Super Mario Odyssey Analysis

I would break Mario Odyssey down into three main pillars: Movement, Exploration, and Freedom.

-Movement
Mario games have always been known for their great movement and Odyssey takes it to another level. There are so many options when it comes to how you move Mario through the world. You have your normal walking and jumping, but then you also have triple jumps, wall jumps, long jumps, dives, throwing your hat and jumping off of it, and even rolling around on the ground like Sonic! Odyssey also introduces a new mechanic where you can control enemies by throwing your hat at them, and each enemy has their own unique set of moves and abilities as well. With all these moves combined, you can pull off some pretty cool jumps and tricks.

-Exploration
In this game, Mario embarks on an odyssey, on his newfound ship called... The Odyssey! Aboard this vessel, Mario travels to different areas called Kingdoms. Each Kingdom differentiates itself with unique scenery, as well as new local friends and foes to discover. These Kingdoms vary from sandy deserts, wooded forests, sprawling cities, outer space, and even a whole island made completely made out of neon food! Each Kingdom has many Power Moons to locate, which is the main collectible in this game. There are also many hidden areas that require very precise movement to reach, but these areas are not required to progress through the game, and serve no purpose other than to say "Hey, you made it up to this spot. Good job!"

-Freedom
Throughout the whole game, the player is presented with choices. You could just walk on the path to get up the hill... Or, you could roll at top speed, do a triple jump, throw your hat at the height of your jump, dive to the hat, jump again, then dive again, and skip the path entirely! The choice is completely up to you. As I mentioned earlier, you are never required to do these precise tricks, but the option is there if the player wishes to do so. While traveling between Kingdoms, you are often presented with choices as to where you would like to travel first. Each Kingdom has a set number of Power Moons you must collect before proceeding to the next. However, the amount that you need is on average only 1/4th of the Kingdom's total! Which moons you find, and which path you take through each Kingdom, is completely up to you.

I love Super Mario Odyssey because it presents the player with tons of awesome movement options, and the player is free to explore the world however they see fit.