Day 50: Super Mario Odyssey
Let me ask you a question before we visit this last stop on this Lenten Season: Why do you think we play video games? Is it to listen to an enticing story? Meet interesting characters? Explore imaginative lands? Be engrossed by the gameplay? Really any of these reasons are good enough to like, let alone play, a video game. But I personally play a video game to just have fun and escape from reality for a few hours, maybe even a whole day. Every other aspect that I just mentioned is sort of a bonus. There is only one game that I can think of, when I think about escaping the stresses of reality, and it just so happens to come from my favorite franchise. Is this an original choice for my favorite game of all time? Not really. Do I care? Definitely not! So without further ado, I give you game numero uno…the one…the only…
(Door opens loudly)
Lyra: HEY!
"Oh my God, Lyra, what now?! I'm trying to build suspense over here…even though the name of the game is in the title so this is pointless…but still what do you want?!"
Lyra: I have been patient long enough! It has been four months since you uploaded a chapter. Why the hell do you keep taking these hiatuses?! I don't care if you have college, or family, or jobs, or whatever other BS you have that keeps you from writing my story, you are making this next chapter whether you like it or not!
"Lyra, if you would just calm down for a few more moments, this is the last entry I have for my Lent Challenge. After that, you and the entire Warzone Collection have my full attention."
Lyra: I can't wait any longer! I miss the attention! I miss feeling loved by my fans! After Archangel stopped writing my story after the tragic death of my mother, putting us in a six year long hiatus, it was you that brought me, that brought everyone back to life from uncertain despair! I can't go through another dry spell like what Archangel did.
"Is that why you keep badgering me? Because you're afraid I've forgotten?"
Lyra: (Nods her head)
"Oh, Lyra, I could never forget about you or your friends or your family. I never forgot all the plans I had for you all either, and I really do want to keep writing your story, it's just that other things keep getting in the way. In the words of John Lennon, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." I'm still going to work on the story…but don't be surprised when life gets in the way. It doesn't mean I don't care about you guys anymore. So how about it, are we cool?"
Lyra: Yeah, we're cool.
"Hey…how would you like to cover this last game with me?"
Lyra: (Smiles) I'd like that.
"Great."
(Lyra sits next to me and we nod, ready to finish this marathon)
Lyra: And WildCard's Favorite Game of All Time is…
Me: …Super Mario Odyssey!
Me: Every other Mario game, whether they be platformer, racing, RPG, sport, puzzle, or whatever, bow down to your master! Super Mario Odyssey is the closest a Mario game, scratch that, any video game has ever come to being absolutely perfect!
The gameplay, engaging.
The character, all quirky and uniquely designed.
The levels, big, open, colorful areas just begging for exploring.
The story is actually kind of interesting, Lyra if you would.
Lyra: The story in this game involves Bowser who, yet again, captures Princess Peach. But this time, he intends on marrying her, raising the stakes just a little bit. After Mario tries to stop the Koopa King, he ends up sending our favorite mustachioed plumber to a mysterious place called Bonneton, a location in the Cap Kingdom. There, Mario meets a Bonneter named Cappy, who fuses himself to whatever is left of Mario's hat and the two of them set off to save Princess Peach, as well as Cappy's sister Tiara, and stop Bowser's plans to marry Peach while also defeating the franchise's newest baddies, The Broodals.
Me: One thing I find interesting about the story is how Bowser meddles in the affairs of every kingdom Mario and Cappy visit. He already stole Tiara, which he uses to give to Peach as a crown to match her wedding dress, which he stole from the Lake Kingdom. He stole the Stupendous Stew and Sparkle Water from Luncheon and Seaside Kingdom respectively to make for food and drink to serve at the reception. He stole The Binding Band from Sand Kingdom to act as a wedding ring. He spreads countless posters all over Metro Kingdom to advertise the wedding. It really does show the effect Bowser's evil is having on the world, something we don't see too often in Mario games.
Lyra: In a strange sense with all of the thievery Bowser is doing for this wedding, he's basically trying to make sure he's giving himself and Peach the perfect wedding. It's kind of romantic in a…twisted sort of way.
Me: That's beside the point. Let's talk about the characters next. While they're nothing Pulitzer Prize worthy, I really like the designs behind these characters. They're all well detailed and cartoony, and I can't see them anywhere else but in the world of Mario.
Lyra: On that note,I really like the idea behind The Broodals, being evil wedding planners who are also anthropomorphic bunny rabbits in formal attire.
