Super Mario Odyssey – Over The Moon For Moons:

When we think of video games and their well-known mascots, 99% of people’s minds will go to the infamous plumber, Mario. Whether he’s flying through space or adventuring through Bowser’s internal organs, this moustachioed man can be found everywhere. I didn’t really have much experience with the Mario games personally. My main experience with them was Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS and even then, I mostly used it to play the awesome minigames with my cousins and my sister whenever we were together (just saying, I normally won). Mario games always felt a little bit lacking in the story department and repetitive with its mechanics. So, apart from the Mario & Luigi games which took a leaf out of Mario RPG’s book, and Mario Galaxy (because space is cool), my focus wasn’t on the red plumber.

When I got my Switch, I realised that I could get it cheaper if I got Mario Odyssey as well. So, I decided to go for it, thinking if anything, I’d have a fun time playing it even if I never came back to it. Plus, I was curious what it would be like to possess the minds of living creatures and make them dance to my will like puppets on strings. Plus, each possessed creature gets a version of Mario’s moustache, which is far too funny an opportunity to pass up. So, I booted up the game for the first time and was greeted by Mario’s goofy face, though thankfully in a slightly more appealing way than Super Mario 64 because that loading screen was bloody terrifying.

First things first, Mario Odyssey basically every commendation it receives and if you get the chance, it is a Mario game worth playing. It works as a good entry point into the series and really shows off the capabilities of the console, making use of the motion controls of the Joy-Cons which are a major upgrade from the controls of the Nintendo Wii. It’s charming, with an awesome soundtrack and a series of stunning levels that rewards players for thinking outside the box. Plus, with so many Moons to collect, there’s a strong urge to search every single nook and cranny of each level to ensure you haven’t missed anything. Especially when that level is so stuffed full of collectables that I guarantee it’ll burst if you put anything else in there.

What a slightly smaller subset of people will have noticed, is the strong parallels between Nintendo’s Mario Odyssey and that of another famous Odyssey – written by Homer, the legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two epics follow the story of the Greek hero, Odysseus, through his actions in the Trojan war and his journey home after the war ended, with victory going to the Greek’s, after the infamous Trojan horse incident. However, like any good story, the journey home was not smooth sailing and it took him ten long years to return to his wife and son, who he had left behind on the island of Ithaca. If you’ve never read these two great epics and have even a slight interest in mythology, go read it because you gain a deeper understanding about the word “odyssey” and it’s meaning in modern life.

It’s clear that Nintendo’s creation takes a few pages out of Homer’s writings, with some tweaks of their own. The entire main story of Mario Odyssey has you travelling around the world, chasing after Bowser and Peach, who always seems just one step away from you. Much like Odysseus, you travel from land to land, having to resolve the resident’s various issues and killing the occasional monstrosity as you go. Every time you think you’ve reached the end of your journey; another minor inconvenience occurs like a cyclops, being shot out of the sky by a giant cannon or a furious god of the sea drowning most of your crew members. Both Odysseus and Mario continue their journey, not for fame or glory, but to see their loved ones again, even if it means travelling to the underworld, fighting a giant dragon or disguising themselves as a hunk of meat? (What even Nintendo, what even.)

One thing that I truly love about both Homer’s Odyssey and Nintendo’s game, is that it allows you to envision travelling the world in someone else’s shoes, without ever having to leave your home. A lot of people will be saying, why don’t you go travel the world then if you love it so much? The answer to that, like the answer to many of my issues, is that of mental health. I can’t think of a single mental health condition that wouldn’t hinder you in some way from enjoying your travels. Be it having an anxiety attack in an airport, not having your support network with you when you have a depressive episode, facing your phobias by yourself or not being able to eat because to you and your mind, it is inedible. We don’t think about these things until they are suddenly blocking our path but it’s something every person with a mental health condition or a physical ailment must consider, every time they go outside.

A good explanation of this is my thought process when I go to a coffee shop to study. My anxiety demands I take the same, safe route that I have committed to memory. As I walk, I wear my noise-cancelling headphones to block out the overwhelming stimuli around me, be that passing conversation, traffic or just some very angry seagulls. Once I get there, I order, retrieve my coffee and go sit upstairs in a corner, where I can see everyone who is going up or down the stairs. I am, what you would call, naturally paranoid. Tiny changes in the environment, be it a chair moving or a conversation suddenly falling silent, can set off my anxiety. That anxiety leads to self-loathing which leads to depression which leads to flashbacks and nightmares, which sets off my PTS. It’s a cycle of damage that if I don’t take precautions with, could ruin my afternoon or even the rest of the month for me. Now, imagine that level of thought, having to be applied to travelling abroad. It’s a terrifying overload of information, is it not?

Games that incorporate travel and exploration as a big part of their narrative can be a major boon to those of us who might never be able to experience that for ourselves. In Mario’s case, the simplistic nature of the game also makes it more accessible. There’s a two-player mode for those with young children or those who struggle to use the Joy Con’s tiny controllers due to physical ailments  (trust me they can be a nightmare), though the game does punish you slightly for using the two-player mode, since it refuses to let you take part in various minigames, blocking off a lot of the game’s content which is a bummer.

Anyways, I’ve rambled on long enough about this and if we’re not careful, I’ll be talking about mythology for the next 10,000 articles on this blog. Considering talking about card games or the Drawn To Life series from the Nintendo DS (yes I did just finish both games over the course of a four day weekend, no you should get a life). Let me know any suggestions down below and remember to comment, like and follow the site to keep up to date on all my posts!

Till next week,

CaitlinRC.

Tags: collectables, gaming, greek mythology, luigi, mario, nintendo, nintendo switch, odyssey, super mario, toad