How Nintendo's 2017 Switch launch-year hit reinvented 3D Mario with the capture mechanic, and where to start if you're diving in today.
Super Mario Odyssey arrived in 2017 as one of the Nintendo Switch's flagship launch-year titles, and it remains one of the most acclaimed entries in the entire series. Where earlier 3D Mario games leaned on Stars or Shine Sprites, Odyssey is built around Power Moons and a completely new traversal tool: Mario's living hat, Cappy.
Cappy can be thrown at almost any creature or object in the world. Land him on a Goomba and you can walk around disguised, stack with other captured Goombas to reach high ledges, or capture a frog for extra-high jumps. Later kingdoms lean into increasingly creative captures — including a T-Rex, a tank, and even background objects like traffic cones — which keeps the core loop feeling fresh across the full campaign.
After the credits roll, Odyssey opens up two additional kingdoms and a substantially harder difficulty curve for remaining moons, giving completionists dozens of extra hours of content. It's a big part of why the game still shows up in "best Switch games" conversations years after release.
Mario's sentient hat, Cappy, lets him throw his cap at most enemies and objects to temporarily possess them, gaining their abilities. You can capture a Goomba to walk in disguise, a Bullet Bill to fly across gaps, or a T-Rex to smash through obstacles — it's the core puzzle-and-traversal hook of the whole game.
The base game contains around 880 Power Moons across all kingdoms, though you only need a fraction of that total to reach the credits. Post-game content unlocks additional kingdoms and moons for completionists.
Yes — it's widely recommended as one of the most approachable 3D Mario games thanks to generous checkpoints, an assist mode, and moons that reward exploration rather than punishing failure.
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