Me: Yeah, I like them too. And of course we can't overlook the fact that this is the game that Pauline, yes the same Pauline from the original Donkey Kong arcade game, finally makes a main series debut as the mayor of New Donk City, and by golly she's a great singer too.
Lyra: And on that note, let's talk about the presentation. Like WildCard said earlier, every single level are vast and open lands with so much to do. It's like a modern day Super Mario 64. Every level is greatly detailed from the colorful Luncheon Kingdom, the New York City/Station Square styled Metro Kingdom, Bowser's Kingdom having a Japanese aesthetic, the Planet Wisp styled Wooded Kingdom, the Tim Burton styled Cap Kingdom, I could go on and on about how beautiful each level looks.
Me: As for the music, again it's not my favorite soundtrack in a Mario game, that honor belongs to the Galaxy duology, but this soundtrack does its job just right. My favorite sound tracks in this game are Cap Kingdom, Wooded Kingdom, Torkdrift's battle theme, Metro Kingdom, Luncheon Kingdom, Bowser's Kingdom Courtyard, Mecha-Brood's theme, and the two vocal themes of this game, Jump Up Super Star and Honeylune Ridge (Escape).
Lyra: Jump Up Super Star is especially a fantastic song, basically being a love letter to everything Mario, or as Youtuber Nitro Rad put it, a love song from the game to you as you celebrate all of the good times you had with the series. Hmm, I wonder if there's anyone from 1985 who played the first Super Mario Bros. that's playing Super Mario Odyssey today. Probably, somewhere.
Me: And at long last, we have this game's strongest point in my opinion, the gameplay! On top of giving Mario an interesting roll move to make traversing these large worlds even easier, this game gives us Cappy!
Lyra: Every main series Mario game has to have at least one thing in it to separate it from the rest, and Cappy does that for this game. With Cappy, you can pull off tons of moves. Whether it be a simple throw, a throw that has him circle around you, or even use him as another platform. That's some game breaking stuff right there.
Me: Speaking of game breaking, this game kind of encourages it, as going to areas that you thought would be impossible to reach rewards you with a plethora of coins. This game encourages exploring each and every level to the fullest and that is a brilliant idea to not only entice those who love exploring levels, but also encourage others to do so as well.
Lyra: Back onto Cappy, we have yet to talk about the skill that defines this game. Somebody call an exorcist because we've got a possession on our hands.
Me: With Cappy we can posses loads of enemies. Possessing Goombas to create a huge Goomba stack, Possessing Cheep Cheeps to swim fast and breathe underwater, Possessing Hammer Bros to break blocks, Possessing Lava Bubbles to traverse through lava. And this game even offers new faces to possess like the Uproot to reach tall platforms, Pokio to latch onto walls, Tropical Wigglers to reach faraway platforms, a plethora of NPCs, Bowser at the end of the journey to escape the Moon Kingdom, and a fucking T-Rex!
Lyra: Possessing NPCs, enemies, and random items are how you access secret areas as well as get this games main collectables, the purple coins and Power Moons.
Me: With the Purple Coins, you can use them at these shops to buy alternate costumes for Mario to wear, each of them reflecting some kind of history of the franchise. You can get Mario's construction uniform from Super Mario Maker, Mario's golfing outfit from the good old days of the NES, a costume based on a Japanese New 3DS commercial, a costume that has Mario in nothing more than his underwear, a costume that is literally his Mario 64 sprite, and so much more. You'll search each and every kingdom for these coins to buy more and more costumes to mix and match with.
Lyra: The coins can also be used to buy stickers and other decorations for your ship. I know it's not much, but hey it gives you a reason to collect these coins.
Me: Then we get to the moons. In total there are 999 moons in the game. You can get the by following the main story, exploring the level to find secret and/or new areas, interacting with NPCs, buying them at the shop, beating a boss, or doing these side scrolling missions that are in the style of the original 1985 Mario game. Most of these moons are easy to find, but the ones that offer a challenge are really challenging, especially the ones you do after beating the main story.
Lyra: And now we come to the possession of bosses. Most of these boss use Cappy's possession ability greatly. Possessing Knucklotec's hands to damage him in his fight, possessing an Uproot to dodge Torkdrift's shockwaves and hit his weak point, possessing a Sherm to take on Mecha-Wiggler, possessing a Pokio to take on Mecha-Brood, and like WildCard mentioned earlier, possessing Bowser so you and Peach can escape the Moon Kingdom. Possession is clearly the name of the game here and the stand out feature that makes Mario Odyssey the phenomenal masterpiece that it is.
