STACK #156 Oct 2017

GAMES FEATURE

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Each new Mario game brings something exciting to the table, and Odyssey ’s gimmick is an anthropomorphic hat called Cappy. Words Alesha Kolbe M ario meets Cappy in this new sandbox title in the Cap Kingdom, where he finds out Cappy’s little sister – along with Princess Peach, of course – has been kidnapped by Bowser. The spikey turtle is planning on marrying the princess this time, and Cappy’s sister is going to be the headwear. Super Mario Odyssey was the ‘most social- media'd’ game at E3 this year, and with good reason. It’s the first fully-fledged Mario game to launch on the Switch, and the first sandbox title to feature the former plumber since 2002. Playing as Mario, you and Cappy will take to a number of different worlds on your new ship – the Odyssey – collecting Moons to power it up and catch Bowser before he says ‘I do’. We recently had the chance to jump into Odyssey for over an hour, and it’s really looking like a return to the beloved Mario of old. It’s no Super Mario Galaxy , but this new game is bound to be a hit with fans new and old. The first level introduces the plot and acts as a sort of tutorial for you at the same time,

will have different benefits, and it’s up to you to discover what some of the more wacky ones are. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself saying ‘aww’ out loud on more than one occasion. We then visited the Luncheon Kingdom – a world comprised of (and inhabited by) food. The Hammer Bros. make a return, but they’re throwing frying pans instead, and you can even use Cappy to capture forks protruding out the side of walls to catapult yourself through the world. Finally, we got the chance to check out the Seaside Kingdom, which featured a giant angry Octopus. The ‘obligatory water level’ lets Mario capture various sea creatures to swim around as , making the world slightly less tiresome than usual. Of course, that’s without even mentioning Mario’s cool new outfits. In every world you can collect two types of coins – regular ones and purple ones, the latter being exclusive to each world. These coins can be used to buy consumables or new outfits; we let Mario parade around in a mechanic’s get-up as well as what were called

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself saying ‘aww’ out loud on more than one occasion

‘Boxer Shorts’, that we really hope were board shorts. Super Mario Odyssey is bound to cap-tivate audiences when it finally launches later this month.

allowing you to discover that your sentient cap pal can be used in a number of helpful ways along your journey. You can throw him, for starters, and if he collides with a suitable enemy, you can even ‘capture’ them (see what they did there?). Capturing different enemies

• Super Mario Odyssey is out Oct 27

Did you know – according to Mario’s updated bio on the Nintendo website, he is no longer a plumber! The post reads: “All around sporty, whether it's tennis or baseball, soccer or car racing, he does everything cool. As a matter of fact, he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago…” Of course, he started life as a carpenter and was a doctor for a while, too. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack. One says to the other: “You hang out here – I’ll go on a-head.”

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OCTOBER 2017

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