Don't You DLC?: Mario Odyssey (Rant Warning!)
Here I want to share some ideas for possible DLC or "additional content" that would be really cool to see in some of my favorite games. Does this mean any of this is a possibility? Of course not. And, in some cases, DLC is pretty much already guaranteed to not be included. But a man can still dream!
Today I am going to focus on Super Mario Odyssey. For many people, this was their GOTY, and I can't blame them. The game hit it out of the park in many ways. However, while it certainly cracked the top 10 for me, Super Mario Odyssey didn't leave me walking away 100% satisifed with what I played. I've been playing Mario games for a very long time, and so while a game like Odyssey certainly felt refreshing it wasn't the complete experience I had hoped it would be. I have this theory that Nintendo keeps trying to "reinvent" Mario every couple of years. If you haven't noticed already, each release of a major mainline Super Mario game seems to "reset" the look and feel of the Mario series for at least that console generation. Look no further to prove my point than the jarring transition between the Gamecube era's "Mario goes tropical" and the Wii era's "Mario goes galactic" designs. These were fairly consistent themes across all the mainline and spinoff titles during those respective console generations, and even a cursory glance at the Gamecube or Wii Mario titles would support that.
Currently, I think we're living through another "reboot" of the Mario universe. What's my evidence? Well, for one, Luigi seems to have been all but forgotten about again. But, also, we're walking into the new and mysterious "surrealism" era of Super Mario games. Suddenly, Mario is doing things we never thought we would witness in a Mario game. He's running around a city talking to realistically proportioned humans, he's possessing photorealistic dinosaurs, he's swimming through lava dodging low-poly vegetables, he's racing through a level while bad J-rock plays in the background, he's exploring a Mushroom Kingdom that looks more like a medieval fantasy world than it ever has... he's doing so much I honestly never would have pictured existing in a Mario game even a year ago. And if I'm allowed to truly speak from the heart, the comparisons some have made between Odyssey and the modern Sonic games feel completely apt in my opinion. Just look at this game.
It all feels very much like the same leap we had from the NES/SNES era of games to Super Mario 64. That isn't a bad thing -- I love Mario 64. But Mario 64's worlds, from a broader perspective, weren't very "Mario," were they? At least, they don't feel that way to me when I step back for a bit. They feel like they were designed to be experienced more as "playgrounds" rather than traditional levels, random elements thrown together to give you a sense of wonder, a drive to ask yourself "How do I get over there?" and "What does this thing do?" as you seek to complete story-driven missions. Basically, "let's put Mario in a sandbox and let the player goof around." And, well, it feels like many of the elements in Odyssey were designed with that philosophy as well. The worlds in this game certainly don't feel like "traditional Mario." There's no clear goal in any stage; you can literally jump and find a Power Moon, meeting the game's low benchmarks with just about any level of effort. There's no real explanation for why Mario is hanging out with realistic humans all of a sudden or jumping around a barren moonscape, but the absence of many of the mainstay characters, worlds, enemies and challenges that we've grown accustomed to over the years is definitely felt. And as this game is even more open-ended than Mario 64, the post-game became aimless for me with no reward other than the reward of playing itself. At least with Mario 64 I had a feasible end goal of 120 stars, could learn their locations, and start working on improving my game completion time. There were various levels of achievable success in that game and we could all be measured on that same gradient. Mario Odyssey forgoes that entirely, instead giving this multitude of ways to complete the game's core campaign and no real reward for doing much beyond that. Sure, there were the post-game Kingdoms, but they were mostly hollow affairs. And the reward for getting every moon in the game is more a slap in the face than a well-earned and hard-fought congratulations.
I felt it was a huge tease as well that after years of more recent Mario games slowly bringing back what felt like a renaissance of "classic Mario gameplay," the development team went back to the drawing board to create a second "Mario in a sandbox" game. Again: that's not a bad thing on paper. I get what the development team was going for with this game, I truly do. It's a literal "odyssey," a trip into the unknown that players can accomplish in any way they desire. And I love Mario 64. A lot. So much so, in fact, that I replay it once a year. But goddamn do I miss having measurable and set goals to accomplish. And powerups. And secret levels. And time trials. And a hub world. And ridiculously hard levels. And multiplayer. And Luigi. And Boos. And the Koopa Kids. And Bob-ombs. And... well, you get the idea.
For me, the DLC for Mario Odyssey would have to cover the major flaws I see with the game: rewarding challenges with clear goals, more stages, and more playable characters. I will try to address all three with my concept for DLC.
More Rewarding Challenges
-Add an alternative to Power Moons that we can collect throughout the DLC. Boom. Done. Even something like the "Prankster Comet Medals" from Galaxy would be interesting. Power Moons varied in their "value" so much in Odyssey. It would be nice to have a new form of collectable that actually required an at minium level of extreme challenge to collect. These could easily be added into the game as "new missions" for each of the existing Kingdoms, all with caveats similar to Galaxy. Beat this boss under a certain time limit, access this new area and collect all the coins, do this challenge you've already done but you're stuck as a frog the whole time, etc. Minimal effort on the development team's part, but adds a lot of rewarding replayability to the game.