Me: So yeah, with fantastic gameplay, gorgeous presentation, fun bosses, likable characters, interesting story for Mario standars, and some of the best levels the series has to offer, it's not wonder why this game is not only my favorite game in the series, but also my favorite game of all time.
Lyra: There's a kicker coming isn't there.
Me: How'd you know?
Lyra: Last chapter you said one of the two games came to you in a time of need, I assume this is it?
Me: Indeed. Let me explain…
I graduated from my local community college in the Spring of 2017 with an Associate's Degree in Media Studies, but I also wanted to try my hand at gaming, thinking it would be a good creative outlet to make levels and design characters. So come that following Autumn when I signed up for the gaming program and…it was nothing like I thought it would be. With tons of subjects that I couldn't wrap my head around like logarithms, loops, algorithms, and whatnot, I just wasn't interested in that sort of thing and thought I could just create and let my imagination run wild. Naturally, this lead to a great amount of stress that I didn't know how to alleviate, made even worse because I was juggling a job and my, at the time, new fanfic "The Legend of Sir Justice and the South Park Saints."
This was also around the time Super Mario Odyssey got released, and when I bought it on launch day…it took some of that stress away. I felt like I could escape from reality for a few hours, forget all about everything that was troubling me, and just have fun in all of these colorful worlds Mario was visiting.
Unfortunately, the stress and worry would immediately return after I turn the game off, in fact it kind of worsened as the semester went on, getting to the point where I would break down and cry due to the stress. My parents noticed my stress and unhappiness and told me that for the sake of my mental health, to drop out and take a year off to figure out what to do next. I did just that, but I'm usually not one to quit. I like to see things through to the end, no matter what awaits me, and the fact that I couldn't finish this and drop out made me feel like a failure.
Suffice it to say, I was a little bit depressed after that. Do you know what game was there for me to pull me out of my depression? Super Mario Odyssey! Collecting the Power Moons and exploring through each and every level until I was happy again, that's what this game did for me. It relieved my stresses whenever I had them and…for lack of a better term, cured my brief depression, allowing me to think positive again and set my sights towards a Bachelor's Degree in Media Studies which I should hopefully get this Spring. I know you're all probably thinking, "dude it's just school it's not like you fought in a war or you were a victim of abuse, calm down." Here's the thing, I don't usually have a lot of turmoil or pain in my life. That semester in that gaming program is hopefully the lowest I'll ever feel, and the fact that a simple game can make me escape and have fun to forget everything wrong with that moment in time…it occurred to me that that's why I play most video games: Escapism.
I play video games to escape mundane or stressful situations and have an absolute ball. I can explore worlds that I've only seen in my dreams. Meet characters that I only wish were real. Be the hero I always wanted to be and save whatever beautiful world, or worlds, that I've found myself in.
I know everyone's reason for playing video games are different, but I figured I'd use this moment to tell you why I personally play video games. Furthermore, I know people have their own forms of escapism like films, books, music, but again I want to tell you my personal method of escapism. Bottom line, if there's one word I can use Super Mario Odyssey, it's escapism! And that's why this is my favorite game of all time, it helped me cope with stressful situations and is arguably the most fun I have ever had with any video game ever.
Mario, here's to you! I very much look forward to seeing what grand adventure you have in store for me and all of your fans. You really are number one!
Epilogue
And that's all I have for my Top 50 Favorite Games. For those of you who have read all the way through, thank you, I really appreciate it. Granted, I didn't intend for a lot of people to read this as it was supposed to be a fun way to do Lent while simultaneously giving my readers a chance to know a little bit about me and my taste in gaming.
I doubt I inspired anyone to go out and try any of these games listed here, but again, I could argue that that wasn't my original intention. Although, if for some reason I did inspire you to play any of these games…cool, I hope you have as much fun with whatever game I inspired you to play as much as I did.
Like I said in the beginning, everything is susceptible to change as more games are getting made and released every day, I replay through certain games and get newer opinions, and I play more and more games in my backlog. Nothing about this list is set in stone. Hell, for all I know this time next year this list could be entirely different. But as of right now, these are my favorite games, with Super Mario Odyssey as the undefeated champion of my game loving heart.
Again, for those of you who read this marathon all the way through, I thank you.
(I turn to Lyra)
"And thank you for joining me, Lyra."
Lyra: You're so welcome, WildCard. You have yourself a happy Easter, you hear?
"You too. With that, we must leave you all. I'm WildCard0531…"
Lyra: And I'm Lyra Katherine Marsh…
"And we wish you all a Happy Easter. Also, I encourage you all to tell me what your favorite games are and why you love them so much? Feel free to comment with a response. Have a nice day, everyone!"
