I never thought I'd see a shirtless Mario running along the beach, nipples and all, but here we are.
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This is emblematic of the supreme silliness of "Super Mario Odyssey," the next big game coming to Nintendo's Switch. If you remember "Super Mario 64," "Super Mario Odyssey" is basically that, but bigger, better looking — and way weirder.
I got a chance to play the game recently, and during that session I found a bunch of things that are at least as strange as the image above.
Here, for example, is another real image from the game, which I captured while playing it:
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It's unclear exactly what's going on in Mario's head right now.
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"Super Mario Odyssey" is quite a game. Let's dive in!
In "Super Mario Odyssey," you explore vast open worlds.
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In "Super Mario Odyssey," you explore vast open worlds.
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The point is to find moons to power your ship, the Odyssey, from place to place.
In this scene, Mario is exploring one such place — Bubblaine — while wearing some polka dot swim trunks.
That by itself isn't all that strange. What is crazy is what's going on with Mario's hat.
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That by itself isn't all that strange. What is crazy is what's going on with Mario's hat.
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The ability to explore worlds is pretty similar to "Super Mario 64."
What's new is how Mario's hat is being haunted by a ghost. He can use it to take over ("capture") other characters or items in the game by tossing it onto them
With the hat, you can take over a person.
With the hat, you can take over a person.
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Or a Cheep Cheep.
Or a Cheep Cheep.
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Or a stack of Goombas.
Or a stack of Goombas.
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Or an even bigger stack of Goombas!
Here's an absurdly tall stack of Goombas I made.
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Or this bizarre octopus thing!
Or this bizarre octopus thing!
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One of the coolest — and strangest — parts of playing "Super Mario Odyssey" is taking over and playing as Mario's enemies.
Yes, that is a giant piece of corn. Obviously it is.
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These are the same bad guys you've been stomping in Mario games for years. Now you can play as them, solving puzzles and exploring the world.
It's also fun and hilarious to see Goombas dressed in various hats.
It's also fun and hilarious to see Goombas dressed in various hats.
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Among the "disguises" you'll see them dressed in are pirate hats (like in the scene above) and chef hats. I've also spotted some wearing wedding veils.
In one of the worlds I explored, I ran into a group of anthropomorphic forks in chef hats.
Why are a bunch of forks making soup? Good question.
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The fork people on Mount Volbono were in trouble — a giant bird was circling their soup! Could Mario help? Of course he could!
Soon enough I was grabbing radishes and fraternizing with forks all over the place.
Soon enough I was grabbing radishes and fraternizing with forks all over the place.
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And to be clear, I was barely scratching the surface of "Super Mario Odyssey." I've only played about 10 hours of the game thus far. It's huge.
Though I've yet to run into this pooch with a hat on a beach, I've spotted him in other places.
Though I've yet to run into this pooch with a hat on a beach, I've spotted him in other places.
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To be clear, I have no idea what the deal is with this dog. Why is he wearing a hat? Why is there a dog in this game in the first place?
Here he is hanging out in the Crazy Cap clothing store (where you can outfit Mario in various outfits):
Super Mario Odyssey
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Why is he in there? I have no idea. What's his purpose in the game? I have no idea. Is he from "Nintendogs"? I think so! But I'm honestly not sure.
And hey, what's up with this dinosaur?
And hey, what's up with this dinosaur?
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The massive T-rex seen above is one of the first capturable things I found while playing "Odyssey." The one seen above is in the Cascade Kingdom, the first area you go after leaving Bonneton in the Cap Kingdom (the ghostly-looking place where Mario meets Cappy, his ghost hat friend).
That T-rex may look menacing above, but he here's how menacing it looks when Mario's in control:
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Yup!
Controlling it is just about as bizarre as you might imagine. It's a dinosaur, so it's gigantic and made to destroy stuff. I've been calling it "Yoshi" because I'm hilarious.
Here's that same dino looking deadly serious:
Just kidding!
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Mario can wear other cool things besides his ghostly hat.
Mario can wear other cool things besides his ghostly hat.
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You can get other dress-up items in the game's Crazy Cap shops. I found one in every area I explored.
In Bubblaine, this adorable snail handled sales duties.
A stylish fork was the sales clerk at the Crazy Cap Shop in Mount Volbono.
A stylish fork was the sales clerk at the Crazy Cap Shop in Mount Volbono.
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Although there was a good deal of overlap from shop to shop, the clothing selection at each one differed a bit from the others.
Each Crazy Cap store has two vendors: One who sells things for standard gold coins, and another that sells things for area-specific coins. You can only use those coins in that kingdom, and there's a hard limit of 100 per region.
In Bubblaine, I chose this spiffy pirate costume for Mario.
He was pretty pumped about it.
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At Mount Volbono, I was feeling a bit more adventurous.
At Mount Volbono, I was feeling a bit more adventurous.
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Surely the sentient forks would appreciate Mario's risky sartorial move?
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