-"Darkest Side" as a new Kingdom, something even more vicious than "Darker Side." Give us the true "Grand Finale" or "Champion's Road" level challenge sorely missing from this game!
-True Multiplayer. Even something as silly as an arena-based battle for collectables could be loads of fun. Considering how many transformations there are in this game, I'm kind of shocked silly ideas like a multiplayer tanks battle aren't already in the game. Also, why aren't any of the games with leaderboards playable with friends? They went through the trouble of giving us slot cars, for example, but we can only play it alone? That's kind of dumb.
More Large Worlds
-This is where I get nuts. Give each existing Kingdom a "second world," thematically tied to the Kingdom but with its own Power Moons and whatnot. They could be as large or small as they need to be, but any new areas to explore would be fantastic. What follows is my list of ideas for each Kingdom and what the second area could entail:
-It goes without saying that not having a playable Luigi, after such a great track record in the past few titles, is an absolute crime. He could play like a longer-jumping, more slippery Mario. Basically, give him his Galaxy-era controls and call it a day.
-Wario and Waluigi could be fun alternative character as well, and all that would need to change are some of their physics and the silly hat/mustache combo on possessed enemies.
-Peach would be fun as hell as well. So would Bowser. Why did they tease us so much with these characters and then not deliver?
Today I am going to focus on Super Mario Odyssey. For many people, this was their GOTY, and I can't blame them. The game hit it out of the park in many ways. However, while it certainly cracked the top 10 for me, Super Mario Odyssey didn't leave me walking away 100% satisifed with what I played. I've been playing Mario games for a very long time, and so while a game like Odyssey certainly felt refreshing it wasn't the complete experience I had hoped it would be. I have this theory that Nintendo keeps trying to "reinvent" Mario every couple of years. If you haven't noticed already, each release of a major mainline Super Mario game seems to "reset" the look and feel of the Mario series for at least that console generation. Look no further to prove my point than the jarring transition between the Gamecube era's "Mario goes tropical" and the Wii era's "Mario goes galactic" designs. These were fairly consistent themes across all the mainline and spinoff titles during those respective console generations, and even a cursory glance at the Gamecube or Wii Mario titles would support that.
Currently, I think we're living through another "reboot" of the Mario universe. What's my evidence? Well, for one, Luigi seems to have been all but forgotten about again. But, also, we're walking into the new and mysterious "surrealism" era of Super Mario games. Suddenly, Mario is doing things we never thought we would witness in a Mario game. He's running around a city talking to realistically proportioned humans, he's possessing photorealistic dinosaurs, he's swimming through lava dodging low-poly vegetables, he's racing through a level while bad J-rock plays in the background, he's exploring a Mushroom Kingdom that looks more like a medieval fantasy world than it ever has... he's doing so much I honestly never would have pictured existing in a Mario game even a year ago. And if I'm allowed to truly speak from the heart, the comparisons some have made between Odyssey and the modern Sonic games feel completely apt in my opinion. Just look at this game.
It all feels very much like the same leap we had from the NES/SNES era of games to Super Mario 64. That isn't a bad thing -- I love Mario 64. But Mario 64's worlds, from a broader perspective, weren't very "Mario," were they? At least, they don't feel that way to me when I step back for a bit. They feel like they were designed to be experienced more as "playgrounds" rather than traditional levels, random elements thrown together to give you a sense of wonder, a drive to ask yourself "How do I get over there?" and "What does this thing do?" as you seek to complete story-driven missions. Basically, "let's put Mario in a sandbox and let the player goof around." And, well, it feels like many of the elements in Odyssey were designed with that philosophy as well. The worlds in this game certainly don't feel like "traditional Mario." There's no clear goal in any stage; you can literally jump and find a Power Moon, meeting the game's low benchmarks with just about any level of effort. There's no real explanation for why Mario is hanging out with realistic humans all of a sudden or jumping around a barren moonscape, but the absence of many of the mainstay characters, worlds, enemies and challenges that we've grown accustomed to over the years is definitely felt. And as this game is even more open-ended than Mario 64, the post-game became aimless for me with no reward other than the reward of playing itself. At least with Mario 64 I had a feasible end goal of 120 stars, could learn their locations, and start working on improving my game completion time. There were various levels of achievable success in that game and we could all be measured on that same gradient. Mario Odyssey forgoes that entirely, instead giving this multitude of ways to complete the game's core campaign and no real reward for doing much beyond that. Sure, there were the post-game Kingdoms, but they were mostly hollow affairs. And the reward for getting every moon in the game is more a slap in the face than a well-earned and hard-fought congratulations.
I felt it was a huge tease as well that after years of more recent Mario games slowly bringing back what felt like a renaissance of "classic Mario gameplay," the development team went back to the drawing board to create a second "Mario in a sandbox" game. Again: that's not a bad thing on paper. I get what the development team was going for with this game, I truly do. It's a literal "odyssey," a trip into the unknown that players can accomplish in any way they desire. And I love Mario 64. A lot. So much so, in fact, that I replay it once a year. But goddamn do I miss having measurable and set goals to accomplish. And powerups. And secret levels. And time trials. And a hub world. And ridiculously hard levels. And multiplayer. And Luigi. And Boos. And the Koopa Kids. And Bob-ombs. And... well, you get the idea.
