long, way longer than was fun for myself and MAYBE getting one out of it. Like I said: needed the kick in the ass.

@poobumbutt: The game definitely steps it up a notch once you get to New Donk City.

This is what I did, and would recommend most people do the same. You literally cannot complete any kingdoms before you see the credits.

I didn't really feel that way. I think the only Mario game that made me feel really joyful was the first Super Mario Galaxy. That's not saying I disliked this game or other Mario games though. Maybe I have to jump back in, but after the 600 plus stars I got, when I was running around Peach's castle, I was just thinking okay, I'm done. That said, I was super tired, but my brother wanted to keep going so we played the Darker Side of the Moon; not paying attention about the fact there were no checkpoints, we got to the end of the stage and I died enough times to lose all our lives and were welcomed back to the beginning of the stage. I just said 'Oh... what the hell? That was dumb. Fuck it. Alright, I'm going to bed.' Then I went to bed and haven't played it since. I wanted to play Wolfenstein II, did that, and now I'm playing Assassin's Creed: Origins. Both are great. Maybe I'll go back after all of these new games are done.