In a month from now, the greatest game of all time will be released.
OK, maybe I’m jumping the Bullet Bill on that one, but everything Nintendo has shown off about this game since its reveal has been incredible. Here’s a timeline of the public mentions and showcasing of Mario’s next big adventure, "Super Mario Odyssey."
In April 2014, five months after the release of "Super Mario 3D World," Nintendo producer Yoshiaki Koizumi revealed that work had already begun on the next entry into the series. At the time, he couldn’t reveal if the game would be on the Nintendo 3DS or the Wii U. However, we now know that it will be on Nintendo’s latest hit console, the Nintendo Switch.
We didn’t hear anything about the game until it was teased in the Nintendo Switch reveal trailer back in November 2016. Nintendo never formally acknowledged its existence until January, when they had their “Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017,” revealing details about the system, including a number of games. There, we got our first look at "Super Mario Odyssey," complete with a trailer.
At the presentation, we were told that the game would feature “a large, Mario sandbox world,” similarly to what was present in "Super Mario 64" and "Super Mario Sunshine." The four most recent 3D entries to the Super Mario series all follow very linear level designs, while "Super Mario Odyssey" will let players complete levels in unstructured fashion.
Six months later, Nintendo decided to unleash the mother lode of information on the game. On June 13, at E3 — the Electronic Entertainment Expo — 2017, Nintendo showed a new trailer of "Super Mario Odyssey" within its presentation. The trailer revealed a core mechanic of the game that was previously unmentioned.
Mario can capture his enemies, allies and a variety of different other things by throwing his hat at them.
This game-play mechanic has shown to open up a world of new ways to export and interact with the game environment. Mario can turn into a Lava Bubble to swim in lava, a Cheep Cheep to explore the oceans, a Bullet Bill to fly around the map and so much more. When fans first witnessed this new mechanic, they were ecstatic.