For me, the DLC for Mario Odyssey would have to cover the major flaws I see with the game: rewarding challenges with clear goals, more stages, and more playable characters. I will try to address all three with my concept for DLC.
More Rewarding Challenges
-Add an alternative to Power Moons that we can collect throughout the DLC. Boom. Done. Even something like the "Prankster Comet Medals" from Galaxy would be interesting. Power Moons varied in their "value" so much in Odyssey. It would be nice to have a new form of collectable that actually required an at minium level of extreme challenge to collect. These could easily be added into the game as "new missions" for each of the existing Kingdoms, all with caveats similar to Galaxy. Beat this boss under a certain time limit, access this new area and collect all the coins, do this challenge you've already done but you're stuck as a frog the whole time, etc. Minimal effort on the development team's part, but adds a lot of rewarding replayability to the game.
-"Darkest Side" as a new Kingdom, something even more vicious than "Darker Side." Give us the true "Grand Finale" or "Champion's Road" level challenge sorely missing from this game!
-True Multiplayer. Even something as silly as an arena-based battle for collectables could be loads of fun. Considering how many transformations there are in this game, I'm kind of shocked silly ideas like a multiplayer tanks battle aren't already in the game. Also, why aren't any of the games with leaderboards playable with friends? They went through the trouble of giving us slot cars, for example, but we can only play it alone? That's kind of dumb.
More Large Worlds
-This is where I get nuts. Give each existing Kingdom a "second world," thematically tied to the Kingdom but with its own Power Moons and whatnot. They could be as large or small as they need to be, but any new areas to explore would be fantastic. What follows is my list of ideas for each Kingdom and what the second area could entail:
- Cap Kingdom: A Big Boo's Haunt world. Give us a ghost house, some Boos, maybe a Luigi's Mansion nod here and there, and I am sold.
- Cascade Kingdom: We have dinosaurs, so why not Dinosaur Land? Clearly, a Mario World inspired level is what we need in this game, complete with capturable dinosaur denizens such as Yoshi, Rex, and Dino Rhino.
- Sand Kingdom: All the pyramids just made me want to play Super Mario Land again. Why not give us a world taken from that game? This Kingdom already has easter island heads and Egyptian pyramids; all that's missing is some of the elements from Sarasaland and then we're all set!
- Lake Kingdom: Remember how great Dire Dire Docks was? I want that again. Mix in some Wet-Dry World and you've got a pretty interesting second stage for this Kingdom.
- Wooded Kingdom: This one already has a built-in idea for a second stage with the Deep Woods. Expand on that idea, maybe by including some swamps and Super Mario World's "Forest of Illusion"?
- Cloud Kingdom: Just give us a full-fledged cloud level. Throw in a mountain too. Done.
- Lost Kingdom: Take us underground to the caves beneath the island. Maybe they're crystal caverns, like the ones on Yoshi's Island?
- Metro Kingdom: I want to know what the rest of the city looks like. How about a trip to New Donk City's nearby "Coney Island"? We could even get two birds with one stone and throw in a genuine construction site next to the amusement park rides. Now we've got a blend of Wrecking Crew and Pinna Park from Mario Sunshine.
- Snow Kingdom: More snow, less ice water. Let's see if they could give us something like Snowman's Land from Mario 64, complete with a giant snowman, an explorable igloo, and some ice-skating puzzles.
- Seaside Kingdom: This level didn't feel like it was the right blend of surf and turf. Let's throw in a second stage similar to the first and second levels from Mario Sunshine, Bianco Hills and Ricco Harbor. It would be gorgeous running around the seaside villas right next to the beach.
- Luncheon Kingdom: Yoshi's Cookie world, anyone? It could even have the gingerbread people from Mario Kart 8's sweets mountain track. That would be kind of neat to see if Luncheon Kingdom has a whole separate "dessert" world.
- Ruined Kingom: I want to see the actual kingdom. Why not give us a medieval village and castle to explore? It could even include some of the Twilight Towners from Paper Mario.
- Bowser's Kingdom: A more traditional Bowser's Castle world, please. I loved the way it looked in this game, but I would also love to see a traditional castle stage in HD.
- Moon Kingdom: A Mario Galaxy level, of course.
- Sunshine Kingdom: Based on Delfino Plaza from Sunshine
- Dream Kingdom: Based on Subcon from Super Mario Bros. 2
- Beanbean Kingdom: Based on the Beanbean Kingdom in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. C'mon. You know you'd love to see this in 3D.
-It goes without saying that not having a playable Luigi, after such a great track record in the past few titles, is an absolute crime. He could play like a longer-jumping, more slippery Mario. Basically, give him his Galaxy-era controls and call it a day.
-Wario and Waluigi could be fun alternative character as well, and all that would need to change are some of their physics and the silly hat/mustache combo on possessed enemies.
-Peach would be fun as hell as well. So would Bowser. Why did they tease us so much with these characters and then not deliver?
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